Blue Plague: Decisions, page 44
“We will take them over and then take back America,” the President said, standing up and strolling out of the room. His minions followed in his wake.
“You’re half right,” Walker mumbled, grinning.
Chapter 29
Three days after leaving to fight the mega horde, the attack force was pulling through the spray areas and heading to the north gate. Bruce was sitting in the driver’s seat of his RG with Buffy on his lap, letting her drive. They pulled through the gate and stopped, letting the home guard check the vehicles with dogs to ensure no infected were hung up. When they were cleared, they pulled forward and turned to the farm.
“Stop!” Bruce yelled, scaring the shit out of Buffy.
“What? There’s nothing in front of me!” Buffy yelled back as Bruce lifted her out of his lap and opened the door. Getting out, Bruce walked around the front of the truck and off to the side of the road where he stood, staring at a work crew as Buffy walked up beside him. “It’s just a work crew, Dad,” Buffy said.
Ignoring her, Bruce keyed his radio. “Who the hell is in Mission Control?” he called out.
“Spook One here,” Jake called back.
“Ah son, why is there a cell tower being put up?” Bruce asked, watching the work crew.
“Progress, Big Daddy One, that’s number two. Will fill you in at Mission Control,” Jake told him.
Shaking his head, Bruce walked back to the RG and climbed in. Buffy drove them to the farm and Bruce jumped out, heading to Mission Control as Mike pulled in and followed. Walking into the command area, they found everyone sitting at the table waiting on them.
Jake jumped up as Bruce came in. “Dad, it was my idea with the towers so don’t get mad at anyone else,” he said.
“Why would I get mad?” Bruce asked.
“Ah, I don’t know,” Jake admitted.
“Son, I just want to be kept up to date with what’s going on,” Bruce told him.
“Oh well then, we are putting up cell towers here and activating several around us. I want us to have coverage out to fifty miles. That way anyone outside working can be contacted. This week everyone gets a phone,” Jake told him.
“That’s cool,” Bruce said, dropping down in his chair. “Are the Patriots ready to knock out the bothersome peeping toms?” he asked.
“Yes Dad, but I want to postpone that,” Jake said.
“Son, I know you like having their whole area hacked but they pose a threat,” Bruce told him.
“Not really,” Jake replied.
“Those things are armed just like ours are. I really don’t want them to fire one off and hit one of the fuel storage areas, or heaven forbid a bomb storage area,” Bruce told him as the rest of the assault group leaders came in and sat down.
“Dad, they can’t shoot shit at us. We own those drones. If they press the button to fire we have to allow it,” Jake told him. Shocked, Bruce just gawked at him. “Really Dad, you thought Matt and I would allow them to shoot at us?” Jake asked with an injured tone.
“Well—” was all Bruce could manage.
“Daddy Bruce, that was one of the first things we took away from them. We want to keep an eye on them, and if we take out their UAVs there is no reason for them to keep the command area up and running. Then we won’t even be able to talk to Colonel Walker,” Matt told him.
“Damn, I didn’t think about that,” Bruce said out loud to himself. Looking at the boys, he asked, “You two are sure they can’t hit us here with Hellfires from the UAVs?”
“Yes,” they said together.
“Okay, then we just keep spying on them,” Bruce said, then looked at Angela and Stephanie. “How many do you think we took out?” he asked them.
“Between thirty-two to thirty-three million,” Stephanie answered.
Flabbergasted, Bruce just stuttered as Mike asked, “How many did we miss?”
“Maybe a couple of million, and of that, fewer than a hundred thousand that weren’t wounded,” Angela answered, leaving Mike speechless.
Mack stood up, looking at Bruce. “Fly boys like to kill on the astronomical scale,” he said, smiling.
Ted jumped up. “Yeah, but we had to line them up for ya,” he shouted.
“Alright, y’all helped a little,” Mack said, sitting down.
“A little?” Ted yelled. “Bitch, those things were coming in a flood. Not waves; one big massive fucking wave. There was brass over four feet deep in my rig. I was standing up to my waist in spent bullet casings. We melted seventeen barrels on the heavy guns!” Ted shouted.
“Okay, fine, y’all helped a lot,” Mack admitted.
“My balls fell off and are under that pile of brass in my rig,” Ted snapped and then sat down.
Laughing, Bruce stood up. “Gentlemen, we did a great job. We can now say we have made a dent in the infected,” Bruce said, grinning at them all.
“Yes, just a hundred million more to go,” Sandy declared, smiling.
Bruce sighed as the wind left his sails. Looking at her, he could tell she’d never meant to be condescending; she was just stating a fact. “Sandy, we know. Let us just enjoy it for a minute,” Bruce said, sitting down.
“Was that rude?” she asked, looking at Stephanie. Stephanie had her hands over her face. Sandy looked at Bruce. “Bruce, I didn’t mean to be rude. What you have accomplished is amazing. In one year this group has wiped out fifty million infected. Not only that but you have left the infrastructure intact, which nobody thought was possible,” she said as Stephanie dropped her hands and looked at her, smiling.
“Thank you Sandy, I just don’t like hearing the big numbers like that after facing a horde that size,” Bruce told her.
Ted drew a breath for a smart ass comment but Carl put his hand on Ted’s shoulder. “Ted, if you say something to piss off Bruce, I won’t help you find your balls,” Carl told him.
“Thank you Carl,” Bruce said. Looking around the table, Bruce raised his voice. “Tomorrow I want the scavenging teams to leave and empty every military base in Alabama and Georgia. They have two weeks,” he said.
“Bruce, we have enough shit,” Nancy said.
“That’s okay, I’ll go and get them,” Bruce said as Mike lunged forward in his seat.
“Bruce, what Nancy meant to say is ‘we don’t have enough shit yet but you need to stay here.’ The teams will leave tomorrow morning!” Mike yelled out, kicking Nancy under the table.
“That’s right Bruce, you need to stay close,” Nancy told Bruce, realizing what she had said.
“Oh alright,” Bruce said, sitting down and scowling.
“Gamma, get ready to roll if the scavengers need us. Have the mobile airfield ready to deploy tomorrow. We will have them set up in Alabama to cover the scavengers,” Mike said, and his team leaders nodded in agreement. “Omega, turn around your group in case the government tries to leave early,” Mike said, glancing at Bruce.
“Walker will tell us before they leave,” Bruce said.
“Unless they kill him. I don’t want you to leave this area again until they are either neutralized or part of us,” Mike said, hoping to keep Bruce there. If Bruce went to those bases, he would bring everything in them back.
“You know you take all the fun out of everything,” Bruce said, standing up.
“Bruce—” Mike started.
“Okay Mike, I’ll stay here until they are taken care of. Let’s go eat,” Bruce said, leading Stephanie and Angela out.
That evening, Bruce walked into his bedroom to find only Angela and Stephanie waiting on him. Stopping in his tracks and feeling a bit nervous, he looked at the two. Both were grinning ear to ear. “Ah, I know this may sound cliché but I’m really tired,” Bruce told them.
“Oh that’s okay, Bruce,” Stephanie said, walking past him and closing the door.
Feeling trapped, he moved toward the bathroom and turned around, only to see them behind him. “Where are the kids?” Bruce asked.
“With Jake and Danny,” Angela said, moving closer to him. “We want to tell you something.”
“Ah, okay …” Bruce replied.
Grabbing each other’s hands, Angela and Stephanie looked at each other, then at Bruce. “We’re pregnant,” they said in unison.
Suddenly, Bruce noticed several cracks in the paint on the ceiling. ‘Damn, I need to repaint that,’ was the last thought through his mind as he hit the floor in a dead faint.
* * *
Thanks for reading Decisions. Look for Book 6 in the Blue Plague series in 2014.
Thomas A Watson, Blue Plague: Decisions
