Blue Plague: War (Blue Plague Book 6) (7 page)

Buffy came over the radio. “Why the hell are the twins climbing up in here with me?” she asked.

“They are coming with us,” Bruce replied over the radio. All the chatter died down on the road, hearing them on the radio.

“Have you lost your mind, Daddy?” Buffy yelled out over the radio.

“Well, the Mommas, PJ, and Cade just went to get their stuff to join us on this little outing,” Bruce popped off.

Climbing out of the roof hatch, Buffy stood on the roof looking back at Bruce. “I can’t believe I wanted to be a boy hearing you saying something this stupid. PJ acts like a butthead here!” she yelled.

Feeling the day go straight to hell, Bruce yelled back, not even bothering to key his radio. “That is your brother, young lady!”

“We are going to fight, and the last time I checked, BB guns didn’t do shit to a blue!” Buffy yelled, also not using the radio.

The entire area was quiet, listening to the two with many trying not to laugh. “Just because you’re thirteen doesn’t give you permission to talk back to me, young lady,” Bruce bellowed. “I’ll spank your ass right here in front of everyone,” he threatened, grabbing his belt and shaking it.

Not wanting to test that, Buffy just kept her mouth shut and climbed back in the RG as the twins moved over beside her. Danny was Buffy’s hero, but Buffy was theirs. Bruce keyed his radio, “Omega roll out time is pushed back fifteen minutes and the first son of a bitch that says something about it gets shot in the leg!” Bruce yelled walking to the house.

Breaking into a run he ran to the basement and grabbed two UMP45 submachine guns, magazines and ammunition then ran back to the convoy. When he got closer he saw Angela and Stephanie in his RG standing in the copula behind the machine gun. The twins were beside Buffy looking out the top. Danny and Matt were standing out the top with PJ between them. In the next RG that was Jake’s, Bruce saw Cade standing with Mindy and David but he saw another person he didn’t know beside Jake.

Walking over to Jake’s RG getting closer he saw it was Marty. Jake jumped down as Bruce came closer. “What’s Marty doing here?” he asked.

“I’ve been working with him for the last six months, and he wanted to come out. He’s fourteen now, and I think he’s ready,” Jake said, and Bruce just stared at him. “Dad, he wants to come,” Jake said.

“Jake,” Bruce said with a mountain of sarcasm.

Jake sighed. “Dad, he’s in love with Buffy, and she talks to nobody unless they are tough. Marty has asked anyone to train him in anything. I wasn’t at first. That’s my sister, but the boy is determined to have Buffy notice him. So Matt and I have started training him, and he is getting really good,” Jake stated.

Rolling his head around, trying to relieve the tension building in his shoulders and neck, Bruce said, “Son, I don’t want him to die trying to impress Buffy. Hell, she’s mad about turning thirteen, something about going insane at sixteen,” Bruce said, remembering Marty as the scared kid from the school in Haughton he and Mike found on their journey home.

“Dad, Marty wants to try, and I’m not telling him different. I think he’s ready to come out on this patrol,” Jake said.

Impressed that Jake was standing by his position, Bruce said, “Okay, son, you have made the choice. I won’t say otherwise. I hope you made it for the right reason,” Bruce said, walking away to his RG. Climbing in the back door, Bruce shut it and weaved through those inside to the front, pushing Max out of the way. Crawling between Angela and Stephanie, he stood up with one on each side. After taking off his helmet, he put on his CVC and keyed the radio.

“Omega, light the fires, and kick the tires,” Bruce called out. One by one, the vehicles’ engines started up, and families and friends stepped back, waving. “Last vehicle, give a thumb’s up when ready, and pass it forward,” Bruce called out. The three hundred of Omega, two hundred in the strike team, and one hundred support were in sixty plus vehicles.

The last RG gave a thumb’s up, and the one in front of it gave one, and it went down the line until it reached Bruce. “Omega, let’s roll and start killing again,” Bruce called over the radio. The troops started yelling as the convoy started rolling forward.

The north gate was open as they turned on the main road to see thousands from Hope lining the road, waving at them as they rolled through. Seeing all the people waving made Bruce feel good and pride made goose bumps come up on his arms. Looking up he saw four Apaches fly over him in single file heading north.
‘I don’t remember asking for air cover,’
Bruce thought as four more Apaches flew over. The crowd was going insane now.

When they went through the gate Bruce keyed the radio again. “Omega, kick it up to sixty, ten yard spacing. We’re late, and shit needs killin’,” Bruce called over the radio as the driver stomped on the gas. The RG lunged forward, picking up speed. Once again, Omega was rolling off to battle as Bruce wrapped his arms around Angela and Stephanie. Watching the world go by, the cold air was trying to fight its way through the layers of clothes.

Chapter 7

Omega pulled into a huge field south of the Arkansas line. The platoons formed a massive square with the support and command vehicles in the center. The field was a mile wide and just over a mile long, so they would have long fields of fire. When the vehicles were set up, Bruce told them to turn on the loudspeakers. Each strike RG had two megaphone speakers that could be fed via radio or inside the RG. Today, they played what was coming from Gopher. Angela and Stephanie gathered up PJ and Cade, taking them to the command vehicle as they prepared the daily news show.

Once the music started, Omega didn’t have to wait long before blues showed up in force. The reports of suppressed shots started sounding off around the circle. Unless they were fighting mass waves, the team left the suppressors on. They all hated the ringing ears when you took your hearing protection off.

Climbing out from behind the machine gun, Bruce grabbed the twins, and they climbed down to the center of the ring of vehicles. Bruce took the UMPs off his shoulder and gave them to the twins. They had both shot the submachine guns several times out with the family but this time they were going to carry them. Giving each one a satchel with ten magazines Bruce stood up and looked at them. “You will not load them until I tell you. Is that clear?” Bruce said. They both looked up at Bruce, smiling and nodding. “Remember, no finger on trigger until…?” Bruce asked.

“You see your target and are ready to shoot,” they replied in unison.

Kneeling down, Bruce hugged them, saying, “Good girls. Now, follow Daddy. We have to check the line.” Buffy watched the exchange and fought down a wave of jealousy as Danny scooted over.

“Don’t be jealous, BB,” she said.

“They have him all the time when we’re at home. Now, they get Daddy out here too,” Buffy whined.

Remembering her jealousy of Buffy, Danny busted out laughing. “BB, you are so my sister. I’m not going to lie; I almost went over there and pushed them down when Daddy hugged them,” Danny admitted. “But we are the older ones, and they are princesses also. We have to let them have some Daddy time.”

“I haven’t got that much Daddy time,” Buffy pouted as Matt started shooting blues behind them.

Reaching over and squeezing Buffy’s hand, Danny said, “You will have a lifetime of it BB. That’s what’s so good about being the princess, it never ends.”

Letting out a moan, Buffy said, “They don’t have to rub it in.”

“They aren’t. Momma told me something when you came here and I felt just like you do now. She told me Daddy expects more from me because I am his princess. Now, you are one of his princesses, and you have to take the same advice. I have to admit I was hurt by it, but I soon found out I loved being a big sister as much as being a princess,” Danny said.

Buffy looked up at her with a smile. “That’s right; I’m their big sister!” she shouted.

“That’s right, and you have to show them like I showed you.”

Confused, Buffy pointed out, “But you’re still showing me.”

Danny shrugged. “It’s a never-ending job, BB.”

Pausing his firing, Matt looked over his shoulder at them. “This is all very touching, but could you two help some?” he asked then started shooting blues again.

Danny looked out across the field and saw blues coming at them. “Matt, there’s barely a hundred out there,” she said.

Matt looked at the light of his life. “But they are spread out and moving fast,” he whined.

“Okay, Matt. I’ll help make the monsters go away,” Danny said, bringing her rifle up, and she started shooting.

Matt shook his head. “I really want to know how Daddy Bruce gave birth to you. I really thought it was impossible for a male to give birth, but now, I’m not so sure,” he mumbled as he continued shooting blues.

Matt and the other snipers were shooting at the blues at a thousand yards. Granted, only Matt and Jake were racking up serious kills at that range, but that was where the onslaught started for the blues. The rest of Omega started at four hundred yards.

Suddenly, Buffy started cussing as she fired at a blue male running at them. Because he was running, his head was moving side to side, and she had watched one of her tracers go right by his head at three hundred yards. Letting out a stream of curses, she flipped her SCAR to burst and hit him in the chest, slowing him down, then popped him in the head with another burst. “Yeah, bitch, move now!” she yelled out, lining up her sites on another one and repeating her tactics.

The RGs were pulled bumper to bumper, and Jake walked over his and onto Bruce’s, heading over to Buffy. “Buffy, I taught you how to shoot long distance. That’s tacky,” Jake said, bringing his rifle up to his shoulder and dropping three at six hundred yards.

Disgusted at the carefree display, Buffy turned around, looking up at him with a scowl. Jake looked down at her with blonde hair coming out of her CVC and her sunglasses. Jake thought she looked like a little bug. “Bubba, then you tell them to quit moving!” she yelled at him.

“You’re getting mad, and you can’t shoot then, remember?” he said, bringing up his rifle. Buffy looked back toward the field and watched five drop six hundred yards away.

“Jake, leave her alone. BB is doing great,” Danny snapped.

“This coming from someone who just shot at a blue two hundred yards away nine times,” Jake said, never lowering his rifle. He slowly squeezed the trigger in a smooth fashion, watching a blue drop eight hundred yards away.

“We like close work. It’s not our fault you and Matt are scaredy cats. We like them to know it was us that shot them and not some natural act of nature,” Danny popped off.

“You’re so weird,” Jake said, walking back to his RG.

Buffy was looking through her scope, sending out bursts, hitting the blues in the chest then popping them in the head. Lowering her rifle, she saw a large group bust out of the tree line, running full bore. When they were half a mile away, she still couldn’t tell how many. Jumping up, she ran over to the M2, climbing behind the machine gun. Rotating the gun toward the group, Buffy flipped the safety off. “Watch this, bubba!” she yelled and pressed the butterfly trigger down.

The big fifty started to roar as Buffy walked the rounds at the group over fifteen hundred yards away. When she had the range, Buffy started firing short bursts until the group was literally blown away. Buffy looked toward Jake on his RG. “I shot those further than you did,” she yelled.

Not to be outdone, Jake leaned down into his RG and pulled up an AT4, a shoulder-launched rocket. Popping the sights out, he aimed at the trees where several blues were running out of, two thousand yards away almost the maximum range. “Clear behind!” he yelled as he fired with a loud thump. The rocket streaked across the field and slammed into a tree, killing several blues and the tree.

“Mine was further!” he yelled back at Buffy.

When Bruce heard the fifty open up, he was on the other side of the square of vehicles with the twins checking on troops. Hearing that he thought a large group had found them as he grabbed the twins and climbed up on the ring of RGs. Reaching the top, the fifty quit, then he heard an AT4 launch. Before he keyed his radio to find out what was going on Willie, told him.

“Damn it, Bruce, your kids are getting out of hand!”

Bruce shook his head, keying his radio. “What’s going on?” he asked.

“Well, it seems Jake was picking on Buffy about shooting, so she opened up with ma deuce, taking out a group. Then, she yelled at Jake, and he popped a rocket at some more,” Willie said.

Danny came in next to clarify. “Dad, Jake was picking on Buffy, saying she wasn’t shooting them far enough, so she got on a weapon that she could hit them far enough.” Bruce nodded.
That was good thinking on Buffy’s part
, he thought.

“That’s not true, Dad. I told Buffy she was using too many rounds to bring them down. I told her that was tacky,” Jake said over the radio. Bruce decided not to answer because he agreed with Buffy’s method.

Then, he heard the fifty open up again and heard Buffy yell over the radio, “Look at that little shit run and bounce!”

As the fifty fell silent, Danny came over the radio. “Damn, BB shot it out of the air!”

“If y’all are telling me those fuckers are flying, we are going home,” Bruce said into his radio.

“No, it was a kid blue, and Dad, it moved like it was on the Matrix,” Danny called back. Then, Bruce started hearing other fifties open up around the circle.

“Are they coming in numbers?” he asked.

Ted replied, “No, my boys are mad that your kids get to play with the big toys and they couldn’t.”

Not even replying, Bruce led the twins around the circle on the top of the trucks, walking by the teams out the top of each rig, shooting blues. Reaching his RG, Bruce saw Buffy reloading the fifty. Watching her reload the massive gun always made him smile. Walking up to her when she was done, he looked down at her. “That is a workout for ya, huh?” he said.

“Yeah, but it’s worth it,” she said, grinning.

“Will you show the twins?” Bruce asked, and the twins looked at Buffy, grinning.

“Come on, sis,” Buffy said as the twins ran over. Buffy took their submachine guns, putting them inside the RG. Then, the twins got on each side of her as she looked out across the field and pressed the trigger. The twins had on earplugs but still put their hands over their ears as the big gun fired.

Bruce brought his own rifle up and started popping off shots at blues. Like Buffy, he would hit them in the chest then in the head. Sure enough, Jake had to comment on it. “Well, I see where she got that from,” he popped off over the radio.

“Jake, I’m busy now. Be quiet,” Bruce yelled back, dropping another blue. Then, he saw something bouncing through the field as it ran.

“Matrix blue!” Danny yelled. Bruce looked through his scope as everyone started firing. He saw it was a blue child about the size of a ten-year-old. As the little blue ran it would pause in its run on two legs falling forward bouncing along on all fours. The bounces were ten to fifteen feet high spanning twenty yards. After a few bounces it would land on its feet and run a few hundred yards then repeat the process.

“How in the fuck did it get that big!?” Bruce yelled.

In a very calm and soothing voice, Jake came over the radio. “I’m sure they have a balanced diet and caring parents.”

Lowering his rifle, Bruce was fighting the urge to walk over and punch Jake in the mouth as he called Stephanie. “Stephanie, I’m looking at a child that’s the size of a ten-year-old that is really moving like it’s in the Matrix,” he said over the radio.

“Bruce, it was probably a child when it got infected. The blues have an expedited growth, but the ones born would only be about the size of a five-year-old now,” she said.

The bouncing blue was hit and blown apart by Buffy as Bruce called back. “Stephanie, I’ve seen infected kids before, but they didn’t move like that,” he said.

“Bruce, you have to remember kids are growing, and the virus would adapt to them better than adults,” she said.

Not liking that at all, he said, “That is so not fair,” as if Stephanie had some control over it.

“Oh, the little blue bouncing Matrix kids make your pee-pee hurt,” Jake called out over the radio.

Getting irritated, Bruce looked over at Jake, keying his mic. “I’m fixing to come over there and punch you in the damn face.”

Mary came on. “I wish you would. His head is so big today I’m surprised he could fit his helmet on.”

Fighting the urge to walk over and beat his child, Bruce sat down and joined in on the killing as the news came on. Hearing Angela and Stephanie give out hope over the radio made him very proud of them. It was slow at first, but he started noticing a difference in the blue activity.

When the music was playing, they charged out at them, but when they heard the voices of Angela and Stephanie, they became insane. They roared, running at them full speed and in a frenzy. Bruce was fixing to call on the radio to see if anyone else noticed when he heard Ted.

“What the hell are those two saying that’s pissing them off?” he yelled over the radio.

“Shit, they must be using subliminal messages talking about their mommas?” Carl yelled back.

Bruce stood up, watching the blues as the team kept on killing until the news went off. Then, like a switch, the blues charged, but it was in a fast jog, not the dead-out run, until they got in around the five hundred yard mark. Standing lost in thought, Bruce watched until Buffy yelled out.

“Hey Daddy, one in the tree line is holding an axe.”

Not sure he heard right, Bruce turned to Buffy, seeing her looking through his binoculars. “What?” he asked.

“One in the tree line is holding an axe,” she repeated. “Now, he’s running at us,” she added.

Walking over, he took the binoculars and looked out across the field. Sure enough, a male blue was running at them with the axe raised above his head. “We have seen them use pipes and other bludgeoning weapons before!” Jake yelled back.

Bruce keyed his radio, “Jake, he’s holding the axe right to use it, and if I’m not mistaken, there is blood on the blade,” Bruce said, and he heard the firing slow down around him.

“What?” about a hundred people yelled.

“Jake, Matt, let axe man through. Everyone else, start taking down everything!” Bruce yelled over the radio.

“What are you going to do, Bruce?” Angela yelled back.

“I want to know if he knows how to use it,” Bruce said, jumping down off the RG on the outside of the circle.

“Motherfucker, if you pull that damn sword, I will shove it up your ass!” Stephanie yelled over the radio.

Danny leaned over the RG and looked down at him. “Don’t do it, Dad. She means it, and I think that would hurt.”

With his face red, Bruce turned around, looking at Danny with a scowl. Fixing to key his radio, he stopped, knowing what he was going to say was going to start a shit storm. Spinning around, Bruce walked thirty yards away from the line. The axe man saw him and let out a roar, busting into a sprint right at Bruce from six hundred yards away. Seeing the blue bound toward him, Bruce could only guess, but he was sure the blue was coming at him around fifty miles per hour.