“I know, baby. I was ready to die, but Bruce is still acting like he wants more. His eyes have a dead look in them,” Angela said.
“We have to trust him. He knows what he is doing, and he is good at it,” Mike said in defense of Bruce.
Angela reached out with her hand and touched Mike on the arm to make him look at her. “Mike, for what you and Bruce have done for my family, I will stand at the gates of hell with you, but I will not unnecessarily endanger my baby’s life,” she said.
“Then trust him and help by taking some of the responsibility off of him to ease his load,” Mike said,
Angela said okay, smiling at Mike. Then she and Alex moved up to their spots in the column. The group had been walking for thirty minutes on the dirt road when Bruce held up his arm for everyone to stop. Then he pointed to the right side of the road and motioned everyone to him.
“Everyone, take out an MRE and a bottle of water. We are eating on the move. Jim, you will only drink half a bottle of water and will not eat. Every time we have eaten, you have had a whole meal while everyone else had half rations,” Bruce said in a normal voice. Jim drew in a breath to reply, but Bruce turned his body so his rifle was pointed at Jim. Jim, seeing the movement, just looked down at the ground.
“You sure you don’t want to say something, bitch?” Bruce said, looking at Jim. Jim just kept looking at the ground. Mike could not see Bruce’s eyes now because he had on his Oakley’s, but Bruce’s face was stone cold. Still looking at Jim, he said, “I’m ready to skull fuck someone, and you look to fit the bill. Please say something to question my authority.” Jim just kept looking down.
Mike almost said something about the voice level Bruce was using but decided not to. From the looks on several other faces, they wanted him to lower his voice also. But seeing the look on Bruce’s face, they would rather face infected. Susan made her way to Bruce and stood in front of him.
“Bruce, please don’t hurt Joshua. He is only a baby. Please don’t make me and the kids leave. We will die,” Susan pleaded in a low voice, tears running down her face. “I will try to do more to make up for us.”
Bruce turned from Jim and looked at Susan, asking, “Did Joshua steal something from me?”
The question caught Susan off guard, “Wha- What?” she stammered.
“Did he steal something from me?” Bruce asked again slowly.
“No,” she answered, with a shocked and confused look on her face.
“Then why in the hell would I want to hurt him and make you and Cassandra leave?” he asked her.
“He started crying, making the blues attack us. If he wouldn’t have cried, they would have passed us by,” Susan said, wiping tears from her face.
“Stupid bitch cannot even take care of a baby. You are worthless,” Jim said in a harsh voice with a sneer on his face. Bruce was fixing to lunge at him, but Marty beat him. Marty spun around, driving the end of his staff into Jim’s abdomen like a spear. Jim let out a rush of air and collapsed, curled into a ball. Gasping for air, Jim really should have thanked Marty for saving his life.
“Nice spear thrust, Marty,” Bruce told the boy, who smiled big with the compliment. “Buffy, if he makes any noise or moves, kill him,” Bruce said to Buffy. Without hesitation, she aimed at Jim lying on the ground, and Jim looked up at her in terror.
Mike did not like that. He knew Buffy would do it without any doubt. Mike did not want her to kill an unarmed human because Bruce said so. Bruce was not easing up on her; he was pushing her more.
Bruce turned back to Susan, who was looking down crying after Jim’s comment. Bruce reached out and lifted her head up to look him in the face. “As I was fixing to say before I was interrupted, let me play last night for you. Twenty plus runners were less than a hundred yards from our camp and all let out a roar together that made my ears hurt. I almost shit my pants at that noise, and you think I could hold it against a six-month-old because he cried? I’m forty years old, a former Ranger, have studied martial arts for years, and I know when I pull down my pants today I will have a shit stain on my underwear. Now, for the second part, if Joshua would have not cried, we would have died. The large group was too big and the edge of the mob would have walked right over us. The only reason we are alive is because we started the engagement at a distance. If the mob had been any closer before we started shooting then we would have died and not taken many of them down,” Bruce said, telling her the facts.
“Now about your request to do more––it is denied. You are taking care of two kids by yourself, and that is all that is expected from you. That in itself is more than one person can handle. Have I made myself clear?” Bruce told her in a flat tone.
Susan looked up at him in awe. She reached out with her free hand and put it on the back of Bruce’s head, pulling him to her and giving him a long kiss on the lips. It was not a passionate kiss, just a kiss of thanks.
Everyone had listened to what Bruce said as he laid out the attack. All of them, including Mike, had not realized that the baby had saved them. They all had a little shiver run up their spine as Bruce spoke again.
“Get out food and water. Change the baby. We move in three,” Bruce said.
“Daddy,” Buffy said, still aiming at Jim.
“Let him up and come here, little trooper,” Bruce told her, and she ran over to him.
Bruce told her to turn around and took one MRE and two bottles of water out of her pack. He gave her the MRE and a bottle of water, telling her to open it and start eating.
“What about you, Daddy?” Buffy asked, taking the MRE.
“I will eat later,” he said, opening the bottle of water and taking a drink.
“No,” she said, stomping her little foot. Everyone froze, watching the two, waiting on Bruce’s reaction.
“What did you say?” Bruce growled.
“No,” Buffy said, stomping her foot again.
“Buffy, I told you to eat, so do it!” Bruce commanded her.
“No, you can have mine. You said everyone has to eat, and you are the most important,” she said, holding out her MRE.
“Buffy, I said eat,” Bruce said in a low tone, pushing the MRE back to her.
“I will eat only if you do,” she said as she crossed her arms over her chest in defiance.
Bruce and Buffy stared at each other. Then Mike saw Bruce slump his shoulders in defeat and told Buffy to turn around. Bruce took out an MRE, opened it, and started eating. True to her word, Buffy waited until Bruce started eating before she opened hers. After Susan had the baby ready, they moved out. Bruce had finished his meal in a few minutes and tossed the package in the ditch.
A little after 6 a.m., they came to the edge of the field and a large section of fence that had been knocked down. A wide disturbed path led from the fence down into the pasture. Well, they knew where the infected had come from. There must have been a lot of cows here, he thought. Bruce entered the field, and the group followed. The field was three-quarters of a mile wide and sloped down to the tree line. They had to cross it to enter the tree line then walk half a mile to the bayou. Bruce was judging how long it would take them to cross the bayou when he dropped to the ground like someone had shot him.
Everyone saw how fast Bruce dropped and dove to the ground. Had anyone been watching as the group dove down, they would have thought everyone had fallen over dead. All of them stayed lying down for several minutes. Then Mike keyed his radio.
“What is it?” Mike asked.
“Smell it,” Bruce said.
Mike lifted his head up and smelled the air and caught a whiff of infected. He strained to catch any sound but could not hear anything.
“Alex and Angela, pull the group to the fence, one of you on each end. Mike, crawl up to me. We are going to the edge of the slope and see if we can see anything,” Bruce said over the radio.
They did as instructed, and once Mike got to Bruce, they low crawled to the edge of the slope. Several hundred yards to their right, they saw a larg
e tree in the field about twenty-five yards from the tree line. Around the base of the tree was a mob of infected clawing at the tree.
Mike turned to Bruce. “Let’s back out to the road, move, and cut through the woods to the bayou,” Mike suggested.
“If they hear us, they could follow us into the bayou. I really don’t like the idea of a running gunfight in the bayou,” Bruce said, turning on his thermal sight.
“You can’t hit them from here, Bruce,” Mike said.
“Not trying to,” he replied, aiming his rifle at the mob. In the tree he saw three dark objects about halfway up.
“There are people in the tree. Looks like two adults and a kid,” Bruce said, taking his eye off the scope and looking at the slope to their right.
“We will back up move down until we are even with the tree then we will crawl up to the edge of the slope. That will put the mob at about hundred yards then we will take them out from range.” Bruce said then started to stare at Mike like he was waiting for something.
“What?” Mike asked.
“The infected that tackled you last night,” Bruce said.
“What the hell are you talking about?” Mike asked.
“You said you were going to ask an infected why they didn’t die when you shoot them in the chest,” Bruce said.
Mike smiled, remembering the conversation, and said, “Fucker wouldn’t tell me, said it was a secret.”
“Ask nicer next time,” Bruce told him.
“No, I will let them keep the secret. They don’t bathe,” Mike said.
Mike followed Bruce as he backed up, and using the edge of the slope to block them, they stood up and jogged forward. Mike was glad Bruce was starting to relax. He heard Bruce tell Alex the plan: If it went south then hide. As they neared where they were going to crawl out over the hill, Bruce stepped closer to the edge of the slope. Then he backed up and went to the right about forty more yards and dropped his pack, and Mike did the same. Mike followed him and started crawling when Bruce did, dragging the packs behind them. As they started getting closer to the edge, Mike could see the top of the tree, and it seemed really close. When they came over the slope, the mob was only eighty yards away. It looked like the mob numbered about fifty––not a lot but enough, Mike thought.
Bruce raised his rifle and saw Buffy do the same; he turned to her, shaking his head. The mob was way out of range of her submachine gun. Bruce lined up his sights, picked a target, and fired. Hitting one in the neck, he adjusted and fired again, dropping it. He heard Mike fire and drop one, first shot. Asshole, thought Bruce as he lined up again. True to form, the mob did not notice anything when they could see prey.
They kept shooting into the back of the crowd. The mob was making more than enough noise to cover any sound the suppressed shots made. They had shot all but fourteen when one heard the sound of the suppressor. Before any of the infected could locate the group, the rest of the mob was down. Bruce stood up, put his pack on, and crouch-walked down the slope to the tree.
Looking up into the tree, Bruce saw a man, woman, and teenage boy. They climbed down, and the man came over, shaking both of their hands and thanking them. He introduced himself and his family. He was Paul Stewart, his wife was Cheryl, and his son, Chad. Bruce studied them as Paul talked. Paul was a good ol’ country boy, six feet, two inches tall, about 260 to 270 pounds, with brown hair. Cheryl was a typical farmer’s wife: slim, five foot seven, about 160 pounds, with weathered skin. Chad was a true country boy, thick for his age and friendly like his dad.
As Paul told them their story, Bruce called over the radio for the group to move up. Paul and his family had been up in the tree since Saturday evening. He had shot a few infected during the day, and they lost power so he started the generator up. A few hours later, the house was overrun with a few hundred. They had to run upstairs and lock themselves in a room, but the door was not holding, so they jumped out the window and took off running into the field. When they got into the field, they heard roars from the house, and he told Cheryl and Chad to make for the tree. He did have a rifle and a pistol but had used up all of his ammo slowing the crowd down. The crowd kept getting bigger during the day and night. The tree even started to shake with the assault of bodies. Bruce looked at the tree; it was a sweet gum and the base was an easy five-foot diameter. That was a lot of timber to move. Bruce turned back to Paul as he continued.
“There was a couple of thousand here last night. Then a group of deer ran out into the field right past the crowd of infected. Then, just like that, a large portion of the crowd took off after the deer. Only the group that you killed stayed. Cheryl thinks they did not see the deer. I was trying to work out a way to break off a branch and kill them one at a time. That was when I noticed some of the infected were falling down, and we saw you,” Paul finished.
When the group showed up, Bruce made quick introductions and called Jim over. Telling Jim to turn around, Bruce took three bottles of water out and three MREs from Jim’s pack, giving them to the family. Bruce told Paul that they could give them one weapon so they could go home, but the group was leaving. Paul and Cheryl looked at Bruce with a grave look. Paul told him the house was destroyed; he then asked where they were headed, and Bruce told Paul about their farm. Knowing they would not ask if they could come with the group, Bruce made the offer. They jumped at it even after Bruce told them the rules. They told him they could pull their weight. Bruce told Angela to give Paul the M-4 she was carrying. She still had her P90. When Bruce asked Paul if he knew how to use it, he told Bruce he had served ten years in the guard.
Bruce told everyone to move out as he crossed the fence into the tree line. He had Paul walk beside him and started asking him questions. The first question was why were there so many infected around here. Paul told him Homeland had set up a field hospital in a field five miles from here on Tuesday, and by Friday it was gone. Bruce then asked him if the infected had come through the woods. Paul said no, they came out of the logging road that started where his driveway stopped. Bruce let out a breath of relief; the infected were still staying on roads until they saw food. He then asked Paul about all the gunfire they kept hearing. Paul told him the military had set up a blockade on this side of the dam, and the infected just kept coming at them. He asked Paul if he knew how many people were at the field hospital. Paul told him that he heard on his CB radio Thursday that there were over nine thousand. Bruce’s blood ran cold as he told Paul he could go back to his family. Paul walked back to his family with the M-4 slung over his shoulder.
After walking for twenty minutes, they reached the bayou, and Bruce held up his hand. Everyone stopped and looked out across the bayou at the water and cypress trees. Bruce turned around, looking at the group.
“Okay, here we are. The bayou is two miles across. We have been doing that in an hour. I’m giving us two. Lace your shoes tight so they do not come off. Remember, keep your weapon out of the water. Do what I do and go only where I go,” Bruce told them as everyone started tightening shoelaces. He looked at Paul and his family as they laced up their work boots.
“Bruce, before we start this escapade, can I ask you a question?” Angela asked.
“Sure,” Bruce said, standing back up.
“Are you horny?” Angela asked with a straight face.
Bruce actually took a step back, looking at her in shock. He was not shocked easily but he damn sure was now. “What?” he asked, wanting to know if he heard right.
“Well, the reason I ask is last night during the fight, you kept yelling for the infected to suck your ass, then your dick, then you wanted to fuck their mothers, and then you wanted a midget with a broom to fuck you sideways,” she said, counting each one off on her fingers. Everyone was laughing quietly. Even Paul and his family, and they did not even know the whole story, but it sounded funny.
“I mean, if you are horny, I’m here and a few others are, too. We could just run behind the bushes real quick. Let you get your sexual frustration out, you kn
ow,” Angela said with a very serious face.
“Uh-uh,” Bruce stuttered as he started to blush.
“You can take two of us if that’s what it takes. The group wants you on your A game and not daydreaming about someone sucking your ass. We have a long way to go, you know. Don’t worry, I have talked it over with the group except the new members,” she told Bruce as she turned to Paul. “Would you mind if Bruce takes one or two of us in the bushes for a few minutes?” she asked him.
Paul just held up his hands, shaking his head no.
“Uh-uh,” Bruce stuttered, blushing more. He could not believe that this tiny young woman was asking him this now.
“If you think you can hold it, we could wait,” she offered.
Bruce just nodded his head at her, thankful for a way out.
“Okay, we will wait, but if I find a midget and a broom, you, the midget, and I are going in the bushes. I don’t know what getting fucked sideways with a broom is, but it sounds interesting. Don’t worry, Alex said he would watch Cade,” she told him with a serious expression.
Bruce spun around and walked to the water’s edge. Kneeling down, he finished tightening his bootlaces. Alex and Mike came up to stand beside her.
“That was great, honey,” Alex said, kissing her.
“I never would have believed he could blush. That was great. Just one question for you, though?” Mike asked. “What would you have done if he said okay?”
Angela looked at Mike and replied, “Run and hid behind Alex and told Bruce to take him first.”
“Like hell. I heard what he’s packing,” Alex said.
“Don’t you love me?” she asked with a hurt expression.
“I don’t know if I love you that much,” he replied.
Angela punched him in the arm as they heard Bruce hit his chest. They looked at him, and he was still looking toward the water. He waved forward and stepped into the water. It was 7:04 when he entered. Everyone followed him into the bayou in single file. If Bruce had stepped in fire and said to follow, most would have done it. He had gotten them this far.
Blue Plague The Fall Page 32
