Wade slowly nodded his head as Angela smiled. “If you talk to Stephanie again, the next time I stick my knife in the table your dick will be under it. She and I are with Bruce, if you have a problem with that take it up with him. I can promise you, he will make you eat your own dick,” Angela told him as she holstered her pistol and pulled out her knife putting it back on her vest.
Turning around, Angela saw over three hundred weapons aimed at Wade. “We were just talking and I wanted to get my point across. He hurt someone’s feelings that I care for and if he does it again, I’ll shank ‘em,” Angela announced walking back to the command table.
When Angela sat down Bill looked at her, “Angela, you can’t just threaten people like that.”
Angela looked at Bill. “Bill, you’re starting to get on my nerves. Let’s get something straight, cops were useless. They only came after a crime was committed and in some cities not even then. The law wouldn’t let people protect themselves or their loved ones. The criminals had more rights than the population did,” Angela told him.
“Angela, you just went over there and threatened that man,” Bill told her.
“Damn right I did. I told him if he talks anymore to Stephanie, I’ll stab his dick and kill ‘em,” Angela said.
“If you do that I would have to detain you,” Bill warned.
“Fat chance on that,” Angela said as she looked at Carroll. “Carroll, would you let Bill detain me for protecting my family?” Angela asked.
“Child, I’d wear his ass out if he try d’at,” Carroll told her smiling.
Bill threw down his fork as Mike jumped up out of his chair, “Bill, outside and I’m not asking, I’m telling you.” Mike walked outside with Bill following him. Mike turned around looking at Bill, “What the hell is your problem Bill?”
“Mike, we are living by barbarian rules here. Only the strong survive!” Bill shouted.
“Angela isn’t that strong so you better come up with a better fucking excuse than that motherfucker!” Mike yelled.
Bill took a step back seeing Mike’s face turn red. “Mike, we have no laws here, people can just do what they want. We let people use dope and unless it interferes with the clan it’s alright,” Bill told him.
“We have laws and unless you forgot everyone has been told. No stealing, treat others with respect, family first and the clan second. You have heard them all before,” Mike said.
“Mike, Angela didn’t treat that man with respect,” Bill told him.
“He disrespected her wish when she asked him not to talk to Stephanie. Angela had the right to defend that,” Mike told him.
“Mike, that’s my job, Bruce put me over police actions. Angela or better yet, Stephanie should’ve told me and let me handle it,” Bill said.
“No Bill, family first, you now know a problem exists. If you’re serious about being over police actions you would’ve went over there after Angela left and threatened that boy,” Mike told him. Bill just shook his head as Mike calmed down. “Bill, quit thinking with you head and use your heart. We aren’t going to bring criminals here for trial. In the field we will kill ‘em, members of the clan will get a trail if you detain them. What would you have done if someone in the center had threatened to molest Frank?” Mike asked.
“That’s not fair Mike,” Bill said.
“Yes it is, would you just have a small talk with them?” Mike asked.
“No,” Bill admitted.
“Okay Bill, now you’re thinking with your heart. We’ll never have a lot of laws here. Just basic ones for us to live by,” Mike told him.
Bill looked up at Mike with tears in his eyes, “I’m sorry Mike. I just want to do more.”
“We’re doing all we can Bill,” Mike said and they went back inside.
Bill stopped at his seat and looked at the table. “Everyone, I’m sorry, I violated the clan law putting myself above the clan and family. Will you forgive me?” Bill asked.
“That why Bruce be likin’ you. You admit when you doin’ wrong and want ta fix it,” Carroll told him.
“Nothing to forgive Bill,” Stephanie told him.
“Yes it is Stephanie,” Bill said as he spun around and walked toward Wade.
Wade seeing Bill come at him, raised his hands as Bill stopped at the table. “If you harass another woman here I’ll shoot you in both legs and drag your ass out to that pond and let the gators have you. Do I make myself clear?” Bill asked. Wade just nodded his head again. Bill walked back over and sat down as Frank looked up at his Dad with a smile.
“Family first,” Bill told him.
Meanwhile as night approached, Bruce had half of Omega on watch and the other half loading equipment on trucks with the Omega divers. Bruce was standing on the roof of a building at the entrance to the base with his AR-10 shooting blues that tried to get in.
After the horde that had come from the city, not many were left. In the five hours they had been there they had only killed a few hundred. Turning around, Bruce watched them load up a Sea Stallion on a flatbed trailer. Granted it was childish but he wanted that big SOB. They had pulled out three RG-33Ls but Bruce was taking them with Omega. He had already moved his squad into one of the trucks. The massive six by six had more room than the LAV.
Bruce liked the LAV but it was a bit cramped for a running gun battle. He told his LAV to stay close to the RG. Ted and Conner then both did the same with their squads, moving them to an RG. There were sixteen semis being loaded and Bruce was fighting off the urge to head to the port of New Orleans to see what he could find.
Seeing movement on the road, Bruce lifted up his rifle and saw five blues running toward the gate. Controlling his breathing, Bruce slowly squeezed the trigger dropping the first one. The others paused seeing it drop with most of its head gone. That was something Bruce had never noticed them do before. While they looked around Bruce dropped the other four in quick succession.
“Wow that was good shooting Daddy! You got them at three hundred yards,” Buffy said.
“Well we’ve had lots of practice in the last two days,” Bruce said changing magazines.
Buffy laughed, “Boy have we.”
Bruce joined her laughing as Jake came up to relieve him on sniper duty. “That was good shootin’ Dad,” Jake said.
“Thank you son,” Bruce told him.
“I’m here to relieve you,” Jake said dropping his backpack.
“Oh, so I can come down now?” Bruce asked.
“Yeah the armory is loaded up. Nobody wanted you down there getting in the way as you drooled over everything,” Jake replied.
“I’m not that bad,” Bruce told him.
“Right Dad,” Jake said as Mary came over to join him on watch.
“The UAVs find any blues around?” Bruce asked grabbing his gear.
Jake shook his head, “Dad there can’t be but a few thousand in this whole city and most are walkers,” Jake answered.
“I like walkers, they stay still so I can shoot ‘em,” Buffy announced.
Jake laughed, “Little sis, today you were making some pretty long range shots on the horde running at us,” he told her.
“Yeah, but they were staying close together,” Buffy admitted.
“Doesn’t matter, my little sis was kicking butt,” Jake said with pride.
Buffy ran over and hugged him, “Thank you bubba,” she said.
“Come on Buffy, let’s go load before the convoy gets here,” Bruce told her.
“The trucks are loaded Dad, and the convoy will be here in a few minutes,” Jake told him.
“But I barely got to pick out anything,” Bruce protested.
“I’m going to ignore that Dad. You wanted that big ass chopper and the LAVs. Well you got ‘em. That’s why everyone wanted you on watch. We didn’t want to load the whole damn base,” Jake informed him.
“I’m the boss here,” Bruce snapped.
“That you are but we’re tired and I for one wasn’t in the mood to load up mo
unds of shit,” Jake replied sitting down.
“Alright son you win. Call if you have any problems,” Bruce told him as he walked off.
When Bruce was gone Mary turned to Jake, “That was a little rude baby,” she told him.
“Mary, someone has to let Dad know when the team is getting tired,” Jake told her bringing up his rifle as a walker moved down the road.
“You could’ve said it a little nicer is all I’m saying,” Mary told him as Jake squeezed the trigger dropping the walker.
“Dad really doesn’t care about nice now baby. He wants us in top shape to kill,” Jake told her looking around for more targets.
Mary grabbed Jake’s hand, “Jake, I told you that you could cry for Mama Debbie, I won’t tell anyone.”
Jake looked at her smiling, “I know you wouldn’t baby. But Dad is right, I can’t do it now. I have to hold it in and let it turn. If I don’t, I could lose more and I can’t handle that. If losing your Mama hurts this bad, I don’t want to know what losing you or the rest of the family hurts like,” Jake admitted.
“So you don’t hold it against Daddy Bruce for not letting you cry?” Mary asked.
“No, I’m hurt, but we have to kill and bring order back to this world. Dad’s right, we have to slaughter any that want to hurt us without remorse. I just don’t want to lose anyone else,” Jake confessed.
“I’m with you baby,” Mary told him as she laid her head on his shoulder.
“I know you are baby. Family first,” Jake said as he heard the engines of the convoy getting close.
Chapter 10
The next morning Omega pulled out heading west on I-10. They plowed through the bodies from the horde from Lafayette on the east bound lane spraying them with fuel and burning them when they were through. When they stopped outside of Lafayette, Conner came over the radio.
“Boss why aren’t we burning both sides of the highway?” he asked Bruce.
“I want the blues to know fear and they can’t do that by finding burnt bodies. They need to see that we are killing them in huge numbers,” Bruce answered keying the radio on his CVC helmet.
“I thought they didn’t have that kind of brain power,” Conner replied.
“Even an animal will get the hint if you kill enough of them that danger is here,” Bruce said.
“Hell I like it boss! So are we going to roll through and shoot ‘em again?” Conner asked.
“No, I will take the lead. Ted will be in the center with you in the rear. We are just going to have a nice drive killing anything that shows up,” Bruce told him.
“Boss, not meaning to sound like a puss but if we hit a big horde we won’t be able to push through,” Willie called over the radio.
“We won’t find that many here. I don’t expect more than a few hundred thousand,” Bruce answered.
“That’s a pretty big horde,” Ted called back hoping others agreed with him.
“Well I suggest we kill ‘em before they can mass against us,” Bruce ordered.
“Hey I’m game but we just had to replace barrels because we wore out the other ones. I just don’t want to get in over our head,” Ted replied.
“Why? You have a date or something?” Bruce asked over the radio.
“Hell yeah, I asked one of the girls in flight control if she wanted to go out and she said yes,” Ted replied with a hint of pride in his voice.
“Well did you take her out?” Carl asked over the radio.
“Not yet, I asked her the day we left,” Ted answered.
Danny came over the radio, “That was stupid. Girls don’t like shit like that.”
“Well if she would’ve said no, I wouldn’t have to see her for a week or more,” Ted informed her of guy logic.
Buffy came over the radio next, “If she would’ve told you no, I would’ve gone and talked with her.”
“I love you so much Buffy. You’re a true teammate,” Ted called out.
“That’s my daughter Ted,” Bruce growled over the radio.
“Boss, you know what I mean,” Ted called back.
“I just wanted to make sure you did,” Bruce replied.
Danny broke in, “Ted, you have to get her something before we get back. You just don’t leave a girl hanging like that. That’s really repulsive.”
“I will Danny and thank you, she is a great girl,” Ted responded.
“Ahem,” came over the radio. “That girl can hear you,” a voice came over the radio between the chatter.
“Hey Melanie, I’m just talking to the guys,” Ted replied in a quivering voice.
“You don’t have to get me anything, just be careful,” Melanie told him.
“Don’t listen to that Ted, you did her wrong. You better get her something nice or I’ll break your nose,” Danny warned him over the radio as Bruce fell over laughing.
“Melanie, if you hurt him, I’m paying you a visit with Herman,” Buffy called out.
“Buffy, the only people that scare me more than you, is your sister and Dad. So believe me, I won’t hurt him unless he’s mean to me,” Melanie called back.
“If he’s mean to you don’t worry, I’ll hold down Buffy,” Danny told Melanie.
“Danny, if Ted is mean to her then I’ll go play with my knife,” Buffy let Danny know. Bruce was holding on to the side of the RG laughing listening to the conversation over the radio.
“Melanie, can we take Buffy with us on our first date so she can see I would never be mean to you or you to me? The thought of her playing with that knife makes me want to wet my pants.” Ted replied.
Carl came back on then, “What do you mean ‘want to wet your pants’ you pissed all over yourself when you thought that girl was fixing to shank you.”
“Hell yeah, you would’ve to if someone asks their Dad if they cut off a tally whacker would it wiggle on the ground!” Ted yelled out.
“Buffy, you are more than welcome to come on our first date, just don’t make him wet his pants,” Melanie told her.
“Ted is my teammate so I can only be a little mean to him. But I’ll come to make sure you’re nice to him,” Buffy informed her. ‘This is better than TV,’ Bruce thought laughing.
“Buffy, if he doesn’t get her something before we get back, I’ll beat Ted,” Danny told her.
“You’re my sister and I’m not fighting you, so Ted you better get Melanie something good,” Buffy let everyone know.
Mike came over the radio trying to stop laughing. “I hate to stop this but you have blues coming,” Mike told them.
“Let’s kill their asses and continue the talk,” Buffy called out.
“Runners coming straight ahead,” Bruce called out, bringing up his rifle. “Slow the convoy down to twenty-five. Check your field of fire and if I say bug out I mean now!” Bruce called out.
“Daddy, we are not going back until Ted gets Melanie something, I mean it Daddy!” Danny called out in a whiny voice.
Bruce keyed his mic, “Danny, if Ted doesn’t get that girl something she loves, I swear I will rip his balls off and sew ‘em to his ears.”
“Thank you Daddy,” Danny called back cheerfully.
“Bruce, as God as my witness, I’ll get Melanie something just don’t touch my balls. I’ve seen what you did to others and just the thought you’re coming after my balls makes them pull up inside me,” Ted called out.
Bruce was sighting on a runner at two hundred yards but started laughing at Ted and missed five times. Flipping the safety off his grenade launcher, Bruce fired the M-203 hitting between three runners. “Alright let’s get serious, its fighting time,” Bruce called out as he opened up.
“This coming from the man who was shaking his dick at blues on the Mississippi River Bridge!” Conner yelled out over the radio.
“Hey they stopped!” Carl yelled over the radio.
“Shit, I would’ve taken off running the other way,” Ted called back.
Bruce couldn’t stop laughing at the radio chatter. Slinging his SCAR, B
ruce moved behind the M-2 fifty caliber. Charging the handle, Bruce pressed the butterfly trigger. The fifty didn’t have a suppressor and just roared. When the half inch bullet hit a blue they just exploded. With his CVC on Bruce could feel the roar of Ma Duce but thankful little sound came through. But he could hear the radio just fine.
“That is so fucking cheating!” Matt yelled over the radio.
“I’m the boss and I make the rules and that isn’t cheating!” Bruce yelled as he reloaded the fifty.
“Oh yeah, watch this,” Jake said. Jake climbed out on top of his Stryker with an AT-4 rocket launcher. Jake told his driver to pull over in the west bound lane. When the driver pulled over in the lane Jake launched the rocket into a car blowing up dozens of blues that were running by it.
Ted and Conner both jumped behind the M-2s on their RGs and opened up. The rest of Omega pulled on line and opened up with everything. The Strykers opened up with the turret mounted M-2s and the Mk-19 grenade launchers as the LAVs opened up with their 25mm and turret machine guns. The advancing horde just disappeared in a mist. When Omega reached the kill zone they drove over the body parts, small body parts were all that was left.
Seeing the vehicles stop firing, Buffy knew they were reloading as she unhooked her CVC and dropped down into the RG. Running up to the driver, Buffy pulled off her vest letting it hit the floor and plugged up her CVC. “Move your hands,” Buffy told the driver as she climbed in his lap. “I can’t reach the pedals so you do them, I’m driving,” Buffy announced over the intercom.
Hearing that, Bruce looked up and saw a highway full of blues coming at them as he pulled the M-2’s charging handle. ‘Oh shit’ Bruce thought reading Buffy’s mind. Then he heard her say over the intercom on his CVC, “Step on the gas.” Followed by, “Step on the gas harder dumbass.”
The RG lunged forward as the big diesel opened up. When the truck hit the front line it was doing fifty and the blues it hit just exploded. Buffy wasn’t satisfied with just that so she started weaving back and forth over the road. The RG barely slowed from the impacts as Buffy drove forward. Danny called over the radio, “Stay clear of Big Daddy’s vehicle, Buffy is playing Grand Theft Auto for real!”
Blue Plague: Rage Page 9
