Blue Plague: Sacrifice, page 22
“Bruce, that’s over thirty thousand square miles for us to control,” Stephanie informed him.
Before Bruce could reply, Willie howled, “It takes a minimum of a division to control an area that size!”
“Willie, put a tampon on and stow it!” Bruce yelled then calmed down. “That’s our order of battle. Once we have trained everyone, we will send out hundred strong patrol units to keep the area pacified. It’s not like we have anything else to do besides kill blues,” Bruce informed everyone.
Debbie stood up, seeing that Bruce was still pissed, “Bruce, what I think everyone is saying is, why we don’t wait until we have more trained before we start pacifying the area.”
“No, I have made my decision. We start Tuesday, end of discussion,” Bruce replied, ending the argument.
“Okay, Bruce, I put my tampon in but listen please. By the end of January, we will have air cover with the helicopters and another thirty trained. That’s only one more month,” Willie cautioned.
“I understand, Willie, but I don’t want to waste any time on pacification. Now, how are we coming on gathering survivors?” Bruce asked Matt and Jake.
“We have all the ones inside the fifty mile radius that wanted to come with us. We have found more outside the radius, and I’m happy to say the numbers are actually encouraging. Matt and I estimate over twelve hundred in east Louisiana, western Mississippi, and southern Arkansas. We haven’t looked west or south yet because of the concentration of blues. We saw a horde moving along interstate ten from Houston so anything to our south is toast. Dallas is so close so that is why we haven’t looked west. The survivors we have found we can help,” Jake disclosed.
“Good thinking son,” Bruce replied. “Monday, start sending a single patrol of twenty to see if they want to join us.”
“We have one group to our southeast, near Bordelonville, that looks real big. Like us they are on a farm. They have moved semi-trailers around them to make a fence. They don’t appear to be a gang with all the kids we have seen and everyone moves around freely,” Matt relayed.
“That’s a good ways off. I hope they aren’t the closest,” Bruce stated.
“Hell no! We have twenty to thirty locations just between here and there. That doesn’t count for the ones to our east and north,” Jake stated.
Bruce just looked at Paul making Paul reply, “Barrack six is completed and seven and eight will be done by the end of the week. The people that have been brought in are little more than skeletons and it’ll be weeks before they can be put on a work schedule. The perimeter is almost finished except the ramps for the vehicles to fire over the wire. Wednesday we are starting to cut back the perimeter, starting on the north side first since we only have a clearing there of fifty yards. I also want to do that side first because that damn creek is full of gators now and they don’t do much when it is cold.”
Bruce nodded as Debbie stood back up, “Bruce wants to start committees in the clan. These will be just to report to the command group. These will address things like morale, barrack life, basic wants and needs, and suggestions. I love the idea because it takes a burden off of us. Are there any objections?” she asked as everyone nodded their heads with approval.
Danny jumped up. “If that bitch Jenny Green is put on any committee I promise she will disappear in hours,” she promised.
“I nominate Jenny Green for a committee,” Jake said as Debbie grabbed a book off the coffee table and threw it at him.
Bruce laughed as he asked Paul, “How long until the perimeter is cleared?”
“One week, ten days at the most,” Paul answered, after thinking about it.
“That’s good,” Bruce replied turning to Willie. “I want a group of thirty people so I can train them to fire the eight mortars we have,” Bruce told him.
“I already have a team ready for each one. Two mortars in each pit, a 120mm and an 81mm. Four pits each covering a direction north, east, south and west,” Willie replied. Seeing the shocked look on Bruce’s face Willie shot back, “You know I’m a Ranger also.”
“Bout time you acted like it. Now I just need to make you insane,” Bruce smirked.
“A few more months under you and I’ll be there,” Willie remarked in a serious tone.
Bruce laughed as he asked, “When will they be set up?”
“Monday we dig the pits and set them up. When it gets cold again I want to let the team’s fire off a few shots,” Willie answered.
“Sounds good. Anybody have anything else to add?” Bruce asked.
“Yes dad, I have an idea for us to keep track of people here,” Jake said as he ran upstairs.
When he returned he was holding a piece of a black nylon belt with a white piece of cloth sewn to it. “This is what I had in mind. On the cloth we can put a bar code so people can scan before workouts and meals,” Jake replied.
“How long to implement that?” Bruce asked.
“Well with me on schedule for three patrols this week and Matt will be running the UAV’s for us. Then when I’m in, I run them for his or your patrol, it will take us a few weeks,” Jake replied.
Stephanie stood up, “I’ll do it and have it ready by this week,” she stated confidently.
“Stephanie, I know you’re pretty good with computers but-,” Jake started as Stephanie said.
“What, you don’t think I can interface the spread sheet programs with an algorithm parameter?” Stephanie said and continued on for another ten minutes using words none of them understood. When she was finished Jake just looked at her in bewilderment.
Bruce was in shock, watching Jake sit down. “I’ve never seen someone shut you up when it comes to computers son,” Bruce blurted out.
Jake never took his eyes off of Stephanie as he replied, “How can I argue? I have no idea what she was talking about in the last half of her speech.”
“I didn’t understand any of it,” Mike admitted.
“Neither did I. Any more questions?” Bruce asked.
With no further questions the meeting broke up and everyone headed to the hall for supper. Bruce found Joe and Harry sitting at their table and walked over to them with Max following, looking for any food on the floor. “Hello gentlemen,” Bruce said.
“Hey Bruce,” Joe replied looking up.
“Hey guys, I was wanting to know if you two can make ten more SCARs like mine?” Bruce asked them.
“Sure no problem,” Joe replied.
“How long will it take?” Bruce asked hopefully.
“Monday at noon,” Joe answered.
“Come again?” Bruce asked, not believing what he heard.
“Bruce, we already have the program for the CNC, so all we have to do is put in the parts to alter them. We will start tomorrow after the clan meeting,” Harry replied, leaning back in his chair.
“I really don’t want you two to give up your day off. Just work on them Monday,” Bruce replied, without thinking.
“It’s no problem Bruce. Besides, I noticed your patrol is not leaving until Tuesday. I want to be out of that shop by noon Monday. I swear if you miss your Monday alone time, I will spray you with pepper spray and shoot your new dog,” Joe replied in a serious tone.
“I’ve not been that bad,” Bruce said in his defense.
“Yeah right, Bruce,” Harry replied with Joe agreeing with him.
Bruce just looked at them as Joe stated, “Tell Debbie not to take so long getting over there this time.”
“I’m not sure, but I think I’m insulted,” Bruce replied, thinking over the conversation.
“I don’t care. If you don’t have your ‘alone’ time, I keep wanting to throw holy water on you. I’m telling you now, tomorrow I’m going to ask the clan if you miss your Monday we give you another afternoon,” Joe remarked.
“I’m going to put on a dress since I’m acting like a bitch,” Bruce claimed as he spun around and headed towards his table.
“I don’t care what you wear, just make sure you can take it off!” Joe shouted after him. Several people around them turned, wanting to know what that conversation was about.
Bruce reached his chair and sat down with Debbie asking, “Do I even want to know what that was about?”
“No!” Bruce shot back.
“Well I want to know anyway,” Debbie replied, curiosity getting the better of her.
Bruce sighed, “It seems some people here have guessed what happens on Monday afternoon. I was just threatened to be sprayed with pepper spray and have Max shot if I missed this Monday. It seems some people here think I have been acting uptight and hostile. They wanted to throw holy water on me,” Bruce finished.
Debbie laughed, “Is that all?”
“Well yeah,” Bruce replied.
“Bruce there is no ‘think’. You are biting off heads a little too fast,” Debbie answered and looked toward Nancy. “Nancy, what did you just tell me when we left the house after the meeting?” Debbie asked Nancy at the other end of the table.
“I told you if Bruce missed Monday, I was wearing my red high heels for him Monday night,” Nancy replied looking at Bruce with a serious face.
Mike gasped in shock, replying, “Wear some other ones. Those are for me.” Nancy just turned and looked at Mike. When Mike saw her expression, he looked at Bruce telling him, “That’s cool, Bruce nibble on her neck. She goes crazy for that.” Nancy kicked him under the table and all of Mike’s kids covered their ears crying ‘gross.’
Bruce laughed replying, “Nah, that’s okay brother.” Bruce glanced at Stephanie and Angela then looked back at Mike. “Tell you what though, I would like to watch you two when the red heels are broken out,” Bruce admitted with a sly grin.
“How about tonight?” Mike replied, as Nancy kicked him again under the table.
Debbie laughed at them as she asked Bruce, “So what’s the deal that some have figured out your ‘alone’ time?”
“It doesn’t seem fair that I have alone time when others don’t,” Bruce answered.
Debbie just looked at Bruce with a flat expression. “You’re kidding right?” She asked.
Seeing the expression on Bruce’s face as he replied, “Our bed is kinda full baby with kids all the time. So are other people’s bed’s here. Paul and Cheryl have adopted two, then Conner and Susan I could go on for a while,” Bruce informed Debbie.
“Bruce, surely you don’t think people aren’t having sex here just because they have kids in their rooms?” Debbie enquired. Bruce just shrugged his shoulders afraid to answer. Debbie just looked at him replying, “Bruce, the reason you have that trouble is you are always doing something to protect us. You move nine hundred miles an hour all day. All I have to say is when you go into any shed on the property, knock before you enter.”
“Don’t forget the garage,” Angela smirked.
Bruce looked around the table to see everyone agreeing with Debbie. Debbie grabbed his hand, “Bruce, you spend so much time taking care of everyone else you forget about yourself. That is mine, Stephanie and Angela’s job and it’s why I asked everyone to hint to you not to go out on patrol Monday.”
“I made that decision by myself,” Bruce declared proudly, only to see Debbie smiling at him. Bruce closed his eyes and started playing the last few days through his head remembering several people asking for no patrol on Monday. “Well don’t I feel stupid,” Bruce stated, and then looked at Debbie. “It doesn’t matter anyway. Tomorrow Joe is going to ask that the clan to pressure me if I miss a Monday that another afternoon be given to me,” Bruce said.
Willie stood up, “I love that man,” he said, then he addressed Debbie. “My wife Maggie refused to help you if you needed help, so I’ll offer myself. I look pretty good in a teddy,” Willie said causing the table to erupt in laughter.
Ted stopped laughing long enough to shout out, “Willie, if you wear a teddy, I‘ll bring the whipped cream and join in!”
Carl stood up putting a hand behind his head, “Well, I will just have to bring my sexy ass in there too, because once you go black you never go back,” he said in a lisped voice, causing the table to erupt again in laughter.
When the laughter died down, Bruce looked at Willie, “Tell you what Willie, if you can borrow Nancy’s red heels, you have a deal.”
Mike slammed his hand on the table, “Absolutely not!” Mike shouted looking at Bruce then he grinned, “He can wear them if I can join in,” he said looking at Nancy. “What? You aren’t going to kick me again?”
“Hell no! I’m coming to watch this,” Nancy announced as Conner fell out of his chair laughing.
Susan stood up declaring, “Bruce, Conner is on the floor waiting on you. I don’t think he wants to wait until Monday.” Conner, hearing that, attempted to jump back into his chair only to hit his head on the table, causing the table to jump in the air. Everyone laughed at his mishap as he slunk back down to the floor and Susan kneeled down beside him. Max ran down to lick his face telling Conner it was okay.
The group ate and headed off to bed; well not really bed; but to get ready for Call of Duty. Most had never played but the way the family talked about it, be damned if they were going to miss out.
Chapter 14
The clan was in the hall on Sunday morning with most people showing signs of lack of sleep. Mike was on coffee mug from hell number three. Bruce had just started number two and still just wanted to go to sleep. Bruce smiled remembering last night. Debbie, Stephanie and Angela had put another TV in their room so they could play also. Bruce could only remember Debbie playing games once or twice ever. But, she played hard last night almost till dawn. Bruce started laughing, remembering Debbie yelling at the TV. At the start of the night, she wasn’t very good, so she would just run around with a hand grenade and when someone shot her character, she would drop the grenade and kill her attacker.
Debbie ran into one building, yelling over her headset and everyone on the other team, seeing who it was, ran out, getting gunned down by the rest of the team. Watching Angela and Stephanie, Bruce quickly realized they had played a lot. Stephanie had played with the family when she lived in Shreveport and wasn’t that good then. Angela was pretty damn good, but Stephanie was now in a league of her own. They both killed Mike numerous times, tea bagging him more times than Bruce could count. Then they started giving his kids a run for their money. That’s when Nancy started playing and Bruce’s team had to start worrying about a kamikaze grenadier.
Mike, seeing Bruce chuckling, growled, “You were lucky brother.”
Bruce looked up grinning, “Hey Mike, I think you got something on your chin from all the tea bags you had.”
Mike looked at Angela and Stephanie and interrogated them, “You two just had to play huh? You just couldn’t watch? Were in the hell did you two learn how to play like that?”
Angela looked up, wiping sleep out of her eyes, and stretched. “I’ve always played X-Box,” Angela informed Mike.
“I’ve played with y’all before, Mike,” Stephanie replied.
“No offense Stephanie, but you weren’t that good then,” Mike informed her.
“Well I bought an X-Box and started playing COD. I even formed my own clan, the ‘Wolf’ clan,” Stephanie admitted proudly, looking at Mike. Mike just froze taking a sip of coffee staring at Stephanie with hard eyes. All six kids, along with Tonya, turned to stare at Stephanie with shocked expressions.
“Didn’t y’all fight a wolf clan a lot?” Debbie asked in a sleepy voice, taking a sip of coffee swearing she remembered the kids saying something like that. Debbie looked over at Bruce, wanting to know why he wasn’t answering. Debbie saw Bruce was staring at Stephanie with a mixture of anger, awe and annoyance.
“What was your screen name?” Bruce asked Stephanie, staring a hole through her.
“Red devil,” Stephanie replied proudly.
“What?” Bruce yelled, jumping up, knocking his chair over, causing Max to look around wondering what was up. All six kids, along with Mike and Tonya, jumped up and started yelling at Stephanie. Stephanie just looked around, wondering what the hell was wrong.
Debbie held up her hands, yelling, “Shut up!” and was surprised when they did.
Stephanie looked around at the family with a questioning expression and asked, “What the hell is the problem?”
Bruce looked at her, narrowing his eyes and demanded, “Ever hear of the ‘Edge’ clan?”
Stephanie jumped up out of her chair, narrowing her eyes at Bruce. “What was your screen name?” she demanded.
“Dark Knight,” Bruce growled in reply.
“You son of a bitch! You killed me eleven times in a row in four different games the last time we played!” Stephanie screamed squaring off with Bruce. Emily and Sherry climbed out of their chairs and ran behind Debbie. PJ was trying to get out of his highchair and get to Momma. Max just ran to the other side of the hall.
“You shot me with a fucking rocket launcher twice!” Bruce yelled back.
“I should have known,” Stephanie growled then spun towards the kids looking at Jake. “You’re ‘Dead Eye’ aren’t you?” Stephanie asked in a raspy voice.
“Hell yeah! I sniped down your whole team twice in our last match. I have it recorded if you want to watch,” Jake replied with an evil grin. Stephanie looked at each kid and Mike calling out their screen name and each one nodded at her confirming it.
Danny looked at Stephanie, grumbling, “I don’t know if I like you anymore Stephanie or should I say ‘Red Devil’.”
“Well bring it on ‘Midnight Star’,” Stephanie challenged, crouching down. Angela grabbed Cade and moved from in between them. Danny moved out of her chair, crouching down in front of Stephanie.
“That’s enough!” Debbie screamed causing both of them to jump. Bruce had watched the two square off and felt very confident that Danny would’ve won but he was certain she’d have paid a price for the victory. When both Danny and Stephanie looked at her Debbie commanded, “Both of you put it back in your pants. You’re acting like a couple of boys.”
“Debbie, ‘Midnight’ thought it would be funny to run around knifing my whole team the last time we played. Then I’m having a talk with ‘Dark knight’. Eleven times in a row Debbie, in one game, for a total of nineteen kills. Just on me, the most he ever got me was twice in a row. We aren’t even talking about the other games Debbie. Besides that, the most I’d ever been killed in a row was six. Do you know what that did for my stats?” Stephanie yelled.
