Blue Plague: War (Blue Plague Book 6) (4 page)

Everyone stopped as Mike sprayed them down with the water. Nancy sat up, coughing. “What the hell did you spray me for?”

Shrugging, Mike said, “Friendly fire,” and turned around to shut the water off.

Getting up, Stephanie held out her hand and pulled Angela up. “I’m sorry I pulled your hair, Angela.”

Angela shivered. “I’m sorry I hurt your boobs,” she said, hugging Stephanie. Angela turned to Nancy. “I’m sorry for trying to choke you out.”

“That’s okay,” Nancy said, hugging her.

Matt walked over to his dad. “That was really uncool and unnecessary,” he said.

The wet people went inside to get more clothes as everyone else left. Bruce went to watch PJ and Cade until Matt and Jake came back out. In the time Bruce was waiting on them, he was toying with the idea of going to sleep for three or four years. When Jake and Matt showed back up, Bruce went to the Center and sat in his chair.

Contemplating on how he could just disappear, Bruce just sat and stared straight ahead as Millie set a plate down with a glass of tea. “Bruce, don’t say nothin’ to ‘em. Just agree with ‘em,” she said.

“I know, Millie; I’ve had a pregnant wife before. I think God is punishing me for hating him earlier,” Bruce told her.

“Maybe,” Millie said, grinning and patting his shaved head.

“This could be regarded as cruel and unusual punishment,” Bruce said, grabbing the glass of tea.

Millie chuckled. “No, Bruce, if that was the case, then Danny and Mary would be pregnant also.”

Bruce nodded. “Yeah, didn’t think about that,” he admitted.

Millie laughed and left him to eat as Mike came in and sat down. “You could’ve stopped them. Now, I’m not getting some for a few days because of that water hose,” Mike said as a plate was set down in front of him.

Bruce chose to ignore him as the rest of the family came in. Matt and Jake led the two wood cutters to their seats and sat down by their wives, who were texting each other. It didn’t matter they were sitting beside each other. As was the way of the family, nobody was mad at each other as the plates were sat down. Those that missed it were laughing as the descriptions of the wrestling match. Marcus and the twins were the only ones not at the table.

Pausing his eating, Bruce looked up at Angela. “How far along are you?” he asked.

“About ten weeks,” she replied.

“And you told me one week ago!” Bruce yelled.

“Well, excuse me,” Angela snapped as Bruce turned to Stephanie.

“How about you?” he asked.

“The same,” she said, making a funny face and sipping her tea.

“Excuse me,” Bruce said.

“Ten weeks. You know, it’s after nine weeks and before eleven,” Stephanie shot back.

“You mean neither of you know?” Bruce said, looking at both of them.

“Well, since we were both on Depo and it wore off around the first part of August, that is the timeline we used. When you come off Depo, your cycles don’t become regular for months. It wasn’t until two weeks ago that I was throwing up in the bathroom that Angela said something,” Stephanie snapped, and Angela started.

“I never threw up, but Stephanie was trying to puke up her toenails, and I noticed my boobs were getting bigger,” she said, and Bruce snickered. “Hey, they aren’t much, so I can see when they get bigger, shithead,” she snapped. Ted spit tea out his nose and took off running to the bathroom.

Angela ignored him. “We didn’t use anymore Depo because we’re almost out. The ones brought in lately haven’t been stored correctly. We knew you’d been neutered, so we didn’t worry about it. We used Depo like the others here just to stop the damn periods!” she yelled.

“I had a vasectomy; I wasn’t neutered!” Bruce yelled.

“Same thing!” Angela yelled back as Carl jumped up and took off running to the bathroom, laughing.

Bruce took a deep breath. “What I’m trying to say, baby, is you told me ten weeks in,” he said then froze, seeing the looks on both of their faces.

“Bruce, we just found out. With the hospital we built in Hope, we went down and did a blood test for Beta-HCG, and it was at the ten-week range. You were off killing the mega horde when we found out. Call me old-fashioned, but neither of us wanted to blurt it out over the radio. We waited till we could get you alone,” Angela popped off.

Stephanie threw down her fork. “What the hell stinks!?” she yelled.

Willie looked up. “I don’t smell anything,” he said. His wife, Nancy, Mike, and Cheryl all kicked him under the table. “Shit!” Willie yelled, and his wife, Maggie, stomped on his foot. Finally getting the meaning, Willie just looked down at his plate and continued eating.

“What the hell do you mean you can’t smell it? Shit, it’s about to make me pass out!” Stephanie yelled, looking down the table at Willie daring him to say otherwise.

“It’s probably something the cleaning crew used; it’s making me sick too,” Nancy offered.

“Let’s shoot their asses for using it,” Stephanie snapped as she covered her nose.

Looking at Stephanie, Bruce said, “Stephanie, you can’t shoot anyone until you talk to me.”

“Fine, I don’t care. I’m good with my knife now; I’ll just shank ‘em,” she barked.

“No, baby, tell me; I’ll do it.”

With a soft sigh and cooing eyes, Stephanie smiled. “Thank you, baby.”

Angela started laughing and snorting. “I’ve tried to tell her about the smells, but she doesn’t listen,” she said.

“Pipe down, Little Foot,” Stephanie advised. “Emily hit my boob last night, and I woke up crying. All I ever heard about pregnancy was how good it was. If this is good, then the female half of the species is fucking insane!” Stephanie yelled.

“You’ll get used to it,” Angela said.

“Oh, like you are the role model. You pulled a knife on the radio operator when you just busted out crying for no reason,” Stephanie said.

“He was snickering at me.”

“I never heard it,” Stephanie said as Marcus and the twins came in. The twins came running over to Bruce. Each was holding a dead squirrel up by the tail.

“Look, Daddy, what we got,” they cried out together.

“Good girls,” Bruce said, hugging each of them.

Angela busted out crying. “How could you? They’re so cute!” she wailed, jumping out of her chair and running out of the Center.

Stephanie stood up so fast her chair hit the floor. “They stink!” she yelled then put her hand over her mouth as she started to gag and ran after Angela.

Watching both mommas run out, the twins turned back to Bruce with confused expressions, and he just shook his head. Cade and PJ were in their places beside the spots the two just ran from. Bruce looked at the twins then at the boys. “Kids, I would like to tell you your mommas are possessed by aliens, but I can’t. Remember they are pregnant and have crazy hormones racing through their bodies. They will yell at us and cry for no reason. Just do whatever they say as fast as you can. Be really nice to them, and hurt anyone that makes them mad so they don’t get mad at you.”

“That ain’t nice to be sayin’, Bruce,” Carroll said.

“I’m being honest,” Bruce said as Steve started laughing.

“He told me and Jake the same thing when Mom was pregnant with Danny,” Steve said.

Carroll just shook her head at Bruce, giving up. Bruce looked at the kids again. “You don’t have to understand; just do it. If they start to go crazy, run for me,” Bruce told them and they nodded at him with stunned expressions. “It will get better, I hope.”

Buffy just shook her head. “It only gets worse the older you get,” she said, making Bruce look at her. Throwing down her fork, she yelled, “How come I have to be a girl and not a boy? They don’t have this crazy possession shit!”

“BB, I’m sorry, but you’re a princess,” Bruce said.

“Whatever!” she yelled, jumping out of her chair and stomping out of the Center. Danny jumped up and followed her.

Bruce looked around the table and stopped at Marcus. “Marcus, can I sleep in yours and Carroll’s room tonight?” he asked.

“Nope, they might follow ya. I can’t run like I use ta.”

Putting the twins on the floor, Bruce stood, looking down at them. “Let’s get Millie to clean your squirrels, and she can cook them up for us tomorrow,” Bruce told them.

Sherry looked up at him, still holding her squirrel up by its tail, proud of her trophy. “Daddy, why is Mama Angela mad about our squirrels? She shot some with us before,” she asked.

“Baby, like I said, they are going through some tough times. Mama Angela will go hunting with you two again, but it may be a while,” Bruce said, leading them to the back. Millie took the squirrels, and Bruce went back to the table to get the boys.

“Dad, we can take them,” Jake offered.

Putting his arms around the smaller kids, Bruce said, “I’m not going in there alone, son.”

“Chicken,” Jake said, smiling.

“I will remember you said that for future reference,” Bruce said, grinning at him. The smile fell off Jake’s face as he looked at Mary.

When he had the four little kids outside, Bruce stopped and looked at the two boys. “PJ, Cade, I’m still disappointed with you for not listening. Tomorrow after church, you will get back to the front yard and finish that tree. Your mommas told you something, and you did not do it. That is wrong,” Bruce said, leading them to the house when he finished.

Marching his troops in, he found them both in the bed. Stephanie had a towel over her head and a heating pad on her chest. Angela had her face burrowed in a pillow. Feeling like he was herding chickens, Bruce drove the kids to the bathroom and showered all of them, hoping to kill any smell.

Opening the bathroom door, Bruce ushered the kids toward the bed. PJ and Cade ran to the bed and crawled between the two. Cade hugged Angela, and PJ hugged Stephanie. “We’re sorry,” they said. Angela and Stephanie let out wails and hugged the two tight. Bruce picked up the twins, ready to run. He figured he could save at least two if things went bad.

Cade and PJ swapped mommas and apologized again, followed by another wail. Seeing the kids were safe, Bruce sat the twins on the bed, and they crawled up, hugging the mommas. Bruce crawled up in the bed and joined them. It did cross his mind that it would be good to start a war now, but he was better than that. He would stay by them through this. He made that mistake once and was determined not to repeat it as they all drifted off to sleep.

Bruce opened his eyes, hearing someone gagging. He sat up in bed, wiping his eyes, and the gagging turned to hurling. Then, he heard another person gagging. Looking beside him, he didn’t see Angela or Stephanie. Climbing over kids, he raced to the bathroom to find both of them over the commode. The heave would leave one only to hit the other.

He reached under the sink and grabbed washcloths, wet them in cold water, and put one on each of their foreheads.

With a pale face, Stephanie looked up at him, smiling. “Thank you, baby,” she said. Angela was talking to the porcelain altar so she couldn’t say anything. He wet two more rags and placed them on the back of their necks.

Angela finished talking to the altar and looked up at him with a weak smile. “Thank you, baby,” she said.

“I though you didn’t throw up?” Bruce asked.

Exhausted, she said, “I never did with Cade. This is bullshit,” she said, laying her head on the toilet.

He looked at Stephanie. “Are you done?” he asked.

“I think so. Nothing really comes up, and that’s what makes me mad. All that work, I want to see something,” she said. Bruce reached down, picked her up, and carried her to bed. When he went back to the bathroom, Angela was laid out on the floor.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

“Yeah, I’m just going to sleep here. The floor’s cold and feels good,” she said, covering her face with a rag.

Chuckling, Bruce carried her to bed and laid her beside Stephanie. Going back to the bathroom, he wet more rags and replaced theirs. They soon drifted off to sleep again, and Bruce went to the bathroom and pulled out cleaning supplies. For the next hour, he sterilized the commode and the floor around it. When he put up the supplies, he was certain no microbe was living on the toilet, at least for a little while.

It was 0400 as Bruce sat on the side of the bed, caressing Angela and Stephanie’s faces for an hour. Standing, Bruce grabbed some workout clothes and headed to the gym. Working out really fast, he was back in less than an hour covered in sweat. Walking in the room he saw everyone was still asleep. Afraid of the super sniffers the women were now equipped with, Bruce jumped in the shower. Getting dressed, he tried to wake the kids without waking the mommas, but that didn’t work.

“Hey, baby,” Angela said sitting up.

“Hey, Little Foot, you go back to sleep. I have the kids,” he said, dragging Sherry out of the bed by her arm. Standing her up on her feet, he was sure she was awake, but when he let go, Sherry collapsed to the floor. “Sherry, get up,” Bruce whispered at her.

“No, baby, I’m getting up. You’re supposed to be taking time off,” Angela said, climbing out of bed.

With a startle, Stephanie sat up with her auburn hair going everywhere. “Who has a teddy bear?” she shouted.

Startled, Bruce just stared at her, not even going to try to answer that one. “Go back to sleep, Little Red,” Angela said, yawning.

Blinking, Stephanie looked around and realized she wasn’t dreaming. “I’m up,” she said, throwing the covers off. She climbed out of the bed, going to the bathroom. “Screw a goose! Who soaked the bathroom in bleach?” she cried out.

“Ah, I cleaned the commode since y’all are getting real close to it,” Bruce answered shyly, saying a silent prayer that fury wasn’t headed his way.

With wide eyes, Stephanie looked at the sparkling toilet. The bolts holding it down were shiny now, and even the caulk around the base was white. Lifting the seat up, she saw he had even taken it apart and cleaned it. “Holy shit, Bruce, you sterilized it!”

Angela went in the bathroom and stood beside Stephanie to look. The commode was never dirty, but like most altars, it had tattletale areas. Then, Angela looked at the floor, which was composed of small, one-inch square tiles with grout. The grout three feet around the commode was shiny white with the rest of the floor an off gray. “I didn’t want y’all to get sick from anything else,” Bruce called from the bedroom. The twins were finally up, but PJ was burrowing under the covers.