Islands of Rage and Hope

CHAPTER 24

“Holy crap,” Smitty said, looking through the binos. “I would swear that’s Christy Fucking Southard!”

The group of women on top of the police station were still up there and didn’t seem in a mood to get down. Most of them were throwing kisses to the Marines. Faith had put the unit in a circular perimeter while she and the NCOs considered the situation from the road a couple hundred meters away.

“Really?” Curran said, turning to look.

“Your fucking sector, Curran!” Faith barked. She didn’t see him turn, she just knew he would She knew most of the Marines were going to be looking around. “Keep on your fucking sectors, oorah? Yes, that looks like Anna Holmes as well…”

“Holy shit,” Hooch said. “That’s Sarah Cassill! I’m sure it is.”

“Dibs on inviting a star to the Marine Corps Ball,” Kirby said.

Faith didn’t bother to check. She knew Kirby was still covering his sector.

“Sector, Lance Corporal, with respect,” Kirby continued. Freeman clearly wasn’t.

“So why aren’t they coming down?” Faith said. “Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair. People, keep a very sharp lookout for not just infected, oorah?”

“You thinking a Money for Nothing thing, ma’am?” Smitty asked.

“Possibly,” Faith said, referring to the Russian oligarch who had tried to hijack her sister’s boat. They’d ended up with his megayacht instead, which was now the support yacht for this mission. “Or they’re just too God-damned dumb to be able to figure out how to open their own doors. So much for being belle of the damned Ball.”

“You’ll always be the Belle of the Ball, ma’am,” Smitty said. “You’re Shewolf, ma’am.”

“Thank you, Smitty,” Faith said, lowering the binoculars. “You’re just bucking for a promotion to Staff, right? Don’t worry, it worked. Why aren’t they coming down? Who has a good throwing arm?”

“I used to play baseball, ma’am,” Hooch said. “Semi-pro on the Marine team.”

“How long have we known each other and I didn’t know that?” Faith asked, pulling off her ruck. “Take one of the Coastie radios and toss it to them. It’s shock resistant so it should handle landing on the roof.”

“Aye, aye, ma’am,” Hooch said, taking one of the radios.

“Better turn it on in advance,” Faith said. “They probably can’t operate it with their fingernails and all.”

The first toss by Sergeant Hocieniec was a perfect parabola that would have landed on the roof. Had not Christy Southard done a flailing attempt at a catch that batted it out into thin air.

Fortunately Hooch was as good a fielder as a thrower and caught it. Despite being shock resistant the three-story fall probably would have broken the radio.

He waved for the women to clear a path, then threw again, this time getting it onto the roof.

Faith waited until one of the women came into view with the radio in hand.

“Listen carefully,” Faith said. “The way that a radio works is there is a button on the side that’s red. You press that and speak into it. But when you press it, you can’t hear me so you have to let up. Press it, say something, say ‘over’ to tell me you’re done, then let up on the button, over.”

“I am familiar with the operation of a radio,” the woman said. She had a cultured accent that was a mixture of English and something Germanic. “I am Princess Julianna Gustavason, Baroness Chelm. Princess of Bad-Werschtein und der Uld. To whom am I speaking, over?”

“Jesus,” Smitty said. “A for real princess?”

“Dibs on being Prince Charming,” Quade said.

“Can it!” Faith barked. “Second Lieutenant Faith Marie Smith, United States Marine Corps. Are you trapped on the roof, Rapunzel, or just enjoying the sunshine? Over.”

“Oh, snap,” Sergeant Hoag said, trying not to laugh.

“Many of the interior doors are sealed and there are shutters on the windows which have been resistant to our efforts to open them. There is only a small area we can access. We can access the roof and a few interior areas but have thus far found no means of egress. Over.”

“Egress?” Smitty said.

“Exit,” Faith said. “Stand by.” She switched radios. “Hooch, is that front door as solid as it looks?”

“Yes,” Hooch radioed. “Solid steel construction and a keypad entry. We’re gonna need a cutting torch, over.”

“Roger,” Faith said, then switched back to the handheld. “Can you get to one of the windows, over?

“Yes, over.”

“Put one or more persons on the roof, oorah, over where that is, oorah? Then somebody go down to the window and bang on it. We will move to that window and see if we can get in that way. Over.”

“I understand, over.”

“Go,” Faith said, waving a hand. “Which side of the building, over?”

“The seaward side, over.”

“Hooch, we’re moving seaside,” Faith radioed. “On your feet, Marines. Swing this caravan to the seaside of the building…”

“Ma’am,” Hooch said. “Please don’t say ‘Get this window open, Sergeant.’ ’Cause I am clueless, ma’am.”

The hurricane-shuttered window was nearly a story off the ground at its base and the shutter was made of heavy steel construction.

“What the fuck was this place?” Faith said. “This is like no police station I’ve ever seen.”

“Don’t know, ma’am,” Hooch said.

“That was a reticle question, Sergeant,” Faith said. “Form a human pyramid up to the mechanism,” she said, pointing to the metal-box-covered lifting system. “Then we’ll get that open and break it if necessary. If that don’t work, we’ll go get a cutting torch from the Grace. Oorah?”

“Oorah, ma’am,” Hooch said. “Quade, Randall, Curran, Haugen, get lined up side by side, palms against the wall, shoulder to shoulder…”

“Sandman, Shewolf,” Faith radioed.

“Sandman, over,” the gunny replied.

“Status on wheels, over.”

“Negative item. All vehicles surveyed so far are suffering from water or fire damage or both. Over.”

“Roger,” Faith said, watching the squad build the pyramid. “Move your unit up to this location. We will extract ground mount. Over.”

“Roger.”

“Be advised, group is…persons of interest. Female celebrities. Discipline issues are cropping up. Request movement this AO soonest.”

“Wilco.”

“Shewolf out.”

“Look out below,” Faith said as she prized the cover off of the mechanism. It sprung loose under the leverage of the Halligan tool and hit Sergeant Hoag in the helmet.

“Thank you, ma’am!” Hoag said. “Can I have another?”

“Oh…crap,” Faith said, trying to balance on the sergeant’s shoulders. “This is when we need Janu or somebody.” She had no clue how the mechanism of the door worked. It was just gears and stuff to her. “Well, I think there’s no such thing as too fucked up…”

She stuck the Halligan tool into the mechanism and prized until something sprung loose, almost overbalancing her. But a push on the roll-top shutter showed it was loose.

“Hey, Rapunzel,” Faith said. “You still there? Over.”

“This is Princess Julianna, over.” The voice seemed a tad chilly.

“Get your people to see if they can get the shutter to lift, now, oorah?”

“Oo—What?”

“See if you can lift the shutter, over. Ok… Oorah, let’s break this down. Carefully.”

“I never thought I’d be glad to see Marines,” Sarah Cassill said as she was helped off the shoulders of PFC Randall.

“We get that a lot,” Faith said. “We’re always so glad to hear it. Why don’t you go over there,” she continued, pointing to where the group of survivors was gathering. “And keep your idiotic mouth shut.”

“Oh, thank you, thank you!” Christy said, throwing her arms around Faith. “Are you gay? Aren’t most girl Marines gay?”

“No!” Faith said, prizing the woman’s arms off.

“Oh, too bad,” Christy said. “I just want to kiss you all over!”

“Ick!” Faith said, pushing her back. “I’ve got a whole platoon of Marines ready to take you up on that.”

“At the same time…” Randall muttered.

“What was that PFC?” Faith snarled. “Why don’t you just go over there with the rest of the…with them!”

“Everything under control, ma’am?” the gunny asked, striding over to the window.

“Get Barnard’s squad securing the survivors,” Faith said. “And tell them to wait on introductions, kisses or promises of massage with happy ending until we’ve actually got them off the fucking island!”

“Aye, aye, ma’am,” the gunny said. “Barnard…!”

“Thank you,” Anna said as she was helped down. “I truly appreciate this.”

“Disobeying my own order,” Faith said nervously. “Hi…I…Sort of always wanted to meet you…” She stuck out her hand.

“It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance,” Anna said, graciously shaking hands, then ducked her head. “I…I should go join the others.”

“Wow,” Faith said. “She’s really shy for an actress.”

“I guess, ma’am,” Hooch said.

“I am the last of this group,” the woman said, holding out the radio as she reached the ground. “Lieutenant Faith Marie Smith I presume?”

“Sorry about the Rapunzel thing, ma’am,” Faith said. “We generally don’t use rank or names on the radio. We need to move your group to the boats….”

“If we could speak for a moment, Lieutenant?” Julianna said. “It is important, I assure you.”

“Sure,” Faith said, waving for them to step aside.

“Is it…safe?” Julianna said, looking around nervously.

“No,” Faith said after a short pause. “But I usually nail them before they nail me. You seemed like you wanted to talk in private.”

“There was another group of survivors,” Julianna said. “We…haven’t seen or heard anything from them since we forced our way out of the storeroom. But…they should be somewhere in the building. I know it is an imposition…”

“We can deal with that later, ma’am,” Faith said, pulling out her notebook and making a note. “Any idea where?”

“No,” Julianna said. “They segregated us into gender-based groups when they brought us here. The male celebrities were in the other section.”

“That would be…” Faith said, perking up. “I don’t suppose one of them was Brandon Jeeters?”

“He was accidentally put in with us,” Julianna said after a pregnant pause. “And I regret to inform you he did not survive.”

“Damn!” Faith said. “I was hoping to get his autograph. But I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. I mean, the only previous celebrity I ever met was Mike Mickerberg and that was for just long enough to blow him all over his yacht.”

“Excuse me?” Julianna said, her eyes wide.

“He’d zombied,” Faith said. “Long very ugly story. Join the Marines, travel to exotic foreign lands, meet interesting people and kill them. Oorah, then, let’s move out. We’ll come back later and see if we can find the guys.”

“There is one other thing,” Julianna said.

“There’s not a lot of infected left on the island,” Faith said. “But there are some. We should be inside the perimeter. Quick.”

“The situation in the storeroom…” Julianna said. “We…Some of us had to…Deal with…”

“You figured out quick you couldn’t keep them alive?” Faith said. “No harm, no foul. What happens in the compartment, stays in the compartment. That all?”

“Yes?” Julianna said, clearly surprised.

“Long story again,” Faith said. “We’re getting ready to make them into vaccine. Strangling infected is sort of the story of the day for survivors. Oorah, if that is absolutely all, Rapunzel, let’s roll.”

“Holy cow, Sis, is that who I think it is?” Sophia asked. She and the Naval Landing personnel were securing the landing point.

“The boss is…” She pulled out her notebook and frowned. “Princess Julianne Gusterston or something. And, yeah, it’s all celebutantes and stuff. I didn’t get the whole story. I was too busy wading through the drool from my Marines. And Miss Boob of the Month tried to molest me she was so excited.”

“SERGEANT MAJOR!” Sophia bellowed. Her Landing Force personnel were starting to cluster up on the starlets and debutantes.

“Hadley, what the bloody hell are you doing off your post?” Sergeant Major Barney bellowed. “Eyes had better bloody well stay out and on your sectors!”

“Get the evacuees moved off to the boats, Sergeant Major!” Sophia ordered.

“You heard the ensign!” Barney bellowed. “Help the ladies to the Zodiacs you sods!”

“Gunny, pin the perimeter,” Faith said. “I need to talk to higher.”

“Aye, aye, ma’am,” Gunny Sands said. “First Squad right, second left, spread it out and take fixed position…”

“Kodiak Ops, Kodiak Ops, Shewolf, over.”

“Go, Shewolf,” the colonel replied.

“Survivors from the fort recovered,” Faith said. “Report additional possible survivors interior. Break. No functioning vehicles found in immediate AO. Request additional frago, over.”

“What is your evaluation of the security situation, over?”

“My opinion is that we can ground pound this island,” Faith said. “But I may be wrong. There could be clusters, and vehicles make them easier to break contact. My suggestion is that we move out in a group and try to find functional vehicles, then sweep for additional survivors, over.”

“Confirm,” Hamilton said. “Use caution. Over.”

“Wilco,” Faith said. “Be advised, group is celebrities. Have been some discipline issues. Over.”

“Any major incidents, over?”

“Negative,” Faith replied as Anna Holmes walked over. “I’ve waded knee deep through dead bodies. I can wade though ankle deep drool easy enough. Over.”

“Will keep issues in mind. Kodiak, out.”

“May I help you, ma’am?” Faith asked.

“I…One of the men told me you two are in charge?” Anna said firmly.

“Yes, ma’am,” Sophia said. “It’s a real pleasure to meet you, Miss Holmes. I’m a big fan.”

“You may not be for long,” Anna said, lifting her chin. “I need to turn myself in on the charge of murder in the first degree.”

“Oh,” Sophia said, blinking. “Seriously? You were the strangler?”

“Yes,” Anna said after a puzzled moment.

“I’m sorry for that,” Sophia said. “That’s hard. I’ve never had to do it but…Plenty of people have. Our chief had to strangle his wife.”

“Colonel had to kill his wife and kids,” Faith said, shrugging. “I was wondering why you sort of ran off. But I told Rapunzel: What happens in the compartment, stays in the compartment. We were talking about whether that’s different ’cause we’re on land instead of a boat. But…we’re not going to bring charges or anything. Hell, I’d be up for so many murder charges at this point you’d have to have a really big computer to figure them all out.”

“I’m credited with saving over two thousand people at sea,” Sophia said. “My thuggish sister here is credited with probably two or three times that number of kills.”

“Never strangled one, though,” Faith said, shrugging. “I’ve always got knives and guns to go around.”

“Halligan tool,” Sophia said.

“Machete.”

“Axe.”

“Crow bar.”

“So…what do I do now?” Anna said. She seemed deflated.

“Three days grace, then you see if there’s anything you’re good at,” Sophia said softly. “Clean compartments if that’s all you can do. Or go in with the sick, lame and lazy who aren’t willing to help. And we need all the help we can get. But… you’re famous and everything. I mean, I’m a really big fan. But… that was then. It’s about what you do now that counts. Now.”

“Okay,” Anna said.

“And right now what you need to do is get on the Zodiac, ma’am,” Sophia said, shaking her hand again. “Keep the faith. You survived. That’s important. There still aren’t many of us.”

They waved as the boat left, then Faith turned to Sophia.

“Thuggish?” she said.

“It means a person who is a brute,” Sophia said. “A murderer…”

“I know what it means!” Faith said. “Thuggish? Seriously? You think I’m thuggish? Thank you! You’ve never said anything so nice…” She sniffed theatrically. “Gunnery Sergeant!”

“Ma’am?” Gunny Sands said.

“I need wheels, Gunnery Sergeant,” Faith bellowed. “Your boss has a delicate figure that is disinclined to walking. Think of me as a tottering little celebrity in high heels. You will find me a working vehicle on this island. Oorah?”

“Oorah, ma’am!”

“In the meantime, it is…what’s that thing about personal carriers?”

“Leather personnel carriers, ma’am?”

“Leather personnel carriers it is, Gunny. Oorah?”

“Oorah, ma’am.”

“Move out.”

“I have never hated a fucking island more,” Faith said as a tall, distinguished and very thin man walked up with an angry expression on his face. Before he could even open his mouth, Faith made a lightning draw and put the barrel in the man’s face.

“If you say ‘Do you know who I am?’ I swear I will pull the trigger,” she said, then holstered the weapon. “No, I don’t know who you are. No, I don’t care who you are. I wouldn’t care if you were the God-damned President of the United States. We have one car, it is purely for people who are too far gone to walk and you are not in that category. I am walking. You are walking. Gunny! Get this idiot out of my face…!”

“Before you even start,” Sergeant Major Barney bellowed. “No, we do not know who you are! No, we do not bloody well care. Unless you’re a prince of the blood royal, of Britain mind you, I really do not care. Follow bloody damned directions, even if it’s from the snotty driving the bloody Zodiac, and you’ll all come out right and tight. If you would prefer, and we certainly do, we will issue you a weapon and a magazine of ammunition and you can take your chances with the bloody infected on the island. Takers? No? Then line the fuck up and shut your stupid mouths!”

“Oh, my God,” Faith said, almost squealing. “I know who he is!”

“Is that…?” Sergeant Smith said.

“I have always appreciated the brave men and women who protect our nation,” Harold Chrysler said, shaking Faith’s hand. “But never has my heart been more filled with the pride of being an American than today. It is an honor to shake your hand, Lieutenant.” He’d played a president in more than one film and had the presence to pull the line off.

“It’s…uh…Oorah, sir,” Faith said. She realized she was getting ready to babble and cleared her throat. “It’s an honor as well, sir. Big fan, big fan.”

“I’m honored,” Chrysler said. “Is there anything I can do to help?”

“Uh…oorah?” Faith said. “Sir?”

“Try to help herd the cats, sir?” Sergeant Smith said, thumbing towards the civilians. “We have got to keep them in the perimeter and not straggling or scattering…” There was a shot from the rear and the gunny bellowed: “STAY ON SECTOR.”

“’Cause of, well, that, sir,” Faith said, regaining her composure. “They keep…not staying in the perimeter. Which means if they get too far out, they’re in the target zones. And they keep bugging the Marines who need to stay on alert and not answering questions. I swear, they’ve got no more sense of survival than a baby duck.”

“The wealthy and powerful, even after all they have been through, tend to believe that they are invincible because of ‘who they are,’” Chrysler said. “I have no such illusions, but I grew up a working stiff.” He leaned forward to whisper in Faith’s ear. “I don’t suppose I could borrow a pistol?”

“Round in the chamber, sir,” Faith said, ripping one of her chest carries out.

“In the chamber?” Chrysler said, pulling back the slide just far enough to check. He carefully slipped the safety on as well.

“It’s a zombie apocalypse, sir,” Faith said. “I’d appreciate it if you don’t use it to herd the cats, though, sir. I’ve had to draw more than once but that’s me, sir. I can get away with it.”

“I’ll keep that in mind, Lieutenant,” Harold said, slipping the H&K into the waistband of his jeans. “Is there any news from the States?”

“I’ll put it in perspective, sir,” Sergeant Smith said. “You’re looking at sixty percent of the total manning of the United States Marine Corps, sir. The LT is number six in line of succession from the commandant. And she’s thirteen.”

“Almost fourteen!” Faith snapped.

“Oh, God,” Chrysler said, breathing deeply. “I thought…I thought maybe this was just what was available for such a minor… This is all?”

“Yes, sir,” Smitty said softly. “I was on the Iwo Jima, sir. We lost it to the infected till the LT and her dad came in and pulled us out.”

“Sir, we need to get going,” Faith said. “You’ll get some time off at the boats. We’ll have to cover the questions there.”

“I understand,” Harold said, shaking her hand again. “Again, thank you for your service. And you as well, Sergeant. I’ll go do what I can about the baby ducks…”

“Why can’t they all be that way?” Faith asked.

“Like he said, ma’am,” Smitty said. “Born a working stiff.”

“I guess,” Faith said. “Gunnery Sergeant! Get this wagon train a-movin’!”

“Aye, aye, ma’am. YOU HEARD THE SKIPPER! MOVE OUT…!”