Not so much the body recovery teams. There was one of those in the distance walking next to a front-end loader. They were accompanied by a Navy master-at-arms who was armed. Also keeping them in front of him. As she watched, they stopped and picked up the pieces of what had once been a member of the base, tossing them into the bucket of the front-end loader.
“Every day’s a holiday and every meal’s a banquet,” Faith responded.
“Every day I’m not trapped in a compartment is a good day, ma’am,” Smitty said, grinning. “And at least it ain’t August. I hear it gets a bit hot here then. How’ve you been, if I may ask, ma’am?”
“I hear there are people who adore paperwork,” Faith said. “Sophia kind of likes it. Me, not so much. And apparently that’s what officers are for; doing paperwork. Nobody told me that when I took the oath. I’m sort of feeling screwed.” She grinned to show it was a joke.
“We’ve got a float coming up, ma’am,” Sergeant Smith said. “That should take care of some of it.”
“Yep,” Faith said. “Islands to clear, zombies to kill, people to save. My kind of party. You seen Staff Sergeant Barnard?”
“She’s up by Corinaso Point, ma’am,” Smitty said.
“Well, I guess I need to go to Corinaso Point, then,” Faith said. “Take care, Smitty.”
“Will do, ma’am,” Smitty said.
“So that’s the LT?” Lance Corporal Robert “Bubba” Freeman said.
“That is Shewolf,” Smitty said. “I think she got the word she was supposed to act more like an officer or something. Or she’d be down here pitching weapons with the rest of us.”
“No disrespect intended, Sergeant,” LCP Freeman said. “I just have a hard time with…I mean you and the rest of the Iwo Marines have talked about her, but…”
“Do not let Shewolf fool you,” PFC Kirby said. “She is one absolute badass. Forget the video. You gotta see her in action for it to make any sense.”
“She’s not all that hot at long-range,” Smith said. “Zombie gets within fifty meters of her and zap it’s gone. We’re all good. With Shewolf it’s like breathing. None of which matters. She is, yeah, our platoon leader and a Marine officer and you show her that respect. Trust me, when you’ve worked with her for a while you won’t just show her respect. You’ll want to have her babies.”
“Staff Sergeant,” Faith said, getting out of the Humvee. She kept wondering when she was going to get driving lessons. But officers got drivers so, so far, it was all good.
“Ma’am,” Barnard said, saluting.
“We need to get this operation terminated by thirteen hundred,” Faith said, returning the salute. “Which means all vehicles back at the pier? The stuff that hasn’t been sorted and prepped we’re now going to do on the boats. So all that has to be prepped this evening for loading. And I want a one hundred percent inspection of all gear before lights out. Most of our load-out is being handled by Navy: ammo and suchlike, okay? But the teams need to get their gear prepped for the float. If there’s anything that needs to be DXed, better we do it here which means tonight, okay? Load-out starts at zero five tomorrow morning which means first call at zero three. I convinced the colonel we could use the extra couple hours. If it takes all night, well, it’s a sixteen-hour float to Anguilla and we don’t have anything to do the first night, okay?”
“Yes, ma’am,” Staff Sergeant Barnard said.
“Anything you want to bring up?” Faith said.
“No, ma’am,” Staff Sergeant Barnard said. “Back to the piers by thirteen hundred. Evening ops will be prep for float. Is that all, ma’am?”
“Yep,” Faith said. “I guess I’ll see you back at the boat.”
That evening Staff Sergeant Barnard stopped by the colonel’s office.
“Busy as we are, sir,” Barnard said uncomfortably, “moment of your time?”
“Of course, Cindy,” Hamilton said, waving her in. “As long as it’s not a long moment. Issues?”
“I need some counseling on something, sir,” Barnard said, closing the hatch. “It has to do with Lieutenant Smith…”
“Booyah!” Faith said as the Grace Tan cleared the harbor mouth.
She was sooo glad to be back to doing what she knew: Killing zombies. The whole prep thing had been nothing but a nightmare of not knowing what to do and knowing that she was getting it all wrong. This she knew.
“Happy, ma’am?” Corporal Douglas said, grinning.
They were standing by the side rail watching the land slide by since at the moment there was nothing else to do. Everything was stowed and locked down and the preoperations meeting wasn’t for another two hours.
“I can’t believe I was getting sick of the land,” Faith replied, a tad dishonestly.
“Well, we’re going to be on land soon enough, ma’am,” Douglas said.
“It’s different, Derk,” Faith said. “Another zombie killing smash-and-grab. That’s not the same as being stuck on land, or for that matter on the Bo, doing paperwork.”
“Lieutenant Smith to the Colonel’s office,” the tannoy boomed. “Lieutenant Smith to the Colonel’s office.”
Faith started to open her mouth to say something like “What now?” and then checked it.
“Gotta go, Derk,” Faith said.
“Yes, ma’am,” Douglas said, smiling. “Your master’s voice.”
CHAPTER 12
“Morning, Faith,” Hamilton said, waving to a chair. “Glad to be headed out?”
“Yes, sir,” Faith said, sitting down. She quirked an eyebrow at Staff Sergeant Barnard who didn’t respond at all. Uh, oh.
“Faith,” Hamilton said. “Staff Sergeant Barnard brought something up with me that I hadn’t really noticed…for various reasons. A habit that you’ve developed. It’s both a minor issue and a major issue, which will make sense in a moment. The habit is a minor issue that’s easily corrected. The reason for the habit is what’s the major issue and we’ll try to resolve that as well. First things first. This is a counseling session. There are various types in the Marines, verbal, written, etc. They’re generally thought of as punitive. In this case, it’s a counseling session in the same way as a psychological counseling session. Despite my promise not to psychoanalyze you, we’re going to delve into some of that at a certain point. However, this is not proscriptive. It is not punitive. We’ve got an issue and we’re going to resolve it. Do you understand?”
“Not really, sir,” Faith said, trying not to look at Barnard. She felt as if she’d been stabbed in the kidneys. “I’m not sure what the problem is, sir.”
“Staff Sergeant?”
“Ma’am,” Barnard said. “With due respect, are you aware that you end practically every sentence with a question?”
“No?” Faith said after a moment’s thought. “I do?”
“Yes, ma’am,” Barnard said. “You just did. And, no offense intended, but it makes you sound…” She paused and looked at the colonel.
“What the staff sergeant is trying not to say is that a Marine officer should appear and sound confident,” Hamilton said. “After the issue was brought up I discussed it with Captain Wilkes and Lieutenant Volpe, both of whom expressed surprise at the question. They had never noticed it. They found you exceptionally confident, especially given your age and lack of experience. Which leads me to believe that the lack of confidence, if that is what this manifests, is recent. Any thoughts?”