“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 Rapunzeclass="underline" 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!”