* * *
Faith trolled the dessert tray but she’d filled up on “regular” food and wasn’t quite ready to pile on pure sugar. The chocolate tray was tempting. Apparently someone had found a stash of Godiva. She ate a couple at the buffet then headed back to the Marine table. She was still tired and dessert could wait.
Half way across the room a hand grabbed her arm.
“Hey, Tootsie,” the man said, holding out an empty high-ball glass. “Get me another Glenlivet.”
Faith just stood there in shock for a moment. The dude, who looked to be in his early fifties, was clearly a “boat” freshy. He had one hell of a tan.
“Uh, sir… ” The table “sponsor” looked like one of the Money girls and had a slight Slavic accent. “That’s… ”
“Let go of my arm,” Faith said. “The last person who grabbed me I literally cut their fucking hand off at the wrist.”
“Do you know who I am?” the man snapped.
“Somebody who needs to learn some fucking manners,” Faith said, grabbing his thumb and twisting it into a lock.
“Ow!” the man said. “Jesus, let go of me you crazy bitch!”
Faith’s eyes blazed and she threw the man to the ground, putting his head in a lock with his arm twisted behind his back.
“I don’t know who you are, but do you know who I am?” Faith snarled.
“Lieutenant!” a voice snapped from behind her. “Let go of Mister Zumwald!”
She looked over her shoulder and it was, of course, Captain Wilkes. Great.
She released the man and rolled to her feet.
“Sorry, sir,” Faith said. “But I don’t like being grabbed and I especially didn’t like being called a bitch, sir.”
“Mister Zumwald, I apologize for the lieutenant’s overreaction.”
“Lieutenant?” the man gargled. “She’s insane! She needs to be locked up!”
“I will, I assure you, counsel the lieutenant on actions becoming of an officer in the United States military, sir,” Wilkes said. “Lieutenant, a moment of your time?”
* * *
Wilkes led Faith out of the main saloon onto the foredeck and turned around, hands on his hips.
“Lieutenant, would you care to explain your actions in there? You don’t put a major Hollywood executive in a headlock!”
“Sir… ” Faith said. She tended to get at a loss for words when she was being scolded and she really didn’t know what to say. “He grabbed me, sir!”
“So you put him in a chokehold?” Wilkes said. “There are situations that can be resolved without violence, Lieutenant. Has anyone ever explained to you the term ‘conduct unbecoming of an officer’? It means you don’t go brawling with anyone, especially major film executives, in public!”
“What was I supposed to do, sir?” Faith asked, angrily. “Bat my fucking eyes at him and go get him his fucking drink?”
“Lieutenant,” Wilkes said, coldly. “You are being officially counseled on what actions are becoming of an officer of the United States Naval Service. In addition, since you don’t know shit from shinola about being an officer, let me add that you don’t get to use a disrespectful tone or disrespectful language to the officer that is counseling you. These are articles of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, Lieutenant. You can be charged with conduct unbecoming for your recent actions. You also can be charged with disrespect to a superior officer for that outburst. Do you understand that, Lieutenant?”
“Yes, sir,” Faith said.
“Do you understand that an officer of the United States Naval service does not start a brawl because someone asked her to get them a drink?” Wilkes said.
“Yes, sir,” Faith said.
“And that an officer of the United States Naval service does not put someone in a chokehold, especially a major Hollywood executive?”
“Yes, sir,” Faith said.
“In addition, while you have had to, of necessity, spend a good bit of personal time with your Marines, when off-duty, when it is possible as is the case here on the Alpha, your place is with the officers, not the enlisted. There was an officer’s table in the saloon. Spend your time there.”
“Yes, sir.”
“You’ve had a trying few weeks,” Wilkes said. “You really shouldn’t have been sent out on a functionally independent mission given your age and inexperience. I will try to keep this incident from being reflected on your FITREP. But you had better start learning conduct becoming an officer or I will not be able to avoid reflecting that. Understood?”
“Yes, sir,” Faith said.
“I’ll go smooth things over with Mister Zumwald,” Wilkes said. “You should probably go to your cabin and get some more sleep. Understood?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Dismissed.”
Faith went back to her cabin, avoiding the saloon, wrapped herself around Trixie and cried herself to sleep.
CHAPTER 13
Me that ’ave been what I’ve been-
Me that ’ave gone where I’ve gone-
Me that ’ave seen what I’ve seen-
‘Ow can I ever take on
With awful old England again,
An’ ’ouses both sides of the street,
And ’edges two sides of the lane,
And the parson an’ gentry between,
An’ touchin’ my ’at when we meet-
Me that ’ave been what I’ve been?
“Get some sleep, LT?” Januscheitis said the next morning.
They were gearing up for clearance. It took some time.
“Some,” Faith said, tonelessly. “I really hate the Alpha. Clearing the Alpha gave me more nightmares than clearing the Voyage. And… ” she shrugged.
“Ghosts?” Bearson said.
“There’s no such thing as ghosts,” Faith replied.
“I don’t know, LT,” Derek said. “Every ship that’s lost people has ghosts. They call ’em ‘phantom watch standers.’ The Cole had ghosts. I’ve seen ’em on the Iwo, plenty of times.”
“Quit trying to freak your LT out,” Faith said. “It’s not working.”
“I’m not sure if I believe in ’em or not, LT,” Januscheitis said. “But… Pretty much everybody sort of knows about ’em. I don’t think they’re trying to freak you, LT. The ghosts on the Cole are just sort of there. Like they call ’em, watch standers. Almost comforting.”
“The ones on the Alpha aren’t comforting,” Faith said, tightly.
“How bad was the Alpha, ma’am?” pagliaro said. “You can see it got banged up, but… ”
“If you haven’t heard about what happened on the Alpha, ask somebody else,” Faith said. “I’m not going to talk about it. It was… bad. It wasn’t the fucking zombies, it was the people that had it before the zombies and what they did. I don’t like the Alpha. And if you’re serious then, yes, ghosts. They fucking talk to me when I’m sleeping. The women, anyway. They cry. I can hardly sleep on this fucking boat. Okay? On the other hand, I’ve got my own stateroom and my own shower. That makes up for a lot.”
“I heard you had a little incident last night, ma’am,” Januscheitis said. “Probably not the best change of subject… ”
“I was counseled by Captain Wilkes on conduct unbecoming an officer,” Faith said. “I now understand that one does not overreact and get into a brawl in public. And since it’s an officer thing, I’d like to drop that, too.”
“I heard the dude grabbed you, ma’am,” Kirby said.
“What part of drop it did you not get, PFC?” Januscheitis said.
“Sorry, Staff Sergeant,” Kirby said.
“Hopefully, despite being an ‘officer of the United States Naval service,’ I’ll be allowed to kill some zombies today,” Faith said, racking her Saiga. “Because I seriously need to kill somebody. And that’s all we need to talk about that.”