Islands of Rage and Hope (eARC) (29 page)

"Any other takers?" Athena said. "And, Brenda, if you raise your hand I swear I will break it off at the wrist."

There weren't.

"Fine," Athena said. "And, yes, I get the guys to do all the work. It's called 'delegation,' Brenda. And if I delegate something to you, you're
going
to do it. In fact... You wanted to know what kind of water. Fine. He said those boxes had water," she said, pointing. "Find out what kind and how much. Take Sarah..."

"Wait," Sarah Cassill said, raising her hand. "I've got a question."

"What now?" Athena said, tiredly.

"Um...What's Brandon doing in here?"

The crowd parted to reveal Brandon Jeeter, vocalist and every teen girl's heartthrob.

"Good question," Athena said, her hands on her hips. "What
are
you doing in here?"

"I
wanted
to go with the guys," Brandon said, holding up his hands helplessly. "This cop just kept pushing me into the girl group."

"Figures," Sarah said, laughing. "
Nobody
believes you're a guy. Even French cops can figure out the truth."

"I am totally a dude," Brandon said shrilly. "And, by the way, got
nothing
for any of you. That's why I wanted to be with the
guys
. I told him, 'Do you know who I am?' and he, like, said 'Nun' or something. I am
not
a
nun
! I'm not even a
chick
!"

Athena, Anna and at least three of the other women dropped their heads into their hands. Athena got enough of a look to know which had at least
some
clue.

"The word is 'non,'" Athena said. "French for 'no.' Meaning that he didn't know who you were and could care less. Sarah and Janet help Brenda get an inventory of the water. Anna and... Oh, hello, Your Highness."

"Hello again, Athena," Princess Julianna Gustavason said. "Nice of you to finally notice."

"I'm surprised you didn't raise your hand is all," Athena said sweetly.

"Like I
wish
to be in charge of this?" Princess Julianna said. "Why don't Anna and I take the food stores?"

"Thank you," Athena said. "But hold off for a second. Any thoughts on how we're going to keep from biting each other when one of us turns? Seeing Hector go all Hulk was really fucking unpleasant. It took half the crew to subdue him and he bit Terry and Phillip in the process.
And
it could happen any second."

There were a series of prettily furrowed brows, then Christy tentatively raised her hand.

"Yes," Athena said, pointing. "Christy."

"We could tie each other up?" Christy said tentatively.

"This isn't a porn flick, Christy," Athena said with a sigh.

"No..." Anna said. "She has a point. If we're secured, the...afflicted is easier to subdue. Or she should be."

"I'm not going to be tied up when one of you goes nuts," Sarah Cassill said. "Not going to happen. And besides who is the last to get tied? Leaves one untied, right?"

"Possibly light restraints?" Princess Julianna said. "Easily removed on the wrists. When we're not moving around, tight on the feet. Possibly comes sort of hobble when we are forced to move. That way, at least, the afflicted isn't free to move around. When one of us turns, we can pile on?"

"What's this
we
shit?" Sarah said. "
I'm
not getting bit."

"It's a thought," Athena said. "I'm just having a hard time with it being
Christy's
good idea. No offense, Christy."

"It's okay," Christy said.

"Is there any rope? Yes...Christy," she said, pointing as the girl raised her hand again.

"I gotta pee," Christy said.

"Why didn't you go before we left?" Athena said angrily.

"It was a long walk," Christy said, hanging her head.

"Fine," Athena said. "Somebody bang on the door for our friendly--"

She paused as there was a clearly heard shot in the corridor beyond the door. Then screaming.

"Or...perhaps not," Athena said, running over to one of the partially empty shelves. "Julianna, Anna, Sarah, Christy! Help me push!"

There was a loud bang against the door followed by a series of irregular thumps and a keening howl.

"PUSH DAMNIT!" Athena yelled.

The shelving section tipped over and effectively barricaded the door. Whatever was on the other side just kept banging, though. And now there were ration boxes all over the floor.

"Now I
really
gotta pee," Christy whimpered. She had her hands over her crotch.

"I think we all do," Athena said. She walked over to a pallet of five gallon buckets and read the labels. "Sarah, Brenda, new job. Get into this pallet and get out a bucket. It's semolina, basically cream of wheat. Dump it on the floor. Keep some in the bottom for absorption. Christy, use that. Everybody else, start looking for anything that resembles rope before one of us turns..."

"Fuck you, you pampered bitch!" Snoopi Lucessa suddenly screamed.

"What did you say?" Athena said, raising one eyebrow.

"I said fuck you!" Snoop screamed. "I don't take orders from some...what the fuck is on me? WHAT THE
FUCK
IS ON ME...?"

"TURNING!" Princess Julianna yelled.

Most of the women scattered, screaming, but Julianna, who was slightly behind the smaller woman, height-wise anyway, hit her with an expert rugby tackle and drove the New Jersey native facedown to the floor.

"Rope! String! Anything!" Athena yelled, grabbing Snoopi by the hair and holding her gnashing teeth away from the princess.

Christy, who hadn't run but only because she was standing dumbstruck, reached under her blouse and whipped out a Texas-small bikini top at the speed of light. There was a tidal-wave of objects. Cash, change, lipstick and make-up, a tiny Bible, a micro bottle of Hennessy brandy, four packages of peanut M&Ms, a bottle of mouthwash, a package of nylons and three Trojan "SuperMax" unlubricated condoms all tumbled out. After a moment a small gold bar clinked to the floor.

"Yeah," Athena said, taking a moment to boggle. "That works."

It eventually took six women to subdue the "afflicted" but with various bits of underwear, bathing suits and strips of cloth ripped from blouses and sundresses, they finally had her hogtied. Christy also turned out to be surprisingly good at knots.

"That caught me off guard," Athena admitted. She was sitting on the struggling
Jersey City
star since it was the only pillow around. "I'm still not sure she's actually turned. Is there a
difference
between this and her regular personality...?"

"God, Athena, you are such a bitch," Brenda McCartney said.

"Takes one to know one," Athena said. "And, yeah, I am. I'm
such
a bitch I've already thought about what happens
next
. Like, what the fuck do we do with her, now?"

"Wait till the guy outside seems to be gone and throw her out the door?" Sarah Cassill said after a long moment of contemplative silence.

"Do we untie her first?" Athens said. "No? Think that's a bad idea? Me too. So we turn her into zombie chow? That's the same as killing her. Worse, really. Not saying no, but be clear about it. That's killing her.
And
letting her be eaten. Votes on throwing Snoopi off the island?"

"We have to take care of her," Brenda McCartney said definitely. "She's sick. We have to take care of her."

"That's so...
paladin
of you, Brenda," Athena said. "Fine. You do it. How are you going to keep her from getting free and biting the rest of us? In
here
. We don't even have a fucking mattress. You going to feed her? Clean up when she craps and pisses? You want the Snoopi puppy, you have to take care of it. Speaking of which: What do I smell?"

"I don't have to pee anymore," Christy said, wiping her eyes. Her makeup was smeared all over her face.

"Do we have anything to clean it up?" Julianna said. "Don't worry about it, Christy. I think I peed myself, too."

"Snoopi's clothes?" Anna said. "And you obviously know what to do, Athena. You're using Socratic Dialectic to lead us to your conclusion."

"I don't have a good answer," Athena said, frowning prettily. "I have an answer but it's not a
good
answer. I don't think there
is
a good answer. The best is probably Sarah's in some ways.
If
we could safely open the door. I don't think we can. Can we get those shutters off the window?"

Ten minutes of fruitless searching for a control or release yielded the answer: No. The shutters were immovable. And when they tried the door, even moved the shelf blocking it, there was an immediate response from the other side.

"So what is the bad answer?" Julianna said.

"She's already gagged," Athena said. "Hold her nose till she stops struggling."

"Mercy, Athena," Julianna said. "Even for you that is cold."

"That's murder," Brenda McCartney said. "You'll go to jail for the rest of your life. At least
you'll
deserve it!"

"That is what well-paid lawyers are for," Athena said. "'Oh, it was so terrible in the storeroom!'" she said in a little girl voice, looking pitiful. "'The claustrophobia! Boo hoo! I don't know what came over me! It was just like Patty Hearst. And it was Brenda's idea!' But there are still more physical, nonsocial, problems. The body will...decompose. It will get much nastier than a puppy puddle on the floor in here. It's going to, anyway. But a decomposing body is a whole other order of nasty. And I'm not sure I can do it. I mean, I've
thought
about holding her head under water until she stops struggling since her show started, not to mention the whole damned
shoot
. But actually doing it is another thing. So I'm open to suggestions."

"Table it," Anna said. "She is not going anywhere. We still need to find something besides Christy's reducing remnants of clothing to secure ourselves. And in the meantime, we can build...facilities and possibly find some answer to the dilemma."

"I don't think there is an answer to the Plague in here, Anna," Athena said, standing up. "But I take your point. Let's go shopping!"

There was more than food and water in the room: The storehouse had been set up to respond to a variety of disasters. St. Barts was subject to both hurricanes and earthquakes, as were surrounding islands. Besides food and water there was a supply of blue tarps, three boxes of "thermal" blankets, rope, rigger tape and other materials of the disaster response trade. There were even boxes of baby wipes. What there was not came down to medical supplies, a knife to
cut
the rope--couldn't they have included some box cutters?--toilet paper, so much as
one
chemical toilet, damnit, or a cure for H7D3. Or some toilet paper for God's sake? And, oh, yeah, some
tampons
maybe?

"What are these?" Anna said, holding up what looked like an American MRE package except for being an odd pink.

"Emergency meals," Athena said. "Hey, Sarah, good news! There's vegetarian! It's even halal."

"What's halal?" Sarah said warily.

"Kosher for Islamics," Athena said. "Just one case of toilet paper is too much to ask?"

"Baby wipes," Anna said.

"We only have two cases of those," Athena said. "These bitches will go through them in a day. Baby wipes are only for personal body cleaning. You can use one to clean your ass when you're done with the rest of your body. Open up one of the halal meals and see if it's got toilet paper in it."

"How do I get it open?" Anna said. The package was strong plastic and had no convenient opening tabs.

"A knife," Athena said. "Your teeth?"

"I'll get it," Christy said. She tore into the package with her teeth.

"God, I hope you don't turn," Athena said, wincing as the girl chewed through the heavy plastic. "If this was being recorded, no guy would ever again accept a blowjob from you."

"She's not going to be able to bite through this rope," Julianna said, holding up a coil of line.

"Speaking of Brenda..." Athena said. "Sorry, I meant Snoopi..."

"Very funny, Athena," Brenda snarled.

"How you feeling, Bren?" Athena said with mock sympathy. "Wishing you had some
vaccine
?"

"Just shut the fuck up, Athena," Brenda said.

"Prisoners figure out how to create knives out of nothing," Athena said. "Now if we only had Linsey in here with us..."

"You take a piece of metal and grind it on the concrete till it's sharp," Sarah said.

"Sounds about right," Athena said. "Where'd you pick that up?"

"Hello?" Sarah said. "
Jailhouse Island
?"

"Ah, yes," Athena said. "Academy material at its finest. Right up there with
Casablanca
in the annals of American cinematography. I was surprised you didn't win the Oscar for that one. Especially given your nickname in the Academy."

"And what do you call this?" Julianna said, amused. "A group of female celebrities trapped in a storehouse during a plague. What madman would try to submit
that
script?"

"A total pervert," Athena said. "That's for sure. And the answer is: '
Celebrity Survivor, Zombie Apocalypse: The shit just got real.'
Still not getting the rope cut. We need sections of rope to play bondage-girl-party. We can't just keep tearing up Christy's clothes. I mean, well, we c--
Just try to find something with an edge!
I can't believe none of you have so much as a nail file."

"Like this?" Christy said, pulling one out of her hair.

"In your
hair
?" Athena said, clearly trying not to scream. "Your
hair,
for God's sake? Do I even
want
to ask what a full body cavity search would turn up? Do you happen to be carrying a
helicopter
somewhere?" She looked at the girl's face and sighed. "I'm sorry, Christy," she said, hugging her. "I'm scared, too. And it's great you were carrying so much useful stuff. I wish I had your..." She looked down, then back up. "Foresight."

As she spoke the lights went out.

"Joy," Athena said, with a sigh. "In seriousness, I don't suppose you have a flashlight...somewhere...?"