Islands of Rage and Hope (eARC) (30 page)

"No," Christy said. "Sorry."

"I'm not sure if I'm disappointed or relieved," Princess Julianna said, chuckling.

Fortunately, there were enough gaps around the edges of the hurricane shutters that after their eyes adjusted they could see. Sawing through the ropes with one small nail file took time However, they had nothing but. And, even more fortunately, the gagged Snoopi was so far the only one to turn. And gagged.

There was, surprising Athena not at all, a massive collective knowledge of various ways to tie someone up.

"Or we could tie our wrists to our knees, like this..." Sarah said, using Christy as a model.

"We need to be able to get out of them," Julianna said.

"Tighter," Christy said huskily.

"Not the
point
, Christy," Anna said, hands on her hips.

"Wanna make out?" Christy asked, her eyes lighting.

"LATER!" Athena bellowed. "Just concentrate to the extent you can."

"Getting harder," Sarah said.

"I always wondered if you had those parts, Sarah," Athena said.

"Why is everyone in my industry
insane
?" Anna said, holding up her hands. "Can we get serious for a moment? I am going to kill my agent for talking me into this. 'It's in St. Barts, for God's sake. You'll have fun!'"

"Honestly," Athena said, "I'd rather be
here
than L.A. And if there is a God, all agents are going to be eaten. Not getting the problem solved..."

Best ways to secure themselves were eventually determined and Sarah and Christy got some, more or less, alone time at the back of the compartment. Although it was pointed out that either one could turn at any moment.

"I just wish they would keep it down," Anna said, hopping over to sit next to Athena. She leaned up against the shelving and sighed.

"Oh, I don't know," Athena said, shrugging. "If I didn't have a strong sense of self-preservation, I'd think about joining in."

"Don't look at me," Anna said. "Go see Rebekah if you want someone's neck to bite."

"But it's a very nibblable neck, Anna," Athena said, smiling.

"Not funny in the circumstances, Athena," Anna said. She gestured with her chin to Snoopi. "And that problem still remains. The answer to your earlier dilemma is the tarps and tape in case you hadn't noticed."

"I did," Athena said. "But...I can't do it. I just can't."

"Fine," Anna said, standing up and hobbling over to Snoopi. She dropped her light wrist restraints, turned the struggling girl over facedown and sat on her back, pinning her to the ground. Then she reached around and pinched the former reality star's nose closed.

"What do you think you're doing?" Brenda said angrily.

"What does it
look
like I am doing?" Anna said. She had her head turned away and her eyes closed. But she was still holding the girl down with almost no expression on her face.

"You can't do that," Brenda protested weakly.

"Just bloody well shut up, Brenda," Anna said. "If I face the High Court I'll simply plead guilty."

Finally, Snoopi stopped struggling. Anna checked for a carotid pulse, then stood up with the back of her hand over her mouth.

"Brenda, go get a tarp and a roll of gaffer tape," she said, her voice muffled. "Julianna, Athena, strip her. We need the rags and ties. Now, I'm going to go throw up. And don't
anyone
make a joke about the world 'becoming a better place.'"

"How are you doing?" Athena said, sitting down next to Anna.

Brandon Jeeter, a "male" teen heart throb of such questionable sexuality
French
police categorized him as a woman, had just been added to the growing pile at the back of the storehouse. One by one over the last week members of the group had turned. First Snoopi, then Brenda McCartney, who before her death confessed she would have "cracked her own mother's skull" for access to a vaccine despite her long-running opposition to the entire concept of vaccination. Rebekah Villon, famous mostly for her role as insipid character Berra from the
Midnight
movies and amazingly useless douchebag. Ines Moretti, has been a
Beverly Hills Teen Force
star, PETA activist, aggressive sponsor of all things vegan, peace activist and flaming bitch, frankly. Heather Marks, overendowed blonde-bombshell super-model, virtually an Untouchable in Hollywood since coming out of the closet in opposition to abortion and as a concealed carry proponent. Also one of the small group Athena had come to depend upon to get things done. Last, prior to Brandon, was Michelle Bazuin, just about the most cold-hearted bitch in a land of cold-hearted bitches, whose transformation was particularly ironic, in Athena's opinion, given her one big movie was
Zombiehood
.

And Anna, quiet, composed, caring Anna, had strangled every single one to death with that same quiet, composed, cold expression.

"Strange," Anna said, rubbing her hands. "Feeling very much like Macbeth. The king, not the lady. Out, out, damned rope burns. And conflicted. I feel immense loss when someone as wonderful as Heather turns. We needed her."

"Agreed," Athena said. "I miss her."

"And I feel even more guilt with those who..." Anna said, her face working. "I hate that... It was
Brandon
. The only guy, sort of, in the compartment and he could barely be forced to lift a box of rations much less be any
real
help. The world truly
is
a better place. God help me for thinking it much less saying it no matter how true. Conflicted."

"New rule," Athena said, slipping out of her restraints and putting her arm around the girl. "Only you get to. And I think you switched a u for an a in that sentence. But you're right.
This
is certainly a better place with him gone. Now if I could suggest Sarah?"

"Don't, please, Athena," Anna said.

"I'm scared," Athena said. "I'm also...I've had a fever the whole time we've been in here. It won't go away. I know what that means and it scares me. I get...bitchy, sarcastic and have a bad sense of humor when I'm scared. We all are. Christy just wants to fool around as much as possible before she goes. I don't know why that girl never did porn."

"She told me nobody would take her seriously as an actress," Anna said, holding up her hand as if swearing. "Honestly. That's what she said when I asked."

"Well, she had good advice in that," Athena said, boggling slightly.

"If I turn..." Anna said, frowning. "If you're going to keep any credence as our leader, you will have to do it. And simply do it, Athena. Do not hesitate."

"I know," Athena said, her face working. "And I don't know...I don't..." She twitched and grabbed her left arm with her right hand, trying to quell a sudden muscle spasm. "I don't... NO! No...
Please
..."

"Sweet merciful..." Anna said, backing away fast. "ATHENA'S TURNING!"

When they had the group's leader pinned down, Anna slipped a rope around her friend's neck and gave herself more rope burns.

"Julianna, you're in charge, now," Anna said when Athena's body had been added to the pile. Even through double tarps the pile stunk and was covered in flies.

"I think you're in charge, kid," Sarah said sarcastically.

"I have
one
job in this room, Sarah," Anna said, turning to the starlet and staring at her with blank, dead, eyes. "Do not require my services."

"Has anybody heard anything from the U.S. government? I mean, what happened to the Army...?"

From:
Collected Radio Transmissions of The Fall

University of the South Press 2053

"Saint Barthelemy," Faith said, pointing to the satellite image. It was hazy due to cloud cover and thus there was a secondary map up. "It is generally called St. Barts. Main town and capital is Gustavia. French island, sort of. Usual history, got passed around in wars, in this case for a while to Sweden..."

The gunny had already taken training in hand and things were starting to shake down. She still wasn't happy with so many of the Gitmo Marines in squad leader positions but she was going to let the gunny and the colonel argue over that.

"That's why the capital has a Swedish name, oorah? Pre-Plague population estimate was seventy-three hundred but it had a lot of tourists. Those were mostly in the winter so we don't know how many, exactly, were on the island when the Plague hit. Harbor is a really nice U shape in Gustavia. Town sort of hooks around it. If it was bigger it would be an awesome harbor for big boats but only the yachts are going to be able to fit into it. Cargo pier is over here..." she said, pointing to the north of the main harbor.

"If we hook off the
Grace
that will be the landing point. This peninsula..." she continued, pointing to the west side of the main harbor, "has a military base for the local police. But it's occasionally used by visiting French forces. Satellite imagery has detected possible survivors here, here, here and at the military base. Recommend gunboats here, at this unnamed beach north, at this beach by the cargo pier, Shell Beach, south of Gustavia,
Anse du Governeur
, which is 'Governor's Cove.' Last division here, in the harbor, firing up this boat launch.

"After clearance fire, have the division by the boat launch, whichever is chosen, move over to support landing here on the tip of the peninsula. We can sweep the town and the military base on foot, then link up with the
Grace
to offload the five-tons, if we choose to do so. This town doesn't have a medical school, there's no really big hospital and the only reason we're really clearing it is it's on the way to the other objectives. Up to command if you want to do a thorough clear. Those are my recommendations, sir."

"Why the peninsula?" Hamilton asked. "Rather than the cargo pier?"

"If we don't get a really good clearance, the infected are going to have a hard time figuring out how to get over to the peninsula, sir," Faith said. "Sort of narrows their approach, sir. We can pull out any time pretty easy. And it's close to the military base, which seems to have some survivors, sir. From the looks of the pier we may be able to offload from the
Grace
there. It may be tight, though, but it's possibly doable. Worse comes to worst, we pull the survivors at the police station and shift by boat to the cargo pier."

"Concur," Hamilton said. "Lieutenant Commander Chen, Navy side."

"Ensign?" Chen replied.

"The main issue with the approach is reefs and shoals, sir," Sophia said. "Also wrecks. We've dealt with those before but this place is a whole nother order of crazy. The approach to the harbor has several small islands in the way and their reefs and shoals are very extensive. Then on the satellite it appears there's a large vessel, possibly an island support ship or a megayacht, overturned in the harbor entrance. It's hard to tell on the satellite but it looks as if the harbor is littered with sunk boats. We'll need to be very careful with navigation on the approach and we should make that very clear, and why, to all captains. The other firing points are actually clearer than the harbor approach. Stay away from the capes and you're good."

"Gunnery Sergeant Sands," Hamilton said. "Status of the Marine landing party?"

"They're still not up to the standards I'd prefer, sir," Sands said. "But they should be able to handle a simple vehicle level sweep, especially from open five-tons. I'm mostly uncomfortable with the lieutenant's choice to go ground mount and sweep for the initial landing. They're getting less skittish about infected, but it's still a toss-up if they will maintain fire discipline. I will be accompanying the landing, sir."

"Are you recommending against the peninsula landing?" Hamilton asked.

"No, sir," Gunny Sands said. "I'm going to be all over them the whole time we're on the ground, sir. We won't have a repeat of the incident at the medical school, sir."

"Lieutenant," Hamilton said. "I want you and the gunny to coordinate closely on how far you're going to do the ground sweep. Recover the survivors from the police base, then determine if you're going to sweep to the pier or shift. But I want you to discuss it. Issues?"

"No, sir," Faith barked.

"I want the full operations order on my desk by thirteen hundred," Hamilton said. "Good brief."

"Mission...blow the fuck out of a bunch of infected and rescue survivors...No, won't fly..." Faith said, biting her lip as she slowly typed with two fingers. "E... Expectations? No, Environment? C-O-M-E...? No, shit, it's...P-O-M-E? Why the fuck does the U.S. Marine Corps use Aussie slang...?"

"Pretty," Sophia said as they approached the island.

Saint Barthelemy was a volcanic island with lush vegetation. The main town, Gustavia, and the surrounding hills were packed with houses of all sizes, most sporting red-tile roofs. Once a destination for the "rich and famous" of Europe, it had obviously suffered from the secondary effects of the Plague. Many of the houses were burned out and the numerous cliffs and reefs that surrounded it were littered with boats of every size. And it wasn't just the shore. There were sunk boats
all over the place
. The "rich and famous" had had a lot of boats.

Sophia had the
Bella
anchored with the rest of the force well off-shore to the west of Les Gros Islets. She was making her way in in a Zodiac piloted by Olga and carefully checking the soundings.

"Nope," she said, looking back over the side into the clear water. There was a wooden sailboat, about sixty feet, sunk and turned on its side in the channel. Partially unfurled sails were flapping in the light tide. There was a school of medium sized fish using the boat for cover. "I'm not sure we
can
get the
Grace
in here without doing actual salvage and raising some of this."

"So what are we going to do?" Olga asked.

"Change the plan, I guess," Sophia said. "We've got to find a way to get the gunboats in at least. And we'll have to check
each
of the approaches. This is going to take time."

"Now is when we could use a helicopter, sir," Lieutenant Commander Chen said. "Much of this wasn't apparent on the satellite due to cloud cover."

"What's your plan, Commander?" Hamilton asked.

"Getting the
Grace
in is out of the question," Chen said, looking up at the police station. There were survivors. They were up on the roof waving a French flag at the moment. He wasn't sure if that was an order to stay away or what. Usually people had the sense to wave the American flag when they turned up. The odd part was that they all seemed to be women. "We'll find channels to get the gunboats in and just continue the plan, if that meets with your approval, sir."

"Any thoughts on the sweep?" Hamilton asked.

"We've swept towns this size in the Canaries just using locally acquired vehicles, sir," Chen said, shrugging. "This has more people, which
may
mean more infected. But we should be able to clear it without the five-tons, sir. The other issue is the gunship placement. Governor's Cove looks like a nonstarter. There isn't easy enough egress to attract many infected."

"Recommendations?" Hamilton said.

"We need to look at Baie de Saint Jean," Chen said. "We'd ignored it since it was on the windward side. And it's rocky. And even in the satellite you can see submerged wrecks. And their guns will be pointed at, well, us. And there's almost no channel. But it looks to be the only viable alternative."

"We need someone competent and responsible with that division," Hamilton said.

"I'll attach Chief Schmidt, sir," Chen said. "He'll make sure they're in their fire zones. And there are hills in the way. And I'll send Div Five. Bowman's a pretty good boat driver, sir."

"We're going to have to take another day," Hamilton said, looking up at the buildings on the peninsula. "I'm not going to pull up and then sail away. But we need to figure out these channels and pick our way in. That's a daylight operation. We'll pick our way in tomorrow, then do the usual zombie pre-wake. Without the party, of course."

"Of course, sir," Chen said.

"Get that spread and have Div Five move out as soon as the chief can get aboard," Hamilton said, watching an infected moving along the wharfs.

"Aye, aye, sir," Chen said.

"Bonus is it gives the gunny another day to rehearse the landing action," Hamilton said.

"That would be useful, sir," Chen agreed.

"What part of 'keep your barrel pointed at the deck' was unclear, PFC?" Gunnery Sergeant Sands growled.

"No excuse, Gunnery Sergeant!" Summers said, gulping.

"Why are you still standing, then?" Gunny Sands asked. "FRONT LEANING REST POSITION, MOVE! WHAT? YOU CAN'T COUNT...? THAT GOES FOR THE REST OF THE SQUAD! MOVE IT!"

"How's it going, Gunny?" Faith said, poking her head in the compartment.

The Marines had been training in the lower deck areas of the
Grace Tan
. Being a good little lieutenant she had stayed out of it and spent her time continually updating the operations plan when yet another snag was discovered.

"Just fine, ma'am," Gunny Sands said. "Coming right along."

"Passing the word that the operation has been put off for a day," Faith said. "All the harbors and other firing points are choked with wrecks. And we won't have the five-tons."

"Aye, aye, ma'am," Gunny Sands said. "Hear that, Marines? Good news! You get another full day of training! The more you sweat, the less you bleed!"

"I won't interfere with your fun, Gunny," Faith said, grinning. "But I'd like them to be able to walk and, you know, hold their arms up, when we hit the beach."

"They'll be dialed in, ma'am," Sands said. "We'll get it done. RECOVER! Now, try it again, this time WITH FEELING...!"

"I said to
port
, helmsman!" Chief Schmidt said, pointing. "That's
left
, you frigging yardbird!"

Trying to find a way into Baie de Saint Jean was bad enough. There was only one, narrow and twisty, channel deep enough to get the yachts and gunboats into the bay. And it was partially blocked by a powered catamaran that was upside down on the bottom. The "edges" of the channel weren't just shoals, either. They were nasty, jagged, rocks that were slightly below the low tide line.

Dealing with another undertrained, moronic,
child
driving a Zodiac was simply icing on the cake.

"Yes, sir," the Zodiac driver said nervously.

The nearly sixty-year-old formerly retired chief petty officer ground his teeth.
Damn that stupid game!

"I am not a 'sir,'" he retorted angrily. "And do not quote Halo or I swear to God I will throw you to the sharks and drive this boat myself!"

"Yes, si... Okay?" the driver said. "Hey, Chief?"

"What?" Schmidt growled.

"There's a boat coming this way."

"What?" Schmidt said. Sure enough, there was a sea kayak headed their way. It was only then that he noticed there were people, survivors, up on the big rock situated by the beach. The "rock" reared ten to twenty feet out of the water and had a cluster of buildings on it. Now there were people up on a balcony waving. About five.

"Away team, be advised, you're about to have company."

Schmidt straightened up and went back to the radio.

"Roger, Div Five, got that," he radioed. "Are we following the Prime Directive, over?"

"Bonjour! Bonjour!"
the very tanned man in the kayak said, pulling alongside the Zodiac and grabbing the sponson.

"Hey," Schmidt said. "Hope like hell you speak English."

"Mai oui,"
the man said. "Yes, of course! Serge Laurent Lamar,
monsieur
. We are pleased to finally see the U.S. Navy. We had given up hope. You are the U.S. Navy, yes?"

"We are the U.S. Navy, yes. Chief Petty Officer Kent Schmidt with Division Five, Kodiak Force."

"We are prepared to leave at any time," Lamar said. "St. Barts is beautiful but it palls after this long."

"Might want to hold off on that, sir," Schmidt said. "Although, probably gonna need to evacuate your group. We're going to be making a mess sometime in the next couple of days. This won't be someplace you want to stay for a while. But right now, I'm trying to figure out how to get into the bay. You got any clues about a better channel, sir?"

"No," Lamar said. "This is the best entry.
Pour qua
do you want to bring your boats in? There is a harbor in Gustavia."

"There are other boats over there, sir," Schmidt said. "See the fishing trawlers? They're gunboats. We've got the mission of killing off the infected in this area. Which we do with machine guns. The boats over on the other side of the island will do the same. Then Marines land and sweep the island. Then we leave and you can have it back."

"Will all the infected be...dead?" Lamar asked.

"As many as we can get in a day or so, sir," Schmidt said. "After that, up to you. We brought some guns along and there are some survivors at the police station. Presumably some of them are police."

"Certainement,"
Lamar said thoughtfully. "And for us? Our party?"

"When we do this we end up leaving behind a big pile of bodies, sir," Schmidt said. "You'll want to be elsewhere since it will have to be on that beach," he added, pointing to the smaller beach south of the rock. "You won't want to be around them as they decompose. Even if we can't get the boats in, we can pull you all out by Zodiac. If you're ready to go, they can all fit on this one. No luggage, though."

"Je comprends,"
Lamar said, nodding. "Can I ask...How bad is the rest of the world? Have you heard news of France?"