To Sail a Darkling Sea

CHAPTER 10

“Bloody hell, I’ve never in my life been this happy to see Yanks.”

Second Officer, Staff, Becky Kyle was the senior survivor they’d found. And they’d found a lot of survivors.

“Feel the love,” Faith said. The survivors had been escorted up to a café on the lounge deck. There were some windows with external light but it was mid-line and thus not brightly lit. They were all still suffering from photosensitivity. The café was getting fairly crowded and even some children had survived, which was a rarity. “But I’ll take that for somebody who managed to keep this many people alive. How did you, anyway?”

“When the plague was announced, the government put us in quarantine,” Third Officer Darren Arras said. “It was already on the island but they locked us down, anyway. We… segregated the infected. We tried to manage them but… ”

“We ended up taking them into some of the empty economy cabins,” Kyle said then shrugged. “There wasn’t much we could… ” she frowned and shook her head.

“We found them,” Faith said. “If it’s any consolation, New York City had warehouses that looked like that.”

“The quarantine wasn’t so much lifted as things just started falling apart,” Kyle continued. “Some of the passengers left the boat to find someplace on land. The ship’s officers left with some friends on a yacht.”

“Gotta love the loyalty,” Januscheitis said.

“Normal,” Faith said. “Same thing happened on the Voyage.”

“Voyage Under Stars?” Arras said. “I’m glad I wasn’t on that bloody floating abattoir.”

“Abat… ” Faith said. “Oh, slaughterhouse. Yeah. Pretty much covers it.”

“The team only got about a hundred people off the Voyage,” Januscheitis said, then gestured at Faith. “The Lieutenant… ”

“Not important,” Faith said. “How did you manage to keep so many people alive?”

“First Officer Zastrow,” Kyle said. “When it came apart, the First Officer requested passengers and crew fall back on the stores compartments. We… secured ourselves. There were water spigots from the main water stores. As long as that held out… ”

“We did the same thing on the Iwo Jima,” Januscheitis said. “But there was no plan. Just chaos.”

“I’d like to officially say as a representative of what is left of the United States Government that you and your crew did one hell of a job,” Faith said. “Better than any group we’ve found so far. In one of those stores compartments, I regret to tell you, the infecteds gained control. But you kept a lot of people alive. More than anyone could think possible.”

“We had to… ” Kyle said, then looked away. “There were some people, passengers and crew, in our compartment… ”

“That couldn’t handle the strain,” Januscheitis said. “And had to be dealt with.”

“Which is one of the reasons we hold to ‘what happened in the compartment, stays in the compartment,’” Faith said.

“One of our stewards kept trying to open the door,” Arras said, wincing. “We couldn’t keep him from trying. And we couldn’t keep him tied up all the time. Finally, there was an… incident.”

“What happens in the compartment, stays in the compartment,” Januscheitis said. “We’ll get some of the ‘Welcome to Wolf Squadron’ brochures printed up. Mostly it’s about making sure that people don’t think that what happened in the compartment is still okay after you get out. As soon as we’ve ensured the ship is free of infected, you can have the run of it.”

“However,” Faith said. “There is the issue of usage. And support. We’re almost entirely marine-based at this point. We’ve only cleared a few of these small towns and they’re only rough-cleared. We need people to help and we need this ship to tote those people. We’re running out of room with the ships that we’ve got. Which is good, it means more survivors. But we still need this ship. It’s in good shape compared to most we find and it’s fully ocean capable. So… ”

“I can’t exactly contact the owners for permission,” Kyle said, drily. “I’m not sure how the passengers will take it.”

“I generally start with ‘it’s better than being eaten.’” Faith said.

* * *

“Is your Lieutenant as young as she looks?” Kyle asked Januscheitis when they had a moment alone.

“Younger,” Januscheitis said. “Thirteen.”

“Bloody hell,” Kyle said. “How does one become a Marine lieutenant at thirteen?”

“Well, it helps that her father is the senior officer that’s not trapped somewhere and is acting Commander Atlantic Fleet,” Januscheitis said. “But mostly it’s a matter of being one of the four people who cleared the Voyage of infecteds. And from what they said, about half the passengers and crew survived. As infecteds. How’d you put it? ‘Bloody abattoir.’ They went through twenty thousand rounds of ammunition in three weeks.”

“Oh,” Kyle said, clearly envisioning what the blindsided battle must have been like in the cave-black caverns of the massive “super-max” cruise liner. “Hell. That had to be… ”

“Clearing this was a walk in the park for her,” Januscheitis said. “You can tell she’s happy we found so many survivors and bored with the few dozen infected. There’s a video of her boarding the Voyage that’s both frightening and hilarious. She gets repeatedly dogpiled by infected and comes up over and over again, having killed them all. Which is why we call her Shewolf and us big, tough devil-dogs follow her around like, well, puppies.”

“You do know who Boadicea was, right?” Kyle said.

“No,” Januscheitis said. “We figured it was Spanish or something.”

“Really?” Kyle said, obviously trying not to laugh. “Seriously…?”

* * *

“Okay, so, mission for today is… ” Faith said, then paused, flicking off her safety. “Kirby, two steps left.”

“Two steps left, aye,” Kirby said, taking two steps to the left.

Faith lifted her AK and fired twice.

“Clearing this town,” she continued, flicking her safety back on as the two infected that had been loping down Paseo De Fred Olsen dropped. “Which obviously needs some additional clearance.”

“Ma’am,” Januscheitis said, raising his hand.

“Staff Sergeant?”

“Point of order. Found out what ‘Boadicea’ means. Sorta funny story… ”

* * *

“Command, Team Two.”

“Command,” Faith said. She could hear the crack of rounds over the radio call from Januscheitis team.

“We’ve hit a big concentration of infected on… Calle Mahona or something. About fifty. Oh, and we’re sort of lost… ”

“Can you break contact?” Faith asked, waving for Derek to stop.

“Roger,” Januscheitis said.

“Try to rendezvous at… Calle de la Era. It’s back towards the port. There’s a little square on the map. We’ll meet you there.”

“We’ll try to find it,” Januscheitis said.

“We’ll set up a kill zone there,” Faith said. “Try to lead them back.”

“Don’t think that’s going to be a problem… ”

“See if you can get this thing turned around, Derek.”

“Aye, aye, ma’am.”

* * *

“So why don’t we use.308 as a rifle round?” Faith asked looking through binoculars at the oncoming infected tumbling before the MG240.

“It’s heavy, ma’am?” Januscheitis said, taking a sip of water. It had taken the team some time to find their way around the twisty streets of the town and back to the square at the intersection of Calle De La Era and Calle Del Guincho. “It overkills?” he added as one of the tracers passed through an infected and pinged into the distance.

“There is no such thing as ‘overkill,’ Staff Sergeant,” Faith said.

“There is only ‘Open fire’ and ‘Reloading,’ yes, ma’am,” Januscheitis said. “You can carry more five five six. And, yes, I am doing the math, ma’am. Given five rounds of five five six, it would be less weight to carry three oh eight. You can’t fire it on full auto. But nobody who has any sense fires full auto anyway. I dunno, ma’am. One of those mysteries of the military, I guess.”

“I suspect it’s some deeply laid plot,” Faith said. “There were Pentagon weanies involved.”

“There usually are, ma’am,” Januscheitis said. “I think they’re all winnowed down.”

“And I can see survivors waving from a rooftop,” Faith said, lowering the binos. “Now if we can just figure out how to find them in this maze… ”

* * *

“Hello!” Faith said through the bullhorn. “This rescue is courtesy of the American taxpayers and the United States Marine Corps… ”

* * *

“Where the hell are these all coming from?” Derek asked, reloading.

“See all these little alleyways?” Faith said. She’d unassed from the little Toyota SUV they’d been using and was covering the rear.

“It was sort of rhetorical, ma’am,” Corporal Douglas said.

“Who gave you permission to use a three letter word, Corporal?” Faith said, dropping three infecteds with three shots.

“Freaking Barbie gun!” Kirby shouted, as the infected continued to stumble forward despite putting what felt like half a mag into him. “Die already!”

“Oh, let me handle this,” Faith said, turning around. She dropped the remaining five infected forward and dropped her still partial magazine for a reload. “I swear five five six is designed to just piss bad guys off.”

“I’m starting to see what you mean, Skipper… ”

* * *

“Any other issues?” Lieutenant Chen asked.

Most of the survivors of the Boadicea were pitching in with a will to help clear it. A survey and recovery team, including a master mariner and a qualified engineer, were on the way from the Squadron. The Division was to stay in place until they arrived.

There had been thirty-two survivors found in San Sebastian De La Gomera. Together with the survivors from La Puntilla and La Playa, that made forty-eight survivors from a total of about four thousand inhabitants. Which was bloody awful.

“Patrick tells me we’ve sustained what appears to be a deadline,” Sophia said, raising her hand. “Oil pump for the tranny is out. He can probably jury-rig something, but there aren’t any parts in any of the parts places here in Gomera for it. And it would be a jury-rig. I’d hate to have it crap out on us at sea. You know how rough it can get.”

“I’m sure,” Chen said, drily. “I find this convenient, Lieutenant. Wouldn’t have anything to do with a really sweet seventy-five, would it?”

The marina of San Sebastian De La Gomera was huge compared to La Puntilla or La Playa. And it still had quite a few boats in it. Most were sailboats, which the flotilla couldn’t use, or small “fast” boats, outboards or inboard outboards. But a few large motor yachts had been left behind. And one of them, a 75' Maiora, Bella Senorita, was just sweet as hell. Benefits included that it was in working order and hadn’t been torn up by infecteds. Not to mention the marble counters and hot tub.

“Well, sir, that’s a point I hadn’t considered,” Sophia said, seriously. “We could use a bigger support boat for the Division, sir.”

“There is salvaging and grand theft, boat, Lieutenant,” Chen said, shaking his head. “I think your father has been teaching you bad manners.”

“Such as stealing a five-hundred-million-pound cruise liner, Lieutenant?” Staff Officer Kyle said.

“Point,” Chen said. “Officer Villa, you’re the only surviving government official we’ve found. Your call.”

“It is a very nice boat… ” Villa said, musingly, rubbing his chin and letting the Lieutenant sweat. “But the government of Spain willingly cedes this fine boat to the United States Navy in thanks for the clearance of its towns on the island of San Sebastian De La Gomera. And, besides, there are others… ”

“Approved,” Chen said. “Mission orders. Division One is to rendezvous with ‘Mechanical Clearance Division One,’ whatever that means, in Santa Cruz de la Tenerife harbor in two days.”

“You are going to try to clear Tenerife?” Kyle said. “Good luck. It’s not a big city but it is a city, not a small town.”

The island of Tenerife was clearly visible from Gomera, the massive Teide volcano, nearly high as Mauna Loa, reared up above the snow-line in the distance. Given the basically tropical nature of the islands, the snow-capped mountain was quite a sight.

“We’re just providing support and possibly doing a landing depending on conditions,” Chen said. “At least, that’s what I got. But we’ll be pulling out tomorrow when the recovery teams are supposed to arrive. Is there anything that absolutely needs to be done between now then?”

“There are more weapons and ammunition coming with the support ships?” Villa asked.

“There are,” Chen said. “M4 rifles and an ammo supply. Do you have anyone who can use them?”

“There are two former soldiers among the survivors here,” Villa said. “I know them. They are trustworthy. We can ensure the security of La Playa. I would prefer to be here but it is… large for such a small force. And there are some of the people from the cruise ship who wish to stay as well… ”

“The… I don’t know what you’d call it, sir, but we’d call it a ‘strip mall’ by the ferry dock would make a very solid defensible position,” Januscheitis said. “The upper stories could easily be used as quarters. The downstairs has a bit of glass, but that’s reinforcible easily. And as you ensure the clearance you could probably spread out. Just the little strip center by the Marina Society or whatever would be plenty of room for the time being. Or the ferry building. Again, good defensible position if you board up those ground floor windows.”

“I’d arm up everybody,” Faith said. “You’ll need to think in terms of defense from the infecteds for a while. And it’s hard to know when one will turn up. Just three people out of fifty is… I mean, give them some basic training then I’d arm up everybody.”

“There are problems,” Villa said, shrugging. “I will keep your advice in mind.”

“Where you set up and how you set up is up to you and your people,” Chen said. “We can do one more sweep of Gomera before we leave. After that… up to you.”

“How long will the support teams remain?” Villa asked.

“They’re here primarily to get the Boadicea up and running again,” Chen said. “They may be able to offer some additional support. But, frankly, you’ve got three towns full of supplies and materials to draw upon, as well as plenty of functioning boats to fall back on or just live aboard. I think you can make it.”

* * *

“Tell me we’re not going to try to clear this bitch, ma’am,” Januscheitis said as the Bella Senorita came around a cape with a big volcanic cone and into sight of the main city. It sprawled for miles along the shoreline and up the sides of the volcanic mountains.

“Oh, I dunno,” Faith said. “It might be fun. If we could get some of those tanks off the Iwo… ”

* * *

“Okay, this is a new one,” Sophia said.

The supply ship was similar to the Grace Tan except for being smaller. The back was low, almost flush to the water, with a high forward bridge. There was a large crane on the back deck and two mostly standard cargo containers. The “mostly standard” was belied by a cluster of spikes on top and both ends. There appeared to be lights and some sort of motor, center on the top.

“We bringing zombie supplies?” Faith asked.

The ship had backed up to a pier and, keeping a fair distance, deployed the crane to pick up one of the containers. It lofted it over to the pier and set it down then lifted and repositioned until one end was jutting slightly off the pier.

The crane detached and pulled back to the boat. A moment after that, both sets of doors on the container popped open. From the distance they could hear some sort of announcement as the lights on top started rotating. Between the announcements there was a loud “whoop” of a siren.

“That’s gonna bring ’em but… ” Faith said as a zombie came snuffling down the pier. It examined the container and circled around it before entering. A moment later, a shredded body came flying out the end over the harbor, still somewhat alive. Sharks and squawking seagulls quickly closed in.

“That’s gotta smart,” Faith said.

“Oh,” Sophia said, shaking her head. “I see Da’s bloody-mindedness at work.”

“I was thinking maybe artillery or claymores,” Januscheitis said. “That’s… ”

“Simple and effective,” Sophia said as another zombie came squirting out. “By tomorrow this bit of the harbor will be chock full of dead zombie bodies.”

“And sharks,” Faith said. “Don’t forget the sharks.”

“Senorita, LitClearDivOne, over.”

“Senorita,” Sophia replied.

“Got a bit of an issue in the north harbor. Head on up here. We’re discussing it with Squadron right now.”

“Moving out,” Sophia said.

* * *

“Oh, no,” Faith said. “No, no, no, no… ”

The Tenerife harbor was fairly large for such a small city. And the south harbor had had several large ships tied alongside. Those ships had blocked a full view of the north harbor. Which had a cruise ship terminal. And three cruise ships tied up alongside, one of them a “supermax” like the Voyage Under Stars. One of the others was about the size of the Boadicea and the other somewhere in between. They were all big.

“There’s no way they’d expect us to clear all those,” Januscheitis said.

“Bet you a dollar,” Faith said, picking up the radio. “DivOne, Ground Clearance Officer.”

“Shewolf,” Chen said, cautiously. “What do you think?”

“First, we’ll need to somehow block the pier,” Faith said. “We’re going to head into the harbor and examine that. Then we’ll determine the… Break… Need a word. Not possibility. Think it’s got a z in it.”

“Feasibility?” Sophia said, rolling her eyes.

“Once we’ve looked at blocking the pier from access by the infected, we’ll determine the feasibility of doing an entry and clearance. But this is an all-hands evolution. Over.”

“Roger. I’m on the horn with Squadron on that subject. They were aware of these ships and were discussing it. What about moving the mechanicals over? Over.”

“Stand by,” Faith said, thinking. “My first response to that is they’ll draw too many infected. I think we might be able to do this sort of on the quiet. Maybe.”

“I’d agree, ma’am,” Januscheitis said.

“Negative on the mechanicals, Division. They’ll tend to draw too many infected. Keep them in the south harbor is my recommendation. Possibly they’ll act as a… distraction, keep some of the city infected off us. This is something that we really should bring Squadron or Marine Higher in on, but that’s my recommendation. Over.”

“Roger, stand by… Switch to twenty-three at this time, over.”

“Switching,” Faith said.

“Faith, Da. How bad in your opinion?”

“We haven’t gotten close enough to do any serious survey,” Faith said.

“The Boise says they don’t see any survivors in the cabins.”

“No way they’d make it this long,” Faith said. “If they took the way the Boadicea did it, there could be a fair number. But I’d bet on another Voyage situation. Hopefully, with fewer infected. They’re running out of any source of hydration at this point. It won’t be as bad, but it’ll be bad. And we’ll mostly be using Barbie ammo. We’re really going to need the Boadicea for this one. Anchor it mid-harbor if we can, shuttle survivors over. And we’ll need… stand by.”

She pulled out a pocket calculator and started figuring numbers.

“Based on my estimate of what we used on the Voyage versus what we used on the Boadicea, we’ll need at least a hundred thousand rounds of Barbie ammo or twenty thousand rounds of shotgun if we all had Saigas. We’re also going to have to block the pier from infiltration by the infecteds. We’re working on that at this end. But you might as well load up the Tan with ammo and bring it over. Oh, and we could use a few more Marines and some more Barbie barrels cause this is going to wear our guns out, some of those H amp;K Barbie guns, and well, help, over.”

* * *

“Barbie ammo?” Captain Milo Wilkes said.

The Marine helo pilot, the only pilot they’d found so far, had been plucked from a lifeboat more or less stationary where it had been dropped in the Sargasso Sea. There had been several lifeboats found in the area by a passing boat and seven more Marines as well as twenty Navy survivors had been found.

“Anything 5.56, sir,” Gunny Sands whispered. “The lieutenant is no great fan of the M4 or 5.56.”

“I see,” Wilkes said, nodding. He’d been shocked to find that a thirteen-year-old had been commissioned a Marine lieutenant and even more shocked that the Gunny seemed to think it not just a good idea but a great one.

He’d seen the video. He understood she was bad-ass for a thirteen-year-old girl. But there was more to being a Marine officer than being a bad-ass. Admittedly, it was sort of the cornerstone but…

“And my Marines want to know where we’re going to hold the Marine Corps Ball, Da. I think these are going to be a little too messed up. I’m recommending the main saloon on the Alpha. Might be able to use the Boadicea. It’s not too bad. Might be a bit smelly, still, but we’re Marines. We can take it.”

“I think that’s a discussion for later, Lieutenant,” Captain Smith said, grinning tightly.

“Better put it on the agenda, Squadron. I never got to go to prom. I’m not missing my first Marine Corps Ball. I’ll hold it on this supermax if I have to. Invite a few infected, have a few laughs. Roger, we can block this pier with two or three containers. There’s some sort of fenced area but no gate. Why have a fence with no gate? Oh, it’s to keep people from falling in the water… There’s limited infected presence on the pier at this time. We’re just going to do a hard entry off the Senorita and recon the embarkation ports.”

“Is that wise, Lieutenant?” Captain Smith said.

“When I said ‘light’ I meant no more than ten in view on a mile-long pier, Squadron. I’ve no interest in dropping in the dunny on this. We just need to see if the embarkation ports are open. Want Senorita to keep the channel open?”

“Roger,” Steve said, shrugging.

“Sir… ” Captain Wilkes said. “If I may recommend against this? I mean, is there any real need? Why not wait until… ”

“Older and wiser heads arrive, Captain?” the Commodore said. “Because our enemy in this, always, is time, Captain. Ask me for anything but time. And if Faith says she can recon the pier then she can recon the pier.” He keyed the radio. “DivOne, Squadron.”

“Squadron, DivOne.”

“What is the infected level on the cruise terminal, over?”

“Light. Very light. Or I’d tell Shewolf no effing way. We also are standing by for fire support, over.”

“Roger, DivOne. We’ll monitor. Keep us apprised if there is anything we need to know. Be advised, we’re picking up all our toys and heading your way at this time. We’re going to leave the Pit Stop to load ammo and additional materials. The rest of us are already on the way.”

“Roger, Squadron, good to hear. This is… How did you clear one of these with four people, Squadron?”

“One compartment at a time, Division, one compartment at a time. Squadron to monitor. Okay, Gunny, who plans the Marine Corps Ball?”

“Seriously, sir?” Captain Wilkes said. “Is that really important right now?”

“We are underway, Captain,” Steve said, mildly. “All critical decisions have been made. Gunnery Sergeant? Or should I refer it to the captain?”

“The plans were already in place, sir,” Gunny Sands said. “I’d already scheduled the main saloon in the Alpha for the evening, sir. Dunnage, including dress uniform, of all surviving Marines is in storage. The only person who doesn’t have appropriate uniform and accoutrements is Miss… Lieutenant Smith and I was going to bring it up with her when I had a moment, sir. All under control, sir.”

“We’ll probably be clearing on the 10th,” Captain Wilkes said. “I believe you said ‘ask me for anything but time,’ Captain.”

“We also clear a maximum of twelve hours per day,” Steve replied. “Because if you try to do more than that, over time you start making critical errors. Like blue-on-blue fire. So… we’ll schedule it for off time in clearance. And if my Marines can’t clear with a hangover… they’re not real Marines, Captain.”

“Squadron, Ground Team One.”

There was a sound of continuous fire over the circuit.

“Go, Ground Team,” Steve said.

“Tell Gunny to break out all the double-ought. There be weevils in the bread!”

“How heavy is it, over?” Steve asked.

“Oh, fair dinkum an all. Piece of cake if it weren’t for these bloody Barbie guns. Embarkation port of the supermax had some food stuffs spilled about. Got water, got food, got zombies. Bit of a lark. Going pistol, Janu. Okay, going next pistol, Janu… LitClear, could we get some fire on our flank, over? Told you you should get a real pistol… Yeah… Got that… Go ahead and reload, you two, got this… Thanks, LitClear, keep up the fire… Gunny, we’re going to need frags for this one… And … why do we want two-handed swords? We can’t swing them in the… Oh, really? Staff Sergeant requests something called claymores… And we’re clear… Or we were… Squadron, we’ve got this, but it’s going to take some time … break… Take some time… Embarkation port on the supermax is, repeat, is open. There’s a fair number of… Stand by… Fair number of infecteds … stand by… Fair number of infecteds in the… Stand by… Oh, jeeze, you have got to be shitting me? Fair number of infecteds in the embark… In the embarkation… Stand by… We’re going to lay in the… LitClear can you get a gunboat over between the two ships? That’s a fair posse heading this way… Stand by… Oh, jeeze, I’ve got him… Bloody Barbie guns… Reload, Kirby… Kirby, you’re just pulling on an empty trigger, reload… We’re going to lay in blockades to prevent… stand by… prevent infiltration then start active clearance of the perimeter until you arrive. LitClear, that’s as close as we’d like, thanks… closer really… Is that a roger? Shoot him in the head, PFC. I thought you were an expert rifleman… It goes like this … There, one in the chest, one in the head, they fall down go boom even with a Barbie bullet. And at this range if you can’t do that you shouldn’t have an expert … rifleman’s… Oh, just die already … badge… Squadron, you there … ? Squadron? Is this working? Hello? Any station this net … ? Hello? Oops… Damn open c… ”

“Ground team, Squadron, status, over,” Captain Smith said, calmly a few moments later.

“Embarkation area is clear, Squadron. Going to reammo and continue to check the other two liners. Over.”

“Were you in the dunny, over?”

“Negative, Squadron, never even broke out my kukhri. Honest. Big thanks to the Golden Guppy, though. Over.”

“Continue recon ops. Do not, repeat, do not allow infiltration behind you.”

“Got that covered, Squadron. We’ve got boats standing by. We can always jump it.”

“Clearance Ops will be by the discretion of the local commander. DivOne, understood?”

“Understood, Squadron. Not exactly chomping the bit to clear one of these again.”

“Squadron, out. Lieutenant Isham, ensure that all the shotgun ammo we can find on the Iwo is on the Pit Stop as well as any shotguns we can scrounge. Faith seems to positively enjoy scrums, but I’d like to avoid them if we can.”

“Yes, sir,” Isham said, making a note.

“And ensure we have pistols for all clearance personnel as well as sufficient stocks of forty-five. This is going to be a bloody one.”