John Ringo - To Sail a Darkling Sea

“Marine corps ball, ma’am,” Januscheitis said. He’d stopped drinking when the LT started to get shit-faced. Which had taken enough straight booze to drown a Force Recon platoon. “Way better than prom.”

“Really?” Faith said.

“Really,” Derek said. “Marine Corps ball is like prom for Marines.”

“Christ, it’s coming up, isn’t it?” Januscheitis said. “Time’s sort of gotten to be one of those things you forget.”

“We gonna have one?” Derek said.

“Bet you,” Januscheitis said. “Gunny will insist. Probably use the Alpha or the Money .”

“That’d be cool,” Derek said, grinning. “Use the Alpha . Marine Corps ball on a megayacht captured from zombies? I can dig that. Besides it’s more trashed out. You know how ball gets… ”

“Semper fucking Fi,” Faith said. “I get to go to prom.”

“We’ll make sure of it, ma’am,” Januscheitis said.

“Great!” Faith slurred. “So why do I gotta puke?”

* * *

“Oh, I’m glad I’m not on the gun boats,” Faith said, holding her head. “This is the other reason I don’t drink. Can we turn the music down, yet?”

“More water, ma’am,” Januscheitis said, holding out the tube of her hydration unit.

Dawn was breaking and there was a huge concentration of zombies at the end of the jetty. The Debt had occasionally fired overnight to make sure they had food to keep them sticking around. Now in the early morning light, they could be seen as a mass of naked infecteds, alternately feeding and concentrating on the light and sound from the boats.

“And now the last song,” Sophia said as the music temporarily stopped.

“In the quiet misty morning… ” Faith sang. “Another good choice, sis.”

“When the summer’s past it’s gleaming, when the corn is past it’s prime … ” Derek sang in a not bad tenor.

“Set me free to find my calling, and I’ll return to you somehow… ” Januscheitis sang. He really didn’t have the voice for the song but nobody minded.

“In the quiet misty morning,” Faith and Sophia sang in duet. “When the moon has gone to bed, When the sparrows stop their singing, I’ll be homeward bound again.”

“All gun boats, open fire,” Lieutenant Chen ordered as the second of official nautical dawn was reached and the song ended.

Both boats opened fire, the massive.50 caliber rounds chewing up the crowd of what must have been nearly two hundred infecteds. It took less than a minute of concentrated fire for the crowd of zombies to be reduced to so much offal.

“Landing team is a go,” Chen radioed . “Drop some of Captain Carrion’s Little Helpers on that pile on your way by.”

“Time to board the boats,” Faith said, hefting her AK. “And keep an eye out for some ammo for this thing. I don’t care if it’s a haji gun. It works. Let’s take that jetty, Marines.”

“Permission to look for some wheels, ma’am?” Staff Sergeant Januscheitis said.

“Oh, definitely,” Faith said, trying to keep from swaying. “There’s no clearing this place on foot.”

The lieutenant was in charge of, more or less, a fire team of Marines. But that suited Faith just fine. And they weren’t wearing “full fig” zombie-clearing kit, just basic combat gear with the addition of Tyvek suits, gas masks and hoods to reduce the chance of bites on exposed flesh. They had military headphones and mikes for radio communications and two of them carried Halligan tools and other entry systems.

All of them had a tendency to rock in place as the ground seemed to be moving. This was the first solid land any of them had stepped on in nearly six months.

“See if you can get something running that’s got a moon roof,” she added. “We can stick somebody out of the top with a loud-hailer. If my head can handle it.”

“Aye, aye, ma’am,” Januscheitis said. “Two-man teams. One checking for keys and functioning vehicles. One on sentry.”

There was a large parking lot on the jetty but it was mostly empty and none of the vehicles would crank. There were more cars at the square at the base of the jetty but those were, also, non-functional.

“The boats always have a spare battery,” Faith said. “Staff Sergeant, send a team back to get a battery while the rest of us clear these buildings. I think it was my job to think of that.”

“Aye, aye, ma’am,” Januscheitis said. “Derek, Kirby, hump it.”

“Aye, aye, Staff Sergeant,” Derek said. “Let’s go, Kirby.”

“Clear this one first?” Faith said, pointing to a cafe. “I’m supposed to get input from my NCOs, Staff Sergeant.”

“I would suggest backing up the jetty, ma’am,” Januscheitis said, pointing to a building that was probably the harbor master’s office. “That way we know our rear is clear.”

“Make it so, Staff Sergeant,” Faith said.

“Pagliaro, Bearson, crack me that building.”

“Aye, aye, Staff Sergeant,” Lance Corporal Pagliaro said, hefting his hammer. “Come on, Bear.”

“Knock first,” Faith said. “Zombies don’t like impolite people.”

“I don’t got nothing,” Pagliaro said. He’d hit the heavy door with his hammer several times. “No scratching or nothing.”

“Open it,” Faith said.

“Open it, aye, ma’am,” Pagliaro said.

Pagliaro and Bearson made short work of cracking the front doors with the firemen entry tools. When they had the locks bashed, Bearson kicked the door in and they both backed off, hefting their M4s. Nothing came through the door.

“I don’t think anyone’s home,” Faith said. “Check it, though.”

“Pag, Bearson, clear the building,” Januscheitis said.

“Clearance ops, aye, Staff Sergeant,” Pagliaro said. “I’m point.”

* * *

“One dead infected,” Pagliaro said as they exited the building. “Usual mess. Old. Most of it’s dried up. Harbor master’s office, looks like. Some boat parts but they look like they’re for those bitty boats in the harbor.”

“Staff Sergeant,” Derek radioed. “We’ve got the battery and some jumper cables. Mind if we try to crank one of these down here rather than hump it back up the jetty?”

The smaller jetty was nearly two football fields long.

Januscheitis looked at the lieutenant and Faith nodded.

“Makes sense to me,” she said.

“Shewolf says roger,” Januscheitis replied. “Shall we continue clearance ops, ma’am?”

“Only if you feel like it,” Faith said. “We can’t open and clear every house in town. We need to sweep through the streets and see if we can find any survivors. I just wanted to see if the basic methods worked. From a supplies perspective, I’d say clear the tavern and see what’s up there while we wait for Derek to find us a ride.”