John Ringo - To Sail a Darkling Sea

“Prepare to engage infected with single, aimed, fire… ”

“How come she just gets to shoot… ”

“Steinholtz, shut the fuck up… ”

“Prepared to engage, aye,” Olga said.

“Engage.”

It took five rounds to drop the infected. The man had soaked up four and she was pretty sure she missed with one.

“Place weapon on safe,” the Lieutenant said.

“Division, Shewolf. Way is clear to the survivor building. Starting entry for clearance at this time.”

“Seawolf, Division, move your people forward to key locations to screen survivor movement, over.”

“Mcgarity, you’ve got Steinholtz and Larson… ”

“Oh, thank you sooo much, ma’am.”

“Hold this position. The rest of you with the exception of Olga. Remove your magazines.”

“Why?” Hill asked.

“Because the LT told you to, fuck head!” Mcgarity said. “Pull out your fucking mag. Now!”

“Okay, okay,” Hill said, dropping his magazine out of the well.

“Pull back your charging handles and ensure your weapons are clear,” Sophia said. “Not you, Olga.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Olga said as the others cleared their weapons.

“Now, put the mags back in and do not charge your weapons.”

“There’s one this way,” Steinholtz said. “Can I shoot it now?”

“Now when I say ‘lock and load’ you say ‘lock and load, aye,’ then you lock and load. Got it. And only lock and load and don’t put your finger on the trigger til I tell you… ”

“Order of movement will be SR Zelenova, myself, Hill, Hadley and Yu.”

“Who?” Hadley asked.

“Me, you dumbfuck,” Leo Yu said.

“Now you can fire… ”

“Yu, keep looking back in case we get infiltrated,” the Lieutenant continued. “Only SR Zelenova or I can lock and load or engage unless I tell you to engage. Understood?”

“Yes, ma’am,” the group chorused.

“I got it! I got it!”

“Good for you. You’ve only got three thousand kills to go to equal a thirteen-year-old girl … ”

“Mcgarity. You keep your eyes on the entrance. Do not let any of these idiots AD us or any of the refugees. Let’s roll.”

* * *

Crossing the street was one of the oddest things Olga had ever done. And she’d done a lot of odd things. But it was absolutely weird. It was just a street. An empty street in an increasingly empty town with the wind whistling through deserted condominiums that had once probably cost a billion dollars apiece.

She checked both ways, automatically, before stepping onto the pavement. Not for zombies, for cars. Cause you didn’t cross the street without checking for cars. The problem being, there were no cars. None running. They were lined up, parked, cold and dead. There were no tourists. There were no retirees. There were no children laughing and playing. Just a slightly cold wind and the occasional howl of a zombie in the distance. And muted bursts of fire from far, far up the cliff.

She entered the gated courtyard of the condos and paused, looking around.

“It’s clear,” Seawolf said. “Proceed.”

The main door of the condo complex had apparently been open because it was mostly intact. And it was pretty dark in the foyer.

“Lights,” Sophia said. “Turn on your taclights.”

Inside the foyer there were the usual mailboxes. There was a large sideways V spraypainted on the mailboxes. The paint was fresh.

“See that?” Sophia said. “That’s the sign that means ‘this way to the exit.’ If you’re following somebody, you go in the opposite direction. If you’re trying to run away from zombies, that is probably your best bet.”

“Or you can follow the bodies,” Olga said. There was one at the base of the stairs.

“Or you can follow the bodies,” Sophia said with a sigh. “Especially if my sister is involved. Hill, Hadley, move that out of the way as we go by. Don’t want the refugees tripping on it. Let’s keep moving, Olga.”

Olga carefully stepped over the body, sweeping up with her weapon to check the stairwell then continued upwards. The stairwell, fortunately, had windows in it. There was plenty of light. And while she’d never actually done anything like this or trained for it, she’d grown up with the War on Terror and had seen the pictures and videos of soldiers fighting in Iraq. She also was an avid gamer so when she came to the landing she turned around and carefully stepped up the stairs, backwards, keeping an eye up the stairs.

“Very nice technique, Olga,” Sophia said. “But we’ve got ten more floors to go up and this has been cleared. My sister doesn’t leave kills behind if she can possibly avoid it. Besides, if they come pounding down the stairs, we’ll hear them in plenty of time. Just walk and keep your eyes and ears open.”

When they came to the next floor, Sophia pointed to the fire door.

“Hadley, Hill, chock these doors shut.”

The team was carrying chocks and hammers. A few swift blows and the door was stuck fast.

“Keep moving,” Sophia said.

“Hey, sis, where you at? We got customers. Lots of customers.”

“Chocking the doors,” Sophia said, keying the radio. “You know, like we planned?”

“Just hurry it up. These people are ready to leave. Division, Team Shewolf, over.”

“Division, over.”

“We’ve got some survivors with mobility issues. They even managed to keep some of their old folks alive. We’re clearing out the corridors so we can move them through the building but we’re going to need help getting them down. Over.”

“Done, ma’am,” Hill said.

“Then let’s get moving,” Sophia said, gesturing.

“Roger, we’ll get some DivTwo people up there with folding stretchers. Recommend, if there is anyone who has the knowledge, belaying them down from the balconies rather than carrying them down the stairs, over.”

“Division, Seawolf, over.”

“Seawolf, Division, over.”

“I can handle that exercise. I don’t have the bodies for more than putting in some guides, though. I’ll need to use the Marines for labor. I’ll also need some rope and shackles. Over.”

“Sounds like my kind of party,” Olga said.

“Not now,” Sophia replied.

“Division, Shewolf, over.”

“Go.”

“There are climbing ropes all over up here. One of the survivors was apparently a professional climber who lived here. That’s how they survived. They’ve even been scavenging empty apartments. So we’ve got the ropes. Over.”

“Can that guy get them down, over?”

“He says he can, but we sort of need real stretchers. Over.”

“They’re on the way up, Shewolf.”

“Roger. Just waiting on Seawolf, then. Out here.”

“Seawolf, status, over?”

“Chocking the doors shut, over,” Sophia replied.

“Leave a team to do that and move to link up with Shewolf’s team.”

“ Roger Division. Hill, Hadley, keep at it. Olga, hold up. Division, Seawolf.”

“Go Seawolf.”

“Be advised, I do not have enough people for two-man teams at each primary point. And I’m pretty sure the refugees are going to be freaked coming down this stairwell. I’m going to leave singletons at primary points and try to figure something out for the stairwell. We’ll either have to have a security person walking groups down or… something. Left some details out of the plan on this, over.”

“Roger. I’ll see if I can scrounge up some more people. In the meantime, hurry up and link up with the Marines, over.”