John Ringo - Under a Graveyard Sky

“Pistol?” Steve asked.

“Uh, I’m down to three rounds.”

“I think that Fontana and I will hold this position while you go wash down your gear and ammo back up. Can you keep going? Seriously?”

“Try to hold me back, Da.”

* * *

“These doors are locked,” Fontana said, pulling at the hatch. The massive construction was one of the doors to the lifeboat deck and it was positively unwilling to open. A halligan tool wasn’t going to scratch it.

“Crap,” Steve said, looking around. “That means another pass card hunt.”

“Isn’t this Chris’s boat?” Fontana said. “Does he still have his?”

“I don’t know,” Steve said, keying his radio. “Sophia, all the exterior hatches we’ve found are locked down. Call Chris and ask him if he still has his pass key or whatever for the boat. And tell him we’re probably going to need his help finding our way around. Dallas, you monitoring?”

“Roger, Wolf actual.”

“Tell the Coasties as soon as they get here they’re to coordinate the evacuation teams. These people are going to need wheelchairs, stretchers, something. And right now getting them off the boat is going to be a professional evolution. They’ll need to primarily provide expertise and security. We’ll clear the zones, then they can come in and get the people. Copy?”

“Coast guard personnel to organize evacuation and maintain security presence, Wolf teams to clear.”

“Roger,” Steve said. “As soon as we can get a master key or something.”

* * *

“Wolf, Dallas, over.”

“Go ahead, Dallas,” Steve said.

“Retransing a call from the David Cooper, over.”

“Go ahead retrans,” Steve said.

“Wolf, Chris. Got in position to observe. First of all, you know this was my ship, over.”

“Roger, over,” Steve said. “What can you tell us, over?”

“Good luck. The Voyage is one of the largest liners in the world. Getting into it was only the first problem. The Staff Side Acting First intended to do a complete lockdown after all lifeboats were away. A complete lockdown closes and locks all interior doors and hatches including room doors in both directions. The only way to override it is from the central control, with the right codes or correct passkey, or using passkeys locally. Then it gets complicated. I’ve sent my key over for Faith to bring over to you. But it will only open certain internal common doors and doors specifically related to my job. I can move in all common staff areas and in all the kitchen and supply areas. It won’t, for most important example, open cabins. There was no reason a chef should have unrestricted access to the cabins.”

“Buggers,” Steve muttered.

“You’re going to have to hunt for a senior Staff side officer’s key… Standby.”

“Roger,” Steve said, looking at Fontana with a quizzical look. There’d been something in Chris’s voice.

“I didn’t really talk about leaving…” Chris said. “Or about before, much… By some sort of horrible coincidence you boarded right where I left. There was a…break… Standby, please. Sorry, Wolf…”

“Take your time, Chris,” Steve said.

“Steve, Paula, breaking in.”

“Go, Paula.”

“Look for the body or remains or clothing of a female senior staff side officer in that area,” Paula said. “First name is Gwinneth, don’t recall last, Third Officer, Staff side. Last seen directly opposite boarding area of Lifeboat Twenty-Six.”

“Cooper again,” Chris said . “With that key you’ll be able to access all areas except those specifically locked down by higher. That’s only going to be bridge and possibly engineering. If you can find Gwinn’s badge… That’ll do the trick. If not… You’re down to cutting torches. All the doors, including cabin doors, are steel.”

“Roger,” Steve said, gesturing at Fontana with his chin. “Any way to upgrade your key?”

“Only with power to the systems,” Chris said. “And you’d need to find and get into the Staff Side office… Break… Steve, I really don’t want to come over there. Can’t describe how much. But…”

“Once we’re to that point, I’m going to need you to liaison with the Coasties on clearing,” Steve said. “But if you’re talking now, no. We can probably find the cabins that are occupied on our own. We’re going to need help when we start clearing the crew areas and the working areas. But by then maybe we’ll have found a map or something.”

“Roger.”

Fontana came back shaking his head. No badge.

“Cooper, for what it’s worth, it’s not here. She’s not here. Will your badge get us into the interior?”

“All common areas,” Chris replied. “Passenger and crew and most support supply areas. Food at least. But you’re going to be buggered getting to those passengers in cabins.”

“What about security, over?” Fontana asked.

“Security officers should, repeat, should have access to cabins. Also some housekeeping will access some but not all. Did you find a security officer?”

“Minimal clothing and materials cast-off in this area,” Steve said as Faith clambered over the side. “Faith’s here. We’re going to continue this operation.”

“Again, good luck, Wolf.”

“Thanks, Cooper,” Steve said.

“Chris said this isn’t going to get us in the cabins,” Faith said, handing him the card.

“Where there’s a will, there’s a way.”

* * *

“Zombies, zombies, zombies,” Faith said, banging on the hatch with the butt of her Saiga. “Customers.” She worked a stethoscope in under her gear and listened. “Okay, lots of customers.”

“Okay,” Steve said, trying not to snarl. They hadn’t even gotten off the lifeboat deck , yet. This was the third hatch they’d tried and they all had “multiple customers” lined up. “Faith, Hooch and Fontana, form a line, five meters that way,” Steve said, pointing forward. They’d gotten away from the entry area and the deck was mostly clear except for the usual fecal matter and occasional gnawed corpse.

“I will pop the hatch, then run like a bugger your way,” Steve said. “Do not fire until I clear the defense point. Let me make this very clear: Do not shoot me.”

“Sir…” Fontana and Hooch both said.

“Yes, one of you probably should do it,” Steve said. “But I’m going to. That’s an order. Just form up and don’t shoot me.”

“Try not to, Da,” Faith said, walking forward. “Just better run like a roo.”

“Weapons pointed down,” Fontana said when they’d lined up. “Locked and loaded, off safe, fingers off the triggers. Take position, prepare to point.” There was a large gap between himself and Faith. “Faith, locked and loaded?”

“Ready.”

“Hooch?”

“Prepared, sergeant.”

“Ready when you are, boss.”

Steve took a deep breath and keyed the door. It popped open slowly, fortunately, and he turned and started running like a scared roo.

“Don’t look back,” he muttered. “Don’t look back.”

He didn’t really need to. The howls of the zombies told him everything he needed to know.

* * *

“Oh, run faster Da,” Faith said. Ten meters didn’t seem very far unless it was the distance your Da had to run to outrun a pile of zombies that was, if anything, larger than her reception party. Da was loaded down with weapons, ammo and equipment. The zombies were not. They’d been slowed opening the heavy hatch but they were now catching up.

“Fire!” Fontana said, putting words to action with a blast of 12 gauge in a zombie’s chest.