John Ringo - Islands of Rage and Hope

Christy, who hadn’t run but only because she was standing dumbstruck, reached under her blouse and whipped out a Texas-small bikini top at the speed of light. There was a tidal-wave of objects. Cash, change, lipstick and make-up, a tiny Bible, a micro bottle of Hennessy brandy, four packages of peanut M&Ms, a bottle of mouthwash, a package of nylons and three Trojan “SuperMax” unlubricated condoms all tumbled out. After a moment a small gold bar clinked to the floor.

“Yeah,” Athena said, taking a moment to boggle. “That works.”

It eventually took six women to subdue the “afflicted” but with various bits of underwear, bathing suits and strips of cloth ripped from blouses and sundresses, they finally had her hogtied. Christy also turned out to be surprisingly good at knots.

“That caught me off guard,” Athena admitted. She was sitting on the struggling Jersey City star since it was the only pillow around. “I’m still not sure she’s actually turned. Is there a difference between this and her regular personality…?”

“God, Athena, you are such a bitch,” Brenda McCartney said.

“Takes one to know one,” Athena said. “And, yeah, I am. I’m such a bitch I’ve already thought about what happens next . Like, what the fuck do we do with her, now?”

“Wait till the guy outside seems to be gone and throw her out the door?” Sarah Cassill said after a long moment of contemplative silence.

“Do we untie her first?” Athens said. “No? Think that’s a bad idea? Me too. So we turn her into zombie chow? That’s the same as killing her. Worse, really. Not saying no, but be clear about it. That’s killing her. And letting her be eaten. Votes on throwing Snoopi off the island?”

“We have to take care of her,” Brenda McCartney said definitely. “She’s sick. We have to take care of her.”

“That’s so… paladin of you, Brenda,” Athena said. “Fine. You do it. How are you going to keep her from getting free and biting the rest of us? In here . We don’t even have a fucking mattress. You going to feed her? Clean up when she craps and pisses? You want the Snoopi puppy, you have to take care of it. Speaking of which: What do I smell?”

“I don’t have to pee anymore,” Christy said, wiping her eyes. Her makeup was smeared all over her face.

“Do we have anything to clean it up?” Julianna said. “Don’t worry about it, Christy. I think I peed myself, too.”

“Snoopi’s clothes?” Anna said. “And you obviously know what to do, Athena. You’re using Socratic Dialectic to lead us to your conclusion.”

“I don’t have a good answer,” Athena said, frowning prettily. “I have an answer but it’s not a good answer. I don’t think there is a good answer. The best is probably Sarah’s in some ways. If we could safely open the door. I don’t think we can. Can we get those shutters off the window?”

Ten minutes of fruitless searching for a control or release yielded the answer: No. The shutters were immovable. And when they tried the door, even moved the shelf blocking it, there was an immediate response from the other side.

“So what is the bad answer?” Julianna said.

“She’s already gagged,” Athena said. “Hold her nose till she stops struggling.”

“Mercy, Athena,” Julianna said. “Even for you that is cold.”

“That’s murder,” Brenda McCartney said. “You’ll go to jail for the rest of your life. At least you’ll deserve it!”

“That is what well-paid lawyers are for,” Athena said. “‘Oh, it was so terrible in the storeroom!’” she said in a little girl voice, looking pitiful. “‘The claustrophobia! Boo hoo! I don’t know what came over me! It was just like Patty Hearst. And it was Brenda’s idea!’ But there are still more physical, nonsocial, problems. The body will…decompose. It will get much nastier than a puppy puddle on the floor in here. It’s going to, anyway. But a decomposing body is a whole other order of nasty. And I’m not sure I can do it. I mean, I’ve thought about holding her head under water until she stops struggling since her show started, not to mention the whole damned shoot . But actually doing it is another thing. So I’m open to suggestions.”

“Table it,” Anna said. “She is not going anywhere. We still need to find something besides Christy’s reducing remnants of clothing to secure ourselves. And in the meantime, we can build…facilities and possibly find some answer to the dilemma.”

“I don’t think there is an answer to the Plague in here, Anna,” Athena said, standing up. “But I take your point. Let’s go shopping!”

There was more than food and water in the room: The storehouse had been set up to respond to a variety of disasters. St. Barts was subject to both hurricanes and earthquakes, as were surrounding islands. Besides food and water there was a supply of blue tarps, three boxes of “thermal” blankets, rope, rigger tape and other materials of the disaster response trade. There were even boxes of baby wipes. What there was not came down to medical supplies, a knife to cut the rope—couldn’t they have included some box cutters?—toilet paper, so much as one chemical toilet, damnit, or a cure for H7D3. Or some toilet paper for God’s sake? And, oh, yeah, some tampons maybe?

“What are these?” Anna said, holding up what looked like an American MRE package except for being an odd pink.

“Emergency meals,” Athena said. “Hey, Sarah, good news! There’s vegetarian! It’s even halal.”

“What’s halal?” Sarah said warily.

“Kosher for Islamics,” Athena said. “Just one case of toilet paper is too much to ask?”

“Baby wipes,” Anna said.

“We only have two cases of those,” Athena said. “These bitches will go through them in a day. Baby wipes are only for personal body cleaning. You can use one to clean your ass when you’re done with the rest of your body. Open up one of the halal meals and see if it’s got toilet paper in it.”

“How do I get it open?” Anna said. The package was strong plastic and had no convenient opening tabs.

“A knife,” Athena said. “Your teeth?”

“I’ll get it,” Christy said. She tore into the package with her teeth.

“God, I hope you don’t turn,” Athena said, wincing as the girl chewed through the heavy plastic. “If this was being recorded, no guy would ever again accept a blowjob from you.”

“She’s not going to be able to bite through this rope,” Julianna said, holding up a coil of line.

“Speaking of Brenda…” Athena said. “Sorry, I meant Snoopi…”

“Very funny, Athena,” Brenda snarled.

“How you feeling, Bren?” Athena said with mock sympathy. “Wishing you had some vaccine ?”

“Just shut the fuck up, Athena,” Brenda said.

“Prisoners figure out how to create knives out of nothing,” Athena said. “Now if we only had Linsey in here with us…”

“You take a piece of metal and grind it on the concrete till it’s sharp,” Sarah said.

“Sounds about right,” Athena said. “Where’d you pick that up?”

“Hello?” Sarah said. “ Jailhouse Island ?”

“Ah, yes,” Athena said. “Academy material at its finest. Right up there with Casablanca in the annals of American cinematography. I was surprised you didn’t win the Oscar for that one. Especially given your nickname in the Academy.”

“And what do you call this?” Julianna said, amused. “A group of female celebrities trapped in a storehouse during a plague. What madman would try to submit that script?”