Under a Graveyard Sky

“Seriously?” Faith said, looking at the beetles crawling over the tuna guts. “That’s it?”

“You’ll see,” Steve said. “They’ll be useful.”

CHAPTER 20

“We’ve got survivors on this one,” Sophia called over the intercom. “Liferaft. Looks like two people. People, people.”

“Roger,” Steve said, looking up from his paperwork. He’d known there was going to be paperwork, but there had to be a better way.

They’d been clearing for two weeks since towing in the Victoria and picked up two more useable boats. Both had survivors and they had a. agreed to help out and b. were experienced and c. it was their boat. So Sophia was still running the con. They also had found more than twenty survivors in liferafts and life boats, including more from the Voyage Under Stars.

Steve didn’t even sway as Sophia swung the boat around to back up to the liferaft. He did check his pistol and taser, though. A couple of the survivors had been problems. They’d settled by pulling two wrecked sailboats off the shore of Jew Bay and putting them on those, solidly anchored in the harbor. One for men, one for women. That had come about due to the accusation on the part of one of the female survivors that she’d been raped by one of the males. And it just made sense. Mike didn’t think that he’d want to be on those boats but there wasn’t much else they could do at the moment.

Steve stepped out onto the back deck as Sophia backed up towards the liferaft.

“Throw your line to the man on the deck,” Sophia said over the loud-hailer. “Exit junior person first, senior last. Last person out, pull the wire on the EPIRB before boarding. After boarding you’ll have to wash down on the back deck to decontaminate. After that we’ll get you some food. By the way, welcome to Wolf’s Floating Circus and Rescue Flotilla. You’re welcome.”

The man threw the line, then pulled the wire from the EPIRB. Steve pulled the raft alongside and helped the woman onto the deck, then the man.

“Thank you,” the guy said. He wasn’t exactly ugly looked at in the right light. But he wasn’t a beauty, neither. Big as hell, his skin was flat black as an ace of spades. “Who’s Wolf?”

“My actual nickname in the paras was Wolfsbane,” Steve said. “Got around due to one of my daughters and got changed to Wolf or Papa Wolf. Steve Smith, captain of the Tina’s Toy and, somewhat against my will, and I quote ‘commodore’ of this lashup. And the name wasn’t my idea.”

“I really don’t care if you’re called the Devil’s Own,” the woman said, grinning. “I’m just so glad to be off that boat! I’m Sadie Curry, Captain Smith.”

“ Thomas Fontana,” the man said. “Paras… Not Brit or Irish. Aussie with lots of time in the states. Southern states. Paras or SAS?”

“Paras,” Steve said, surprised. “Brother was a goldie.”

“Sorry,” Thomas said, shrugging. “Any idea on him?”

“Last I heard he was on a flight to a secure point,” Steve said. “Long story. Let’s get you washed down and some food in you…”

* * *

“There is probably something worse than being stuck on a cruise ship, unarmed, in a zombie uprising,” Fontana said, popping two sushi rolls in at a time. “Food…” he muttered past the mouthful.

“ Thomas was special forces?” Sadie said. “I think I got that right. I didn’t know anything about the Army until we ended up on the…raft.” She grimaced and shrugged. “That was right, Thomas? Green berets?”

Fontana nodded, trying to clear his mouth of rice and tuna. He took a sip of tea and just sighed through his nose.

“God this is good,” he muttered.

“Most of the boats from the cruise ships are, well, boats,” Stacey said.

“I couldn’t make it to one,” Fontana said. “There was an open door and I went out. Outside. There were rafts in the water…”

“I was running from a zombie and he saved me,” Sadie said, grabbing his arm. “My hero.”

“I threw him over the side,” Fontana said, shrugging. “Then I had to deal with him when we went over. But we got into a raft. There was another guy, Terry…”

“Can we skip that?” Sadie asked, looking pleafully at Steve. “He had to do what… He had to do it. He… turned.”

“Strangulation?” Steve asked, taking a sip of tea.

“Yeah,” Fontana said, looking at him oddly.

“The only people who have survived in the lifeboats are people who have killed zombies,” Stacey said, shrugging. “And generally the only way to do that is strangulation. On a liferaft you can’t even avoid it.”

“It was horrible,” Sadie said, tearing up.

“Most of this world is,” Steve said. “But it has some compensations.”

“What?” Fontana asked.

“We’re doing good work?” Steve said. “The sea is beautiful when it’s not trying to kill us.”

“Need help?” Fontana asked. “I sort of need to get some food in me, but if I can help I’d like to.”

“We always need help,” Steve said. “What did you do in the… Rangers was it?”

“Bite your tongue,” Fontana said. “Fifth special forces group. I was an eighteen bravo. Cross train in Eighteen Echo and Delta. Six times in the Stans, some training time in Africa. You?”

“Rifles sergeant,” Steve said. “Also in the Stans. Then later a history teacher. Question, did you happen to know someone named ‘Donnie’ who was a special forces officer?”

“Know him, no,” Fontana said. “He was out before I joined. But I’ve heard of him. Missing both legs?”

“He was, unfortunately, a casualty,” Steve said, nodding. “Okay, I’d say you’re in.”

“No, I’m not a poser,” Fontana said, grinning. “And I notice your wife’s wearing a pistol and you’re wearing a pistol and taser. Still. Problems?”

“Some,” Steve said. “But we deal with them as they come along. How do you feel about clearance?”

“With a crowbar?” Fontana asked. “Not so happy. With a firearm? Please!”

“Are you sure, honey?” Sadie asked, unhappily.

“We’re not going to send him in unprepared,” Steve said. “Among other things, we still have some vaccine. That goes first to clearance personnel. And we’re careful to avoid bites and blood spray. But we do need more people willing to do active clearance. We have two vessels waiting for clearance teams. We were on our way to one of them. And right now it’s only myself and my daughter doing it.”

“You’re afraid if you give me a gun I’ll try to take over,” Fontana said, nodding. “Makes sense. All I can say is that until something better comes along, I’m your man. I’d like to get a piece back from these zombies. And I’m seriously missing my gun collection. The one thing I’d like to know, though, is there anything in it? I mean, I’ll help out but what is it, share and share alike?”

“More or less,” Steve said. “Clearance teams get a spif on every boat they clear. Besides first choice of loot, which is pretty obvious. The real question is, how open-minded are you about your partner…?”

* * *

“So, how do you usually handle this?” Fontana said, trying not to be amused by the thirteen-year-old girl in full assault rig.

“Usually like this,” Faith said, drawing her H &K. She measured the catenary carefully and shot the zombie clawing at them from the back deck of a 60' fishing boat.

The round hit the zombie high on the right chest. It clawed at the wound for a moment, then slipped on its own blood and fell over the side.

“Then the sharks take care of it for us,” she said.

“Works for me,” Fontana said. “You got a handle.”

“Shewolf,” Faith said, reloading the expended round in her magazine, then seating it again. “Got a problem with that?”