To Sail a Darkling Sea

“You can think on it,” Steve said.

“Okay, I’ll think on it,” Sophia said. “No worries, Da. And take care of yourself.”

“You too. Wolf, out.”

“Alexandria, I think we’re done,” Sophia said.

“Roger, No Tan Lines. Be advised… You have a cabin cruiser sixteen miles south of your position. Don’t know if you want to check it out.”

“Roger, Alexandria,” Sophia said, starting up the engine. “We’ll go check it. Did you visual?”

“Roger. No infecteds on deck. We have several other sierras in the area we’re tracking including some lifeboats and life rafts.”

“And they tell us now?” Paula said.

“Might have just got on station,” Sophia said. “Might have been a change with Da getting promoted. Alexandria, got coordinates on that boat?”

“I wonder if this means… No, they wouldn’t… ”

* * *

“Gunny,” Steve said, waving to a chair. “How you doing?”

“Ready to rock and roll, sir,” Sands said, sitting down carefully.

“Bullshit,” Steve said. “I won’t tell you you can’t work for a few days, but you’re not going to be running around the bowels of the Iwo for now. Not until you’re fit. There’s too damned much gear to carry. We made that mistake with Hooch and he was in better shape than you are. You need to put on some pounds, first.”

“And you, sir?” the Gunny asked, looking over at Fontana, who was looking… closed.

“Alas, I think my days of clearing ships is done,” Steve said, waving at his desk. “I’m conning a desk for a while. Isham has agreed to take a lieutenancy, temporary like mine, so he can tell Navy people where to get off. He’s a bit of an asshole, but he’s a competent one. I’ll keep him as my Chief of Staff for now. But, no, I’m not going to be clearing ships. Some of the Marines we found are fairly hail and they can continue the clearance ops. But that gets to the point of this meeting… ” Steve leaned back in his chair and thought for a moment.

“I understand you’ve met my daughter, Faith, Gunny?”

“Oh,” Sands said, his face cracking into a slight smile. “That’s the agenda, sir? Yes, sir, I have. She and Staff Sergeant Fontana cracked my compartment, sir. And, yes, sir, I think she’d make a fine Marine, sir. Even a fine Marine officer, sir. In about five years, sir.”

“Then there’s an issue,” Steve said. “Because tomorrow, Faith will be the team leader for the first group of Marines to reboard the Iwo. We’re going to be using it mostly as a training exercise. She will also be overseeing their kitting up. Because she knows very little, at all, except the best ways to clear zombies.”

“Pardon, sir,” Sands said. “Not Staff Sergeant Fontana?”

“Lieutenant Fontana will be managing the preparations for the assault, Gunny,” Steve said. “And along with Lieutenant Volpe he will be managing the clearance operation as a forward officer. Miss Smith along with Lance Corporal Hocieniec will be training the Marines on the Wolf Way of clearance. It’s like the Marine way but… different.

“This is a Marine thing. A temporary, out-of-the-blue, Navy Captain is not going to tell a Marine Gunny who should and should not be a Marine. What the Captain is going to do is allow the Gunny a week to think about his response.”

“I understand your position, Captain,” Sands said. “But, with respect, I’m not sure that I agree. Among other things… Pretty much everyone has heard about Miss Smith and we all think she’s pretty damned great, sir. But… I’m not sure, sir, with respect, that they’re going to listen and pay attention to a thirteen-year-old girl, no matter how badass she may be. Cause she’s a thirteen-year-old girl, sir. I will, with your permission, sit in on the training, sir, to ensure that they understand that… ”

“Gunny,” Steve said, raising his hand. “Permit me to give you some semblance of peace in this matter. I appreciate you sitting in on the training. What I had not mentioned was that before the training session, there will be a brief familiarization class given by the Lance Corporal. I would recommend that you sit in on that as well.”

“Yes, sir?” Sands said, frowning.

“When we, Faith actually, hard-boarded the Voyage, the Dallas was standing off,” Fontana said. “And they recorded the boarding on their onboard video system. Then, apparently, someone made a video mash of it, including some of the discussion of whether she should begin boarding without nearby reinforcements… ”

“By the time we got there it was all done,” Steve said, smiling thinly. “And Faith was like ‘No worries, Da! Bit of a scrum…’ ”

“Scrum?” Sands said. “Definition, sir?”

“Ever played rugby, Gunny?” Fontana said. “It’s that bit where the two sides fight over the ball.”

“Faith always enjoyed playing Aussie Rules when we were Down Under,” Steve said, sighing. “Except Rule One. I don’t expect the video to change your mind. Give it a week. She will, however, be acting as a civilian technical expert in infected clearance during that week. By the end of the week, we should be done with clearing the Iwo and begin salvage work. We’ll discuss it again at that time. If you’re set that she is not, currently, Marine material… then I will leave that on you and, no, no hard feelings. There are any number of other areas I can use her expertise.”

“As I said, sir,” Sands said. “I’d just like her to get some more maturity.”

“I think you’re thinking age, Gunny,” Steve said. “Maturity is something slightly different.”

* * *

The gunnery sergeant didn’t crack a smile at the radio intercept of Faith’s concept of a backup plan, an intercept that had caused Commander Bradburn, skipper of the Dallas, to literally fall out of his command chair laughing. Sands managed to watch the video stone-faced as she boarded the Voyage and began her “fifteen minutes of mayhem,” set in the video to the tune of Chumbawamba’s Tubthumping. He managed to keep a straight face the third time she popped back up like a jack- in-the-box after being dogpiled by zombies. He held it in during her overheard running commentary as the rest of the Marines, even the NCOs, started rolling on the deck.

It was when she got the Halligan tool stuck in a zombie’s head and overbalanced that he snorted. When she unstuck her bent machete and it caught a male zombie in the groin he started laughing out loud. When the, admittedly not petite, girl stuck a boot knife in a zombie’s eye then threw him over the side, tears started running down his face and he completely lost his composure as a senior NCO of the United States Marine Corps.

* * *

“Sometimes you get dogpiled,” Faith said, latching the bunker gear on the Marine sergeant. “MOPP’s not designed to prevent penetration. This is. And you can just get washed down in it no worries. And you are going to need a wash-down after we’re done… ”

* * *

“Seriously, a K-bar? You think one dinky little knife is enough in a scrum…?”

* * *

“Christ,” Faith said, taking the Halligan tool away from the Lance Corporal. “Here’s how you use a Halligan tool. Ram the son-of-a-bitch. Put some welly in it, Marine…!”

* * *

“Zombies don’t like impolite people,” Faith said, stepping over a fresh kill. “In general, you should knock first. The real point is that they seem to hibernate for periods of time. If you go sneakin’ around, Sergeant-I’m-a-recon-scout, as you just discovered, you get surrounded by zombies who used to be sleeping and are now preparing to eat you… ”

* * *