by John Ringo
“Thank God,” Hadley said. “That climb sucked!”
“And you’re going to be doing it again and again and again,” Sophia said. “Here’s the skinny. I got to go up there,” she said, pointing to the top of the cliff. “When those people get to the bottom of the ladder, they’ll come over here. Olga will get them assembled in groups. You will then escort the group down the stairwell and hand-off to Yu. Then walk back up, and get another group. I’m not going to be here. Olga is now in charge of that part of the evolution… ”
“Why her?” Hadley asked. “I mean, why do we have to walk up and down and she stays here.”
“Because I said so,” Sophia said. “And there’s a reason and you can ask about it when we’re done for the day. But for right now, you do it because I’m the God damned boss. Do you understand?”
“Yeah,” Hadley said.
“The correct response, Seaman Recruit, is ‘yes, ma’am,’ ” Sophia said, tightly.
“Yes, ma’am,” Hadley said.
“You follow Olga’s orders like they’re mine,” Sophia said.
“You coming, sis? Or should we order take-out?”
“Take a breather, then get ready to hump the stairs,” Sophia said.
* * *
“I still don’t see why we gotta hump the stairs,” Hadley muttered. “What is this, the Pussy Mafia?”
“Tú hablas espanol?” Olga said.
“What?” Hadley replied.
“Do you speaka the Spanisha?” Olga said. “How are you going to deal with them? Most of them probably don’t speak English.”
“Oh,” Hadley said. “You speak Spanish?”
“Yes,” Olga said. “And so does the Lieutenant.”
“Why’s she gotta go up there, anyway?” Hadley asked.
“None of the Marines know how to belay someone down,” Olga said. “So she’s going up there to manage that.”
“She sure can climb,” Hill said as Sophia went up the ladder like a spider despite the weight of her gear.
“Let’s hope she knows what she’s doing up top,” Hadley said. “Or bet you one of them goes splat.”
* * *
“Hey, sis,” Sophia said, rolling over the wall.
“Took you long enough,” Faith said, shaking her head. “What now?”
The area the survivors were gathered in was a small garden behind the condo complex. There were a number of recent kills blown around by fifty-caliber rounds and there were holes through the concrete wall that prevented a fifty-foot fall. The boarding ladder was hooked to the top of the wall.
There was a coil of climbing rope, somewhat worse for wear, on the ground and some climbing gear including harnesses and a pair of heavy leather gloves.
“The dude up there said this would do,” Faith said.
“It’ll do,” Sophia said. “I only really need two Marines. One to handle security, one to belay. The belay guy should be fairly big.”
“Bearson,” Faith said. “Belay. Derk, you stay on security.”
“Aye, aye, ma’am,” Corporal Douglas said.
“That all you need?” Faith asked.
“Yep,” Sophia said.
“Okay, the rest of us are out of here,” Faith said. “Let’s go.”
“Bearson?” Sophia said. “You’re going to need to set down your weapon at least.”
“Aye, aye, ma’am,” the Marine said, unclipping his weapon and leaning it against the wall.
“Corporal,” she said. “Get some blankets or something out of these ground-floor condos.”
“Aye, aye, ma’am,” the Corporal said. He went to the closest condo and stepped into the darkened interior over the broken glass of the porch.
“Bearson, come here,” she said, pulling out the climbing harness. It was currently sized for a much smaller person but it fit the Marine. She had to get down on her knees to put it on. “Don’t get any funny ideas.”
“No, ma’am,” Bearson said.
“Excuse please… ” one of the survivors said. “Este to the… ” he was pointing at the wall.
“Hablo espanol,” Sophia said. “Momentito.”
“Got some blankets, ma’am,” the Corporal said, walking back out with an armload of blankets.
“Stand by,” she said, putting a figure eight on the harness. “Fold them and put them on the wall to the left of the ladder, just in contact. Bearson, sit down on your butt. That’s where you’re going to stay the rest of the time.”
“Aye, aye, ma’am,” Bearson said, sitting down. “This I can do.”
I need to talk to the refugees.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Hello,” she said in Spanish, walking over to the group of refugees. “I am Lieutenant Sophia Smith of the United States Navy, Wolf Squadron. We are all glad that you survived but until we get you to the boats, the problems aren’t over. There are too many infected in this town for our small force to get you down to the boats by the roads. So you are going to have to go back the same way we got here. It is, however, quite safe. I am an experienced climber and all that you have to do is climb a ladder. We will attach a safety rope to you so that even in the slight possibility that you slip, we will be able to keep you from falling. I assure you, again, it is quite safe. I need one volunteer, please… ”
The man who had approached her raised his hand.
“I will go. I am tired of this place. Terribly tired.”
“Please raise your arms,” she said. She tied a bowline around his upper chest, tight. “If you slip, just fend off from the wall and keep your arms down. You can’t really slip out of this. When you get to the bottom, call to the girl at the door down there. Tell her that she needs to move over to the ladder to help people untie themselves. Can you do that?”
“Yes,” the man said. “I can even untie this knot myself.”
“Don’t do that til you’re on the roof, okay?” Sophia said, smiling. “There, now, Corporal, help me get him over the wall and onto the ladder… ”
* * *
“Habla Ustéd espanol?” the first refugee said.
“Si,” Olga said. “Hablo espanol. If you will wait here, we will gather a group and one of these men will escort you down.”
“The woman at the top? She said that you, the woman, needs to go to the ladder and untie people who cannot do it themselves.”
“Oh,” Olga said, nodding. “Okay, guys, I’ll assemble the groups at the ladder, you take them from there downstairs. You got it?”
“Jesus, why couldn’t they get this all figured out the first time?” Hadley groused. “We’re just gonna stay in place in teams. No, now we’re going to be by ourselves. No, now we’re going to be… ”
“Because we haven’t done it before,” Olga snapped. “Just follow the damn orders, Hadley!”
“Screw you, Olga,” Hadley said.
“I don’t have time for this,” Olga said. “Just get ready to take the people down.”
* * *
Slowly, one by one, with much coaching, the refugees were put over the wall. Only one slipped off the ladder, an elderly man who lost his footing. But he was only ten feet or so from the bottom and Bearson belayed him down easily.
More turned up as the Marines continued their clearance of the local area. There were more bursts of fire, at one point a lot of fire, but nothing on the radio. So far, so good.
“Division, Team Shewolf, over.”
“Shewolf, Division.”
“All the target buildings are clear. No injuries to refugees or Marines. We are bringing the last group back to Seawolf hand-off at this time.”
“Roger, Shewolf. Good job. Seawolf, how’s it coming with the infirm? Haven’t seen any of those over the side, over?”
“I still haven’t seen the stretchers turn up, Division,” Sophia replied.
“Let me check on the stretchers, over.”
“Division, Seawolf. Thinking about it, unless they’re in really bad health, I really think that the stretch
ers are a sub-optimal choice. We just lower them on a rope. Unless they physically can’t take it.”
“Shewolf, Division. Are you back in contact with the climbing guy, yet, over?”
“Not yet, Division. Moving this last group of refugees.”
“Contact him and check on what Seawolf is suggesting, over.”
“Aye, aye, Division.”
* * *
“Gotcha, ma’am,” Derek said, balancing the woman as she reached the ground.
The elderly Spanish lady was bitching about something a mile a minute in Spanish. Derek’s Spanish was limited to “Dos cervesas, por favor” and “¿Cuál es el costo de un rapidito?”
“Any idea what she’s saying, ma’am?” he asked the Lieutenant.
“Do you call this a rescue? Where are the helicopters? Who are you people? Are you really from the United States? I don’t believe it. Where are your ships? Where have you been all this time?” the Lieutenant translated. She said something in Spanish and the woman babbled back at her, just as angrily. There was some back and forth and the woman finally stopped, shaking her head. She patted the Lieutenant on the arm then pulled Derek’s face down and kissed him on the cheek.
“What was that for?” Derek asked.
“I told her she’s looking at half the remaining United States Marine Corps,” the Lieutenant said. “Now carry her over to the ladder. We’re going to have to belay her down there as well. Then probably through the building.”
“Hola! Hola!” a voice said from above them.
Rapelling down the rope was a very tan and handsome man in his late twenties. He landed with a bounce and waved and bowed as if wearing a broad hat.
“Senor Javier Eduardo Estrada, at your service, bella senorita!”
It was only when he hit the ground that it was apparent he was shorter than the Lieutenant.
“My boat is the Bella Senorita,” the Lieutenant replied. “I am Lieutenant Sophia Smith of the United States Navy.”
“Lieutenant Smith?” the man said then pointed upwards. “Teniente Smith?”
“My sister,” Sophia said.
“Ah, the resemblance is notable,” Estrada said, then held out a hand at chest height. “Except for the height.”
“You’re one to talk,” the Lieutenant said, chuckling. “Maybe because it’s not such a long way down for me to look, I’m the one that can handle them. Corporal. If you’d move Mrs. Alvarado over to the ladder, please? We get her all the way to the boats and I think we’re done.”
“Not before time, ma’am,” Derek said. “Sun’s going down.”
“And the zombies like the dark, no?” Estrada said. “Perhaps it is best to hurry.”
CHAPTER 22
They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning,
We will remember them.
Lawrence Binyon
“Ode of Remembrance”
“Please God, we don’t have another evolution like that one,” Corporal Douglas said. “I am fricking beat!”
The sun had set on the town of Las Corrillas, “the trickle,” and all the survivors that were recoverable were tucked away in the large yacht that had brought down the Marines. Sophia had invited the Marines over to her boat to hang for a while before they moved out to the next town.
“I think in retrospect we should have just fought our way through town,” Sophia said. “But that’s both retrospect and I don’t do that stuff.”
“I’m not sure I agree, ma’am,” Staff Sergeant Januscheitis said. “We hit some big concentrations up on the hill. And that was a hell of a lot of survivors. Getting them down in vehicles would have been as much of a pain in the ass. And walking them would have been out of the question.”
“Yeah,” Faith said, sipping a cup of tea. “Infected density was higher than you realize, sis. Most of them didn’t make it down to your teams. They were trying to find a way down. Which meant they were in our way.” She drained the tea and stood up. “Sis, thanks for hosting my guys and for the beer. But we need to get back to the boat. We’re headed back to Santa whatever to go, ugh, clear more liners.”
“Take care of yourself, sis,” Sophia said, giving her a hug. “And don’t let that Spanish climber talk you out of your pants.”
“He is cute isn’t he?” Faith said, grinning.
“Senorita, Division.”
“Division, Senorita,” Sophia said, picking up the radio.
“Need to get the Marines back over to their boat. We are pulling out in thirty.”
“Roger, Division. The party was just breaking up. Senorita, out.”
“So where you going next?” Faith asked, headed to the away boat.
“Las Galletas,” Sophia said. “Know nothing about it except ‘intel’ suggests there are some useable boats. Nothing about survivors.”
“You be careful,” Faith said, giving her a hug again before getting on the boat. “Especially with all these mall ninjas.”
“We’ll get it done,” Sophia said. “Da wants boats and survivors, we’ll get him boats and survivors… ”
* * *
“We’re definitely not clearing this one. Definitely not.”
They’d arrived at the town of Candelaria just before dawn. Which wasn’t good. It meant they couldn’t draw any of the infected in to a kill zone. And there were going to be infected. The town was huge, at least as big as Las Corrillas. But there were some big yachts in the basin. The question was whether they could get them out. They’d been told to just anchor off-shore and wait for dawn. It was dawn. And it was a damned pretty one. But it didn’t mean the boats were any closer to being in their hands. And there were infected moving around.
“Senorita. Take your away boat and go recon. See if we can cut these yachts out. I’m told recon indicates some good deep water inflatables as well. Check on them.”
“Roger, Division,” Sophia said, her face working. “One question, Division, define ‘cut out,’ over.”
“Remind me to assign you some reading material, Senorita. See if we can go in and grab them without actually mixing it up, much, with infected, over.”
“Oh, sure, that should be easy,” Sophia said. “Olga, gear up. I want somebody besides me on this run.”
“Aye, aye, Captain Crunch,” Olga said, saluting. “Gearing up!”
* * *
There were the usual bunch of sailboats in the harbor. Probably more than normal. But there were also two big motor yachts. They were both rigged as sport fishers but one was at least a 65 and the other was enormous, probably a 90 or better.
There were nine or ten big off-shore inflatables. They were rigged for fishing as well. It was apparent that sport fishing was a big industry in the area. But they’d be really useful as general purpose “get-around” boats. Better than her dinghy, that was for sure.
Then there were the infected. There were a lot of them and they were active at the moment. But they were scattered. The way the marina was laid out, there were only so many that could, easily, make their way to the boats. One of the yachts was tied up alongside the seawall. The other was butt-in to one of the docks.
She looked up at the sound of an outboard puttering along and wasn’t surprised it was Lieutenant Chen.
“I’m glad you’re here, sir,” Sophia said. She held up her digital camera. “I was taking pictures, but I didn’t know if they were going to make sense.”
“What do you think?” Chen asked.
“I think it’s going to take careful coordination,” Sophia said. “And one of the gunboats. Just in case it drops in the pot. And our best people. We come up to that one that’s butt in. Throw a grapnel on the front rail. Send a team aboard. One of them cuts the ropes, I’d suggest a machete for that, while the other two cover. If the infected react, the gunboats engage outside the boat, port and starboard, and the security team engages inside. Once they’v
e cut the ropes, pull it out. Then we find out if it’s going to run.”
“And the big one?” Chen asked.
“Pretty much the same thing, sir,” Sophia said. “Possibly with both gunboats. One inside and one outside. The inflatables will be easy. I’d suggest that we take out the one that’s sternfirst, first. That’s closest to the main entrance and most likely to attract a bunch of infected. The other one, we can cover it pretty good. There’s only one way for them to approach and we can chew them up with the fifties if they come that way.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Chen said. “Rusty and Anarchy, for sure. Who else?”
“Olga,” Sophia said, thumbing at the girl. “With the machete.”
“Oh, you’re going to give me a machete!” Olga said, clapping her hands happily.
“Are the other gunners going to be disciplined enough with Anarchy gone, sir?” Sophia asked.
“I’ll be watching them, Lieutenant,” Chen said. “We’ll use my boat to pull it out.”
* * *
“Okay, the first problem,” Anarchy said, looking up at the bulwarks of the yacht. “How the hell do we get aboard?”
The side of the yacht was well above the level of the inflatable. At least at the front.
“I’ll creep back to the stern,” Paula said, quietly. As one of the people with the most experience driving small boats, she’d been elected to drive the inflatable. She really didn’t like being this close to infected, but she knew she was the best choice.
The sun was well up and most of the infected had gone to ground. They mostly moved at night and around dawn and dusk. But it didn’t mean they weren’t there.
“Hey, boss,” Rusty whispered.
“Yeah,” Anarchy said.
“We get back there, I can boost you and Olga over,” Rusty said. “Then you give me a hand up.”
“Okay,” Anarchy said. “Let’s try to keep this quiet. If we don’t fire at all, I’d be just as happy. I’d like these guys to keep sleeping. Okay, Paula, let’s do it.”
* * *
“You said boost,” Mcgarity muttered as he was more or less hurled over the bulwark. Rusty was a big boy, Mcgarity not so much. And Rusty had gotten back pretty much all his strength, then some, handling the big fifties and their ammo.