Islands of Rage and Hope (eARC) Read Online Free

one absolute condition is maintain the safety of your boat and your crew. Do you understand?"
    "Aye, aye, Flotilla. Will ensure the safety of my boat and my crew, over."
    "Flotilla out."
    "Passing the buck are they?" Walker asked.
    "Hell, I did," Sophia said as the zombie in the cabin howled. "Jesus, how did they stand it?"
    "The most important factor in maintaining one's sanity, to an extent, in a survival situation is something to hold onto," Walker said. "Something to do and take care of and cherish. I had a knot record."
    "Isn't that a contradiction in terms?" Sophia asked.
    "Knot," Walker said. "K-N-O-T. It's a way of keeping track of events, days, using simple string. It was the Incan's only form of writing. Each type of string has a meaning, each type of knot. Very simple and infinitely complex. More complex than Chinese."
    "What happened to it?" Sophia asked.
    "I left it in the compartment," Walker said. "It was a way of surviving there . It was unnecessary in the outer world. But I have been found to be so aggressively sane it's a form of insanity. These Marines survived, in part, by caring for their officer. Which is a devotion so doglike it is virtually unheard of in the modern world. And by grasping so hard to their duty that it is nearly broken. Marines tend to be fairly OCD, anyway. The question is whether they can recover from their current mental state. Right now, they're having a hard time not following their 'Watch Bill.'"
    "Any suggestions?" Sophia asked. "About what to do about the lieutenant?"
    "Either keep him alive in a padded room," Walker said, shrugging. "Which will be interesting. Or have a formal ceremony where he's passed to the great beyond, preferably with a fast acting poison. Play "Taps." Bury him with honors at sea. They took care of him until the decisions could be passed on to others. But it would have to be an honorable way to go out. Not you or I or Olga putting a bullet in his head and tossing him over the side. They would, I assure you, flip the fuck out if we did that."
    "That's the first time I've ever heard you curse," Sophia said.
    "Right now, ma'am, I want to revel in the glory and honor of the words: Semper Fidelis ," the man said. "And burn the world down at the same time. I have seen a lot in my many years, ma'am, but this takes the cake. Truly wins the fucking lottery."
    "I think I'm gonna have to get a little drunk to sleep tonight," Sophia said as the zombie Marine howled below.

    "D...do... What? " Captain Smith snapped. "They kept him alive? How? Why? "
    "The staff sergeant's last orders from his gunny were 'take care of the lieutenant,'" Isham said. "So they took care of him. Kept him alive. Kept him fed and watered, even at their own expense. Soph describes them as so tightly wound they could power a sub."
    "Bloody hell," Steve said, picking up his phone. "Get me Gunny Sands. Now! "

    "Lieutenant Klette, huh?" Gunnery Sergeant Sands said, shielding his face with his hand. "And Decker. That...I'd say it makes a certain amount of sense but it really doesn't, sir, I'm aware of that. Lieutenant Klette was the armor platoon leader. Newly arrived. Gunnery Sergeant Haughton was kind of a stickler about obedience to orders."
    "Did I just hear a gunny say another gunny was a stickler?" Steve said. "This is hereby a Marine matter, Gunny. I've got enough on my plate. You and the captain have the authority and responsibility of figuring out what to do. I'll back whatever decision you make as long as it doesn't significantly affect overall operations. But that lieutenant needs to be off that boat. Fast. Take my boat, get out there. You at least, you and the captain if he has time. We're done."
    "Aye, aye, sir," Sands said, standing up. "What's that word your girls use, sir? A zammie? This is a zammie for sure, sir."

    Walker watched the radar screen, looking around occasionally on a visual sweep, then looked back at the screen. The Bella Senorita was cruising west under fair skies and