* * *
“What now?” Scholz asked.
“Get me the Hole,” Bradburn replied.
CHAPTER 23
“PO Kuzma, this is the U.S. Navy,” the radio squawked five minutes later.
Kuzma had started to wonder if it was all hoax and looked at the radio as if it was radioactive.
“Kuzma to calling station, who is this?”
“A submarine, obviously. Answer these questions without thinking. Mother’s maiden name?”
“Thomas,” Kuzma said.
“Birthplace.”
“Mine? Burlington, Kansas. Hers? Peoria.”
“First college attended.”
“University of Kansas,” Kuzma said.
“Verified. Stand by…”
“Petty Officer, it’s good to hear that some of you survived,” a new voice said. “This circuit isn’t secure, so there are some things you’re not going to be told. To give you two other answers, so you know I’m looking at your service record, you enlisted on April twenty-second and you hold the USCG rescue medal with two stars. What I’m going to tell you is that this is the highest level commander you’re going to talk to for…well, until someone finds a higher level one.”
“Yes, sir,” Kuzma said. “So… It’s really all gone?”
“More or less,” the voice said. “But you, or rather, and I quote, Commodore Wolf, called us, not the other way around.”
“Yes, sir,” Kuzma said. “The…commodore, and he really doesn’t like to be called that, sir, he’s asking for materials from the Campbell for his…mission. Specifically, they’re low on shotgun rounds. And he’d like to off-load fuel and supplies and generally, well, strip her, sir. I’m not… I can’t authorize that. I can see his reasoning. We can’t man her as is. But…. I can’t go with that, sir. I’m not even sure I can go with a voice on a radio even if you are looking at my service report.”
“How about if I can tell an attack sub what to do?” the voice said. “Is that sufficient authority? I’d rather not surface the sub just to show off, but if I order it, it will.”
“So do I turn over the stuff?” Kuzma asked.
“What do you think of Commodore Wolf?” the voice asked. “Is that even his real name?”
“No, sir,” Kuzma asked. “It’s his handle. He’s a former Aussie para or so he says.”
“Who are Seawolf and Shewolf?” the voice asked.
“His daughters, sir,” Kuzma said. “And that’s part of the screwy part. Sir, none of these people really know what they’re doing. I mean, Seawolf is fifteen for God’s sake and she’s up for her own boat. Shewolf is one of the people who cleared the boat. She’s thirteen. I mean she’s big for her age and she knows how to handle guns but… Honestly, sir, I… I helped clear the boat with Shewolf and… She’s scary. But the boats? None of these people have so much as a captain’s license, sir. And…I can see what they’re doing. I think we should help. I’m not so sure about… I’m not sure about anything, sir. And, sir, I just got out from clearing the boat and it was… Christ, sir, it was really bad. It’s just…I don’t even know if I’m coherent, sir…”
“Petty Officer,” the voice said, sharply. “Calm down. You’re doing great. You’re a God damned credit to the Coast Guard that you can be this coherent after what you’ve been through. Okay? Calm down. You’re doing fine.”
“Yes, sir,” Kuzma said. “Sir… There really isn’t anything on land?”
“Family?” the voice asked, softly.
“Yes, sir,” Kuzma said. “My… I have kids, sir.”
“So do I,” the voice said. “They were in DC. I was…not. Petty Officer Kuzma, go get Wolf, then stand by. It appears I need to talk to the commodore.”
“Yes, sir,” Kuzma said. “He seems like a good guy, sir. But…I mean they really don’t know nothing about the sea. I’m surprised any of them have survived at all. These are the kind of people that we usually rescue. Not the other way around.”
“We are living in strange times, Petty Officer,” the voice said. “Get the commodore.”
* * *
“Wolf.”
“So you’re a commodore?”
“I’m in command of six small boats,” Steve said, calmly. “And a support vessel. In the World War Two British Navy I’d be a Reserve, Hostilities Only, Lieutenant Commander or so. I was given the moniker by my next senior captain and it was voted upon, against my wishes, by the captain’s board. Feel free to call me Mr. Wolf or Captain Wolf. May I have a name?”
“Mister… Blount? My mother’s name. It’s not a huge security issue. We are in contact with all the rest of the remaining headquarters, such as they are and they know who I am.”
“God,” Steve said, his eyes closing. “You’re the NCCC.”
“You’re well versed in security issues.”
“I was a history teacher,” Steve said. “Including twentieth century. My masters in history was on the defense of Malta during World War Two. I thought that was bad. If the NCCC is talking to me… That’s even worse than my worst nightmares. That means this little flotilla really is it, doesn’t it?”
“You’re…unfortunately perceptive. There are other forces, but…”
“The subs aren’t infected but they also don’t have vaccine,” Steve said. “I’ve had time to think about this, sir.”
“You’re Australian?”
“I’m a naturalized American citizen, sir,” Steve said. “But at this point, I think borders are a bit passe. Be that as it may, I’m an American. Passport and everything. Two children who are quite American.”
“From what I’ve heard, the best of America,” the NCCC said.
“Fought their way out of the last concert in New York,” Steve said. “A tale I’d be more than happy to tell as soon as we can get you out of whatever fortress you’re in.”
“Come again?”
“My plan had been to just survive,” Steve said. “Keep hiding. Find a place my family and I could survive. Let someone like, well, you, sir, handle this. But… You save one person and it gets addictive. And this situation…annoys me, sir. I…shortly after we took the Toy I told my wife we were not going to bow to the zombies, sir.
“So, yes, my goal, not plan, goal, is a zombie free world. I’ll start with the U.S. So that wasn’t a joke. Say the goal is to get to the point where a lightly armed convoy can pull up with busses and deliver vaccine to your people and then you can take over and I can go fishing. Don’t ask me what the plan is, though. I didn’t know I was going to find a coast guard cutter. I don’t know what disaster or success is going to occur next. All I can do is work the goal. Sir.”
“Ambitious. Do you think you can do it?”
“I’ve only got a few boats, sir,” Steve said. “But if I have the CG personnel behind me, officially, it will help. I’ve got one active duty special forces sergeant but I’m going to need more help from surviving military. The sub personnel, especially, as soon as we can produce vaccine. I’m going to need their technical expertise if this is going to work.”
“About that,” the NCCC said. “We picked up the snippet where some was mentioned. Might I inquire where you secured it?”
“I don’t know,” Steve said. “Can I get a written pardon?”
There was a long pause.
“Were you…active in producing it?”
“I was not someone who…acquired the materials,” Steve said, cautiously. “I knew someone who was. And I know someone who was involved in production of vaccine.”