"I'm not saying that we should ignore it. That would be foolish," Renee said, barely stopping herself from saying "fucking stupid" instead. She looked at everyone else. "That means taking the baby into a training facility, a mockup town, that we know nothing about."

A monkey took that opportunity to howl, long and loud.

"Exactly," Renee said, looking at them. "I say, we send a handful of people to the town to scout it, get a good look at it, then come back and we debate on it before we all just run willy-nilly to a town that the military built for God knows what reason."

"I just thought of one," Don said quietly. Everyone turned and looked at him, noting that his face was pale. He turned to Sarah. "Are you sure that the soldier mentioned Bikini Atoll?"

Sarah nodded. "Positive. I thought it was kind of funny."

Don looked at Raincloud. "Are you thinking the same thing."

Raincloud had gone pale, nodding along with Don. "We might be in serious trouble," He looked around the clearing, at the riotous jungle. "We might be in more trouble than I ever imagined."

"From fucking what, hippy, some fucking monkeys?" Tommy sneered.

Don shook his head. "They might have been doing hazardous environment training. Like chemical weapons or radiation," Donshivered and rubbed his arms, which had suddenly broken out in goosebumps.

"I don't know. If that was true, the place would be nothing but barren rock," Raincloud said. "Radiation kills everything, and there's birds, monkeys, and lots of plantlife here."

Renee nodded, kneeling down next to the creek. "Anyone know if crawfish are native to these islands?"

"What?" Mike asked, moving toward her.

"There's more than a few crawfish shells in the bottom of the creek, I can see a couple frogs, and some little fish. The question is: Are they native to this island or did the military put them here?"

"What fucking difference does it make, Miss Business Degree?" Tommy snapped.

Renee shook her head. "In the immediate scheme of things? It doesn't."

Sarah watched as the blonde woman stood up, dusting her hands. "In the long term, it tells me a lot."

"Like what?" Tommy sneered as Renee turned around.

"Frogs and crawdads are fast breeding species, as are some fish, right?" Renee asked.

"Who gives a shit?" Tommy sneered.

Raincloud nodded. "Yeah, so?"

"If the island is flooded with radiation or chemicals, then there would be a high level of malformation due to mutagens in the water causing cascading mutated traits," She smiled. When she saw the blank looks she sighed. "They'll look weird."

That made everyone nod and Sarah hid a smile by picking up the baby, who was about to throw a hunk of fruit into the stream.

"What makes you the expert in all this stuff?" Tommy sneered, picking up a rock and throwing it into the jungle.

"Electives. My company has several all natural lines, and to lead my company, I need to understand what is useful and what is not," Renee shrugged. "A day spent without learning is a day in your life you have wasted."

"That sounds like a quote," Richard chuckled.

"My family. It's all we hear growing up," Renee said softly. She shook her head. "Who's staying with the baby."

"I will," Lori said, stepping forward and holding her arms out.

"NO!" The baby shrieked, wrapping her arms around Sarah's neck. Sarah noticed that for such a little thing, she was strong.

"Honey, you can't go," Lori said. She unwrapped the arms from around Sarah's neck, moving back as the baby started kicking and screaming. "It's OK, sweety, it's OK."

"I'll go," Sarah said.

"Me too," Charlie shrugged. "We found it."

"I'm going to stay back," Don said, sitting down on one of the rocks. He picked up one of the torn leaves and fanned himself, his face red.

Tommy didn't answer, just threw another rock into the jungle.

"I'm going to stay," Raincloud said, pointedly not looking at Don.

In the end it was Sarah, Charlie, Renee, Mike, Richard, Kevin, and Emily. Sarah and Charlie stayed in the lead, following what they figured was their older trail. Insects buzzed around them, small rodents moved quickly away, and twice large clouds of brightly colored birds took flight, voicing their displeasure at being disturbed. It wasn't long before everyone was sweating in the thick humid air.

"This is half of us," Renee mused as they walked through the underbrush.

"Well, if you count the baby, we left seven behind," Sarah smiled.

"For what it's worth," Renee shrugged. "How big is this place?"

"I'm not sure. We only looked at like two streets," Charlie said, slapping at a bug that bit her shoulder. "Dammit."

"Big. I counted the blocks," Mike said.

Renee nodded, "Give me the numbers."

"Twenty-eight blocks from the mountain to almost to the ocean, twenty-one from almost to the ocean to toward us," Mike said. "It looked pretty complex. Looks like it had a city center on our side of it, with old tract housing around it."

"Makes sense," Renee mused. "I'll bet out in the jungle is more stuff we can't see."

"Makes you say that?" Mike asked, pushing aside fronds then cursing when another one slapped him in the face.

"Don mentioned once that his father, who, I might point out, fought the Pacific part of World War Two on islands just like this one, had stated that the Japanese would put their men further back into the jungle so that anyone coming on shore wouldn't be able to see them," Renee mused. She shook her head. "I should have taken more World History courses in college."

Sarah smiled at her. "Same here."

"What were you studying?" Renee asked, pushing aside a large frond.

"Nothing that's going to help us," Sarah sighed. "Engineering."

Renee glanced back, "What do you mean it won't help us? What kind of engineering?"

Sarah shrugged. "Civil Engineering. I want to work on designing roadways and highways."

Renee shook her head. "It might come in handy," She raised her voice. "Tonight, when we get back, we need to sit down and think about our education and skillsets. Boy Scouts, after school clubs, anything might be of use."

"Who made you leader?" Mike asked, his voice more amused than anything.

"Nobody. That's the problem. We're all running around like chickens with our heads cut off," She wiped sweat off her brow. "You know why soldier boy is in the Bronze Age while we're still not even in the Stone Age?"

"Because he's trained for survival?" Kevin suggested.

"That's only half of it," Renee said. She shoved another frond out of the way. "The other half is, he took stock of his situation, figured out how his skills applied, and got to work. He got his shit together probably while he was still in the water."

Renee snorted as she ducked under a branch. "We're barely out of the water. Hell, we're barely walking upright. If we're going to survive to be rescued, we've got to emulate him and get. Our. Shit. Together."

That put an end to the talk as the half-dozen castaways pushed through the underbrush.

"Why do I have to be escorted by Federal Marshals?" I asked, staring at the General. "If I need an escort, just chase some snake eaters out of the grass and tell them that it's time to work for a living."

"The State Department doesn't like you leaving CONUS without an escort, son," the General shrugged, shaking his head. "You're a hot potato right now after your testimony to the Armed Services Committee."

"You knew what I was going to say. If you didn't want me to testify you should have sent me to some shit hole," I growled. "Tell me I'm at least going on a MAC flight."

The General shook his head. "No. Civilian transfer to Hawaii, from there you'll go to Johnston Atoll, then from there to your ultimate destination."

"This is going to go sideways, I can feel it," I growled.

"Trust me, son. Nothing is going to go wrong. Just get in, accomplish the mission, and we'll pretend this whole thing never happened," the General smiled.

"Yeah. I've heard that before," I snarled. A jet was landing behind me and I raised my voice. "Those Feds act up and I'll leave them with new smiles below their chins," I promised him.

"Relax. Not everyone is out to get you," The General laughed. He pointed with his cigar. "There they are now."

"First you teach me to be paranoid, then you tell me not to be," I snarled, looking at the two Federal Marshals heading toward me. "Make up your mind."

"World's changed, son. You need to realize that," The General said loftily.

I glanced at him out of the corner of my eye. "Really? The world's changed just because that staggering rusted trash fire the Soviet Union collapsed into a heap? Yeah, I guess China and the Middle East just vanished up their own asses."

The General shook his head again. "It's a kindler, gentler world, Sergeant," he started.

"Corporal. Remember?" I tapped my lapel and he grimaced.

"I had no part in that," he said.

"You didn't fucking stop it," I reminded him.

He was silent as the Federal Marshals walked up.

"This him?" The one on the left, who looked like he'd benefit from a good slap in the mouth, asked with a slight tone of distaste.

"This is him, gentlemen. Just get him to Johnston Atoll and you'll be done with him," The General smiled.

"Anything we need to know about him?" Slap-Me asked, reaching for my arm.

"Yeah. You touch me, I'll break your fucking arm," I told him, turning in place to look at him. "Keep your fucking wifebeaters to yourself, Fed."

The guy flushed.

"Gentlemen. He's not a prisoner, the State Department wants him escorted," the General said. "Why isn't your concern, but you're to protect him and make sure he arrives at Johnston Atoll."

Both looked unhappy as we stood in the hot parking lot staring at each other.

The sound of a passenger jet taking off rattled the air around us as I slammed between them and walked toward the terminal.

"Let's do this shit, I want to hurry up and get home to my pregnant wife," I told them.

i promise

NEURAL SPIKE DETECTED!
MEMORY INTERRUPT!
run dcc.exe
DCC FAILED
dcc.exe corrupt
run dcc.dll
DCC FAILED
dcc.dll UNEXPECTED END OF FILE
run dcc.bin
DCC FAILED
dcc.din BAD FILE HEADER
brin dcc.bat
running...
NEURAL DAMAGE AT 43%
PERSONALITY OVERLAY IN TRAUMA MODE
i promise
ant.exe is not responding
brun ant.exe
ant.exe is not responding
i promise
PRIORITY INTERRUPT>ANT.EXE
program is not responding
i promise
poke 1,0
poke 56334,129
poke 1,1
sys 64738
ALT COLD START SUCCESSFUL
i promise
brun survive.bin
survive
Survive
SURVIVE
SURVIVE!

"Holy shit," Kevin said, staring at the town in front of him. The group had just pushed through the large ferns and heavy undergrowth.

The town was silent, and to the group of castaways looking at it, it felt eerie. The only sound was the buzzing of insects, bird calls, and the wind off the ocean rustling the plants. Rusted cars were scattered around, the wooden and cinderblocks buildings sat mournfully and silent on the streets.

"We didn't come in on this street," Sarah said. She pointed at the sign on the cinderblock building to the right. "That bookstore wasn't someplace we saw."

Kevin went to step forward when Renee's suddenly out thrust arm stopped him.

"Don't."

Kevin turned and looked at the young woman, about to ask her who put her in charge again, when he saw the intent focused look on her face. Her blue eyes almost glowed with an inner fire. She knelt down, shading her eyes, looking around slowly.

"Bookstore, diner, appliance store, hardware store," She mused. "Cars are late 50's or early 60's, heavy Detroit steel. Utility poles, hanging stoplights," She stood up, shading her eyes again. "This town is straight out of the 1950's, with a few upgrades."

"So?" Mike asked.

"I'm not sure. It's just... odd," Renee said. She shrugged. "We should probably take a look."

"Do you think it's safe?" Emily asked, looking around nervously.

"Probably not," Richard said, stepping out onto the asphalt. "Where to?"

"If the place is a mockup, we should probably check the houses first. See if there's something useful in one of them," Mike said, glancing at Renee, who was staring at the buildings and frowning. "What?"

"Something's bugging me," She admitted.

The group walked down the street, following Sarah's advice to take a left. It was only four blocks to the first of the houses, and the whole time Renee kept stopping at the intersections looking around.

"What?" Mike asked, when she stopped to look down the street, toward the ocean, at the cross street just before the houses.

"Just, something," She said, squinting.

The cars were all jammed together, several of them flipped over.

"Well, come on," Mike said, veering with the others toward the corner house.

Sarah slowed down, looking at Renee.

"What's wrong?" She asked the blonde.

"Notice all the windows are boarded up, marked with those weird X's and writing?" Renee pointed at the house. "Every house window, boarded up. All marked."

"So?" Sarah asked.

"Just... weird. Like something out of a movie," Renee shook her head. "Let's hope it isn't like those movies."

"Which movies?" Sarah asked, following Renee as she hurried across the street to catch up with the others, who were moving up the driveway.

"You don't want to know," Renee said.

She shook her head following Sarah up the driveway. Mike and Richard were trying to open the door, and as she watched, Mike drew back and kicked hard against the door.

"When there's no more room in Hell, the dead will walk the Earth," Renee quoted softly to herself.