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It passed. They ran to the infirmary and dove under.
Waiting for them in the shadows were perfectly camouflaged smudges of mottled gray: Tom and Lucy in their SPI armor.
Mendez said in a low voice, "You two are the best dammed things I've almost seen all week."
Kurt felt the same way, but he didn't have the luxury to say so. He was in command, and that required a certain distance, no matter how much he cared for these two.
Lucy nodded and took up position along the edge of the building, on guard.
"Report," Kurt said.
"We count twenty-two drones within the camp perimeter," Tom said.
"Any other camp personnel here?" Kurt asked.
"No, sir," Tom replied. "All missing… or dead." He took a deep breath. "We've neutralized two drones with grenades. They have shields and deflect assault and sniper rounds. Slower projectiles are not deflected. We've learned that from a weak transmission from Team Saber."
"Saber is here?" Mendez asked.
"Negative, Chief," Tom said. "We never hooked up with Saber, Katana, or Gladius after Zone 67 went active. There were no additional transmissions after the one."
Kurt watched Mendez's reaction. The man looked rock solid, and there was no trace of the worry he had seen earlier. He knew he could count on him, Tom, and Lucy no matter what.
"We may be on our own for a long time," Kurt told them.
"We have to make the most of our position at Camp Currahee. Tom, get to the armory, collect grenades, det cord, whatever else looks good. Forget the ammunition, though, they're all stun rounds. Don't overload."
Tom nodded. "Yes, sir."
"Chief," Kurt said, "get to the command center. Fire up the generators to boost power and get on the auxiliary COM. It might be strong enough to punch through this radio interference. Send a general distress. Bounce it between the antenna arrays. It might confuse these things long enough to get through. Try and raise any survivors from the Agincourt."
They both knew the odds of escape pods being out of the range of that blast. Still, they had to try.
"Leave a note," Kurt continued, "in case the other Spartans come here. Tell them to gather supplies and meet us at El Morro Point."
"Aye aye," Mendez replied.
Kurt checked his watch, a self-winding antique mechanical. "Mark time as 1045. Lucy and I will pick up ammunition and then arrange for a distraction in one hour. Then make for the jungle, and we'll meet up at El Morro Point."
"Yes, sir," Tom and Mendez said.
They then crawled to opposite sides of the infirmary, waited for the drone shadows to vanish, and then they rolled out.
"Lucy?"
She belly-crawled over to him.
"Follow." He moved to the building's edge. Lucy in her SPI armor became his shadow. Kurt pointed to the small whitewashed house across the quad: the Camp Commandant's residence where Kurt had lived for the last twenty years.
They waited three long minutes for the overhead shadows of patrolling drones to vanish.
He and Lucy entered the house and closed the door.