Survival Instinct: A Zombie Novel Paperback

by Kristal Stittle

  “Why don’t I break it then?” Tobias suggested. Being an axe murderer wasn’t the best skill to have under normal circumstances, but these were way beyond normal. He wasn’t quite ready to give up the axe.

  “First, I’m betting I’m stronger than you.” Tobias frowned even though he was probably right. “Second, I’m not going to get torn to bits by flying glass.” Cillian held out his arms to remind Tobias of all the firefighter gear he had on.

  “Fine.” Tobias reluctantly held out the axe.

  Cillian took it and handed him the crowbar. “Now go watch. We’re going to need to run fast and you gotta lead the way.”

  Tobias nodded and walked over to the railing. They were so far down and yet still way too close. Even that high up, the stink coming off them was something fierce, like every imaginable human odour and then some. Tobias looked back and watched Cillian walk over to the big window. When he got there, Cillian turned and looked at him, meeting his eyes. He was scared but he wasn’t going to let that stop him. Tobias gave him a thumbs up. Cillian hoisted the axe up and took a batter’s stance just like Tobias had with the woman. He then lowered the visor of his helmet. Cillian screamed at the top of his lungs and swung the axe as hard as he could.

  The axe bounced off the shatter-resistant window leaving only a small scratch. Either way, several screams and roars from below answered Cillian’s. Tobias looked down and saw the runners already hitting the stairs.

  “Run!” Tobias screamed as he took off down through the mall.

  He glanced back once, quickly, over his shoulder to make sure the heavy boot falls he was hearing behind him were Cillian’s. They were. He then took another quick glance at the stairwell. A flood was rushing up it. Several runners were ahead, but others were pretty much pushing the walkers along at a hurried pace. Some took the corners too eagerly and ended up throwing themselves over the sides, only to get back up and start up the stairs again. Some were almost near the top already, holy hell.

  Tobias looked ahead again. A little girl made her way out of the Disney store. She was wearing a pink princess dress. She looked at Tobias and held out her arms as if she wanted him to pick her up. Both her hands were gone. She shrieked. Tobias held the crowbar out in one hand, and as he ran past her, he hit her square in the side of the head. She went down hard and he didn’t bother looking back to see if she got up again.

  He was nearing both the end of the mall, and his ability to keep running. As he reached the far end, he saw their way down. Instead of stairs, this side had criss-crossing escalators and a pair of elevators. The glass sides let Tobias know that one elevator was at the bottom and would be useless and the other had several zombies standing around in it. Escalators it was.

  When he reached the first one, he slowed down to turn into it, but then realized it was an up escalator and it was still running. He ran past it and turned around the edge of the great gapping hole.

  “What are you doing?” Cillian yelled at him.

  “It’s the up escalator!” Tobias yelled back. “Other side is down!”

  Cillian was further back than he thought. The firefighter gear was weighing him down. Thankfully, he was near one of the several small bridges that crossed the gap and was able to take that as a short cut.

  Tobias rounded the corner and nearly wiped out. His old and well-worn sneakers didn’t have the best grip. He ran to the other side and made it to the down escalator. Just as he reached it, so did Cillian, and they started rushing down one right behind the other. The downward movement of the escalator and just the fact that they were going down, allowed them to pick up some of the speed they had lost from exhaustion. As they reached the halfway mark, the faster zombies reached the top on both sides. Some of them rushed down after them, but others jumped over the railings. One hit the escalator’s railing right in front of Cillian and went spilling over the side. Another missed completely. Tobias wished they all did this but he didn’t have such luck. One landed on the stairs in front of Cillian. Cillian didn’t hesitate and swung the axe right into its face. It went down and Cillian pulled out the axe in one swift movement, the back swing nearly taking out Tobias. One sounded right behind Tobias. He turned and caught it with the crowbar. It pitched to one side and flew over the edge. They reached the bottom of the escalator and quickly turned to head down the next one.

  More zombies tried to jump down, but now the other up escalator was safely above the running men. Most of the zombies missed or landed on the rails where they could be batted off. The worry was from those on Tobias’s ass.

  One of them leaped onto his back.

  “Cillian!” Tobias screamed as he was pitched forward into the firefighter’s back.

  Cillian lost his footing and they all went tumbling down the stairs. Tobias felt a sharp pain in his shoulder. He prayed he hadn’t been bitten. Please don’t let it have been a bite.

  They crashed at the bottom of the escalator. Cillian got to his feet quickly and dragged Tobias up.

  “Where is it?” Tobias panicked about the zombie that jumped him.

  “It fell off the side, come on.” Cillian dragged him along. He was heading away from the escalators. He threw Tobias into the nearest store and then quickly turned and dragged down the big security fence. Just as it clacked to the bottom, the zombies on their butt hit it, arms reaching through, teeth snapping.

  “My arm.” Tobias looked at it; it was bleeding.

  Cillian hurried over and took a look at it. “You’re fine.” He patted his other shoulder. “That’s not a bite. You most likely just hit it on the edge of a step.”

  “You sure?” Tobias didn’t know if he could believe him.

  “I’m a firefighter, dude, I’ve been on paramedic runs before. That does not look like a bite to me.” Cillian hauled Tobias up to his feet. “I dropped the axe.”

  Tobias had just noticed he no longer had the sharp implement. “It’s okay,” he shrugged. “You got us in here.” Tobias was amazed he had held onto the crowbar. Even more amazing was that the camera looked intact.

  “Yeah, they’re going to figure out how to get in here soon, too.” Cillian gestured to the horde. “Come on, we need a way out.”

  They headed toward the back of the store. It was a trendy businesswoman’s clothing store styled in chrome and black trim. Some music was playing, but thankfully it was light and not the crazy dance music other stores played. Tobias grabbed a fancy, cream and gold scarf off a rack. With Cillian’s help they got it tied around his wound. Cillian said it didn’t look deep and he should be fine. Of course, looks could be deceiving. If Tobias wasn’t sure about going to the hospital before, he was now.

  “There are no doors in this place,” Tobias came to realize.

  “Check the mirrors.” Cillian started pulling at the sleek, black frames.

  “Why?”

  “Places like this hide their dressing rooms and storage rooms behind the mirrors.” Cillian opened one up to show Tobias the dressing room inside.

  “Why do you know that?” Tobias wondered.

  “My girl used to love shopping in places like this. I had to do a lot of bag holding,” Cillian told him.

  “Oh.” Tobias found a mirror that looked like it should open but it didn’t budge. “Hey, I think I found the back room, but it’s locked.”

  “Step aside.” Cillian took the crowbar from Tobias and started to pry at the edges.

  Tobias picked up the camera around his neck and tested it. It still worked but there was another, larger crack in the lens. He filmed the zombies trying to get through the gate. It looked like they were starting to figure out they just needed to lift it up. Some were already trying to lift it, but others had their arms stuck through the bars and hindered their efforts.

  “Hurry up,” Tobias needlessly told Cillian.

  “I’m hurrying,” Cillian grunted. Finally, the door popped open, its lock broken. “Got it.”

  The door swung inward and they hurried through. Just as Tobias w
ent through, he saw the first of the zombies crawling under the gate. Once through the mirrored door, they slammed it shut. Cillian started dragging over shelves and leaning them across the door. Tobias tried to help but sharp protests from his shoulder made him fairly useless. It wasn’t long before there was a ceaseless hammering on the door outside, followed by a loud crash as the mirror was shattered. Tobias couldn’t help but think that the zombie was going to have seven years bad luck. While Cillian reinforced their barricade, Tobias walked around the storage room, exploring.

  “Umm, Cillian? I think we have a problem.” Tobias walked back over to him, stepping around all the merchandise that had fallen to the ground from his labours.

  “What?” Cillian shoved one last shelving unit into place, looking satisfied with his work.

  “There are no other exits from this room.”

  The pounding got louder as more and more zombies tried to get in.

  13:

  The Continuity Girl

  Abby held her fists tightly to her chest, not even daring to breathe. The car offered no protection from the shuffling attacker on the other side of it, only a barrier. Jessica was huddled next to her, shaking soundlessly with a white-knuckle grip on the field hockey stick. For what seemed liked hours, but what was probably only minutes, they listened to it scratch and paw at the doors and windows of the car.

  Eventually the scratching stopped and its shuffling footsteps headed away from the vehicle. Jessica quickly dropped to her belly like a cat and looked under the car.

  “He’s gone,” she sighed in relief.

  “What the hell,” Abby let out her breath in a whoosh of words, and then took in another lungful.

  “I told you things were crazy out here.” Jessica had warned her. So had Jon and Mark, Claire’s story about Mr. Fargus, and her neighbours’ attempts to kill them.

  Abby shook her head. “Doesn’t matter, I still want to get to the hospital to make sure Claire is okay. Jon too.” There was nothing she could do about Mark except pray.

  “You’re nuts, but you stick to your guns. I admire that.” Jessica nodded and got to her feet. Abby’s hiking boots looked ridiculous with her smart business attire.

  Abby got to her own feet. She looked in the direction of the attacker and saw him shuffling toward a fast food restaurant. Some people were huddled inside watching.

  “Hey.” Abby turned Jessica’s attention to the people in the fast food place. “They aren’t safe in there.”

  “So?” Jessica wiped some dirt off her skirt and blouse.

  “So? We should help them. Tell them to leave,” Abby frowned at Jessica.

  “You want to help them?” Jessica raised an eyebrow. “Forget what I said, you’re just plain nuts.”

  “What if that were us? Wouldn’t you want someone to help us?” Abby argued.

  “How do you propose we do that? Just run up there and clock that guy in the head? Then what? He eats us from the ankles up, is what.” Abby was quickly learning that Jessica could be quite bitter.

  Since leaving the apartment, Abby had new, unwanted memories stored in her head. Ones that disgusted her. They had watched as four people jumped on a man and tore him to pieces with their bare hands. They had also seen a toddler sitting on a woman’s chest, presumably his mother, eating her throat out. Then there was the guy they had just hidden from. He had come out of an alley unexpectedly and tried to grab them. They managed to knock him down and hide behind the car, but clearly, he didn’t stay down. Jessica may have been bitter but she was right. Abby couldn’t think of anything they could do to help those people.

  “Look, there’s just one of him,” Jessica reasoned. “He probably won’t be able to get in, but he’ll scare them into finding a better hiding place. And if he does get in, they probably have better weapons in there than we do. Kitchen knives and stuff.”

  Abby sighed. “Fine.” She really didn’t like the idea, but she also couldn’t see another choice. “Let’s keep moving.”

  “We’re not far are we?” Jessica asked. Again. Considering she had lived in the city longer than Abby, she didn’t really know her way around it.

  “A few more blocks,” Abby told her. Again. The hospital really wasn’t that far. They would be there by now on a normal day. Too bad today was anything but normal. Abby had been frightened of the city, and always expected to be mugged by everyone on the street, but this was a totally different fear. She actually had to worry about being torn to shreds at any given moment by literally anyone. Abby even feared Jessica a bit, although she couldn’t think of any reasons why.

  They wove around the cars, sticking to the middle of the street. Neither of them felt like crossing in front of any more alleyways due to the last encounter.

  “Wait, are we heading toward Jalice Ave.?” Jessica looked around at the buildings.

  “Yeah.” Abby may have still considered herself relatively new to the city, but she had a map laid out in her head of all the major streets and many of the more minor ones. It helped that she didn’t own a car and walked virtually everywhere.

  “I take it there’s no way around that street, is there,” Jessica sighed.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Jalice Avenue is always packed with cars and people. It’s going to be a mess.”

  Abby had never actually seen Jalice Avenue. She had only noted it on a map. It was the same with the hospital they were headed to. She had never actually seen the building.

  “Well, we have to cross it. Aren’t those the buildings, the Isaac buildings, that have walkways which cross over the street?” Abby knew that they did; it was one of the things she looked up before moving here. But she had learned long ago that it was best to make some things sound more like questions, in order not to always sound so sure. It made people around her feel dumb, and then become somewhat hostile toward her, if she didn’t make herself seem less knowledgeable. From all the quirks that singled Abby out over her life, she had learned how to blend in exceptionally well. She never had any interest in sticking out.

  “The Isaacs? Yeah, they do, but we’re not going there,” Jessica told her, “it’s a mall.”

  “I know, but why does that mean we can’t go through them?” Abby asked a real question this time, as she didn’t follow Jessica’s reasoning.

  “Malls are filled with people. How many of them do you think have become these crazed attackers?” Jessica pointed out.

  “Oh.” Abby hadn’t thought of it like that. She was just trying to figure out how to avoid the street, get from point A to point B. “Well, if we can’t go over the street, how about under?”

  “You’re not suggesting the sewers are you?” Jessica made a disgusted face. “Drop!” she then said in an urgent whisper.

  Both girls dropped and huddled up against another car. The sound of running footsteps was coming toward them.

  “Under the car,” Jessica whispered in Abby’s ear.

  They both lay on their bellies and scooted backwards underneath the vehicle, which happened to be a pickup truck. With both of them under there, it was extremely cramped, but neither of them complained. It smelled of oil, grease, and rubber, but at least the car wasn’t running. A small spider crawled across the edge of the truck. Abby didn’t know Jessica very well, but if she had to guess, she’d say she was afraid of things like spiders. She decided not to point it out even though she found it to be kind of pretty.

  A pair of feet pounded up the street and stopped next to the car across from their hiding place. The feet then turned on a dime and ran over to the pickup truck. The shoes were right in Abby’s face. She was guessing it was some sort of teenager out there judging by the shoes. They were close enough that she could see the owner had once written something along the laces, but it was now too faded and smudged to make out more than a handful of letters. Abby could also see dried drops of blood on the scuffed white material. She wondered if it was the owner’s blood, or someone else’s. The shoes scuffed around in a cir
cle, the owner facing this way and that. They would take a few steps in one direction and then hurry back the other way. Abby decided to focus on the pebbles of asphalt in front of her nose. They were far less threatening. She didn’t know what asphalt was made up of. She’d have to look it up when the timing was better, like when she wasn’t trapped under a pickup truck with someone wanting to kill her right next to it.

  The shoes ran back across to the other car and the body attached to them slammed into it. Whoever it was fell over backward, slamming his head into the pickup truck and slumping down in front of Abby. He tried to get up but wasn’t very co-ordinated and ended up flat on his back. Abby had been thinking of it as a boy right then, but it dawned on her that it was actually a girl with very short hair. The girl’s back arched and her head lifted in such a way that allowed her to see under the truck. To see Abby and Jessica who were likely making an excellent deer-in-the-headlights impersonation. Her mouth opened and a cat-like hiss came out. She quickly flipped over onto her belly and reached under the car.

  Abby screamed and tried to scoot backwards, but the girl grabbed her arms. Jessica was beside her with the field hockey stick and she stabbed out with the rounded end right into their attacker’s mouth. A few of the girl’s teeth got knocked out but she started chewing on the end of the stick anyway. While Jessica held her at bay with the end of the stick, Abby fought to free herself from the grip of the girl. She was unbearably strong though; her grip was like a bear trap.

  There was a gunshot and both the girls screamed. The undercarriage of the truck amplified the sounds to painful volumes. The attacker went limp. Abby noticed that blood didn’t flow from the hole that suddenly appeared in the side of her head, but sort of glopped out in chunks. Some of it might have been brains.

  “It’s all right, you can come out,” a male voice came from near the hood of the pickup.

  Abby and Jessica looked at each other, but then backed out from under the trunk and away from the body. Abby could feel that all the blood had drained from her face and saw that the same thing happened to Jessica. A man in cowboy boots walked over and offered his hand. Jessica used it to help herself up but Abby didn’t bother. The man had a large revolver in his other hand.