Survival Instinct (Book 2): Adaptive Instinct

by Kristal Stittle

  Riley didn’t like it, but she knew the look in Cameron’s eyes. Absolutely nothing was going to change her mind. Riley probably had that same look when she had decided to leave the cabin.

  “Then I’ll help you,” Riley decided.

  “You don’t have to.”

  “Yes I do, I’m not separating from you again. This last week, knowing you were probably here, it’s been eating away at me. When I read the note mom and dad left, saying they were going to get you, I should have headed out too.”

  “No,” Cameron shook her head. “You did what we were trained to do. I should never have told them I was trapped. How did you know I might be here?”

  “Shawn showed up. He told me some mercenaries grabbed you, and with what I learned, I figured you’d end up here.”

  Cameron got a funny look on her face.

  “We’re losing time,” Crichton barked. “Are all of you ready to go?”

  The group, consisting of a mountainous man, a ball-shaped, female doctor Riley had seen the last time she was there, a scruffy, homeless-looking man, a middle-aged Indian woman with cat’s eyes, a young man with terrible acne, and a man with the posture of a snake, all nodded.

  “You’re going with them?” James figured by the way that Riley positioned herself.

  Riley nodded.

  James then gestured to the man in the red rain poncho. “Brunt, you’re up.”

  The man nodded and stepped over to the group. Riley hadn’t noticed before, but he had a pack on underneath the poncho. Crichton looked to James.

  “If it’s all right with you, sir, I think Private Pike should go with them. I think at least one member on the team should be one of ours.” It was the first time Riley had seen James unsure. This was something he knew he should have brought up with Crichton beforehand. It was likely that Riley’s appearance had interrupted that plan.

  “Very well,” Crichton allowed it. Riley had the feeling the man knew a hell of a lot more than he let on, and that he let James get away with virtually anything.

  Riley reluctantly gave the helicopter helmet to James, knowing that their new pilot would probably need it. It would also hinder her peripheral vision and hearing out there, which could get her killed. When Edelstein showed up with a group of men, they all left the building. Dr. Owen looked like he desperately wanted to volunteer as well, but James held him back for whatever reason.

  They loaded into a truck with Brunt, or Pike, or whatever his name was, driving. The huge man took the passenger seat while Riley and Cameron sat in the backseat of the Hummer section. Both the Bishop girls had had enough rides in the rear container, which was where everybody else loaded up. As they headed toward the gates, Cameron slid across the seat and leaned close to Riley.

  “So, when Shawn was telling you what happened to me, did he remember to mention how he betrayed me?”

  13:

  River Webster – Day 15

  River Webster woke up feeling stiff and sore. They had spent the night sleeping in a car. After Quin had knocked out Robin with some sort of drug, they had bundled her up and found a car with the engine off, but with the keys still in the ignition. River had driven them through the downpour, weaving around cars when he could, backtracking and finding alternate routes when he couldn’t. The storm had kept up well into the night, and it was decided they couldn’t drive around anymore; it was too dangerous. River remembered how they had been safe from zombies on the top of the parking garage, so he found another and pulled in out of the rain. He happened to pick the underground garage for a very upscale hotel in Leighton: the Privia. Gathers Moss had stayed there a few times. Unsure if there were zombies in the garage, they parked near a car, which had a cover drawn over it. They lifted the cover only enough to reveal the driver’s window, which they smashed. They had gotten lucky that the valet hadn’t bothered to turn on the alarm. River didn’t think they would have in this place. The gate they had smashed through was fairly heavy-duty, doing a considerable amount of damage to their car. Using the delay feature on the headlights of the other car, they unlocked the door through the broken window, opened it up, and scrambled inside. Quin then pulled the cloth back down, hiding them from any roaming eyes. Everyone would have to be silent, but not being seen was the best they could do for now. When the other car’s headlight went out—there being only one left after smashing their way in—they were in complete darkness.

  River sat in that darkness now, knowing he was awake only because he was sore. Even that wasn’t a dead give-away. When he had first opened his eyes, he thought he had gone blind. He thought that his substance abuse had finally caught up to him and had taken his sight. There was a very small and very weak red light near Quin on the driver’s side, however; some sort of indicator light. It wasn’t bright enough to cast light onto anything around it, but the small red dot floating in a fixed position of the blackness had assured River that he was not blind. It also reassured him that he was not asleep or high on something. If he had been, that dot wouldn’t have stayed still, it would have been floating around like a firefly.

  He wondered if Robin had woken up yet. If she awoke in this all-consuming blackness with the only sound being the breathing of the others, what would she think? She was going to be mad when she woke up, mad that they had drugged her to save her from burning alive. During the car ride, April blamed Quin for the fire, that he must have been high and not realized what he had done. She blamed the drugs really, not even Quin. She was quick to forgive. Robin wouldn’t be so quick. Quin seemed to think he must have caused the fire as well. He couldn’t remember doing it, but he couldn’t see how else it might have started. Not once during the whole ride, and all through the night, did he ask for another hit of something. The fact that he could have caused the fire while high had scared him. River had told them that he hadn’t been watching Quin, so he had no idea what happened.

  In truth, River had started the fire.

  He had been torn up about Greg. Not so much that he had died, or that River had been the one finally to end his suffering, but that he was still just lying there on his deathbed. Still just lying in that reeking corner of sheets and medication with only his infected leg covered. No one had brought up what they were going to do with the body. River finally realized that it was because nobody wanted to touch it. Greg would just continue to lie there, stinking up the place, until he was too far gone to move. Or, that they would just toss him out into the street. No burial, no service, just tossed like so much trash. River couldn’t stand the idea of it. So, what he did was take down all of the sheets that had surrounded Greg and carefully wrapped him up in them. He then collected some flammable household products from around the store and doused the shroud with them. The moment the flame from River’s lighter touched one of those sheets, the whole thing became a great funeral pyre. He knew it was dangerous, and that they would have to flee the department store, but he did it anyway. Gregory Ireland, one of the greatest drummers ever to live, deserved at least that.

  As the flames started to spread to the rest of the store, River enlisted Quin to help him find the kittens. They searched for as long as they could, but the little things had gotten out of the bed frame barrier. Splatter was the only one they found, and that was by luck. They had run out of time quickly, as the smoke began to choke them. River scooped up Splatter and ran for the escalators, pulling Quin after him. How they got out in time was a miracle really. The rain started to hammer down a few seconds after they got outside. After the flames, it was blessedly cool. Quin began to shiver though, so they found an awning to stand under. When Quin began to sing, River wanted to shout at him, to tell him just to shut up, but he didn’t when he realized what song it was. Come Back Birdie had always been Greg’s favourite of their songs. It was fitting that it would be sung at his funeral.

  Then Robin and April showed up, and Robin went hysterical when she learned that two of the kittens were probably still inside. Now they were in the expensive car.

&nb
sp; A sharp, rancid smell attacked River. It seemed that Splatter could no longer hold onto his shit and let it go somewhere in the vehicle.

  “Aw, Splatter, that’s disgusting.” April’s voice had the volume of a mouse, but in the silence of the car, with no visual distractions, it seemed much louder. So River wasn’t the only one awake then.

  “April, you awake?” Quin spoke from next to River. He didn’t whisper at all which made his voice seem booming. It was too loud; if there were zombies outside, they could hear him. River quickly clamped his hand over Quin’s mouth. Quin struggled at first, frightened, but he calmed down when his own hand was placed on top of River’s. Even by touch, he recognized River’s heavy rings. He nodded, communicating to River that he understood the message. River let go of him. He had terrified Quin more than he had intended, forgetting that Quin was sitting next to the broken window and was in the most danger of having a zombie reach through the shattered glass. Oh well, whatever got him to be quiet.

  “Is Robin awake yet?” River spoke at the same volume April had. He tried to be quieter, but physically couldn’t be. When he tried, no sound came out.

  “No,” April replied. “Her breathing is regular, and her pulse feels fine, but she doesn’t seem to be awake.”

  “We need to leave this car,” River decided.

  They were all silent. Nobody knew how to leave the car without putting themselves at huge risk. Then River felt Splatter climb up his pant leg and onto his lap. He grabbed the small kitten and handed him to Quin.

  “Put him outside.”

  “What?” Quin spoke quietly this time.

  “You’re next to the window. Either you go outside, or you put him outside. Isn’t that why the kittens were around in the first place? To check for zombies?”

  Nobody moved for a minute. River was about to grab the kitten back and toss it out the window himself when Quin started to move. He listened to the rustle of the cover’s fabric as Quin’s arms went out the window and down the side of the vehicle. Splatter was dropped the last few inches onto the pavement. They all listened carefully.

  Nearly five minutes passed, but in the dark, silent confines of the car, it felt like an hour to River. When Splatter mewed, he startled as if it had been a zombie’s groan. The kitten mewed again and began to rustle the bottom of the car cover, either trying to climb it or playing with it. Either way, there wasn’t any shrieking so there probably weren’t any zombies. Probably.

  After much coaxing, River and April convinced Quin to climb out the window, with the promise that River would follow right behind him. They didn’t use the doors this time, out of fear of the noise. Once the two of them were outside the car, River could see a little better. They hadn’t bothered to go deep into the garage, and pale sunlight was trying to get in through the entrance. Even with the shiny cars reflecting the light at that end of the garage, the area where they stood was still covered in darkness. River felt Splatter rub against his leg. He picked up the kitten and passed him over to Quin. When something clattered behind them, they both jumped.

  “Sorry,” April whispered from inside the car’s driver seat. “I was going to hand you a flashlight but I dropped it.”

  Cursing in his mind, River knelt down and ran his hands gently over the ground. His nimble guitarist fingers searched their way over pebbles and broken safety glass, finally resting on the barrel of the flashlight. He pulled it to him and flicked it on before he had time to imagine the horrible sights that might leap out of the dark. Unless someone considered a red Dodge Viper with orange rims a horrible sight, which River did not, there was nothing. River stood and directed the beam around the parking garage. Everywhere, fancy cars reflected the beam back at him, glinting off mirrors, glass, chrome, and slick paint jobs. Dotted here and there were vehicles that had been covered like the one in which they had hidden, very likely at the request of their owners. The valets wouldn’t have done it unless ordered to. River remembered a time, many years ago, when he worked as a valet for a hotel. It wasn’t the Privia, but the Anic, which was the first hotel in Leighton. It used to be the swankiest digs in town until the Privia monolith sprang up. River still thought the Anic had more style, but there was no denying the richness and the class of the Privia. Even its valet parking garage, which the visitors would likely never see, had higher ceilings than most, and all its pipes and wiring were hidden behind a pressboard ceiling.

  “Is it safe?” April hissed through the car’s cover, pulling River out of his wandering thoughts.

  In response, River began to lift the cover up off the side of the vehicle. He found out the car they had spent the night in was a BMW. River was never much of a car guy, but Mitchell had been. If he had still been kicking and with them, he could’ve named the exact model, and probably even name any modifications that had been made. He would have loved to be in this garage, surrounded by all these metal bodies.

  April shoved one of the hockey bags out through the window and then quickly followed it up with the other one. River’s stomach growled as he remembered there was food in those bags. He opened one and found a box of sugary cereal. After eating a few handfuls, he offered the box to Quin. Quin ate from the box after putting the kitten down, while River took out another box from which to eat.

  “What are you doing?” April asked as she poked her head out of the window again.

  “We’re eating,” River thought that should have been obvious, “because we’re hungry.”

  “We can’t stop to eat here. Let’s get somewhere safer first, like whatever building this garage is attached to. I need one of you to help me get Robin out. She’s still unconscious.” April disappeared back into the car.

  Dropping his cereal box back into the opened hockey bag, Quin stepped forward to help. River realized he was going to have to carry one of the bags and resigned himself to shrugging it onto his back now. He also put his cereal box away for later. April was right; they shouldn’t stop to eat until they were in a safer location. He grunted as he settled the bag into position. What else had they stuffed into the damned thing?

  The back door was opened, and Quin gently pulled Robin out. He picked her up and slung her over his shoulder as if she weighed no more than a sack of potatoes. Quin’s strength always surprised River, especially now considering his frail appearance of late. April hopped out of the vehicle and slung the other heavy bag onto her back. She held her sword in one hand and picked up Splatter with the other. She looked kind of funny with the bag, the sword, and the cat, and River grinned to himself.

  April led the way with Quin carrying Robin behind her. River took up the rear, shining the flashlight forward for the others. He wouldn’t have minded having Robin’s shotgun as they walked, but it had been packed into one of the bags, and River didn’t know which one. He had never been allowed to touch it, and they never offered him anything else in terms of self-defence. Well, back at the department store, he had had the guitar, but he left that behind when he fled from the fire. At the moment, all he had was the flashlight, which really wasn’t an adequate weapon.

  As they walked, April would point in the direction that she wanted River to point the flashlight. Although they were headed for the entrance they had first come in, she was searching for any other ways out. A door was finally spotted not far from the crashed gate. Above it, the name of the hotel was engraved on a gold plaque. The three of them stopped and looked at each other, silently deciding on which way to go. They were in mutual agreement to go into the hotel.

  Through the doors was a stairwell. Even here, the railings were plated with gold, although the cement steps weren’t carpeted. They followed the stairs up to a series of service hallways. Gold plaques directed them to the main entrance of the hotel.

  The entrance was a high, grand room, with crystal chandeliers, plush carpets, gold trim, carved pillars, marble statues, and even an odour that said rich. Both River and Quin eyed the entrance to the bar across the space. April didn’t seem to notice and headed
straight for the front doors. In one of the three rotating glass doors, a zombie had become trapped. The door had been locked in place, cutting him off from coming into the building, or going farther out. April ignored the man in his expensive, mussed suit, pawing at the glass, and checked all the remaining doors. Every one of them was already locked.

  “Either another group of survivors is in here somewhere, or the hotel saw what was happening and shut down,” April spoke her deductions aloud to the others. She then coughed several times.

  “Are you okay?” Quin asked.

  “I’m fine,” April waved him off and headed for the front desk.

  River followed her, looking longingly at the bar entrance again. They had cigarettes in there, River knew. He and the boys had gotten drunk in there every time they stayed at the Privia, and along with booze, the bartender sold cigarettes and cigars. They couldn’t smoke them throughout the hotel, but there was a separate, smaller bar that served as the smoker’s room. River wondered how many people had missed out on a chance meeting with Gathers Moss simply because they weren’t smokers and never went into that room.

  As they passed by the entrance, River could see the bar. All the colourful liquor bottles that had once stood behind it were gone. Someone had already been there.

  At the front desk, April went behind the huge expanse of oak and marble, and started rifling through things.

  “What are you looking for?” River wondered.

  “Something that can tell us which rooms are empty. I don’t want to risk opening a door to a locked-in zombie.”

  River walked around the desk and up to a large set of cupboards. Although key cards were the way to go with most hotels these days, the Privia liked the old school method; they had real keys that went into real locks. River had watched them take the keys out of the cupboards enough times to know that they kept them there. He found a peg that still had all the room keys on it.