Survival Instinct (Book 2): Adaptive Instinct

by Kristal Stittle

  “I know, Shoes.” Misha reached down and patted the squat dog. Shoes got up and followed Misha to the other dogs, which all calmed down upon his return. “Come on guys and gal, let’s go tell the others.”

  ***

  “You found a what?” Abby had gone as white as a sheet.

  “A zombie. In the woods,” Misha repeated himself. “I killed it.” He held up the axe with its bloodied blade, as if that would make her feel better.

  “How did it get here?” Alec wondered. “Isn’t the terrain here supposed to be too tough for them?”

  Shawn just shrugged. Riley would have had an answer or at least an idea to offer them.

  “He was wearing hiking gear,” Misha told them. “Maybe he was hiking north, got infected, and then just kept going until he changed.”

  “We can’t forget that some of them are more co-ordinated than others,” Tobias spoke up. “I saw one of them climb down a ladder with more agility and ease than I could ever hope to.”

  “Right, and they don’t feel pain or fear,” Mathias agreed. “The only thing that can stop a zombie, outside of a good brain beating, is its own stupidity. A smarter zombie is likely to travel farther than a dumb one.”

  “You said a hiker? Did he have any useful supplies on him?” Josh asked.

  “Don’t know.” Misha shrugged. “I didn’t want to touch him with my bare hands.”

  “Maybe we should check it out,” Josh offered. “Maybe the body could tell us something.”

  They agreed and Misha led them toward the path. Everyone came except Alec, who couldn’t, and Shawn, who wouldn’t.

  As they walked down the section of path that Misha had freshly carved, people complimented him on it. Misha said thank you, but didn’t really care. Rifle was bounding through the trees again, and Milly was once more leading the way. This time Shoes walked up ahead with her, which made Misha happy. Maybe the old boy just needed a little excitement in his life. Despite everyone talking lightly about inconsequential things, the air was still heavy. Everyone was carrying a gun in their hands, even Danny. Misha, for the most part, stayed out of the conversation and occupied himself with a sandwich Abby had made for him.

  When they reached the end of the path, Misha led them up to the ridge. Down at the bottom of it, the zombie hadn’t moved an inch. It was now safe to approach head on, yet they all agreed to go around to the gentler grade. Despite its immobile form, Mathias insisted he approach the zombie first. He prodded at the corpse with the end of his hunting rifle.

  “You really did a number on him,” he commented once he ascertained that it wasn’t going to move.

  “I wanted to make sure,” was all Misha responded with. He wasn’t an experienced zombie killer like some of the others. He had taken out only one on the Day. Although it happened to be his best friend. And it was a lucky accident. He found that taking out this hiker was infinitely easier. It didn’t make him feel good, but he felt no remorse about it. Deep down, the only thing it made him feel was scared. He was scared the hiker wasn’t alone.

  Josh walked up to the body, pulling on a pair of latex gloves. He still had his cast on, a walking cast, but was no longer using his crutches. He could’ve taken the thing off that morning, but had apparently decided to wait until the afternoon or evening to do it. He had brought a tarp with him and laid it on the ground next to the corpse, then kneeled on it. The first thing he did was to inspect the wounds Misha had inflicted on the man.

  “Doesn’t matter what part of the brain needs to be taken out to drop them, you got the whole thing,” Josh commented.

  Misha just shrugged. Again, he wanted to make sure.

  Josh then started to work the hiker’s arms, getting them through the straps of the backpack. Once the pack was off, he shoved it to one side. Mathias put on his own pair of gloves and began pulling everything out of it. It contained what Misha expected: a tent, a sleeping bag, canned and freeze-dried food, water, a gun, ammo, a map, a compass, a first aid kit, a few pairs of extra clothes, a flashlight, a lighter, some matches, and one personal item: a pink, beanbag-stuffed unicorn. Everyone thought that last item was out of place and very odd, but didn’t dwell on it. It had probably belonged to a little sister, a niece, or a daughter. Thinking about it too much could get depressing. Danny unconsciously wrapped his arms around himself. He had his own stuffed toy from home: a patchwork elephant named Mr. Ears.

  “Found the source of infection,” Josh announced in a clinical voice. He rotated the hiker’s arm so they could see. Josh had rolled up the man’s sleeve and found a bandage there. He had unwound the bandage to reveal a perfect human bite mark; you could get dental records from the thing.

  Josh continued combing the body, searching the pockets, the boots, lifting up articles of clothing to check out the skin underneath. He wasn’t so much Josh right now as he was Dr. Cender. Abby had to look away a lot, put off by the whole thing, but Josh never batted an eye.

  “Can you tell if he was travelling with anyone?” Misha thought that was the most important thing. If he had been alone, then perhaps that could be the end of it, but if he had been with others…

  “I have no idea how to tell that,” Josh told him.

  “I found this.” Mathias tossed an orange prescription bottle over to Josh who read the label.

  “Unless this man had the unfortunate first name of Caroline, these are not his. I think he was travelling with someone.”

  “He could have stolen them from somebody,” Abby said hopefully.

  “I doubt it.” Josh shook his head. “This is a very specific prescription for a very specific affliction. It would be highly unlikely he just happened to have it as well, and just happened to find this bottle.”

  “Maybe he didn’t know what it was for and just took it,” Danny offered. On the Day, the kid had apparently lugged around quite a few medical supplies, many of which he didn’t know the purpose of.

  “No.” Mathias shook his head. “If he were the kind of guy to take random prescriptions, there would be a lot more in this bag. That’s the only bottle I came across. He wasn’t alone.”

  Those words hung heavily in the air. They all knew what that meant. If this man wasn’t travelling alone, then where were the others? And more importantly, what were the others?

  “I think we should head back to the cabin,” Tobias spoke nervously. He had his camera with him and filmed part of their investigation, but now he looked anxious to leave. Misha knew just how he felt.

  “Yeah, there’s nothing else here for us.” Mathias got to his feet.

  Josh got up as well. The two of them grabbed what supplies might be useful to them and placed them on the tarp. Once a bundle was made, the men stripped off their gloves and Josh stuffed them into a plastic baggy. Mathias carried the tarp full of stuff, and they all hurried back to the path. Heading back to the cabin, everyone was a lot less chatty. Misha kept looking at his path, wishing he hadn’t done such a good job. He was thinking of the hiker’s friends finding it and following it to the cabin. Even if they weren’t zombies, they could bring a whole mess of problems with them.

  ***

  When they reached the cabin, they discovered Alec alone on the deck. He looked down on them worriedly.

  “Is Shawn not with you?” he called down before they could reach the steps.

  Mathias stopped part way up. “No, why? Should he be? He said he was staying here with you.”

  “He told me he was going to go find you,” Alec explained. “It was nearing noon and he expected Riley’s call any minute. He figured you’d all want to talk to her and went off looking.”

  “Haven’t seen him.” Mathias frowned.

  “Damn it!” Alec smacked the top of a wheel with one hand, looking out into the woods.

  “Might he have missed us?” Abby wondered.

  “Not accidentally,” Misha muttered. Nobody argued with him. The path was obvious, he knew they were near the end of it, and they weren’t exactly quiet while they w
ere checking out the body.

  Mathias went the rest of the way up the stairs, dropped off the tarp of stuff, and then started coming back down. “Misha, Tobias, you’re coming with me. We’re going to go look for him.”

  Danny looked like he was about to protest about something, either Mathias going or him staying, but one look from Mathias shut his mouth. Whether anyone liked Shawn or not was still debatable, but he was a part of their group. When one of the group went missing with possible zombies roaming the woods, they had to be found.

  Abby, Josh, and Danny went up the steps. Milly followed them, but Rifle and Shoes stayed down below with the others. Hopefully, they could help hunt down Shawn more quickly. Once everyone was off the steps, Josh began turning the crank. He would stand by it until they came back.

  Misha, Tobias, and Mathias headed toward the path. It was unlikely Shawn had taken it, but they didn’t have anything else to go on.

  “Shoes, think you can sniff Shawn out?” Mathias spoke to the hound near his feet.

  Shoes just cocked his head to the side, not understanding.

  They walked down the path again, occasionally calling Shawn’s name. They didn’t call too loudly or too often, afraid of drawing the attention of someone or something else. At least the path was getting well trodden.

  Misha was torn between wanting to find Shawn, and not wanting to find him. He didn’t like the man, that was obvious, but he apparently had the satellite phone with him, and was currently the only member of the group who could fly the plane. That plane was their only means of escape if something went really wrong.

  As they walked, the clouds that had been gathering overhead all day finally burst. The rain was light and warm at first, but minute by minute, it got harder and colder. Misha’s oversized shirt clung heavily to his skin. Tobias mumbled to himself, his shirt also clinging to his tall frame. Thankfully, he had left his camera with Abby or else the thing would have been ruined.

  “Shawn!” Mathias actually bellowed at the top of his lungs. He was desperate now, wanting to get out of the rain. “Shawn!”

  Shoes kept shaking his head while he walked, trying to keep the rain out of his sunken eyes. Rifle didn’t seem to notice the change in weather until a bolt of lightning tore up the sky. As the thunder crashed, the German shepherd ran to Misha’s side and huddled up against his leg. Apparently, he was afraid of thunder and/or lightning.

  “Shawn!” Tobias took up the call.

  They reached the end of the path, checked on the dead zombie, and searched the area. It was possible Shawn had become caught in one of the other traps in the area like the hiker-zombie had. While Tobias and Mathias went to check them, Misha stayed at the end of the path with the dogs. They didn’t want to risk a paw getting snapped up in one.

  Misha squatted down at the base of a large oak, as out of the rain as he could get. Rifle huddled up next to him, hiding his face against Misha’s side, while Shoes sat on his other side. Misha had yet to see the squat basset hound afraid of anything. The old dog was fearless. As they sat there, waiting for the others to come back, Misha spotted movement in the trees. He thought it was one of the guys at first, returning from checking the traps, but then realized the shape was solitary. He curled himself tighter into the base of the tree, trying to blend into the bark. The rain and the leaves made it impossible to make out any detail. Whatever it was, it was coming closer. Misha wiped the rain off his face with one arm, and gripped his rifle tightly.

  It was only Shawn. He was acting strangely though, sneaking and creeping back toward the path. He kept looking in the direction the other guys had gone. Did he know they were there and was avoiding them? When he reached the path, Misha made himself known by rising to his feet. Shawn startled, placing his hand on the butt of his gun, a large revolver, but not drawing it.

  “Misha, I didn’t see you there,” he spoke in a nervous voice.

  “What were you doing in the woods? We’ve been looking for you.”

  “I… got lost looking for you guys.” They both knew that was a lie.

  “Mathias!” Misha called into the trees. “Tobias! He’s here!”

  The men heard him and came quickly. Mathias had a rabbit tied to his belt; it must have come from one of the traps.

  “There you are.” Mathias clapped Shawn on the shoulder and started pushing him down the path, eager to get out of the rain.

  “Apparently he got lost while looking for us,” Misha told them, not hiding his distrust in the slightest.

  “Riley called.” Shawn tried to change the topic. “It’s too bad I couldn’t find you. She wanted to talk to you all.”

  “What did she have to say?” Mathias asked him.

  “That she got there all right, and she found Cameron. There’s been a slight hiccup, and it’ll take a little longer for her to get back, but nothing to worry about.”

  “How much longer?” Misha frowned.

  “Don’t know. Days.” Shawn shrugged.

  “Did you ask about Shoes?” Misha frowned even more.

  “Oh, sorry, I forgot.”

  Misha bet it was a deliberate forgetfulness.

  “What’s the hiccup?” Mathias pressed.

  “Something about Cameron having some obligation to fulfil. She wasn’t very specific.”

  The look on Mathias’s face suggested he had the same thought as Misha: bullshit.

  “Can I call her?” he asked.

  “We agreed that only she would call us,” Shawn insisted. “We don’t want to risk her phone ringing while she’s trying to hide from something.”

  That was an unfortunate point they had all agreed upon. In fact, Riley’s phone wasn’t even likely to be turned on at the moment.

  They walked the rest of the way to the cabin with Mathias basically frog-marching Shawn.

  ***

  “I think we should go,” Abby insisted again.

  “Go where?” Mathias sighed. This was the main counter-argument. “There’s nowhere to go.”

  “But it’s not safe here.” Since the zombie, Abby had been petitioning to leave the cabin.

  “We could probably find somewhere safer than here.” Tobias wasn’t as irrational about going as Abby was, but so far, he was siding with her.

  “Anywhere else isn’t likely to have a greenhouse and as many supplies,” Josh brought up.

  “We could go somewhere warm. An island in the south.” Abby wasn’t giving up.

  “I like the sound of that,” Danny spoke quietly. The boy and his brother were on different sides of the argument, causing strained looks between the two.

  “Doesn’t matter to me where we go,” Alec told everyone from the kitchen where he looked out at the storm through the porthole window. “What do you think, Misha?”

  The argument had been going in circles for at least an hour but this was the first time someone asked for Misha’s opinion. Up until then, he, Alec, and Shawn hadn’t said a word.

  Misha shrugged. “I like it here. I like the greenhouse, the lake, and the supplies. But I understand where you’re coming from. I may like things here, but I hate zombies. I hate them more than anything. Recently, I got comfortable here. I finally stopped fearing the things. I hadn’t realized just how much that fear was weighing on me. Now I know, because it’s back. If there was a place totally free of zombies, I’d be tempted to try for it. With or without supplies already there. The thing I mostly have a problem with is travelling there. You can assume and plan all you want, but that doesn’t change the fact that you would have to go through what are likely to be infected zones. More zombies. So what do I think? I think both options suck ass.” It was the most he had ever spoken to them at one time.

  There was a moment of silence while everyone digested what he said, but it wasn’t long before they were arguing again. Misha sat back in silence, leaning against the wall. He had been sitting with Shoes and Rifle since they got back, giving them a thorough towel rubbing to dry the rain off their fur. Nobody liked the smell
of wet dogs.

  As the argument got worse, nearing the peak of people’s voices, causing tension to build up in their bodies, Shawn rose to his feet.

  “All of you shut the fuck up!” he screamed as if he were a child who’d been listening to his parents fight. “It doesn’t matter what you want! This is my family’s cabin, my family’s supplies, my family’s plane! Unless I say so, none of you are going anywhere with any of it!” He stormed out of the living room and slammed the bedroom door shut behind him. It effectively killed off the discussion.

  ***

  That night, Misha was lying on the couch, but he couldn’t sleep. When he had talked about his hatred and fear of the zombies, he had meant it. Now that those feelings were back, he was finding it difficult to shut his eyes. He probably wasn’t the only one, but he didn’t know what the others were doing behind their doors, what they might be thinking about or looking at. Misha kept the fire burning brightly. The darkness only amplified his feelings.

  The storm outside didn’t help. There had been a lull for a while during supper, but when the sun sank below the horizon, the rain came back with a vengeance. Lighting flashed through the porthole while thunder rocked overhead. The entire cabin shook with it. Misha had to lie with his legs curled up, because Rifle was cowering on the end of the couch. The big dog kept whining, and had his head on Misha’s legs. Milly was also nervous about the storm, but not as much. She sat by Misha’s head with her ears flat, looking up at the ceiling. Even Shoes was lying closer, but Misha was pretty sure it was because the old dog wanted to curl up closer to the fire and had nothing to do with nature’s ruckus outside.

  Misha’s thoughts kept circling and circling through the arguments he had listened to. A part of him really wanted to go. Just pack up a bag full of supplies right now and head out, regardless of the storm. The other part of him said that that part was an idiot. They weren’t even sure there were more zombies out there. Still, even if the hiker’s companions weren’t infected, who’s to say that more wouldn’t come? It would just take one shrieker to show up and start calling the others for everything to go to hell. Misha didn’t like to picture the deck surrounded by the undead, but that was almost all he could think about. Whenever he closed his eyes, they were there, with Dean amongst them.