Adaptive Instinct (Survival Instinct)

by Stittle, Kristal

  While the story was being told, Misha got up and slipped away without anyone noticing. Except Shoes, of course, who got up and followed him around to the other side of the deck. From there, Misha could see the greenhouse. Like the cabin, it sat on a large concrete block. The generators were housed within the concrete block underneath, and the exhaust puffed out of a chimney sticking up one side. From the deck, it was silent. There were two ways to get into the greenhouse. The first was a rope bridge connecting the deck to a small porch in front of the greenhouse door. The second way in, was through the cabin. In the concrete block beneath where they lived, was a large storage room. There was food, weaponry, medical supplies, and other assorted things down there. There was also a door in the floor, which led to an underground tunnel connected to the greenhouse’s concrete block. That route was rarely used. Not only was it cramped because of all the wires connecting the mini windmills and solar panels to the gennies, but you also had to go up through the generator housing. It reeked in there when Misha had first gone in to start the gennies, and that was after they had been turned off for something like nine months. Right now, if anyone went in there, they would probably be gassed out in minutes.

  Thinking about the greenhouse, Misha decided to cross the bridge and go inside. Shoes followed him across, and Rifle came halfway before stopping. Milly stood at the other end of the bridge, not trusting the way it swung. Misha figured the three-legged dog had never been to the cabin before.

  “Its all right, girl,” Misha encouraged her.

  Rifle trotted farther down the bridge and looked over his shoulder at Milly, as if trying to tell her everything was fine, and it was easy.

  Milly took a hesitant step onto the bridge. When all three feet were on the wooden planks, it shook a little, and she retreated to the safety of the deck.

  Rifle looked from Misha to Milly, not sure which way to go.

  “You stay with your new girlfriend if you want bratishka. I won’t be insulted.” Misha often called Rifle his brother in Russian.

  Rifle looked back and forth between Milly and Misha again, unsure. Finally, he turned around on the narrow bridge and trotted back toward the husky.

  With a smile, Misha opened the greenhouse door and admitted himself and Shoes into the warm air. Inside, the greenhouse was split up into four inner greenhouses. Each of the four sections had its own temperature and moisture control for growing different plants. Misha went to one on the back left, which was kept the driest. He had no idea what was being grown in there, but liked to visit it regularly. The reason he liked that room best was because it was so different from everything else. Misha was used to cold winters, and humid summers. Hot plus dry was something he rarely ever experienced. There was also the smell of fresh soil, and fertilizer. It smelled somewhat like a zoo, but Misha didn’t know that. He had visited a zoo only once when he was very young, so he couldn’t quite place the smell. It was both pleasant and unpleasant at the same time.

  Misha sat down in a lawn chair that took up one corner, and stared up at the sky through the glass ceiling while Shoes curled up on his feet.

  ***

  Misha sat in the greenhouse for hours, not really doing anything. He wasn’t even really thinking. When Abby came in and began tending to the plants, he didn’t notice, not until Shoes got off his feet and walked over to her.

  “Hi Shoes.” Abby bent down and scratched him behind the ears. When she stood up, she saw Misha looking at her. “Sorry to disturb you, but I need to water the plants.”

  “It’s no problem.” It was common for Abby to find Misha sitting in here. After the first two times, she stopped asking about it. “I should head out anyway; I’ve been sitting here for too long. Riley’s probably got something I should be doing.”

  “Very likely.” Abby gave him a smile as he left, Shoes at his heels.

  As Misha crossed back over the rope bridge, Rifle ran up to meet him. His skunk toy was hanging out of his mouth. Rifle looked up at Misha, then ran a quick circle and looked up at him again. It was pretty obvious he wanted to play. Shoes, on the other hand, went to sit with Alec, who was reading a book he must have found in the cabin.

  “In a minute, okay bratishka? Riley might need me to do something.” He rubbed his friend’s head and headed around the side of the cabin. Everybody had vacated the fire pit area. Misha looked around on the ground below, but didn’t see Riley anywhere. Maybe she had gone inside, or down to the lake. If she was down at the lake, Misha wasn’t going to bother looking for her and would just stay upstairs to play with Rifle. He was going to look in the cabin, however.

  Misha stepped into the antechamber to the cabin and took off his boots. He still wore the firefighter’s boots that he had taken from Cillian. He hadn’t really gotten to know Cillian, but thought highly of him anyway. Those who did know him—Abby, Joshua, and especially Tobias—spoke very highly of him as well and were greatly saddened about what had happened to him. Misha figured the reason they let him tag along on their way north was simply because he had found Cillian washed up next to a river, and was able to tell them about his final moments. There wasn’t much to tell. He had just wanted a cigarette and Misha was able to find him one. He then took his boots and jacket and dragged him into a field as his final resting place. Misha hadn’t even had the energy to throw some dirt on him. The jacket hung in the antechamber next to the others.

  When Misha entered the cabin, he saw right away that Riley wasn’t there, unless she was in a bedroom. The living room and kitchen were basically one open space, with nearly all of the furniture pressed up against the walls. The kitchen was delineated by the tile floor instead of hardwood, the bit of half wall sticking out, and the loose configuration of a table and chairs in the middle. Shawn was sitting in one of those chairs.

  “Misca right?” Shawn asked.

  “Misha,” he corrected. “I’m looking for Riley.”

  “She’s in her room, having her ribs looked at by Josh. Care for a beer? I found a six pack in the store room.” Shawn took a bottle out of a small box and held it out to Misha.

  “No, thank you.” Misha didn’t ever want to drink alcohol again. Not only had he been drinking beer with Dean when all the shit hit the fan, but he never wanted his mind to lose its sharpened edge. He was of average intelligence, he knew, but a primal instinct had awakened in him that day, and it was what had kept him alive. The times he let his guard down, or didn’t trust that instinct, he got into trouble. This instinct told him to distrust Shawn.

  “Your loss.” Shawn put the beer back into the case.

  “Do you know if there’s anything Riley wants us to be doing right now?”

  “Naw. She’s going to spend the rest of the day catching me up with what’s been going on around here, what you got set up, what you don’t, and what all your skill sets are. She’s given you guys the afternoon off.”

  Misha looked at Riley’s bedroom. “Well, tell her I’m out on the deck if she needs me.”

  “Will do.”

  Misha turned to head back outside.

  “By the way,” Shawn stopped him, “I noticed you have a slight accent. What is it? Russian?”

  “Yes, why?” Misha replied over his shoulder.

  “No reason, just curious is all.”

  Misha went back into the antechamber feeling more unsettled than ever. Nothing Shawn said was threatening, and his tone of voice seemed normal, so then why didn’t Misha like having his back to him? He wasn’t going to do anything drastic, nothing like what Jessica had done, he was just going to keep his eyes and ears open, his nose to the wind.

  He put his boots back on and went outside to play with Rifle.

  ***

  The sun passed through the sky, leaving behind the rest of the day without incident, and everyone sat down together for dinner. It was a quiet meal, everybody having talked themselves out when Shawn arrived. There was a brief discussion about sleeping arrangements, and an even briefer discussion about the polar bear c
arcass. Apparently, polar bear could be poisonous if not cooked properly, and considering that no one had actually cooked polar bear before, nobody wanted to risk it. However, they were going to skin it and use its guts for fertilizer. Misha feared his pleasantly unpleasant smelling place was going to smell just unpleasant soon. Still, he knew they had to do it and volunteered to help cut it up.

  After dinner, he and Danny washed the dishes and watched as Riley and Josh helped Alec with his physiotherapy. Misha hadn’t personally seen any improvement since they got there, but Alec claimed there was a little. That might have just been him getting his own hopes up though. Riley also looked at Joshua’s leg. She was worried the cast hadn’t been set quite right, and that his bone would be slightly crooked and weakened because of it. Misha would be surprised if the thing had been set right. The cast had been put on by Abby and Jessica, after all, who knew nothing about putting on casts, and Josh had been high as a kite on anesthetic drugs when he had instructed them. Still, like Alec, Josh believed in hoping for the best and thought everything was fine. That was the problem with having two doctors. Although the second opinion was nice, it did lead to disagreements on occasion.

  After a few card games had been played, everyone decided it was time for bed. Shawn was sleeping in his own bed, which meant that Tobias had been booted out into the living room with Misha. Josh slept on the bottom bunk in Shawn’s room, while Abby shared with Riley, leaving Alec, Mathias, and Danny, with the huge bed in the Bishop parents’ room. Misha had been very annoyed with Mathias and Riley’s sleeping together last night. It had thrown off the sleeping pattern they had been settling into, which resulted in Misha being on the floor in a sleeping bag. Now, because of Shawn, he was back in that same sleeping bag, but he decided against the floor this time. Misha sat in the recliner and reclined it as far as it would go. It wasn’t level, but it was better than the hard floor.

  “Can you help keep an eye on the fire tonight?” Misha asked as Tobias settled in on the couch.

  “Yeah, sure.” Tobias’s feet stuck out over the end of the couch.

  Although the summer weather was far too warm to need a fire, Misha did what he could to keep it burning low throughout the night as a source of light. He had the unpleasant experience of waking up in total darkness one night, which was why he now kept a small flashlight in one of his pockets. The darkness, the blindness, was as terrifying as being in the open. More so, in fact.

  Under his sleeping bag, Misha took his belt off. He had been wearing Connor Bishop’s clothes since he got there, and the pants were too large. When he had first arrived, he had only the firefighter boots, the firefighter jacket, a pair of shorts, and his boxers. He didn’t even have socks to wear. He was grateful to Riley for letting him wear her relatives’ clothes, but he still felt somewhat uncomfortable in them, especially now that Shawn was here. Pretty much everybody else had to wear the Bishops’ clothing too; at least they did if they wanted to change.

  Misha watched Rifle, Shoes, and Milly find places to sleep. Rifle lay down on the floor next to the recliner, while Shoes flopped down in front of the fire. Milly seemed far more indecisive about where she wanted to sleep, and wandered around for some time. Finally, she decided to lay in front of the door that led into the antechamber. Once the dogs were settled, Misha closed his eyes and tried to sleep. When you saw death every time you shut your eyes, sleep didn’t come easily. It did come though, and because of the hard labours of the day, it usually came without dreams.

  ***

  Misha pierced his knife through the tough hide of the polar bear. It was already beginning to smell. Flies buzzed all over.

  “Just be grateful none of the big animals got to it last night,” Riley commented as she worked her own knife through the flesh.

  “Would have been better if no animals got to it.” The polar bear’s paw pads, nose, and eyes had already been viciously nibbled upon by small critters. Misha expected to find rats inside the carcass; rats that had made their way inside through the partly opened mouth and the burrowed-out eyes. They would have gone in for the food, warmth, and shelter provided by the inside of the bear. Misha’s dad had once told him about a time he found a deer carcass in that condition.

  Nearby, Milly sniffed about. If she was as good a ratter as the Bishops claimed, she was going to come in handy.

  Misha started the cutting near the ass end, while Riley was taking the head. Earlier, Mathias, Tobias, Shawn, and Misha had rolled the bear from its stomach onto its side to make the cutting easier. The bear was damned heavy, weighing at least 800 pounds. Tobias was now out fishing in the canoe with Josh, while Mathias and Shawn were blazing a trail through the woods. The fitter ones among them wanted a good trail for jogging each day. Misha kept looking warily into the woods whenever he heard something, although it was almost always just Rifle sniffing around or chasing a squirrel.

  “Thanks for helping with this,” Riley said gratefully as she sawed through a particularly tough spot.

  “Like I said yesterday, my dad used to take me hunting. I was never interested in killing things, but I had no problem skinning them.” Misha had never skinned a polar bear before, but so far, it was going as expected.

  “Still, thank you.” Riley gave him a smile. “Hold up. I think we’ve got enough to pull out the organ sack, what do you say?”

  Misha stepped back from the belly of the bear. “Go for it.”

  Riley reached her gloved hands into the bear and started pulling on the membrane that surrounded the organs. There was a tear in the gut bag, and guts ended up spilling out in a stinking mess onto the hard-packed sand. And wouldn’t you know it; a few rats tumbled out with them. They ran for the woods, squeaking in terror. Milly perked up quickly and took off after them, head low to the ground and moving fast.

  “That’s only slightly disgusting.” Misha wrinkled his nose at the smell that came with it. Freshly dead entrails smelled bad enough, but ones that had been dead for at least twelve hours smelled much worse. He was reminded of a certain man he had seen get torn to pieces by a zombie. He had thrown up when he saw that, but that was partly due to having eaten too much and then running a lot. He managed to hold his food down just fine this time.

  “Let’s get this over with as quick as we can, and then we can go swimming and wash all this crap off.”

  The idea of washing, of using actual soap, appealed to Misha. That morning at breakfast, Riley told everyone that they had biodegradable soap in the cabin. The plan was that they would all take a dip in the lake and scrub a week’s worth of grime off themselves. Misha used to be a very clean boy who worried about pimples, but since the Day, he had basically been a walking pile of dirt.

  Misha pulled his firefighter’s jacket tighter around him and stepped back toward the bear. He and Riley continued to slice the fur off in silence.

  “Can I tell you something?” Riley finally broke the silence as they were nearing completion.

  “Depends on what it is you want to say.” Misha didn’t want to hear anything about her relationship with Mathias.

  “I’m thinking of doing something, but it’s probably something very stupid. If I tell you what it is, will you promise not to tell anyone else?”

  “Depends on how stupid it is. If you’re thinking of suicide, you better believe I’ll be telling everyone.”

  Riley let out a brief, humourless laugh. “It could be suicidal.”

  Misha looked up from his work, genuinely concerned. She knew the most about surviving up here. Sure, Shawn was here now, but Misha didn’t trust him. He trusted Riley though.

  “I’m pretty sure I know where my sister is, and I want to go see her. I want to get her and bring her back here.”

  “You think she’s in that prison.” Misha turned back to his work.

  “I do. I was looking at a map this morning while everyone was still asleep. I’m pretty sure I found the quarry Shawn spoke of and because of Alec’s GPS that we have, I know exactly where the prison is.
They’re not that far from each other; they easily could have taken Cameron there.”

  “And what if they did? How would you get there?”

  “I would take the Osprey. I could refuel at Connor’s and find a closer landing site, then find a way into the prison. Hell, I would just have to find one of those white trucks, and they’ll bring me in.”

  “They’ll remember who you are, that you were involved in stealing their helicopter.”

  “Maybe. Maybe not. I would need to wait a week still, until my ribs are better. Can you believe that only one week has passed?”

  She had a point; it did seem like the Day was forever ago.

  “They’re probably so busy with other things, they may not remember me. They’d remember Mathias for sure, maybe you and Tobias because you threw the firebombs, but I was mostly out of the way. I didn’t have much direct contact with any of them.”

  Misha spoke without thinking. “I’ll go with you if you want.”

  Riley looked up, shocked that he had just offered that, however, she shook her head. “No, I have to go alone. I would need the passenger seat of the Osprey empty if I’m to bring Cameron back. And I won’t take the Otter; you guys will need that just in case, God forbid, something goes wrong.”

  “Convincing the others will be hard. Especially your brother, Mathias, and Josh.”

  “I’m already working on my arguments against them.”

  “They better be damn good.” Misha hacked a hunk of muscle off a rear leg.

  ***

  “Why don’t we all go?” Mathias’s brows had probably never spent so much time together.

  “Are you kidding me? Do you know how dangerous it would be if we all went?” Riley sat in front of the fire, brushing her wet hair. It was longer and thicker than Misha had realized.