Adaptive Instinct (Survival Instinct)

by Stittle, Kristal

  “Next thirty, please,” a woman from just outside the door said.

  Misha, the kids, and the dogs were part of that thirty. They were let out onto the wing of the plane, which was already below the surface of the water, where they waited for the boats. Rifle was being very skittish about being on the wing of the plane. He didn’t like the surface of it, or maybe he didn’t like having his paws get wet in the ankle-deep water.

  “It’s okay, Rifle.” Misha patted his head.

  The boys started fussing over the dog, trying to help by making him feel better. Misha watched as a boat large enough to take them all made its way toward them. If it weren’t for the plane’s splash down, the helicopter’s rotor wash, and all the boats moving about, the water would have been amazingly calm. Perhaps that was why the pilot had risked the water landing? Although it was possible, he would have risked it no matter what the conditions were.

  The boat came up alongside the wing, and Misha helped a few others hold it steady. Other members of the twenty got in first, and then it was the dogs’ turns. Misha lifted Shoes up and in first, then convinced Milly and Maggie to get in. Once those three dogs were in the boat, it was easier to convince Rifle to follow them. Rifle lay on the floor of the lifeboat almost the moment he got into it. He whined and flattened his ears, disapproving of the rocking motion.

  “Becky?” One of the boys looked around; the little girl wasn’t with him. “Becky!”

  Misha’s head shot up and looked around the wing. The little girl, Becky, was standing on the end of it. Suddenly, she was no longer on the end of it, but had slipped, the water carrying her over the edge. Misha didn’t think, he just reacted. He ran down the length of the wing, stripping off his T-shirt and abandoning it behind him. As he neared the edge, he couldn’t see the little girl. Leaping off the wing, he dove straight into the cold sea water.

  The salt water stung Misha’s facial wounds as he looked around for the girl. She couldn’t have gotten far, even if she had sunk straight down. The sunlight lit up the waters, but still Misha couldn’t see Becky.

  There, in the shadow of the wing, she was sinking. Kicking and pulling with his arms, Misha headed toward her. The little girl was still moving, and seemed to be holding her breath, although that couldn’t last much longer. When he reached Becky, Misha wrapped one arm around her chest and started kicking for the surface at an angle, so that they wouldn’t hit the underside of the wing. His lungs were burning, screaming for air. Bubbles drifted out of the little girl, as she could no longer hold it in. Absurdly, Misha was thinking about how she must have taken some swimming lessons or something to know how to hold her breath underwater.

  Releasing his own air to trick his body into thinking it was about to get some more, Misha forced one last effort out of his limbs. He broke the surface, taking in a huge gasp of air, and heaving Becky’s head up and out of the water. Misha was scared he would have to perform CPR, but Becky’s lungs figured things out on their own. She started coughing out water and wailing at the same time.

  “Mommy!” she screamed, clinging to Misha’s neck. All he could do was tread water with her, keeping both their heads above the surface.

  “Hold on! We got you!” The boat was coming toward them, the girl’s brother perched on the prow.

  They came alongside Misha and hauled him and the girl out of the water. Becky was quickly checked over, and handed off to her brother. They gripped each other tightly, and both of them cried.

  “You okay?” Danny asked Misha as his sodden form collapsed into a seat.

  “I’m all right.”

  “We thought you were going to turn into zombie lunch!”

  Misha was confused. “What do you mean?”

  “You didn’t see it? Right before you jumped in, a swimming zombie managed to break the surface not far off. Not long after you were under, it started sinking again.”

  Misha couldn’t remember seeing any zombie, but if Danny saw it, it must have been there. He realized that he had gotten lucky the small form he spotted had been Becky and not one of the horrible monsters trying to surface.

  As their boat headed toward the cruise ship, Misha looked around at all the other boats. It was kind of an amazing effort, all these people working together to get everyone onto the ship. It also looked like Misha hadn’t been the only one to take a dip in the sea, as a few people here and there were wet and shivering from cold. As Misha looked around, he thought he spotted Riley on one of the boats heading toward the plane to pick up more people.

  “What are you looking forward to most?” Misha suddenly asked Danny.

  “I don’t know. Other kids, I guess. I heard that the other plane had a whole lot of them. What about you?”

  “A bed. A big bed, with soft pillows, and fluffy blankets. Oh, and a hot meal.”

  “I wonder if they’ll have ice cream.”

  “A ship like this? They’ll have ice cream somewhere.”

  “And fudge.”

  “And strawberries.”

  “Apples.”

  “Melons.”

  “Misha?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Do you think we’ll be all right here?”

  “For the first time, I truly think we’ll be just fine.”

  Epilogue:

  Eight Months Later

  Lauren looked over the lesson plan again, so sure that she had forgotten something.

  “You didn’t forget anything,” Abby told her.

  “It feels like I did.”

  “Well you didn’t. You’re just nervous about tomorrow is all.”

  “How could I not be nervous? It’ll be my first time teaching.”

  Life on the ship was settling down nicely. Lauren and Abby had their own room together, which was the best part. In a room across the hall, were Peter and Claire, both of whom Abby and Lauren had adopted. They were also Jon’s guardians, but he was old enough to take care of himself mostly. He shared the room across the hall, where they had a view of the ship’s still-being-repurposed promenade. All the kids had, by now, been adopted by people or assigned guardians, but they still came by to visit Lauren a lot. It had been decided a month ago that a school should be put together for the kids, and both Lauren and Abby had been nominated to be teachers. Abby seemed totally calm about the whole thing, but Lauren was a nervous wreck.

  “You’ll do fine.” Abby planted a kiss on her temple. “You already know at least 75% of all the kids.”

  “Yeah, but I wasn’t their teacher before.”

  Suddenly, a beeper on Abby’s waist went off. Both of them looked at it for a moment, stunned, forgetting what it was.

  “Looks like it’s time!” Abby smiled excitedly.

  Both she and Lauren quickly left the room, Abby first picking up her new crucifix off the table. Apparently, her faith in God had solidified when she survived the first plane crash: the one where she had been knocked unconscious. Lauren was already wearing her own crucifix, firmly believing that God must have brought the two women back together. Abby was teaching her the finer points of Christianity, but she had the most important part down: faith.

  ***

  Bryce and Larson were brothers now. They had been adopted by a couple consisting of a forty-year-old man and a twenty-year-old woman. The man apparently used to have a family of his own prior to the zombies. Apprehensive of them at first, Bryce now liked the two of them. Although he couldn’t bring himself to call the woman Mom, he had lately found himself often calling the man Dad. He was a much better man than his real dad had been. Bryce could cry in front of his new dad and not feel ashamed.

  Bryce and Larson shared an interior room with Becky, Maggie, and Shoes; the grownups had decided they didn’t want kids staying in rooms with balconies. The basset hound absolutely loved Becky, and stayed by her side all the time. Bryce had been told that Shoes used to be owned by a little girl who was only three years older than Becky was, and that she hadn’t made it. Shoes seemed happy though.

&nbs
p; Life on the boat was great. Unlike living in the White Box, they could go outside and feel the sunshine, the breeze, and smell the fresh ocean air. Bryce had always liked the ocean.

  Tomorrow they would be starting school, and Bryce found that he was actually excited about it. While he enjoyed being able to run around and do whatever and whenever, it got boring after awhile. Larson wasn’t as enthused, but he didn’t complain either.

  “Want to go throw a ball for Shoes and Maggie?” Larson suggested.

  “Sure!”

  First, they got permission from their new parents. The rules weren’t overly strict on the boat, but there were still rules. Most of the time they had to be accompanied by one of their parents, especially if they were going to go on a deck that was separated from the sea by only a railing, but the pool deck was enclosed with windows along the sides, so they could go there by themselves. There were always a lot of people around the pools.

  Bringing Becky with them, the boys went up to the open space. Even though it was enclosed on the sides, there was no roof, allowing the sun to shine down on them. There were three pools on the deck, one in a forward section, and two others, side-by-side in a larger area farther back. All the chairs and tables had been removed, leaving lots of space to move around. On the deck above, Bryce could see people jogging around the track that encircled the space. The pools themselves, as well as the surrounding hot tubs, had been drained, and were being filled with dirt for planting crops. Only a small pool in the exercise room remained filled, and was being used to teach everyone how to swim.

  Standing out of the way between the pools and windows, Larson, Becky, and Bryce took turns throwing a tennis ball for the dogs down the length of the deck. Maggie was always faster than Shoes because of her longer legs, but sometimes she would trot more slowly, and allow the old dog to get the ball first.

  ***

  Robin was sitting on the highest deck, two levels up and between the two pool areas, with her nose buried in a book. It was the only place that still had lounge chairs set up, and she didn’t mind the man walking around with the rifle as he performed his lookout duties.

  “Which one is it this time?” Jon plopped himself down next to her.

  Robin angled the book so that he could read the cover.

  “Another anatomy book? How many is that now?”

  “I’ve read this one before. It’s the best one. I’m going to be quizzed on anatomy at the end of the month, so I have to have it right.”

  “You should take a break.” Jon leaned over and kissed her.

  For two months now, the two of them had been dating. They had known each other even longer, when Jon had tagged along with Abby to visit Riley in the medical centre not long after boarding the ship. Riley Bishop was one of the doctors working there and was Robin’s mentor. Somehow, word had gotten to the doctor about Robin’s ministrations on Greg’s leg and she had asked Robin if she wanted to start studying to become a doctor. Robin surprised herself by saying that she did. Quin likely had something to do with Riley approaching her. He had been assigned as Robin’s official guardian, but Robin probably took care of him more than he took care of her. He seemed to be doing quite well though as one of the heads of the entertainment sector. At first, that sector had been scoffed at by the soldier types, but everyone needed something to occupy them during their down time, and Quin had been organizing those activities quite well. He was even handling his addictions and hadn’t touched any booze or drugs while on the ship.

  “Five minutes.” Robin grinned at Jon.

  Jon sighed in mock exasperation. “With you it’s always five minutes, and it’s always actually twenty.”

  “Well then, twenty minutes,” Robin ribbed him. “Don’t you have anything else to do besides interrupt my studying?”

  “No, my lessons are over for the day.” While Robin had been studying to become a doctor, Jon had been training to, one day, join the ranks of the off-shippers. The off-shippers were the guys who went to shore and slowly but surely stripped towns and cities of everything they had left, as well as rescuing other survivors they came across.

  “Then why don’t you go run a lap or two? I should be done with this chapter by the time you circle back.”

  “You better be.” Jon sprang to his feet.

  Before he could take off, the beeper in Robin’s pocket went off.

  “Well, looks like that chapter will have to wait.” Jon helped her to her feet.

  “Looks like I’ll be the one doing the running.”

  Jon took Robin’s book for her, and they both dashed for the stairs.

  ***

  Nicky put the pistol she had just cleaned back together, piece by piece. She was happy despite everything. Although she had woken up from her coma just before their plane had started the water landing, she hadn’t escaped her injuries without problems. She had memory issues, and forgot things all the time.

  Cleaning a weapon, though, that was muscle memory and something she never forgot. She had been given a job in the armoury, dismantling and cleaning all the weaponry. Everyone was allowed to keep one weapon of their choice with them, but all the excess stuff was stored in the former-jewellery shop, off the promenade, in the centre of the ship. Sometimes the off-shippers weren’t careful enough with their weapons, and they would end up lost or damaged beyond repair. The armoury assured that they never went out there empty-handed.

  Nicky had another job as well. Once a day, she went to talk with a woman they called Mary. While Nicky’s memory issues were caused by physical damage, Mary’s were psychological. Nicky’s doctor, Dr. Cender, thought it would be good for them to talk to one another because they could understand where the other was coming from.

  Edward Owen was no longer Nicky’s doctor because he was her boyfriend. That was a relationship that Nicky refused to let anything get in the way of. He was kind and patient, helping her with her memory problems without becoming frustrated by them. Nicky didn’t feel like she had a problem when she was with him.

  “Hey, Nicky?” James popped into the armoury. He ran the off-shipper missions.

  “Yeah?”

  “Those guys we sent out this morning are going to be back earlier than expected. They also had an incident involving a mud puddle. Do you think you could stay later than usual today? I’m sure Faris would love your help.” Faris was another one of the weapons cleaners.

  “Of course. Someone needs to tell Edward though, and make sure I don’t have an appointment I’m forgetting.”

  “Thanks. I’ll get right on that.”

  Nicky put the pistol aside and pulled the next weapon over to her.

  ***

  Misha was under the ship, decked out in a scuba suit with oxygen tanks. He had been taking scuba lessons since he arrived and was now part of the ship maintenance crew, specifically the underwater division. Today, his team was performing its usual task of checking over the hull and propellers, and inspecting the thruster tubes. Although they didn’t need to check over the ship as frequently as they did, they had a lot more incentive to make sure nothing happened to it. Also, people needed jobs to fill up their days, and this was one of them.

  Misha looked down. The water was deep, but the April sunshine was bright enough that he could just make out some movement down there. It seemed that everywhere they went, zombies would end up congregating under the ship. Some days, they actually had to dive down there and assess how many there were. If too many zombies piled up under the ship, they hauled up the anchor and sailed somewhere else. They also had to check the anchor chains every dive, because some zombies got smart enough to climb them. They had already done that on this dive, and the chains were thankfully clear. Misha hoped they wouldn’t have to move soon. They had received word that a German and a Russian nuclear sub were headed their way across the Atlantic. The odds were a million to one that Misha would know anyone on the Russian sub, but it would be nice to hear about what had happened there first hand. If they had to move, it woul
d take just that much longer for the submarines to reach them.

  Being part of the underwater team was the second most dangerous job after the off-shippers. They were the only other team that risked contact with the infected. Misha touched the harpoon gun strapped to his leg again. Everyone underwater had made a habit of checking it was there at least once every ten minutes. It was their only defence against deep water zombies.

  Swimming zombies were very dangerous, as they could come out of nowhere like sharks, but the ship defence crew helped out with them. As long as they weren’t too deep, the snipers up on deck could take them out. Misha was always glad to know that Alec was up there looking out for him.

  He and Alec were actually living together in a room with Rifle. Misha didn’t like the idea of being alone anymore and Alec was glad for the help he provided. Josh lived next door and helped Alec with his rehab, which was going slowly. Alec could now walk around the room like Frankenstein for short periods of time, but he was still confined to the chair nearly everywhere else.

  While Misha was running his hand over the bulkhead, checking it for barnacles, he felt a poking against his left shoulder. Although the entire underwater team could get verbal communications from the surface, only the dive leader had a mask which allowed him to speak. As such, the rest of the team had other ways of communicating. Poking someone’s left shoulder was a way to get their attention without terrifying the person. Being grabbed or touched anywhere else was most likely a threat.

  Misha turned around to face his dive partner, an older woman named Sarah who used to run a scuba boat. She had been found in her boat along with a few tourists when the cruise ship had headed south. They had survived off fish and limited water, and were nearly dead due to dehydration when they were found. She was an excellent dive partner.