Survival Instinct (Book 3): Fighting Instinct

by Kristal Stittle

  Beyond the creepy black containers was an empty section of road. The land was pretty much empty there as well.

  “Zombie,” Danny said, pointing to their left.

  Across the somewhat barren expanse, what appeared to be a zombie was stumbling about in some low bushes.

  “Ignore it,” Crichton ordered them. “If it’s not a threat, the others can deal with it.”

  “This place looks like it was deserted early on,” Jon observed. “A lot of stuff around here is intact.”

  “That’s because there’s no homes,” James pointed out, “and they had advance warning. Tell me, if you heard a zombie plague was coming, would you go to work?” He had a point.

  Up ahead loomed a large white building. It wasn’t far from the road and most definitely would have to be inspected. Still, their team moved on, not concerning themselves with such things. Misha thought he saw movement somewhere behind the building, but he hadn’t been able to tell if it was a zombie or something else.

  The main road hooked to the left, but a smaller, gravel road continued forward. Here, weeds were trying to swallow the road, growing up through the rocks wherever they could. Eventually all roads would look like this one, with no one to care for them.

  On their right, the scruffy land of trees and bushes continued and on their left, the empty land did as well.

  “These fields would be good for farming if we could make them safe,” Crichton commented.

  Misha had to agree, but how would they make them safe?

  After they passed a line of trees that had been obscuring it, another large building appeared across the empty land. The distance and the chain link fencing around it made it impossible to tell what it was, or if anything interesting or dangerous might be there.

  At last, they reached the end of the gravel where a gate barred their way. The gate was locked, but it wasn’t at all difficult to go to one side and hop over the bars. Nicky and Crichton didn’t even bother hopping over the bars; they just walked further to the side. The fence was only meant to stop cars, and ended not far from the road. It was easy just to walk around.

  The road they had been following ended here, with a paved road heading to the left and right. Ahead of them was a gravel lot.

  “There it is,” Nicky pointed.

  A large building was situated past the gravel lot and at first Misha assumed that that must be what she was pointing at. Then he realized she was pointing at the much closer shed, which was nestled in the trees on the lot’s left side.

  “Doesn’t look like much,” Jon commented.

  “That’s the point,” James told him.

  “Zombie,” Danny once again said.

  A zombie stumbled out of the trees on the right side of the lot. It spotted them and began its slow shamble in their direction. Crichton looked behind him to check on the progress of their following teams. At least one was already at the fence and waiting for him to continue.

  “Come on.” Crichton moved them on. They would easily reach the shed before the zombie could reach them. The other teams would take it out.

  At the shed, Crichton tried the door’s handle.

  “Locked.”

  “You need the passcode.” Nicky went up to something that looked kind of like a fuse panel and opened it up. Inside was a small screen and as many buttons as there were on a keyboard. Nicky stared at it.

  “Don’t tell me you can’t remember,” James sighed.

  “Shut up,” Nicky told him. “You know these passcodes are complicated, and the last one I had to remember was for the White Box. Tell me, can you remember the second last passcode you had to learn?”

  James kept quiet.

  After a minute, Nicky reached up and typed in a complex series of letters and numbers.

  “Let’s hope they didn’t bother changing the passcode,” she muttered as she pressed a large green button.

  A loud, unexpected thunk came from the shed door. Nicky then pulled it open with ease. The inside of the shed looked nothing like the outside. Whereas the outside was mostly wood and appeared as though a stiff breeze could push it over, the inside was solid metal and looked bomb proof.

  Crichton picked up a nearby rock and placed it in the doorway so that the door couldn’t close behind them.

  “An elevator,” Danny noted it at the back of the shed.

  “I thought we’d be taking stairs?” Crichton turned to Nicky.

  “I guess the stairs were a different entrance,” Nicky shrugged.

  “The keypad worked, so this place must have power, right?” Jon asked.

  “The keypad has its own battery backup that’ll practically last forever. It doesn’t draw any power until its cover is opened,” Nicky told him.

  “Well, there’s a quick way to find out.” Danny pushed the elevator’s call button.

  They all watched as it lit up, and then a moment later, the elevator’s doors whooshed open.

  No one stepped inside.

  “I guess this means the facility has power,” Crichton commented. “It probably also means that at least one person is living down there.”

  “Are you sure the power can’t run without supervision?” James questioned. “I thought most facilities were set up to run completely on their own.”

  “While that’s true, they’re also set up to shut down if they detect no signs of life over a certain period of time,” Crichton told him.

  “Is movement something it uses to determine that?” Danny asked. “Because then what’s down there may not necessarily be alive.”

  Crichton nodded. “The thought had crossed my mind.”

  Misha looked out the door behind them. Several other mission teams were gathered out there, waiting for them to proceed.

  “Are you sure we have to check this place out?” he asked. He really didn’t want to go down there. Even if it was just a single living person down there, he didn’t care. He wanted to go back to the container yard.

  Unfortunately for Misha, Crichton nodded again. “The fact is, the facility will have a fully equipped medical centre. Most of the supplies we brought with us are from our own medical centre, and will go to restocking this one if it’s been emptied, but the equipment itself can be used to help a lot of injured people.”

  Commander Crichton stepped into the elevator first. He was soon followed by Nicky and James. Jon and Danny hesitated a moment, but then went in as well. Misha hesitated the longest. He was afraid of what they’d find down there.

  Next to him, Rifle whined. Misha looked down at the dog and saw he was concerned for Misha. He was wondering if something was wrong with him. Misha sighed and stepped into the elevator, Rifle following in after him.

  The elevator was fairly large, like the elevator in a hospital. There was enough room for all of them, and there would be enough room to fit the injured if they decided to bring them here. Nicky pressed the button for the highest floor other than their own, and the doors slid closed with barely a rattle. The elevator moved like one in a hospital as well. It was very quick and made Misha’s stomach lurch.

  “Get ready,” Crichton told them all as he unholstered his pistol.

  Misha did the same. He realized that by being the last person to enter the elevator, he was now the closest person to the door. Jon placed a hand briefly on his shoulder in an attempt to calm him, although he also appeared very tense. Misha noticed his own hand was trembling slightly as it held the pistol. The elevator slowed to a stop, and the doors opened before Misha was ready for them.

  “Welcome,” a man said from the hall they had opened onto.

  Misha just about shot the man in the face. If Crichton hadn’t reacted as quickly as he had, he would have. Knocking Misha’s arm down and somehow disarming him as he stepped past, he prevented Misha from pulling the trigger.

  “Hello. I’m Commander Jonas Crichton.” He held his hand out to the man in the hallway. Behind him, about a dozen other people were clustered, at least half of them looking frightened
and sheepish.

  “Nice to meet you Commander Crichton. I’m William Farnsworth, but everyone here just calls me Will.” Will shook hands with Crichton. “We saw you coming on the monitors, and thought we ought to come meet you.”

  Misha looked up and saw a camera in the corner of the elevator. There had also been, in all likelihood, one up top he hadn’t noticed. Bending down, Misha quickly picked up his pistol. The others were still holding theirs, and no one but Crichton had left the elevator so far. Even Rifle stood at attention, his nose wiggling at the new people.

  “We’ve also seen there are more of you up top. We have cameras all over that field.”

  Crichton motioned for Nicky to come forward without ever turning his back on Will. His firm stance and smooth motion reminded Misha that he had had military training, making Misha feel woefully out of place here. Nicky and James had also had that training, while Jon was an experienced off-shipper, and Danny had wanted to join the military since he was a kid. Misha stepped back into the empty space left by Crichton as Nicky stepped around him. James also stepped forward, taking up Misha’s position at the front of the elevator. With one hand, he held the button that kept the doors open.

  “Nicky, do you recognize anyone here?” Crichton asked her once she joined him.

  Nicky looked at Will and all the faces gathered behind him. She nodded. “Can’t say I knew any of them personally, or at least remember knowing them. I don’t see any mercenaries here, only a few members of the science team. The rest I don’t know.”

  Will also nodded. “All the mercs are gone. Most of them were transferred out of here before this crap happened. Those that remained… Well, I don’t know what happened to them. The facility was supposed to be abandoned. Those in charge told us not to return to it. The passcodes were even changed remotely so that no one could get in. We,” Will gestured to his group, “came back here anyway, hoping to find safety. There used to be more of us, but some gave up before we could get in. Morgan there, he was able to hack one of the doors and got us all inside. We reset the passcode in case anyone else showed up, but no one did. Not until you folks, that is.”

  “So you’ve been living down here, alone, since the Day?” Crichton asked him.

  “What’s the day?”

  “Since the outbreak became known.”

  “Not quite that long, but pretty close I guess. We had hoped for a quarantine at first, like most people did, but it was already too late for that. Where have you lot been?”

  “On the ocean.”

  “What brings you here? You’re not…” Will didn’t finish his sentence, perhaps thinking better of voicing his thought aloud.

  “If you mean raiders or thieves, no, we’re not.”

  “We’ve seen some things on the monitors.”

  “We were attacked. Our ship sank and now we’re searching for somewhere to go.”

  “You were hoping to live here, weren’t you?”

  Crichton didn’t respond.

  “How many of you are there?”

  “A lot,” Crichton told him, not wanting to give this man their true numbers; not that he even really knew what they were after the attack.

  “Depending on how many is a lot, it would be a tight fit.”

  “We’re used to close quarters.”

  “Well, we’re not. You have to understand, we haven’t seen anyone outside of each other for years.”

  Next to Misha, Jon tensed up again. Danny placed his hand on his shoulder, but it looked more like a restraining hand than a calming one.

  “We have people with us who are badly injured. They need proper medical attention,” Crichton told Will and his collective.

  “There are no doctors here.”

  “But there’s a medical facility. We have plenty of doctors.”

  “Will,” a woman at the back of the group hissed, her eyes bright as they looked over the shoulders of the people in front of her.

  Will held up a hand and turned slightly. She had apparently been trying to pass on some thought or message, which he already understood.

  “Our food supply down here has been sustaining us fine. I’m not sure how it’ll handle more people.”

  “We have some plants and animals rescued from our ship, and people more than willing to scavenge for everything else.”

  “Give us a minute.” Will turned and walked to his clustered group of people. They held a whispered conversation while Crichton waited.

  “I don’t like it,” Jon muttered.

  “They’re scared, that’s all,” Danny whispered to him, “they don’t know us.”

  “We’d take them in without really knowing them,” Jon countered.

  “You mean like the way we took in Sher?” Misha mentioned. “Oh wait, we didn’t, and he brought an army down on our heads.”

  “There are a lot more of us than there are of them,” Danny continued. “It’s different. They know that if they take us in, they’ll be outnumbered. Whatever rules or systems they have set up will be completely changed.”

  With a heavy sigh, Will separated from his group and returned to talk to Crichton.

  “We want you to answer a few questions first.”

  Crichton nodded.

  “Who’s your leader? Is it you?”

  “There’s myself, Lieutenant Boyle, Captain Karsten, and Captain Bronislav. There was a fifth, but he went down with our ship.”

  “Are there children with you?”

  “Yes.”

  “Have you ever stolen from another group of survivors?”

  “Not that we’ve been made aware of. Our scavengers were careful not to take from anyone living. We usually tried to make contact with those groups, and offer them a home on our ship.”

  “Did you come from the White Box?”

  “Yes,” Crichton didn’t hesitate, making Misha wince. “At least some of us have indirectly. We still have several Marble Keystone mercenaries among our ranks, myself, Nicky, and Brenner included, and a few scientists and medical personnel, but no one who worked on the virus and no one from any real position of authority. All the key players in bringing this about were in the White Box while we were stationed outside when the Day came, given various tasks by those in command. If you didn’t know already, the White Box is gone. It’s been completely overrun by zombies.”

  Will nodded. “I appreciate your honesty.”

  “Most of us are civilians, however. A large group comes from Leighton, but we’ve picked up various people along the way, most notably two submarines, one from Russia and one from Germany.”

  Will’s eyebrows rose briefly.

  “I must tell you, your whole group that things have already changed for you, just by having contact with us.”

  “What do you mean?”

  Misha wasn’t sure Crichton should tell him this part, but held his tongue.

  “The virus has changed. We don’t know how, or why, but it’s now airborne.”

  Several gasps came from the group.

  “By now, you’ve all been infected by us. You won’t turn, at least not yet. We haven’t been able to research it, but it looks like this new version infects your system, and lies dormant. Once you die, no matter the cause, you’ll turn. I’m sorry we brought this to you, but I thought you should know in case you do decide to turn us away.”

  Will turned and looked at his group. A woman near the front nodded, and Will turned back to Crichton.

  “I guess it’s too late for us to do anything about that. We’ll let you stay here. We need your doctors.”

  The small crowd shifted so that the woman in the back became visible. She was pregnant and fairly far along.

  “This new virus won’t hurt the baby, will it?” she asked.

  “Not as far as we know. If you’ll let us, we’d like to use some of your equipment to analyse it further. We won’t experiment with it, that’s something we refuse to do even with the good intentions of searching for a cure, but we need a closer look to under
stand it.”

  “Our equipment is your equipment.”

  Crichton nodded, finally turning his back on Will. “Nicky, Brenner, you two stay down here with me. Danny, Jon, and Misha, head up top. Let everyone know what’s going on, and send a few more people down here. I’m sure they’re worried since the elevator hasn’t returned and I have my radio off. Start the migration process. Some of those injured need to get here quickly.”

  Jon nodded while James Brenner stepped out of the elevator, finally letting the doors close.

  “I guess we weren’t needed, bratishka,” Misha rubbed Rifle’s side.

  “Thank Jesus for that,” Danny sighed. “Crichton’s a much better representative than you, Jon.”

  Jon’s face flushed a bright red. “Shut up,” he mumbled.

  “I’m glad Brunt can have his arm properly looked at,” Danny continued. “I’m worried that he hasn’t been able to move it.”

  The elevators opened again, and this time Misha was presented with a gun in his face. He stood completely still as his own men pointed weapons at the inside of the elevator.

  “It’s all right, we’re not dead,” Jon told the nervous men.

  ***

  It took the rest of the day and a large portion of the evening to get everyone over to the Black Box and situated. They weren’t kidding when they said space would be tight. The rooms were like suites, with a living room attached to a kitchen, a bathroom, and three bedrooms. Riley, Cameron, Hope, and Dakota were taking up residence in one bedroom, Abby, Lauren, Claire, and Peter, were in another, while a boy named Adam lived with his mom Elizabeth, his dad Harry, and a woman named Cynthia in the third. This left Jon, Danny, Josh, and Misha with sleeping bags and blankets in the living room.

  “I suggest we rotate who gets the couch each night,” Josh offered.

  The others agreed while setting up their spaces on the floor. Rifle continued to sniff all around the place, following Milly wherever she went.

  “So how long do you think we’ll last in this place?” Jon wondered aloud.

  “I don’t know about everyone else, but I don’t think I’ll last long,” Misha remarked.