Survival Instincts (Book 1): Sacrifice

by Andersen, J. . J.

  “What do you want from me?” Raelynn demanded, shaking her hands and feet, trying to get loose.

  “The cure, my dear. Your blood holds the antidote and once I have manipulated it to save the world, I will be back on top.” she smiled coldly at Rae, her wide grin, malicious enough to make her cat-like glare look more evil than Rae had ever seen her.

  “You're better off killing me because as soon as I get out of this chair, I’ll be coming for you. You won’t get the chance to take any more from me than what you already have.” Raelynn bit, her jaw clenched as her knuckles whitened against the chair she held.

  “Oh darling, you should know me better than that by now. I always have a plan. I always have leverage. This time is no exception. You see if I kill you or you don’t do what I want, then you’ll never see your son again.” She smirked maliciously, walking over to Rae with deliberate footsteps, her pointed-toe heels clicking dramatically against the white tile of the floor.

  “My son is dead.” Rae whispered but Katherine shook her head. Rae stopped breathing. Her head spun so fast she thought she was going to pass out but instead she looked up into the face of her mother, unable to hide the sheer excruciating pain that crushed her heart at the thought of her son being alive. The hope that lingered that her mother might be telling the truth, killed her more with every second that passed without an explanation. Finally, Katherine smiled wickedly.

  “The drug doesn't kill, dear.” Kathrine started “It turns.” She revealed, clasping her hands in front of her “However your little gem, had the same treatments I did in the womb and has your blood in it, making him immune to Exalt’s epic failure as a human enhancement drug. I had to test him of course, to see if he actually was immune, but the new version of the drug messed with his blood and it can no longer be used as a cure which is why I need you.” Katherine eyed her but Rae was barely listening anymore. Her ears were ringing so loudly she thought her eardrum was going to burst. How could he be alive? How could she have left him without checking? How was any of it possible after he had flatlined?

  “I heard the machine. He died.” Rae gasped.

  “It flatlined for a bit, yes but your blood healed him. It took time but he came back. So, I kept him. I knew you thought he was dead, José told me you paid us a visit and ran, so we knew you must have seen everything which meant we were able to keep Jake as leverage. I knew you’d hand yourself over to save him, it was too easy ” Katherine shrugged, her proud grin pissing Rae off. This was too much. Her mother couldn’t be such a bitch. How had she come from such a broken person? Did she even have a heart in that cold, slim frame of hers? Rae didn’t know but at that moment she only wanted to know if she was telling the truth.

  "I want to see my son, first." Raelynn demanded and Kathrine nodded as if expecting it. She pulled out a baby monitor, one with a screen that showed baby Jake, alive and asleep in a cot, his mobile going and his dummy moving in and out of his mouth, his dimples sucking in and out with the pacifier. Raelynn’s eyes teared. Jake. He was okay, he wasn’t dead. Her heart swelled as she turned back to her mother.

  "Fine. You can have my blood and do what you need to do. But Jake stays with me and remains unharmed.” Raelynn bargained, both of them knowing she was giving in. But Rae didn’t care, she would give up anything and everything to hold her baby boy again. Katherine nodded and stepped forward but before she took her third step, the door that Rae had come through burst open. A loud shot broke through the room as her dad stood at the entrance, dripping in blood and flesh, his chest heaving and his gun out in front of him. Rae gasped and looked back to where his gun was pointed, her jaw dropping as her mother lay on the ground in a pool of her own blood, a gunshot wound straight through her head. Rae looked back at her dad who walked over to her, untying her binds to the chair.

  "I liked her better when she was dead." Andrew chuckled, paying no attention to his dead wife behind him. Rae hugged him tightly before standing up, checking him over for any life-threatening wounds.

  "You made it?" Raelynn breathed. He grinned.

  "Of course, I made it. I wasn’t about to let her manipulate you into getting what she wants. Plus killing a room full of zombies was a great way to deal with the fact that I had to face my wife again after she tried to murder my grandson, who I would like to meet by the way.” Andrew smiled. Rae nodded, picking up the monitor from her mother’s cold, dead hand. She pressed the locator button and followed the beeping noise through another secret exit out of the room and into a small nursery a few rooms down from the office. Rae rushed over, hand on her chest as she saw her baby boy again. He rolled over to her, his big blue eyes staring up at her before he giggled, his cheeks dimpling as his arms reached out for her. Rae sobbed and reached down into the cot and picked Jake up, holding him against her tightly as her dad rubbed her back, tears in his own eyes.

  “Jakey, my handsome man.” Raelynn cooed.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Rae held Jake, breathing in his baby scent, her heart filled with a love she never thought she would have again. She kissed his head then pulled away and smiled at him, his happy gurgles melting her heart. Gurgles she never expected to hear again, and yet he was alive. Rae turned to her dad, his eyes were red-rimmed, his lip trembling as he stared at Jake. Rae didn’t really want to let Jake go again so quickly, but there was something that needed to happen before she could lock him in her arms for the rest of his life.

  “Want to meet your grandson?” Raelynn asked, holding Jake out to her dad. Andrew came forward and she wasn’t sure how he knew that she didn’t want to let him go but he did and instead of taking her son from her arms, he pulled them both into a tight embrace against him, his chin resting on her head as Jake played with the button on his coat. Andrew kissed her hair then pulled away.

  “I can’t wait to hold him and meet him properly but right now, you need him more than I do, and I won’t take that from you, kiddo.” Andy said smiling. Rae nodded and pulled Jake in against her as Andrew looked around them.

  “We have to get back to the others, but the elevators locked, there’s got to be a way out of here somehow or they wouldn’t have let those things out of their cage.” Andrew said going over to the bookshelves and pulling books, pressing statues and trying to find a way out.

  “It’s over there, in between the bookshelf and the armchair. Julian and Maria left through there.” Rae said going over and pressing the wall, but it didn’t budge. Rae looked around for a way to open it, her eyes falling on Katherine’s computer. She rushed over to it, bringing the screen to life with a wiggle of the mouse as her dad held his gun up to the wall, not wanting any surprises. The control centre of the lab came up on the screen, the door locks, the cameras, the entire infrastructure. Grinning, Rae hovered the mouse over the ‘hidden office exit’ button and looked up at her dad. He nodded and she clicked as it opened into a long, lit hallway. Nothing came out though which was a good sign. Rae searched through the files for a map, so they had an exit route, finally finding one and grinning.

  “We go straight out the door at the end, Dad. It takes us to the stairwell that goes up to the lobby.” She informed. Her dad nodded and came over to look at the screen she had up.

  “Can I check something?” He asked, Rae nodded with a frown and handed over the mouse, wondering what he was up to but his next click of the mouse clued her in. Decontamination.

  “You want to blow the place up?” She questioned with a smirk, her adrenalin spiking at the idea. Her dad nodded and looked back at her.

  “How many samples of the drug do you think are in this place? We have to make sure they never get out of this lab.” He revealed. Rae nodded determinedly.

  “How many minutes will we have to get out of here?” She asked, not sure she wanted to know the answer.

  “Ten.”

  “And how many flights of stairs are there?” Rae asked as her dad checked the map again.

  “A lot.” He admitted.

  “You reckon
we can make it?” She asked, knowing it wasn’t a definite way to measure whether they were going to get blown up or not but trusting him enough to rely on his answer. He shrugged though.

  “We’re about to find out.” He said and went back to the decontamination button. “Go, get a head start.” He said nodding towards the door. If it had just been her and her dad, she would have waited for him but she had Jake and that was going to make it harder to get up the stairs, so she took his advice, grabbed her gun from where Julian had put it on the couch then left the room, running down the hall to the end door. She kicked it open, the lights flickering, highlighting the insane amount of stairs. The door banged against the concrete wall, echoing everywhere but she heard nothing back, no growling or snarling so she took off up the stairs. She had made it to flight three when alarms blared, and a speaker came on.

  “Decontamination. Ten minutes.” The voice repeated. Jake whined in her arms at the noise, but she tucked him into her, shushing him as her heart raced in time with her quick steps up the stairs. By the fifth flight, her dad was slamming the door to the stairs and taking them two at a time to catch up. She breathed a sigh of relief then narrowed her eyes and kept running. The constant reminder of the alarms and the mechanical voice counting each minute down had Rae surging on up the stairs, her legs burning, her arms aching. Sweat beaded over her forehead as each breath became harder to take. She wanted to laugh about how embarrassing it was having her dad ahead of her, but he had always been a fit guy. He was muscular with annoying long legs that she hadn’t inherited, meant the stairs weren’t as much of a challenged for him.

  “Show off.” Rae called breathily as he peered over the banister with a chuckle. He was at least three flights of stairs ahead. She thought he had carried on, but he came down to where she was and smiled.

  “Come on girl, not far to go.” He encouraged and ran with her, but she was not as optimistic. She was exhausted, each step seemed harder and harder than the next. She pushed Jake towards him.

  “Take Jake, run ahead. Get him out of here.” She breathed. He smiled sympathetically but didn’t take Jake.

  “He may be your baby, Rae but you are mine and I’m not leaving you behind any more than you would leave him. So, you keep him, then I know you’ll keep fighting until we’re out of here. C’mon, I’ll stay with you.” He said picking up his pace next to her, so she had to, to keep up. She rolled her eyes and grunted, forcing herself up each new step, knowing he was right. She wasn’t going to let Jake be killed after just getting him back.

  After what seemed like an eternity, she finally saw the end of the stairwell and the door that would lead them into the lobby. Seeing the finish line gave her another burst of energy and she pushed on with a quicker pace, her face dripping as she burst through the door, Andrew holding his gun out and a lot more prepared than her but at least he was panting almost as much as she was now.

  They took off in a sprint, Andrew shooting the loitering zombies as they cleared the lobby. They made it out the doors and were halfway across the parking lot when the alarms grew louder and faster together, indicating it was almost time. They dove into the car that was still parked at the end of the lot just as the explosion erupted. The lab went up in flames and Raelynn’s face broke into a wide grin. They had done it. She looked at her dad, who wore the same victorious smirk as he started the car.

  “Alright, let’s get out of here, before that explosion calls the entire state’s collection of zombies.” He winked then drove them away. Rae smiled and looked down at James who was sitting in her lap. He smiled up at her, sucking on his hands.

  She had thought he was dead; her whole world had come down and yet at the end of it all, he was there with her, alive and immune. Or she had died and gone to heaven but either way, she was happy. A soul-deep happy that not even Nix could give her.

  “He looks so much like you Kiddo.” Andrew said softly as he glanced over from the driver’s side. She smiled and looked down at her son. He had the same brown hair, the same big, blue eyes. She was lucky the only thing he got from his father was the cute as hell dimples, the tan skin and the plump lips. Her dad interrupted her thoughts.

  “Blue eyes and little tuft of brown hair. If I took a photo of him now and showed you a photo of yourself as a baby, the only difference would be that you had so much more hair and you had your mother’s skin.” He chuckled looking back at the road. “I can’t believe I’m a Poppa.” He smiled, shaking his head as he stared at the road, expertly dodging the vehicles in the road.

  “I love you Dad and after everything that has happened, I want you to stay in our lives for good this time. But I need to know, are you gambling still? Drinking? This world is going to be hard enough to live in without losing everything again.” She said as sympathetically as she could. She was glad she had her family back but if they had supplies and he sold them or lost them because of his gambling or gave in to the same weakness as John then it would put her new family at risk, and she didn’t want that. He placed his hand on her knee, patting it with a proud smile on his face as he looked over at her.

  “Never again, kiddo.” He smiled “It’s time for me to be the dad, I was meant to be. The one who you had when you were a girl. But you’re a woman now and I’m damn proud of you for getting there despite having parents like me and your mother.” He scoffed at the end. She chuckled.

  “It wasn’t so bad, Dad.” She tried but it had him laughing.

  “Yeah, sure.” He rolled his eyes dramatically. Rae laughed as Jake played with her hand and they carried on back to Albuquerque.

  It was still dark when they pulled up behind the RV outside the hideout. Jake was asleep in her arms and she was struggling to keep herself awake. Her dad seemed to be having just as much trouble, as he had turned the CD up and wound his window down during the drive back. He rubbed his eyes and yawned before getting out of the car. Rae got out her side and they went around the side of the building and knocked on the window. They were let in by an ecstatic Nix. She climbed in first and he pulled her into him, suffocating her in his arms then kissing her lips fiercely.

  “Damn I missed you.” He whispered. She grinned.

  “Missed you too. I have something to show you.” She said as her dad handed Jake through then climbed through himself as Nix gasped. He looked at her with wide eyes.

  “This is Jake?” Nix asked, completely bewildered. Rae nodded, snuggling him into her but before she could explain more, Andrew gasped, walking passed them.

  “What happened?” He demanded, rushing over to where Jen was crumpled over Kenji’s unmoving body. Rae’s happiness crumbled instantly.

  “No.” She whispered, rushing over. She bent down, Jake still tucked against her and pulled Jen into them. Jen cried harder but didn’t pull away. Rae looked at Kenji, his eyes were closed, his skin and mouth were pale, and his body was surrounded in blood. There was no way he would have survived, even if they had been there. What confused her, was the gunshot. He hadn’t been attacked by zombies, he had been shot and that meant, they had been caught up to.

  “I’m so sorry, Jen.” Raelynn said as Jen pulled back sniffling.

  “He was all I had left.” She whispered, and Rae had to work to hide her surprise that Jen was talking again. Her voice was as soft and innocent as she looked.

  “You have us, Jen. We will look after you. You are our family just as much as Kenji.” Rae promised, holding her again as she sobbed more, nodding against her chest. She pulled back after a while and whispered that she was going to freshen up before leaving to the bathroom. Rae nodded and stood up. Everlynn and James were asleep on the couch against the wall on the other side of the room, so she turned to Nix.

  “What happened? He was shot?” Rae asked, tapping Jake’s bum as he slept soundly in her arms. Nix launched straight into his explanation, Louis dying, him killing José and even Edgar and the fact they had lost him.

  “I got Kenji back here as soon as I could, but he had lost too much
blood. Everlynn has been crying non-stop since it happened, luckily she’s asleep now but Jen hasn’t left his side until now.” Nix finished. Rae didn’t care who saw, she let the tears leak from her eyes as her chest heaved.

  “I should have been nicer to Louis, he was helping us.” She whispered, wiping her eyes with her sleeve.

  “He did it because he wanted to, love. He knew what was at stake.” John tried to reassure but Rae shook her head and looked away, biting her lip. They had lost so much to the stupid drug. How could she have let any of it start in the first place?

  “Kenji died, grateful that he had us there at the end okay, Rae. He did say that when we eventually save the world that we must remember his sacrifice.” Nix chuckled. John snickered.

  “Oh, and he wants a medal of honour.” John remembered. Rae laughed through her tears, of course he did. She looked over at him, then handed Jake to her dad who took him without hesitation. He cooed over him, introducing his grandson to John as she went over to Kenji. She bent down and kissed his cheek before, placing another blanket over his body, just as Jen came out. She had freshened up, but her eyes were still blood shot. Rae tucked her under her arm and walked back to where everyone stood.

  “I’m glad you got your son back, Rae, but we’re all dying to know how? I thought he was dead.” Nix asked. Rae sighed and went on to explain everything that had happened while they were gone, finishing with the lab blowing up.

  “So, it's over?” Everlynn asked, her voice soft and trembling as she came over and hugged Rae’s leg. Rae smiled and cuddled her into her.

  “Well the source is gone. But Edgar is still out there somewhere, and we don’t know who to get my blood to, to create the cure.” Raelynn sighed.

  “And your blood is definitely the cure? How do we know your mom wasn’t lying?” John asked and that had Rae stumped. What if she had been lying? What if it hadn’t actually cured Maria? There was only one to find out. They had to test it.