Survival Instinct: A Zombie Novel (47 page)

“Umm, excuse me?”

Cillian looked up and saw the other girl standing in the doorway near where B was laying.

“What are we going to do about him?”  She pointed to B.

“Nothing.” Cillian shook his head.  The bastard deserved it.

Jessi finally started to pull herself away from Cillian.  At first
, he didn’t want it to happen.  He wanted to hold her forever, but he relinquished.

“Hey
, Cillian?” Tobias spoke up from behind him.  “Can we do something about my shoulder now?”

“You hurt?” the man called from the other room.

“Come in.”  Jessi laced her fingers through Cillian’s and pulled him into the surgical room.  Tobias followed after them, stepping carefully around B.

“Were you bitten?” the guy asked.

“No, I fell on an escalator.”  Tobias walked over to him.

“Good, bites will apparently turn you.  Abby, could you try wheeling that cabinet over?  Maybe the big guy can help you.”  The man gestured to a corner.

“What?  You mean they
are
zombies?”  Tobias raised an eyebrow and had a half grin.  Apparently, deep down, he still didn’t believe they were actual zombies.

“As far as I know.” the man shrugged.  “The name’s Cender by the way.  That’s Abby, we just met.  And I see one of you already knows Jessica.”

Tobias shook his offered hand.  “I’m Tobias.  That’s Cillian.  You a doctor?”

“A doctor and a patient in one absurd day,” he grinned.  “Now, let’s get you fixed up before that gunshot draws the creepies.”

The Soldier

Alec didn’t hesitate.  He saw Danny’s shoulders and head as he fell over.  He then saw the woman’s as she pounced upon him.  He fired a single shot.  Although he didn’t quite hit what he meant to, he was aiming for her eye, he still hit her in the head.

“Danny, are you okay?” Alec called up from the bottom of the stairs.  He watched the top of the stairs and kept his pistol pointed up there, but also started using one hand to set up his stair lift.  He never should have let the kid go up there alone.

“I’m…  I’m okay.”  Danny appeared over the side of the top step.  He was sliding on his belly out from under the body.  When he was free, he hurried down the stairs, nearly tripping and tumbling down.

Alec had just killed another person; this time in his own house.  Yet it felt no different.  He put his pistol down and quickly finished setting up his lift.  He hooked his chair to it and turned it on.  The lift groaned loudly and moved slowly.  He probably should have bought one instead of making his own, but he believed a bought one would break down more often.  Danny huddled behind him, following his chair back up the stairs.

“Did you get any blood in your mouth, or eyes?” Alec asked.

“No,” Danny shook his head.

Alec looked at him closely.  The blood spray seemed to be mostly on Danny’s shirt and neck.  His mouth looked clear and there wasn’t even a drop near his eyes.  Lucky.  “What did you find up here, besides her?”

“One of the windows in the big room is open,” Danny reported, his voice wavering.  “There’s a bloody hand print on the door frame.  Alec?  The woman is Michelle.”

Alec frowned.  He waited impatiently until the lift had moved him high enough for him to see the body.  The face was turned away from him but he could tell by her body type and clothing that it was indeed Michelle.  He knew he should feel something, he had just killed his physical therapist… but he didn’t.  Even if he had called her a friend, he wasn’t sure he’d feel anything.  The last time he had felt truly emotional about anything was when his sister had passed.  That emotionless quality had probably been brought on from his sniper days and explained why he drank and womanized so much.  But when you didn’t care, well, you didn’t care about not caring.  He looked at Michelle’s body crumpled on his floor, her blood and brain matter on the wall.  Most people would think she deserved a better death, but Alec didn’t.  A quick and painless death was the way to go, even if it was too soon.

“No sign of Emma or Rifle?” Alec’s voice was as calm as it ever was.

“No
, sir.”

“You can wait downstairs if you would rather not see this.”  Under any other circumstances, he would have made the kid stay downstairs.  As it was, Danny had already seen the death up close and Alec decided
that maybe the kid should get used to it.  It seemed death wasn’t going to be something they could avoid.

“I’m okay,” Danny managed to say this without shaking and even with a little conviction.

When the lift reached the top of the stairs, it placed Alec right next to the body.  He was glad it wasn’t in the way of the lift or else he’d have to get Danny to move it.  The boy might be able to handle seeing the body but it was unlikely he could handle having to touch it again.  Alec unhooked himself and rolled toward his room.  It was the only room in the house that hadn’t been inspected.  Danny dogged after him, holding the short handles of his chair again.  His room had a large bloodstain in one corner, but was otherwise untouched.

“Danny, we’re going to go on a trip,” Alec said as he picked up a photo off his bedside table.  It was a picture of his sister holding Rifle as a puppy.  The two things in this world he had loved.  One he had very recently lost, the other several years ago.

“Where are we going to go?”  Danny sat on the bed.

Alec put his
packsack down next to him and opened it.  Danny looked inside, his eyes widening when he saw Alec’s sniper rifle in there.  Alec dug through his ammunitions, past his tools and uniforms, and under his helmet and goggles.  He pulled out a rumpled, rolled, and folded paper.  Opening it carefully, he laid it out across the bed.  The paper was huge and made out of a cloth-like material meant to tear less.  On it was a highly detailed map of Leighton.  Alec didn’t open up the whole thing because it wouldn’t fit on the bed, but he uncovered the section of Leighton they were currently in.  There were several colourful lines leading off in various directions.  Alec pointed to a section on the map where almost all the lines converged into a clump.

“Here’s where we are,” Alec told Danny
,  “or at least roughly.  We’re slightly up the street at the moment but close enough for horse shoes.”

“Did you take this from that house we were at?”  Danny wondered, following some of the lines with his eyes.

“Yeah, it and a few others,” Alec nodded.  “This one though has the legend.”  Alec shifted and unfolded the map some more till he reached an edge that had a colour code.

“Work, sister, brother, home,” Danny started reading the colour code aloud.  “
Nuclear, war, earthquake?  Flood?  Disease?  What are all these?”

“Read the last one,” Alec encouraged.

Danny looked down the list.  “Zombies?”

In a putrid orange-ish colour and written in quotes, was the word Alec had noted on the map.  It seemed so absurd when he first saw it, but since then, he came to accept it more and more.  It was so unlikely, so unbelievable, but so suited to the situation.  He had yet to see evidence that
didn’t
support it.

“Where does it go?”  Danny had followed the odd coloured line as far as he could on the map.

“North.”  Alec started folding and rolling the map back up.  “To a provincial park.  I found another map of the area it leads to, and it looks like there’s some sort of dwelling there.  Probably not a legally placed one, but it’s there.  A lot of the weird lines, like war, lead to it.”

“Why?”

“Judging by the look of that house we were in, the owner is some sort of survivalist.  These maps are probably their planed routes if… well
anything
were to happen.”  Alec put the map back in his bag.  “Apparently, even unrealistic stuff.  They must have set up a place there, probably full of supplies and a method to survive for years.  A place to go in case of world ending emergencies.  If we can get there, we’d most likely be safe.”  At least that’s what Alec hoped.  If the problem really was zombies or something similar to zombies at least, then they wanted to be where there were no people.  A provincial park, far to the north, that had harsh terrain was probably damn near empty.

“How will we get there?”

“I haven’t thought that part through yet,” Alec sighed.  “My car got stolen and in my current condition, I can’t really drive anything else.  You can’t drive, can you?”

Danny shook his head.

“Then we have only a handful of options.  We walk for a painfully long time, or we try to find someone who can drive.”  Alec picked up his pack and slung it over his back again.  He had to admit one thing about the chair; it helped take a lot of his pack’s weight, so it didn’t feel as heavy as it was.

“I vote for finding someone who can drive.”  Danny hopped off the bed.

“I agree.  It’s going to be dangerous, both looking for a driver and getting there, but it’s probably better than hanging around here.”  Alec picked up the picture of his sister and Rifle again.  He took the picture out of its simple frame and put it in a pocket.  “Is there anything really important to you at your house?  ’Cause if you really want something, now is the only opportunity we’re going to have to risk getting it.”

Danny thought.  He appeared to be thinking hard.  Alec guessed he was doing an inventory of all his things and deciding if any of them were important enough.  The fact that he didn’t name something right away made Alec think maybe there wasn’t anything.  He waited though.  It was a hard thing to think about, especially for a young kid.  Everything had changed in a series of moments.  Not only were their lives set down on a new path,
but also it was looking like a path that had never been followed before.  Who knew what the future held for them?  For humanity?

“No,” Danny finally said shaking his head.  “There’s nothing worth the risk of going back there.”

“Are you sure?”  Alec didn’t want him changing his mind down the road.  Literally.

“I’m sure.  Let’s just go find someone who can drive.”  Danny headed toward the door.  He stopped before exiting though and waited for Alec.

“One last thing.”  Alec stopped at the doorway.  “If you’re going to carry around a pistol, you should know how to use it.”

“What?” Danny looked confused.

“I’m trained to spot things,” Alec grinned at him.  “Those shorts don’t do a very good job of hiding the shape of ammo mags.  I’m also pretty sure I saw the pistol tucked into your rear waistband.”

Danny reached behind his back and pulled out the pistol.  He looked very sheepish.  The pistol wasn’t even loaded.

“Do you know how to load that?” Alec asked him.

“Yes,” Danny’s voice was
lower than usual.

Alec didn’t blame him.  He was probably raised being constantly told how guns and stealing were very bad things.  And this was a stolen gun.  “Let’s see you do it.”

Danny pulled out one of the magazines and slid it into the base of the grip.  He was slow and deliberate about it, but he did put it in the right way.  He then cocked the gun, putting a round into the chamber.

“I’m not turning the safety off,” Danny said as he pointed to it to show he knew what he was talking about.

“I didn’t say you should.  I just hope that if a time comes when you have to use it, you remember to turn it off.”  Alec was dead serious about that.

Danny nodded.  He went to tuck the gun into the front of his
waistband, but Alec stopped him.

“Try seeing if it’ll fit into your pocket first.  It might be harder to get out, but you’re less likely to lose the thing.  Or shoot your nuts off, for that matter.”

With a little bit of stretching, Danny was able to fit the pistol into his pocket.  It looked kind of absurd with the grip sticking out, but looks weren’t very important in their current situation.

“Are you ready?” Alec asked Danny.

Danny took a deep breath and let it out slowly, and then nodded.  Alec nodded back and opened the bedroom door.  Danny stuck close to the wall as he hurried to the steps.  He tried not to look at Michelle.  Alec, on the other hand, gave her a long stare.  He had no good-byes to say, but committed her to memory.  He remembered the faces of everyone he killed.  Even that man at the doctor’s house, and those chasing them down the street.  He also gave one last look toward his brother-in-law’s bedroom down the hall.  He gave Nathan a silent good-bye and a good luck if he was still kicking.  He also hoped Rifle hadn’t hurt himself jumping off the porch roof, which Alec was sure the dog had done as soon as Danny had told him about the open window.  Maybe he’d find a pack of other stray dogs out there.

After hooking his chair back up to the lift, he began the slow and noisy descent back downstairs.  Danny showed up when he got there, fresh from washing up in the bathroom, and helped to unhook him.

“What should we do with the medical supplies?”  Danny held up the backpack he had pilfered.

“We bring them and pray we don’t need them.”  Alec took the bag from Danny and headed toward the garage.  “I’m going to grab a few more things from here as well.  Go to the kitchen.  There should be some water bottles in the cupboard over the sink.  Fill them to the top.  Also, in the tall cupboard next to the fridge, there should be some canned stuff.  Grab as much as you can and meet me in the garage.”