Adaptive Instinct (Survival Instinct) (42 page)

Lauren sprang to her feet, turning back to the mattress over the window.  All of the children watching her—the knocking having woken up many of them—held hope in their eyes this time instead of fear.  She pulled back the mattress and peered out the window once more.  Private Winchester was the knocker; he had even stepped back from the door so that he could easily be seen from the window.

“It’s Private Winchester,” Lauren told the room.  Some of the children cheered.

With Jon’s help, they removed the barricade and ripped open the door.  Lauren saw the
relief spread across Winchester’s face before he was mobbed by the kids.  They swarmed him, telling him all about what had happened last night.  Leelo was the most vocal and had wrapped her arms around the soldier’s waist.  With all of them talking at once, it was impossible to tell what was actually being said.

“All right, all right, kids.”  Winchester held up his hands, trying to get them to settle down.  “I need to talk to Ms. Sanford-”

“Lauren.”

“-for a minute.  Do you mind waiting in your rooms a little longer?  We’ll bring you breakfast when we’re done.”

Some of the kids pouted but they all shuffled back inside.

“Jon, why don’t you get them to tidy up the
room?  I’m sure with enough help you could get the mattresses back on the beds, and the frames back to where they should be,” Lauren suggested.

Jon nodded and began to try organizing the kids.  They left the door open, so Lauren and Winchester walked away from the room before speaking.

“So what happened?” Lauren asked as she looked out over the parking lot.  Parts of their barricade had been shifted or destroyed, but other things had been hastily erected in their place.  Bodies lay here and there but Lauren couldn’t tell if they belonged to zombies or survivors.  A few people who had lived through the night moved about.  Most of them were fortifying the barricade, but one was going up to each of the bodies and driving a makeshift spear into the heads.

“A group of survivors had apparently heard of us and were coming here for sanctuary.  Unfortunately, one of their group had kept a bite secret from them.  He was in the passenger seat of their lead car and began to turn as they neared us.  He was one of the people who turn really fast, the ones who don’t have much of a fever before going.”

Lauren nodded her understanding.  She hadn’t seen it herself, but apparently, some people could fight the fever, the change, for hours while others gave in within seconds.

“He attacked the driver who then smashed into the barricade.  To make matters worse, a handful of runners had been following them.  Once the shooting started, the noise drew in even more from the woods.”  Winchester sighed, looking out over the parking lot.  He was clearly exhausted having stayed awake through the night as well.  “We realized there was no hope fighting them off, ’cause all the noise just brought more.  Some volunteers hopped into the truck and took off, being as much of a distraction as possible.  We haven’t seen them since.  The runners went off after them.  The rest we hit with any object we could find.  We weren’t even concerned with killing them by that point; we just wanted them slowed down and distracted enough for us to get to the rooms and hide. 
Unfortunately, a few people were spotted going into the rooms, and once the zombies started hammering on the doors, we knew they wouldn’t stop.  Officer White ran out there, grabbed Jon’s bike, and started leading the stragglers away.  Like I said, all the runners were already gone, so leading the walkers away was easy.  He got back about half an hour ago, pushing Jon’s bike to keep silent.”

“How…” Lauren’s voice dried up as she tried to ask her next question.  She swallowed hard and tried again.  “How many people died?”

“We’re still figuring that out.”  Winchester hung his head.  “Some people took off into the woods, and not all the rooms remained secure.  I have to admit, I was terrified walking up to check your rooms.”

“We were terrified within it.”  Lauren placed a comforting hand on his shoulder.  “Is there anything I can do to help?”

Winchester gave her a smile.  “Just keep the kids inside those rooms until we finish cleaning up the mess out here.  Keeping them from seeing the bodies would be nice.  When we do finish, don’t let them go wandering off.  Keep them upstairs.  We’re still checking the rooms on the ground floor, and securing the fence will take awhile longer.”

“You got it.”

“Now I don’t know about you, but I could use some grub.”  Winchester patted his stomach.

Lauren agreed, and they went to get breakfast for themselves and the children.

***

Jon was trying to stuff all of his pancakes into his mouth at once.  The younger kids laughed, delighted with his antics, but Lauren knew that wasn’t the purpose of his cramming.  The teenager wanted to
help with the cleanup and the fence mending.  Although she was loathe to let him go, she couldn’t exactly stop him.  He was sixteen and could take care of himself better than some thirty-plus year olds whom Lauren had met.  She made him promise to be careful though and to stay within the confines of the fence.  And to not be long, because the kids were likely to get rowdy after awhile, and she would need his help to entertain them.

When the food had been eaten, and the dishes stacked up, Lauren set to washing some of the kids’ clothes.  A pile had been left in the bathtub overnight and she wanted to get all essence-of-zombie off them.  Claire knelt on the floor next to her and started helping without being asked.

“Do you think Dr. Haily is okay?” she asked as she wrung out a shirt.

“I don’t know.  When it’s safe to look around, I’ll find out.”

“I liked Dr. Haily.  She was nice.”

“
Is
nice.  Was is past tense.”

“Dr. Haily
is
nice.”

“So what do you plan to do today?”  Lauren tried to change the topic.

“Lauren,” Claire looked up at her with her big eyes, “you’re not going to leave us, are you?  Like, ever?”

Lauren stopped scrubbing the shirt she held against a washboard and looked over at Claire.  “I don’t have any plans to, not any time soon.”

“But what about in the future?”

“I’m not a fortune teller.  I can’t predict what’ll happen.  But I won’t leave you unless I don’t have a choice.”

“You promise?”

“I promise.”

Claire suddenly wrapped her arms around Lauren.  “I love you, Lauren.”

Lauren got an arm free so that she could wrap it around the girl’s shoulders.  “I love you too, Claire.”

“I want a hug too.”  Dakota appeared in the bathroom doorway.

“Then come on over,” Lauren offered.

Soon enough, Lauren was in the middle of a giant group hug with many of the children.  As she was swarmed with their love and affection, Lauren realized she could no longer remember her life without them.  She knew there had been happy moments in her past life, she could recall many with Abby, but most of that time seemed grey to her.  As if there wasn’t as much substance as her life held now.  She was sure part of it came from knowing every day could easily be her last, and her new responsibilities were much more gratifying than the old ones, but these kids’ love was what really made the difference.  Lauren thought her past-self was insane for not wanting kids.

Once the laundry was hung along the railing outside, Lauren decided to see who else from the upper floor was still present.  Most of the young adults who Jon had hung out with were okay.  The only one missing was the girl Lauren had seen puking over the railing.  She tried to ask what happened to her, but none of them would answer.  They all just stayed quiet and looked at the floor.  The man with his two sons was all right.  When he had seen the thing show up next to Lauren, he had bolted back into his room.  He apologized profusely to Lauren for not trying to help her, but she easily forgave him.  She probably would have done the same.  Most of the other upstairs residents were all right as well; not many zombies had made it up the stairs.  Lauren was relieved to see that the two maternity rooms were okay.  When the hospital had been evacuated, a bus picked up as many new-borns and their mothers as possible and brought them to the motel.  The mothers had all forged a fierce bond with one another and rarely left their rooms, but Lauren had gotten to know a few when she needed advice.  She also often popped her head in just to check on them. 
Apparently, there wasn’t enough room on the bus for the babies, the mothers, and the fathers.  All the dads had agreed to stay behind, to wait for the next bus.  As far as anyone knew, the maternity bus was the last vehicle that managed to get away from the hospital, and the fathers were never seen again.

By talking to people, Lauren was able to learn the names of a few of those who had died last night and those who had gone off in the truck.  She recognized only a few of them.  One of them though was Dr. Richards.  No one could say for sure if it was the older or the younger, but the upstairs rumour was that one of them hadn’t made it.  That was going to be the first thing Lauren found out when it was safe for her to walk around downstairs. 
A collection of people was already planning a funeral service for the dead.  They didn’t have the time, strength, or place to bury the deceased, but they could at least do something to honour them.  Lauren decided to find something she could do for the ceremony.  She had a feeling that a lot of people were going to treat this thing as more than just a service for those who had died the night before.  Many deaths had gone by unacknowledged.  Lauren just kept hoping that Abby’s wasn’t one of them.

***

At noon, the service was held.  Everyone from the motel who wasn’t on guard duty, gathered around the pool.  A woman had found a bunch of fake flowers that the motel must have used as decoration.  Each of those who knew the people who had died the night before got one.  They said something nice, and then placed the flower in the pool.  The younger Dr. Richards was one of them.

Those who had lost loved ones before reaching the motel were also given the opportunity to speak.  It was a long service, but nobody complained or left early.  Even the maternity mothers made it out with their babes, as did others who Lauren had never seen before because they never left their rooms.  There were a few harsh speeches and a few downers, but overall, it was very sweet.  The sun even found a hole in the cloud cover for a brief moment in the distance, although not everyone noticed it.

At the end of the service, Lauren gathered all her orphaned wards as well as a few of the other kids who wanted to join.  They sang
Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star
, because it was the only song that all of them knew.  Even then, a few got it wrong, and it was terribly off key most of the time, but the thought was there, and people’s faces indicated that they appreciated it.

Afterward, when everybody was dispersing to go back to doing whatever it was they did to pass the time, Private Winchester appeared out of the crowd to speak to Lauren.  They found a spot along the fence that incorporated a tree and stood beneath its branches.

“Leelo’s got quite the singing voice,” Winchester commented, “although a little on the loud side.”

“I asked her to sing loudly to help cover up those who sounded like frogs,” Lauren smiled.

“Ah,” Winchester nodded.  “It didn’t work.”

“No, it just got them to sing louder as well,” she laughed.

“We’ve gotten word from on high.”

“Have we now?”

“Something’s come up; I’m not sure what.  Lieutenant Boyle isn’t saying.”  Lieutenant Boyle was their unofficial leader.  He had been the one Lauren saw in charge of the hospital evacuation.  She was glad nothing had happened to him, or else they probably would have fallen apart.  “My guess is he doesn’t want to start a panic, so he’s keeping information to himself.”

“Understandable.”  Being in charge of a group of children was one thing, but being in charge of everyone in the Pummel Motel?  Lauren couldn’t imagine the pressure he must be under every day.

“The word is, we’re probably leaving soon.  Heading out to Pearson Airport.”

Like most people, Lauren had been kept up-to-date on the plans.  She always knew the motel wasn’t a permanent solution.  “So soon?  I thought the prison was having transportation problems.”

“They are, but they may have found a fix.  They’re working on it and hope to be out in a few more days.”

“You think Boyle wants to leave early because of what happened last night?”

“I think that’s playing a part, but you can tell when you look at him that something even heavier is weighing upon him.  Most people will probably assume it’s because of the attack, and I think that’s fine.  It’s a terrible thing that’s happened, but at least it’s shaken them up.  Some of our residents have gotten a little too comfortable here.”

Lauren agreed with him.  Seeing those people at the service who never came out of their rooms only reminded her of that fact.  The longer they stayed, the harder it would be to leave.

“Do you think you could get the kids ready?  We’ll be leaving tonight at the earliest, or tomorrow night at the latest.”

“That
is
really soon.”  Lauren thought over all the things she would have to do to get the kids ready.  “I need to pack up what clothes and toys we’ve gathered, which means finding bags.”