Adaptive Instinct (Survival Instinct) (48 page)

A moan came from the woods outside.

Maggie rose to her feet, keeping her head low and her hackles raised.  She didn’t make a sound, but stared at the tent’s door with a fierce intensity.  Fear lanced its way through Bryce, right down to the bone.  Somewhere in the woods behind the tent, a branch snapped with a dry crack.  Now Bryce’s mom was awake, sitting bolt upright.  Her chest hitched.  She wanted to cough, but wouldn’t risk making a sound.  She looked down at Bryce.

Moving carefully, Bryce’s mom gently picked up Becky and snuggled her into her papoose carrier without waking her.  The two year old stirred but stayed asleep.  Bryce’s mom gestured for him to sit up and he obeyed.  She strapped Becky onto Bryce’s back
as if she was a pack, and then gently woke up Larson.  Larson looked terrified the moment his eyes opened and took in his surroundings.  It was obvious that something was happening.  Larson was helped into his own backpack, more things like diapers being quickly stuffed inside it, and then Bryce’s mom got them to put their shoes on.

“Listen to me,” she hissed in both their ears.  The way her chest hitched and her voice croaked, the need to cough must have been overwhelming.  “When I open the tent flap, you boys run.  Run as far and as fast as you can.”

Bryce shook his head, his eyes going wide.  The way his mother spoke suggested that she wasn’t going to run with them.  She looked into his face and nodded, smiling.  A single tear rolled down her cheek.  Bryce’s eyes responded with tears of their own.  She kissed his head, then Becky’s, and then Larson’s, before moving to the tent flap.

Slowly, painfully slowly, she unzipped the zipper.  Bryce kept shaking his head.  He couldn’t leave his mom.  When the zipper was open, another loud groan came from the woods, even closer this time.  The tent flap was pushed open, revealing the greenery beyond.

“Look after your sister,” Bryce’s mom whispered to him.  “No matter what happens, I love you both more than anything in the entire world.”

“I love you too,
Mom.”  Bryce wrapped his arms around his mom’s neck in a tight embrace.  He never wanted to let go, but she made him.

“Go, run now.”  Bryce’s mom reached next to her and plucked a gun out of her open bag.  Bryce thought that maybe that was what she had removed from Larson’s backpack.  The boys hesitated.  “Run!” she shouted, pushing them out through the tent flap.

Bryce stumbled before he found his footing.  Shouts, not all of them his mother’s, came from behind them.  Some of them sounded terrible, coming from the throats of mangled things.  He knew the sounds were coming from the monsters, and he didn’t dare turn to look.  He didn’t want to see them and his mother at the same time.

Becky was startled awake by their sudden flight, getting jostled around by Bryce’s uneven gait.  She started crying, wailing for mommy.

“It’s okay, Becky!”  Bryce told her as he ran.  “It’s okay!  I’m here!  We’re playing horsey back!  You like horsey back, remember?”

Facing forward in her papoose carrier, she kept crying, but stopped screaming.  She grabbed at Bryce’s shoulders and neck.  He raised one hand up to his shoulder to hold hers.

When Bryce took a chance to look around, he didn’t see Larson anywhere.  He had no idea where his friend had gone.  Maggie either.  It was just him and Becky.

He kept running and running.  Something was chasing him.  He could hear it crashing through the woods behind him, and it was too big to be Larson or the dog.  Becky was heavy, weighing him down, but there was no way he would leave her behind.  He would drop dead first.  He would perform the same sacrifice his mom had probably just made if he needed to.

Ahead, a lake appeared between the trees.  It was small, just a pond really.  Without thinking, Bryce headed straight for it.  There was a little dock jutting out into the water that he targeted.

“Becky, do you remember swim time?”  Both of the Christopherson children took swimming lessons.  “Swim time, Becky?”

“Smim!”  Becky responded.  She liked swim time.

“We’re going to have swim time now.  Hold on tight.”  Bryce’s feet hit the wooden dock.  They pounded down the boards until they reached the end where Bryce flung himself and Becky over the edge.  Becky squealed, from fright or delight was unknown.

They hit the water with a splash, sinking quickly.  It wasn’t deep and Bryce’s shoes hit the bottom.  He quickly pushed up and back so that when they broke the surface, they were under the dock.  Becky started coughing and crying.  Gently taking the carrier off his back, Bryce floated Becky around in front of him.  He found a place he could stand and hold her, quietly coaxing her into silence.

A pounding resonated down the dock overhead as their pursuer caught up.  Bryce watched as it reached the end of the dock and flew off the end, landing with an even greater splash than Bryce had made.  The monster looked like an adult human, like the ones in the White Box.  It was tall enough to stand at the end of the dock, but continued to flounder out deeper, toward the centre of the pond.  Becky kept silent, sucking her thumb, while Bryce watched the monster.  It got to a point where it couldn’t stand and sank beneath the surface.  Despite waiting a full five minutes, Bryce didn’t see it surface again.

He slogged his way out from under the dock and up onto shore.  His legs were aching and his lungs burned from the effort.  He helped Becky out of the wet papoose carrier once they were on shore.  He knew they couldn’t stop, not so close to the pond.  He slung the carrier back onto his back and took Becky’s hand, leading her toward a dirt road that headed away from the dock.  He figured this must be someone’s campsite or fishing hole.  There was now a rather exotic fish in the pond: one you wouldn’t want to catch.

Becky was babbling in a confused and excited manner.  She mentioned mommy a lot and kept looking around for her.  She was wondering where mommy was.  Bryce wanted to cry.

To the side of the path, the bushes started rattling.  Bryce was too tired to run.  He placed a protective arm around Becky and pulled her close to him.

A head covered in golden fur burst through the brush, followed by a long, golden body.

“Maggie,” Bryce smiled as the dog trotted up to him, wagging her tail happily.

Following Maggie out of the bushes came Larson.  He was panting heavily, holding his sides.  Not caring about what nine-year-old boys were supposed to do and not do, Larson and Bryce immediately hugged one another.  Both of them were too exhausted to express their gratitude at the sight of the other in any other way.  Becky hugged Bryce’s waist.

The three of them, plus Maggie, started walking down the road.  Larson looked through his bag and found some trail mix they could all eat.  Bryce was careful about what pieces he gave to Becky, and gave her only one piece at a time.

Bryce cried as they walked; he no longer cared who saw.  He wanted to hope for the best for his mother, but he knew that it was foolish.  If she had been healthy, that would have been another matter, but she wasn’t.  She was sick and already dying, so she gave herself for her children.

Larson cried too.  He missed his mom and his dad and didn’t know where they were.  Something inside said the answer was bad.

They walked slowly, not only from being tired, but because Becky could only walk so fast.  She walked next to Maggie, her little hand raised up and holding onto one of the dog’s floppy ears.  The retriever didn’t seem to mind.

As they walked, totally lost, they began to hear some sort of siren in the distance.  It was a long way off, but they picked roads and paths that headed in its general direction.  Although Bryce’s mom had said that roads would have more monsters than the woods, they didn’t want to risk walking in circles through the trees.  At least the roads and the siren gave them some sort of bearing.

At
last, they came out upon a hill, looking down on a paved road.  On that road, a hodgepodge of vehicles was driving past, ranging from a school bus to an ambulance.  They had found people.

“Wait!” Bryce screamed at the top of his lungs.  He began running headlong down the hill, heedless of all else.  “Please stop!  Wait!  Please!”

His screaming was useless.  There was no way they could hear him inside their vehicles at that distance, but Bryce couldn’t stop himself.  They had to stop; they just had to!  They had to see him!

He finally reached the road but they had already driven past.  All that was left was a bit of dust and dirt they had kicked up.  Bryce could still see them, barely, in the distance.  Then the last vehicle turned a corner and was gone.

By the time Larson, Maggie, and Becky got down the hill, even the siren in the distance had fallen silent.

They were alone.  Although Bryce had wept for his mom, he hadn’t realized just how alone they were until then.  Two kids, a toddler, and a dog, all alone in the woods that were filled with monsters.

Bryce started crying again, but this time it was for himself, his best friend, even the dog.  But most especially it was for little Becky.  If they could survive even one night on their own, it would be a miracle.

20:

Riley Bishop – Days 16-17

“You what?” Cameron shouted loudly enough to draw the attention of the others.  They looked toward the twins, worried that something was wrong.

“Everything’s fine,” Riley told them.  She pulled Cameron deeper into the pharmacy they were sheltering in for the night.  “It just kind of happened.”

“I can’t believe you were that stupid.”  Cameron ran a hand through her short hair.  She might have been coming across as harsh, but Riley knew it was because she was scared.

“We don’t need to deal with this now.  It’s not an issue at the moment.”  Riley tried to comfort her sister.  She herself was taking it rather well.  She figured she would be terrified or confused.  Maybe it was because she didn’t quite accept it at the moment.  It seemed unreal, like it was happening to someone else.

“But it is an issue now,” Cameron insisted.

“No, it’s not.  Right now, the issues are finding Nicky, Isabelle, and Jasmine, that Shawn is a lying, deceitful asshole, and the zombies.  This can be put aside for a few weeks.”  Riley put the pregnancy test on a shelf next to her, not looking at the little plus sign in the window.

“But-”

“But what, Cameron?”  Riley cut her off.  “The only decision that would need to be made this early is whether I want to bring it to term or not.  If I do decide to do it, nothing at this point needs to change.  If I decide to abort it, then I want it done right, by another doctor, which can’t be done right here and now.  Nothing at this moment needs to be done.  Hell, I might not even live long enough to
have
to deal with it.”

Cameron tightly pursed her lips.  “I still can’t believe you were dumb enough to have unprotected sex with a guy.  How long have you known him?”

“It was just one time.  After that, I ended it.  And I’ve known him long enough.  I don’t think you should be one to judge me.”

“I’m not pregnant.”

“Yeah, but we’re only out here because you volunteered.  I bet you’ve known these people for less time than I’ve known Mathias, yet you’re willing to stick your neck out for them, put your life on the line.”

Cameron scowled because she knew Riley had a point. 
It was dangerous.  Since dropping Edelstein and his crew off at the nuclear storage facility, they had lost two of their party members.  The first had been the round doctor woman.  They had been searching an apartment building, and she had been careless.  She was too fascinated by the virus and dead bodies, and was being too analytical as if she weren’t there.  The second had been the lanky, snake man.  During the same search, he and the big man had gotten trapped in a room.  To escape, they went out on the balcony and tried to climb to another.  The big man, who Riley learned was named Brewster, had managed to get to safety, but the snake man hadn’t been strong enough and had fallen.  They had been fourteen stories up when it happened.  They had also lost a third member of their party, but they weren’t sure if he was dead or not.  The first night, the homeless-looking man had just slipped out and disappeared.

Riley hated this searching.  In spite of the fact that the truck Orson had stolen had a transmitter in it, they couldn’t
pinpoint the location.  They needed cell towers for that, and the towers had run out of power some time ago.  They could get a rough estimation from a satellite high up in orbit, but to do that, they had to be stationary.  It was tedious, and they had probably passed right by them, just one street over.  The apartment building they had been searching was chosen because, apparently, the fugitive named Hank had once lived there.  They had also searched Orson’s apartment, but that time they had all stuck closely together.

Giving up on the argument, Cameron left and joined the others.  Riley trailed after her.  The pharmacy had all of its windows intact when they came across it, so they figured it was unlikely to have zombies roaming around inside.  They went in, checked the place out, and then moved racks to cover the windows.  Their truck was parked next to one of the panes of glass, providing extra protection.  Although the truck was safe to sleep in, nobody liked being in such a small, dark place, with limited exits and no way of seeing what was going on outside.  The previous night they had spent in a dollar store.