Adaptive Instinct (Survival Instinct) (52 page)

“You fucking thief!” Shawn shouted down at him.  “You are
not
allowed back up here!”  He reminded Misha of a brat in a tree fort.

“Fine with me, we’re going to be moving anyway.”  Mathias’s reply took them all back a bit.  “That is, if that’s okay with everyone.”

“I told you, I’m not leaving here.”  Shawn scowled down at him.

“By everyone, I meant everyone but you.”

Shawn’s frown was now also one of confusion.  Misha had to admit that he was also very confused.

“Can I come up on the deck to explain it?  I’ll give you your phone back.”  Mathias waggled the yellow device in his hand.

“Fine.”  Shawn backed away from the railing, taking his hand off his gun.  Everyone relaxed slightly when he did.

When Mathias was up on the deck, everybody gathered to hear what he had to say.  First, he updated them on Riley, saying that she was fine and with her sister.  He told them about some search party they had joined that was looking for some kidnapped women, which was the delay Shawn hadn’t told them about the day before.  There was clearly also something about Shawn that Mathias didn’t want to say in his presence.

Finally, he got to the part about the cruise ship.  He told them everything he knew, including the Bishop’s friend Rufus.

“Rufus?  Yeah, I guess he’d be there,” Shawn commented, now calm.  Guess the idea of getting everyone out from under his feet made him feel better.  “He might be willing to fly you there; he always did like boats.  I don’t know how you’re going to get to him though.”

“You’re going to fly us to him.”

Shawn shook his head like a kid refusing bad food.  “No.  I’m staying here.  I don’t want to go to some boat.”

“You won’t be going to the boat.  You’ll just drop us off at Rufus’s.  In fact, if Rufus decides to come with us, you can probably take the supplies he can’t bring.”

“I don’t want to leave for anything.”

“If you don’t, then we don’t leave here either.  Do you really want us hanging around?  Think of all the supplies we’d eat.  Also, we out-number you, Shawn, and we don’t trust you.  How long do you think you’ll last with us?”

Shawn looked at Mathias, then around at the group.  All eyes were on him, and they were not friendly.

“Is everyone else in agreement that we should go to the boat if Shawn flies us to Rufus’s?”  Mathias then looked around at the rest of them, and they nodded.

Except for Misha.  “Only if Milly also comes with us.”

“I’d welcome her.”  Mathias turned back to Shawn, who was looking at his feet.

“You have no guarantee that Rufus will fly you south,” Shawn brought up.

“Then we become Rufus’s problem, not yours.”

Shawn kept looking at his feet.  Thinking.  Finally, “All right, I’ll fly you to Rufus’s.”

“And Milly?  She can come with us, right?” Misha pressed.

“Of course, what do I care where she goes?”

With that one line, Misha wanted to strangle Shawn with his bare hands.  His fingers curled into tight fists, but he restrained himself.  He had agreed to let Milly go with them after all.

“So when are we leaving?” Abby wondered.

“As soon as Shawn is willing to take us, preferably as soon as possible.”

“Now,” Shawn said.  “Pack up all your things, you’re leaving now.  You’re not taking anything that belongs here either; you only get what you came with.  Clothes included.”

Everybody frowned at this, but didn’t argue.  They could easily jump Shawn, throw him over the railing, and break his legs, but unfortunately, they would only trap themselves.

Everybody hurried into the cabin to collect their things.

***

Misha didn’t mind wearing his own shorts, but he wished he had a shirt.  When he had fled Leighton, the only things he wore were his shorts and boxers.  Before reaching the cabin, he had picked up a pair of firefighter’s boots and a firefighter’s jacket, but he didn’t even have socks on underneath.  He was the first one ready because he didn’t have any gear other than his clothes.

“Misha,” Abby waved him over to where she stood near the bridge to the broken greenhouse.  She had been able to pack quickly, knowing exactly where all of her things were.

Misha walked over.

Abby looked around, making sure Shawn wasn’t in sight, and then opened her bag slightly so that Misha could take a look inside.  He just saw a bundle of clothes he couldn’t identify.

“
There are socks and a shirt in there for you,” Abby told him.  “I don’t think Shawn will notice they’re missing for awhile, if he notices at all.  Once we get to Rufus’s place and he’s gone, you can put them on.”

“Thanks, Abby.”  Misha wished he could return the favour somehow.  Maybe he’d think of something later.

“Do you want to go to this boat?” she asked.

“Sure, why not?”  Misha shrugged.

“I’m worried because there will be more people there.”

“And why does that worry you?”  If anything, it should worry Misha who was the anti-social one.

“I’m worried about someone like Jessica being there.”

That, Misha could understand.  He had never met Jessica, but had seen the damage she had done, both physically to Cillian, and mentally to the others.  That’s really why they were so afraid of Shawn, because they knew what could happen when somebody snapped.

“Lauren could be there,” Misha offered hopefully.  “You seemed pretty sure that she survived this, so there’s a chance of her being there, right?”

Abby smiled, although it was strained.  She clearly wanted to believe this, but wasn’t sure if she could.  “You’re right.  Thanks, Misha.”

Misha wondered if he had just inadvertently paid her back for stealing him some clothes.  A T-shirt and socks for some weak hope seemed like a fair trade.

One by
one, everyone came back out onto the deck, wearing what they had worn on the Day.  For Josh, that meant a pair of blue hospital scrubs with a slit cut up one pant leg and only one shoe.  Although he had removed his cast, he had his crutches and a boot-like thing called a walking cast with him.  If Shawn wasn’t going to give them anything extra, then they weren’t going to leave anything extra for him.

“Load up,” Mathias ordered them all toward the plane.  He and Tobias helped Alec get down the stairs.

Misha directed the dogs toward the big Otter floatplane, but Rifle stopped short when he saw where they were headed.  The big German shepherd lowered his head and whined.

“It’s not that bad,” Misha tried to convince the dog.  He wondered what Rifle would think of the boat.  “Really, I promise it won’t be as bad as last time.”  Although really, he thought it’d be worse with Shawn flying.

While Misha tried to convince Rifle, Danny went up the steps and opened the door so everyone could load their packs inside.  When he was out of the way, Milly actually climbed the steep steps that were basically a ladder, all by herself to get up into the plane.  She was a smart dog.

“See?”  Misha pointed out her white form to Rifle.  “Milly wants to go in the plane.”

Rifle noticed his friend get in and took a few steps closer to the plane, still cautious.  Last time, they had to trick him near the plane with treats and his skunk toy, but they were out of treats and the skunk toy was locked firmly between Rifle’s jaws.

Milly appeared at the door again, looking toward the ground.  She watched as Mathias picked Shoes up and began carrying him up the ladder.  As he got to the top, Milly backed out of the way and followed the old dog deeper into the plane.

Rifle moved closer to the plane again.  Mathias climbed back down the ladder and then looked at the big dog, the two of them staring each other down.  Misha gestured for the ex-mercenary to step aside.  Mathias did, opening the path to the ladder.  Rifle went up to it, eyeing Mathias some more, wary about being grabbed and hauled up like last time.  He began sniffing at the really steep steps, then, going slowly and nervously, he began climbing up on his own like Milly had.  Milly herself poked her head out for a moment, watched Rifle’s progress for a few steps, and then went back inside.  Although she wasn’t as expressive as Rifle or Shoes, Misha had already learned her moods and could tell that she was excited.

Rifle managed to get up into the plane all by himself.  Misha climbed up quickly after him, making sure to praise him a whole lot and giving him a thorough shoulder rub.  He stayed up there, watching the dogs, while Tobias, Joshua, and Mathias worked to get Alec up into the plane.  Alec grumbled and cursed the whole time, hating his need to be manhandled.

Once Alec and his wheelchair were in with the dogs and the packs, Misha and Danny hopped back out.  Everybody gathered in front of the plane and began pushing on its floats, shoving it out into the lake.  Once in the water, everyone climbed aboard the floats, then scrambled up into the cabin.

Misha took the same seat he had on the way up, across the aisle from Alec.  Everyone took the same seats that they had heading north, even Mathias who sat in the co-pilot seat.

“Don’t touch anything,” Shawn warned him as he settled into the pilot’s position.  Riley had told him the same thing, only she hadn’t been so threatening about it.

Once the engine was started up, they began circling the lake in the same manner they had watched Riley do in the little plane.  After gaining speed that way, they faced the long stretch and the engine was gunned.  Misha tightly gripped his armrests.  He remembered how close the trees had been during their landing.  The plane rose steeply up off the lake, and Misha squeezed his eyes shut.  If they were going to crash, he didn’t want to see it.

He kept them shut until he felt Alec’s hand grab his wrist.  He looked at Alec, who nodded, assuring him it was over.  When Misha glanced out the window, he saw they were above the trees.

As they soared through the air, the mood was a lot darker than it had been the previous time.  When they had been heading to the cabin, everybody had been joyous and even celebratory.  Now, they were sullen and quiet.  During that first flight, they had thought that they had made it, that they had survived the zombies.  In spite of a lot of emotional grief to deal with, they believed they would no longer be in mortal danger.  They imagined having a life at the cabin, a future.  Now they were leaving it.  They were heading to unknown lands, and from there, back into the heart of danger.  There were going to be more people, some who may turn out to be like Jessica, and some who were likely to get infected.

Misha felt like he was standing on the edge of a high cliff with nothing but darkness before him, and the ground was quickly giving out.

***

It didn’t take long to reach the small airfield.  It had a single, weedy runway and a cluster of old military buildings.  Shawn didn’t bother to circle at all; he just lined the plane up and set it down.  Misha found himself squeezing the armrests again.  It felt like his fingers were going to leave permanent impressions.  When he risked a glance at the others, most of them had the same white knuckle grip.  Nobody trusted Shawn’s landing skills.

Their fears were ungrounded as the plane landed smoothly on the tarmac.  They taxied over toward one of the buildings.  It didn’t look like anyone was there, or had been there, for a long time.  Shawn stopped the plane, shutting down the engines and unbuckling from his seat.

“Wait here,” he ordered.

He opened the hatch and climbed out
of the plane.  Although they obeyed, both Misha and Mathias moved to the doorway so that they could watch.

As Shawn walked toward a building, he raised both his hands above his head in a surrender position.  He stopped a few yards away from the building he had been walking toward.

“Rufus!” he called out.  “It’s Shawn!  Shawn Bishop!  Kathy and Hank’s kid!”

“I know who you are!” a gruff voice of unknown origin yelled back.  “Where are Kathy and Hank?”

“They didn’t make it!”

He didn’t sound too upset about that, causing Misha and Mathias to share a look.

The door to the building burst open.  A squat, black man with a totally shaved head, lots of muscles, and lots of tattoos came out, carrying a pump action shotgun.  He had the gun levelled at Shawn’s chest, and a small part of Misha hoped he pulled the trigger.

“What are you doing here, boy?” the man, presumably Rufus, demanded.

“There are some people in my plane that need to talk to you.”  Shawn gestured over his shoulder at them.

“I see ’em.”  Rufus didn’t take his eyes off Shawn.  “Why would I want to chat with them?”

“You should ask them that.”

Rufus stood perfectly still for a moment longer, holding his gun steady.  At
last, he lowered it.

“All right, bring ’em out.”  He gestured for them to come over.

They went through the whole production of getting Alec, the dogs, and the packs out of the plane, gathering on the tarmac.  Rufus didn’t offer to help; he watched from a distance.  Both hands remained on his shotgun at all times.

The whole group walked over to Rufus and Shawn, with Mathias in the lead as their ambassador.

“My name’s Mathias Cole.”  He held out his hand.

Rufus looked him up and down, paying special attention to the Keystone insignia on his shirt.  He ignored the offered hand.  “And?  What do you want?”

“Riley Bishop said you should be able to help us out.”

Rufus glanced at the group.  “And why isn’t Riley here?”

“She went back to Leighton to get Cameron.  The greenhouse at the cabin was destroyed by a falling tree last night.  We can’t all survive the winter there without it.”

Rufus looked to Shawn, who nodded.

“Riley heard about a boat, a cruise ship out in Halifax that a group of survivors are going to head to.  They plan to convoy down to Toronto where they will meet up with some pilots that are holding out at Pearson International Airport.  From there, they plan to fly to an airbase near the harbour and board the ship.”

“A ship, huh?  How big?  How well stocked?”

“I’m not sure on the size, but it seems to be pretty big.  They were empty of passengers and anchored offshore when the outbreak hit the area.  A team has been preparing the ship for long term living as well as collecting what survivors they come across.  They didn’t think they’d have very many people until the pilots in Toronto were able to get in touch with them through radio.”

“Who’s running this whole thing?”

“A group of mercenaries, like me, who broke away from Marble Keystone.”

“Sounds shady.”

“It does.  I understand you have no reason to believe any of the words I’m saying.  In fact, if I were you, I would have disavowed every word the moment I saw my own clothes.  I’ve seen the people running the group of survivors that are going to convoy, and I have to say I still don’t completely trust them.”

“So why are you here?”

“We don’t have a choice.  Shawn could probably survive the winter in the cabin alone, but all of us wouldn’t.  The boat is our best option.  Shawn doesn’t want to fly us down there, but we were told that you might be willing to help us out.”

“Were you now?”  Rufus turned to Shawn.  “And why don’t you want to fly them?”

“I’m not wasting the fuel I have.  In fact, I was hoping to barter some off of you,” Shawn told him.

Rufus looked at Mathias again.  “Why should I help you?  What do I get out of this?”