Survival Instinct (Book 5): Social Instinct

by Stittle, Kristal

  When night came once more, they had reached what was either a small settlement, or the fringes of a bigger one. The gas station with the garage attached to it was their best bet for the number of people, and so they piled inside. The security doors across the main entrance had been twisted and broken by scavengers at some point, but the bars over the windows were still intact, even across the window that had had the glass shattered out of it. Evans noticed that the amount of destruction was slowly increasing as they headed toward the sea. He knew the coastal area would have been hit harder by that storm. Evans helped get the garage door open from the inside, and then closed it again after the animals were led within. Not having to take a guard shift that night, Evans found himself a corner and went straight to sleep after eating dinner.

  The next morning, Evans stepped outside and was greeted by sunlight. Not just a couple of beams peeking through the clouds here and there, but full sunlight. There was finally more blue sky than there were clouds, and Evans’ mood was immediately elevated by that fact. He had been sunburned many times and would likely die of skin cancer if he lived long enough, but Evans always preferred the sunny days.

  It seemed the sun had everyone’s spirits up. There was more talk during breakfast, and the two children played patty cake with their mother, which was an uncommonly noisy game for them. Mac told some jokes, which had several people in stitches, including Gerald, and Paul showed everyone how he could pop his own shoulders in and out. Evans had seen the trick during their previous time travelling together, but he enjoyed watching the fascinated, disgusted, and horrified expressions of the others as they watched. It was actually a handy trick, because he could have his hands clasped behind his back, and bring them up over his head so that they were then in front of him. Probably wasn’t good for the joints, but it could certainly help if he were ever snatched by somebody.

  Other than the happier mood, the day was going like the others. Luke rode on ahead, while Gerald watched the rear with Malala. The kid and Evans took turns walking Moe, and today was Evans’ turn. The horse kept bumping his nose against Evans’ shoulder, but Evans had no idea why. He suspected the horse wanted something from him, but he couldn’t figure out what it was. He had certainly eaten enough. What more could he need?

  It was shortly after their lunch break when the day was disrupted.

  Luke had gone on ahead while everyone else finished packing up, as he always did, but just before they started walking, he came thundering back.

  “I spotted some people up ahead,” he explained.

  “How many? What did they look like?” Evans asked him.

  “I saw four, and they had a bunch of dogs with them. They looked exhausted, based on the way they were walking.”

  “Gerald, Ang, I want you to come with me. Luke, can you lead us to where you spotted them?”

  “Of course.” Luke dismounted in order to walk at their pace, but he held onto his horse’s reins and brought it along.

  They didn’t have to cover much distance, as Luke had known better than to scout too far ahead. They climbed a rise that overlooked a stretch of highway littered with dead cars. The debris-covered swath of asphalt carved a clear path, allowing them to see a fair distance in either direction. Luke pointed out the figures making their way along it. They weren’t moving fast, which was likely why Luke thought that they were exhausted. And they did seem to have a number of dogs moving around them. The dogs twigged in Evans’ mind, and made him realize that the figures were coming from the general direction of the container yard. Evans slid off his pack and pulled out his binoculars. After staring at the figures for several seconds, he handed them off to Gerald.

  “Recognize any of them?” he asked the kid.

  Gerald peered through the binoculars for about as long as Evans had. “Yes. Three of them I’ve seen around the container yard. I don’t know the fourth.”

  “All right, wait here, I’m going to go down and talk to them.”

  “Are you sure it’s a good idea to go alone?” Luke questioned.

  Evans wasn’t sure, but didn’t answer. “Gerald, whatever happens, you keep well out of sight.”

  Gerald grunted in annoyance, but he also nodded.

  Evans made his way down the hill, and then started along the highway. He drew his sword and held it in the air above his head. They might recognize him by his sword, but even if they didn’t, they could spot him coming more easily and be less surprised. As Evans walked, he slowly turned the sword, actually hoping to flash some light off it in their direction. Bad things happened when you came upon a person unaware.

  Once Evans was close enough to see the four people over the top of a cluster of sedans, he put his sword away, his shoulder aching slightly from the effort of keeping it aloft so long. Some of the dogs reached him first, and Evans thought he remembered a few of them, especially the big and lanky Great Dane. He was glad to see that the dogs knew him too, as they were wagging their tails when they came up to him.

  “Evans? Is that you?” one of the travellers called out, completely surprised.

  “It’s me, Danny,” Evans answered. He didn’t know if Danny would be happy to see him, given that Evans had once kidnapped him.

  “What the hell are you doing out here?” he asked. The smile on his face made Evans feel better about their chance encounter. “Nice getup,” he then added, referring to the fact that Evans was wearing some of the rags that the silent ones had given him.

  “I think I should be the one asking that question. Hello, Misha.”

  Misha responded with a faint nod of his head. He had been carrying one of his dogs, a German shepherd, and had only just put it down.

  “I don’t know if you ever met Jon,” Danny went on, pointing to one of his companions.

  “I remember seeing you around,” Evans spoke to Jon. “You were one of the people who threw the grenades over the wall. I’m sorry to say that I don’t recognize the fourth member of your party at all.”

  “This is Sherlock. He’s fairly new to us as well,” Danny told him.

  “So why are you out here?” Evans asked now that the pleasantries were done with.

  “We’re tracking someone,” Jon spoke this time. “A small group.”

  “Tell me what happened.”

  Evans listened to the story split between Jon and Danny, with Sherlock and Misha adding a few bits and corrections here and there. They started by telling him the condition of the container yard after the hurricane, and he was glad to hear that it was still standing. He then learned how some of the raiders had survived the explosion that Evans had helped set off, and that they had eventually found their way to the container yard, and snatched two teenagers. Evans didn’t know the girl, but he tensed up when he heard that the other had been Elijah. The story took some unexpected turns from there. Elijah and Dakota had managed to escape on their own when most of the raiders had left, presumably because they had spotted the search party. Based on what Misha and Sherlock had seen, it was not the search party, but a completely separate group of travellers, that no one had seen before.

  “You all right, Misha? You look paler than normal,” Evans observed.

  “My dogs killed someone. I don’t know if it was one of the raiders, or just one of the travellers who managed to escape and thought that I was one of the raiders.” Not knowing was clearly eating at him.

  “There was a girl, too, who got away,” Sherlock added.

  Danny and Jon went on to explain how they had left to help the search party early in the morning, before anyone at the container yard knew that Elijah and Dakota had escaped. Like Misha and Sherlock, they were eventually drawn to the gunfire that had passed between the raiders and the travellers. When they got there, they found a bunch of dead bodies, including a number of horses. The travellers all seemed to be dead, but some of the raiders had survived. That was who they were now tracking down.

  “You’ve been tracking them for three days? Why?” Evans thought that seemed a l
ittle excessive.

  “Sherlock is aptly named,” Danny told him. “He can tell that the raiders have someone who’s not going along willingly.”

  “Someone from your search party?”

  “No, we found them and they’re all accounted for. We left them trying to decide the best way to get the dead horses to the container yard. No reason to waste good meat.”

  “We think it might be one of the travellers,” Jon said.

  “You’ve been tracking the remaining raiders for three days because they have someone you don’t know?” Evans struggled to wrap his mind around it.

  “If we let those fuckers go again, who’s to say they won’t just come back?” Jon’s voice was filled with anger, which explained why he was hunting them down. The way Danny looked at Jon, he was probably just making sure that his friend didn’t get hurt.

  “The travellers might have been friends,” Misha spoke in a quiet voice. “We sent some people to a number of the colonies you told us about. The travellers might have been from one of them, coming to meet us. We owe it to them to find out.”

  Evans suspected that rescuing this unknown person was Misha’s way of making up for what his dogs had done to the stranger.

  “All right, your turn,” Danny said to Evans. “What brings you to this spot?”

  Evans told them about the silent ones and the people from Bridges, as well as Paddock’s emissaries. His story was a lot less convoluted than theirs.

  “We’re not far behind the raiders,” Jon told Evans. “We think we’ll be able to catch them before the end of the day. We thought maybe you were one of them at first. Problem is, we don’t have much in the way of firepower. If you and your party are willing to help us, I guarantee that they’ll be accepted into the container yard.”

  “It’s my in as well,” Sherlock mentioned. “Although I have to say, all this tracking has been kind of fun. In an exhausting, starving kind of way.” There was something strange about Sherlock’s voice, but Evans didn’t comment on it.

  “It’s not my decision,” Evans told Jon. “But I’ll ask the group and see what they decide upon.”

  “Well make it quick. We don’t want to let them get any farther ahead than they already are.”

  Evans did make it quick, running back to where the others were waiting up on the hill. He was surprised to find the whole party had gathered behind the rise. It made it a lot easier and quicker to fill them all in between his panting. The silent ones and the people from Bridges both held conversations amongst themselves to decide: the silent ones with a flurry of gestures, and the Bridges people whispering in a huddle.

  “We’ll stay back with any supplies you don’t want to bring too close,” Mac offered. “We’re just emissaries. We’re not going to go sticking our necks out before we know these people. We’ll also watch over the kids if they need watching.”

  The silent ones had not discussed it for long. “We’ll help,” Burt voiced their decision. “We don’t mind killing people for our new community.”

  It was a little disconcerting for him to put it like that, but Evans thanked them. The people from Bridges took longer, eventually deciding against getting directly involved.

  “That’s all right.” Evans understood completely. “We should have more people guarding the supplies anyway. I only ask that you let your future friends from the container yard use some of your guns.”

  The people from Bridges accepted this. Paul actually looked glad that he had something to offer other than himself. He had likely been pushing for them to help, but had been outvoted.

  The whole party moved over the rise and found the small group from the container yard. Even Gerald came, although Evans made him wear his silent one rags with the hood up.

  “The silent ones all offer their help,” Evans told the foursome once they had been located. They had continued to walk along the highway while the discussions occurred. “Those from Bridges offer whatever supplies you need, but they and the emissaries from Paddock are going to stay behind and guard our supplies.”

  “Fair enough,” Danny nodded.

  “Even Sherlock couldn’t pin down their numbers. Are you sure there’s enough of us?” Jon asked Danny.

  “There’s more than enough of us,” Ang answered him instead, with a cold confidence that reminded Evans of the way they had appeared around him and Gerald when they first met.

  “Let’s get going then,” Evans recommended. “Sherlock was it? Lead the way.”

  ***

  Jon was right about them not being far behind. By leaving back the camels and mules, the party could actually travel faster than it had been. At Evans’ insistence, Misha had also been left back with those who weren’t going to fight. He clearly hadn’t been eating enough during his journey, especially if he had been carrying that old dog half the time. Evans knew the look, and made him and his dogs stay with the others. Misha didn’t put up much of a fight about it, he just made Evans promise that he would do whatever he could to save whoever it was that had been snatched. Evans didn’t mind making that promise.

  They had come to a town when Sherlock slowed.

  “What’s wrong?” Jon immediately asked him. “You didn’t lose the trail, did you?”

  “No, it’s just that I think we’re getting really close. I’m worried about turning a corner and being on top of them.” Sherlock had whispered, which made everyone start being cautious about the sounds they were making, except for the silent ones, who did that naturally.

  “They’ll be looking for a place to spend the night,” Danny observed, gesturing toward the sky.

  “I’ve been in this town before,” Sherlock told them. “There’s a square with a courthouse up ahead. A group of this size might find the building’s large, open rooms appealing. It matches up with the other places they’ve been staying.”

  “Let’s get over there then,” Jon urged.

  Sherlock led the way, taking an unconventional route. They ended up climbing up onto a long building and travelling across the roof, passing over a strip of stores below. They then crossed a small bridge made out of a very heavy plank to pass over an alley. Evans had been uncertain about this route, but discovered that it had been for the best when they came upon the square at the end of it. Across from them, the group of raiders were prying off a board that had been nailed over the doors of the courthouse.

  “Idiots don’t realize that the window to the left isn’t locked,” Sherlock pointed out with a grin. “There’s no need to ruin that perfectly good barricade.”

  “Why was it boarded up to begin with?” Danny whispered. “Are there zombies inside?”

  “No,” Sherlock shook his head. “If we had travelled at street level, you might have noticed that just about everywhere around here is boarded up. It’s just what this town did when they evacuated.”

  “Anyone see the captive?” Ang asked in a voice that almost couldn’t be heard.

  Evans couldn’t see anyone struggling, and the majority were clumped together too tightly for him to look for bindings, even with his binoculars. But wait…

  “Fuck, it’s Ki-Nam,” Evans hissed.

  “People back home thought he was dead,” Jon told him. “He was with Crichton but got separated during an attack of the dead. I guess these fucks found him before he could make his way back.”

  “Which one is Ki-Nam?” Ang asked, his voice in Evans’ ear.

  Evans handed over his binoculars in order to point him out more effectively. Ang didn’t have much time to spot him before the raiders had pried the last board off the doors and swung them open. The whole group crowded through the opening together.

  “How do we rescue him?” Danny wondered.

  “You wait here. We’ll handle this,” Ang told him.

  “What do you mean?” Danny looked at him, confused.

  “Wait here.” Ang and the rest of the silent ones turned around and found their way off the roof.

  “Evans,” Jon turned to him. “Wh
at the fuck? Most of them didn’t even take guns.”

  “Just let them do this.” Evans knew there was no way to stop them now anyway.

  “We should spread out around the courthouse,” Danny suggested. “Make sure we have any escape routes covered.”

  Sherlock agreed to take him and Jon to good positions from which they could watch, while Evans remained where he was, with a rifle borrowed from Paul in his hands. Being careful not to let the setting sun reflect off the binoculars, he peered through them again at the courthouse. Through some of the windows, he could see a couple of the raiders exploring. He guessed that Ki-Nam was in the room on the far left of the building, for he saw the most movement over there.

  Searching for the silent ones, he saw nothing.

  The orange of evening faded into the purple of night. A few lights flashed about inside, but never for long. The raiders were confident, but also cautious. Evans hadn’t seen any evidence of them dressed up like zombies, as Sherlock had said they were wont to do.

  One of the courthouse doors opened, and two men carrying assault rifles stepped out. There was a small flash as a lighter was briefly lit. Evans wondered whether these men had actually managed to find cigarettes, or if they were smoking something else they had found. Either way, they were careful to keep the glowing cherry hidden behind their hands.

  As Evans watched, something he couldn’t hear distracted the two men. They both looked to the left, which was not the direction of the danger. From the sharp shadows cast by the moonlight, a pair of silent ones emerged on their right. It was over before Evans even really knew what was happening. The two men collapsed, a black puddle of blood growing around them. From the left, a third silent one appeared and all three slipped through the doors. Evans had no way of knowing who they were, only that one wasn’t Kathy. Due to her size, she was the only one Evans would be able to identify from a distance. If he could spot her.

  There was no way to know for sure what was going on within the building, but Evans could certainly imagine it. While he had only seen three go in, he imagined that the others had found their own routes inside. Now, whenever a light disappeared, Evans didn’t think it was because the owner had turned it back off.