Survival Instinct (The Adventures of Eric and Ursula Book 2)

by A. D. Winch

“It’s you! Before you everything was fine. You have ruined my life,” he had shouted at Ursula.

  She had replied with tears streaming down her face, “My life has changed as much as yours and you can’t blame me for all those things happening to you. I’m sorry that you can’t use your money. I’m sorry that you have been kept a prisoner. I’m sorry that you, and I, may die in a year and I’m sorry that you are now an orphan. But I didn’t do any of these things to you”

  She was right. Only now that she had gone, did he realise this. Her life had changed as much as his. She had lost a warm family and all he had lost was cold money.

  When he ran out on to the beach that day, he never looked back at her and that is where his memories of her stopped. As his own head had become less fuzzy and his thinking had become clearer, he had tried to contact her but without any real success. He sensed that she was alive, which pleased him greatly, but that was all he could do.

  Maybe she is in the same situation as me, he thought.

  On a number of occasions, he had wondered if he could have stopped all of this happening. If he had welcomed Ursula with open arms would things have been different? There was no answer and he knew it.

  Not long after he had arrived, he had met a man called Buddy Angel. Buddy had implied that Ursula was a drug addict but the more Eric questioned this in his mind, the more absurd it seemed. Buddy had also told him that Andrea was probably a devious criminal. Eric tried to imagine how many devious criminals act out a double life as a nanny. He couldn’t think that there would be many. Admittedly, Andrea was strange at times but, and this was crucial, she had always been there for him. Even if she was a devious criminal, she was his devious criminal and he missed her.

  Lastly, there was Alexander. When Buddy Angel told Eric that Alexander has no medical or dental records, tax details, wage slips, cell phone numbers, driving licence, social security number or a facebook page, Eric believed him. Eric still believed him now. Alexander was ‘shifty’ he was always looking over his shoulder; paranoid about what or whom may be lurking around corners. Despite this, Eric had come to realise that, like Ursula, he had never given Alexander a chance. While Eric had been with Alexander, he had been safe. When they got separated, he had ended up here.

  Where was here? This was one of two questions that were becoming more and more important for Eric. If he moved his bed to under the narrow window, and looked out, he could see dry soil, and spindly trees and bushes with few leaves. He could guess that he was somewhere in the Mediterranean, or near it, but this led him to his second question – where was he specifically?

  He knew he was on a military base but he now doubted that this was for his own safety. Doctor Noel and Buddy Angel had insisted that he was a target and needed to remain hidden but he was no longer sure about this. Who was he a target for? No one, apart from the OSS, had paid him any noticeable, out of the ordinary, attention.

  Eric walked around his room. It was a cross between a painted cell and a one star hotel room. If he went into the corridor outside, he could go into other rooms. There was a small gym, a living room, a games room but they were the same size as his - they were cells too. At the end of the corridor was a door that was always locked. He was in block of cells. The second question entered his head again - where was he specifically? He was sure that he was in a prison and, with every passing day, he was more convinced.

  Eric approached a thin cupboard and removed the clothes that had been put there for him. He put on jeans, a T-shirt and a fashionable pair of trainers. They were a present from Doctor Noel on his thirteenth birthday. Eric knew they were fakes the moment he saw them, but he wore them anyway. They were the only shoes he had.

  There was no clock in the room, he did not have a watch and the timer on the tablet computer did not work. Eric assumed that it was morning from the sun in the sky but he could not be confident. However, he was confident that within five minutes of getting up, Nurse Andi, would appear. She would walk into his room with a breakfast tray, put it down and then sit beside him. She always sat too close and insisted on putting her arm around him while she asked him how he was. After a small conversation, she would run her fingers through her blonde bob and then leave. Eric decided to break up the routine.

  The door was not locked and he opened it. The corridor was dark and empty. Strip lights came on automatically as he stepped out of his room. He walked past the other closed doors and waited beside the door that led out of the cell block. Eric began to count the seconds while waiting for Nurse Andi to appear. When he reached six hundred seconds, she had not appeared. He continued to count until three thousand six hundred seconds, or thirty minutes, but the door did not open. Eric looked around for a camera but the corridor was bare. At various points in the ceiling, there were air vents.

  Cameras could be hidden up there, thought Eric but they were out of his reach. He returned to his room.

  No sooner had Eric sat on his bed than his room door opened. A short, thin nurse who was no bigger than Andrea entered. She put the breakfast tray beside Eric and then sat down on the other side of him,

  “How are you this morning?” asked Nurse Andi with a big smile on her face.

  “I’m fine,” Eric lied. “How are you?”

  “Good. Thank you. I’ve brought you waffles and maple syrup. They’re delicious,” and she put her arm around him as she pointed at the breakfast. Her hand stayed on his shoulder.

  “Great,” Eric lied again. “I’m starving this morning. I was waiting ages for you.”

  “Sorry about that, Eric. I had to attend to other things,” she replied sheepishly, rubbing his shoulder.

  “What other things?”

  Eric felt her arm and body stiffen against him.

  She paused too long before answering, “We had some problems with another patient.”

  Eric took her hand and asked, “Does that mean I’m a patient, too? I thought I was here for my own safety.”

  “Well, er, technically you are still a patient otherwise Doctor Noel would not be looking after you.”

  Eric jumped up, “But I feel fine. You can see that, can’t you? When you next see Doctor Noel would you tell him that? He doesn’t seem to believe me.”

  “I sure will,” replied Nurse Andi. “Have a nice day.”

  Nurse Andi left the room as quickly as she could without running. Eric smiled to himself. He felt he was getting somewhere.

  Breakfast was good and Eric made sure he ate it all. He had a feeling that he would not get any more food for the rest of the day.

  The corridor was not the most comfortable place to spend time but Eric decided he needed to see what would happen if he stayed beside the corridor door.

  During the morning, the door remained shut. Over lunch, no one entered and during the afternoon he continued to be left alone. Day light shone from his room’s window through the open doorway and into the corridor. As the day dragged on, Eric watched the sunlight move across the corridor wall and get thinner and thinner. When it eventually disappeared, he knew that evening had come. The time had also come for him to leave the corridor. He needed the toilet and didn’t think going where he stood would be a good idea.

  Eric walked into the toilet. When he re-emerged, Doctor Noel was waiting outside his room with his dinner.

  “I brought you your dinner,” said Doctor Noel with a smile. “How about we go into your room?”

  Eric opened the door and went in. He sat at a wheeled table near to his bed and Doctor Noel put his food down.

  “Meat loaf, today and it smells good,” Doctor Noel said and sat on Eric’s bed.

  The meat loaf did smell good and Eric began to eat. He was starving from his day patrolling the corridor.

  “You’re hungry, have you been working out in the gym today?”

  Eric shook his head, waited for his mouth to be empty and then replied, “No one came to give me lunch today.”

  Doctor Noel’s look of surprise was too quick in Eric’s opinio
n.

  “I’m shocked, Eric. I know the base is really busy at the moment but you are recovering and you need your food to get back to full health. I am really sorry,” he paused briefly and then asked, “how are you feeling?”

  The meatloaf was good and Eric did not reply immediately. It also gave him time to think of the best response.

  “I am good. I am just starting to feel a bit bored in here.”

  Doctor Noel looked really pleased, “That’s great news. It means that you must almost be recovered and we can discharge you soon.”

  The reply surprised Eric but he tried not to show it.

  “Why do you say that?” asked Eric.

  “Once someone is fed up with being in hospital that usually means they are well enough to leave. Tomorrow afternoon, I will come back and run some tests on you to see how you are doing. If they are positive, we’ll move you out. No one wants to keep you here.”

  Doctor Noel wished Eric good night and left him to finish his meal. Their conversation had surprised Eric but had left him feeling more optimistic and made him doubt that he was a prisoner after all.

  The next day, Doctor Noel returned. He made Eric undress to his underwear and gave him a thorough examination. Electrodes were attached to his chest, blood samples were taken, his breathing was monitored and his brain activity was recorded.

  “I’ll take all this into the lab and come back tomorrow with the results.”

  Tomorrow came and went, but Eric did not see Doctor Noel. Nurse Andi explained that there had been an emergency and Doctor Noel would be away for a few days. When Eric asked if someone else could bring his results, Nurse Andi replied that it wasn’t possible.

  While Eric had been on the medication, he knew he had been more patient, more polite and happier. He also knew that it wasn’t him. The drugs had turned him into some softer version of himself and he had hated it. Nurse Andi’s news would have been greeted by this version of himself with a smile and a comment about how hard Doctor Noel works. This was not the real Eric. The real Eric took the news silently and seethed inside.

  When he had first arrived at the Prague Anglo-International school, other children had invited Eric to their houses to play.

  “You can come tomorrow,” they had said but tomorrow never came.

  He had asked them if they wanted to come to his house.

  “Next week,” they replied but when the next week came they were always too busy or had other things to do.

  The memories angered Eric. They made him more determined to get out and to find Ursula, Andrea, Alexander and the Benjamins. It was sad for him to admit, but they were the only people he had.

  Eric spent the day in the gym working off his anger and formulating a plan. By the end of the day, he was covered in sweat but he knew what he was going to do. After he had showered, Nurse Andi arrived with his dinner. They talked briefly but when she looked as if she was about to leave, Eric jumped up.

  “Let me get the door for you,” Eric offered and opened the door for her.

  Nurse Andi thanked him and walked down the corridor towards the cell block door.

  Eric stayed in his doorway. He waved Nurse Andi down the corridor.

  “See you tomorrow,” he said but he stayed in his doorway. This was the first time he had not been in a room when someone had left him.

  The cell block door did not open. Nurse Andi stood in front of it and waited.

  “Bye,” said Eric but did not move.

  The door remained closed and Nurse Andi shifted on her feet uncomfortably.

  “Looks like the door is broken,” laughed Eric. “You can sleep in my bed. I’ll sleep in my chair.”

  Nurse Andi smiled at him nervously and turned back to face the door. She banged on it with her fist but it remained closed.

  “Eric,” she began, “I’ll be fine. Don’t worry about me. I’m sure that they have just been distracted by something. You go into your room and eat your dinner before it gets cold.”

  “Are you sure?” asked Eric.

  “Yes, go, go, go!”

  Eric walked back into his room but kept his door ajar. The sound of the cell block door opening, reached his ears and he stepped back into the corridor just as Nurse Andi disappeared out of the corridor. Eric went back into his room with a smile and ate his beef stew.

  After he had finished, he sat back in his chair and said out loud, “That was delicious. I do miss pork though, I wonder if I’ll get bacon for breakfast one morning.”

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  ***

  Acknowledgements

  I would like to thank many people for their help with this book and with my life as an author.

  Deborah for her encouragement, support and constructive criticism. Her help is invaluable.

  My designer Kevin, who’s brilliant work inspires me to write better. Also thanks to David, for showing me that you can reach the top if you really want it.

  My parents who gave me useful feedback on my first draft.

  Christophe, for wanting to reach level 20 so he can read this.

  Rowse, for his passion for history and encyclopaedic knowledge of the past.

  My Dutch checkers – the EISP Dutch team.

  Sam and Julian for providing ideas on content that I could add to my website.

  Anthony for guiding me through Goodreads, Helena for helping make facebook clearer for me and my advance reviewers.

  To those people who helped me spread the word.

  Mark for www.seat61.com. If you want to plan any train journey, I strongly recommend you use this website.

  Finally, to Molly who explained twitter to me and whose opinion I value highly.

  ***

  Note from the author

  This is a work of fiction but I draw on factual events or real places.

  For instance, Szymany is allegedly used by the CIA according to articles that have appeared in the Economist and on the BBC.

  My depiction of life as a Zek was based on the harrowing account written by Irina Ratushinskaya in her book ‘grey is the colour of hope.’

  All the codes used by Professor Schwarzkopf are from public domain poetry written by Oscar Wilde.

  To find out more visit www.winchad.com, subscribe to my great newsletter, and you will also be able to access all parts of my website. In the VIP Section you can read ‘The Fact Behind the Fiction.’

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