Survival Instinct: A Zombie Novel Paperback

by Kristal Stittle

  “So we should leave as soon as we’re done eating.” Abby knew there was a good reason she wanted to leave as soon as possible.

  “Yeah, I think so,” Cender nodded.

  * * *

  Abby went back into the kitchen to see how much longer the food would take, and to tell Cillian and Jessica what was happening. Cillian looked very unhappy to hear the news, but Jessica’s expression didn’t change. She kept on her neutral, blank stare. Abby guessed that that was better than a total meltdown and freak out. She had taken her boots off while Abby had been out of the room. Her stockings were torn and it looked like she might be getting blisters.

  Tobias popped his head into the kitchen. “Hey, do you have anything else you want to pack in your bags? I think I’m going to load up the car.”

  “I’m good,” Abby told him.

  “Us too,” Cillian nodded, answering for himself and Jessica.

  “Great.” Tobias disappeared again.

  “How much longer until the KD is done?” Abby walked over and looked into the pot.

  “I think it’s almost done cooking.” Cillian fished out a noodle and dropped it on the counter.

  Abby picked it up, and, after shifting it from one hand to the other a few times to cool it down, popped it into her mouth. “It’s soft enough.”

  “Cool, now where is the strainer?” Cillian started looking around the stove.

  Abby helped him look and found it in a cupboard near the sink. She placed it in the sink and Cillian dumped all the noodles and water into it. Abby used the sink’s flexible nozzle to spray-rinse the noodles while Cillian jostled the strainer to shift them around.

  “Mind if I put in the cheese?” Abby asked as they dumped it back into the large pot.

  “Go for it, but can I ask why?” Cillian sat down next to Jessica, and, without her asking, lifted her feet up onto his lap and started rubbing them.

  “I think they put too much cheese powder into the packets, so I like to keep some back.” Abby started mixing the ingredients together. She vaguely wished someone would rub her feet for her. If her friend Lauren was here, Abby might have been able to convince her to massage them.

  Lauren. She was Abby’s only real, female friend, the only one she saw outside of work. Of course, they worked together as well. She was one of the makeup artists for the main actors. Abby wished that she could’ve come with them, that there had been time to find her. But there wasn’t. There hadn’t even been time to think about her until they were in the limo. That made Abby very sad. She never would have survived moving to the city without her. Although, the fact that she was fleeing the city without her made that almost poetic. Too bad Abby wasn’t the poetic kind of person. Lauren was though, so she could appreciate it wherever she was. Abby knew that she would be alive. Lauren was strong, the strongest person she ever met. If anybody could get through this, it was she.

  “Soup’s on!” Abby called out loudly when the Kraft Dinner was done.

  While looking for the strainer, Cillian had found the bowls, so he got up and took them down, leaving Jessica’s sore feet to herself. Cender came clacking into the kitchen. He hopped up and sat on the counter so that he didn’t need his crutches and, therefore, had both hands free to hold and fill his bowl. Tobias came into the kitchen and waited in an impromptu line formed by Cillian and Abby. Abby filled up her bowl and went to sit at the table. Despite eating at the hospital, she was starving again. She looked at a clock on the wall and saw that it was about dinnertime. She had no idea what time it had been when they were at the hospital, but it was probably four hours ago at least.

  Cillian took the third and last remaining seat at the table causing Tobias to resort to sitting on the counter as well. He didn’t seem to mind though, as he ferociously dug in. Cillian put his bowl down in front of him and slid another bowl over to Jessica.

  “I told you, I didn’t want any.” Jessica looked up at him.

  “Come on, you should eat something,” Cillian coaxed her. “Besides, I made that bowl just the way you like it, with pepper and hot sauce.”

  Abby sat up a little straighter to look into Jessica’s bowl. There was indeed pepper and hot sauce on it. It looked sort of gross, but then, if Abby thought about any food hard enough, it all looked sort of gross.

  Jessica looked down at the bowl again. Finally, she sighed and stabbed a few pieces with her fork. She ate the mouthful, then put the fork back down.

  “Happy now?” she asked him.

  “Very,” he smiled.

  Abby continued eating, ignoring the little conversation between them. It looked like Tobias and Cender were doing the same. The former couple clearly still had their own little world between them. When Cillian turned to his own food, he started wolfing it down at a startling speed. If he was that hungry, Abby was surprised he had been able to wait so long before eating. The only times she ever ate like that, she had been hungry enough to consider chewing on walls.

  By the time Abby was about half done, Jessica picked up her fork and had another mouthful. Then another. Then she began eating normally. That one bite Cillian had made her take seemed to have started up her appetite.

  After everyone finished eating, they all sat around for a minute or two digesting.

  “I guess we should get going,” Cender finally spoke up, sliding off the counter and onto his crutches.

  “We should take one last look around to make sure there’s nothing else we think we’ll need.” Cillian rose from the table.

  Abby also got up and picked up her bowl. She was about to grab Cillian’s and Jessica’s as well but then stopped herself. Who would care if they left their dirty dishes on the table? She put her bowl back down. Then she couldn’t stand it, gathered up the dishes, and put them in the sink.

  Everybody split up to search the corners of the house. Abby knew exactly what she wanted to get. She took the book off the table and headed back to the bedroom. She once again tried to pretend that the lump under the sheet was just some prop, but that was harder to do when she was alone. She went to the dresser and opened the woman’s underwear drawer. Avoiding the panties and the bras, she grabbed a pair of white socks. Abby had the feeling she was being watched. She spun around quickly and looked at the bed, but the little lump hadn’t moved. She hurried out of the room without bothering to close the dresser drawer, but she closed the bedroom door and made sure the latch caught.

  * * *

  “You okay?” Cillian was just down the hall from her. His voice made her jump.

  “Yeah, just my mind playing tricks on me,” she smiled. Abby had always had a great memory, but a terrible imagination. Having her mind play tricks on her let her know just how terribly shaken she was.

  “What were you doing in there?” Cillian had clearly just come from getting his gear out of the bathtub. He was using some towels to dry the jacket and gloves quicker.

  “I thought Jessica would like some socks.” Abby held up the little rolled pieces of cloth. “You should press those, by the way.”

  “I should what?” Cillian raised an eyebrow.

  “Here.” Abby walked over and got Cillian to hold the socks and the book. She spread out the jacket and gloves on the plush carpet. The owner of the house was not likely to mind. She then found some dry towels that Cillian hadn’t already used and placed them on top. She started stepping on the towels, effectively squeezing most of the moisture out of the jacket and gloves into the towels and carpet.

  “Huh.” Cillian walked over and helped.

  They did this for a couple of minutes, giggling at how stupid it seemed, until Tobias showed up at the end of the hall.

  “Look what I found!” he crowed happily.

  Abby looked over and saw he was holding up a video camera. Although it was the same size as the last one he had been using, it was clearly a different kind.

  “Not only this, but I found a couple of spare batteries, too. I might be able to record for weeks,” Tobias was extremely excited. “
No more dangerous battery jury-rigging for me.” He started to take off the harness belt he had been wearing.

  “You know, that thing saved your life.” Cillian gestured to the belt. “You might want to keep it on. It could be lucky.”

  Tobias stopped and looked at the belt. “You’re right. But this battery pack is starting to get heavy. I have to lose it.”

  “Turn around, I’ll get it.” Cillian handed the book and socks back to Abby with a smile and walked over to Tobias.

  Abby watched with some amusement as Cillian tried to unhook the battery from the belt.

  “Just don’t go grabbing my ass,” Tobias told him.

  Abby couldn’t help but laugh at this. Eventually, Cillian figured out that the battery itself could be unhooked and lifted out of the pouch it was contained in. He dropped it on the ground with a heavy thunk.

  “You’ve been running around with that thing the whole time?” Cillian whistled, somewhat impressed.

  “Yeah. That’s so much better.” Tobias reached behind him and checked out the size of the pouch he now had. “And, I can put my new battery packs in there. Sweet.” He did just that. The new packs looked much smaller and lighter than the one Cillian had just removed.

  “Do you think they’re dry?” Cillian gestured to the towels Abby was still methodically stepping on.

  “Well, they’re most likely still a little damp, but most of the wetness should be gone.” Abby stepped off the towels and began lifting them up. She folded them and placed them on the bathroom counter. Dampening the owner’s carpet was as far as she’d go. Although, part of her been kind of exhilarated by that. Maybe that’s how peaceful people got swept up in riots.

  Cillian picked up the gloves and stuffed them into the jacket’s pockets, and then draped the jacket over his arm. They walked down the hall together and followed Tobias’s trail into the living room.

  “Check it out, there’s even room left over to hold another clip of ammo,” Tobias told them gleefully.

  “I have to say, that’s not a sentence I ever thought I would hear used in a real conversation,” Abby said truthfully.

  “I bet there’s been a lot of those,” Tobias grinned. “The most common one being ‘ahh, there’s a zombie eating me!”

  “Well I haven’t heard that one yet, but you never know, there’s still time,” Abby smiled.

  “If I’m being eaten by a zombie, I promise to yell that out for you,” Tobias grinned larger. He had the kind of grin that showed all his teeth. Abby noticed that his eyeteeth were particularly pointed and could pass for vampire fangs if they were larger.

  Cender came clicking into the room. “You guys ready to go? Jessica’s waiting in the garage.”

  “Sure thing.” Tobias headed for the door.

  “Wait.” Cillian stopped him with a hand on his shoulder.

  “What?” Tobias frowned.

  Cillian held out a fist.

  “What? Fist bump?” Tobias tapped his fist against Cillian’s.

  Cillian looked like he was trying hard not to laugh. “No, rock-paper-scissors for who gets to drive.”

  “You got to drive the limo, so I should get to drive the car,” Tobias frowned.

  “Yeah, but I’m bigger than you. It would make sense for you to sit in the back seat with the girls,” Cillian rebutted.

  “Why can’t Cender sit in the back?” Tobias turned to the third man.

  “Crutches, dude.” Cender patted them. “I kind of need the front seat.”

  “Fuck.” Tobias turned back to Cillian. “All right then.” He held out a fist.

  “On the count of three.” Abby stepped forward to be the judge. “One, two, three.”

  Tobias threw scissors. Cillian threw rock.

  “Fuck!” Tobias grumped.

  “Oh come on now.” Abby patted him on the shoulder. “It can’t be that bad riding in the back with us, can it?”

  Tobias mumbled something unintelligible under his breath.

  “Oh, Cender.” Cillian turned to Cender as they headed toward the garage. “Your friend doesn’t happen to smoke, does she?”

  “Not that I’ve ever noticed,” Cender shrugged. “Sorry.”

  The four of them headed into the garage. Jessica was already sitting in the back seat on the right side. Abby slid in next to her.

  “Here, I got you some proper socks to wear in those boots.” Abby offered her the socks.

  “Thanks,” Jessica sounded genuinely surprised by her thoughtfulness.

  Cender got into the front seat and Cillian climbed into the driver’s position again.

  “We all set?” Cillian turned and asked the girls.

  “Umm, have you forgotten about Tobias already?” Abby gestured to the empty seat next to her.

  “He’s going to open the garage door,” Cillian grinned. He had little teeth considering the size of the rest of his build.

  “Oh, then I guess we’re ready.” Abby looked at Jessica who nodded her agreement.

  Cillian started up the car. As soon as he did, they heard the sounds of the garage door as it started rumbling open. Tobias had been off to one side, waiting to lift it. He then ran over, hopped in through the door that Abby had left open, and took the seat next to her. He slammed the door shut as they began rolling backwards out of the garage.

  “Jesus, Toby, you think the trunk’s packed enough?” Cillian was using only the side mirrors to navigate backwards.

  Abby didn’t notice when she first got in, due to the dim lighting, but she turned to look now. The truck was jam packed up to the ceiling.

  “I managed to wedge all seven bags in,” Tobias shrugged. “I thought it would be better than having to sit with a bag on your lap. Besides, how often will you need to look behind us anyway? Also, enough with the ‘Toby’ crap.”

  “Toby, Toby, Toby,” Cillian mocked.

  They exited the garage and got out onto the street. They drove past the limo without a second thought.

  “I was just thinking.” Abby leaned forward between the front seats. “If everybody heard that radio broadcast and is heading north, like the woman suggested, would that mean the highway is going to be clogged up?”

  “Very likely,” Cillian nodded. “I had thought of that myself, actually. That’s why we’re going to take a bunch of side streets first, heading north-west. Our final destination is toward the west right?” He looked at Cender for clarification on this last part.

  “Yup, it’s fairly far north-west.” Cender was digging around under his seat and then in the glove box. He found a map book of Ontario and started to flip through it. “And I’m not sure if it’s our final destination. It’s just where we’re supposed to meet up with Bishop.”

  “I hope she doesn’t need us to give her a ride,” Tobias spoke up. “She may have bought this car, but it’s ours now.”

  “I don’t know,” Cender shrugged.

  “Zombie.” Abby pointed straight out the front windshield.

  Shuffling toward them, in the middle of the street, was a very dirty, half-naked woman missing her lower jaw. If that wasn’t a zombie, Abby didn’t know what was. Cillian actually stepped on the gas harder as they neared her. He didn’t hit the woman dead on, but steered slightly so as to clip her. She went wheeling off to the side but then Abby lost sight of her as she disappeared behind the car.

  Cillian was watching in his side mirror. “Well, I didn’t take her out, but I at least wounded her badly enough so that she shouldn’t be much of a threat to others.”

  “That’s good,” Abby nodded. What an odd response to hitting someone with a car. She sat back in her seat and looked at the book she was still carrying.

  “The Zombie Survival Guide,” Tobias read over her shoulder. “Where did you find that?”

  “Inside the house.” Abby thumbed over her shoulder. “There was a bookshelf in her bedroom full of interesting books. I thought that this one seemed best, given our situation.”

  “Sounds like something we sho
uld all read.” Cillian shifted his rear-view mirror so that he could see those in the back seat.

  “I’ll pass it around when I’m done,” Abby offered.

  “Why don’t you read it out loud?” Cillian counter-offered.

  “Ah, no,” Abby blushed a little and shook her head. “I’m not one for reading out loud.”

  “Oh come on, why not?” Tobias ribbed her. “I bet you have a great reading voice.”

  “No really, I don’t,” Abby shook her head again.

  “What do you do for a living?” Cender suddenly asked from up front.

  “I’m a continuity girl,” Abby told him. “I work on a TV show and I make sure they keep all the information straight from scene to scene. You know, ’cause they film it out of order?”

  “Really? What show?” Tobias sounded very curious.

  “Blazing Star,” Abby told him,

  “Seriously? You work on Blazing Star?” Tobias sounded like he almost didn’t believe her. “That’s awesome! I mean, the name of the show kind of sucks, but the show itself is great.”

  “You watch it?” Abby couldn’t believe that out of all the people she ended up fleeing the city with, one of them was a fan of the show.

  “Of course, it’s one of my favourites. I got to work the camera once for an interview with Isaac Reynolds,” Tobias told her.

  “Who the fuck is Isaac Reynolds?” Cillian asked.

  “I was just thinking the same thing,” Cender added.

  “He’s the main actor of the show,” Abby told them. “He’s had a few other small parts, but this has been his big break out role.”

  “You guys need to spend more time watching TV or on the internet,” Tobias said. He then turned back to Abby. “Do you know him?”

  “I wouldn’t say I know him,” Abby admitted, “but I see him around the set all the time.”

  “It sounds like you have a man crush on this Isaac guy there, Toby,” Cillian laughed.

  “Fuck off.” Tobias leaned forward and hit Cillian in the back of the head.

  “Hey! It’s not okay to hit,” Cillian patronized him.