Survival Instinct: A Zombie Novel Paperback

by Kristal Stittle

Rifle trotted back over to see what he was doing. He sniffed at Cillian then looked up at Misha as if to ask what happened.

  “He died,” Misha told him. “Bled out. He was stabbed.”

  Rifle sniffed at Cillian again. He then went to where Misha had left the glove and sniffed at that. He picked it up in his mouth, carrying it along with his skunk. He then followed Misha’s struggle to drag Cillian.

  “You could help, you know,” Misha grunted.

  Rifle just stood there. Then sat there. It was as if he was mocking him or something.

  Misha pulled Cillian until he was completely in the grass. Once there, Misha dropped the man’s shoulders and collapsed in a huff. He lay there next to Cillian’s dead body, staring up at the stars. He wondered what was happening to his family back in Russia, whether they were dealing with the same problem. Although he had lived in Canada for many years now, he had never felt so far away. He shivered.

  He started shivering quite badly, uncontrollably. Part of it was from exhaustion, part of it was from cold, part of it was just the weight of the future combined with that of the past. Misha couldn’t remember what he thought about as he lay there, shaking, or if he even thought at all. He just knew that when it had subsided, it was time to leave.

  He went back to the river to get another drink of water. He didn’t know when he’d have another opportunity. If he had had something to carry the water in, that would be a different story. But he thought about everything he had found and none of it would help him.

  “Come on Rifle, time to go.” Misha patted his leg as he crossed the field once more.

  Rifle trotted up alongside him, ratty skunk hanging out of one side of his muzzle, tattered glove hanging out the other.

  “Do you want me to carry one of those for you?” Misha laughed.

  Rifle paid him no attention.

  The two got back to the bike, once again, without incident. After using the hose he had found at the last car to top off his tank, Misha gathered up the first aid kit and placed it in the sidecar, then put the revolver back inside it. Rifle put his own belongings in there as well and Misha helped him up into it. The bike started fine and they made their way around the car. The monotonous backroad journey continued.

  * * *

  They rode until Misha was pretty much falling asleep at the handlebars. He was afraid of ending up like the car: smashed into a tree. He didn’t know where to pull over, and he didn’t want to stop just anywhere; that seemed like a very unsafe idea.

  As he came to crossroads, he tried to pick the ones that looked more used. By doing so, he managed to find a road that led to a house. He thought it was a farmhouse at first, as these woods were between the highway and farm country, but he realized there was no barn, nor any crop fields. The house sat alone, nestled in amongst some trees.

  Misha didn’t come at the house from its main access road; that was to his left at the front of the house. He came at its side from what was probably some four wheeler, or snowmobile path. Either way, the house meant shelter.

  It was dark inside. There were no lights on. Still, that didn’t mean that nobody was home. Misha parked the bike at the edge of the woods and rolled it between two trees. It wasn’t really well hidden, but it should do. Misha had no idea what time it was, but he figured it was late enough that people could just be asleep in the house.

  “Stay here,” Misha told Rifle. “Watch over the bike.”

  Rifle sat obediently.

  Misha snuck up to the house, heading for the closest window. The place had only one floor, which was convenient, and didn’t appear to have a basement. It was probably a summer cottage, but being that it was summer and the weekend meant Misha would have to use caution. The first window he found revealed a kitchen. He made his way around the house looking into each and every window. All the rooms and all the beds appeared empty. It looked like no one had decided to use the place that weekend.

  He quickly headed back to where he had left Rifle.

  “Come on, boy, let’s find a way inside,” Misha whispered.

  After retrieving their things from the sidecar, Rifle tagged along with Misha back to the house. Misha tried the front and back doors first, but they were both locked. He tried all the windows as well, but got the same result. He figured that whoever stayed there probably kept a spare key somewhere nearby. He began searching for it under the welcome mat, behind lamps, under rocks. He finally found one tucked behind the downspout. He unlocked the front door and let Rifle inside.

  He searched the house again, just to make sure it was empty. Rifle joined him in the search so that when they found no one, he was extra sure that the place was empty.

  Misha went into the kitchen and raided the fridge. The power seemed to be out because the little light inside didn’t turn on. He wondered if the power was out everywhere, or if these people just turned it off when they weren’t using the place. He didn’t find much in the fridge that he could eat quickly, just some cheese slices and some jelly. He made mini jelly sandwiches, using the cheese slices as bread. They were kind of gross but they were food. He looked in the cupboards next. He found some cans of soup and some cans of gravy-covered meatballs. Once the can opener was located, he opened the soup for himself and the meatballs for Rifle. He dumped the meatballs and gravy on the floor, not giving a rat’s ass about being tidy. Rifle ate them greedily. Misha drank the various kinds of soup out of the can, using a spoon only to scrape out the chunks at the bottom.

  Once their bellies were full, Misha led them to a bedroom. He collapsed on a bed that smelled faintly of mothballs. Rifle began circling a throw rug on the floor.

  “You can sleep up here if you want, bratishka,” Misha told his friend, patting the bed.

  Rifle looked up at him and decided to accept his invitation. He hopped up on the bed and started circling the end of it. He lay against the side of Misha’s legs, placing his toy between his paws.

  Although Misha had meant to take off the damp jacket and boots, he suddenly felt very, very heavy. Moving anything seemed extremely difficult. He didn’t have the energy to get them off. The only things he had the energy to do were to place the revolver on the nightstand, and get the blankets on top of him. Curled up in a nest of puffy blankets and puffy pillows, with Rifle against his legs, Misha instantly fell into a deep sleep. He slept heavily, and without dreams.

  He slept until someone’s hands yanked him out of the bed.

  iv:

  Those Left Behind

  Hendrickson heard the woman on the radio. It’s not that he didn’t believe what she said about the infection, he just didn’t think heading north was the best idea. He decided to stay in his tiny townhouse and defend himself. It didn’t take that long for a zombie to get in and its screeching brought more of them. He locked himself into a windowless room in his basement. Before he had the chance to die of thirst, the zombies managed to dig through the drywall.

  Nicolas was more prepared. He and his family barricaded themselves in their apartment on the top floor. The stairs leading to the rest of the building were blocked off with dressers, beds, whatever they could cram up against them. Even after raiding the other apartments on their floor, it didn’t take that long for them to run out of food. They were starving; Nicolas’s children and wife were starving. He waited as long as he could, until he thought he was almost too weak to do it. Nicolas went into Mr. Ou’s apartment with a butcher knife. He went into Mr. Ou’s bedroom where the man had died of a heart attack two days earlier. He raised the knife. His children weren’t going to starve if he could help it.

  Young Rachael had been at a friend’s house. They had had a sleepover. Her friend’s family had decided to flee, and they said they would take her with them. They packed up the car, but Rachael realized she had left her stuffed bear in the bottom of the sleeping bag she had spent the night in. She told her friend to wait and ran into the house to get it. It had been made for her by her grandmother. It took longer to find than she thought. Whe
n she ran back out of the house, her friend’s family had left.

  Dom didn’t hear the warning on the radio. He didn’t go north. He stayed in the heart of the city, living off whatever he could find. He became an animal, killing pets for food when he needed to. He savagely defended himself against the infected, somehow managing to avoid becoming one himself. Other survivors that spotted him however, couldn’t tell the difference, especially when Dom had no trouble attacking them as well. If he became infected, it would make little difference. The only change would be that his insanity would become contagious.

  The Madisons did extremely well staying at home. They had quite a bit of food and water, and slowly and carefully, they even started to reinforce the fence surrounding the backyard to turn it into a garden. It would be hard, but they were determined. They didn’t realize how closely they lived to a nuclear waste storage facility however. When the explosion happened, they were blasted away almost instantly.

  Further away, Sara survived that blast. Unfortunately, her shelter wasn’t protected from the radiation that then descended upon it. She didn’t even know why she got sick.

  Victoria had been sheltering with some people in a bank when they heard the radio broadcast. Everybody wanted to heed the woman’s advice and leave, but Victoria was too scared. In the end, they all left and she stayed alone in the bank.

  Bret had been torn about staying or going. Part of him really wanted to flee, but another part thought his girlfriend might come home and he wanted to be there if she did. In the end, he stayed. He stayed until the soldiers came.

  Section 5:

  United

  34:

  Carter

  Alice woke up looking at the roof of the car. When the other grown-ups had come, they decided she should sleep in the back seat of the broken car. She didn’t mind the new grown-ups, but she wasn’t sure about them yet. They were still strangers, although LeBlanc seemed nice. And he had a funny voice and a name that was fun to say.

  She sat up and looked out the car door, which had been left open. The doctor lady was asleep in the front seat. The grown men were all sleeping in chairs like the ones in the front of cars, but they were on the floor. Danny was still sleeping on the van seat. Shoes was also asleep in a chair. He wasn’t normally allowed on furniture, but Alice thought it would be okay today, just like it was okay for him to go poopies without them picking it up.

  She got out of the car and walked around the room. There was light coming in through the dirty windows, but it was still hard to see well. The flashlight was still hanging around her neck on the shoestring, so she turned it on. She also carried around one of the horses that Danny had gotten her, pretending to gallop it across tables and tools. It was the brown horse with the yellow mane and tail. It was her favourite of the five she had been given.

  It was boring playing in there though, especially with everybody sleeping. She heard one of them mention something about standing guard the night before, but she had been half asleep at that time and wasn’t paying much attention.

  She looked at her horse and then at Danny. He had found the horse somewhere outside. It wasn’t a Barbie, but who was to say that there were no Barbies? Maybe he didn’t look hard enough.

  Alice went over to the door and started to remove the chain. She did it extra quietly because she didn’t want to wake up anyone. Whenever she had woken up her Daddy by accident, he was always very grumpy. She didn’t want to upset Danny or Alec, and she was taught always to be polite to strangers.

  Once the chain was off and on the floor, she looked over at Shoes. Alice wondered if maybe she should bring him with her, in case he had to go potty. Alice had to use the bathroom herself now that she thought about it. In the end, she decided that Shoes looked too tired last night to wake him up now. She left the room without him.

  In the other room, she looked around in the light from the rising sun. The colours of the sunrise sparkled prettily off the broken glass. She noticed that one of the doors in that room was labelled as a bathroom. It didn’t say whether it was for boys or girls though. Alice decided it would be okay for her to use it.

  She pushed open the door and stepped into the bathroom. It didn’t smell very good. It reminded her of the time her Daddy took her to use the bathroom at a gas station. Then she remembered that they were next door to a gas station and assumed that that was why. All gas station bathrooms probably smelled like this.

  It was unlike other public bathrooms though. There were no stalls, just one toilet, one trashcan, and one sink. A little, single window let in enough light to see by, so Alice turned the flashlight back off, then closed the door behind her and locked it. She tried the light switch but it didn’t work. The power must still be out, although Alice didn’t know why. She thought the power only went out during storms. She then used the toilet and debated whether to flush. Toilets could be loud and wake people up. She thought no one would mind if she didn’t flush because it was just pee. She put the toilet seat down and had to stand on it to use the high sink. She washed her hands and then used some water to scrub her teeth. She didn’t like brushing her teeth, but she also didn’t like them feeling fuzzy.

  She went back out to where the desk was and looked around. There wasn’t much in there; clearly it was not where Danny had found the horses. She went to the other door and looked inside. There wasn’t anything in there either: just a table, a small fridge, a coat rack, a microwave, and a safe. The safe was interesting, but not what Alice was looking for. Finally, she decided to go outside, being extra careful when crossing the broken glass.

  The sun still hadn’t quite made it over the trees, but it was really bright out anyway. The empty sky made Alice think that is was going to be hot like yesterday. Normally her Daddy wouldn’t let her go outside on her own, especially near a road. Alice thought it would be okay though, because they had walked on the road last night and seen no cars. Also, her Daddy wasn’t there to tell her what not to do. He would never be able to tell her what to do again. Alice was happy that Danny’s brother had found him, but she wished it were her Daddy instead. Her Daddy was dead though. He was a police officer; he would have found her by now. It was the police’s job to find people.

  Alice noticed that there was a car at the gas station that wasn’t there before. The other grown-ups must have come in it. She went over to take a look, but wasn’t tall enough to see through the windows and when she tried the doors, she found them locked.

  Giving up on the car, Alice headed toward the shop. The glowing sky reflected off the broken glass around this door too, although there was less of it here. This door was unlocked and Alice went inside.

  The first thing Alice saw was all the candy. She walked up and down the aisle, trying to decide what to eat first. She loved candy, all kinds of candy. She loved chocolate more, and there were several chocolate bars. She didn’t know which one to choose.

  She decided to check the other aisle to see if there were more there. Instead of finding more candy, she found the toys. She saw the shelf Danny had gotten the horses from. There were lots of horses. Some were different from the ones Danny gave her. They were at the same level as her eyes and she looked through all the horses, but decided that the one she had with her was still her favourite. There were other toys here as well. There were moose, and deer, and dolphins, and cows, and beavers, and eagles, and lots of others.

  She found a pile of little neon-coloured water guns in a basket near the floor. Danny had a gun but it looked real. Alice didn’t think it was a water gun.

  Next to the water guns was a basket full of rubber snakes. She picked them up, giggling. They were fun to wiggle around. She tied some in knots and then put them back.

  There was a bright, coloured box higher up. Alice couldn’t see what was in it, but she was intrigued. She stood on a lower shelf and reached up for it. She grabbed the side of the box and pulled. It was heavier than she thought, but she managed to tug it to the edge of the shelf. Suddenly, it tipped ove
r and fell to the floor. It was full of super balls that began bouncing all over the place.

  On the very top shelf, Alice thought she saw a stuffed toy. She started to climb up higher but slipped. She fell to the floor, and because of all the super balls, she couldn’t land on her feet. She fell, just managing to get her hands out to break her fall. It hurt though. Alice cried more from the shock than from the pain. Nobody came to make her feel better, so eventually, she stopped crying on her own.

  Alice was mad at the super balls. She picked one up and threw it as hard as she could. It hit the side of the checkout counter, launching off it into another part of the store. Alice threw another one to the same effect. She starting throwing lots of super balls, becoming happy again as they flew all over the place.

  That is, until something broke.

  * * *

  Alice stood still, knowing she had done something wrong. She had broken something. She waited for someone to come and yell at her, but no one did. The only people around were asleep in the other building. Even if they were awake, none of them had yelled at her for anything yet. Alice went to look for what she broke. It turned out to be a drinking glass. There were shelves full of them, as well as mugs and those little glasses her Daddy said were called shot glasses. Alice didn’t know why they were called that and thought they were strange. Who would want to drink such a small amount of something? Alice reasoned that they must be used to taking medicine, because that was the only thing someone would have to drink that tasted yucky.

  She reached up and wrapped her hand around one of the little glasses. She looked around the shop, as if someone might have suddenly shown up, then dropped the glass. Part of the top broke when it hit the hard floor. She started grabbing several glasses and mugs and throwing them on the ground. They exploded in wonderful patterns. The whole time, Alice thought that, at any moment, her Daddy would show up. He would show up and tell her to stop because she was doing something wrong. He didn’t though, and Alice began to enjoy herself, giggling with delight. The broken glass made the floor sparkle.