Survival Instinct (Book 3): Fighting Instinct Read online

  Once Alec was ready, Misha helped him tackle the stairs. Alec dearly missed the elevators, but with Misha’s help, he could manage. The boy still had a thin frame, but years of swimming with the underwater inspection crew had put some solid muscle on it. The soft rubber of Misha’s wetsuit also made him easy to hold onto; Alec wasn’t the only one who had just come off the job.

  “Alec!” a voice called from above them.

  Turning around, Alec spotted Hanna bounding down the steps toward them. She gave Misha a quick smile, and then turned to Alec.

  “I hear you are going to a… a, ah… beerdigung. What is the word?” Her voice was heavy with her German accent. She had come over with the submarine and had known only rudimentary English when she first arrived. Unlike some of the others who preferred to speak their native tongue whenever possible, Hanna had dived right into her English lessons, speaking German only when she had to. She had mentioned once that speaking too much German made her sad.

  “A funeral?” Alec offered.

  “Yes. A funeral.” She suddenly hugged Alec. Hanna was like that, very bubbly and open with people. She was a sharp contrast to Misha’s withdrawn and closed off personality, yet, Alec got along perfectly well with both of them.

  “It’s okay. We all knew it was coming.” Alec had been telling himself that since yesterday, maybe even longer, but it wasn’t soothing the pain in his heart.

  “I want to ask you, do you want me to clean your room while you are out? I have not cleaned it in awhile,” Hanna abruptly changed topics.

  “No. It’s okay.”

  “Okay, and you, Misha, do you need your side of the room cleaned?”

  Misha shook his head. He never got his share of the room cleaned by the cleaning staff, and always opted to do it himself.

  “Very well.” She turned back to Alec. “Please, if you need to talk after, come find me.”

  “I will.”

  Hanna gave him a quick peck on the cheek and then disappeared back up the stairs.

  “Are you ever going to ask her out?” Misha wondered as they resumed going down the stairs.

  Alec felt his ears turn red and refused to answer. Prior to his injury, he used to be a ladies man, but now, he mostly just got embarrassed, especially when it came to Hanna. She was at least ten years younger than he was, and she was such a sweet girl that he couldn’t imagine her wanting to be with him in that way. No, Alec didn’t think he’d ever ask her out.

  Upon reaching the bottom of the stairs, the two men, plus Rifle, headed for the door that would lead them back outside. Alec shuddered, feeling suddenly cold. Misha pretended not to notice and went to the door.

  Carefully crossing a small gangway, they stepped onto the upper level of a tender boat. The Diana had two tender boats, which could be raised and lowered in and out of the water like its lifeboats. The other one was currently making its way to the mystery cruise ship, if it wasn’t there already.

  Going to the lower deck of the small boat, Alec saw that everyone was indeed already there. His eyes were instantly drawn to the shrouded body on the small table set up at the end of the row of bench seats. It appeared even smaller than usual.

  Shoes.

  Poor old Shoes, the Basset Hound had finally passed away. Alec had known Shoes since the Day, when he had met up with the dog’s owner, five-year-old Alice. Alice hadn’t made it, and Shoes nearly slipped away after that due to depression, but the love of a two-year-old they had met weeks later had saved him. That two-year-old was now eight, and sitting in the front row with her brothers and foster parents. Becky had owned Shoes for at least as long as Alice had, and Alec couldn’t help comparing the two. The fact that they were both blondes didn’t help, but Becky’s hair was as straight as straw, whereas, Alice had had curls.

  Alec took a seat at the back of the group. He didn’t want to be near Becky; it would make his heart hurt. It didn’t matter how much time had passed, the death of Alice would forever weigh on Alec’s shoulders. He blamed himself, even if no one else did. He was the one who had shown her how to open the door after all, and he was the one who was supposed to be watching her.

  Misha let Alec sit back there without saying a word, while he went up to the front to stand near the preacher, a good man who presided over all funerals, no matter what religion, or how many legs the deceased had. He gave a lovely sermon.

  Once it was over, those who wanted to say their last goodbyes to Shoes did. Even Alec walked to the front of the group, on his own, his unsteady legs fighting against the swaying of the boat beneath him. He patted the sheet where he knew the dog’s head was and told him he was a good boy. Alec would miss watching him tag along behind Becky.

  The preacher gently picked up the body and walked to a small door at the side of the boat. Misha was already sitting in the doorway with flippers on his feet. Normally, a body was just weighed down with rocks or other debris that couldn’t be recycled, and dropped into the water. Misha had a special attachment to Shoes, however, and he knew exactly what lingered under the ship. Not wanting to send Shoes down there, Misha had said he’d like to swim the body out, and Becky had agreed. After Misha slipped into the water, he floated on his back and was handed the dog’s body, and then he began to swim.

  Alec looked at the group that had assembled. It was probably the largest funeral they had held for any animal to date. Alec knew the names of all the mourners: Misha, Danny, Josh, and Tobias, with his girlfriend, Anne; Becky, Bryce, and Larson, with their adoptive parents, Amanda and Bobby; Abby and Lauren, with their adopted kids, Claire and Peter; Danny’s older brother Mathias, with his wife Riley, and daughter, Hope; and lastly, there was Riley’s twin sister, Cameron. Most of these people had survived the Day with Alec, but some, such as Becky’s family, had just grown close to them due to other circumstances. It had been a long time since they had all gotten together like this. Although everyone spoke regularly, they all had their different jobs and different schedules to keep, and couldn’t all gather at once.

  Among the mourners were a few outsiders. The preacher, for one, as well as a few guards who were watching out for any zombies that might surface from the depths below. There was a grief councillor too, who came to every funeral and stayed politely at the back in case anyone needed her. With her was her little dachshund. The dog she had rescued joined Rifle and two other dogs, Milly and Maggie, who belonged to members of the group, to nose quietly about the mourners’ legs. The animals could sense the people’s sadness, but didn’t understand what was going on.

  Misha swam so far out that Alec could barely tell when he had finally released Shoes. Once he began to swim back, the funeral goers picked up a little and started a few, scattered conversations.

  “Jon couldn’t make it?” Alec asked of Abby when she took a seat beside him. Technically, Alec hadn’t met her until twenty-four hours after the actual day of the outbreak, but he considered those first forty-eight hours to be one awful Day. Most of them did.

  “His team is one of those going to the other ship.” She tried to sound unconcerned, but her eyes betrayed her. She and Lauren were Jon’s guardians. Even though he was twenty-one now, and old enough to take care of himself, she still worried when he was off ship. “We’re all planning on having dinner together. Can you join us?”

  “I’d love to. When and where?”

  “About half an hour from now. It should give everyone time to change and clean up if they need to. We’re not going anywhere special, just to our usual spot in the dining room.”

  “Sounds good to me.”

  Abby smiled at him and got up to rejoin her family.

  Once Misha returned and was hauled up onto the boat, everyone began to head back into the big ship, while the guards prepared to return the tender boat to its place hanging behind the lifeboats. They usually kept the tender boats floating alongside the ship during the day, but they always hauled them up at night if the off-shippers didn’t have them.

  After drying off and scrub
bing his jet black hair with a towel, Misha helped Alec onto the ship.

  “Can you get to the room on your own? I think Rifle really needs to relieve himself,” Misha asked.

  “Yeah, sure.” Going up stairs took more strength, but Alec actually found it easier than going downstairs. He found his footing better and was less likely to slip.

  “Come on, bratishka.” Misha patted his leg and bounded up the stairs, two at a time. Rifle quickly dashed up after him, leaving Alec to wonder which crop would be fertilized with his poop this time, or if they were going to the dreaded shit room.

  Alec waited for everyone else to head up the stairs, rebuffing offers of assistance from Mathias, before going up himself. He knew Mathias had no problem helping him out, the man could probably carry Alec’s dead weight up at least one flight—and they weighed roughly the same—but sometimes, Alec had to do these things on his own.

  Seven flights of stairs turned out to be more of a challenge than Alec had thought. He was used to tackling between two and four, sometimes as many as five, but didn’t realize how much added strain those two extra floors would be. Still, he fought through it, turning down assistance from a few strangers who passed him going in either direction. By the time he reached deck seven, his legs felt like jelly, and the braces were holding him up more than his own muscles were. He’d have to get his wheelchair out into the hall and roll himself to the other side of the ship where the dining room was, or he’d be late to dinner after a much-needed rest.

  Once back inside his room, Alec turned to the bathroom. He needed to take a quick shower to rinse off the sweat he had worked up. Putting his braces back on after stripping out of his clothes, Alec hauled himself into the shower. Showering was awkward for him, but he managed, helped by the tiny size of the stall which allowed him to jam his feet against one side, while leaning his back against the other. Once he felt refreshed, Alec wrapped a towel around his waist and made his way out of the bathroom to grab a set of clean clothes. Upon opening the closet, Alec frowned. On the floor were two orange life vests. Every room had two life vests in the closet, but Alec was confused as to why they were on the floor when they had their own shelf in there. It was possible that Misha had moved them, but there was no reason for that. All of Misha’s stuff was in the drawers, while Alec kept things in the closet.

  Sliding a hanging pair of pants out of the way, Alec uncovered the slot in which the life vests were normally stored. There was something else there instead. Concerned, Alec quickly lowered himself for a better view.

  His last thought was to register the numbers counting down to zero, and then his whole world became fire.

  2

  Jon’s On A Mission

  Jon watched as the Diana slowly got farther away. His family would be going to Shoes’ funeral soon. Part of him was glad he wasn’t going, and that it was his team that was on-call when the foreign cruise ship finally got close enough for them to board it. He didn’t handle grief well. Claire, his non-biological younger sister, had asked him to go to the funeral anyway, to ask for a reassignment, but Jon had said no. Six years ago he wouldn’t have been able to say no to Claire, but she was stronger now. She could handle a funeral.

  “What’cha thinkin’ about?” Rose plopped down beside him.

  “Shoes’ funeral.”

  Rose pursed her lips, suddenly unsure about what to say. Rose was a bit of a firecracker. You could tell she was a troublemaker just by looking at her short red bob, and devilish features. However, like most people, she was affected by funerals.

  Jon swung around to face the new ship. It was closer than the Diana was now, and they would be boarding it soon.

  “What do you think we’ll find on board?” he asked, changing the subject.

  “Don’t know. Nothin’ good. Bound to be fuel, but we haven’t seen any life on the decks yet. I’m jus’ hopin’ it’s not full of the dead, ya know?”

  “Yeah, I know. There’s probably at least one on board, but it looks like several of the lifeboats have been deployed, so I don’t think we have to worry about being swarmed.”

  “All hands prepare for boarding!” a voice bellowed from the front of their tender boat.

  Jon and Rose hopped up from their seats and gathered with the others on the upper deck. Six off-shipper teams had been merged together for this mission, and Jon stood with his on the left side.

  “In case any of you don’t know me, I’m James Brenner,” their leader spoke from the front of the boat. James mostly organized teams and supplies on board the Diana, but he occasionally joined special missions like this one. “You can consider me the ranking officer on this mission. I’d like to go over the plan and make sure everyone knows what they’re doing.”

  The off-shippers were quiet as they listened. Team A, which consisted of Jon, Rose, and the three others from his group, were to go straight to the ship’s bridge and either confront whoever might be there, or shut down the engines. Team B was to stay on the lowest level, near the tender boat on which James and the boat’s pilot would remain. Their job was to keep the lowest level secure. The other groups, team C, were to follow Jon’s team up the stairs, leaving two guards on each deck. Everyone had walkie-talkies hooked up with headsets, so that they could all communicate with one another.

  “Once we know what’s happening on the bridge, we’ll proceed from there. Everyone check their gear.”

  Jon reviewed his small pack. He had his bolt cutters, extra ammo for the pistol he wore on his belt, and a few small items of food, along with a couple of water bottles in case he got separated and trapped. If they had been going out on a shore mission, he’d have a lot more with him, but this excursion didn’t require much. Jon then helped Rose tidy up the ropes she always carried in her bag.

  “You should have done this before we left,” he commented while untangling a pair of them.

  “I was in a rush.”

  “Because you were spending time with that guy.”

  “If you had been with Robin still, you would have been spendin’ time with her, so shut your face.”

  Jon grinned, pleased that he had been able to irritate her a little. She was right though. If Robin and he weren’t currently on a break, and she hadn’t gone into work early to cover the end of Riley’s shift for her, he might have run a bit late as well. Robin and he had a complicated relationship, and had broken up a few times over the past six years. They were currently apart, but he could feel their orbits coming together again. Jon didn’t know why they kept returning to one another when they knew they weren’t really compatible. Maybe it was love, but then that would mean that their love wasn’t enough. Maybe they just kept getting drawn to each other out of comfort. It certainly seemed easier than the bed hopping that Rose did.

  “You two ready?” Brunt asked as he hunkered down next to them. Brunt was their team leader and would be in charge once inside.

  “Well, I am,” Jon responded, “but I’m not so sure about this one.”

  Rose pushed him over and sprang to her feet, her bag packed and ready. Brunt helped Jon up, who was laughing, and they all turned to face the on-coming ship. As they got close enough to pass into its shadow, Jon’s cheery mien died off. Most of the off-shippers, who were usually a rowdy bunch, fell quiet. Despite their variety of eye and mouth covers, it was easy to tell everyone was nervous.

  The strange ship wasn’t moving very fast. It was easy to pull alongside it and lash themselves next to the bow-port-side door. The ship was a different model than the Diana, but the tender boat was a good height for it anyway.

  “Boarding team!” James bellowed.

  Team B gathered near the door. Four of them flanked a metal bridge that was partly extended from their boat, while the fifth stood on the part hanging over the water, just within reach of the ship’s door. Leaning forward, he grabbed the latch and pulled it up, while pushing in on the door. The seal cracked as the door swung slightly inward. The man who had opened it quickly backed up, while the ot
her four pointed various guns at the partial opening. Nothing yanked the door farther inward, and no sounds could be heard above the waves.

  Lowering their weapons, the four members of team B grabbed their metal bridge and pushed it the rest of the way across the gap, forcing the door completely open in the process. In was dark beyond the hatchway.

  The man who had opened the door snapped on a flashlight attached to the end of his rifle and hurried across the bridge, his four team-mates quickly following after him. Jon found himself holding his breath. He knew the five people who had just entered unknown territory well, and he did not envy their task in the slightest.

  No gunshots rang out.

  Eventually, one of them popped his head back out of the hatch and waved them forward. Jon and his team entered the ship next. A massive man named Brewster, and a lithe, cat-like woman named Shaidi, led the way toward the stairwell. Rose and Jon followed after them, with Brunt bringing up their rear, and then all of team C behind him. With Shaidi’s and Brewster’s lights guiding the way, Jon just clicked on the small light that hung from his neck to help with his footing.

  It was dead quiet in the strange ship. So much was similar to their home, yet so different at the same time. They passed by the still elevators, Rose tapping a button as she walked by. It lit up. Surprisingly, the elevators here were still running, but the off-shippers were going to stick with their original plan and didn’t take them. The stairs were covered in a plush carpet like their own ship’s stairs, but they felt reversed. On the Diana, a single set of steps went from the deck to a landing between decks, and then branched into two sets of steps that travelled up from the landing to the next deck. This boat was backwards, with the double steps leading up to the landing, and the single steps going up to the next deck. It was a subtle difference, but it made Jon uneasy.