Survival Instinct (Book 3): Fighting Instinct Page 23

  “What’s that?” Riley wondered.

  “Why didn’t any of the other off-shippers test positive for infection?”

  “I’m not sure,” Riley shook her head. “Best guess? They weren’t near Yanis as much as you were. They weren’t around him or the zombies long enough to be infected. Or at least not long enough for the infection to show up in our tests. Everyone that helped Rose that I know of was wearing a mask, which I guess was good enough to protect them from the worst of it.”

  Jon sat on the stool that Cameron had vacated. “So I just have bad luck.”

  Riley shrugged, and then she, Misha, and Cameron all left the room. Riley went one way, heading for the stairs, while Cameron and Misha led Rifle and the goat to the animal examination room. Once there, Misha got Rifle to hop back up onto the exam table as he had earlier, but this time the dog remained standing.

  After Cameron had tied up the goat, she retrieved a needle, which caused Rifle to start whining.

  “It’s okay, boy.” Misha stroked the German shepherd. “It’s okay. It’s just a little blood draw.”

  “I may need you to help me hold him,” Cameron told Misha.

  Misha climbed onto the table with Rifle. When Cameron neared the dog with her needle, Rifle buried his big head into Misha’s chest, nearly knocking him over in the process. Misha wrapped his arms around the dog, and rubbed his fur.

  “It’s okay, bratishka. It’s all right.”

  While Cameron drew his blood, Rifle let out some whiney little yelps, but he didn’t move. Cameron was quick, taking the syringe of blood over to a small microscope.

  “It’s all over, you big baby.” Misha rubbed Rifle some more, giving his sides a few hardy pats. “She’s all done. You’re fine, bratishka. You’re fine.”

  Rifle lay down on the table, placing his head and forelegs on Misha’s lap and curling his tail tightly around his side.

  Misha continued to talk soothingly to him, running his fingers through Rifle’s fur while Cameron checked his blood.

  Cameron sighed, and Misha’s head snapped up. Was it a good sigh, or a bad sigh?

  “Looks like dogs can’t be infected by it,” Cameron turned to Misha with a smile.

  Misha heaved a huge sigh of relief. He couldn’t take any more bad news today. If Rifle had been infected, he might have snapped, and who knows what he would have done then.

  Cameron then tested the goat’s blood, and got the same result.

  “So far so good,” she nearly laughed. “Hopefully, the rest of our menagerie will test just as well.”

  “Test the pigs next,” Misha insisted, remembering a video Tobias had shown him from the time he had been attacked by infected pigs.

  “Of course. I’ll go around and collect blood samples from all our animal groups and bring them back here for testing.”

  “Mind if I hang around here? I want to know the results.”

  “Of course.”

  Cameron gathered up a bunch of needles and syringes, placing them in a small bag that easily clipped onto her belt.

  “Shouldn’t take me too long. I’ll be back in a couple of minutes.”

  “Sure.”

  Cameron left the examination room, leaving Misha alone with Rifle and a goat.

  Misha bent over and kissed Rifle between his ears. At least he didn’t have to worry about his best friend. But more zombies. Zombies after non-zombie deaths occurred. It would change everything. Especially with gunfire coming.

  III

  During

  Sher watched the radar in front of him, careful not to touch anything. It had taken Bob a few minutes, but he had gotten the cruise ship’s engines started up and now they were turning to face the other one; the one with the men who had insulted Sher. Bob was good to have around. He wasn’t just a mountain of muscle, he was also smart, especially when it came to ships. There had never yet been a ship or boat that Bob couldn’t start up or repair.

  “Can we keep pace with them?” Sher asked, looking out through the large windows.

  “Easily,” Bob grumbled. He was moving from station to station, monitoring all the screens and readouts.

  “Good.” Those sons of bitches were going to pay. How dare they refuse Sher entrance aboard their ship? Did they not know that he was king of these waters? Not those cesspool pirates who tried to claim the title, but him, Sher. He had a whole kingdom, and he was going to bring it down on those assholes’ heads.

  “Sir?”

  “What is it?”

  “They have a submarine.”

  “What?” Sher walked over to where Bob was pointing out the window. Sure enough, on the other side of the ship, a surfaced submarine was following alongside them. “Do we have to worry about it?”

  “Don’t know. Impossible to tell from here if it’s armed or not.”

  “We’ll assume it is and hit it with the small boats first.” Sher wasn’t an idiot. Submarines could be dangerous if they still had torpedoes and missiles on board. The small, fast boats could take it though. Once night fell, the small boats could zip up alongside the sub and dispatch boarders. Toss a few grenades down the hatch and goodbye submarine. Provided they weren’t seen on approach that was.

  A moan at the door derailed Sher’s thoughts. He hated the stinking corpses almost as much as he hated that other ship. They were annoying, disgusting, and smelly. But these particular zombies might come in handy. He wasn’t completely sure how yet, but an idea was prickling the back of his mind.

  “How long until the others get here, do you think?” Sher asked Bob. He had his own estimates, but he wanted to hear what Bob thought. Sher might know the men better, but Bob knew the boats.

  “The fastest of them should arrive around one a.m.”

  Sher nodded. That was what he was thinking. “We should sleep in shifts until they get here. Tell me what I need to know to keep us on their tail.”

  Bob went over the controls with him.

  ***

  Sher was awakened by the crackle of his personal radio.

  “Boss?” a small, tinny voice came through the speaker amidst a storm of static. “Boss, you there?”

  Sher pulled his radio off his belt as he got to his feet. “I’m here. Who is this?”

  “Ricky.”

  Outside the window, it was dark save for the lights from the ship ahead of them. An extra black spot on the ocean marked where the submarine was. It would have been better if it was even darker out, but at least the moon wasn’t a bright and full disc tonight.

  Bob pointed to the radar. Several small shapes were tailing behind them, while a few cruised along the sides. Sher would bet that some were so close they weren’t showing up on the radar.

  “They have the same technology as us,” Bob informed him.

  “I’m aware.” Sher grinned and brought the radio to his lips. “Ricky?”

  “Yeah, Boss?”

  “Round up the fastest of you and take out that submarine now.”

  “You got it.” There was a glee in Ricky’s voice that Sher liked hearing.

  “Are you ready, Bob?”

  “Just tell me what to do, sir.”

  “We’re going to get my dear old sister back, kill all these cunts in the process, and reap the spoils.” Sher’s grin widened. His sister belonged to him. He owned her, and no one else was allowed to touch her without his say so. Freya was his favourite.

  “You got it, sir.”

  Section 3:

  Fight

  14

  Mathias Was Asleep

  The fire alarm was like taking an ice pick to the skull. Mathias shocked awake, sitting upright and grabbing Hope to him in the same moment. Hope, who had woken up in the same instant, grabbed on tightly to his shirt. She was so frightened and confused that she didn’t make a sound, while fat tears streaked down her face. Mathias looked around the room but didn’t see Riley anywhere.

  Was it another bomb? Mathias could barely think straight, what with the noise and exhaustio
n. How long had he slept? It was still dark outside and impossible to tell.

  The alarm suddenly cut off, causing a frightened squeak from Hope.

  “Attention Diana! Attention Diana!” a voice boomed over the PA system. It was louder than Mathias had ever heard it before. “We are under attack! I repeat, we are under attack! Everyone report to your stations at once! This is not a drill! We are under attack!”

  “What’s happening, Daddy?” Hope finally found her voice. “Was it another bomb?”

  “Hush, Hope.” Mathias was trying to think, to remember the day before. His thoughts were completely scrambled.

  “Was it another bomb?” Hope persisted, even louder. “Or is it the big wave? Daddy!”

  “Hope, be quiet!”

  Hope started to wail. She wasn’t used to her dad yelling at her. The sound was worse than the alarm because it broke Mathias’s heart.

  “I’m sorry, honey. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to shout. It’s okay.” Mathias pulled her close to his chest. “Do you remember the pirates? Do you remember when the pirates came and wanted our stuff?”

  “Yes.” He felt her nod against him.

  “This is just like when the pirates came. I have to go and help get rid of the pirates.”

  “No, Daddy!” Hope shouted. “I don’t want to be alone! Where’s Mommy? Did the pirates get Mommy?”

  “No, no, no, of course not. The pirates didn’t get Mommy. She’s just working late. And you won’t be alone. I’ll find someone you know to take care of you.” Mathias slid out of bed, releasing Hope to get his boots on.

  “I want to stay with you!” Hope bawled.

  “I’d love to stay with you too, pumpkin, believe me I would, but I can’t. It’s my job to get rid of the pirates. Milly will be with you.”

  Hope didn’t use words this time, just made that half-screaming sound that crying kids make. Mathias did his best to ignore it while he finished getting ready, wrapping his belt around his waist and checking his pistol.

  “Milly,” Mathias called, bringing the dog out from around the far side of the bed. She looked up at Mathias with her ears flat, disliking Hope’s crying as much as Mathias did.

  Mathias went to the bed and scooped Hope up with one arm. She quieted some, perhaps thinking that Mathias was taking her with him, but continued to sniffle.

  Moving toward the door, Mathias used his free hand to open it and step outside with his child and dog. The hall was a mess. People were running every which way, heading toward their stations, trying to find friends and family from whom they had been separated. Mathias scanned all the faces around him, looking for someone he knew and trusted enough to watch over Hope.

  “Mathias!”

  Mathias turned and spotted Abby down the hall. He ran toward her, narrowly avoiding a few collisions.

  “Can you watch Hope?” Mathias asked pointlessly, as Abby was already taking Hope from him.

  Looking into the room that Abby was in—no doubt a donated room, as the bomb would have also destroyed hers—Mathias saw Lauren shifting a mattress to cover part of the glass window. They would leave the door portion of it uncovered in case they needed to escape, but covered half to reduce the risk of injury if the glass broke. Claire and Peter were also in the room, huddled together on the floor.

  “I’ll take good care of her,” Abby told Mathias. “Go do your job.”

  Mathias kissed Hope on the head, pushed on Milly’s behind so that she’d go into the room, and then took off running down the hall. He stopped and briefly turned around.

  “I love you, Hope!” he shouted.

  He thought he heard Hope’s small voice respond, but he couldn’t be sure. There was no time to check as he turned back around and ran for the stairs.

  Flying down the steps, he nearly went too far. It took him a second to realize that he had been on the fifth deck, not the seventh, and therefore needed to go down only one deck. Bursting outside, he just about crashed into another ship defender on her way to her own position. The two of them ignored one another and continued on to their own locations. Mathias reached the railing adjacent to the steps that led up to the helipad where his little brother would no doubt be. As with Riley and Hope, he had to shove Danny out of his mind and focus on what was before him.

  Out at sea, Mathias could make out the shape of the German submarine. It was diving. Men, who had likely just boarded the craft in an attempt to take it, were now scrambling back to their own boats. Most were still close enough to their craft just to jump back in, but a few dove off the sides of the submarine, hoping to swim far enough away to be safe from the sucking pull of water around the sub. The submarine would be safe beneath the surface of the waves.

  From a higher deck, someone fired off a flare. The ocean lit up beneath its burning red light. There were dozens of boats in the water, all of them speedsters and carrying armed men. They raced through the water alongside the Diana, assessing her and occasionally firing shots at the defenders near the rails. Mathias fell back as a bullet whanged off the metal above him, but he quickly returned to the railing.

  “Rifles only!” he shouted at the men and women under his command along this section of the ship. “Only those with rifles should fire, and only if they have a clear shot!” Mathias left the railing to walk behind the line, making sure his orders were heard and followed. “We don’t have the ammo for suppressive fire!”

  “What are we supposed to do then?” a boy not much older than Danny asked him.

  “Keep an eye on them, and keep your head down!” Mathias shouted so that his answer could be heard by all. “There are only two ways to get on the Diana! They either have to go through the doors on the first deck, which are hard enough to open from the outside, and are being reinforced as I speak! Failing that, they’re going to raise ladders to this deck here! That’s when we can get them!”

  Everyone was nervous, but they obeyed his commands. Mathias couldn’t tell if everyone else around the ship was being as reserved, but he hoped they were. They were going to need the bullets.

  Returning to his position, Mathias went back to watching over the edge. As he tracked the progress of one boat tearing through the water along their side, a shot rang out from a higher deck. The driver’s head all but exploded in a shower of blood, brain, and bone, the boat suddenly making a sharp left turn away from the Diana’s side and spilling a man with a machine gun out of the back. Mathias’s first thought was of Alec, who could have made that shot, but then he remembered that Alec was no longer with them. His rifle hadn’t even survived the blast. Maybe it was one of his shooting students. Mathias hoped more people could shoot like that.

  The 9MM semi-automatic pistol in his hand felt useless. It wasn’t accurate enough to be taking pot shots at the invaders. He gripped the gun tightly, his finger outside the trigger guard. At least he had a second magazine full of ammo for it. After bringing Freya to Commander Crichton and Captain Bronislav, he had gone to the armoury to get it. The armoury had been busy, running with its full staff, as they supplied all the ship defenders and off-shippers with extra ammunition. Some citizens had been there, willingly giving up their firearms to the better shooters, while others had just been picking up melee weapons. Everyone had known that this attack was a possibility, they had just hoped it wouldn’t happen, or happen so soon.

  Another bullet cracked near Mathias, this time into the solar panel in front of him. He winced more at the panel’s loss, than the shot’s close proximity.

  “That’s something we can do,” he muttered to himself. “Everyone!” he called to those in his command. “Try to save the plants and solar panels! Unhook them from the railing and then place them against the far wall! Do not put yourself at risk! If you can’t save it without putting yourself in danger, don’t bother with it!”

  Everyone looked relieved to have a specific task to do, and set to work immediately. Mathias started on the solar panel that had been hit. Despite the bullet, the engineers and electricians on
board might be able to save parts of it.

  Getting the panels and plants off the railing was harder than Mathias had expected. Although construction clamps held on a few of them, most had been screwed or bolted in place. A quick survey of his whole group revealed they had only two screwdrivers and one pair of pliers. Still, they were making it work. Once they got a rhythm down, things picked up. While a few people worked on the screws and bolts, others kept watch on the boats circling the Diana. When it looked clear, Mathias and three others would grab the planter or solar panel, pull it off the railing, and move it against the far wall. The solar panels took extra work, as they had wires hooked up to them that needed to be dealt with.

  Everything was going well until Mathias was shot.

  ***

  “One, two, three, lift!” Mathias called out. He and the three others lifted the solar panel as one, quickly pulling it over the side of the railing, and hurrying it to the back wall.

  “Take a breather, the next one is giving the guys some trouble,” a woman watching the boats told Mathias’s group.

  Mathias was grateful for the short rest. The panels and planters were heavy, and he hadn’t had nearly enough sleep.

  “Bet you didn’t expect to be spending your night like this, huh?” he said to the man standing next to him, an exhausted smile on his sweaty face. Mathias had been in combat several times, even before the day the zombies came. Although his adrenaline levels were spiked, he almost felt at home.

  The man he had spoken to chuckled right before his neck exploded.

  Machine gun fire rattled from the water below, and a spray of bullets assaulted their position. Deadly ricochets bounced off nearby metal objects and pipes. One took out the man next to Mathias, but he barely had time to register it before a sharp, hot pain buried itself in his leg. Crying out, Mathias fell to the deck floor, the dying man collapsing next to him.

  The team dropped to the deck floor, covering their heads with their hands. None of them fired back, but whether that was from obeying Mathias’s orders or from fear, he didn’t know. As soon as the gunfire passed, a few ship defenders crawled over to Mathias’s position.