Survival Instinct (Book 3): Fighting Instinct Read online

  “Wait.” Brunt had seen Misha and Mathias about to leave, and came over to stop them.

  “What is it?” Mathias asked him.

  By this point, Jon had also gotten onto his feet, and Rifle was sticking close to Misha’s side.

  “We’re going to board the other ship,” Brunt told them all.

  “Who is?” Misha frowned. His tone of voice suggested that he had no interest in the other ship. “And why?”

  “The who hasn’t been finalized yet. As for why, the other ship is still ploughing into us. We can’t get her off, some or all of our rear engines have been damaged, so we’re stuck at this slow speed. Frankly, the fact that we’re still going straight is a miracle, but that may not last. We might get turned.”

  “Wouldn’t turning free us?” Mathias wondered.

  “It might,” Brunt shrugged, “or it might start us capsizing. The fact remains that the captains want to send a team over.”

  “Just one team?” This time Jon was frowning.

  “Men have been watching that cruise ship since it started following us. No one has boarded it,” Brunt informed him. “Just Sher and his one man should be on board.”

  “Plus all the zombies,” Jon reminded him.

  “Plus all the zombies. But most of them are moving forward, and we plan to board from the back.”

  “Wait, moving forward?” Misha paled, something Jon wasn’t aware he could do, given how white his skin usually was. “The zombies are boarding us, aren’t they?”

  Brunt’s lips pursed into a tight line. “No one said that outright, but yes.”

  Mathias sighed. “This is all fucked up, but what does this have to do with Misha and me? Why did you stop us?”

  “Well, my off-shipper team is the one that has been chosen to board the other ship, and we’re down two men.”

  “I’m going,” Jon told him, putting as much steel into his voice as he could.

  “I know you are.” Brunt gave him a smile for volunteering so quickly. “But that doesn’t change the fact that Shaidi is lying in a medical centre somewhere with a hole in her hip, and Rose is in no condition to do anything but lie still.”

  Mathias waved at his injured leg. “I can’t really help you there.”

  Misha nodded his agreement with Mathias.

  “I don’t expect you to,” Brunt chuckled. “What I’m asking is, do you know anyone who might volunteer for this mission? Nearly all the other off-shippers have been repositioned to the back already to deal with the zombies. The other team we usually pair up with was already stationed back there, and they haven’t all been accounted for yet, so I can’t call on them.”

  Both the injured men stood silently for a moment, propping each other up while they thought.

  “What about the silent woman?” Misha spoke up.

  “Who?” Mathias turned his head to look at him. “Freya? The one who first showed up with these assholes?”

  “Yeah. If you ask me, she has a serious rage against these men. You can see it in her eyes. She might go.”

  “Couldn’t hurt to ask,” Brunt shrugged.

  “I talked to her a bit while in the Dragon’s Den. She seemed to like me, or at least like me better than the other people in there. Want me to go ask her?” Jon offered.

  “I’ll radio to the captains and check with them to see if they approve of it, but yeah, go now. If the guard doesn’t let you past, then you know they said no. Come right back here, yes or no. By then, we should have found other volunteers.”

  After Mathias gave him the room number, Jon was about to run off, but then stopped. “How do we plan to board the other ship? The water’s aren’t exactly safe.”

  Brunt hiked a thumb over his shoulder. “What do you think those guys are getting ready for?”

  Jon looked past him and saw that the flight team had moved from working on the small chopper to preparing the big one. The back of his neck bristled looking at the large army chopper. Although a few off-shippers had been transported using it, he had never been one of them, and if they were boarding the rear of the other ship, then that would mean rappelling out of it.

  “I’ll go get Freya now.” Jon turned and ran for the stairs, trying his best to hide the butterfly of fear that fluttered in his stomach.

  ***

  Jon trotted down the hall toward Freya’s room, where a single guard stood before the door. The woman was nervous, likely never having done this sort of job before. She didn’t even have a gun, just a hatchet held in a sweaty hand.

  “I’m Jon,” he said as he approached her, “did someone tell you I was coming?”

  “Yes,” the woman sighed with relief. “Tell me, what’s going on out there? What was that explosion?”

  “Don’t worry, it wasn’t an explosion. Am I allowed in?”

  The woman nodded. “I hope she goes with you. I don’t like just standing here.”

  Jon nodded to her, then walked up to the door and knocked.

  Freya cracked open the door and peered out at Jon.

  “Remember me?” Jon asked her.

  She nodded.

  “Can we talk?”

  Freya’s hand appeared, gesturing that he could talk where he was standing.

  “Sher’s on the other cruise ship.”

  Freya didn’t react. Maybe she knew that part already.

  “That shaking you felt earlier was the other ship ramming into the back of us. We can’t shake him off, so a team is being put together to board the other ship. Someone suggested you might like to go.”

  The door closed suddenly. Jon knew she might not have said yes, but he didn’t expect her to slam the door in his face. Just as he was about to walk away, the door was pulled wide open, and Freya was shoving her notebook into his hands. Jon looked down at the page.

  Will I get to kill Sher?

  “If you can, no one is going to stop you.”

  Freya smiled, showing all of her teeth. A cold shudder ran down Jon’s spine as he realized the smile didn’t reach her eyes, giving her the look of either a shark or a crocodile. Too many teeth.

  Freya wrote something else. Do you have smooth stones I can use with my sling?

  After Jon read it and looked up at her, she patted the leather band tied around her waist. He noticed then that she was no longer wearing her jean skirt, just a pair of tight biking shorts.

  “Sorry, we don’t have stones like that on board. Although…” Jon had an idea. He turned to the guard and borrowed her radio, calling Brunt and sharing his idea with him. Brunt said he’d see what he could do.

  “So, I can leave my post?” the woman asked as Jon handed the radio back.

  “Yeah, I guess.”

  The moment she was relieved of duty, the woman ran off. Jon suspected there was someone on board she was worried about.

  “Come on,” Jon waved for Freya to follow him.

  She complied, and as they walked she wrote, So, they let the infected out during times of war?

  Jon was going to correct her on her use of the word war, but then didn’t. It seemed fitting. “It’s a long story.”

  Tell me.

  “I’ll break it down as quick as I can. Basically, I escaped from the Dragon’s Den. Because of what’s happening, people seem to have forgotten that I’m supposed to be down there, or don’t care for the moment. I shouldn’t even have been down there in the first place. The doctors have recently found out that everyone is infected.”

  Freya didn’t stop walking, but she gripped his arm hard, her eyes wide.

  “Not in the usual way,” Jon held up his free hand, trying to get her to relax. “No one is going to turn all of a sudden. It’s some new form, possibly spread through the air. It only turns you once you’ve died.”

  Freya released Jon’s arm and pointed to herself.

  “Yeah, you’re probably infected too. So don’t go dying on us, all right?”

  They reached the door that led outside and stepped through it. Mathias was with his team,
defending the sides from the ladder boats that had resumed attacking them since the collision. He didn’t notice Jon and Freya go past. Misha and Rifle were nowhere in sight.

  Jon led Freya up to the helipad, where Brunt and Brewster were waiting.

  “Thank you for coming. I’m Brunt, and I’ll be leading this raid.” He held out his hand.

  Freya shook it briefly.

  “This is Brewster. Jon you know. We’re just waiting on the last two members of our party before heading out.”

  “Two?” Jon raised an eyebrow.

  “Someone from the medical team is coming with us. After what happened last time we were aboard that ship, they don’t want to take chances.”

  There was no need to remind Jon about what had happened over there. He couldn’t help but hope that Rose was sleeping through all of this. If she wasn’t, she was probably beating herself up about not being able to help, or arguing with the doctors to let her go, even though there was no way she was healthy enough to be running around right now.

  “You flying us, Danny?” Jon noticed his former foster brother was wearing a flight helmet.

  Danny just nodded while he continued a pre-flight check with the other pilot.

  “Ah, here they are.”

  Brunt’s words caused Jon to turn around to see who would be coming with them. His heart sank into the pit of his stomach. His eyes tracked Robin as she jogged toward them, leaping up the steps to the helipad with ease.

  “You’re not coming,” Jon was saying before he had a chance to think over his words.

  “I volunteered, and the medical staff doesn’t need me presently. I’m coming whether you like it or not. Here.” Robin thrust the katana she was carrying into his hands. “You have more experience with that thing than I do. Also, take this.” She then handed Jon a fully loaded pistol. “There’s no spare ammunition.”

  “Robin-”

  “No need to explain about your infection. Everyone on the medical staff has been informed, and quite a few people have been figuring it out for themselves with all these bullets flying around.”

  “Robin-”

  “You can’t tell me not to go, Jon. I’m going.”

  “Robin, stop for a second.” Jon placed his hands awkwardly on her shoulders, trying not to drop the gun or the sword. Robin fell silent and looked into his eyes. There was no stopping her, it was obvious. What he was going to say became lost, so instead, he pulled her into a tight hug. “I don’t like this. You stick right behind at all times, okay? I don’t like this.”

  “I know.”

  Jon released her. “What do you have in terms of weapons?”

  Robin showed him her shotgun, as well as the ice axe hanging off her belt.

  “You stick with me.”

  “You got it.”

  “Jon, Tobias found what you requested,” Brunt interrupted them.

  Jon looked up to see that the final member of their group was Tobias. He looked unsure of himself, standing there in a flak jacket, holding a fire axe in one hand with a crossbow slung over his shoulder. He held a cloth sack in his other hand, which he held out to Jon.

  “Are these good? They were all I could find on such short notice.”

  Jon took the bag and looked inside. It was full of marbles and ball bearings. “I don’t know, ask her.” Jon handed the sack to Freya. “Will these do?”

  Freya poked through the items in the sack, checking out the various sizes and testing their weight. She untied the sling from around her waist, picked out a marble, and deposited it into the cup. After a few experimental swings, she shrugged and tied the sack to her belt.

  “Here,” Jon held out the knife he had taken from the dead man.

  “I brought something better for her,” Tobias told them. He pulled a machete off the back of his belt and held it out to Freya. “Are you comfortable using this?”

  Freya nodded and accepted the blade.

  “But are you comfortable using that?” Brewster asked, pointing to Tobias’s crossbow.

  “Not really. I’ve never used one before outside of a few training sessions, but I couldn’t find any more pistols.”

  “I’ll trade ya.” Brewster offered his own gun while holding out his other hand for the crossbow. “I’ve used one a couple times when my uncle took me hunting. I’m also pretty sure I can pull the line back and reload quicker and easier than you could.”

  Tobias agreed with this and traded weapons, handing Brewster both the crossbow and a small quiver of bolts he had.

  “All right. We don’t have time to prepare our usual kits,” Brunt announced to the group. “We’re going to have to go with what we have, unless someone can think of something that is an absolute necessity to bring.”

  No one spoke up. Jon still had the rope they had used to rescue Misha, which he now slung over his shoulder alongside the katana. He threaded the pistol’s holster through his belt while everyone piled into the back of the Cougar. Robin was the only one with a pack. It was bright red with a white cross on top so there was no getting confused about what was in it.

  “Strap yourselves in!” Brunt ordered while the engines started up.

  Jon did just that. Robin was sitting next to him and he soon found their hands entwined. Jon didn’t know whether it was he who had grabbed her hand, or she who had grabbed his.

  “What’s that thing on your shoulder?” Jon shouted to Tobias who sat across from him, while the blades above them began to spin.

  “A camera,” he patted the small, shiny object attached to his flak jacket. “The media guys insisted I wear it. I feel I should warn you all, I don’t have much luck when it comes to heights.”

  “What do you mean?” Jon’s question was either buried under the noise or ignored as the helicopter rose.

  They took off fairly quickly, rising straight up over the Diana. Jon looked out of the door they had left open next to him. Things looked bad from up here. Tracer rounds marked where gunfire was taking place, and there was a lot more hitting the Diana than being thrown out by it. A few of those rounds came at the helicopter, but Danny and the other pilot seemed to ignore most of them. Given the height and speed of the copter, the attackers were hard pressed actually to hit them. Things had started to get dark, as the first two flares got farther away, but two more were fired off near the front of the Diana. One was the same red as before, but the other was green. It painted the scene below them in inappropriate Christmas shades.

  As they neared the back of the Diana, Jon’s grip on Robin’s hand tightened. The collision was worse than he imagined. The entire helipad of the foreign cruise ship was buried in the Diana’s stern. Most of the scene was obscured by a cloud of black smoke, which the pilots flew them around. Jon could see the zombies gathering toward the coupling, moving from the ship of the dead to the ship of the living.

  Then they were past the damaged zone, flying along the length of the other ship. Random lights were on here and there, including a few around the pools. It was strange to see those pools, after becoming used to the fruit trees growing in their own. The water looked stagnant, covered in a green film.

  They flew over the highest section of the ship, which would be the chapel if it was the same as the Diana, and then hovered over the sports section. Brunt got up and approached the door next to Jon. He grabbed a large, thick rope that lay curled on the floor and threw it out the door. Brewster did the same with a rope on the other side.

  Speaking with a lot of hand gestures, Brunt explained how to rappel down the rope, and in what order they should go. Jon was one of the first.

  Robin, perhaps seeing the fear on his face, placed a hand on Jon’s shoulder. When he looked at her, she nodded. It told him that he could do this. Jon nodded back and prepared himself.

  “Go!” Brunt shouted.

  Both Jon and Brewster hopped out of the helicopter, descending down to the ship from hell.

  18

  Freya Boards The Other Ship

  Freya watched Jon
and the large man named Brewster descend from the helicopter. She had never rappelled from anything before, and so studied the process closely. Once the two of them were down and had made sure the area was clear, Brunt signalled for Freya and Robin to get ready. Brunt assisted Robin first, and then came to Freya’s side. He told her all the things she had heard him tell Brewster, and supervised her as she prepared. Once she was out of the helicopter, she was on her own.

  “Go!” Brunt shouted in a voice loud enough to be heard by both Robin and Freya.

  Freya hopped backward out of the helicopter, her legs and arms wrapped around the rope the way Brunt had shown her. Fear tried to rise up out of her belly, but she quickly killed it with rage. This was the chance she had been hoping for. Not only could she mentally bring herself to kill Sher, but she was also being given the opportunity to do so. During the helicopter ride, Brunt had introduced her to everyone as well as giving her a quick briefing about what was going on. Freya was especially interested in the part where no one had observed anyone else boarding the ship, meaning it was likely just Sher and Bob were here.

  As Freya’s feet hit the basketball court and moved her away from the bottom of the rope, she thought of the women back in Jamaica. There were so many of Sher’s men here, it seemed as though he had summoned all of them. All of his boats at any rate. And why not? The people aboard the Diana had taken Freya from him, what he probably considered the worst offence. With all of these men here, Freya hoped the women back on the island would rise up against whatever guards had been left behind. They wouldn’t be able to leave Jamaica, not if Sher had all the boats, but they could go to high ground and arm themselves for when the men returned. This was all a dream of course. Most of the women were too cowed to do anything. Still, it was a chance for those few who were like Freya and Teal, the girl who had followed her.

  On the ship, Freya prepared her sling and watched as the final two men prepared to exit the helicopter. They took longer to prep, probably because Brunt had to assist Tobias, and then get himself ready. Brunt rappelled down quickly, the only one with experience, while Tobias was much slower.

  A streak of light and smoke suddenly appeared, heading for the helicopter. Brunt dropped off his rope, only a couple of feet off the court. Tobias was much higher as the helicopter rose and banked sharply to one side, narrowly avoiding the rocket-propelled grenade.