Free Instinct by Ike Hamill

years old. The girl was plain, but pretty in her summer dress and bare feet. The boy looked like he spent most of his time trying to look menacing. He wore dirty jeans and a white t-shirt that was smudged with grease. It looked like some of that grease might have made it into his hair. It was slicked back and shiny.
    “I’m sure,” Tim said. “We saw the sheets from the air. That was us flying overhead earlier, if you heard the plane.”
    “We didn’t,” the boy said.
    Tim nodded. “Anyway, we saw the sheets and came down to see if anyone was here. I knocked several times. We were just looking for whomever hung up the sheets.”
    “Those are our sheets,” the girl said.
    “Of course,” Tim said. He took a step down the porch stairs. “My name is Tim, and this is Cedric. We’ve just been flying around, looking to see if anyone else was still in the area.”
    The young couple exchanged a glance with each other, but they didn’t respond.
    “Anyway,” Tim said, “I’m thrilled to find more people alive. It has been months since Cedric and I have seen anyone. We spotted a small group in Columbus, but by the time we landed, we couldn’t find them.”
    “What’s in your bag?” the young man asked.
    “Nothing, really,” Tim said. He began to take the bag off. The boy stiffened and a hard look crossed the girl’s face. Tim slowed his movement and removed the bag slowly. He held the strap delicately between two fingers and set the bag down on the steps next to Cedric.
    They were still looking at the bag.
    “I’ve got mostly maps and a few snacks. I wasn’t sure I’d be able to find your place, so I thought I might have to camp out somewhere tonight.” Tim clamped his lips together to stop any more words from spilling out.
    The girl came forward. She swung her hips for the first couple of steps, like she was trying to hypnotize him, but then she lunged and snatched the backpack. Cedric stood up. She smiled as she backed away. She pulled at the zipper and dumped the contents of the bag in the grass. The young man knelt down and pawed through the maps and food.
    The young man raised up the book of laminated maps.
    “You marked our house,” the young man said, while he traced his fingers over the map.  
    “I saw it from the air,” Tim said. “What’s your name?”
    The young woman opened a bag of cashews and dumped them into her mouth. She moved on to some dried fruit. Watching these kids help themselves to the contents of his pack, Tim decided he was no longer interested in making their acquaintance.  
    “Listen, I’ll just take my map and we’ll go,” Tim said. “You can keep the food.”
    The young man found one of Cedric’s tennis balls in the pack. The dog’s full attention was on the ball. The young man smiled and waved it back and forth. The dog’s head snapped left and right.
    “You want to fetch? You want to go get it?” the young man asked. He turned and hurled the ball towards the lake. Cedric tore across the yard, passing within arm’s length of the girl. She paused with a piece of fruit halfway to her mouth and watched the dog run. She laughed.
    The ball splashed in the water about ten feet out. Cedric barely slowed when he hit the water. He swam out with a few quick strokes, snatched the ball between his teeth, and turned. When he climbed back onto the shore, he dropped the ball and shook from head to toe. He grabbed the ball and jogged back towards Tim.
    The young man caught Cedric by the collar and jerked him to the side before he could run by.  
    “Give me that,” he said pulling the ball from the dog’s mouth. “Give it.”
    “Hey,” Tim said. “Be gentle.”
    “He’s fine,” the young man said.
    Tim wasn’t talking to Cedric, but he kept that information to himself. Tim took a couple of steps forward. He had his hands turned open, showing they contained no threat. The boy’s attention was towards the lake. He threw the ball again and watched Cedric run. The