Free Survival Instinct by Kay Glass Page A

about to stand around and become chow for those men and women I’d once served with. I survived so much- I wasn’t about to die like that.” He pushed his saggy hair back from his forehead. You could tell the curls had once been close-cut in the standard high-and-tight worn by military men, but months had gone by since his last haircut, and the first of the curls were rapidly closing in on his eyes. “I was careless on my way here. I saw some signs of life but didn’t want to risk having to explain the vaccination to a horde of angry, scared civilians. I ditched my motorcycle- that’s what I’d been driving to make my way here, but it was too loud and I didn’t want to draw any added attention to my travels. But I overlooked a crawler.” At her puzzled expression, he clarified, “One of the undead with no legs that is. I literally tripped over her.” His eyes were haunted. “She couldn’t have been more than four,” he murmured, talking more to himself than Nadine at that point. “Before I processed what I was dealing with, she sank her teeth into me. I used my combat knife, not much different than yours come to think of it, and pried her jaw loose.”
    He trailed off, and so Nadine prodded him. “So what did you do next?” She’d relaxed throughout his tale, and the hand not holding the gun stroked Jonesy’s soft, matted fur. She thought absently that she wasn’t the only one in need of a bath and a hairbrush, but they would all need to wait before that happened.
    When Ryan looked up at her, his green eyes swam, and the look in them was bleak. “I jammed the knife up under her jaw into whatever primitive brain was left. Then I got to my feet and ran like Hell until I found a house to hide out in. I barricaded myself inside after I’d killed the things off that were still inside, and then I sat down and waited to die.” Those eyes pierced into hers, and she against felt that stir of heat in her belly. “And I’m still waiting, all these weeks later. Ready to kill me now?”

EIGHTEEN
    The basement might have been sweltering, but it was cozy and loaded down with supplies. There were military rations, foods that would keep for a very long time, as well as more than fifty gallons of bottled water. Ryan had a few water filtration systems for later when their supply ran short, as well as a few battery-powered lamps and some little lanterns. There was a miniscule window above, and he’d secured it with blackout curtains so no light would leak through, and then applied chicken wire over it. Once Nadine explained that she’d found the door due to the leak of light around the doorway he had immediately worked out a way to fix the problem. No one would find them unless they chose to be found, and for now that was the last thing either of them wanted.
    “You’ve obviously put a lot of thought into this,” Nadine commented as she wandered the large room. She took in every detail, from the four large air mattresses, a hand pump to blow them up, a corner filled entirely with food and water, a giant container filled with clothes of all sizes, and even a large bathroom he’d rigged up. When the toilet was used, the user simply flushed then refilled the tank. They might eventually run out of water, but for now there was plenty, as well as what seemed like a lifetime supply of toilet paper. The sink was used for sponge baths, with a stack of washcloths for cleaning up. The water was room temperature, which would be fine for all conditions. “What made you decide to go to all this effort?”
    Ryan was still seated against the wall. There was a box of popular fiction novels nearby as well as a selection of puzzle books for surviving those moments of overwhelming boredom. For now he seemed content to just spend time with another living person, and the piles were ignored. “Look, I’ve been in the military for some time now, and I was an Army brat. I know how they work, and it was only a matter of time before