Instinct

The Rescue

It occurred to me that their stockpiling the supplies rather than gorging on it as they found it, meant they didn't intend to hang around – I knew they weren't local, I'd have come across them sooner if they were – but there was too much for them to carry any great distance, which led me to go looking for a craft. Not one that flew, they weren't smart enough for the technology.

I crawled out from my hiding spot, careful not to dislodge any snow and give myself away, and clambered around a boulder obstructing my view of the bay below the cliff. Just as I suspected, their sailing ship was moored in the deeper water off shore and a smaller boat pulled up on the beach. From this vantage point, I could also see what looked like a winch and pulley attached to a large platform at the edge of the cliff top.

As darkness fell, the beasts gathered at the far side of the food pile, the leader laying down. The others bickered for a few minutes, until the leader bellowed. They too then lay down, forming a tight nest with the leader in the middle. They were too close to the supplies for a rescue attempt, besides, I had other things to do first.

Having waited for a few hours, the moon made an appearance behind the first mountain peak, illuminating the area enough that I wouldn't trip over anything on my way to find the service hatch that I knew was located on the upper deck of the ship, several metres beneath the plateau. Once I got that far, it took a bit of shuffling around on the slippery surface to find the latch. I held my breath, listening for any indication the beasts had heard the unnervingly loud creak of the hatch opening. Hearing the reassurance of their snores, I didn't risk closing it again.

The upper deck housed several simulation theatres, the first of which provided the night vision lens I needed to proceed further into the ship. At the far end of the corridor, I took the stairs leading down to the infirmary. Only one of the beds were empty, presumably vacated by the man the beasts had captured. Decaying bodies – who, judging by the lack of stench emanating from them, had died soon after impact – occupied the other beds.

On the other side of the infirmary, behind a reinforced door – which was inconveniently locked by electronic keypad and therefore inaccessible without power – was an arsenal of weapons. An unarmed vessel we may have been, but we weren't completely defenceless. These weapons however, were not what I came for. I gathered numerous vials of strong sedative, poured them into a beaker and mixed it with bleach concentrate and any other cleaning product I could find.

Concoction in hand, I made my way down to the arboretum where I quickly found the air-powered dart guns my team kept for tranquillising animals we wanted to study or tag for monitoring. After filling the darts with the toxic mixture, I packed the riffle and darts into a backpack and left the ship the same way I entered.

Picking them off was easy from the plateau because of the night vision lens and sighted riffle. Silent and deadly. They died in their sleep, all except for the leader. It was buried in the middle of the nest the other beasts had made around it. I needed to wake it up so it would move and give me a clean shot.

"Yo, Beastie!" I yelled from the safety of my vantage point. "Wake up so I can send you to meet your maker!"

Almost giddy, I pulled the trigger and watched him stumble around in a confused daze while the cocktail of poison took effect.

Nothing moved in the morning light. I didn't expect it to, but I had to make sure before I rescued the man from the middle of the supplies. Although sporting a few gashes and shallow wounds, he looked healthy.

"Thank you," he said, taking my proffered hand once I untied him. "My name is Charlie." He barely paused for breath before firing off a volley of questions at me. "Who are you? Where did you come from?"

I stopped him with a wave of my hand. "Slow down a bit, I'm having trouble with your accent. My name is Safina and just over a year ago – I think it's been about a year – I was a on the same ship you were on."

"A year? How did we get here? I woke up in the infirmary a month ago and the only people I found were already dead. How did you survive? I was so scared, weren't you frightened at all?"

I laughed, not understanding half of what he said. "Well, I'll tell you, frightened ain't the word! Do you know what I did last night?"