Adaptive Instinct (Survival Instinct) Read Free Page A

wiring and electronics.  Now that those were all up and running, Riley didn’t know what to do with him.
    She simply shrugged in response to his comment.
    “I don’t think I’m ready for rabbit skinning,” Abby admitted.  “Mind if I take a pass today?”
    “Sure, but I’d like to be showing at least two of you today.”  Riley understood that a lot of this stuff was new to them, and was still cutting them slack because of it.  She had been trained since birth to survive in any given situation.  Her family had always thought some sort of apocalyptic event was coming, and they had prepared for it as if it was a religion.  Even Riley had given her parents flak from time to time for all the training, but here she was thanking them every day for their preparations.  If she hadn’t been drilled as hard and as often as she had, she would never have gotten out of the hospital in time.
    “I’ll do it,” Danny volunteered.  He was always so eager to learn and volunteered for everything.  At fourteen, Danny was the youngest of their group by about seven years.  He worked hard though, and always tried his best.  Riley thought it was a defence mechanism, that he pushed himself into work to avoid thinking about things.  Whenever they had down time, he would convince someone to play a game with him, or run around with the dogs.  Riley was never good at psychology and had no idea if this was a good thing or not.  Cender knew more about that stuff than she did.  He had done a psych ward rotation, and he seemed fine with it, so Riley let it go.
    “I’ll watch,” Cender also volunteered.  He would be fine with cutting open a rabbit, considering what he had gotten used to seeing every day in the ER.  In fact, if he had to, he could probably already do it.
    “Tobias, if you don’t want to join them, I could use some help,” Abby turned to him.  “The dirt in the greenhouse is a little hard, and I wanted to find some softer stuff to use as top soil.  An extra pair of hands would be nice.  If we could find some worms, it would be even better.”  Abby Walker had been the most emotional person all week, especially when they removed the stitches from her arm yesterday , leaving behind a large scar, but she was damned useful.  She might burst into tears at any time because of what happened, but she remained focused on whatever task she was doing.  She also knew plants, Riley’s weakness.  Abby was usually excused from lessons because she would spend all day in the greenhouse.  Not only was she planting, growing, preparing soil, and all that other stuff, but also, she was reading every book on agriculture and plant life she found in the cabin.  She spent a bit of time each day memorizing what they had in the storage space, and what the expiration dates were on the food down there.  Abby had a near-perfect memory and could keep inventory of everything without having to write any of it down.  Riley was teaching her how much everybody needed to eat each day, and once Abby had it down, Riley would put her in charge of rationing.
    “I’m down for a worm hunt,” Tobias nodded.
    “Find some extra ones for the fishing gear,” Alec spoke up from his place slightly away from the table.  “Maybe you guys can finally get that canoe into the water.”  Alec McGregor was confined to a wheelchair, which didn’t allow him to pull right up to the crowded table.  It also meant he didn’t get to help as much as he would have liked.  Despite his own thoughts on the matter, Riley thought he was extremely helpful.  In fact, if he could have used his legs, he would have been the most useful of the bunch.  The man was a trained sniper and knew all about surviving harsh terrain.  Riley didn’t have to teach him anything.  Alec even gave her a few pointers on shooting, and he was often the one teaching everybody else how to work a rifle.  Since being confined to his chair, he had worked as a mechanic, and was a