Defensive Instinct (Survival Instinct Book 4) Read Online Free Page B

to what it had been before, but Abby didn’t like to think about it. She didn’t believe it was something that could happen in her lifetime, and was resigned to accepting the world as it was.
    “Okay, we’re recording. Go.”
    Abby started to recite. Having grown up with something like an eidetic memory, she could remember every book she had ever read and every movie she had ever watched. Books and movies were being found all the time and added to the massive basement library, but inevitably some would be lost forever. Fires, nature, and destructive humans were whittling away their history. Abby, with Lauren’s help, had made it her personal mission to preserve what she could. Although unable to remember every word, Abby could recall all the scenes and some exact sentences from the books she had read; the same was true of TV shows and movies she had seen. While dialog was simple, Abby didn’t have the imagination nor the writing skills to transfer the images to page, so that’s where Lauren came in. She was more creative, better at describing things. While Abby recited, the computer recording her voice, Lauren would take notes. Afterward, they would work together to write a sort of script for the film or narrative for the book, and at the end, they would write facts about it and the people involved in its original creation. Before the Day, before the zombies came, both Lauren and Abby had worked on a television show and had a lot of experience with scripts so they were easier. The two of them felt it was the least they could do for those who were no longer around.
    With her eyes closed, Abby spoke, diving deep into her memories of the movie, which allowed her to push back the memories of death.
    ***
    “Have you heard the news yet?” Winchester plopped down into a nearby chair that rolled a few feet before stopping.
    “What news?” Abby asked. She and Lauren had finished the initial recording and were now working on a proper script. The recording would be saved to a hard drive, but once the script was done, they would print it, bind it—often using something simple like string—and then store it in the library.
    “I heard Riley will be coming to visit. She’s got some patients who need scanning or something.”
    “Will Hope be coming with her?” Lauren asked.
    Abby couldn’t help but notice Peter in the corner, tilting his head slightly in their direction.
    “Don’t know, the message didn’t say.”
    Peter’s head resumed its studious position. Abby felt a bit bad. All of Peter’s closest friends had moved to the container yard, and he hadn’t really been able to make new ones. They came to visit from time to time, or Lauren and Abby would take him there, but it wasn’t the same as getting to play with them every day like he used to. Despite his obviously superior mind when it came to math, the kids at the container yard still treated him the same: as one of them. Some days Abby felt it was her fault for separating Peter from his friends, that she should have moved to the container yard with the others. But she couldn’t. So much had happened, and she felt safe inside the Black Box even if others didn’t. Lauren had been willing to go along with whatever Abby wanted, but there was also Claire to think about. She was very adamant about staying at the Black Box. In the end, staying put won out, even if Abby’s own group of friends—family really—got split up in the process.
    “Do you know when she’s expected to arrive?” Abby asked.
    “No idea,” Winchester shrugged. “Sometime later today is all I know. There’s a very likely chance she’ll be spending the night.”
    “She can share with us,” Abby immediately offered. It wasn’t unusual for Riley to sleep on their couch and Hope to take the top bunk in Peter’s bedroom whenever they visited.
    “Any other reason for you coming down here?” Lauren wondered.
    “Other than trying to see what you two are working on, not really.”