by Perrin Briar
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Details can be found at the end of FLOWERS VS. ZOMBIES.
FLOWERS VS. ZOMBIES
Buried
Perrin Briar
Chapter One
IN ANY GAME, the pawns acted first. It always made sense to feel out your enemy with the weakest elements of your resources. Those were certainly not the undead under his control. They were human in all but intelligence, but he could upgrade them significantly with the resources available to him. He could combine the knowledge of everyone he had ever Tasted and funnel it into his vessels. His was an intelligence beyond anything the world had ever seen before. It made defeating these Flowers all too easy. They would not stand a chance.
Fighting against the undead was not really like fighting at all, and fighting against other overlords was the only challenge worth pursuing, but the Overlord In Black had previously been defeated by a gang of uninfected. Uninfected. Untainted. The Overlord in Black shook his head. They had teamed up with an overlord and defeated him.
He couldn’t believe they could work together like that. He had underestimated them, discovered there were hidden depths within them. He was determined to prove to himself that he could defeat them. And these Flowers were his test subjects. By learning how they thought, how they reacted to him and his aggression, he could puzzle out how he could return and defeat those who had previously defeated him, and reclaim his army for himself.
Right now, his pawns were coming to him, rushing through the treetops, climbing the tree boughs. They were his to command and control, though he had never had control of such creatures before. He supposed it was because they were on this island that he could control them now, like most wild animals, they were very timid of humans and upon seeing an overlord approach, sensing his sphere of influence, they would scatter.
Thud!
The first beast to arrive landed heavily, making the ground reverberate under the Overlord In Black’s feet. It was swiftly followed by another, and another. They were each of them ugly creatures, and would never have found themselves on the cover of the National Geographic.
Their chests heaved. Not out of being breathless, as they had no lungs that worked, but due to their natural fury. They were the great apes, powerful of arm and worthy allies. They were each of them large, with scars crisscrossing their faces and arms. Clearly something had put up quite a fight, but they had subdued it.
These were his new toys. The Overlord in Black still preferred his human subjects. They contained a great deal more interest for him because he could access their memories and use the information for himself. These animals’ memories were as foreign to the Overlord In Black as was their mode of conversation.
The family had been lucky these animals hadn’t come across them before, but they would not continue to be so lucky.
The Overlord In Black formed his order in his mind and gave it to the undead animals. They knew what to do, and would do it to the letter.
The animals howled, screeched and bayed. They turned and ran into the night.
Chapter Two
NO ONE slept well that night. It seemed that every time they dropped off there was a sound waiting to prod them awake again. They might as well have taken a night watch. There was no way they could sleep in any case. How could they when there was something like that creature out there?
It was interesting to Bill that such a creature might exist out in the world now. It seemed impossible that something could have that level of control over fellow human beings, but then, he supposed, they weren’t human beings any longer. They were creatures, as close to being human as Bill was to being a porcupine.
Bill wished he could ascribe it to the overactive imagination of a young boy, but he had been too sure, too clear in his description of the man for it to be anything but true. And then Ernest had backed him up, and that left no room for doubt. This man, this creature, was real.
The family wasn’t about to take chances, not when they didn’t need to. The family had taken positions in their treehouse, looking out at the ground in each direction. If something came at them they would be ready for it. They had bow and arrows, daggers, swords, heavy rocks, nets, and a variety of traps they had prepared long ago for such an occasion as this, all setup with triggers lying across the ground. Unless this talking undead had a large army at his disposal, he would not get anywhere near their treehouse.
Jack was perched at the top of the tree and so had the best vantage point of them all. Ernest stood beside his father.
“Do you think we’ll ever be able to trust people out in the world again?” Ernest said.
“I don’t know,” Bill said. “But I do know I will never question you or any of your brothers. You are all I need. So long as we have each other we have everything we need.”
He couldn’t help but glance at Fritz. Of course, it had to be reciprocal. If he felt like he needed to leave, then he would do so. Bill would not stop him. He would let him do whatever he thought best. But he didn’t mind admitting that the thought of him leaving brought a cold sweat to his skin. He was not looking forward to that day, if it ever came.
Liz exited Robin’s Nest, climbed the ladder down to the ground and then climbed back up the ladder into Falcon’s Nest. It was still early, and there was a chill in the air.
“How’s Jim doing?” Bill said.
“About the same,” Liz said. “But he’s saying more words now. He still keeps saying the same word, ‘Chow’, over and over again. But that’s nothing new.”
“Wait,” Ernest said, his eyes distant with thought. “You don’t think he’s trying to warn us, do you?”
“Warn us about what?” Fritz said.
“About Rupert and Manuel,” Ernest said. “Chow is a move in Mahjong that means you have to throw away a certain number of tiles, while keeping others in your possession.”
“So?” Fritz said. “How does that warn us of anything?”
“Because you need to lie and cheat in order to win,” Ernest said. “He could have been trying to warn us about Rupert and Manuel. It at least makes sense, doesn’t it?”
“I suppose,” Liz said. “Sounds a bit of a stretch to me.”
“With any luck, he’ll wake up soon and can tell us himself why he kept saying it,” Ernest said. “It’s been driving me to distraction.”
“Why are we even caring for this guy?” Fritz said. “For all we know, he could be one of them. One of the bad guys.”
“He might,” Bill said. “Or he might not. He might be innocent.”
“He’s just a boy,” Liz said. “There’s no reason to think he’s the same as the two men he came with.”
There was a rustle of leaves, and then Nips swung and hit the treehouse floor. He ran on all fours along the branch.
“Nips?” Jack said, poking his head out from the treetop.
Clearly, he didn’t expect this behavior from Nips. Nips came to a stop three yards from the wall of foliage. He cocked his head to one side and squawked. There was no response.
Nips did it again, this time taking a step forward and making a rumbling sound at the back of his throat. Searching, asking, softly.
The foliage shifted aside, and a little shadowed figure, cloaked in shadow, stepped from the darkness. It was a fellow Capuchin monkey. It might have been Nips’ brother… Except there was a noticeable difference in the way he moved. Nips was smooth and natural, whereas his little dark brother was jerky and uncoordinated.
“Oh my God,” Jack said as realization dawned on him. “G
et back! Everybody! Get back! It’s the animals! They’re infected!”
On the word ‘infected’ the dark little Capuchin gave a loud hiss. The foliage behind him exploded.
Dark shapes leapt from the darkness, five times larger than the little Capuchin. They formed up in lines, the only way they could fit shoulder to shoulder on the branch. They were big, muscular, and, most of all, dangerous.
Chapter Three
“WE’RE DEALING with undead animals now?” Bill said. “How on Earth did this happen?”
“The infected carry a virus,” Ernest said. “Why wouldn’t it affect animals too?”
“Because we’ve never seen it before,” Bill said.
“Just because we’ve never seen it before doesn’t mean it’s not possible,” Liz said. “As a doctor, you should know that.”
The baboons had drool hanging from their angry mouths, eyes bloodshot and red. They leapt and latched onto the low-hanging boughs and began to swing forward with lazy movements, awkward, yet somehow graceful at the same time. Then one would swing, miss his grip, and fall, hitting the ground. He would push himself up onto his knuckles and move forward, swinging forward on powerful arms.
“Looks like we’re not safe in the trees after all,” Bill said.
“Just when you thought you’d seen everything,” Liz said.
They had prepared for every possible eventuality they could think of, but never in their plans had any of them considered this. How could they have prepared for something like this? They couldn’t. It was impossible.
“We stick to the plan,” Bill said. “Fight. We have to get through this. We can beat them.”
“This is the most surreal thing we’ve done so far,” Ernest said.
“By a long way,” Fritz said. “I feel like I’m in a bad nightmare.”
There were four baboons, in bad shape, with their fur torn and their innards showing. They landed on their front paws and hissed, displaying their sharp incisors. They raised their tiny black fists.
The leader leapt, claws outstretched, ready to rip and tear. It bore its fangs, preparing to force its way into Bill’s body. He was ready for it, and pulled his baseball bat back, planted his feet squarely, and swung.
He decided to wait a little longer than necessary to ensure he made contact with the beast. Even if he only struck its body or legs, it was better than missing it altogether. It was moving fast and there was every chance he could miss it.
The beast leapt, coiling its legs and springing forward.
Bill judged as best he could and swung. He felt the middle of the bat strike the creature. Bill grunted at the shock the bat absorbed, vibrating up his arms. There was an equally loud grunt from the monster. The infected creature was thick, solid, and the blow did not alter its trajectory at all.
It hit the floor like a meat sack. It lay there, unmoving. Bill didn’t want to approach the damn thing, but it was going to wake up if he didn’t. He didn’t want to get bitten either, and so he poked at the beast and its patchwork fur.
It was an ugly thing, with its face torn and shredded and its lips ripped wide open on one side. Assured it was unconscious, he drew the bat back and brought it down on the monster’s skull over and over. Its braincase gave way after the second blow.
The tree foliage above Bill’s head rattled and shook, and a flutter of foliage drifted down in front of his nose. Jack. Up in the trees, he was all on his own. Bill hoped he’d be all right.
Chapter Four
JACK AND NIPS worked as a team, rushing through the treetops and its many limbs, their second home. They knew where they were going to put their hands and wrap her feet before they even reached out.
The pair of baboons were hot on their heels, the stiffness of their limbs not seeming to have much of an effect on them. It was curious how they were able to move the way they did when human undead moved like a poor stop motion capture animation.
But Jack and Nips knew this tree better than anyone, and they soon outpaced them, pulling ahead. The baboons paused to look where they might have gone. One beast had a missing eye, the other a cracked incisor. They panted, gasping their rage.
Jack and Nips were quick to slap them in the face with homemade cudgels before disappearing behind cover again. Before the baboons could adequately react, Jack and Nips flew out again, striking them in the face.
The strikes appeared to be random, but they were anything but. Nips didn’t understand what they were doing, and he simply followed Jack’s lead, delivering a blow whenever Jack did.
They were driving them back, further and further out on a flimsy limb. Finally, they were in position. They waved their arms to keep balance. Jack and Nips flew from the foliage, feet first, and slammed into the creatures, knocking them off their feet, up into the air, and away, high.
They squealed and scrambled for purchase, something to grip onto, but there was nothing, and they sailed through the sky and fell to the ground below with a heavy hollow thud.
They did not move after that.
Chapter Five
THE MUTILATED baboon crept up on the unconscious Jim. It opened its jaws to take a bite out of him, mouth wide, teeth extended. Jim turned his head to one side.
“Chow,” he said, his eyes still closed.
The baboon cocked his head, and then prepared to fall upon the helpless Jim.
Crunch!
The creature stumbled. It turned, reaching up to feel at the handle of a knife sticking out of its skull. It poked and probed at the shaft of metal before collapsing onto the floor.
“That was close, huh?” Ernest said to the unconscious Jim.
There was, of course, no response.
“Don’t hurry to thank me, will you?” Ernest said. “Think it through first.”
He rolled his eyes, bent down, and picked up the beast. He dragged it toward the open door and tossed its infected carcass out. It thudded to the ground. Across the way, Ernest could see the rest of the family now disposing of the carcasses of their own defeated enemies.
In a game, any game, no matter what it was, it was all about feeling and testing out your opponent, figuring out what their strengths and weaknesses were, and that was something Ernest understood. The first beginning moves were thrusts and parries, designed to test out an opponent’s defenses.
That was what the baboons had been used for.
Now, Ernest thought, came the real test. And now that he looked, he saw the foliage to the jungle was shivering once more, a precursor to the devils that would emerge. He, as usual, turned out to be right.
Stepping from the jungle greenery, large and strong and magnificent, was a troop of undead chimpanzees.
Chapter Six
THE CHIMPS were torn and emaciated, but their bodies were thick and strong. There were just three of them, but the respect they commanded couldn’t be overstated.
They did not screech or scream, and instead only walked forward on their knuckles, their eyes black and taking in their opponents. They closed down the space between themselves and the family one step at a time. There was no rushing forward, so hasty attack as per the baboons.
“What do we do, Bill?” Liz said.
“Survive,” Bill said. “And send these creatures back to hell where they belong.”
“But how?” Liz said. “They’re stronger than us, faster. And one scratch, one bite, and they will infect us. We have to run.”
“If we run, don’t you think they will catch us?” Bill said. “We have to stand and fight. It’s the only way we’re going to get out of this alive.”
“But how?” Liz said.
Bill didn’t know. What advantage, besides their superior intelligence, did they have over their undead ape cousins? Bill looked over the side of the treehouse.
“The traps,” he said.
“They’re on the ground,” Liz said. “They won’t stop them if they’re all the way up here!”
“Then we knock them down,” Bill said. “Into the traps.”
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“It might work,” Liz said.
“If you’ve got a better idea I’d love to hear it,” Bill said.
She didn’t. But it didn’t matter if she did anyway. They were out of time.
The creatures began to pick up speed, rushing toward the family as fast as their short legs could carry them.
Bill’s eye alighted on the cooker he had lifted from the Pandora off the coast.
“Fire,” Bill said. “We’ll use fire.”
“Fire’s dangerous,” Liz said. “We could set ourselves alight, or the house, or the whole island for that matter.”
“We just need to scare them,” Bill said. “I’ll hold them back. You prepare the torches.”
Liz turned on the cooker and bundled up some shirts, blankets, and anything else she could get her hands on, wishing she had some lighter fluid to dip them in. It was fortunate the torches didn’t need to last long. They just needed to frighten the apes into backing away. Then they could swing their clubs and strike at the apes until they fell over the side.
The apes approached Bill directly, not splitting up as the previous baboons had. This was a better strategy, as it meant they could focus entirely on one or two members of the family at once.
It occurred to Bill then how vulnerable the family was. They had split up to deal with the baboons and now there were no more than two family members in each location. Ernest and Fritz were on the adjacent treehouse at Robin’s Nest, and Jack and Nips at the top of the tree. Francis was hiding behind Liz and could only prove a liability in this situation.
Bill waved his baseball bat in a wide arc, more of a threat than any real danger, and the apes attempted to circle him, to get behind him, but he moved left to right and back stepped whenever they made the attempt.
Then one of the apes rushed forward, arm raised to block any attacks made upon it. Bill dived to one side, rolled, and came up on his feet. He prepared to swing his bat, but the second ape was already on him.