Z-Minus Box Set 2

by Perrin Briar

  “The only other way across was the bamboo bridge,” Bill said, “but obviously, that’s no longer an option.”

  Bill crossed the bridge off the map.

  “Which means,” he said, “they will have to advance to the north and cross Flamingo Marsh before turning south and coming at us.”

  Liz, Fritz, Ernest and Francis nodded in agreement.

  “The way I see it,” Bill said, “we have two options. We meet them face-on and die, or we employ our evacuation plan. Our only real option is to leave.”

  “No!” Francis said. “I like it here!”

  “The next island will be even better,” Bill said. “You’ll see.”

  “I don’t want to see. I want to stay here.”

  “Make no mistake, if we stay, they will come down on us without mercy.”

  “How long do you think we have?” Liz said.

  “Two days,” Bill said. “Three, tops.”

  “How many of them were there?”

  “Hundreds. Maybe thousands. It’s hard to tell. And those are just the ones we saw. There could have been more in the jungle, and more still in the cruise ship. We’ve got our escape plan. We’ve got our boat. I suggest we take it and get out of here. We’ll load up all our supplies and be gone before they get anywhere near us.”

  “What if we stayed here in the trees?” Liz said.

  “For how long?” Bill said. “And what happens when we run out of food? Or we roll over in our sleep and fall out of the tree? It’s not worth the risk when we have a perfectly good boat out there waiting for us to use.”

  There was a pause. Ernest had a thoughtful expression on his face.

  “Why don’t we build traps?” he said.

  “Good thinking, Ernest,” Bill said. “We’ll hunt for some animals, dry the meat and take it with us.”

  Ernest shook his head.

  “No,” he said. “I mean hunting Lurchers. We know this island better than anyone.”

  “We don’t want to trap them,” Bill said. “We want to kill them.”

  “First we trap them, and then we kill them.”

  There was a pause. Liz nodded.

  “It’s an idea,” she said.

  “It’s suicide,” Bill said. “We’ll never build enough traps to stop them all.”

  “We don’t need to stop them all,” Liz said. “We just need to stop most of them. If a few get through, we can take them down ourselves.”

  “How do we kill the ones we do trap?”

  “We have a gun.”

  “With four bullets.”

  “We have bows and arrows.”

  “Brilliant,” Bill said. “So we’re going to re-enact the American Indian Wars?”

  “Technically we’re more advanced than they are, so we’re the Europeans in this situation.”

  Bill looked at Liz.

  “You’re being serious?” he said.

  “I don’t want to run away from everything we’ve built here,” Liz said. “I know we’ve got a lot left to build yet, but it’s our home.”

  “I understand,” Bill said, “really, I do. Believe me, I want to stay too. My only concern is our safety. Leaving now guarantees that.”

  “What if we can’t find another island?” Liz said. “What if the next island we come to has even more Lurchers? What if we get stuck on the mainland, or swept up in a storm? The monsoon season isn’t over yet.”

  “Look,” Bill said. “We all knew this could happen. That’s why we came up with the escape plan. Now you’re saying you don’t want to go?”

  “Everything we’ve built here, everything we’ve done…”

  “We can do it all again,” Bill said. “Do you honestly think you could ever rest easy here again knowing those things are out there?”

  “I know I’ll never rest easy out there on the mainland,” Liz said.

  “We’ll find another island. There must be lots out there.”

  “And what if we get stuck at sea?”

  “We have provisions on board. We can survive.”

  “I don’t want to survive,” Liz said. “I want to live!”

  “We must survive first, then live.”

  Liz frowned, shaking her head.

  “Why don’t we set fire to it all?” she said. “Set fire to the whole island, reduce it to ash.”

  “And then what do we do?” Bill said. “What do we survive on? You’re being irrational. The fire would destroy everything. We’d have no home, no food, nothing. Then we’d have to find another island anyway.”

  “And what about Jack?” Liz said. “He can’t go on a long voyage the way he is! What if we take him out to sea now and he needs medicine?”

  “We’ll take plenty with us.”

  “And if we run out?”

  “We won’t run out. Look, I think we’ve debated enough. Let’s put it to a vote. Who votes we get on a boat and leave right now?”

  Bill raised his hand. After a moment, Ernest followed. And then, not looking at Francis or his mother, Fritz put up his hand.

  “Fritz!” Francis said.

  “Dad’s right,” Fritz said. “We have to do what’s best for us all.”

  “Who votes we stand and fight?” Bill said.

  Liz and Francis raised their hands.

  “Three to two,” Bill said. “Motion carried to evacuate the island.”

  “Wait,” Francis said. “What about Jack?”

  “He’s asleep, resting,” Bill said.

  “Shouldn’t he get a vote too?”

  “We’re voting for Jack’s welfare too.”

  “Voting for what?” a voice behind them said.

  Jack hobbled out of the shadows and into the warm glow of the candlelight. He was in his bedclothes. He rubbed his eyes.

  “Jack!” Francis said.

  He leapt up and wrapped his arms around his brother’s waist. Jack smiled and rested his hand on his little brother’s shoulder.

  “Here’s our little hero,” Fritz said with warmth.

  Jack took a step forward, and then braced himself on the wall. Everyone was up on their feet in an instant to help him.

  “I’m all right,” Jack said. “But I can’t seem to walk straight.”

  “It’s your ear,” Bill said. “It helps keep you balanced. Yours is damaged, so you can’t balance very well right now. You’ll get used to it.”

  Fritz got up so Jack could have his chair. Jack sat down. Ernest ruffled his hair.

  “This means I’ll be able to make even more noise and I won’t be able to hear it,” Jack said.

  They all smiled, but the smiles didn’t touch their eyes.

  “Are you hungry?” Liz said.

  Jack didn’t respond, and just looked at the map.

  “Jack,” Liz said.

  The family shared a look of concern. Liz moved to Jack’s other side.

  “Jack,” she said.

  He turned to look at her.

  “Are you hungry?” Liz said.

  “Famished,” Jack said.

  Liz’s mouth turned down as she moved to the oven. The Flowers all looked at Jack, saddened by his injury. Liz took a deep breath, wiped her eyes and composed herself. She opened the oven’s front door and brought out a plate using a tea towel. She sat the plate before Jack on the dining table.

  “Be careful,” she said. “The plate’s hot.”

  Jack picked up his knife and fork and tucked into his meal. Francis ran to the desk in the corner of the room and returned with something behind his back.

  “I made something for you,” Francis said to Jack.

  He brought his hand out. He held a piece of cardboard in the shape of a shield. On it was written:

  MEDAL OF HONOUR

  TO: JACK FLOWER

  FOR OUTSTANDING BRAVERY

  FROM: THE FLOWER FAMILY

  “Mum helped me with the spelling,” Francis said, “but I did all the colouring.”

  “That’s amazing, Francis,” Jack said. “Thank you.�
��

  Francis unhooked the safety pin and pinned it to Jack’s T-shirt. Jack beamed.

  “We were just talking about what we’re going to do next,” Liz said. “Either leave, or stay and fight.”

  “Leave?” Jack said. “Why would we leave?”

  “Some of us think it’s the safer option,” Liz said.

  Jack shook his head.

  “No,” he said. “We’ve got to at least try. We’ve fought every day we’ve been here – against the jackals, against the weather, against everything. Lurchers are just another obstacle. In five months we haven’t had one Lurcher. Then we have a storm and a boatload turns up. We’ll just have to deal with it.”

  There was a pause of reflective silence. Fritz frowned.

  “Let’s put it to a vote,” Liz said. “Those who want to evacuate?”

  Bill and Ernest raised their hands.

  “Fritz?” Bill said. “We’re voting here.”

  “I know,” Fritz said.

  “Are you sure you don’t want to put your hand up?”

  “Those who wish to stay and make a stand?” Liz said.

  Liz, Fritz, Francis and Jack raised their hands.

  “There it is, then,” Liz said. “Two to four. We stay and fight.”

  Chapter Ten

  CLUMPS OF dirt flew through the air and landed on a large mound. The late morning sunlight glinted off the scratched lip of a shovel as another chunk of dirt flew through the air. Bill paused and wiped a hand over his brow, his fingers came away wet and dirty.

  “Let’s take a break,” he said.

  Bill threw his shovel out of the hole he was in, reached up, and pulled himself out. Ernest, on the other end of the hole, followed. A stone flew from another hole, almost striking Bill in the face. Bill peered into the hole.

  “Hey!” he said. “I said let’s take a break!”

  Liz and Fritz stopped, and leaned their shovels against the dirt wall of their hole. Fritz climbed out, and then helped his mother up. The men had their shirts off, looking like miners having spent the day down the pit. Liz toiled under a thin T-shirt that was soaked with sweat.

  The holes were ten feet long, four feet wide and seven feet deep. Before them, spread out in a chessboard-like pattern were a series of identical rectangular holes. The Flowers drank from bottles made from hard fruit skins and bamboo canes. They sat on the edges of their pits, looking out at the jungle.

  “How are we looking?” Bill said.

  Jack and Francis sat on a branch with a good view of the encroaching jungle. They were attaching arrowheads and goose feathers to sticks.

  “We’re all clear,” Jack said.

  “Strange to think they’re on their way here now, isn’t it?” Liz said.

  “But they are,” Bill said. “And we need to be ready.”

  He took another pull of water, picked up his shovel and started to dig again.

  “When you said a short you break, you weren’t kidding,” Liz said.

  Chapter Eleven

  JACK CLIMBED a coconut tree. His small hands found handholds where a man could not even fit his toe. Twenty feet up, he looked out at the jungle. A flock of rainbow-coloured parrots flew over the treetops. In one hand Jack held a long stick. He reached over and hit a coconut. It fell to the ground on a bed of soft moss.

  Observing what Jack was doing, Nip leapt into open air and grabbed hold of the base of a broad leaf. He seized the coconuts and tossed them to the ground.

  “Good boy, Nip!” Jack said.

  “Is that all of them?” Ernest said from the ground.

  “Yes,” Jack said.

  Ernest bent down to start picking up the coconuts.

  “Oh no, wait,” Jack said. “There’s one more.”

  Jack swung his stick and struck the remaining coconut. It fell and landed inches from Ernest’s head. He leapt back.

  “Are you insane?” he said.

  “Sorry,” Jack said with a chuckle.

  Jack dropped his stick, which fell a few inches to Ernest’s other side, and descended to the ground. He sat down cross legged beside Ernest. They began tying the vines together into a latticework of squares, forming a large net. They laid it out flat on the ground and put the coconuts inside it.

  “Jack,” Ernest said. “Do you think you could carry this vine up to that branch?”

  Jack didn’t respond.

  “Don’t pretend like you can’t hear me,” Ernest said. “Your deaf ear is on the other side.”

  Jack smiled.

  “There’s no fooling you, is there?” he said.

  Jack took to the tree, scaling it as fast as a monkey. He got to the branch Ernest had pointed at.

  “Now what?” Jack said.

  “Now loop the vine over the branch and throw it down to me,” Ernest said.

  Jack did. Ernest took hold of the dangling vine and pulled, but the net full of coconuts would not rise off the ground. Ernest hauled the vine with all his weight, but it wasn’t enough.

  Jack thumped his chest with his fists and went, “A-AH-AH-AH AHHHH!” He leapt into free air and grabbed hold of the vine. Adding his weight to Ernest’s made the coconut net rise to the upper branches of the tree. They tied the vine to a large rock.

  “Can you talk to the animals too?” Ernest said to Jack. “Because that would be a huge help.”

  Jack flinched, and cupped a hand over his ear.

  “It’s hurting again?” Ernest said. “Go to Mum and get your medicine.”

  “I’ll be all right,” Jack said.

  “Go,” Ernest said in a stern voice leaving no room for argument. “Now.”

  “All right, all right,” Jack said. “Mr Bossy.”

  Chapter Twelve

  FRITZ HACKED at the base of a nambu tree while Ernest held a hand to his chin in thoughtful repose.

  “I think we should chop a bit more on this side,” Ernest said.

  Fritz changed position and chopped where Ernest suggested.

  “Now a little on this side,” Ernest said.

  Fritz shot Ernest a look, who held up his hands.

  “We want to get this right, don’t we?” Ernest said.

  Fritz hacked at the tree. It leaned to one side, creaked ominously, and then began to fall. When it hit the ground it struck another tree that had been felled. They lay against one another, with no space to squeeze through. Ernest grinned.

  “Not bad aye?” he said.

  “Shut up and give me a hand with the next one,” Fritz said. “Dad wants this done by tonight.”

  “Begin chopping here,” Ernest said.

  “You’re a born supervisor, did you know that?”

  “Know it, and love it.”

  Jack and Francis ran out with their own axes and hacked at the felled tree’s branches. They dragged them toward the holes and dumped them inside.

  In the hole, Bill and Liz chopped the branches into two foot-long segments, and then shaved one end to form a sharp point. They buried these in the floor of the hole, the points facing up. Then they climbed out of the hole and covered it with broad leaves.

  The Flower family came together.

  “It’s getting late,” Liz said. “I’m going to go get the dinner on. What does everyone want?”

  “Pork,” Fritz said.

  “Chicken,” Ernest said.

  “Steak,” Bill said.

  “Ice cream!” Francis said.

  “Salad!” Jack said.

  “Shouldn’t we all have the same thing, like usual?” Ernest said. “To reduce waste.”

  “Tomorrow is a special day,” Liz said. “I’ll cook you all whatever you want.”

  “What’re you going to have?” Bill said.

  Liz shrugged.

  “I’m going to have a bit of each of yours,” she said. “I’m taking Francis with me.”

  Liz took Francis by the hand and led him in the direction of Falcon’s Nest.

  “We’d best get back to it,” Bill said. “Let’s finis
h building this corridor, and then you boys can call it a day.”

  “Not for you?” Fritz said.

  “No,” Bill said. “I have one more thing to do tonight.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  BILL PLUCKED the wire. It was tight, drawn taut between two nambu trees. He turned, walked fifty paces and plucked another wire. It too was tight. A twig snapped. Bill turned, machete ready. But nothing materialised.

  Bill walked backwards, stepping over a third wire. There was another sound, like crushed autumn leaves. Bill spun to face it.

  Again, nothing.

  Bill picked up three spools, each attached to a different piece of wire. He climbed onto Lightfoot the donkey’s back, and began to trot away. The wire unfurled from the spools and stretched across the jungle like telephone lines.

  Chapter Fourteen

  THE FAMILY sat round the dining table. They had moved it outside onto the courtyard to enjoy the dying sunlight. It was a cool night, and the fireflies came out to dance about their heads, adding a sense of enchantment. Liz put on an amazing spread with so much food they couldn’t fit it all on one table, and had to reach over to a second table if they wanted pork or mashed potatoes.

  “This is a verifiable feast, Mum,” Ernest said.

  “It’s a special day tomorrow,” Liz said. “I wanted to celebrate.”

  “We’re certainly doing that,” Fritz said.

  He reached for the peas. His arm jerked, and he grunted with pain. He rubbed his muscles. Bill picked up his fork, and then dropped it. He massaged his wrist.

  “I see we’re all in great shape,” Liz said.

  “Before we eat,” Bill said, “I thought we could say a few words.”

  He extended his hands to Fritz, who sat on his right, and Ernest on his left.

  “Are you serious?” Ernest said.

  “We used to do it all the time before we got shipwrecked on this island,” Bill said.

  “That was another life.”

  “It’s important to pray to God before tomorrow.”

  “I don’t believe in God,” Ernest said.