Z-Minus Box Set 2

by Perrin Briar

  Jack put his hand in his pocket and stroked the barrel of the gun. It was a little too large for him, and he had to stretch his hand to reach the trigger.

  He approached Francis from behind. He looked so small and defenceless. Jack raised the gun, pointing the barrel at the back of his head.

  Francis, oblivious, continued to whistle.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  BANG!

  Liz came to a stop. She broke out into a cold sweat and her heart beat a thousand times a minute.

  “No…” she said.

  She picked up the pace and ran faster, her legs a blur.

  “No, no, no, no, no…”

  BANG!

  There was an almighty crash, and the ground shook like there was an earthquake. Bill and Liz came to a stop in the clearing before Falcon’s Nest.

  Both treehouses lay prostrate on the ground.

  Leaves descended like snowflakes from the recently felled tree. A dozen Lurchers drifted across the space without purpose. Liz fell to her knees, weeping openly.

  “My babies,” she said, “my dear sweet babies.”

  The muscles in Bill’s jaw tightened and the tears stung his eyes. Attracted to Liz’s suffering, the Lurchers turned and stumbled toward them. Liz stood up, unsheathed Bill’s machete and ran at them.

  Bill chased after her. She swung at the Lurchers. She cut off their arms, their legs at the knee, chopped off the women’s breasts and the men’s penises. Then she hacked their torsos to pieces, cutting open the flesh, and getting to the internal organs.

  “Liz,” Bill said. “Liz! That’s enough!”

  He grabbed her arm and took the machete away. Bill finished the Lurchers off with a quick wide swipe that removed their heads.

  “They killed our babies,” Liz said. “They killed them.”

  “I know,” Bill said. “I know.”

  He wrapped his arms around her. Fritz and Ernest joined their parents on either side, adding to the huddle.

  “Can we join?” a small voice behind them said.

  The Flowers turned to see a huge shadow stop on the fringes of the courtyard. It was broad and squat with horns. As it emerged into the moonlight, it resolved into Valiant the bull, the tips of his horns stained red.

  On his back were Jack and Francis, who had big grins on their faces.

  Liz ran forward and lifted them off the huge bull. She held them close and smothered them with kisses. A few Lurchers drifted close. Fritz and Ernest dispatched them with ease.

  “What happened?” Bill said.

  “After the first treehouse fell we climbed the cable to the second one,” Jack said. “But then they started biting that one too. I had the gun in my pocket, and was about to use it when Francis started whistling, and Valiant came out of the jungle.

  “The Lurchers came toward him and he charged them. He knocked them all over! A couple almost bit him, but I shot them with the gun. We climbed down and got on his back and rode into the jungle. The Lurchers must have kept biting the tree after we left, I suppose, and took it down. They probably thought we were still up there. They are stupid.”

  “I’m so glad you’re all right,” Bill said. “Come give your dad a kiss.”

  “Dad,” Jack said, “I’m too big for kisses.”

  “Well, I’m not,” Bill said, and gave Jack a big kiss on his cheek, and then on Francis’s. “My boys, my beautiful, beautiful boys.”

  He hugged them tight, and didn’t care that he was crying.

  “Feels like it’s going to rain soon,” Ernest said, looking up at the darkened sky. “We’d best grab anything we want to keep before the rain gets to it.”

  “You go ahead,” Bill said, hugging Liz, Jack and Francis close. “I’ve got everything I need right here.”

  “You say that now,” Liz said. “But what happens when you want to write in your journal?”

  Bill thought for a moment.

  “I’ll be right back,” he said.

  Chapter Thirty

  FRITZ AND ERNEST picked over the remains of Falcon’s Nest. Most of their possessions were smashed to pieces amongst the broken branches.

  Ernest knelt down beside a bookcase. Most of the books were still jammed inside, and in perfect condition. He took off his jacket and wrapped them up.

  “Thank God for that,” Ernest said to Fritz. “I thought I’d lost them. Did you find what you were looking for?”

  “I don’t really have anything worth looking for,” Fritz said.

  Cheep cheep. Cheep cheep.

  “Did you hear that?” Fritz said.

  “Hear what?” Ernest said.

  Cheep cheep.

  “That cheeping noise,” Fritz said.

  “You’ve got birds on the brain. And not the good kind.”

  Fritz kneeled down to look closer at a long tube of red satin, what had once been Beauty’s perch. He picked it up and felt the soft material in his hands. He paused when his fingers came across something jagged. He turned the perch over and found a hole.

  Inside it was the cracked surface of an eggshell. He lifted the top.

  Cheep cheep. Cheep cheep.

  “It’s a chick!” Fritz said to Ernest. “It’s Beauty’s perch. Inside it I found this! This must be why she never wanted to get off it the past few days! She must have laid an egg!”

  Fritz inspected the chick.

  “It’s a he,” he said. “I mean, it’s a him. A male!”

  “I wonder if fatherhood makes everyone so eloquent,” Ernest said.

  “I’ll name him Beast. Got to keep up with tradition.”

  Fritz turned to his parents.

  “Mum, Dad,” he said. “Look at this!”

  “He looks hungry,” Liz said.

  “I’ll go find him something,” Fritz said, walking away. “You know, you’ve got some pretty big claws to fill,” he said to the chick. “But don’t worry, I’ll train you.”

  Liz and Bill shared a smile. Liz looked over the destroyed area that had once been their home.

  “Nothing will ever grow here again, will it?” she said. “Too much of their tainted blood was spilled.”

  “Something will grow here, given enough time.”

  A spot of water tapped Bill on the head, then another, and all at once, a torrential rain fell out of the sky. The rain coalesced and made streams that ran downhill to the sea. The water was red, and then turned pink, then no colour at all. Eventually enough water fell that it carried the rotten corpses away.

  Bill smiled.

  “Wiped clean like a broom to the past,” he said. “It might take some time, but life here will return to normal. There are still Lurchers out there in this jungle, and we have to be careful, but we will find them.”

  “But not tonight,” Liz said.

  “No, not tonight. Tonight we’ll go to the cove and sleep.”

  They turned and made their way back up Sharpie. Ernest cradled his books, Fritz his chick, Jack with Nip in his arms, and Francis led Valiant with his hand on his neck, not needing to use the nose ring.

  “How are we going to rebuild the Nests?” Liz said. “The Adventurer sunk months ago. You’ll never bring anything else back up.”

  “Who said anything about the Adventurer?” Bill said. “How do you fancy living in the Presidential Suite of a cruise liner?”

  Liz smiled.

  “Sounds great,” she said.

  “Let’s get some sleep,” Bill said. “We’ve got an awful lot of rebuilding to do.”

  “Yes,” Liz said. “But we’ll do it together.”

  Chapter Thirty-One

  THE APES screamed at the top of their lungs, concealed behind their leafy hiding places, and peered at something in a clearing. It was another ape, lying on his back. Rain patted his upturned cheeks and dampened his fur, sticky and matted with blood, an ugly open wound on his forearm. His breaths came shallow and forced, rasping with life.

  He closed his eyes, breathed in a thick breath, let out a deep sigh, a
nd fell silent. The apes screeched for another minute before following suit and falling silent themselves. The apes turned and moved away, into the darkness of the jungle beyond.

  The jungle returned to its normal background noise of crickets, hooting birds and something pecking at a tree trunk in the distance.

  The sounds stopped, and the jungle was silent.

  A black finger twitched. His eyes flashed open, white as snow. A low groan escaped his lips. The jungle erupted into screams once more.

  Part Two

  Genesis

  Chapter One

  THE AIR smelled musty and sweet like lotus leaves baked in the sun. The humidity hit the Flowers the moment they stepped from Dipolog airport. Groggy with sleep, they stumbled down the ramp and into the midst of two dozen bright smiling faces.

  “Hello, sir,” a Filipino with a bushy moustache said. “Would you like a taxi?”

  “No, thank you,” Bill said. “There should be someone here to pick us up.”

  “If you need a taxi I’ll be right here,” the man said.

  And that’s just what he did. He stood there, watching them as they walked away, like a lost puppy hoping for a new owner.

  Francis and Jack, the youngest members of the Flower family, peered at all the weird and wonderful things on sale in the market around them, their necks never stopping.

  Ernest, thirteen, kept his nose firmly in his book, though even he couldn’t help peeking over the pages at the more beautiful young women passing by. Fritz, broad shouldered and handsome, was less reticent, and let his eyes go where they would.

  Bill looked at the people standing around holding placards. His eyes settled on one: a man with a torn strip of cardboard with ‘Flower + Montrose’ written on it. He too had a big smile on his face.

  “You Mr. Plonk?” he said.

  “Flower,” Bill corrected.

  “Monty Rose?” the local said.

  “Montrose,” Bill said. “They should be here any minute.”

  “Here we are,” Dennis Montrose said, stepping from nowhere like a bad smell. “Present and accounted for.”

  His family stepped out from behind his massive frame.

  “This way, please,” the man said, leading them to his car.

  The difference in the amount of luggage between the two families was striking. Each member of Bill’s family had one suitcase each and a small backpack. Dennis and Marie each had three suitcases and two backpacks, as well as a giant trunk shared between them. Bill could only imagine what it contained. Among the Montroses only their daughter Jenny carried a single bag.

  “Have you got enough luggage there, Dennis?” Bill said.

  “Prepare for the worst,” Dennis said. “That’s my motto.”

  “What happens if you need to get off the boat quickly?” Bill said. “You haven’t planned for that.”

  “That’s where you’re wrong,” Dennis said, tapping the large trunk with his foot. “This here is a self-inflating raft. One tug and the whole thing bursts open, along with everything we need to survive. We brought a small piece of home with us.”

  This last he said with a wink.

  “We’re only going to be on the boat eighteen hours,” Bill said.

  “Better safe than sorry,” Dennis said.

  The driver began loading his minivan with their bags. He tried lifting the trunk but it was too large and awkward. He employed the help of another man and together they hefted it up onto the roof. The driver then threw a rope over the trunk and lashed it down.

  A pair of pretty girls in low-cut tops approached Fritz, who gave them his best smile.

  “Evening, ladies,” he said.

  The women giggled and hid their mouths behind their hands. The driver waved the women away and pushed Fritz into the car. Fritz peered out through the back window at the women as the car pulled away.

  “Nice to know my sexual animal magnetism works just as well on this side of the world,” Fritz said.

  Ernest rolled his eyes.

  “It was your money they could smell,” he said. “And I’ve smelled you. It’s not something they’d be attracted to, believe me.”

  “You’re just jealous,” Fritz said with a satisfied smile.

  Dennis and Marie Montroses’ heads rested against one another and they fell asleep.

  “We could push them out at the next stop,” Bill whispered to Liz, who sat beside him in the front seat. Liz smiled and jabbed him lightly in the ribs.

  The driver was amiable and kept talking to Bill and Liz, though they didn’t often reply. Liz could only make out one in five of the man’s words and suspected Bill understood the same.

  Bill took Liz’s hand and interlocked his fingers with hers. They watched the foreign world roll past their window. It was so alien, Liz thought, so different to Switzerland that she had to remind himself that this was now their home.

  The little huts on stilts sat discreetly back from the road, ringed by large-leafed plants and tall trees. People lay in hammocks when they had them, or strewn across the ground when they didn’t. They stirred now and then, their free hands swatting at the flies that buzzed around their faces.

  The tarmac road gave way to dirt, and the houses became small and squat. Bare-footed children played in the middle of the road amongst roadkill and discarded fish bones, heedless of the car.

  Then came the strong scent of brine. An outcrop of foliage gave way to the vast expanse of the sea, a finger of land pinching it on either side.

  Half a dozen fishing boat crews in overalls lumbered across the dock with their day’s catch, heading for the small fishing town that squatted beside the sea. The taxi driver pulled the car to a stop. Jenny poked her parents awake, Dennis snorting like a pig.

  “What? Where?” he said, before looking around and orientating himself.

  They climbed from the car and rolled their suitcases down the jetty, their bags’ wheels making rolling thudding noises against the wood’s grain. They came to a large ferry with faded white paint down the sides, the wood so badly chipped Liz couldn’t make out its name.

  The driver picked up Bill’s suitcase, and before he could comment, tossed it high into the air and onto the front of the ship, where it was caught by a young boy, no older than Ernest, and sat down with gentle care.

  The driver did the same with everyone’s luggage, although Marie was hesitant about letting her baggage be handled so. The young boy didn’t fail to catch one piece of luggage, no matter how badly the driver tossed it. A pair of sailors helped the driver lift the trunk off the roof of the car and lay it on board the boat.

  The driver said something they couldn’t understand and gestured to the gangplank. It was a rickety old thing that swayed in the wind. Liz gripped the handrail tight and was helped aboard by a tall broad-chested man.

  “Hello!” the man said in a pleasing lilting accent, his white hat turned to one side so the peak perched over an ear. “Welcome aboard the Adventurer! I am Captain Rodrigo.”

  He gestured to the handsome thin man beside him.

  “This is Ranj, my First Mate,” he said. “We shall take you to your destination: Guimaras Island! You must be tired. My cabin boy Felix will escort you to your cabins, where you can get a good night’s sleep. We’ll be arriving by tomorrow morning. We’re expecting smooth seas the whole way, so please, sit back and relax.”

  Felix, the boy who had caught their tossed luggage, led the Flowers and Montroses to a small collection of container-like rooms that had been bolted to the centre of the deck. Kids ran past them, playing a game of ‘it’. Some were Asian, others black and white.

  Felix opened a door and gestured for the Montroses to enter. Marie turned up her nose, face screwed up like there was a bad smell. But before she could complain Felix was already moving away, leading the Flowers toward their own quarters.

  Fritz stumbled to one side, caught himself, and then miss-stepped again. Liz put her hand on his back.

  “Are you feeling all rig
ht, Fritz?” she said.

  Fritz looked up at her. His face was drawn and pale.

  “I’m fine,” he said, a sliver of sweat on his top lip.

  “Be careful,” Liz said. “It’s not like you to be unbalanced.”

  Their cabin was a good size, but cluttered with furniture. The boys rushed to the bunk beds, Jack and Francis demanding the top bunks. Neither Fritz nor Ernest minded.

  Bill dumped his backpack on the hastily-assembled double bed. Liz checked out the bathroom. It was tiny, but serviceable.

  “Dibs on the first shower,” Liz said.

  “It’s all yours,” Bill said.

  “Do you have Wi-Fi?” Ernest said to Felix.

  “Wi-what?” Felix said.

  “I think that’s your answer,” Bill said.

  “No internet?” Ernest said. “But… how will I stay connected to the world?”

  “Only short trip,” Felix said. “You be okay.”

  “How short?” Ernest said.

  “Twelve hour,” Felix said.

  Ernest shuddered.

  “Hand me a noose now,” he said. “Get it over with.”

  There was a rattling sound and the boat shook as its engines turned on. They all lurched slightly to one side as the room vibrated away from the jetty.

  “I’m going to go explore,” Jack said.

  “Me too,” Ernest said.

  “Okay,” Liz said, “but be back before ten.”

  Felix, Jack and Ernest left.

  “I’m going to… go… outside,” Fritz said, clutching his stomach and rushing out.

  “Oh dear,” Bill said. “Looks like Fritz is about to have a fun journey.”

  “What’s wrong with him?” Liz said.

  “Seasickness,” Bill said. “My father used to get it.”

  “I should go watch him,” Liz said.

  Bill wrapped his arms around her.

  “He’s almost a man,” he said. “He can take care of himself.”

  Francis opened his backpack and took out a games console.