Z-Minus Box Set 2

by Perrin Briar

Bill fiddled with the knobs. The hissing sound did not change. He sat it down in the floor of the raft beside their backpacks.

  Ernest leaned over the side and plucked something out of the salty water. It looked like a battered old purse, ragged and torn around the edges. He was about to open it, then decided against it. He held it in his hands.

  Francis sat drawing a small circle on the boat’s floor with a pen he’d manage to conjure up from somewhere.

  “What are you doing, Francis?” Liz said.

  “I’m adding Chucerne to the map,” Francis said.

  “What map?” Liz said.

  Then she looked around at the raft’s interior and smiled. She turned to Bill.

  “We’re in Switzerland, Bill!” she said. “Look at the dinghy’s shape.”

  Bill cast around and smiled.

  “Dennis said he brought Switzerland with him,” he said. “And that’s exactly what he did!”

  Bill opened a Velcro pocket on the inside of the dinghy and took out its contents. There was a torch, a map, and packets of dried snacks. He flicked through the map until he came to images of the lands of the Philippines. He poured over each page with a torch in hand.

  “This is it,” he said, pointing to a wide stretch of blue. “I think we were about here when we went overboard, which means we need to head west if we want to find land. The mainland is that way.”

  “Shouldn’t we wait until the sun comes up and see if there are any other survivors?” Fritz said.

  “We’d hear them if there were any,” Bill said.

  A solemn silence filled the boat.

  “What were those things, anyway?” Liz said.

  “Zombies,” Ernest said.

  The word sounded ridiculous, but nothing else came to mind.

  “Do you think it’s spread all over the world?” Fritz said.

  “Seems that way,” Bill said. “If it could get to a small ferry in the Philippines why not the cities of the world?”

  Bill reached into the bottom of the survival bag and came out with a compass. He held it in his hand and waited for the hand to settle. But it didn’t settle. It spun around in a circle in one direction, and then in another.

  “There must be some kind of interference,” Bill said. “Great. We’ll never find our way now.”

  “You’re forgetting we have the oldest compass in the world,” Liz said, and pointed up at the stars.

  They were bright and sparkling, like diamonds on a velvet dress. Two of them were noticeably brighter than the others.

  “Which one’s the pole star?” Liz said.

  “I don’t know,” Bill said. “I read that satellites around the earth can be as bright as the stars. How do we know which dots are stars and which ones satellites? Damn! Why did I have to choose medicine as my major?”

  The waves pushed and pulled on the small dinghy in a lulling, soothing dance.

  “You’ve studied astronomy before, haven’t you, Ernest?” Liz said.

  Ernest started from his reverie and put the purse down.

  “Only a couple of classes,” he said.

  “We need your help,” Liz said. “Look up at the stars. Which constellations do you recognise?”

  Ernest looked and shook his head.

  “I don’t know,” he said.

  “Think, Ernest,” Liz said. “Really focus. Shut your eyes and try to remember some of the constellations you learnt.”

  “I only saw them in a book once,” Ernest said. “I never saw them with my own eyes before.”

  “You have a photographic memory,” Liz said. “The information might be tucked away in your mind somewhere.”

  Ernest sensed the desperation in his mother’s voice.

  “I can try,” he said.

  He shut his eyes and became very still. The others waited. Several minutes passed.

  “He’s fallen asleep!” Jack said.

  “He’s not asleep,” Liz said. “He’s just thinking. He can do it. You’ll see.”

  Ernest opened his eyes and peered up at the sky. He pointed at a collection of stars.

  “That’s Andromeda,” he said. “And that’s Hydra. Gemini. Tuscana.”

  “Which direction is which?” Bill said. “We need to head west.”

  “Wait a minute,” Ernest said, and he shut his eyes again. He turned his head side to side like he was peering closely at something. Then, eyes still closed, he pointed in four directions.

  “North, south, east, west,” he said.

  “Are you sure?” Bill said.

  Ernest tilted his head to the side again.

  “Yes,” he said. “As sure as I can be.”

  “Ernest, you keep an eye on the constellations,” Bill said. “Make sure we’re heading in the right direction.”

  “But even if we’re a tiny bit off it could throw us out by miles,” Ernest said. “We might miss the mainland and not even know it.”

  “We have to try,” Bill said, getting into rowing position. “We’ll follow whatever direction you think we should go.”

  They were all so tired that their heads began to nod with sleep the moment Bill began to row. The gentle rocking of the sea and soft slap against the dinghy’s hull was mesmerising. Bill pulled the oars and felt the same soothing lull dig deep into his bones. He shook his head and forced out another stroke, and another, and another. But even he knew it wouldn’t be long before his own strength would wane, along with his consciousness.

  He only hoped he could row far enough before it did.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  BILL BLINKED. His eyes felt gritty, like they were full of sand. His body was wracked with pain, each movement causing him to grimace. He sat slumped in a sitting position in the middle of the dinghy. His neck was stiff and sore. It was broad daylight, the sun high above him. He looked ahead, left and right with his groggy eyes. Endless blue on all three sides.

  Liz and the boys lay curled up on the floor.

  “Wake up,” Bill said, his voice hoarse.

  He licked his chapped lips with his dry tongue.

  “Get up,” he said.

  He bent down and poked the nearest shape with his finger. Fritz grunted and sat up. He rubbed his eyes with the fleshy part of his palms. Bill prodded the others. They grumbled and got up.

  “We’re lost,” Bill said, voice grating. “We’re done for.”

  “Er, Pop,” Ernest said, pointing behind Bill.

  Bill turned and looked over his shoulder.

  A chimpanzee sat perched on the side of the dinghy, head cocked to one side, gazing at Bill and the others. It made light Oo oo noises from its puckered lips. It reached into the raft and picked up a woodchip. It put it to its nose and sniffed. It turned its head away from the smell, poked its tongue out in revulsion and tossed the fragment aside. It reached back inside the boat and fingered the backpacks instead.

  Liz leaned forward and waved at it, batting it away. The chimpanzee waved back, its thick lips peeling back revealing sharp incisors. It screeched. Bill got to his feet. He looked big and scary enough for the chimpanzee to hop down off the raft and onto the sandy beach.

  He ran to the treeline, where he stopped, turned and screeched back at the Flowers, perhaps in an attempt to save face with its own family, who sat watching with curiosity from the safety of the high branches of the trees.

  The waves beat on the soft, warm sand, and the coconut trees waved gently in the wind. The family climbed from the dinghy. Bill dragged the raft onto the shore, up the beach out of reach of the waterline. The family peered around at the vast expanse of the sea in every direction.

  “Is this enough adventure for you, Bill?” Liz said.

  Bill smiled.

  “Not exactly what I meant,” he said.

  Liz put her hand over her eyes. She pointed to a mountain east of their location.

  “If we go over there we might be able to see which way we should head next,” she said. “See where the nearest town or city is.”

/>   They turned and entered the jungle. A cacophony of hooting, tweeting, chirping, hissing alien animals welcomed them.

  “I can’t wait to get back to civilisation,” Liz said. “Get a nice cup of coffee, go shopping. Eat some spaghetti…”

  Francis screamed when a dragonfly as big as his hand hovered above his head. Birds of vibrant colours peered down at them, whistling and squawking.

  “…Go trekking on the weekends,” Liz continued. “Meet friends and have parties…”

  A snake in the middle of a small clearing rattled its tail at them. They gave it a wide berth.

  “…No wild animals,” Liz said. “Except the ones we keep as pets.”

  They emerged out on the south eastern corner and began to scale the steep flint-like incline. Panting and out of breath, they got to the top. The Flowers turned to look back at the jungle. They gasped.

  The jungle was encircled by yellow-white sandy beaches and beyond that, the blue azure of the ocean. It was an island.

  Bill chuckled.

  “Doesn’t look like you’ll be shopping at Louis Vuitton any time soon,” Bill said.

  Liz’s shoulders slumped.

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  Marooned on a stranded island, the Flower family must learn to survive in their new alien surroundings. They forage for food, filter water, and face dangerous predators. But they’re about to discover they aren’t the only ones to have survived the Adventurer disaster...

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  Also By Perrin Briar

  Have you read them all?

  Series

  Z-Minus

  Blood Memory

  Flowers Vs. Zombies

  Resistance

  One-Off Novels

  Square

  Keeping Mum

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  About The Author

  Bestselling author Perrin Briar writes fun, thrilling, action-packed adventures. His characters are clever and fearless, but in real life, Perrin is afraid of pigeons without a flight plan, dark recesses, and airplanes (just how do they stay up there?). Let’s face it. Perrin wouldn’t last five minutes in one of his books.

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  Copyright © 2016 Perrin Briar

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the author except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Published by Perrin Briar.

  Cover design by James at goonwrite.com.

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