Flowers Vs. Zombies: The Complete Series

by Perrin Briar

  “In the end, one pirate lord was victor, for no other reason than his ships had fired more cannons that successfully struck his opponent. And then, at that moment of weakness, with his battleships out of reach and the battle over, there came a single pirate ship. It pulled alongside the pirate lord’s vessel and blew it to smithereens.

  “The truth of the event didn’t surface until much later, when it emerged a single pirate captain, by the name of Captain Ching Shih, had taken advantage of the opportunity and taken the pirate lords’ stash for himself. He became the new lord of Asia’s seas.

  “Now is when the story becomes a little hazy. He was said to have headed to ports of ill repute to build his fleet with his newly acquired riches, knowing there would be other pirate captains after him, angered by what he had done. He was right. They came, and they each died, one after the other.

  “Ching Shih was careful to ensure the captains of each vessel was taken alive so he could take their wealth too. He was soon too powerful for all the other pirate captains to handle, even if they teamed up to destroy him. He remained the pirate lord of Asia for the rest of his days.

  “Long before his passing, many men attempted to find The Red Flag—the ship that bore the greatest bulk of his wealth. But none ever found it. And now you’re saying you found it. That it’s here, off the coast of this island.”

  “Fat lot of good it does me in the world now,” Bill said. “Just my luck.”

  “You might not have found it at all,” Pare said. “At least now you’re a part of history.”

  Pare swilled her water. She raised the cup to her mouth.

  “How many of you are there here, anyway?” she said.

  She took a swig, her eyes fastened on Bill.

  Bill opened his mouth to answer, but was beaten to the punch.

  “Six,” Ernest said as he strolled over to join them. “Mom, Pop, Fritz, me, Jack and Francis. There were two other guys, but they turned out to be disappointing. They’re what led to all this destruction. Now it’s just us.”

  Bill caught the glance out of Ernest’s eye. For some reason they weren’t to tell Pare about Jim. Bill was suddenly on high alert, his senses raised, the hair rising on the back of his neck. Why he felt that, he didn’t know. But there was something about Ernest’s sudden appearance that put his defensive walls up.

  “This is Ernest,” Bill said. “My second eldest son. He’s the smart one of the group.”

  “Is that so?” Pare said, smiling and taking him in.

  She extended her hand. Ernest shook it.

  “Nice to meet you,” Pare said. “Pare. Where are the others?”

  “Out doing errands,” Ernest said. “They’ll be back later.”

  Pare nodded. She got to her feet.

  “Well, I’ve taken up enough of your time,” she said.

  “Where are you going?” Bill said.

  “Back to our ship,” Pare said. “There are many more islands we need to check out before the sun sets.”

  “When will you be back?” Bill said.

  “In a day or two,” Pare said. “Don’t worry, we will return. And if you want to come with us, we’ll be ready to take you, along with any other survivors we find.”

  “Thank you,” Bill said.

  “Nice to meet you, Ernest,” Pare said.

  “You too,” Ernest said.

  Bill escorted Pare back toward the farmland.

  “Would you like me to escort you back to your ship?” Bill said.

  “No,” Pare said. “That won’t be necessary. But it’s nice to see chivalry isn’t dead.”

  And off she went, walking down the hill with a hop in her step and a whistle on her lips.

  Bill scratched his head. He was glad Ernest had been there to see her, otherwise he doubted he would have believed she had really been here. It could have just been a dream.

  The answers to his problems had all come at once, with a minimum of fuss. It had been easy. Too easy, his subconscious told him. He was wary of believing something just because he wanted it to be true again. He had learned his lesson and wouldn’t make the same mistake again. Still, it would have been nice if for once everything could go smoothly.

  But he was about to have his bubble dream popped.

  Chapter Ten

  THERE WAS something going on with the family, Pare knew, something she couldn’t quite put her finger on.

  It was in the way the boy, Ernest, reacted when she’d asked how many people there were there. Bill tried to hide what he was thinking, but it was clear as if it had been written his face. They were hiding something.

  Or someone.

  Meeting prospective new players was one of the best parts of the whole enterprise for Pare. There was nothing better than feeling out a new target. It was the most exciting part of the whole adventure for her. To feel them out took a certain skill, which was why she insisted on doing this herself. Not only was it enjoyable, but it was crucial to her success. And she couldn’t leave it up to someone else to do it for her.

  The key to manipulating people was to know what they wanted and then figure out a way to give it to them. It was as simple as that. People were easy to manipulate when you knew what they wanted.

  Rustling. In a bush. Pare unsheathed the curved blade at her waist and held it, tight against her forearm. She bent her knees, ready to spring up to deflect an attack.

  A figure stepped from the foliage. He was broken and torn, his bones showing through the flesh that had been torn free. It stood there, looking at Pare. It didn’t make an aggressive move.

  Pare recognized the undead for what it was, and assumed her full height.

  “I wondered when you would approach me,” Pare said.

  “You were expecting me?” the Overlord In Black said.

  “Not in so many words,” Pare said. “But I knew it was a possibility.”

  “I can see I’m dealing with a formidable leader,” the Overlord In Black said.

  “As you must be,” Pare said. “You must be powerful if they were able to sense you so far out at sea.”

  “Not now,” the Overlord In Black said. “But yes, once upon a time. I have a proposal for you.”

  “I’m all ears,” Pare said.

  “How would you like to never fear the undead again?” the Overlord In Black said.

  “My dear boy, I haven’t feared them since this all began,” Pare said.

  “You spend all your time at sea,” the Overlord In Black said. “You must fear the land for some reason.”

  “There’s a difference between being afraid and making the smart play,” Pare said.

  “I agree,” the Overlord In Black said. “I have a smart play for you to take advantage of now. Lash me to your mast and I shall command all undead you meet. I have battled those who team up with the undead. They are having great success because they leverage both their strengths, reducing their individual weaknesses. There’s no reason we can’t do the same. You would command the high seas, I the land. Together we would control everything.”

  Pare nodded, mulling it over.

  “The family here,” the Overlord In Black said. “They are nothing. A mere trifling seven member army, nothing compared to the victories we have ahead of us.”

  “Seven?” Pare said. “I was led to believe there just six.”

  “No,” the Overlord In Black said. “Seven. The family, plus the boy.”

  “The boy?” Pare said. “What boy?”

  “Jim,” the Overlord In Black said. “I Tasted his blood. I know how important he is to you. I can give you exactly what you want, the location of all your weapons caches. I give them to you, as a gift. No need to fight me for them. You don’t need to bother with Jim. I know everything he does. Further, I know something about him that you don’t…

  “It’s quite delicious. I know you’ll get a real kick out of it. So, what do you say? Help me take the Flowers hostage, and you get the boy, Jim. Not that you’ll need him. You have something
better now. You have me.”

  “You make a compelling argument,” Pare said.

  “I was hoping you’d see it that way,” the Overlord In Black said. “You may think it over. There is no rush. Speak to one of the undead aboard your vessel and I’ll hear your decision.”

  “No need,” Pare said. “I have my answer for you already.”

  She lashed out with her knife, jamming it into the creature’s neck, severing his spinal chord. She held the undead messenger in her arms and whispered in his ear.

  “I would not work with you if you were the last overlord left in the world,” Pare said. “You are making this offer from a position of great weakness. You have no value, and I have no use for you. You have already given me what I need, and you give it to me without guard. You do not even know the value you had. You are pathetic.”

  Pare twisted her blade and slowly slit the undead’s throat open. The undead gargled as Pare lay the creature down on the ground, in a pool of his own congealed blood.

  Pare wiped her blade on the Lurcher’s dirty clothing. It was still bleeding out, spreading across the jungle ground.

  This was turning out to be an interesting experience, Pare thought, more interesting than she had expected.

  She pushed on through the undergrowth, but it wasn’t five minutes before she got another surprise. She heard the snapping of twigs and froze. Something was behind her. More zombies, coming to take vengeance at her having rebuked the overlord’s offer? But no, the footsteps stopped behind her. Observing.

  “You can come out,” Pare said. “I won’t hurt you.”

  “No,” a voice said. “But you would if you could. Captain Shih.”

  A shiver traveled the length of Captain Shih’s spine. She wasn’t afraid—she wasn’t afraid of anything—but she felt excitement easily enough. And like a fine wine, it had to be savored at every opportunity.

  “Jim,” Captain Shih said. “I’m so glad I found you.”

  Chapter Eleven

  JIM PUSHED the bound and gagged Captain Shih. She tried to find her feet, failed, and hit the dirt at Bill’s feet.

  “What the hell’s going on?” Bill said.

  “She is not who she says she is,” Jim said. “She is Captain Shih of The Red Flag. She came here to feel you out, to get a sense of who you are and how you’ll react in any given situation.”

  “Wait, what?” Bill said.

  “She always goes in first,” Jim said. “She likes the thrill. She likes to talk to the people who will be her victims. An aperitif before the main meal.”

  “I can’t believe this is happening,” Bill said.

  “Believe it,” Jim said.

  “You can’t be serious,” Bill said.

  It was the third time he’d said it and he still couldn’t believe it. The whole family stood before them, taking in the scene.

  “You’re telling me that the sweet woman I was chatting to is the infamous Captain Ching Shih?” Bill said. “This woman is the pirate lord? But how is that even possible? Shih died centuries ago.”

  “She’s not the original Shih,” Jim said. “She just believes herself to be the captain reborn. She’s intent on achieving what the original Ching Shih did, and take over the whole Asia region.”

  “Then why would she want us to join her communities?” Bill said.

  “She has no communities,” Fritz said.

  “No communities?” Bill said.

  “No, they are there,” Jim said. “But they don’t belong to Ching Shih. She just took them, pillaging them whenever she wants something. They are not loyal to her. They are afraid of her.”

  “Then why didn’t she just take us?” Liz said. “She probably has enough men.”

  “Because she’d prefer for you to hand yourselves over to her instead,” Jim said. “And if you don’t go with her, she will take you anyway.”

  “That’s all fine and good,” Bill said. “But how can we trust you?”

  “Why would I lie to you?” Jim said.

  “Why indeed,” Liz said, folding her arms.

  Ernest stepped forward.

  “Wait,” he said, holding up his hands. “I thought you same as you, but then Jim told me something that made me believe him.”

  “He told you something?” Liz said. “How could you believe him? You’ve only known him a few days.”

  “No,” Jim said. “We’ve known each other a lot longer than that.”

  Bill and Liz frowned at Jim, cocking their heads to one side and peering closer at his face.

  “You’re not going to recognize me by thinking,” Jim said. “You’re going to have to relax your mind before you can see me for who I really am.”

  They did, but they shook their heads.

  “You really can’t see it?” Jim said. “I admit, I was worried you would recognize me straight away when you saw me.”

  “Enough games,” Bill said. “Who are you?”

  “Well, I’m not Jim,” Jim said.

  Bill blinked.

  “I’m not following you,” he said.

  “So you’re someone else?” Liz said. “Who?”

  “You were always very nice to me,” Jim said.

  His voice had changed. It was softer, gentler, more effeminate. There was no denying it now. Liz clasped her hand over her mouth in shock.

  “No,” she said. “You can’t be.”

  “I’m afraid I am,” Jim said.

  “Hard to believe, isn’t it?” Ernest said.

  “What?” Bill said, still not knowing who he was looking at.

  “I thought you were dead,” Liz said. “We all did. We saw your father turn into one of them—into a Lurcher and then, and then…”

  “But you never saw me die,” Jim said. “Because, obviously, I didn’t.”

  “Where have you been this whole time?” Liz said.

  “Say my name,” Jim said.

  “No,” Liz said. “I can’t.”

  She was surprised to find she actually couldn’t say it. Her lips felt like they weren’t her own as he forced them to make the first sound of Jim’s real name.

  “Jenny,” Liz said. “You’re Jenny Montrose.”

  Jim/Jenny smiled.

  Chapter Twelve

  ERNEST RECALLED the moment he had heard those same words from Jim/Jenny’s mouth just thirty minutes earlier.

  That’s where I’ve seen her before! he’d thought. He knew he recognized her, but somehow his brain had closed off that possibility. Of course it would—why would he allow himself to think it was Jenny when he’d assumed she was already dead? Especially since she had been on board The Adventurer. They hadn’t seen her during their escape and had assumed she hadn’t made it.

  Assumptions. They always got you into trouble.

  Jenny was the daughter of one of Bill’s former colleagues in Chucerne. Dennis Montrose had been a doctor—a relatively poor one—and decided to uproot his family to escape an illegitimate child whom he feared would turn up on his doorstep one day. He followed in the Flower family’s footsteps to start a new life in the Philippines. He and his wife Marie had perished in the fire that had claimed The Adventurer—the name of the ferry that was taking the family to a new home.

  They had thought Jenny had been one of the unfortunates to have perished, but clearly that wasn’t the case. She had decided to dress as a man. Why was anyone’s guess.

  “But you look so different!” Liz said.

  “It’s amazing what a haircut, starvation, and pure terror will do to a person, isn’t it?” Jenny said.

  “Why didn’t you tell us this before?” Bill said.

  “In the new world, you learn to be cautious,” Jenny said. “Very cautious. Do you think I would have lasted as long as I did if I didn’t keep my secret?”

  “But you know me,” Ernest said. “You know all of us.”

  Jenny’s eyes drifted away.

  “You never really know anyone,” she said.

  Suddenly when Ernest looked
at her, he found it difficult to see Jim’s face any longer. He saw only Jenny. It was obvious to him who she was now. How could he have not seen it before?

  “Rupert told you our story,” Jenny said. “It’s all true, save for who I really am, and a subplot that he was not privy to. I escaped The Adventurer, knocked unconscious by an explosion, and floated on debris. I don’t know how long I was out there for, but when I woke up, I was on board a ship, in a cabin. I had no idea where I was or what I was doing there.

  “There was one shipmate, known only as Smee, the one who found me, protected me, and hid me from the others. He’d cut my hair and given me a boy’s clothes so no one would know I was a girl. It’s thanks to him I’m still alive.”

  “Then what happened?” Ernest said.

  “Everything we told you,” Jenny said. “I worked the ship, grew callouses, and learned everything there is to know about sailing. But it was only a matter of time before they found out I was really a girl. It was difficult going to the toilet. Sometimes I had to hold it all day. I stopped drinking water, what little there was already.

  “I started getting headaches and couldn’t concentrate. I was doomed. And some of the men looked at me in a funny way, not a good way, and I thought that to them, maybe it didn’t matter if I was a boy or a girl. They would do what they wanted with me anyway. I knew I had to get away.

  “But I wasn’t the only one who wanted to escape. Many of the crew did too, discovering they’d gotten more than they’d bargained for under the patronage of Captain Shih. She is evil, a bad egg. I worked for her, as Smee’s personal cabin boy. As first mate, it was his job to run the captain’s ship. He was also in charge of developing a system to recall the location of all the buried caches, without leaving a trace. I followed him, and remembered those things that he could not. We were a team.

  “There were rumors about what we did together in his room at night, none of it with even a hint of evidence. He was a perfect gentleman. He even gave me his bed to sleep on at night. I let him sleep with me, top and tail. There’s no need for a good man to sleep on the hard floor, I think.