Flowers Vs. Zombies (Book 6) Native Read online

  Their mother was right. Just how many people were on this island? Or was it because this island was all that was left of the uninfected world, that they would all congregate here eventually? Ernest couldn’t contain his heart. It beat fast and hard, like it wanted to escape.

  “There’s someone out there!” Ernest hissed. “There’s a new person! Not again!”

  Ernest turned to look back at Jim. What he found made his blood curdle.

  Jim’s expression was pale, ghost white.

  “Jim?” Ernest said. “Jim, what’s wrong?”

  Jim turned his eyes on Ernest. They were shimmering with tears.

  “You’re right,” Jim said. “You’re in very grave danger. Not from me. But from her.”

  Chapter Seven

  BILL SHOVELED the hay into the animals’ pens and deposited clean water in their water troughs. Usually it would have been the boys’ job to do this, but with so few animals left, it took Bill just a few minutes to do himself. They’d decided to pen all the animals together. At least that way they wouldn’t get lonely. The boys were out now, checking the traps for more of their farm animals. Ernest was meant to be helping Bill.

  That boy, Bill thought, shaking his head. He was the least hard working amongst his lads. It was true at least with physical labor. With anything cognitive, he could work the others under the table. But physical work was what they needed to do right then.

  “Excuse me,” a voice said. “I hope I’m not interrupting.”

  Bill turned to find a young woman, in her mid-thirties. She had slitted eyes that curled down, forming an upside-down U when she smiled, which she did a lot. She had long black hair that reached to the middle of her back. She wore a pale blue dress. She had dark, tanned skin, kissed by her genetics more than by the Sun. She was exotic, beautiful, and for a moment Bill worried about being seen here with her alone by Liz. What would she think?

  “Who the hell are you?” Bill said without thinking.

  The woman blinked in surprise, and then offered a small smile.

  “I’m sorry,” the woman said. “I must have startled you. I’m from a ship anchored off the coast of… well, darn it, I don’t rightly know where we are. I guess it’s your island now.”

  Bill looked the woman over. He couldn’t believe there was yet another person on the island. Another stranger, after all these months. It was like it was Christmas and everyone came out to play.

  “I hope you don’t take too much offense at my reaction,” Bill said. “Only, we haven’t had the best experience with meeting new people who wash up on our shore.”

  “I didn’t wash up,” the woman said. “We sailed here.”

  “Sailed here?” Bill said. “From where?”

  “From the sea,” the woman said. “We’ve been traveling around quite extensively for the past year or so.”

  She spoke English well, but it bore the stamp of being her second tongue. It had a pleasant lilt to it.

  “You came onto the land by yourself?” Bill said.

  “Why not?” the woman said. “The last thing we want to do is look dangerous.”

  Bill snorted. Looking at this woman, he couldn’t imagine anyone looking less dangerous.

  “But we could have been bad people,” Bill said. “You ought to be more careful.”

  The woman smiled a gorgeous smile.

  “Speaking like this, it’s hard to imagine you’re dangerous,” the woman said.

  Bill smiled. Then he shook his head.

  “Where are my manners?” he said. “I’m Bill.”

  “My name’s Pare,” the woman said, extending her hand.

  “You’re Chinese?” Bill said.

  “Thai,” Pare said. “My parents were Chinese. It’s difficult to know what I am sometimes.”

  She smiled again, and the world brightened just a little.

  “You’re alone here?” she said.

  “No, I live here with my family,” Bill said. “Are you hungry? We have food.”

  “No, but I’d like a drink, if it’s not too much trouble,” Pare said.

  “Of course,” Bill said. “Come with me.”

  Chapter Eight

  “WHAT ARE you talking about?” Ernest said. “This is great news. The chances that this woman is worse than the last couple of guys we stumbled upon is unlikely, don’t you think?”

  “No,” Jim said, pacing. “You don’t understand what she’s capable of.”

  “Then tell me,” Ernest said.

  “What’s going on here?” Fritz said, joining them.

  “Oh, Fritz,” Jim said. “Thank God. We’re going to need all the help we can get.”

  “What are you talking about?” Ernest said. “You’re not making any sense.”

  “We need to buy some time,” Jim said.

  “Wait, wait,” Fritz said. “We’re meant to do what you say without you telling us what it is you’re intending on doing?”

  “If you want to save your family, you have to do exactly what I tell you,” Jim said. “And you have to do it now. There’s no time to waste.”

  “No,” Ernest said.

  “No?” Jim said.

  “No,” Ernest said. “The last time we trusted someone, they turned against us, and it almost cost us our lives. Tell us why we should trust you.”

  “Are you out of your mind?” Jim said.

  But Ernest said nothing.

  “You’re seriously going to risk the lives of your whole family and not trust me?” Jim said. “What could I possibly have to gain from this?”

  “I don’t know,” Ernest said. “But we’re not moving a muscle until you give us good reason to.”

  Jim was desperate. He looked left to right. Then he turned to Fritz.

  “Fritz, please,” he said. “Listen to reason.”

  Fritz looked from Jim to Ernest.

  “I’m with my brother,” he said.

  “You’re both insane!” Jim said.

  “Maybe,” Ernest said. “Or maybe we’re just not playing by your rules.”

  Jim threw up his hands.

  “Fine!” he said. “Then we won’t do anything. And when the pirates come and tear us apart, you can just blame yourselves.”

  “We’ll blame you,” Ernest said. “Because you lost your trust along with the company you kept. The men you called your friends.”

  “They have nothing to do with me!” Jim said. “They kidnapped me! They… They…”

  But he could already see his words were falling on deaf ears. He looked back through the slit in the foliage at the two figures sat at the dining table. His shoulders fell.

  “Okay,” he said. “You win. I didn’t want to tell you this. I really didn’t. I thought it would make things easier if I kept my secret… But now you leave me with no choice.”

  “Good,” Ernest said. “Tell us. What is it? It’d better be something good after all this hype.”

  “Oh, it is,” Jim said. “Trust me.”

  And when Jim presented the evidence to them, both Ernest and Fritz stood stock still for a moment, disbelieving what Jim had just shown them. Whatever Jim was saying had to be the truth.

  “Okay,” Ernest said after composing himself. “How do you want to do this?”

  Chapter Nine

  “THEY ARE OUT, doing their chores,” Bill said. “Liz will be back soon. She’s doing the laundry. Please, take a seat.”

  Pare looked the dining table over before selecting the seat that looked most sturdy, with all its original legs. Bill filled two cups with water and joined Pare at the dining table. He extended one cup to Pare, who nodded her thanks.

  Pare looked the area over, taking in the devastation.

  “It didn’t always look like this,” Bill said. “It was beautiful here once.”

  “Looks like you had one hell of a fight on your hands,” Pare said.

  “Yes,” Bill said. “We got lucky. We’ve had to rebuild our home several times now. I’m not sure I’ve got the energ
y to do it again.”

  “But you have to,” Pare said. “For your family.”

  “Yes,” Bill said, taking a sip of his drink. “So, what brings you to our part of the world?”

  “Good question,” Pare said. “We’re searching.”

  “For what?” Bill said.

  “For survivors, people, for a community we’ve got set up on the mainland,” Pare said.

  “On the mainland?” Bill said. “Is it safe?”

  “Safer than out here,” Pare said. “I can see you’ve done a wonderful job here, what with raising the farm animals, crops, keeping the undead at bay… You and your family would make a wonderful addition to our community project. You might even be given your own to head one day.”

  “Our own community?” Bill said.

  “Sure,” Pare said. “You’d need to come live with us for a while, of course. Help us with the problems we’ve got. But after that, if you wanted, you could have your own. We could provide the people to populate it. You’d just be in charge of maintaining it. We help each other out. If one community has a lot of one resource, and another community has a lot of another, then we distribute it so we’re all happier.”

  “Sounds great,” Bill said. “Would we be able to set up the community here?”

  “Why not?” Pare said. “So long as you were able to keep it safe. I can see you already have everything else you need to survive. I don’t see why more people can’t live here—up to a population you’re comfortable with, of course.”

  She gave the area another once over. Her eyes paused, flicking back to something she saw on the ground.

  “What’s that?” she said.

  Bill turned to look in the direction she was looking in. There was nothing there to Bill’s eyes.

  “What’s what?” Bill said.

  “The cup,” Pare said.

  She got up and moved toward it. It was lying amongst a heap of other kitchen cookery items. She came out with a shining golden goblet.

  “It’s a beautiful thing,” she said, picking it up. “Where did you get it?”

  “On board an old ship,” Bill said. “It was sinking off the coast. We managed to salvage some things from it before it sank.”

  “What was it called?” Pare said. “The ship.”

  “The Red Flag,” Bill said. “It looked old, like it had been there years. One of those old galleon ships. You know the type?”

  “You could say that,” Pare said. “We have the same type of ship in our fleet. In fact, it’s the very same we used to come here. The world has moved beyond the use of engines and fuel to sail. Now we have to revert back to nature to carry us. The Red Flag. Amazing that it should be found now, after all these years.”

  “You’ve heard of it before?” Bill said.

  “I doubt there’s a kid in Asia who doesn’t know the tales of The Red Flag,” Pare said. “The story goes there were two powerful pirate lords, equally matched, equally ruthless. They once ruled these waters, all the way from China, down to the Philippines. No nation had a fleet strong enough to repel them. But they were greedy, a common trait amongst pirates, so I’m told.

  “They hid their riches all over the region, little pockets of wealth dotted here, there and everywhere. It was said that if anyone would inform another pirate captain of their location, they would be gifted with a ten percent commission. But they risked the ire of their former captain. Some pirate captains, so paranoid one of their crew would tell others of the location of their bounty, resorted to cutting their crew’s tongues out.

  “For many years they had skirmishes, small battles where one or two ships were captured, their booty stolen and added to the pirate captain’s coffers. But the two pirate lords were too evenly matched, their crew too cunning and wise to fall for any sleight of hand. There was no outright winner until, one day, the pirate lords met on the open sea and battled for the future of Asia’s seas.

  “They had a special galleon built – to carry all the swag of both pirate lords, so the victor might take control of it and sail into the sunset. All they had to do was risk everything they had to attain it. And so they met and fought, tooth and nail. The pirates tore into one another’s ships without hesitation, blowing holes in one another’s fleets. They boarded ships and cut the crew down, the men, loyal to their well-paying master, fighting for their honor.

  “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 there. 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.