by Perrin Briar
Jack handed the bag to his father, who peered inside.
“Thank you,” he said.
“Mom said you were lost before you met her,” Jack said. “Is it true?”
“If your mother says so,” Bill said.
“Why didn’t you just get a map if you were lost?” Jack said.
Bill laughed.
“Believe me, I’ve asked myself the same question many a time,” he said. “It would have been a lot cheaper, and a lot less trouble.”
He blinked, as if surprised by what he’d just said. He glanced left and right, checking to make sure Liz wasn’t close by.
“But don’t tell your mother I said that,” he said.
“No,” Jack said, frowning and very confused. “I won’t.”
“I need you to go to the top of Falcon’s Nest and keep an eye out,” Bill said. “Do you think you can do that?”
“Yes,” Jack said.
And he would do it with pleasure. He wanted to get away from this madhouse. But no sooner was he at the top of the tree than he began to scale back down again.
“What is it?” Bill said, looking Jack over head to toe. “Have you hurt yourself?”
“No,” Jack said. “You said to tell you when they were getting close.”
“How close are they?” Bill said. “They haven’t set the alarms off yet.”
“They’re coming from the sea,” Jack said.
“The sea?” Bill said. “I thought they were coming from the jungle?”
“Who?” Jack said.
“The pirates,” Bill said.
“Yes,” Jack said. “They’re coming from the jungle. The others are coming from the sea.”
“Which others?” Bill said.
“The natives,” Jack said.
“The natives?” Bill said.
His voice was chill, cold. Another enemy.
Chapter Twenty-One
“THEY’RE coming from the northeast,” Bill said. “In canoes. It’s unlikely to be anything good considering how we parted ways.”
“I certainly remember them,” Jenny said. “I’ve still got the memento they gave me.”
She put a hand to her throbbing head.
“Why now of all times?” Fritz said. “Haven’t we got enough to worry about already?”
“We need to incorporate them into the plan somehow,” Bill said. “Ernest?”
Ernest shut his eyes and thought through the problem.
“It’s impossible,” he said. “We can’t defeat them all, even with all the weapons. We’re severely undermanned.”
Bill sat in silence, knowing every second that ticked by was another second they could have been using to make more traps.
“Then we need to get more men,” Liz said.
“What men?” Bill said. “Is there a recruitment office around here I’ve missed, or something?”
“No,” Liz said. “You just said the natives are approaching the island. They might be here to find the people we took from them, or they might be here for some holy ritual, but if we gave them weapons, don’t you think they would fight?”
“No,” Bill said. “Why would they? This isn’t their fight.”
“But it is,” Liz said. “We know the relationship between the two is strained, right Jenny?”
“Yes,” Jenny said. “The pirates often attack them for food or women.”
“They will want to kill the pirates,” Liz said. “So why don’t we make it a fair fight?”
“And what makes you think they would trust me, a white man, no different to the ones who have been attacking them?” Bill said.
“They wouldn’t have to trust you,” Liz said. “Give them the weapons with no conditions.”
“What if they run?” Fritz said.
“So what?” Liz said. “We wouldn’t have lost anything.”
“Except time,” Bill said.
“So what you’re saying is, we use them to fight against each other,” Jenny said. “The pirates versus the newly-armed natives.”
“A perfect storm,” Bill said.
“A perfect storm for a perfect disaster,” Liz said.
Chapter Twenty-Two
FLINT NOSE was the second mate, and was a leader better suited to the pirate crew. He was strong, harsh, and knew the tricks the others might attempt against him because he would have done the same things himself.
The pits were a fiasco, but they were not difficult to work their way around. They simply poked at the ground before them in order to avoid them. Other than the five men who had fallen into the pits, there were no more losses. A pity.
They moved through the jungle slowly, carefully, always putting their feet in the right places, double checking each time they did so.
“Hold up,” Flint Nose said, holding up a large thick hand. “Five minute break.”
The others paused, putting down their weapons. Some took a seat, others took off into the foliage.
“Go back the way we came, if you need a slash,” Flint Nose said. “We don’t know what’s up ahead yet.”
Except Flint Nose did know what was up ahead. He caught the glint off the wire, like off a spider’s web, four inches above the ground. This family were not as weak and defenseless as they had assumed. It wouldn’t be difficult to remove the wire, or else head back and figure another way to the family’s home.
But that wasn’t in Flint Nose’s nature. Neither was passing up a perfectly good opportunity like this one to remove himself of some of his enemies. In fact, the whole crew was his enemy. Not one of them would hesitate for a moment before slicing open his throat. Neither would he, for that matter.
But there was one big difference between himself and them: he was in charge. He occupied only this body, and he wasn’t about to sit around and wait for one of them to do to him what he had done to Kristian.
Once they were finished with their break, Flint Nose called forward the five men he least liked and had them stand in a line.
“We’ll take turns heading into the jungle on the front line,” Flint Nose said. “It’s fairer this way.”
But the men still grumbled. No one liked to be in the firing line. Flint Nose didn’t know what would happen when they broke that line, but he knew it wouldn’t be anything good. He was quite certain of that.
He turned out to be right.
A series of gunshots exploded and all five men dropped. Some writhed on the ground, others didn’t move again. In either case, they would be left behind, unless one of the crew was dumb enough to accept their weakness upon their shoulders.
There were no further shots. Flint Nose got to his feet. The rest of the crew followed suit. Then Flint Nose called the names of another five men. The next five men he didn’t like. They shared looks, concerned, about their safety. But they had no choice.
They got to their feet and moved forward. They got to the line of men who lay prostrate on the ground. Two were wailing, in pain. The other three were silent. They made out the thin wire across the clearing and then kept a close eye out for another wire. They inched forward slowly, knowing that if just one of them was to step on the wire, they would all suffer for it.
Bang!
Someone had tripped on the second wire. And now they all lay on the ground, in pain.
The rest of the crew had followed at a safe, discreet distance. Flint Nose called forth the next five men.
“Can’t we just send one man?” one of the crew said.
Flint Nose turned on the man, and then repeated the names again. This time, the outspoken man was included.
The five men stepped forward and accepted their fate.
Chapter Twenty-Three
ERNEST and Jenny stood facing the jungle. They had heard the gunshots. It meant the pirates were getting closer. Much closer. They would need to hurry if they were to reach the coast in time.
They rushed through the jungle, sweat pouring down their faces. This was a lot of work when they could have just pulled the triggers them
selves, Jenny thought. It wasn’t that she didn’t understand Liz’s point. It made sense, but it was ideological, not really applicable in the real world.
They weren’t killers. All it would take was a simple twitch of their index finger to rectify that. Jenny recalled the first man she had killed. She suspected she would forever remember him. She had felt the same instinctive revulsion at the prospect Liz had.
There was a big difference between taking life from the undead and the living. One was taking life from one who still had it, the other who no longer did. They were the walking dead, no more alive than a body that twitched after it was dead.
If they hurried, they would get to the northeast coast before the natives did in their canoes. The natives were used to taking life. It was in their blood. It was as easy for them as breathing, and it carried no negative associations at all.
Jenny was just ahead of Ernest, picking her way through the undergrowth. She had changed a lot since he had last seen her. They had been on the main deck of The Adventurer together, Ernest using his strategy skills to best a huckster playing a game of Mahjong. A lifetime had passed since then, and it had turned Jenny into a more serious person. Ernest saw little of the girl he had been in math club with, competing in events that seemed so pointless now.
They reached the fringes of the jungle and peered out. The natives’ canoes were still some way out. They would take a good twenty minutes to reach them going at their current pace.
Twenty minutes to death, Ernest thought.
They deposited the guns and turned to head back into the jungle. Jenny wasn’t with him. She was bent over the guns, checking they were fully loaded. Ernest sighed, headed back, and bent over to help. They were done fast, and finally, headed back into the jungle.
They were halfway home when Ernest took off his glasses and smoothed back his hair.
“Jenny?” he said.
“Yeah?” Jenny said.
“I’ve been waiting for the right time to give you this, but seeing as we might not have much time left, I thought I’d give it to you now,” Ernest said.
He took his hand out from behind his back. It was a pink purse with a simple flower design pattern on it. Jenny’s hands went to her mouth.
“Oh my God,” she said.
She reached for it, her hands shaking.
“I found it as we were sailing from The Adventurer,” Ernest said. “It was floating in the water.”
“You kept it?” Jenny said.
“It’s no trouble,” Ernest said with a shrug. “I never opened it.”
Jenny smiled.
“I wouldn’t have minded if you had,” she said.
“It’s not mine,” Ernest said. “I almost opened it a dozen times, but I never did.”
“You must have been curious about what’s inside,” Jenny said. “Sort of like finding a chest of treasure, isn’t it? I don’t think I can even remember what’s inside.”
She opened it. Her eyes widened, a big smile on her face as the memories flooded back.
“Thirty pesos,” she said. “You won these for me, remember?”
“Mahjong,” Ernest said with a smile.
She took a yellow card from a pocket.
“My library card,” she said. “Think Mrs. Frost might be a bit upset if she knew I still have Treasure Island out on loan?”
A handful of other cards, all worthless now. She shuffled through them. Each one useful in her past, a key to products and services she no longer recalled.
Jenny dropped them. They scattered across the ground. She’d found something at the bottom of her wallet.
“What is it?” Ernest said. “Something bit you?”
“No,” Jenny said.
She was pale, her body shaking.
“I just forgot it was in there, that’s all,” she said.
“Forgot what was in there?” Ernest said.
Jenny bent down to pick up the cards again. She pulled out the offending object. A water-damaged image of Jenny’s parents and herself with beaming happy smiles at the beach.
Jenny’s eyes were filled with tears. They cascaded down her cheeks. She had grown hard over the past year, but even she had not totally lost touch with herself. And for a moment Ernest saw the gawkish girl he knew from high school.
“I’m sorry,” Ernest said. “I should have checked the contents before I gave it to you.”
“No, you shouldn’t,” Jenny said. “You wouldn’t have removed the photo even if you had seen it. It’s just… like they’re not my parents anymore. Like they never existed. I’m not sure how I think. It’s like my old life was a dream and never really happened.”
“I know how that feels,” Ernest said.
“Yes,” Jenny said. “I supposed all you Flowers do. It’s what’s great about what we’re going through, isn’t it? The fact we’ve been through it together and now we’re in the same place. It unites us, links us in a way that no one else can ever be.”
“We’re lucky we have each other,” Ernest said.
Jenny smiled and grinned. It broke into a sad expression once again. She burst forward and wrapped her arms around Ernest, hugging him tight. Ernest smiled and returned the cuddle. It felt nice.
“We’d best be getting back,” Jenny said, straightening up and wiping the tears from her eyes. “They’ll be wondering where we got to.”
Yes, Ernest thought. Especially Fritz. That thought alone brought a smile to his lips.
Chapter Twenty-Four
SARAWAT and the warriors pulled the boats onto shore and up the beach, and then spread out, taking position before the jungle.
They couldn’t miss the weapons even if they wanted to. They lay on the ground, presented to them like a gift. The warriors shared a look, cautious. But they couldn’t leave the weapons where they were. They were too powerful in battle to leave them behind.
Sarawat approached them, keeping his eyes on the jungle foliage. The wind blew, but everything moved naturally. He picked up the gun, and felt the weight in his hands. He moved it around. It felt heavy, unwieldy and slow compared to his ax.
Then he pulled the trigger. The bullets thudded into the tree trunk, spitting woodchips. It was so easy. A man could control the world armed with this one machine alone. And yet he still gripped his ax in his hand. He looked at it, but couldn’t bring himself to let it go altogether. He tucked it into the loop at his waist.
Then he moved into the jungle. He’d keep an eye out while the other warriors picked up their own guns. Who had left them here for them, for what purpose, Sarawat didn’t know. He didn’t care.
Now, fully armed, they were ready. The white man was as good as dead.
Chapter Twenty-Five
JENNY, armed with a tray laden with food, headed into the stables behind Falcon’s Nest. Beside the sheep, pigs and chickens resided a dangerous animal. She was restrained, tied up, but she would be ready, Jenny knew, to seize upon any opportunity.
Captain Shih lay leaning against the wall, in what must have been an uncomfortable position. Apparently it was the only one she could find sleep. The smell wasn’t so bad. It was of hay, animals, and the vague essence of excrement. It was better than Shih deserved.
She was still asleep when Jenny put the tray of food on the floor, stood up, and turned to leave.
“Hello, pretty lady,” Captain Shih said. “You know, had I known about your sexual persuasion I could have helped make life aboard The Red Flag a lot easier on you. I’ve always found men to be vastly overestimated. It’s like they’re always have a pissing contest, always trying to see which of them has the longer penis. There is no space for ego in leadership. You do what you do because you have to. No hard feelings.”
“If I’d have told you I was a woman, you would have used it against me,” Jenny said. “Just as you use everything against everyone, for your own ends.”
Captain Shih shrugged.
“I make no apologies,” she said. “You’re smart, Jim. Or should I say, Jen
ny? I never should have underestimated you. It’s difficult to know when someone will be useful to me, others a hindrance, which is why I run the ship the way I do, so only the strong can rise to the top.”
“Only the ruthless can rise,” Jenny said. “I’ve seen what you and your plans create. You’re a monster.”
“We are what our world makes us,” Captain Shih said. “Take you, for example. You were an upright member of society before, I would guess. You were probably a straight A student, a little shy. The kind of kid every parent wants. And then the virus came, and it forced you to remold yourself into the person you are now. Strong, a fighter. You are someone I can work with. And you’re a woman—all the better, I find.”
Jenny had heard just about enough from Captain Shih. She had no intention of being here any longer than she needed.
“Your men will be here soon and you’ll be released,” Jenny said.
She turned to leave, but Captain Shih hadn’t finished with her yet.
“Set me free,” she said. “Come with me, and together we return to The Red Flag. You will take up your position as the first mate and keep track of all the weapons caches I have hidden on each of the islands. What do you say?”
“I say go to hell,” Jenny said.
“Doesn’t it ever bother you?” Captain Shih said. “The fact you’re the reason this family is in all this trouble? That they will end up dying, just for you? But there is a way out of here. It’s very simple.”
“If I let you go, you’ll leave the Flowers alone?” Jenny said.
“I will,” Captain Shih said. “If I don’t, you won’t tell me where my guns are. The family gets to live, and we’re all happy.”
“How can I trust your word?” Jenny said.
“Because I want what’s inside your head,” Captain Shih said. “I wouldn’t risk that just to get at this family.”
The pirates would be getting close. The natives too. And they would all be heading here, to the Flowers’ home. All because of her. She didn’t need to do this to them. They didn’t need to risk their lives for her. They were good, caring people, and she was going to be their doom. They had managed to survive this long, and now they were going to die because they had tried to shelter her, Jenny, from harm.
