The Swiss Family RobinZOM (Book 2) (18 page)

“You guys, come look at this,” Ernest said.

At Ernest’s feet was one of the metal traps he’d made. It had been torn apart, pieces lying strewn like an incomplete jigsaw puzzle. Thick clots of blood decorated the sharp protruding wires. The Robinson boys shared a concerned look.

“What could have done this?” Ernest said.

“Something strong,” Fritz said. “Something we haven’t seen on the island before.”

They ran in the direction of the mountain.

“There’s the fallen strut,” Ernest said. “It must have gotten knocked over.”

“Yeah, but by what?” Jack said.

One strut leg had been knocked aside, the pipe twisted and displaced. Water spilled from the end, dribbling onto the parched ground, forming a narrow stream down to the bottom of the incline.

Fritz grabbed the strut and lifted it, pushing it up so it was the same height as the others. The water stopped leaking and continued to roll down the pipes again.

“Something could have just bumped into it,” Ernest said.

“Something large,” Fritz said.

He turned toward the mountaintop.

“What’s that?” he said.

Something fluttered on the crest of the mountain. Ernest covered his eyes with a hand and squinted up at it.

“I don’t know,” he said. “Looks like… a blanket?”

“It must be where they had their picnic,” Ernest said.

“Great,” Fritz said. “Then where are they now?”

A low groan rattled up from below, dampened by distance. A coursing surge of terror surged up inside them. The memory of a ship at night, tossed by an angry sea, of fire grabbing at them with stinging hands, and smoke choking their lungs.

“It’s them,” Fritz said, turning white. “They’re here.”

A scream, made more horrific than anything they had ever heard before because they recognised the throat it issued from, echoed from somewhere below.

The boys raised the meagre weapons in their shaking hands and followed the noise.

Bill pulled Liz behind himself, using his body as a shield. He grabbed the pile of books from the table and threw them at the zombies, smacking them in the face. The zombies hissed and growled, stumbling further into the cave.

The romantic love song continued on as Bill turned the table over and kicked at its legs, but they were strong and wouldn’t snap off. The zombies raised their rotting arms and rushed him.

Bill picked up the table and ran forward, pressing two zombies against the wall.

A third zombie, smaller than the others, came in last through the entrance. The figure reached for Bill with heavy arms.

Bill let the table fall, striking the cave floor. It broke into pieces. Bill picked up two of the table legs and backed away. He handed one to Liz, and held the other himself.

“We need to attack them together,” Bill said. “If we attack them together we can beat them.”

The smallest figure approached them, arms held out. Bill raised the table leg up high, preparing to bring it down. He roared, and then stopped, frozen, as the zombie stepped into the flickering candle light.

“Priya?” Bill said, his voice tight.

Priya’s face was torn, the skin peeled back. One round cheek was now a dark gaunt cavern. The other side of her face was almost untouched, just a smear of blood on her chin. The comparison between the two halves only made the difference more horrific.

Bill’s arm fell, the chair leg clattering to the stone floor.

“Priya…” Bill said. “No…”

A second figure entered the globe of light, and upon seeing his face, Bill whispered and backed away.

“Rohit… I’m sorry,” he said.

The third figure’s name was unknown to Bill, but he recognised him as the guy with the raucous laugh at the next table to his in The Long Journey’s mess.

“I’m so sorry this happened to you,” Bill said. “Please, forgive me.”

“Bill,” Liz said, holding her chair leg in white knuckles. “Pick up your weapon. We need to do something or we’re both going to die in here.”

“No,” Bill said. “I can’t… I can’t…”

He stepped back, slipped, and fell, smacking his head on the hard rock.

“Bill!” Liz said. “Get up! Bill!”

But he didn’t move.

Liz flew at the zombies, letting her cudgel strike where it may, but no matter how hard she swung at them it didn’t seem to have any effect. The zombies rocked back, and then came forward again, arms outstretched and grasping. Her stick snapped in half over Rohit’s shoulder.

Liz threw her stick at the approaching zombies. She bent down to pick up Bill’s discarded chair leg, but Priya stepped on it, and then accidentally, but effectively, kicked it aside.

Liz bent down, hooked Bill under the arms and dragged him along the floor into the corner.

“Get back!” Liz said. “Go away!”

The zombies moaned, voices loud and deep, sensing victory on some ancient instinctive level.

Liz crouched down over Bill’s prostrate form. The mawing black holes of the zombies’ festering mouths drew closer and larger.

Just then, four roaring voices echoed up the entrance and reverberated inside the cave. The zombies turned to face this new distraction.

“Fritz! Ernest! Jack!” Liz said. “Get out of here now! Go!”

Fritz flew forward at the zombies, bringing his stick down, whomping through the air and striking Rohit across the neck, knocking him back. He pushed Priya against the cave wall. Jack used the point of his stick to jab the third zombie back.

“Haven’t any of you ever read a zombie novel before?” Ernest said. “Hit their heads you fools! Their heads!”

The zombies leaned forward and reached for Jack, who jumped back. Nips screeched and hissed through his tiny teeth. Fritz raised his stick up high and brought it down on Rohit’s head, caving in his skull. He hit the ground, leg twitching.

“One down,” Fritz said. “Two to go.”

Ernest rushed forward and drove the end of his stick into the third zombie’s eye. He pushed hard and drove it into the back of the zombie’s skull. The stick snapped off, protruding from the zombie’s eye socket. The zombie fell to his knees, and then onto his face, his head smacking into the ground, driving the stick out the back of his skull.

Priya stepped toward Fritz, who pushed her back. She floundered, but found her feet. Her head fell to one side, leaning on her shoulder.

“I can’t do it,” Fritz said. “She’s too young.”

“She’s not too young for me,” Jack said, rushing forward and smacking her over the head.

Thick congealed blood puddled on the floor, running between the cracks. The boys panted, out of breath.

“Where’s Francis?” Liz said.

“He’s outside, keeping watch,” Fritz said. “He’ll come running in if more of them arrive.”

“How’s Father?” Ernest said.

Liz sat with Bill’s head in her lap, stroking his hair.

“He’s alive,” she said.

Bill’s eyes flickered open. He cast around, looking at the three unmoving lumps dotted about the cave, and then up at his sons standing over him.

“The boys saved us,” Liz said. “It turns out it was
us
who needed protection all along.”

Bill stood before the long rows of wooden crosses. Just two had names engraved into them. Bill held his hat in his hands.

“I’m sorry it happened like this,” he said. “But at least now you can rest in peace. I wish I could have known you better, longer. I wish I could turn the clock back and warn those people like you wanted to. I wish more than just us could have escaped to this island. Thank you for the sacrifices you made. We will live every day of our lives in your honour.”

Bill kissed his fingertips and pressed them to each of the crosses. He walked across the sand and joined the rest of the Robinsons sitting on the beach, a metre short of where the water reached. Liz smiled at him as he sat down. He smiled back.

“There’ll be a lot more challenges yet for us to face,” Bill said to them all. “This won’t be the last time we’ll have to face these monsters. There will be more of them, and they could come at any time. We have to be ready for them.”

“Will we still be allowed to move around the island by ourselves?” Fritz said.

Bill was silent a long moment.

“Yes,” he said. “But remember it isn’t only your lives you have to think about. Every decision you make will reflect on the people sitting here. If you put yourself in danger, you’re endangering them too.

“We have to defend this island. Switzerland might not exist anymore, but we do. This is New Switzerland. There might be others out there, but until we meet them, we have to assume we’re all that’s left. And if others do come, we must be cautious. It might not seem like it, but we have a good life here. Some people might do anything to take it away from us. We must be ready and alert at all times.”

The foliage rustled.

The Robinsons spun around. A rabbit stood up on his back legs and twitched his pink nose at them. He turned and ran back into the hedge.

The Robinsons relaxed, and looked at one another. They each had a weapon in hand, weapons that until a moment ago weren’t even visible. They smiled at one another.

“Somehow, I think we’ll be ready,” Ernest said.

“I hope so,” Bill said.

“Come on,” Liz said, getting to her feet. “Let’s get to bed. We’ve all had a tough day. And tomorrow we get to do it all over again.”

The family dusted the sand off their clothes and walked along the beach to their treehouse.

The sun, a yellow-orange orb, sat on the horizon, leering down at the island. A large shadow with black sails floated past it. High in the crow’s nest, grinning and grimy, a Jolly Roger flag. It snapped and flapped in the wind.

It looked like it was laughing.

The Swiss Family RobinZOM
really has only just begun.

They’ve managed to survive by hunting animals and farming crops, but next comes their greatest challenge: how will they cope with a marauding horde of zombies? Will they stay and fight? Or will they flee to safer climes?

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The Swiss Family RobinZOM
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Perrin Briar is an English author best-known for his apocalypse series
Blood Memory
,
Z-Minus
, and
Swiss Family RobinZOM
. He was born in Huntingdon, grew up in Norfolk, graduated from Bournemouth, worked in London, and then chucked it all in to live in South Korea.

He has written for BBC radio, and worked in the production and development departments of the BBC, ITV and Channel 4.

You can email him at
[email protected]
  or tweet at
@perrinbriar
. He loves corresponding with fans, so don’t hesitate to contact him if you have a question!