Exclusive first look at an upcoming short story collection!

This story I'm sharing with you today is an exclusive for a collection of short stories I'm working on getting released this summer. This book (as most things I write) is zombie themed. Not every story is blood and gore. I took my beats for this story from older people I've known in my 35 years on this planet; people who have fought in world wars and people who protested each time.

“If You Grow Enough Flowers”

Living in rural Virginia, with the Blue Ridge Mountains, some people fared better in the Zombie Plague. One man, Roy “Chickenplanter” MacKenzie, left a stunning handwritten journal documenting his experiences in his life, and over the course of the Zombie Plague. The following selection is carved in stone and now resides as a monument to rugged individualism in his home-town of Pikebrook, Virginia.

‘My Granddaddy fought in the second World War, and he would always talk about the ingenuity of the French. He’d married my Granny, a Frenchwoman, and brought her here to the states. He didn’t have all the bad things to say about the French people surrendering, the quislings, and all that. Just’n knowing that the French people were good, and had the odds stacked against them. He always talked about the hedgerows, the sometimes 16 foot tall packed earth and plant walls dividing up properties all around the nation. “Made the invasion of Normandy a real pain in the ass” he’d say. “Made for good neighbors”, granny would say with a smile.

It’s probably why he had raised earth walls all around the homestead where I live. Planted thick with raspberries, buckthorn, and climbing roses, they were beautiful and gave Granny a taste of home. He bragged that he’d never had to pick up a gun again, after the war. I wish I could say the same during this but I’d be lyin’. Sometimes men would come to steal from the farm, and they was dealt with accordingly through all this, but the zombies were never a problem.

The walls of berries and roses and packed earth were enough to keep them out. They confused them. I’d planted perennial tulips all around the property in rows 15 plants deep around the walls since I was a boy. Daddy had said I always fancied myself as an artist. A field of tulips made the zombies easy to spot, and the wall of roses and thorns made it near impossible for them to get in. I guess what I’m trying to say is while everybody is boasting about bullets and spears and arrows winning the Zombie Plague war, I can’t help but think of what Granddaddy said when he left my family this homestead: “If you grow enough flowers, you don’t see as much bad in the world.” I think of that every day.’

These words and the actions of Roy during the Plague lead to the state of Virginia and some other surrounding regions investing in new man-made natural plant walls as insurance in case such another incident took place. The berries picked from the vines help with local humanitarian efforts and helps the state employ 3-6 thousand Virginians annually.

Roy “Chickenplanter” MacKenzie passed away of natural causes in his homestead surrounded by flowers and friends. Upon reanimation he was executed by request and buried beside his tulips.



Thank you so much for taking the time to read this story! If you have any comments or creative criticism, please feel free to comment below! I hope everyone has a great Zombie-Free day! 

If you'd like to support my writing and other artistic pursuits, please consider visiting my Ko-Fi and donating coffee. Thanks again,

-Kevin