The Phoenix Trilogy (Book 1): World On Fire

by Scottie, Charles

  After several minutes of silent and tense traveling, BJ gave the signal to stop. Like clockwork, each man raised their rifle and scanned the surrounding area. They were still in the woods, though Natalie could barely make out another neighborhood ahead, as well as the one they had just left behind. They were close enough that every so often she could catch a sound coming from the zombie house. It made her shiver, but in some deep place at the back of her mind, she felt a twinge of excitement.

  Grunting to himself, BJ lowered his rifle and nodded his head. Rico and Marco matched his movements, agreeing that for the moment they were safe. Natalie questioned their actions, but held enough faith in them to trust what they were doing. In her mind, they were in a very precarious position, and this was definitely not a good place to take a breather.

  While it was true that they had spent more than a few minutes traversing the greenbelt, the going had been excruciatingly slow, and so they remained uncomfortably close to the hostiles behind them. The careful pace was a frustration that Natalie understood, even if it did go against every instinct she had.

  As much as sprinting pell-mell into the woods and away from danger had seemed like a good idea at the time, the reality was that crunching leaves and breaking branches would be more than noisy enough to alert any unwanted visitors to their location. In light of that, they had taken painstaking efforts to avoid or at least dampen as much of their sound as possible. If it wasn't for the several lightly used trails that ran between neighborhoods, it would have likely been impossible for them to remain undetected. It was a blessing Natalie reminded herself to be thankful for.

  After another minute of silence, it looked like whatever motivation the men had for stopping was about to reveal itself. BJ had turned to settle his attention on Natalie, and while the cousins continued to scan the surrounding area, the group crouched low and shifted closer together.

  “We're going to wait here for a minute to see if that racket will draw any more targets out into the open.” His voice came out in a low whisper, but Natalie suspected there was another reason they were pausing.

  “Explain to me the reasoning behind everything we've been doing.” BJ's demand came as a shock. She glanced at Rico for confirmation, but he was focused on his watch duty.

  “Don't look at him, he's busy. I asked you a question. Look at me.” The tone was one of absolute demand, the kind that brooked no hesitation. Natalie suddenly felt like she was on trial, but she refused to back down. She had promised herself she wouldn't be a burden, and for better or for worse, she kept her promises. Facing BJ, she thought back over everything that happened. Slowly, she spoke.

  “We've been sticking to the woods instead of the roads. The woods risk making more noise but give you more cover, where the roads are the other way around...” she paused, realizing that that didn't make enough sense. She was missing something.

  “And... the zombies would make more noise in the woods, so it would be easier to avoid them or hear them coming.” Natalie looked to BJ for approval, but his face was devoid of emotion.

  She wasn't going to get her grade until after the test, it seemed. Unconsciously, her hands fidgeted with the straps on her pack. She considered waiting out the clock, knowing that soon the group would be satisfied that any lurkers in the area were preoccupied and it was safe to move forward. Shaking her head to clear the tension, she couldn't help but feel that doing so would be considered a failure on her part.

  “We... hid under cars.” Under cars, not beside them or in them. “We did that because if we had been leaning against them, we would have risked being spotted by the biters that came out to investigate the noise.” Natalie smiled to herself at the term “biters,” but quickly let it go on realizing that this probably wasn't the time for coming up with cute nicknames. Everything about this felt like she was in a job interview, but she had no idea what she was applying for.

  “We could have hidden inside for extra defense, but it would be more likely we'd be spotted and if we were seen, we'd basically have been canned food.” Another joke she didn't mean to tell, and Natalie blushed. It was a knee-jerk habit for her. She'd have felt more self-conscious about it, but she suddenly remembered that this is the group that decided to take Marco. She couldn't be that bad, by comparison.

  “The only other thing I can think of was throwing the rock as a distraction. You targeted a window to make the most noise, and to lure them into a boxed area where their vision would be compromised.” It wasn't the kind of phrasing she would normally use, but after everything else she'd said, Natalie wanted to end on a more professional note.

  “Plus, considering how many enemies there actually were, if we had engaged the target in the open we would probably have been killed.” Satisfied that she'd said everything she could, she nodded at BJ. He growled a short reply.

  “Finished?”

  Natalie fought back another wave of test anxiety. She'd said what she knew. Panicking about it now wasn't going to help her. With a small gulp of suspense, she nodded again. “Finished.”

  They sat in silence for a couple minutes more, the sound of distant crashing still emanating from the house behind them. Then, without another word, BJ signaled for the group to continue moving.

  Natalie wasn't sure what to think. In most cases, being casually dismissed wasn't a good thing. Then again, BJ didn't strike her as the kind of person to gush their approval over a job well done, either. With nothing else to do, she simply followed behind Rico as they made their way into another neighborhood.

  Time passed relatively uneventfully. The party rarely spoke to each other, save for Rico whispering a reminder to Natalie that she needed to eat from time to time. They encountered a handful of zeds, but each was dealt with in the same way: hide low, throw something, wait, move, wait. The consistency in their actions made Natalie realize something.

  There was no denying that the zombies were a threat, and she recognized that the only reason they had been able to handle them so easily was mostly due to lucky circumstances. Even thinking about that, she found her fear ebbing away. They were monsters, but they still had patterns that could be manipulated. They weren't unstoppable or invincible. All you needed to survive was to know how they'd react. It was a subtle epiphany, but it stuck at the back of her mind; a comforting warmth against the feeling of cold terror that she had known for so long.

  Eventually they began to run out of greenery to travel through, and as they got closer to more urban settings BJ called for them to take shelter in a nearby gas station. The men grew notably more tense as they neared their destination, and it wasn't hard for Natalie to realize why.

  If there were creeps inside the building, they wouldn't be able to trick them into leaving. They were going to have to deal with them directly. Natalie was reminded of the day before, when she had been forced to fight for the first time. To her surprise, she felt that same grim determination forcing its way into her heart. This wasn't going to be a simple cut-and-dry procedure, even if they did have training for handling it, but it was something she was going to have to get used to. Or die trying.

  The fatalistic thought made her smirk, and when BJ glanced back to see if they were ready to get started, he noticed it. Before Natalie had time to wonder if she'd be judged for her brevity at a time like this, BJ's lips cracked into the nearest thing she'd seen to a smile yet.

  The appearance of the gas station put a dent in their moment. Natalie's smirk faded as she saw the broken glass surrounding the double doors that lead inside. There was dried blood everywhere, an impossible amount. Worse were the tracks left in the decaying muck, a mess of shoes and hands that reminded Natalie more of a macabre dancing pattern than evidence of a mass slaughter. Bullet holes were scattered haphazardly across the walls, a testament to desperation that people would have fired their guns so near to the gas pumps.

  The closer they got, the more the smell of rot and decay seemed to permeate the air, wafting from the building in waves. Even after donning
her mouth wrap, it was nauseating. Natalie had to bite her tongue to force her attention back to the task at hand.

  Resorting to nearly a crawl, BJ and Marco took up position next to one side of the shattered doors while Rico and Natalie crouched at the opposite end. Gesturing for Natalie to keep her head down, Rico rose up just high enough to look through the window. BJ was scanning what he could through the door, and Marco was vigilant as ever, ensuring that nobody would startle them while they worked. Natalie was briefly thankful for the gloomy weather, if for no other reason than the slight darkness it provided them.

  Satisfied that there weren't any immediate threats, BJ and Rico exchanged a nod before setting down to remove the rest of the glass from the lower door panes. Piece by piece they gently set aside the shards, slowly creating a small entryway into the building. Natalie paused to consider what the purpose of that was, before Rico pointed to a small bell tied to the inside of the door handle.

  If they'd just slid the doors open it would have jingled, and any hopes for a stealthy approach would have been lost. Natalie chastised herself for not paying attention, disappointed that she hadn't been more observant. Mistakes like that weren't easily forgiven, and if she had been leading, it may very well have gotten her group killed. Resolving to learn more from Rico and the others, Natalie found herself surprised at her own motivation.

  She had never fancied herself a leader. Yet here she was, frustrated more at the fact that she could have made a decision that would have put other people in danger than she was at the very real risk of harm to herself. It was an unusual thought for Natalie, and one that was quickly swept under the mental rug. Considering the idea of leadership made her anxious, and quite frankly she didn't have time for that.

  Making her point for her, Rico and BJ had finished their work and were prepared to enter the station. It was time to move. The whole building seemed eerily quiet, an uncomfortable blanket of silence that suggested impending danger more than serenity. Natalie hoped it was just her nerves running wild, but she couldn't shake the feeling that her survival instincts were picking up on something too subtle for her waking senses to detect.

  Every step inside was measured, BJ and Rico in front while Natalie and Marco mirrored their movements in tandem. There was a counter in front of a back room to their immediate left, while four aisles divided the rest of the building to their right. Directly ahead of them was another entryway, this one blocked by a car that seemed to have been parked there intentionally.

  Approaching the first aisle, Natalie felt the silence continue to press down on her. Her breathing was too loud, and her heartbeat seemed so noisy that it was sure to give her away. She looked to Marco, expecting his usual cocky swagger, but was taken back by the pale gleam in his eyes. Catching sight of BJ as he glanced over his shoulder, she saw the same thing. They may be trained, but they were still uncomfortable with all of this. It was a bittersweet revelation, but Natalie took comfort in knowing that she wasn't alone in feeling nervous.

  As Rico swept his rifle down to clear the aisle, BJ kept his focus ahead while Marco watched the counter. Natalie glanced around, trying to find something she could do to help. The place was a mess, and most of her attention was on making sure she didn't step on something that would give her away.

  Nearly all of the shelves had been ransacked, and the floor was littered with garbage left behind. Candy wrappers, bottles, and bullet casings were everywhere, caked down with dry blood. All of the clutter made navigating the floor somewhat more challenging than she would have normally expected.

  Flashing the all-clear, Rico continued to the second aisle. His face blanched, and Natalie thought they were going to be in for a fight. Her fingers tightened around her shotgun as she dug it deeper into her shoulder. Instead, Rico signaled another all-clear, quickly moving to the third aisle ahead. Natalie briefly considered following after him without examining what had made him sick, but her curiosity won out. She quickly wished it hadn't.

  The smell of death here had reached a crescendo, and the sheer number of bones and ravaged human remains made it clear as to why. Natalie realized that the drag marks in the filth hadn't been from bodies being taken out of the gas station, as she'd originally believed. They were being brought in, to what she could only register as being some kind of feeding spot.

  Considering that the group was still moving to clear the building, Natalie assumed there must be a reason they were opting to stay. Recalling that BJ had quizzed her on their reasoning, she tried to puzzle out what they were doing.

  If the freaks bring their food here, we should be leaving right now. Natalie forced down the urge to dry heave, doing her best to not think too heavily on what “their food” actually meant.

  But, we're still here. That means we're either here for a reason, or they're not worried. Another glance at her companions, and their concern was etched clearly on their faces.

  The... mess, is all dried. Looks old. Even smells old. A flash of pessimism rolled through her head as her brain reminded her that she now knew what old dead bodies smelled like.

  Rico signaled a third all-clear, but Natalie was only vaguely paying attention. Her body was following him on auto-pilot while her brain tried to rationalize why they were still in this deathtrap. She didn't even register that the third aisle was also filled with gnawed bones and gore beyond comprehension.

  They were nearly done with the building, but they had to check the final aisle and behind the counter. They couldn't be finished fast enough for Natalie's taste, and judging by the tension coming off of her companions, she wasn't the only one who felt that way.

  As Rico turned to clear the last section, his body froze and his hand snapped to hold position. Then he raised one finger up, four fingers down.

  Guess hoping this place would be empty was too much to ask for. Natalie looked from person to person, waiting to see how they would handle the situation. She may have learned something, if that hadn't been the moment their business was interrupted by a distinct scuffing sound from outside.

  A flair of panic erupted in Natalie's chest. BJ and Marco quickly pressed her backwards into the slaughter of the third aisle, attempting to take cover from whatever was making its way toward the front door. Rico joined them, doing his best to keep an eye on the entryway without giving away his position.

  Natalie realized they had no way of knowing how many hostiles were approaching, or even what kind of shape they were in. It could be one, it could be a hundred. Considering they were in a place where the dead seemed to gather to eat, the likelihood that they would only have to deal with a single extra attacker was slim.

  Natalie's mind raced with possibilities, trying to think of something she could do. If they waited until the culprit that caused the sound outside showed itself, they would be forced to hide where they were and hope for the best. If there was a group outside, that would very likely mean they would be found and killed. A vivid image of her own corpse being added to the pile behind her made it especially hard to keep her calm.

  BJ nodded at Rico for an update, but he only shook his head in response. They had a little bit of time, but it was fading fast. The men seemed to be hunkering down for a fight, but Natalie remembered something that might be a better alternative. Or at the very least, something just slightly less likely to get them all killed.

  As quietly as she could, lest she alert the crawler in the next aisle over, Natalie dug through her backpack. A dull glint marked her quarry, and if she was particularly lucky, her salvation. Marco watched her with a mix of confusion and annoyance, a look that turned to a sly wink of approval when she revealed what was in her hand: an old empty can of peaches.

  With BJ and Rico's attention fixated on the door, Natalie took Marco's reaction as permission. Sidling just past Rico, she whispered a low, “Get ready.” before jerking her head in the direction of the crawler that was just on the other side of the shelves. He noticed the can in her hand before offering a grim nod, shifting his weight
closer to the monster they were so near. With Rico in position, Natalie tried to settle her nerves as she prepared her pitch.

  Years ago, Natalie's dad had been insistent on playing games of catch with his daughter whenever they had free time. It was something of a tradition that had never gone away, no matter how old she had gotten. It was that happy memory that now played inside her head as she whipped the can cleanly through the broken door pane, sending it skittering into the middle of the pump lot. A good throw, and one her dad would have been proud of. As much as she missed him, she was glad he wasn't here for all of this.

  A sentiment that only escalated as a group of four zombies rushed toward the sound Natalie had created, two more sprinting out from behind the counter with abandon. The crawler in the next aisle moved to do the same, speeding around the corner nearest them.

  Natalie saw its attention shift from the noise outside to the group of humans who had taken refuge in its den, its eyes fixating on Natalie as she tried to process what she was seeing.

  It looked to have once been a woman, but that humanity had long since withered away. Now it was a beast, arms and legs wiry and muscular beneath shredded clothing. Its torso was just as Marco had told her, an emaciated husk that hugged so tightly you could make out bones and organs.

  Natalie froze at its face, an oozing mask of rage and rot, and a small voice at the back of her mind told her that inaction was going to get her killed. The voice howled louder as the monster shifted its momentum to target the group, but it only lasted a moment before Rico lunged forward.

  He raised his weapon and immediately brought it down hard in a powerful thrust. The stake at the tip of his rifle neatly punctured the creature's forehead with a satisfying crunch, and with a single fluid motion he slammed his boot into its face to separate it from his weapon.

  Even as Rico dispatched their prey, BJ was moving toward the backroom with Marco. Natalie didn't have enough time to question why, maintaining her belief that the men would not lead her astray. The horde outside had gained another handful of members, seemingly from nowhere. She didn't have time to count them, but the number was easily above something they would have been able to handle.