Through the Eyes of the Phoenix
(Darkness Falls Trilogy)
Book 3 Martin W. Francis
Copyright © 2015 by Martin W. Francis
Cover Edited Version of Creative Commons Commercial Use Photography © 2015 by Martin W. Francis.
All rights reserved.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or electronic or mechanical means – except in the case of brief quotations embodied in articles or reviews – without written permission from its publisher or author.
The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or deceased, is purely coincidental and not intended by the author.
First Edition, 2015
Copyright © 2015 Dark Storm Press
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I wish to dedicate the final book in the Darkness Falls Trilogy to the wonderful readers who have been with me from the beginning. Thank you for supporting my work. I recently saw individuals dressed up as Fallen at a Sci-Fi/Horror/Anime convention. I was not sure if I should hug them or shoot them, but it was extremely flattering. Please feel free to write me, send me pictures of characters from the books, and be sure to tell me hi if you run across me in person. As long as you are not infected with the Living Death plague... I will gladly shake your hand or write you back.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1 Introduction
Chapter 2 Alpine
Chapter 3 Bullet, Blades, and Hand Grenades
Chapter 4 Transformation
Chapter 5 Confrontation
Chapter 6 All Good Things…
Epilogue
Chapter 1
Introduction
I learned long ago in class that the world was much different before I was born. Everything changed with a single explosion on U.S. soil. There was massive plume cloud that released microorganisms into the atmosphere initially infecting several towns in New Mexico that were quickly quarantined by the military under the guise of a nuclear reactor explosion. The microorganisms carried through the atmosphere falling to Earth during small storms that slowly infected the people in the United States (now known as the Allied Nation). Finally there was a huge blizzard that hit hard infecting millions with the virus that was given the name Living Death. No cure was found for the virus, as it grew into an epidemic. All that became infected with the Living Death virus struggled for at most three days before becoming deceased. They came back from the dead as something no longer human with their eyes glowing a pale blue. The bodies do decay only more like a human ages. There is no Rigor Mortise that normally locks down muscles or causes limbs to stiffen after death. The undead creature have a rage and hunger for blood which drives them. Their strength I am told is often like when a human gets an adrenaline rush. When they attacked, their prey are often overwhelmed unless they quickly dispatch them by destroying the brain. If you are bitten by the Fallen (term given to those that changed into the undead creatures) it takes a little longer to become infected, but eventually you die changing into yet another of their large numbers. The government fell with the leaders fleeing to foreign countries. The epidemic continued to spread worldwide infecting billions on the planet.
One of my mothers, Jessie or Jess for short is the only human known to have survived after a bite. She was part of a group that came together while the world was falling apart. They fought every day to live against overwhelming odds. They faced not only the undead walking around in great numbers, but also the living. In time they found a secured community in Alpine, Texas where likeminded individuals invited them in with open arms. I was born and raised here. The many people that live here, I consider them all as family.
My name is Ember Starlette Pendleton. I have blue eyes and black hair. My biological mother Amy says my hair was brown when I was really young. I am very slender as well as tall for my age so I’m often told. I turned fifteen years old as of today, September the thirteenth. I’m writing in a journal that was one of my birthday presents from Jessie. My father Rye passed away before I was born. From what I have read or been told, I really wish I could have met him. He is still remembered for his leadership. He is also likewise admired even to this day for his sacrifice. If not for him I would never have been born. This journal is full of entries from both Rye and Jessie. From their words alone, I have learned much from what I have so far read. I skimmed to the end to see where things where left off. Apparently the last journal entry was thirteen years ago. I will do my best to catch things up to this point in time.
The three legged, fierce, and awesome dog Tempest (half Akita and half wolf) was part of my most cherished childhood memories. She was always right by my side sharing in my many adventures imaginative or otherwise. She sadly passed away when I was seven while on a trip outside the wall. She gave her own life saving someone from the Fallen. She is the only dog I have ever seen in my life (other than in picture books of course).
My Aunt April owns a bakery which she has ran for as long as I can recall. She makes the most freakishly awesome pecan pie that is to die for! Her wavy red hair and green eyes are her most striking features that make many women envious.
Uncle Dan (Amy’s brother who is married to April) is a pharmacist who with a little help makes necessary medications for the population of Alpine from plants that are grown or gathered on supply runs. He also works part-time at the minor medical clinic. He has taught me a lot about herbalism, basic medical aide, and other things along those lines. He has blonde hair, blue eyes, is slightly shorter than all his other siblings according to what I’ve been told, and built like a lumberjack.
Aunt Aurora, who is without a doubt my favorite relative, still travels often looking for supplies and survivors outside the walls. She has blonde hair that she sometimes adds pink streaks to, blue eyes, a few tattoos, is five-foot seven, and has an athletic physique. She always has the best stories to tell when she comes back from a trip. I respect her for her honesty, telling things as they are, and not leaving out the gruesome details when they happen. I am an avid fan of horror stories. Her novel ‘Dead Heads’ that she wrote ages ago got me hooked when I first learned to read.
Uncle Kurt (Amy’s brother that was married to Aurora) passed away last year. He occasionally went out on supply runs with Aurora when he wasn’t too busy running the oil refinery that keeps everyone’s house warm and supplies the fuel for transportation. He taught me everything there is to know about hunting and camping once I turned nine. It became a yearly custom that I always looked forward to.
Even though Aunt Aurora usually tells me all the gruesome details, I’m honestly glad that she simply stuck to the basic facts on what happened to Uncle Kurt. All I know is they ran across a small group of bad people. Kurt took out four of them, the last with his bare hands, before he took his last breathe. Aurora finished off the remaining three with minor injuries to herself. Since that day, we go out in groups of four at a minimum for anything beyond the walls. Aunt Aurora hasn’t been her normal cheerful self since they buried Kurt in Slumberhaven near my dad and David (He was part of the original group before they came to Alpine. I have been told many stories about him and Starlette from whom my middle name derived). I have tried everything possible to cheer Aunt Aurora up to get her out of her funk this last year. I don’t plan to give up since I at least have the talent to make her smile on occasion even if only for a short period of time.
My biological mother Am
y became a teacher when I turned five. It was from her that I learned the basics of education. She teaches kindergarten through sixth grade although there never have been many students. She currently has five kids that she teaches. At twelve, I was moved to Mr. Franklin’s classroom. He is old, boring, and not as fun as my mom was.
Jessie was elected as what the old civilization once called mayor. She is in charge of the city and its population as a whole. She is currently in the second year of a four-year term. I grew up with her being the security and defense chief (she was in charge of all outer and inner defenses, weapons depot, the security detail protecting the wall, and chief over law enforcement inside the wall after Curtis Wright retired.
Well, that is all of the updates I can think of for those previously mentioned. For future entries in the journal, I will simply refer to everyone by their first names to make things simpler. I will attempt to gather information on important things that have happened during the last thirteen years to add to the journal. I will also write if something interesting occurs in the present. I will probably end up writing often seeing how there is always something of interest in an apocalyptic world full of Fallen, right?
Chapter 2
Alpine
-1-
After a long conversation with my godfather Peter (who I forgot to mention before), I have some new stuff to write. First, he is still doing well. Yes, he is still as crazy as when my family first met him. Peter is about five-foot two, with short red hair, has a few extra pounds around the waist, and is very eccentric. He still lives on a block entirely by himself except when new potential residents are staying in one of the guest houses. He greets them, shows them around town explaining everything, and helps them through the transition of becoming part of our society. Holidays are still extravagant at Peter’s house (one of the things I love to death about him). I will not lie; he has always spoiled me on my birthday and during Christmas. He is now part of the Committee of Five, which are elders that oversee various projects. Their main agenda is the direction that the Alpine community develops.
Something I thought I would mention happened when I was ten years old. I slightly recall hearing about it from Jess back then (was probably too preoccupied with homework or something). A small group consisting of seven individuals were brought in to potentially join the community.
“I can’t even imagine living outside the walls without everything our community provides; especially for all those years on their own,” I told Peter.
“The truth about that group which we did not share with the general population is that they were actually part of one of the five communities we now occasionally trade with. There are six communities in the Allied Nation and three in Canada that we are aware of. Of those nine communities ours has the largest population at one hundred and forty-three people.”
Peter told me that he figured I was old enough now to hear the truth about what happened. The seven individuals that were invited in to tour the town for citizenship were supposedly kicked out of their community for not following an order to tie a man to a pole out in the open exposed to the Fallen for stealing food for his starving family (due to extreme rationing). Instead, they took him outside the walls releasing him with supplies to get him by for a little while. The man they released eventually returned in an attempt to sneak his family out being caught in the process. The man ended up tied to the pole where the small escort was supposed to originally take him. The escort that had failed to do their duty was reprimanded by even smaller rations for themselves and their families. They decided it was in their best interest to seek out a new haven among one of the other communities.
I should just spill the beans now to make the story shorter. The entire story they gave was a complete farce concocted so they could infiltrate our community. They were sent to find out our numbers, defenses, weaknesses, and what kind of supplies we had.
Jessie had not been available when they first arrived attending to other duties. When she met them the following day, she immediately knew they were fishy. My mom is basically a human lie detector due to her previous work for the military. She took Peter aside the first chance she got telling him that constant lies were oozing from their mouths. Since they had not yet been given the big tour of the community, Jessie took over as their guide while Peter tagged along. She made sure to show them our defenses were not weak, that we had large numbers of people readily available, and slightly exaggerated about certain aspects to create fear in anyone that might attempt attacking us. She controlled every facet of what they saw.
She then had Aurora secretly infiltrate their group as a disgruntled citizen that supposedly despised our community with a believable back-story. Aurora fed them tidbits of false information to gain their trust. They quickly opened up to her about their true purpose suggesting that she return with them when they left. The following day after learning why they were in Alpine the seven conspirators were escorted at gunpoint outside the wall by a small brigade of thirty heavily armed individuals. They were given meager supplies with a message Jessie personally relayed to them. According to Peter her speech was something similar to this:
“You are being freely released without harm to return to Hot Springs, Montana. If your community needs supplies then inform them to communicate with us directly. We have no problem working out some kind of trade or bartering system with them. However, if your community decides to attack us for what is ours, they will find we are not so easily defeated. If they choose to forego further treacherous acts, they will find we are not so kind in the future...such as simply returning their citizens. I will personally see that any others that enter under false pretense will never spend a day in a cell. They will no longer have to fear the Fallen. They will however pray for a swift death for every second that they continue to breathe. I promise that you do not want to know the wrath I am capable of. I am but a single person that makes up this community. Do not test the strength, resolve, or wrath of the others that reside here. Leave now while you still can!”
Apparently, their community must have taken Jessie’s words to heart since we now occasionally trade with them. Peter says there have been no further instances of treachery from that day that he is aware of.
It has been a few days from when last I wrote. Yesterday afternoon I was walking home from school when I came across Sandra at the park. We have been best friends for a couple years now. She is three years older than I am. We first met four years ago when she came in the gates for the first time. I had never seen anyone quite like her before, but she does have some slight similarities to that of Aurora I suppose. The first time I saw her she had long bright purple hair, dark green eyes, several piercings, and a lot of tattoos (she was only fourteen at the time I might add). I am not going to lie; I secretly followed her around for months before we became close friends. There was another thing about her that drew me to her. When she arrived at Alpine, she was carrying a small orange tabby cat (I had never seen a cat before. The older generations that had seen cats before were all under the impression that they no longer existed.). The cat was named Ally. I learned over time that cats are the exact opposite of dogs, yet Ally often made me think of Tempest. The love of animals that we both shared is what eventually broke the ice between Sandra and me. That came about by showing her a Polaroid picture that Aurora had taken of me hugging my large fluffy white dog when I was younger. Sandra immediately wanted to hear all the stories I could tell her about the adventures I shared with my three-legged friend growing up. We were inseparable after that day.
When I saw her at the park, I walked over taking the swing next to her.
“Hey there, Ember. How was school?”
“Mr. Franklin put me to sleep a couple times. I apparently have to write an essay for English and come up with an idea for a Science project. Wish I was already done with school like you.”
I am very happy that last year was my last. However, there is the community placement exam coming up in about a week. I have
to choose a few things I’m interested in doing to begin with. Then, I have to take tests to see if I have aptitude in those positions before I even qualify for training. Training is going to keep me busy most days of the week. The whole transition between school and placement was way too short. I wish I could have had a full year vacation before having to worry about if I’ll be accepted for whatever I choose to do.”
“Wow, you are definitely making me look forward to finishing school,” I said sarcastically.
We both laughed.
“Sorry to be a buzzkill Em. Hey, since its Friday want to come stay the night? My dad is making a veggie pizza for dinner. It’s not as good as pepperoni pizza according to him, whatever that is. The good news is that the veggie pizza will obviously be delicious. He is the best chef in town after all.”
“I’m sure my parents will be ecstatic to get rid of me for some alone time.”
“Dang it, you had to put thoughts in my head. You do realize that both your moms are super-hot.”
“That is just gross Sandra.”
“Calm your tits, hun. Let’s pretend the last part of this conversation never happened. Want me to walk home with you to sweet talk your parents into letting you stay over?”
“I guess you can come with so I don’t have to carry everything I plan on taking to your place all by myself. No flirting with my moms though, seriously. It’s disturbing when you do that.”
“I promise to be on my best behavior. Am I allowed to ogle or flirt with you at least? If not I will have to gouge out my eyes, sew my mouth shut, and chop off my hands to make sure I don’t disturb you.”
“Funny Sandra.” I jumped out of the swing beginning to walk while trying to hide the fact that I was likely blushing bright red. Sandra knows I have had a crush on her for the last year, but neither of us has mentioned it directly.
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