Rise of the Phoenix (The Phoenix Trilogy Book 1)

by M. R. Ferguson

  His hair was matted down on one side, which made her smile. His eyes followed hers and he instantly tried to put his hair in place with his fingers. “It’s not fair when you have a bag of beauty supplies,” he said walking toward her.

  “Here,” she said handing him the mirror and hair spray. Under the circumstances, she had planned to share her toothbrush with him, but sighed happily when he pulled out his own.

  “Have you been to Galveston? I mean we could be walking into a heavily populated gang land,” she spoke showing her uneasiness in her voice.

  “Yeah, I thought about that last night. Maybe we should try for a smaller town first. See if we can get any information on the state of things. We can hit Port Arthur first. It’s smaller and closer. The boat should have enough gas to get us close if we stick to the coastline. After that we’ll have to walk in.

  “Sounds like a plan.”

  They packed up their gear and loaded everything into the small boat. As soon as they were out into the Gulf, the water became choppy and they were plunging up and down and swaying side-to-side all at the same time causing Phoenix to grab the sides of the boat like there was no tomorrow. She did manage to pull the bandage off her wound and wiped it down with some salt water. “Good as new.”

  As they pulled up to the shore Adam hopped out and pulled the boat up onto the sand. They took a few minutes to consolidate all the items they wanted to barter into one backpack. It wasn’t safe to leave anything behind so once again all the packs were hooked together; Adam had three and Phoenix had two.

  All around them were oil drills and large containment drums that stretched up toward the grey sky. They walked the perimeter of the oil fields and made it into town, or what was left of it.

  “Um,” Adam said scratching his head. “I was here a few months back and the town was fine.”

  Every single building, home, and tree was on fire.

  “I thought the sky looked darker here,” Phoenix said looking up.

  “Well, I guess we just keep going on foot then,” Adam said.

  “To where?”

  “We have to try Galveston.”

  Phoenix sighed; she had a bad feeling about it.

  Adam continued, “The city is like a hundred miles from here. It takes a couple hours by car, so we may have to camp out again.”

  She nodded. “Let’s keep to the backcountry though.”

  “It will take longer.”

  “Adam, let’s get one thing straight. I haven’t survived this long to be sniped by some maniac waiting for people or vamps walking down the road.”

  “You’re right. We get there when we get there.” He adjusted his load. “Besides we can stop and get more blood on the way.”

  “What, do you have a stash hidden out in the middle of nowhere?”

  “Yeah, as a matter of fact, I actually do. It’s between here and Galveston. I found a cave system. Runs pretty deep so it keeps the blood bags preserved.”

  “Well by all means lead the way.” She motioned forward with her hand.

  They walked side by side through various fields of dead crops. “How in the hell did you find a cave out here? This is nothing but farm land.”

  “I stumbled on it by accident. I was walking through here and the ground gave way. I fell pretty deep and had some pretty bad cuts, but I was able to get up and walk. I looked up and figured I could climb out so I limped along and explored it. I had to give myself time to heal before I could climb out anyway. It’s not a bad place to crash.”

  “I hear the sun still shines, have you heard that?”

  “I know of a few places. They are heavily guarded though.”

  “How do you know all this? I mean the government is still hunkered down in bunkers last I heard.”

  “Government, yes; military, no. They protect the bunkers. The area has been fenced off and it is patrolled by air and ground troops. Picture Area 51 security.”

  “You’ve seen this?”

  “I’ve been looking for my father. One of the last messages my mother sent to me was some of the locations of bunkers. She hoped that they would be taken to one along with the rest of the stooges.”

  “Why would she want that when they took her husband’s life, job, and family away?”

  “Where else could they go? The launches were going to happen no matter what. Sometimes you need to sleep with the enemy.”

  Phoenix raised her eyebrows and sighed. She knew what he had just said was absolutely right. His parents wouldn’t have had a choice. Adam got lucky and survived, and although he was now a vamp, at least he didn’t suffer for weeks before death or get incinerated by being too close to a blast.

  As they continued to walk through a field of once golden wheat, Phoenix stretched out her hand and let the dry weeds tickle her palm. The sound of their boots made a crunching sound against the dry ground. Above their footsteps they heard a loud whistle; the kind made by someone putting their index finger and thumb against their tongue. Instantly they both hit the ground, guns at the ready. They lay in the tall, dead wheat and waited.

  “How far is this cave?” she whispered.

  “We’re still a few miles off.”

  “Shit,” she said popping her head up just enough to see over the wheat ends. “There are five men approaching us. They have guns.”

  “Stay low and keep moving back.”

  They turned their backs to the men and crawled as fast as they could making sure that the colored backpacks didn’t reach the top of the dried wheat. Phoenix felt the strain on her muscles as they continued through the field. When her head popped out the other side she looked back searching for any movement. “I think we have enough distance to run now,” she said standing.

  Yelling could be heard across the field; the men had seen them take off. If they were human they would never catch them. No, the mutation didn’t give vamps the speed of televised vampires, but their added strength gave them the advantage.

  The dirt path between the two fields also gave them an advantage and they pushed their legs as hard as they could, keeping up with each other easily. They came to a skidding halt when they came to the end and saw a small community of shanties. Phoenix slid as she tried to stop and turn around. Gravel crunched and gave way under her boots, but she got her hands under her and turned around. Adam was on her heels. They didn’t get far, only a few yards when the five men with guns were standing in the middle of the path, gun barrels pointing at them. Two rifles and three shotguns stared them down; on the other end were humans and they didn’t look too happy to be staring into the eyes of vamps.

  Phoenix kept her head low, let her Glock fall down around her trigger finger and dangle there. She and Adam slowly raised their arms.

  Trying to keep her head down to hide her glowing eyes she spoke. “We are looking for someone who would like to trade medical supplies for canned goods.”

  The largest man in the middle of the group cocked his shotgun and the sound made her jump slightly. Why they wouldn’t have their guns ready to fire was beyond her.

  “I can tell what y’all are and ya ain’t goin’ anywhere near our kin.”

  “We’re not here to hurt anyone, sir,” Adam added.

  “Uh huh. I reckon you’d like to drain every one of us,” the same man said.

  Seeing as the men knew what she was Phoenix stood up straight keeping her hands in the air. “We didn’t ask for this to happen to us. You can blame the government for that. From what I see of your people back there….” she looked over her shoulder “you need what we have.”

  Behind Phoenix and Adam stood about twenty people of varying ages. All were dirty. The children had cuts and blood on them. One boy didn’t seem to want to put any weight on his foot, as if it had been injured. Every person, even the females had their heads shaved to the scalp. It was probably much easier that way. Their clothes were torn and tattered.

  The man in the middle stepped forward keeping the gun aimed at Phoenix’s chest. “You’
ll be leaving the firearms right here.”

  Phoenix nodded.

  “Ned! Get the rope!” he yelled, looking at someone just over her shoulder.

  Phoenix wasn’t sure if they were being taken hostage or if an exchange of goods was going to be made.

  A boy in his teens ran from behind Phoenix and toward the group of men and handed them the rope. His appearance was just like the others and he was shoeless.

  “String the bastards together,” the man ordered.

  “Yes, pa.”

  Adam’s hands were tied behind his back and Phoenix’s in the front. They were linked together in the middle by a three-foot length of rope. The five armed men surrounded them as Ned lead the way into the village.

  WALKING THROUGH THE village gave Phoenix a chance to look around. The structures were old and worn. Large gaps were present in all the walls. The roofs were made out of tree limbs tied together with woven grass. Some homes had doors, others didn’t. A few had windows that were obviously stolen from more modern homes. It looked like Colonial America meets the modern world. A young woman, most likely a teen mother, rocked a baby back and forth as she sat on the floor of a wooden porch. Both were dirty. In the center of town was a well and Phoenix wondered why they were all so dirty if they had a water source.

  All the homes sat in two rows facing each other with a wide dirt pathway running down the middle. At the end of the path sat one more shanty and Ned led them right up to its porch. There was a hog pen right next to the house. Chickens roamed free and a few cows were tied off to porch.

  Once inside, Ned turned up the flame on an old oil lamp. The room was sectioned off with curtains. In the central room was a brand new dining room set, which looked fairly expensive to Phoenix and a leather couch; items she was sure were stolen from vacated homes.

  The leader of the group sat down at one side of the table and laid his gun down. The other four kept their weapons aimed, but stood on one side of the room.

  “Word’s gotten out that the military is offerin’ rewards for the likes of you.”

  “Sir, what is your name?” Phoenix asked.

  “Ben Tunstle.”

  “May I call you Ben?”

  He snickered. “You can show some respect to an elder and call me Mr. Tunstle.”

  She nodded and put on a fake grin. “With all due respect, Sir, since the government wants to wipe out their own people, why on earth would you expect them to actually pay you for the capture of vamps? On top of that, money isn’t worth anything.”

  He leaned back in his chair and looked her up and down.

  This situation could quickly get out of hand. There was no way she was going to be taken to any military base. Gazing over at Adam she could see the same apprehension on his face. The gentlemen with the guns were now standing across the room from her and Adam, and for some unforeseen reason they had been stupid enough to leave her knife strapped to her hip. Trying to avoid drawing their attention to her movement, she slowly moved her hand in the direction of the knife. The rope restricted her movement, but her finger was able to graze the knife hilt. Pulling her hands back she waited for a response from Ben.

  “I guess it’s lucky for you I’m not fond of the government,” he finally said. “Now I know you two could kill us real quick so I apologize for the firepower. What y’all got to trade?”

  “Bandages, syringes, pain meds. You name it,” Adam answered.

  Mr. Tunstle pondered for quite a few minutes. Phoenix could see his right leg jiggling up and down under the table. He pointed at them. “If I untie you there better not be any trouble, ya hear?”

  “We won’t lay a hand on any of you,” Adam assured him.

  “Ned!” he called. The boy instantly jogged over and untied them. Phoenix could feel his hands shaking as he did so. As soon as the rope dropped he scurried away.

  Mr. Tunstle ran his tongue over his front teeth and made a sucking noise. “I need one thing from you. Your blood.”

  Phoenix blinked a couple times. “Huh?”

  “I’ve seen it before. Folks get sick, or break a bone and they swallow a vamp’s blood and it heals them.”

  She still wasn’t sure she was hearing him correctly. “That sounds more like a television show.”

  Ben leaned forward on his elbows. “It ain’t no fiction. Saw it myself.”

  She turned to Adam. “When you fell in that cave. How long did it take you to heal?”

  “A day and I was good to go.”

  She felt her arm where the slug had grazed her. There was no pain, no itching, so she squeezed harder; still nothing.

  She looked at Mr. Tunstle. “How much blood?” Just speaking of blood made her eyes blaze brighter and her mouth salivate. The older man took note of her eyes. His eyes never left hers. “I said no problems,” he repeated, pointing his finger toward her.

  “It just happens; I can’t control it.”

  He let it go and moved on. “From what I could tell just a teaspoon healed them folks.”

  “How many people know about this?” Adam asked.

  “Don’t know. We pretty much keep to ourselves out here. There are a few other villages around. We trade goods.”

  Phoenix reached slowly for her knife. She held it up and nodded. “Get me a glass or something to bleed into.”

  “You can’t be serious,” Adam protested. “How do you know this won’t make you too weak and have to feed on these people?”

  That question wasn’t lost on anyone in the room and they all waited for her answer. “I don’t, but we will be on our way right after.” Her eyes widened, hoping to remind him that they were going to the cave with the blood cache.

  “If she gets out of control we’ll shoot her down,” Ben warned. The four men with guns looked nervous, but ready.

  “Alright. This is how this is going to go. I’ll bleed out for you. Adam will have me by the waist. If things get out of hand he yanks me out of here and we run,” Phoenix offered.

  Ben put a bowl down on the table.

  “That’s not going to work. Air will cause it to clot. We need something you can seal up,” she said impatiently.

  Ben turned his back and walked a few steps to the kitchen and fished around in some makeshift cabinets. He pulled out a Mason jar complete with sealing lid for canning food. She slid the blade down her cupped hand and watched the red fluid run into the canning jar. When the blood was about an inch deep, her teeth bit into her bottom lip. She turned to Adam. “We need to go. Now!”

  Everyone in the room backed up. Adam and Phoenix burst out the door as fast as they could. Their backpacks bounced as they ran. Phoenix wanted to turn around. She wanted to bite into one of them. Something animalistic was happening to her and she knew if she didn’t get to that cave soon she may just turn around.

  They stopped to retrieve their discarded guns. As she picked up her Glock from the dust, she turned and looked over her shoulder. Phoenix swallowed hard against the urge she felt. She could see the five men standing at the edge of the village; their guns aimed should she actually run toward them.

  “Let’s go.” Adam grabbed her hand as he spoke and pulled to get her moving. Soon they were out of sight of the village. As they ran across the fields, night was setting in. After an hour of running they finally reached their destination. Phoenix followed Adam down a vertical opening. It was tight and jagged. She could see how he would have gotten pretty banged up falling down this. He had set ropes up for rappelling, which made it easier maneuver around spiked rocks, and trickling water. When she landed he caught her by the waist and untied the rope.

  “Okay, now tell me what the hell happened back there?” he said lighting some lanterns.

  “I was fine at first, then l looked around at them. I could see how much they wanted my blood and it set off my animal instincts. I wanted to take theirs as well. Under no circumstances do I want to hurt or kill anyone.” Letting the backpack straps slide down her arms she sat down against the wall and closed her
eyes. She could still feel the adrenaline running through her body.

  Adam sat down beside her, handing her a bag of blood. And, while e was at it, he drank one too.

  “Have you ever heard of that? The whole blood healing thing?” she asked as she took a pull of the nozzle on the bag.

  “That’s a new one on me.”

  “You said you have information about the TSP.”

  “Yeah,” he looked over at her awaiting her clarification of the question.

  “In a normal nuclear attack the skies wouldn’t be dark like this anymore. Plants are having a hard time growing which means that animal life is being affected as well. It just doesn’t make any sense.”

  He looked down and sighed. “The TSP is still in action. They have silent aircraft that spread chemicals over the blast areas. They only wanted certain areas to remain.”

  “So they know we are still here? They aren’t all hunkered down and hiding?”

  “No.”

  Phoenix shook her head in disbelief. “Those people in the huts looked awful. They not only looked dirty, but also malnourished. Their water supply must be contaminated or gone. This can’t go on. We have to help them.”

  “Careful, I’m not sure you would be welcomed back with open arms.”

  “I don’t blame them, but there has to be a way we can work together.”

  “Well, Ben seems to be their leader. We can go back and ask to speak to him.”

  She nodded and finished her blood. “Thank you,” she said holding up the empty bag.

  “You look like you could use a shower.”

  “Yeah, but I’m in a cave. Don’t think there’s a shower head around.”

  “Follow me.” He smiled brightly as he lit an oil lamp and then reached for her hand to help her up.

  They walked through two caverns carrying the packs containing their hygiene supplies and any clean clothing. As they walked she could hear the sound of rushing water. What opened up before her took her breath away; a waterfall rushing down the cave walls and dumping into a pool of crystal clear water. A light mist played above the water, moving with the whirlpool at the bottom of the falls.