The Phoenix Trilogy (Book 1): World On Fire

by Scottie, Charles

  “But, before you label me as some kind of unstoppable weirdo, I meant that I stay out here to help newbies. Food, assignment, supplies when we have them. All the good stuff. Stephen Allard, at your service.” As he spoke, his posture began to relax. Natalie suspected he was getting back in the swing of things now that he had been able to resume his welcome speech. She smirked, vaguely considering throwing him off-balance again, before deciding to let it go. She was on the hunt for food, and it sounded like he could help.

  “Well, thanks, Stephen. I’m looking for something to eat. Can you point me in the right direction?” Natalie was being careful to keep her wording as neutral as possible. She had no reason to suspect Stephen was anything but what he claimed to be, but being friendly felt like a risk.

  Stephen’s eyes lit up at her request, and Natalie was even more convinced that she was better off playing it safe. She recognized his excitement as romantic interest immediately, though she wasn’t sure if she was more relieved or annoyed at his motives. World gets thrown into chaos, dead start walking again, a thousand horror movies all become real, and there are still people in the middle of it all trying to get lucky. Figures.

  “I sure can! I’ll even escort you there. Always better to travel in groups, after all.” Natalie barely held back a snort as Stephen spoke. Yeup. Called it. Shaking her head, she opted to play the part of the diplomat.

  “That won’t be necessary. If you could just give me some general directions, I can find my way there. Besides, if you leave your post, you might be missing other people who need help.” Natalie smiled as she finished talking, pleased with her cop out. Stephen blinked heavily as he processed what she had said, but after a moment of thought, he grinned. Natalie knew her ploy had failed before he responded.

  “Nah, it’s alright! You and BJ’s crew were the only arrivals yesterday. Everybody else here already knows their business, which means I’m free as a bird.” Without further argument, he extended his arm for her to take, much as BJ had the day before.

  Natalie groaned. She wasn’t in the mood for this, but she didn’t care enough to put her foot down and dismiss him, either. Still, she wasn’t about to go prancing arm-in-arm with him down the lane. Instead, she gestured for him to lead on.

  Stephen’s smile faltered for a moment, but he fixed it quickly as he began to forge a path ahead. Just as Natalie was considering allowing him to plow ahead without her, he turned to confirm that she was following. Natalie nodded back, stifling another sigh. Guess I’ve got no choice now. Whatever, doesn’t matter. I’ve put up with worse.

  Almost naturally, her mind wandered to Marco, and she chuckled under her breath. Stephen was leaps and bounds better than the obnoxious soldier, that much was certain.

  Though now that she thought about it, Marco wasn’t actually a soldier. None of her escort had been troops, but Stephen had apparently known who BJ was when they entered the camp, anyway. Natalie started to ask about BJ’s popularity with the outpost when she realized Stephen was already in the middle of a sentence.

  “...name anyway?” He glanced backwards at Natalie expectantly, and she felt a brief pang of annoyance. It wasn’t the question itself; asking to know somebody’s name was a pretty normal thing to do, all things considered. More than anything, Natalie just wasn’t in the mood to be social, but she did have questions of her own. It was only fair to play along.

  “I’m Natalie.” No sooner had she finished introducing herself when Stephen began to play the “compliment her name” card, an attempt at flirting that Natalie immediately interrupted.

  “When you were talking earlier, you mentioned BJ and the others. Do you know them?” Again, Stephen’s smile faltered. After a brief stutter, he shook his head and tried to reorient himself.

  “Uh, yes and no? I mean I don’t know them personally, but I figure everybody must have heard of them by now. They’re pretty popular around here. Well, except Marco, anyway. He… kind of gets a little old.” Stephen had taken to absentmindedly tugging at his own sleeve as he spoke, but his attention snapped back as he realized he had badmouthed Marco aloud. Natalie had a brief flashback of being in a similar position, when she had expressed her distaste for the man in front of Rico. Stephen’s uncertainty was reasonable, and she decided to throw him a bone.

  “Saying he can get ‘a little old’ is a pretty tame way of saying he’s kind of a bastard, isn’t it?” Natalie responded to Stephen’s shocked expression with a sly grin. She didn’t suspect that Stephen would disagree with her, and as a smile broke out over his face she bobbed her head.

  It looks like Marco didn’t make friends anywhere, though she couldn’t say that came as a surprise. As much as it might shatter his worldviews to hear it, he was not nearly as personable as he believed, and Stephen’s reaction was enough to cement that impression.

  Another handful of seconds passed in friendly silence as they neared a heavily guarded checkpoint, though Natalie could tell Stephen was trying to work up the courage to keep talking.

  In another time, she might have found it endearing, but for now it was all she could do to focus on being social at all. Especially in the face of the road ahead of her, when she was uncertain of what kind of future await her here in the camp.

  Maybe she would be taken into the medical tents, where she’d have to deal with God knows what kind of nightmares. Maybe she’d be left behind to fend for herself here in the refugee camps. Either result seemed less than ideal, and a small part of her began to yearn for another outing with BJ and the boys. It was dangerous, and realistically, more likely to be horrendous, but…

  “We have arrived! No tips necessary, I do this for the people.” Stephen’s cheery outburst drew Natalie back to the present, as well as a handful of snickers from the people working behind the counter. Natalie had to reevaluate her surroundings; what she had believed to be a checkpoint was their destination, though the sheer number of guards hovering around the area had suggested otherwise. If the surrounding refugees didn’t all seem to be in decent spirits, Natalie would have assumed this post was accustomed to seeing violence.

  “Brought us another one, Steph?” The voice belonged to an older woman who had taken a brief pause from organizing a hefty crate of supplies, her eyes landing first on Stephen before falling to Natalie. “He’s great, idn’t he?”

  Natalie tried to smile, though the stiffness of her attempt must have said volumes about her comfort level. Thankfully, Stephen was too busy groaning to notice.

  “Oh gee, thanks mom. I was worried this might be awkward, too.” He exchanged a coy smile with the woman behind the counter, who had begun to wag her finger at him. Natalie chuckled under her breath at the spectacle, the crowd around her joining in. Apparently this was a common enough occurrence.

  “Don’t listen to him, sweetie. And, before you go believing him, I’m not his mother. Not near old enough for that.” Stephen started to respond, but a venomous look from the woman put a stop to that. As he threw his hands up in defeat, she continued. “I’m Lia. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Miss…?”

  “Natalie. My name is Natalie. It’s good to meet you too, Lia.” She had barely said the words when Lia nodded her head patiently. It took Natalie a moment to realize Lia was waiting for something more, before Stephen leaned in.

  “She needs your last name, too. For rations verification.” Again, Lia just nodded along, rapping one of her knuckles on a heavy stack of papers that an assistant was rifling through.

  “Hate to say, but you’d better get used to using your whole name now, honey. People aren’t going to ask you to introduce yourself unless they need it for something special, which means either security or work around here.” That drew a darker chuckle from some of the surrounding patrons, but Lia’s giggle was still pleasant. It reminded Natalie of a mother’s laugh, though she couldn’t claim to know what that was actually like. Even so, it conjured images of warmth and security, which went a long way toward explaining why this particular part of the c
amp felt so homey.

  “Right, of course. Natalie Peterson.” Natalie paused, her fingers fidgeting as she considered saying more. “Thank you for being patient, I’m not really used to people asking for my name. If I’m being honest, I’m not used to being around people at all. It’s been a weird change.” Lia barked another laugh, setting aside Natalie’s rations as a different helper combed through the I.D. pages to find her name.

  “Weirder than the walking dead? You’ve got some odd standards, girl.” If it weren’t for the hint of a smile on Lia’s lips, Natalie might have believed she was being sincere in her teasing. As it stood, she guessed that Lia had understood what she meant. Before Natalie had time to respond, the assistant attempting to find her name flagged her attention.

  “Natalie Peterson, says here you’re wanted at the medical pavilion. You should head that way as soon as you’re done here, they’ve got it marked as urgent.” Natalie’s stomach rolled with a sudden pang of queasiness, and Lia cocked a brow at her as she handed over the rations. Even Stephen seemed uncertain.

  “That’s unusual. You a doctor?” Lia surveyed her critically, before adding, “Or a nurse?”

  Natalie shrugged in response, not being any more certain of what was going on than they were. She had been honest with her answers at the assignment desk, so she had no reason to believe they would expect anything more from her than she was able to give.

  Lia took her silence as an answer in itself and shrugged it off, content to let Natalie handle her own business. Stephen, on the other hand, seemed to be renewed with excitement.

  “Well hey, I’m still not doing anything. How about I escort you that way, too?” Natalie didn’t bother to repress her sigh at his offer. However, as much as Stephen seemed oblivious to it, Lia picked up on her discomfort immediately. Just as Stephen was preparing to leave, she made a violent gesture for him to sit down, instead. His confusion was evident, but Lia paid him no mind, tossing a wink Natalie’s way before shooing her along.

  “You’re a big girl, you can eat and move. The med lab is straight ahead until you hit a crossroad with no people and a lot of angry assholes making threats. When you’ve found that, tell them you were requested and they’ll take care of the rest.” Natalie nodded along to show she understood, but the look on her face was not one that conveyed comfort. And what the Hell did she mean by the one with “no people?”

  “Don’t have answers to that one, honey. Maybe you’ll have better luck.” The jovial tone had faded from Lia’s voice, and Natalie had to pause to consider if she had actually said anything out loud. To add more paranoia to the growing pile, Lia was obviously concerned about something. With no other real choice left to her, Natalie smiled her thanks and turned to follow the directions she’d been given. Judging by the choked, indignant yelp of annoyance from behind her, Lia was ensuring that Stephen did not follow.

  Well, that’s one thing going right out of like… fifty. Gotta take what I can get, I guess. Just hope the pattern stays this positive. Natalie forced herself to smile at that, though she knew she was probably in for another rough day, even if the medical tents did pan out in her favor.

  Every step she took deeper into the surrounding crowds filled her with a sense of growing dread. It was silly; compared to the world that wait outside these walls, she knew she was better off. Despite that certainty, she disliked being so near to others. People were harder to deal with than the zombies were, not because they were more dangerous, but because they were less predictable.

  The undead were vicious, but mindless. If they caught you, you knew exactly what fate awaited. With people, there was no telling who your friends or enemies were until they decided to show their true colors. Even if you knew they were trouble, a human danger held more variables for torment. Would they make it quick, or would they do worse things, before it was over?

  Natalie visibly shuddered, her wandering mind leading down dark roads as she dodged between an increasing number of refugees on the way to her destination. She was painfully aware of how close their bodies were to hers, the space between squeezing slowly tighter until it was becoming harder for her to breathe. Just as panic began to crest within her, it was over.

  Natalie abruptly found herself standing out from the crowd in the middle of a crossroads, just as Lia had said. Behind her, the crowd was taking careful precautions to avoid stepping too near this one road, hugging tightly together as they went about their business. Natalie hadn’t been hallucinating her claustrophobic experience; the crowds constricted noticeably here, all to avoid taking the path that Natalie now had to wander alone.

  She took two steps forward, vaguely wondering if crowds were better than whatever lay ahead, before a dozen armed men and women appeared from the walkways and buildings above her. Whispering a silent thanks to Lia for warning her about this ahead of time, Natalie beat the guards to their question.

  “Natalie Peterson, reporting for assignment!” The words came out perfectly professional, though the silence that followed didn’t give Natalie much to work with. She felt a bit of pride at finally sounding like she knew what she was doing, even if it didn’t seem to matter. BJ would have been proud. And Marco would have made fun of me. Rico… probably would have teased me too, actually.

  Natalie missed them already, even Marco. It felt odd, given how little time they had actually spent together. Maybe she made friends more easily when she was on the constant razor’s edge of death, who knew? Could be that she just needed to be busy and that was all she really missed, though she didn’t believe that for a second.

  Running with BJ’s crew had been about more than survival, at least to her, and more than just staying preoccupied. Even if the things they encountered made her sick, it still felt like the right place for her to be.

  As the gates ahead of her opened and an armed guard came to greet her, she found herself hoping that she would find a similar satisfaction behind these doors. That dream was dashed the moment the guard gestured for her to raise her arms. He was going to search her, of course, and that meant finding the gun in her coat pocket.

  Natalie didn’t resist his orders, doing as she was told once again. They were in a public enough place that she held no worries of sexual assault, especially when she had a very real problem about to be upon her. The most she could think to say, just as the guard’s hand fell over her pocket and discovered her weapon, was that she had smuggled it in herself. BJ might have pull here, but she couldn’t help but feel as if he would be in trouble if she revealed he was responsible for arming refugees.

  Then the moment passed, and the guard patting her down said nothing. Natalie didn’t understand; she knew he had felt it, there was no doubt in her mind, but he remained perfectly neutral. Instead, he turned and motioned for her to follow him inside.

  “Do I need to be worried about that?” The man didn’t look at Natalie as he spoke, but it was obvious what he was referring to. Just as she glanced up at him, her eyes lighting with worry, he snapped under his breath, “Eyes forward and act natural.”

  That confirmed it. He did find the gun, but he didn’t seem in a hurry to confiscate it. For whatever reason, he was allowing Natalie to continue onward, armed. Provided she was willing to assuage his fears, at any rate.

  “No, you don’t have to worry.” Natalie had done just as he said, keeping her eyes set straight ahead as they walked inside. The guard beside her grunted his approval, but Natalie felt uneasy.

  “Why aren’t you reporting me?” She knew it wasn’t wise to look a gift horse in the mouth, but she was better off knowing the truth than risking the possibility that she was getting herself indebted to somebody for unknown reasons. Her question provoked a growl from her escort, but to her relief, it wasn’t aimed at her.

  “I’ve always believed a young woman should carry, even more so now that the world has become this… this goddamn nightmare. I’m not about to go taking away the one thing you’ve got to keep yourself safe. So long as you follow the rules
, I don’t think anybody is gonna disagree with me.” He stopped neatly in a practiced fashion that told Natalie he had done this routine countless times, before pointing to a ragged looking tent nearby. The entry to the medical pavilion, at last. “Doc is inside. Best hurry along, little lady.”

  Natalie stepped away, preparing to follow her orders once again, before stopping short. Instead, she turned around and offered her hand to the soldier.

  He was an older man, grizzled and likely an ex-cop, sporting a particularly bushy mustache with eyebrows to match. She couldn’t say she was a fan of being called “little lady,” but he had helped her, and she had been taught to show her respect. A wisp of a smile cracked from underneath his facial hair, but he took her hand and gave it a firm squeeze nonetheless. Satisfied, Natalie left him alone to go and explore her new place of business.

  Giving the entryway a cursory glance, she realized she wasn’t sure if its condition was more or less than her expectations. The tent was shabby enough on the outside, but the moment she pushed back the flap, she understood why she had been accepted into the medical area even with her limited knowledge.

  There were maybe five other people working, though the vast amount of blood that seemed to cover every human being in the place made it challenging to discern who was doctor and who was patient. Few had legitimate face masks, having been forced to scrounge for whatever materials might suit their purpose well enough. Most weren’t even wearing surgical gloves or scrubs.

  The room was tightly wound with nervous energy, and seemed on the tipping point of absolute bedlam. It wasn’t until a grimy woman who looked as if she hadn’t slept in days turned to address her that Natalie realized she was looking at the head of the medical ward.

  “You’re not bleeding, you don’t look sick, and you’re not already screaming orders. Sweet Christ, tell me you’re my new help.” The sudden release of tension, and obvious wave of pure and palpable relief, caused a reflexive cringe in Natalie. If things were as bad as they looked, she doubted she’d be of enough use to really put a dent in the doctor’s worries. Still, she had been given her orders and would do what she could.