The Phoenix Trilogy (Book 1): World On Fire (19 page)

     “If
somebody else is able to give them orders, then maybe we could, too.” It wasn’t
a thought that offered much solace, considering they were dealing with a
phantom opponent who possessed infinitely more complicated technology than
anything Natalie had ever heard of, but BJ was right. Even if it wasn’t much,
it was an opportunity that was better than nothing.

    Any
remote feelings of satisfaction Natalie may have gleaned from that thought were
crushed as she remembered there was still another problem they had to address.
Meanwhile, BJ had resumed his tracing on the map, occasionally pausing to read
his reports.

    “The
real issue is that the time between attacks is the only pattern there appears
to be. Whether it was a human or zombie doesn’t really matter if you start
thinking they’re working together. What does
matter is trying to piece
together why certain outposts were targeted, and where the next assault will be
staged.”

    BJ
hadn’t looked up from the map as he spoke, and his tone had taken on a far-off
quality that suggested he was more speaking aloud to himself than to Natalie.
Squeezing closer to the map, she understood his confusion.

    The
buildings that were hit didn’t seem to follow any rhyme or reason. They were
scattered everywhere, from the furthest outskirts to the deep center of the
militarized zone. The importance of the facilities varied widely, as well. A
major restocking station was just as likely to be raided as a minor survivor
rally point. BJ’s brow was furrowed in intense contemplation, but to Natalie,
there seemed to be an obvious answer.

    “Doesn’t
it seem like that’s probably the point? To go after places that are actually
random?” She waved her hand over the map, ignoring all of the individual marks
for the sake of reminding BJ of what it actually represented.

    “It’s
all military, all good guys. Anything you go after, you know you’re sticking it
to the enemy. What would be the point of keeping it organized? That just makes
it easier to get caught. This way, you’re constantly off-guard.” Natalie
shrugged her shoulders, a light-hearted gesture for a dark conclusion. BJ’s
expression hadn’t changed, though he did rumble in agitation.

    “I
considered that, but it isn’t a whole solution. They have us outmanned and
outgeared, but they’re not worried about putting an end to things right away.
Why? Why draw this out, why let us scramble to put together a plan?”  For
a thought that seemed to convey a feeling of hopelessness, BJ’s words were
laced more with confusion than gloom.

    Natalie
knew he was right. The horde had already proven how destructive it was; if the
enemy’s end-game was something as simple as genocide, they had the ability to
get it done without much fuss. Several theories and ideas flitted through her
mind, but in the end, all of them were dismissed.

    “We’ll
have plenty of time to think about this when we get to safety. With the
information from the other teams, we might be able to put something together.”
Relaxing down into his kit, BJ nodded to Natalie. “Three hours. Then get Rico.”
She barely had time to return his nod before he’d closed his eyes.

    I
guess he trusts that I can follow simple rules. Great. Good dog, Natalie.
She snickered to herself, knowing that she
was being overdramatic. With three hours to kill and nothing to do, she was
going to have to find some way to entertain herself.

    It
didn’t take long for her attention to wander from her duty. Staring at a door
only afforded intrigue for a few minutes, and after that it was hard to keep
focus. Instead, Natalie decided to tackle the mysterious puzzle that BJ had
brought to her attention. At least it had a chance at being a productive
distraction.

    Lifting
her journal from her bag, Natalie began to create a list of what they knew.
After a few moments of brisk writing, she grabbed the stopwatch to check the
time.
Eight minutes, forty-four seconds.
A wry smile played out over her
face.
Just another one hundred and seventy-one minutes and sixteen seconds
to go.
Natalie shook her head in an attempt to keep herself on track. It
did little to help, a revelation she accepted with a heavy sigh.

    This
sucks. This sucks hard.
Tempting
as it was to sit and complain, Natalie returned her attention to her writing.
She was determined to get something done with this time, even if it killed her.
Another glance at the stopwatch, and the handful of seconds that had passed,
was enough to confirm that dying while on watch was a distinct possibility.

    
Focus.
You’re going to need to grow an attention span if you don’t want to get
yourself killed.
Glancing back over her shoulder at the rest of her group,
Natalie bit her lip.
Yourself, or anyone else, for that matter.

    
Putting her nose back in her journal,
Natalie was reminded of how little they really had to work with. With a brief
memory of various old crime dramas on the TV, she resolved to make it work. If
she’d learned anything from
Law and Order
,
it was that she wasn’t
going to get anywhere without finding a motive. It seemed as good a place as
any to start.

    
The
undead were created on purpose, engineered for a reason. That means whoever was
behind this is smart, and has access to some nasty tech. Or we seriously pissed
off God and He’s had enough of our shit. Can’t say I’d be surprised.

    
Realizing that she was getting off point
again, Natalie growled, a noise that immediately set off a twitch in BJ’s leg
behind her. She winced and reminded herself that noises like that probably
weren’t the best thing to be making while next to sleeping soldiers. Best to
keep her frustration internalized.

    
Assuming
we’re dealing with people who are capable of making the ‘impossible’ possible,
they must be after something. They don’t want us dead; they could have done
that by now. If they need bodies, they’ve got them by the truckload. Unless
they want live specimen?

    Natalie
was trying to be precise and scientific, but her use of the word “specimen”
made her feel sick. Maybe she was better off sticking with her clownish
wording. It was harder to take seriously, and while that wasn’t much, it did
make the morbid conjecture a little easier to process without making her feel
like she was about to throw up.

    
If
they want us alive so they can abduct us, why nuke the world first? With this
much power, they could have taken anybody they wanted and never been caught.
Killing everybody off and setting us all to red-fucking-alert seems
unnecessary, if that’s all they wanted.

    Once
again, she had to stop herself from trying to touch her face absentmindedly.
Recalling that Rico had placed some hand sanitizer in her pack for just such an
occasion, she rifled through her belongings to find it, her thoughts continuing
to process as she did so.

    
So,
the world-wipe was intentional. Leaving some survivors alive also seems intentional.
It doesn’t look like they want us for experiments, though that is possible.
They also keep hitting us, like they’re following a plan. That could imply
they’re trying to harves… collect, us. Christ that’s just as bad. But…

    
Natalie took in the room around her once
again, autonomously scrubbing her hands clean as she did. This place was a
massacre, and memories of the gas station suggested the same thing: it wasn’t
impossible for the people inside to have survived their attack, but it was unlikely.
If the soldiers were being killed rather than taken, as the evidence suggested,
then whoever their opponent was didn’t seem to be interested in taking
prisoners.

    
The
attacks could be random, or they could be targeting specific people that we
just don’t know about. I’ll have to bring that up to BJ in the morn-

    
Just outside the door, a faint
squelch
sent lightning racing down Natalie’s spine. She wasn’t even sure she had heard
it, her senses straining to pick up another sound, when a rustle from behind
caused her head to jerk around so quickly it felt like she nearly broke her own
neck.

    To
her relief, it was Marco. He held his weapon at the ready, and he nodded to
Natalie, confirming that whatever it was outside, he had heard it too. In unison,
they tapped at the other two’s boots, Natalie taking BJ while Marco woke his
cousin. In a heartbeat, everyone was awake and ready, though Natalie held a
finger over her lips at BJ’s inquisitive look.

    Cupping
one ear, Natalie leaned toward the door. Her effort was rewarded as, a moment
later, there was another muffled squish. The memory of her own approach
lingered in her mind, Natalie recalling the fresh blood in the hallway that was
still soaking into the carpet. Sickening as the thought was, the soldiers’ gore
was serving as a makeshift alarm system.

    There
was a small piece of paper taped over the apartment peephole, likely there in
case any would-be intruders possessed a means of reversing its use, but Natalie
doubted they had anything to risk by removing it. Besides, if it helped them
prepare for whatever was coming, it was well worth the danger.

    Lining
up her eye, Natalie immediately began flashing signals to the rest of the
group. She had expected the peephole to be of no real value, considering the
hallway would be nearly pitch-black, but the telltale beam of a flashlight down
the hall was more than enough to confirm that whatever they were dealing with
was human.

    Given
how badly the light was shaking, it was a human who was not doing very well.
Or
a liar who managed to murder a bunch of soldiers and is coming back for the new
guys.
Natalie didn’t mark her thought as pessimism, remembering BJ’s
earlier advice that being paranoid was safer.

    BJ
tapped at her shoulder, and she conceded her spot to him. He was probably going
to be a lot harder for their mysterious stranger to deal with if push came to
shove, and Natalie was perfectly comfortable with bringing up the rear
alongside Marco.

    She
would have assessed how Marco looked, now that a few more hours had passed, but
Rico had shut their light off. Judging by the small noises in the dark, he was
moving it to aim at the door. Natalie briefly failed to understand, before a
sly smile crossed her face.

    If
their new friend proved to be not quite so friendly, she guessed a powerful
light suddenly being shone in its direction would be a pretty blinding
experience. It was a clever tactic, and again Natalie found herself
appreciating the company she had.

    After
another few moments of silence, and being unable to see if BJ was actually
signaling anything, Natalie began to wonder if they would be passed by without
incident. It would certainly be a pleasant change of pace, considering they
seemed to get the short end of the stick nearly every time they tried to do
anything.

    With
a short and hasty knock at the door, Natalie didn’t bother to hide her low
sigh.
Of course. Here we go.
She tried to play it cool, forcing her
thoughts to be calm while she kept her face in a neutral pose. Anyone looking
at her now would think she was the picture of poise under duress. In fact, the
only hint that she was stressed were her knuckles, clenched and white around
the crowbar in her hands. She was not cool. She was not collected. She was
tired, and she wanted to have a moment of peace to let her guard down.

    Another
bang at the gates, this one more insistent, and Natalie realized that she
wasn’t sure if she would ever have a chance to relax again. She glanced toward
BJ’s figure in the dark, just barely able to make out his outline against the
door. He was perfectly still, content to leave the person outside to their own
devices.

    Even
Rico, who Natalie would have pegged to be the first to consider going to
someone’s aid, hadn’t shifted from his place on the floor. Whether this person
was friendly or not, nobody in the room was going to be taking chances. After
another handful of tense seconds, the knocking came again, this time
accompanied by a panicked whisper.

    “Come
on guys, you agreed to let me back in when I came back. This isn’t fucking
funny. There’re things out there. Christ’s sake, let me in. Guys?” Whoever it
was, they were male. Natalie quirked a brow at his words, wondering if he
really did have any connection to the original occupants of the apartment.

    She
had no intention of finding out. The soldiers had been killed by somebody they
let in, or so the scene had suggested, and there was nothing short of a dire
emergency that was going to get them to make the same mistake.
Sorry, guy.
If this had been any other time or place, you might have had a shot. As it
stands, we’re not falling for it.

    The
pounding at the door intensified, before suddenly stopping short. A muffled
curse and choked gasp echoed from the other side, before the rapid sound of
receding footsteps took their mysterious stranger further down the hall.

    Natalie
didn’t know if he had just given up or gone to get reinforcements, but she felt
significantly more uneasy not knowing exactly where the man was. She was about
to ask BJ what they should do when Rico flicked their lamp back on, light once
again flooding the room. Now illuminated, Natalie saw that BJ was slowly
signaling to them.