The Phoenix Trilogy (Book 1): World On Fire (39 page)

    The
whole world was silent, and absolutely still. Natalie flashed a sign to the
others to let them know it was clear, though she didn’t like it. Falling back
into formation, BJ resumed the lead, but Natalie noticed even he seemed to be
hesitating. The camp was completely empty. Not even supplies remained behind;
it was picked clean. Natalie hoped that meant people had survived, but she
couldn’t shake the feeling that things were just going to get worse.

    Tunnels
were still gaping open, and Natalie had to suppress the urge to vomit as they
skirted around one. There had been innumerable tracks in the gore around them,
but it all seemed to converge at the tunnel entrance. Here, the drag marks were
overwhelming, as countless bodies had been brought down into the darkness.

    Before
she had the opportunity to delve deeper into her own sick fantasy, Natalie’s
eyes caught movement in the distance. They had made their way to within sight
of the inner ring’s entrance, and it looked as though there were people moving
atop it. Survivors? Or more undead, just finishing up?

    BJ
waved his hand, and one of the figures waved back before signing something that
Natalie didn’t recognize. Thankfully, BJ understood, and began a short
exchange. A moment later, and he gave the group the all clear to approach the
center gates.

    Natalie
had never seen the walls of the inner ring, more because she had never had
cause to than anything else. Compared to the outer ring, it was immaculate. No
patchwork weave, no shoddy scaffolding. Every ounce of effort had been made to
make the place impregnable, and it showed.

    Flares
of rage went off inside Natalie’s chest.
The bastards ran home when these
people needed help. Just left them out here to die for nothing.
Regretfully,
she slung her shotgun over her shoulder and out of her hands as they quickly
passed through the gate. If she held onto it too tightly, it was likely to wind
up “accidentally” going off.

    The
fits of anger cooled as she took in the sight before her. She had believed that
the inner ring was somehow left unscathed, but she couldn’t have been further
from the truth.

    Everywhere
around her, men and women were trying to clear the aftermath of the attack and
bring some sense of order back to the camp. Others were pressing their ears
intently to the ground, obviously trying to prepare themselves for another
assault.

    Many
tunnels were visible, even within the relatively short view that Natalie had,
though they had been collapsed and filled with whatever materials were on hand.
That explained why the refugee camp had been so bare; the survivors here had
picked it clean for materials to build their defenses back up.

    Beyond
that, the whole camp appeared to be armed to the teeth and jumpy. A reasonable
response, but still an unsettling one to see. These people were no longer
taking any chances, and while that briefly brought a feeling of grim
satisfaction, Natalie couldn’t help but feel as though all of this could have
been prevented if they’d just paid attention to their warnings.

    Now
that they had been vindicated, BJ and the others were treated with a mixture of
respect and deep regret. It was obvious now that they had been telling the
truth, and those who had survived were forced to live with the results of their
disbelief. Their escort refused to look directly at them, his face cast
downward and red with shame.

    When
they were finally brought in to what appeared to be a makeshift command center,
the man who came to greet them looked like he had been working himself to
death. He smiled warmly at BJ, and to Natalie’s shock, BJ returned the look
with a hug. Though the stranger was easily dwarfed by BJ’s size, he still
patted the giant earnestly on the back with a laugh.

    Surprise
colored Natalie’s face, and she took another second to observe the small man
now wrapped tightly in BJ’s arms. He looked to be in his fifties, perhaps a
decade older than BJ was, with a scraggly white beard peeking out around his
tan and wrinkled face. Though he was undeniably slight of frame, he was all
muscle; a lean and wiry opposite to BJ’s sizeable and bulky form.

    “BJ,
my friend. Am I glad to see you alive and kicking. Tell me, what in God’s name
does it take to put you in the ground?” Marco and Rico were smiling, and BJ
boomed a laugh.

    “More,
apparently. Though I will say it was closer than I’d have liked. I’m glad to
see you survived, Raoul. And that you seem to have been promoted.” It was still
friendly banter, but something about the way BJ mentioned this Raoul’s
promotion seemed odd. Her suspicions were confirmed as Raoul’s jovial
expression took a turn for the downcast.

    “We
lost a lot of people, B. We tried to call the soldiers back to at least protect
the lab, to try and save the medical team and their work on a cure, but it all
went to Hell anyway. Wesley’s gone, snatched away into one of those godforsaken
holes out there. All of our science team, dead. By the time we fended them off
and closed up their tunnels, the damage was already done. The hope for a cure
was lost, and the refugee camp had been reduced to drag marks in the mud. We
lost, and bad.” Raoul sighed, and suddenly he looked much worse, as though any
minute he would fall apart under the pressure of his memory.

    “The
boys in charge should have been better prepared, should have listened to you,
but none of us were expecting an attack that organized. Shit, we still thought
they were mindless. Most of us were so focused on curing this damn thing, or
keeping out traitors and saboteurs, that we didn’t even guess such an assault
would be possible.” At that, BJ rested a hand on his friend’s shoulder, shaking
his head and rumbling discontentedly.

    “You
believed me from the start. This isn’t on you, it’s on Wesley and the others.”
BJ’s consolation drew a bitter laugh from Raoul.

    “Well
then, Wesley’s dead and we won’t be making the same mistake again, if that
means anything to anyone.” BJ frowned, but Raoul was already brushing the
remark off. Taking a step back and getting a good luck at BJ’s group, he snickered
quietly to himself.

    “I
don’t know if you made a deal with God or with the Devil, but I have to say I
never thought I’d see you again. How did you make it out of that pit?” Now BJ
chuckled, shrugging his shoulders and jerking a thumb in Natalie’s direction.

    “Natalie
told us to take the tunnels. It was ballsy, and we lost a couple of people down
there, but we’d all be dead if we hadn’t.” BJ’s revelation drew a whistle from
Raoul, and twin stares of surprise from Marco and Rico. Natalie hadn’t realized
that none of them knew her involvement in their escape, and she felt a hint of
red rising in her cheeks.

    “That
was a gutsy move. I’m impressed, though it sounds like your new member may be
taking a little too much advice from your playbook, B.” Both men rumbled in
amusement to themselves before Raoul spoke again, a glimmer of hope in his
eyes.

    “Did
many of you make it out? We need all of the people we can get to regroup, you
know.” BJ almost looked sorrowful as he met his friend’s gaze.

    “I’m
sorry, Raoul. It was just us, and three others who stayed behind to rest.
Considering how violent the sewers were, I don’t believe any other refugees
would have survived that way.” Even Natalie felt miserable at the look on
Raoul’s face as BJ delivered the news.

    “A
mess. This whole thing has been one giant mess, from start to finish. But, I
stand by what I said. We have room here for all of you, if you’ll have it.” BJ
smiled again, as awkward and unsure as ever, before patting Raoul on the back.

    “We’ll
consider it but, for now, we need a new plan.” BJ’s talk of action rekindled
something in Raoul, and the man immediately adopted a more energetic demeanor.

    “Ah,
that’s my boy! Always ready for more. I don’t know what I’d have done if you
hadn’t come back home, B.” Raoul grinned, revealing a set of stained teeth that
suggested a lifetime of nicotine habits, but Natalie found the expression
infectious.

    “We
need volunteers to contact the other major military posts around the area, both
to make sure that they’re okay and, if possible, to warn them about what
happened here.” BJ cocked a brow at that.

    “Why
haven’t you been able to maintain contact here? We’ve been radioing back and
forth between them for months.” BJ’s question drew a scowl from Raoul, who
slammed his fist down on a nearby table. Apparently they had struck a nerve,
and though he was attempting to compose himself, it was obvious that this was a
question he had been torturing himself over for quite some time.

    “We’ve
been trying! Some turncoat prick keeps fucking with our gear, and any time we
make progress, we get set back again.” Natalie felt bad for the man; he blamed
himself for everything that had gone wrong, even in spite of the fact that he
had done everything he could with his limited influence.

    Raoul
exhaled slowly in a weak attempt to get his nerves back in line, and it was
plain to see that guilt was taking its toll on the old soldier. BJ’s frown had
deepened, but Raoul ignored him as he continued to explain the situation.

    “A
while back we caught a saboteur interfering with our comms, and we thought the
problem had been settled. Then a huge chunk of our equipment got fried, and we
found out the hard way that we’d been more compromised than we’d thought. The
bastards are crafty and our boys are stupid.” Raoul glowered to himself,
scratching a scar on his neck and adding in a low mutter, “Hope the fucker died
slow when the beasts came.”

    BJ
paused, mulling over everything he’d heard. After a few moments of silent consideration,
he grunted, and nodded his head in affirmation. Everyone present, aside from a
confused Thomas, understood his meaning: they were taking the envoy job.

    “We
will need some ammunition, as well as armaments for three, then we’ll be
heading out immediately. If you don’t hear back in a week, assume the worst and
send another team.” BJ had barely finished his sentence before Raoul signaled
at one of his subordinates, who promptly left to retrieve the requested
supplies.

    BJ
saluted Raoul, something that Natalie understood as a means of conveying his
appreciation and respect for his friend, who only chuckled grimly before
pulling the big man into another embrace.

    “Take
care of yourself out there, B. You and your crew.” Raoul flashed his filthy
smile at all of them again. “You’ve got good people with you.”

    With
a final goodbye squeeze, BJ turned on his heel and made his exit. Natalie and
the others followed behind. Though they had left Raoul with smiles, she was
disappointed in the conclusion they had reached. Raoul seemed to be on the
up-and-up, but even so, Natalie loathed the idea of continuing to run errands
for the military. If she was being honest, she was surprised that BJ had agreed
to take the job.

    
Trust
him, Natalie. He hasn’t led you wrong yet, and you’ve got no good reason to
believe he will. Maybe he’s just thinking more clearly than you are.
Natalie
had to admit that, despite the circumstances, she was still bitter about what
had happened to the refugee camp.

    Hearing
the explanation made sense, but didn’t make her feel better. Everything had
been a wash. Even with their attempt to draw back and protect their medical
staff, they had lost. The realization that Mejhit had likely been killed
settled in as well, and Natalie felt a conflicted sense of loss.

    The
guard who had been tasked with their supply run was waiting at the exit from
the inner ring, but Natalie’s attention had returned to the thought of the
tunnel mouths ahead. As BJ took hold of their new gear and they made their way
back through the outer camps, she could swear, just on the edge of her senses,
that she heard screaming echoing out from within the nearby tunnels. Whether
the rest of the crew shared her concerns or not, they gave a wide berth around
any of the holes that they came across as they made their way back to the main
gate.

    Returning
to Lia and the others didn’t take much time, and the road back remained as
clear as ever, a sign that Natalie had now taken to mean that thousands of
people were being slaughtered elsewhere. Throughout it all, though, she noticed
Marco and Rico exchanging strange grins with one another, as if they were privy
to a joke that only they had heard.

    Natalie
would have asked, but she suspected she would simply be ignored. Instead, she
decided to wait until they had returned to their camp. It had come within
sight, and she could see Stephen waiting in the window upstairs. He waved
cheerily before looking away, probably to tell Lia and Jessie that they were
back, and Natalie was happy to be rejoining the others.

    Soon
enough, they had marched upstairs and were greeted with the sight of more
supplies, successful fruits of the scav team’s labors. Seeing that Lia and the
others had held up their promise and done their job, BJ saw fit to explain how
their own journey had gone.

    After
blockading the door and settling in, BJ informed the remaining party of the
situation at the camp. He also told them of their new assignment, though at
that point, the cousins seemed to have had enough of laughing to themselves.
Casting a glance at Marco, Rico fixed BJ with a serious look.