The Phoenix Trilogy (Book 1): World On Fire (13 page)

    
This place was screwed and Natalie knew
it. Zombies would continue to come back here to feed, ensuring it would remain
dangerous forever, but if they torched it then at least they'd be doing
something to disrupt the monsters.

    
BJ shook his head firmly, much to
Natalie's disbelief.  

Her plan would have some
risk, but if it put a dent in their enemy it would be worth doing. The look on
her face must have given away her thoughts, as the sudden shift of BJ's body
language made it abundantly clear
what he felt
about the idea. Natalie wouldn't find any room for discussion here.

    Disappointed,
she fell back in line. She felt like she was a teenager in school all over
again, silently annoyed at the adults telling her how to behave. Natalie was aware
that this was a very different world, but she couldn't help but compare her
plan to BJ's actions before.

    He
was the one who had opted to continue exploring the gas station once they knew
what it was being used for. He was the one who had insisted they take a break
there, and for what? To grab a cat nap? No, that had been just as foolish and
risky as what Natalie had suggested, without any of the added benefit of
striking at the enemy.

    
This newfound anger was even further out
of character for Natalie, especially over something that was so reasonable. She
already knew that BJ was more experienced with handling these kinds of problems
than she was, and she had trusted his decisions multiple times with great
results.

    That
she would be feeling combative now only served to make her realize just how
frustrated she was that she had missed a chance at a brawl. It was both
intimidating and exhilarating, picturing herself in another scrape with an
undead attacker. Natalie continued to try and push the thought from her mind,
to remind herself of how needlessly dangerous a fight would truly be, but it
wasn't a seed that seemed to be bearing fruit.

    
In a compromise she wasn't sure she
supported, Natalie finally quelled her looming sense of rebellion by reminding
herself that they were only going further into dangerous territory. This gas
station was in a well
-
developed area, and their goal was deeper
still in the city. It was all but a guarantee that they would be in over their
heads before long. Gritting her teeth, she followed BJ back out to the main
street.

    
Finding cover on the road ahead was harder
than Natalie would have anticipated. There were virtually no cars, not even
wrecks, which struck her as odd. Cities always had heavy traffic, and there was
no way this place had managed to escape a panicked traffic jam.

    
The further they moved, the more questions
were raised. There were bloody tracks and stains abound, which would have made
it easy to learn from if they weren't compounded on top of each other by the
billion. Even with all of the clear signs of struggle and violence, they hadn't
seen any movement, zombie or otherwise.

    
Natalie began to wonder if she may have
been led astray with rumors. It was true that what few survivors she'd met had
told her that the city was dangerous, but her ignorance had been proven a dozen
times already. Maybe things had changed, or never been as bad as she'd been
told in the first place.

    
It wasn't until they were well into the
urban proper that they encountered another target. Traveling along the inner
streets had been slow but reliable, allowing them to safely scout well ahead
before committing to any pathway. They'd only needed to make sure that alleys
on either side of them were clear as they skulked past the many empty windows
and desolate storefronts around them.

    
There hadn't been a single car since
they'd left the gas station, the only possibilities for cover being the
periodic alcoves that marked back streets. As such, they were
totally exposed when moving between alleyways, and it was during one of these
fragile moments that Marco spotted movement.

    “
Oh, shit.” The sudden break in silence
from behind her made Natalie instinctively whip around, her eyes wide under
their goggles. Marco hadn't bothered to whisper, a mistake Natalie expected BJ
to berate him for. She was even more certain that Marco was being senseless
when she noticed what had prompted his outburst.

    
A single walker, lumbering out of an
apartment building they had already passed. They would be spotted in a moment,
without doubt. Obviously it was a bad thing to have happen, but they could
handle it. Marco was drawing more attention to them by talking out loud, of
that Natalie was certain. That certainty faded as Rico gripped her shoulder
with a ferocity that made her flinch.

    “
Grab your crowbar, don't fire your gun,
and for fuck's sake, follow me like you're glued to my ass.” Rico's voice was
thick with tension, and no more lowered than Marco's had been. Natalie almost
started to ask what the Hell had gotten into them when the creep finally
noticed their presence.

    
The sound it made was something caught
between a scream and a howl, a pitching whine that cut into Natalie's eardrums
like needles. Worse, that same frightful wail began to echo out from all around
them a moment later, countless other voices joining the clarion call.

    Adrenaline
surged through Natalie's system as
Marco shot
past her, his mouth moving as if he were telling her something but her brain
refusing to process the sound of his voice.
He wants me to run.
The thought was dull and listless in her head, but she
found it hard to concentrate on anything else.

    
It took a great deal of will to force
herself to give in to her natural reflexes, spinning back to sprint after the
rest of the group. They had gained a fair distance on Natalie, an
accomplishment she knew the zombies hunting her had also achieved. It was
impossible to outrun them for long, but if she could buy enough time for BJ to
find them a way out, she might have a chance at survival.

    Everywhere
around them, the sound of glass shattering as frothing monsters hurled
themselves into the street escalated into a roaring calamity. Natalie was
slowly gaining on the men, but the scene around her was growing more chaotic by
the second. There was a very good chance if she didn't catch up to them soon,
she would be cut off and left to fend for herself.

    
Even in the stunned overload of her mind,
Natalie was almost fascinated at how quickly Hell had manifested itself around
her. Ahead of her she watched in near slow motion as a biter slammed into a
windowed door beside Marco, its outstretched hands shredding into a slurry of
blood and muscle as the glass fractured around it.

    
The creature would have had him if not for
a metal crossbar that divided the door pane in two. The material held under the
corpse's momentum, causing the door to slam open with the zombie still wrapped
in the broken glass. Unfortunately for Natalie,
that
meant the doorway was clear for the next walker to move outside and directly
into her path.

    
As the two locked eyes, Natalie's heart
stopped for a moment. This was just like when she had encountered the creep
from the other day. It seemed to always start with a perfectly normal plan
falling apart as she was forced into a conflict. The difference now was that
the enemy in question wasn't chasing after her; he was square in the middle of
where she needed to go.

    
It had taken several unsteady steps toward
her, a wicked piece of wood lodged firmly in its leg preventing it from moving
at a sprint. Natalie knew it would be safer to simply sidestep the rotter, but
that wasn't what she wanted. Without breaking pace, she readied her crowbar and
lashed it out hard, a furious strike that caught her target in the temple.

    
She had passed the body before it hit the
ground, and the feeling of triumph that poured through her gave her an even
greater high. It felt like she had just won a joust, riding past her fallen foe
with the knowledge that he wouldn't be rising up in her wake. The quiet voice
of reason was silent, her whole mind basking in the glow of victory even as
more undead began to close in.

    
BJ and the others were now only barely
ahead of her, and Natalie felt a nearly delirious crack of laughter well up in
her gut as she realized that if she were to die here, she wouldn't be alone. It
was a sentiment that should have been sickening, but in her current state she
was too giddy to be phased by much. It wasn't until she caught up to Marco and
stole a glance backward that her attitude was sobered down.

    They
were being chased by a veritable horde of undead, rot and ruin as far as her
eyes could see. They would have already caught and butchered Natalie and the
others by now, if they weren't constantly shoving each other down in their
frenzy. As inconceivable as it was, the sheer number of
them
had managed to be a saving grace.

    
The increasing surge of monsters was
mostly emerging from behind them or to their sides, a blessing that had no
doubt saved their lives. Unfortunately, that trend was beginning to fade as the
unholy racket garnered the attention of monsters further and further ahead of
BJ's crew. It was only a matter of time before they were caught between two
tides of death.

    
BJ must have known their predicament, as
his brisk attempts to spot a lifeline became more fevered. Natalie wasn't sure
there would be anything to find, but her heart nearly sang when BJ barked for
them to follow.

    
He cut a sharp turn, diving between two
buildings in a long alleyway. His command came not a moment too soon, as
Natalie felt a
whoosh
of air overtake the spot she had just
been standing in. She didn't need to look back to know a zombie had been poised
to bear her to the ground.

    
Time and time again luck seemed to be the
only thing keeping her alive, and Natalie began to wonder if all battles were
like this. Had BJ found their supposed salvation by accident, another fortunate
break? She tried to ignore what she wanted to believe was simply pessimism, but
the rationale was all too convincing. Eventually, their fickle charm was bound
to fail them.

    
Their sudden turn from the main road had
thrown the horde behind them off balance. They had been packed so tightly
together that only the forerunners saw Natalie and the others change course.
While the lead hunters tried to turn and pursue, the tidal wave of death behind
them continued to plow forward. It took several seconds for them to correct
their mistake, but that was all the time they needed.

    
BJ had found a side entrance into one of
the buildings flanking them. He didn't bother checking the lock, choosing
instead to slam into the door with all of his considerable might. It still took
two attempts, and during that delay the undead had recovered from their
confusion. They were out of time.

    
The door was open and they were out of
options. Rico grabbed hold of Natalie's arm and thrust her ahead of him,
placing her between himself and Marco. Even to the bitter end, he was
determined to fulfill his duty as protector. Natalie would have been warmed by
the act if she wasn't nearly shell-shocked with desperation.

    
She heard the sound of someone landing a
blow behind her, but Marco had taken a firm hold of her hand and was racing
deeper into the building before she could look back. Natalie barely recognized
BJ standing to their side by a table as they passed. Her heart skipped a beat
at the thought that he might be staying behind, but the telltale screech and
clatter of furniture being moved told her he had thrown an obstacle in their
pursuers' way. It wouldn't hold them back, but it should do a decent job of
complicating their progress forward.

    
In close quarters, the horrifying din of
the undead had multiplied itself. Every wall reverberated with the sounds of
groaning and howling around them. With the chaos of the hunt seemingly at every
turn, Natalie was yet closer to panicking. It didn't hurt that it was now Marco
who was leading instead of BJ. As much as she had learned to respect the young
man's work skills, BJ was clearly the more seasoned veteran.

    “
Marco, turn right!” The bellow just barely
crested over the tumult of frenzied madness, but the voice unmistakably
belonged to BJ. Without hesitation, Marco pulled a hard right down another
hall, Natalie still connected by her wrist.

    
They appeared to be in some kind of office
building, but Natalie didn't have time to consider why BJ would have chosen
this place to save their lives. Every few seconds her thoughts were interrupted
by the sound of BJ throwing yet another object in the way of the horde behind
them.

    Natalie
hadn't had the time to look back, all of her scant thoughts being forced to
focus just on keeping up with Marco's pace. She wanted to check on Rico, to
make sure he was okay. She was certain she'd heard somebody get hit back at the
alleyway, but there was no way of knowing what had happened until they had a
second to collect themselves.