The Phoenix Trilogy (Book 1): World On Fire (26 page)

    “Hi,
Stephen. Was there something you needed?” Realizing that she had no intention
of taking his hand, Stephen retracted his offer to shake with the slightest
hint of red flushing his cheeks. Natalie recognized that her actions might be
considered rude, but it wasn’t worth taking risks just to be polite. For his
part, Stephen seemed content to let it go, instead clearing his throat
nervously.

    “Ah,
no, actually!” He flashed another smile, but as Natalie continued to appear
unimpressed, he quickly continued. “I usually hang out here, outside the sleeping
area. Well, this sleeping area, anyway.” He nodded his head as he spoke, as if
confirming his words for himself, before noticing that Natalie now looked more
uncertain of him than ever. Revealing that he casually wandered the place where
people slept had not done wonders to improve her impression of the man.

    Now,
the subtle blush on his face erupted. His eyes widened for a brief moment as
his mouth went slack, the realization of what he had implied suddenly dawning
on him. Immediately he tried to stammer out an explanation, but his
embarrassment refused to cooperate. At a loss for words, his hands began making
rapid movements as if to help him convey his message. The whole sight drew a
reflexive laugh from Natalie.

    Hearing
her chuckle, Stephen slowed down and heaved a sigh. He brought one hand to his
face in flustered defeat, weakly trying to cover up his dismay. His cheeks were
still shining red as he managed to regain enough composure to force an
exasperated smile.

    “Hooray,
I made you laugh, and I did it one hundred percent on purpose, too.” He shook
his head then, he and Natalie both knowing full well that nothing he had done
had been intentional.

    “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 camp 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.