The Phoenix Trilogy (Book 1): World On Fire (3 page)

    She
was smart enough to bite down her scream, knowing it would only cause her more
trouble, and she was lucky she did. Her phantom was just a raccoon resting
lazily at the head of the stairs, its head half-buried in another empty can of
food.

    Natalie
breathed a sigh of relief, forcing a chuckle to lighten her mood. The raccoon,
noticing her presence, rose up with its prize still wrapped around its muzzle.
Casually, it shook its head free, and set the container spinning down the
stairs. As the aluminum bounced off the wood, the echoes seemed impossibly
loud.

    Her
body froze, all of her attention glued to the can now skittering to a halt at
the base of the stairs. Slowly, she cocked her ear toward the front of the
house, listening for a change in the rhythm.

    slap
scratch... slap

    That
was it. The sound stopped. Natalie strained her ears to catch anything, but all
she could pick up was her own tense breathing and erratic heartbeat. The house
was silent, which meant the zombie was probably listening for something more.

    They
were mindless when they were already on the hunt, but they could be dangerously
intuitive when it came to finding new prey. It hadn't already broken down her
door, so it didn't know where the sound came from. That was good, but Natalie
knew it would wait for her indefinitely unless something else drew it away, and
that wasn't likely to happen.

    She
couldn't ignore it, and she couldn't count on it wandering off. She had no
choice; she was going to have to deal with it. Fighting back was a bad idea,
but she might be able to lure it into the house. Then she could climb out onto
the tree from upstairs, get down to the ground level, and disappear to
someplace safer. The hard part would be getting its attention without putting
herself in danger.

    Throughout
all her contemplation, the raccoon rested on its haunches, watching her
curiously before turning away and ambling down the stairs to further
investigate the snack it had dropped. As it made its way, Natalie realized her
solution was already here.

    The
raccoon would make noise digging in the can, the
walker
would come in after it, and then she could make her way out. It might even
follow the little beast out of the house and off somewhere far away. Natalie
allowed herself a smile at the thought.

    "Come
on, you little bastard. You got me into this, you can get me out." The
words came out as barely more than a whisper. She was crouched at the corner of
the hallway that marked the top of the stairs, ready to back out to her room
and escape. She just had to make sure the raccoon would hold up its end of the
deal, and then she would be gone.

    For
the briefest moment, it actually felt like everything was going according to
plan. Her uninvited house guest had resumed his nosing of the can, and a
split-second later, she heard a growl from outside. After that, everything
happened more quickly than she'd been ready for.

    The
zombie didn't slow down as it collided with the front door, tearing it clean
from its place and sending wood splinters showering over the ground.
Swatches of its skin caught in the frame,
peeling away like rotten fruit and exposing the hardened muscle beneath.

    The
raccoon, unfazed as it had been in the face of a young woman, turned and shot
straight up the stairs at the sight of this new intruder. The monster snapped
to attention, following the sound of the scampering animal, and made eye
contact with a briefly stunned Natalie.

    "Shit."

    Natalie
moved faster than she ever had, springing up and sprinting into the bedroom.
She slammed the door shut in the hopes that it might buy her some time, but she
knew it wouldn't hold that ghoul back for more than a moment. Unable to afford
hesitation, Natalie ran to the window and began her climb out.

    She
was barely halfway across the branch when the door burst open behind her. She
could hear something coming closer and the sharp, wet intake of breath as it
launched itself out of the room in an attempt to catch her. It clipped her
shoulder and took her off balance, but the zombie had missed its mark and
fallen to the ground below.

    Natalie
only had a moment to prepare herself. She was slipping, and there was no doubt
in her mind that she would fall
soon
. Her would-be hunter
was dazed but recovering quickly, and she was down to her last option.

    She
had tried distraction. Now, all she had left was to at least try and go down
swinging. For the first time in a long while, she felt a cool sense of calm
wash over her.

    This
was it. There was nothing left to worry about, nothing more to fear. She didn't
know if she was going to win or lose, but the fight was coming either way. With
one hand on her crowbar, Natalie let go.

    Her
landing made enough noise to give the
wretch
something to run toward, but she was ready. Her weapon whipped up and struck
the creature squarely on its jaw, shearing along bone and oozing flesh with
sickening ease.

    Natalie’s
brief spat of triumph was cut short as she realized her mistake. She hadn't
anticipated its momentum, and even with her blow the blighter kept moving
forward, shoving her down as it came crashing over her. One cheek was split
along the line her crowbar had drawn, twisting its visage into a ghastly scream,
but it didn’t seem to notice the wound when its prey was so deliciously near.

    Immediately,
Natalie clamped her mouth shut as it slavered over the metal rod she held
between its teeth like a horse's bit. Spit, blood and mucus slopped down across
her face in rivers, spattering over her goggles and nearly blinding her. All
she could see were bloody eyes, half-bugged out of their skull as the zombie
strained to push its face closer.

    Natalie
was going to die. It had leverage, and while she had her knees braced against
its shoulders to keep it from getting any closer, it didn't matter. All it
needed to do was get a little fluid into her, and it wouldn't need to bite. Her
eyes were protected and her mouth was shut, but she still had to breathe. If anything
got through her nose, she'd die just the same as if she'd let it tear open her
throat.

    Suddenly,
Natalie felt its weight shift. The beast was trying to use its legs to push the
advantage, but one of them had been twisted in the fall from the second floor.
Under renewed pressure, the bone finally gave way, and Natalie was presented
with the perfect opportunity to shove the ghastly thing to her side and roll
away.

    In
a heartbeat she was back on her feet, and despite her vision being blurred, she
could see well enough to know where she was aiming. She brought the crowbar
down hard, punching clean through the monster's eye socket and out the back of
its skull, pinning it to the earth beneath.

    There
was no time to revel in her victory. Wiping her
face and
goggles off
as best she could
, Natalie searched for another attacker,
already wrenching the crowbar out of the tainted remains beside her. She was
angry now and ready to take on the world if she had to. This had been the first
time she'd ever had to go toe-to-toe with one of the undead, and coming away
victorious made her feel invincible. She'd never felt this way before, and she
liked it.

    But
for all of her vigor, there was nothing left to pursue. Natalie was alone
again. The other bastard remained stuck in the deck window, thrashing to get
out but seemingly pinned. It was over, at least for now. Abruptly, she felt her
adrenaline high come crumbling down.

    Natalie
tried to steady herself, but she couldn't get her body back under control. It
was like all of the energy she had was gone, and now she was acutely aware of
how badly she was shaking. The effect worsened when she took a minute to
realize how close she had come to dying.

    This
had been a close call. If she wasn't more careful next time, she might not get
lucky again.

    Then
she started laughing, harder than she could ever remember, and she kept going
until she couldn't breathe.

    "Lucky.
I got
lucky with this. A raccoon almost gets me killed, I barely win a
fight with one of these things, and to top it all off I'm covered in something
foul that smells like absolute
ass and I walk away calling that lucky.
This is a joke. This is a joke and I'm actually laughing. Oh Christ, I'm losing
my mind out here."

    Natalie
was exhausted, resting on her back in the grass and staring at the sky.
Somewhere, her instincts were screaming for her to move, but she didn't care.
This was going to be her minute.

    Soon
enough, she'd be back at it, trying to find some new hideout since the door on
hers was busted. She wouldn't have to go far, one of these houses would
probably do, but it felt like one of the hardest jobs of her life. Laying down
under the sun, watching clouds go by... this was a life worth living. Getting
up meant going back to the real world.

    Slowly,
she pushed herself back to her feet. There were a handful of things she needed
to do, but right then, there was only one that was on her mind. Finding her
resolve, she strode across the street toward the barricaded house, feeling a
pinpoint of anger at the creature she knew was trapped there. Crowbar in hand,
Natalie took the stairs to the deck.

    The
zombie in the window, sensing her approach, was shaking harder to get free and
resume its hunt. She couldn't get to its head, but the legs were wide open, and
she'd take any advantage she could get.

     A dull crunching
sound was the only noise made as she brought the metal down across each of the
trapped hunter's knees. Once, twice, and a third time for good measure, until
the sound of breaking bones was replaced with the muffled squish of meaty pulp.

    Glancing
through the gaps in the boards, she could see what had kept the
walker
occupied for so long. As it had forced its way past the broken
glass and between the wooden panels, it had attempted to pull at a nearby
bookcase to bring it all the way through. Instead, the furniture had tipped
down and crushed its arm against the floor, wedging it down at such an odd
angle that it removed virtually all of the leverage
the ghoul
had gained. It was left with one usable arm and its legs
flailing uselessly out of the window, its torso caught trying to squeeze
through the small opening. Perfectly set up for an easy kill.

    For
a moment, Natalie considered using the crowbar to tear down the boards covering
the entrance in order to make her way inside. Then an image of how easily a
n assailant
had gone through her own unfortified door flashed
through her head, and she thought better of it.

    Stepping
back to survey the house, she remembered the upper floor windows weren’t
reinforced. She was sure there was a ladder in the garage of her own hideout
that would let her bypass the defenses completely, while saving them for use
against the horde.

    It
took a few minutes, but before long she had returned with a ladder. Now, to her
dismay, she was left with a new decision to make.

    There
were two windows above her. One, still shut and seemingly out of place in its
normality. The other, open and with the slightest coat of rust-red about its
frame. Natalie felt sick, knowing what she would find up there. She shook her
head and tried to focus. For now, she had business to take care of concerning
her friend downstairs, so she chose to tackle one problem at a time.

    Climbing
the ladder to the closed window, she found she could open it relatively easily
from the outside. Apparently, the last occupant had really been sure that his
security downstairs would keep out any would-be intruders. Taking a deep
breath, she stepped inside.

    The
room was dusty, and it looked like nobody had used it for quite some time. It
was easy to guess why. All over the walls were posters for boy bands and
fashion tips torn out of magazines. It was plain to see that this room had
belonged to a teenager, maybe the man's daughter.

    Natalie
briefly considered that this might not even be his home. He could have been
squatting just the same as she had been, an idea that seemed likely until she
picked up a picture frame that had been placed face down on a nearby dresser.

    There
was no mistaking it was him. In the picture, he was grinning from ear to ear,
while a young girl did her best to look suitably unimpressed. It was taken just
outside of this house on the deck below, and judging by the boxes surrounding
them, it was probably their first day here.

    Normal
lives, once. Given the state of the room, and the fact that she had never seen
a girl around, the outcome was fairly obvious. Somewhere along the line, his
daughter didn't make it. Natalie felt a pang of sympathy for him, and her
dislike of the man softened. Idiot or not, nobody deserved to lose a loved one
like this.

    The
sound of growling downstairs brought her out of her thoughts. Leaving the room
behind, she walked straight down the stairs and toward the trapped
monstrosity
. It snapped its teeth once before she took the cap of
its head off with a single sharp blow. The
bone
parted
easily under the force of the hit, and the contents of its skull spilled out
over the floor. For a brief moment Natalie pictured an overfull cup, before
turning and retching on the carpet.