The Phoenix Trilogy (Book 1): World On Fire (7 page)

    The
room was silent, and Natalie hadn't brought her eyes up to meet the men since
she started talking. It was Marco who first broke the quiet. “Well. Sounds like
our little lady has the right spirit. Whaddya say, boys?”

    BJ
grunted again, which Natalie began to take as his universal sign of approval.
Raising her gaze, she caught the three of them nodding. Rico
waved his hand at the table. “If you're
willing, this will be your kit. It covers the basics.” Picking up the items one
by one, he began to explain their purpose.

    “Mossberg
500, common model here in the States. Buckshot ammunition, easy to find and
hard to miss with. We'll fit it with a stake for safety.” As he spoke, he set
the gun down and picked up what Natalie had previously mistaken as a bayonet.
It wasn't a traditional blade, looking more like a reinforced railroad spike
than anything else. Rolling it in his hand, Rico continued.

    “This
is what we've taken to calling your prom-tip. Fit it at the end of your barrel.
If one of those things rushes you and you don't have time to stop it, you put
the stock hard into your shoulder, keep your gun square between you and it, and
brace yourself. If you're lucky, you'll get knocked down, but this little baby
will make sure your partner stays at arms-length.”

    He
fixed Natalie with a look, his face breaking out into an almost proud smile. It
was obvious he was waiting to see if she got the joke. To her credit, Natalie
managed to keep a straight face in spite of the groan she could feel welling up
in her chest. Maintaining her composure, she nodded. “I get it. Prom-tip.
That's... a clever name.” Hearing that, Rico chuckled and shrugged.

    “Look,
we didn't come up with it.
This was a military invention all the way,
and when ha
ve
those guys
ever come up
with a good nickname?”
Natalie gave in, letting herself laugh for a moment with a hint of real
sincerity. Even the men managed to muster enough good cheer to join her, each
adding to the sound with their own signature. Marco's cavalier snicker, Rico's
reassuring chuckle, and BJ rounding it out with a single, deep-seated
hah
.

    The
feeling didn't last long as their attention returned to the task at hand. Even
so, Natalie tried to hold on to that sense of lighthearted camaraderie. She
suspected it might be a while until she got to experience it again. Evidently
having come to the same conclusion, BJ rose from the table, his size
immediately dwarfing the two men beside him. He fixed Natalie with a stern eye,
his hands resting over the gear on the table. It gave no uncertain indicator
that this equipment was not hers yet.

    “You
need to understand before we arm you that you are not, under any circumstances,
to fire this weapon without our consent. If this were an ideal setting, we
wouldn't be outfitting a civilian in the first place, but drastic times call
for drastic measures.”
BJ's
tone had taken a grave turn, an impressive feat considering he was always
serious to begin with. Even Marco had a more somber attitude.

    “
Firing a gun in this day and age will get
you killed. It will get the people around you killed. The absolute only time
you can resort to using your weapon is if you are certain that you will die if
you don't. Do you
understand?” Again, Natalie found all
three men staring at her while BJ awaited her response. The only problem was,
she had no idea what to say.

    The
gravity of life outside, of the world she was about to walk into, began to dawn
on her in earnest. Running and hiding was a relatively simple life to lead.
There were plenty of places you could lay low for a while without disturbance,
so long as you were careful and avoided high traffic areas. But this? This was
willingly going into a heavily populated and dangerous area. This was traveling
in a group, which meant more supplies and more noise all around.

    Worse,
being with a group meant responsibility to others. That was what bothered
Natalie the most. Looking out for yourself
might be less secure, but it was easy. A
ny mistake you made you dealt with as
best you could and called it a day.
The idea of screwing up and having somebody else pay the price
was nerve-wracking, especially in a world where screwing up was frequently
synonymous with getting somebody killed.

    Silence
was settling in as Natalie mulled over her thoughts. She had a brief flashback
to interview anxiety, knowing she'd just been asked an important question and
then completely blanking on how to respond. Glancing back at the men before
her, she noted that their expressions had not changed. BJ seemed to note her
apprehension. “Take your time. It isn't a small question, and our lives depend
on an answer you believe in.”

    No
pressure. Just our lives depend on it. Great.
Natalie shifted in her seat.
Focus.
If she took
the gun, she'd be safer and could potentially help out if things
took a
turn for the worse. She might also get somebody killed, by accident.
Or all of them killed.
Natalie winced. Ultimately, all she had
to do was wait for the signal. That was simple. She could do that.

    Then
a thought struck her
. “I'm
guessing that your 'consent' could be taken as you actually giving me
permission to fire, as well as if you were already pulling the trigger
yourselves, right?”
She had
aimed the question at BJ, but she looked at each of them in turn as she spoke.
It stood to reason that one extra gun firing wouldn't exactly make a whole
world of difference.

    
The men exchanged glances before BJ
nodded, a slow and deliberate motion that suggested he wasn't wholly
comfortable with that idea but could find no argument against it. It was all
the confirmation that Natalie needed.

   “
Done. I can do that.” Her voice was filled
with more confidence than she felt, but the commitment remained. She was tired
of hiding, and if she was going to be out in the open, she needed to have every
option available to her. There was going to be a lot to learn; Natalie had
never fired a gun in her life. At least now there would be no more excuses. She
was on the right path, or at least the best path that seemed to be available to
her.

    
Without a word, Rico began to prepare her
gear while BJ shifted his rifle into a ready position. “I'm going to go
upstairs and survey the area before we head out. Rico will give you a rundown
on your gear, Marco, you teach her some basic signals.”

    The
brisk tone was like a switch. The team set to work
immediately, Rico and Marco sharing a quick exchange over who
would handle their job with Natalie first. Apparently satisfied with their decision,
Marco began scavenging the last of the supplies from the house while Rico
jerked his chin toward her.
Rico first, I guess. Fine by me.

    Most
of the equipment was fairly straightforward. Her shotgun was easy to use, and
Rico explained that maintenance would take some practice but would eventually
be second nature. The handgun, a Glock 26 according to Rico, was meant for a
last resort. Natalie decided against carrying any of the offered melee weapons,
a variety of knives and batons, in favor of her crowbar. Rico laughed at that,
but let her keep her decision to use whatever was comfortable.

    
He was more insistent about replacing her
swim goggles. Tapping a lens, he shook his head. “These gotta go. They served
their purpose just fine, I'm sure, but now it's time for an upgrade.”

    With
a flourish, he presented a pair of tactical goggles that matched his own. They
were bigger than Natalie's, with a single amber lens that stretched from eye to
eye. Taking her silence as one of admiration, Rico continued. “These babies are
great. Fog resistant, sturdy, the lens helps filter your vision to keep it
clear, and most importantly, nobody can argue against their style.”

     Natalie
chuckled again.
She was
beginning to really appreciate Rico's
attitude. He almost made things feel normal, even when they were discussing
what zombie-related gear she should be sporting. Rico smiled, clearly pleased
he could continue to raise her spirits. With another reassuring pat on the
back, he returned his attention to a pair of earmuffs that Natalie almost
mistook for being headphones.

    “Ear
protection. Traveling with us, you're going to learn a lot of
stuff
. Biggest thing you'll pick up on is that basically every
thing
you've ever
thought about combat
is
bullshit.”
He gestured for
Natalie to put the piece on before pointing to his own set hanging around his
neck.

    “Wear
these at all times if you don't want to go deaf. Firing a gun makes a lot of
noise, and it'll rattle your head if you're in tight spaces. Flick the headset
on, and they'll filter out any noise above a decibel level that would damage
your ears.” He absentmindedly ran a finger behind his ear, massaging it with a
brief look of discomfort.

    “Or
at least diminish it to a point where you won't be left senseless. Can't say my
hearing is so great these days.” He paused, doing a mental summary of
everything they had to cover.

    “
Weapons, eyes, ears... that leaves mouth
and nose.” Resuming his pace, he picked up a heavy cloth and a backpack.

    “
Cloth is pretty obvious. Wrap it around
your mouth to keep any unwanted fluids at bay.” Natalie couldn't stop a shiver
from running up her spine. The idea of protecting yourself from being infected
like that brought back a vivid flashback of her near-death encounter from the
day before. The feeling of spit and blood nearly seeping into her nose was
nauseating, and time had done little to diminish the potency of the memory.

    “
Don't need to convince me of the
importance of that one. Already made that mistake once and nearly
got myself killed for it.” Natalie spoke wryly, trying to fight
down her urge to vomit. She wasn't certain she was winning the battle.

    
Thankfully, Rico picked up on her
struggle. Rather than moving to comfort her, he resumed his teaching in an effort
to get her mind focused on something else. The backpack was the last thing he
had to cover on the list.

    “
This one is less about gear, and more
about action. Your backpack should hold, among other things, at least two days’
worth of food and water. Until now, you've been stationary. You need to
understand that sitting still and eating is a whole other world from being on
the move and eating.” As if making his point, Rico picked up a nearby can of
food.

    “
Take this for an example. Canned food is great
if you actually have the time to eat, but not exactly perfect if you can only
snack and run. You'd be hard-pressed to find a way to stuff this into your
pocket without making a mess in between bites.” He set the can back down before
patting his stomach knowingly. Natalie had to stifle a grin as she found
herself suddenly picturing a fat Buddha statue.

    “
Granola, protein bars, anything you can
eat fast and put away. Candy bars work in a pinch if you've got nothing else,
but try to avoid eating too many. Not exactly a healthy long-term diet plan.”
Rico mimicked his gut ballooning outward with his hands, puffing his cheeks for
emphasis with a low whistle.

    “
Extra weight makes it a little harder to
escape the bad guys, but hey, there's no better way to lose those last five
pounds.”

    
Marco rolled around the corner with arms
full of supplies, his face just peeking out above the pile of goods. “You're
gettin' off track, bro. And you people tell me I'm the one with poor focus.” He
grunted and dropped his load off on the counter before tossing the both of them
a terrible wink. He was gone before Rico could respond, off to the last corner
of the house.

    
Natalie was torn between being amused and
annoyed. She had to admit, Marco was remarkably talented at coming into a room
out of nowhere just to throw everyone off-guard before disappearing. Rico was
clearly thinking along the same lines. They exchanged a shrug of defeat before
Rico held up a finger.

    “He's
right. There's one last thing to keep an eye out for. Caffeine. Or, really, any
kind of alertness booster. Chances are pretty good we're not going to be
getting a whole lot of sleep out there, so anything that can keep us up and at
'em is like gold. Beyond that, Hell, you're a smart girl. If you find something
you think could be useful, stuff it in your backpack. Just remember that extra
weight to carry means extra energy spent to carry it. Don't bog yourself down
if you can avoid it.” He smiled again, but it was different this time. Natalie
couldn't put her finger on it, but it felt forced, like the look you give
somebody when you want to cheer them up but don't feel very cheery yourself.

    “
Just... be careful out there. The world
isn't the same as it was. You're going to see a lot of shit, Natalie. More than
you already have, believe me. We're going to do everything we can to make sure
you're alright,
but I'll be honest. It isn't going to be
pretty.” The grave look of concern on Rico's face bothered Natalie more than
she'd expected.