The Phoenix Trilogy (Book 1): World On Fire (32 page)

    “Seven
of us. Something came out of the ground. Massive, violent, but different from
the rest of the things out here.” The man was speaking in short, choppy
sentences between choked sobs, but slowly he seemed to regain some measure of
self-control.

    “It
killed everyone. We didn’t know what was happening until it was already tearing
somebody apart. The others, they fought... but I ran. Didn’t look back once,
not even when the gunshots stopped.” The man never raised his face to speak,
making his confession to an invisible judge only he could see. Suffering was
plain in his tone, but it had adopted an almost hollow trait. While he
struggled to escape his guilt, Natalie and BJ locked eyes.

    What
he was describing was either a lie, which seemed possible but unlikely given
his current state, or exactly what they had come out here to search for. That
they would have found their answer so easily left a bitterness in Natalie’s
mouth, and BJ mirrored her distaste. Regardless of what await them, they had no
choice. This was an opportunity they couldn’t ignore.

    “Take
us there. Now.” BJ clamped a mighty paw around their captive’s wrist, wrenching
him to his feet without care. It nearly caused the hurt man to yelp, but he
swallowed his pain quickly. Given BJ’s pitiless stare, it seemed to be the
wisest option for his continued health. Natalie winced.

    BJ’s
treatment was rough, but undeniably effective. Marching back out of the alley
with their new guide in front, Natalie felt guilty. A thousand times, she
reassured herself that this was what had to be done, but each attempt only
darkened her mood further.

    
Suffering
or not, we don’t have any idea if this guy is telling us the truth. It feels
like something is wrong, especially with how easily we’re getting the evidence
we need for the camp. We’ve barely been out here for a half hour, but to be
fair, it does match the timeline of events. Maybe we got lucky?

    Visions
of the thing that their captive had described briefly danced within her mind,
and Natalie realized that even if he were telling the truth, “lucky” was
probably not the best word she could have used. He had said the monster was
massive, a word that raised a dozen red flags in her mind.

    Up
until this point, every enemy they had encountered or even heard of had been
human. Not always alive, but always a person, in one stage of existence or
another. “Massive” implied they were getting into completely new territory, and
that meant losing the only advantage they had: patterns.

     If
they didn’t know what they were up against or how it worked, then they couldn’t
prepare themselves. When the zombies had gone from walking meatbags to
sprinting predators, it had wiped out an ungodly amount of people. Natalie
didn’t want to think about the damage a totally unexpected enemy would be able
to do.

    Just
as unsettling was the apparent disappearance of the horde. Natalie had been
bracing herself for the worst, expecting their stumbling and inexperienced new
trailblazer to bring the undead crashing down around them, but the roads were
empty. They had always been relatively clear, even when Natalie had first
arrived in the city, but you could usually catch signs that the biters were
nearby. A rattling window, fresh blood smeared into a doorway, the echo of a
ragged hiss…

    No
indicators remained. Everything was still, and the gore-slick streets were dry.
With their pace now being set by their prisoner, they made good time. Though,
the nearer they drew to their destination, the more BJ was forced to prod their
captive into continuing on.

    It
was obvious that his fear of the strange crew that had abducted him was
beginning to pale by comparison to the nightmare that await him at the end of
the road. He frequently began to slow, and BJ’s repeated shoves were losing
their power of coercion. Eventually, they were forced to stop completely.

    The
man slumped to a halt, his head shaking rapidly from side to side. Before BJ
could growl another threat, their guide raised his finger between choked gasps,
pointing through the building they were beside and onward to their mysterious
destination. If his tumultuous shuddering was any suggestion, their goal was
just around the corner.

    “Get
up. I won’t say it twice.” BJ was in no mood to stop now, and his impatience
showed. There was a subtle promise of pain in his command that went above and
beyond any threat they had previously used. Their prisoner didn’t seem to hear
it, busy as he was with his whimpering, which only served to provoke the rest
of the crew.

    “This
stinks, B. All of this feels like a setup.” Natalie had taken a few steps ahead
of the group, just barely aware of Marco’s rising temper behind her. “This guy
is fuckin’ weird, man, and I know you feel it too. Something’s wrong. I say we
kill him and turn back, we can find our own path.”

    Marco’s
suggestion sparked a heated argument, held barely to a whisper, but Natalie
ignored it completely. They needed to find the place their prisoner had talked
about, and whether or not it was a trap was irrelevant. It was a lead that they
had to explore if they wanted to find any more information they could take back
to camp. Unsure of what she would find, Natalie took a steady breath, and
peeked around the corner.

    Without
a doubt, they had found their destination. Even at a distance, Natalie was able
to make out the hulking shape of something half-buried in rubble inside a small
storefront across the street. There was blood too, and it was fresher than any
that they had seen on their excursion yet.
Definitely not lucky. What in the
fuck is that thing.

    Cautiously
stepping back, Natalie looked back at the crew, still arguing over what they
should be doing with their captive. She considered trying to get their
attention, but as BJ glanced up to meet her eyes, he immediately brought the
debate to a halt. Apparently, Natalie’s expression was enough to convince him
to move forward.

    “Watch
him. He steps out of line, hurt him. Make sure he stays operational.” Marco
smirked as Rico nodded his head in acquiescence to BJ’s orders. Noticing this,
BJ rumbled in annoyance and clarified, “That was to Rico about you, Marco.
Behave yourself, and leave the prisoner alone.” Having successfully taken the
smugness out of Marco, BJ lumbered to Natalie’s side.

    Natalie
wasn’t sure what she expected of the big man. He would be concerned, but at the
same time, this was very likely what he had come out here to find. With this
kind of evidence, there was no way the officials back home could deny that something
was definitely wrong. In a way, that could be considered a good thing.

    Whether
or not BJ agreed with her was a mystery. His face remained expressionless as he
took in the picture before him, raising his scope to his eye to better read the
situation ahead. Finally, he sighed, and Natalie was shocked to see how old he
looked. Straightening his back, BJ inclined his head toward Natalie with a
whisper.

    “Play
along.” BJ offered no explanation as he made his way back to the others, and
though Natalie was confused, she had no intention of disobeying him. His
expression was neutral, and so she did her best to match it, unsure of where
this was leading.

    “The
creature is dead. It’s safe to approach, but I don’t want to run the risk of
provoking any members of your team who might have survived. You’ll need to
lead, just in case.” The look of surprise on the burned man’s face, followed by
an almost desperate hope, made Natalie’s stomach hurt. As his nearly wild eyes
fell over her, she put on a small but confident smile.
Play along.

    
“We threw a rock that connected with the
body, and it made no motion to respond. More importantly, we believe we saw a
figure inside the building respond to the rock’s clatter, but failed to pursue
it. That suggests a human remains, hiding inside.” Every word was a lie, and
somewhere, a far off part of Natalie was revolted at her actions.

    It’s
necessary. BJ wouldn’t do this if it wasn’t.
Try as she might to convince herself, the words felt
hollow. The irony wasn’t lost on her that she had resorted to lying to herself
out of some sense of necessity. It was an easy habit to excuse.

    Their
guide had gotten to his feet, and though his progress was hampered by his
nerves, it was obvious that the false news had brightened his spirits. He truly
believed the thing was dead, and worse, he was hopeful that he’d find someone
he knew in the ruins.

    BJ
made his intentions clear as they crossed the street in a rush, now just a few
buildings down from their destination. In a quiet tone, he told the man that
the crew would stay back while he made contact, then move in to secure the
building behind him. Desperate for a positive turn of events, their captive ate
up every word.

    The
truth was simple enough: they were using the man as bait. First, if the
creature was alive and did respond to his action, BJ and the rest of them could
duck out of sight without risk. Second, if it didn’t, then the man might try to
warn his “companion” inside, if not outright make a break for it, proving him
unreliable. Last, he would provoke any undead inside the building, ensuring
that there would be no surprises awaiting them when they entered.

    In a
fit of shame, Natalie contemplated what would happen if they actually did throw
a rock at the thing, but she knew it wouldn’t work in their favor. If they woke
it up, it would probably begin hunting and might find them. Whatever got its
attention had to be alive, if only to placate the monster’s hunger when it
stirred.

    Wryly,
Natalie forced a dark smile.
Let’s turn a stranger into bait, sure. Good
thing we don’t know his name, or this might feel wrong.
The sickness in her
stomach roiled, but she fought it down with a practiced ease that nearly made
her ill again.

    Her
morality could scream at her all it wanted, but the reality remained: they had
no choice. Any other option presented a direct risk to the team, and they had
to investigate the building if they wanted to try and keep the outpost safe. If
someone was going to die… it was better him than them.

    With
bated breath, Natalie watched the man make his slow crawl toward the building.
Once or twice, he glanced back at them as if to confirm that the creature he
was so near to was truly dead. Each time, BJ nodded stoically, sternly
gesturing him onward toward his uncertain fate.

    As
he finally made it to the entrance of the store, the man tossed a small stone
of his own, obviously testing for himself the claim that the beast was no
longer operational. A second later, he let out an obvious exhale of relief, and
Natalie did the exact same. She hadn’t realized how tense she felt over the
man’s fate, her subconscious silently cheering him on.
At least I’m human
enough to care about what happens to the poor bastard. Haven’t lost that part
of me yet.

    Seemingly
content that he wouldn’t be torn apart, he called out low, trying to get the
attention of the survivor he believed was hiding inside the building. He even
offered an awkward wave to the crew behind him, his confidence slowly returning
as his belief in his safety increased. Natalie briefly wondered if she had seen
him smiling.

    Seconds
turned into minutes as the crew awaited some kind of reaction from within the
building, but without any response forthcoming, the man seemed to renew his
worries. The instant their bait stepped inside to investigate for himself, BJ
signaled for the rest of the group to follow him.

    No
sound came from within, which made Natalie simultaneously hopeful and
concerned. The quiet was enough to confirm that there was no undead presence in
the building, but did nothing to assuage her fears of a human threat. For all
she knew, their prisoner had his throat slit and was dying silently around the
corner, or he was working with the ambushers after all and this had all been a
part of the plan.

    BJ
entered the store first without conflict, Rico right behind him, and the
tension that immediately radiated from them sent shivers down Natalie’s spine.
As the two men parted in front of her, there were a million images of what she
was expecting to find all flashing through her head. None of them matched the
scene before her.

    The
room was chaos incarnate. All around, shelves and walls had been torn asunder
by the hulking thing that now lay dead at their feet. Whatever fight had taken
place here had been a doozy, but it was the yawning pit in the floor that had
Natalie’s attention.

    Their
prisoner had said that the thing that attacked his group had come from below,
but Natalie hadn’t realized exactly what that meant. At the time, she had
suspected maybe a basement, or some kind of pipe system, had allowed for a
surprise attack. Instead, she was looking at a tunnel, sloppy but efficient,
that had clearly been created by the monster in the room.

    No
one could deny the evidence now. As Natalie looked over the hideous corpse,
more and more details came to life. It was huge, easily dwarfing even BJ in
size, but most of its bulk was in the upper body, the strength in its arms
easily outweighing the power of its legs. The hands were webbed, each finger
ending in sharp, hard points, ideal for clawing through rubble and dirt. The
damage that had been done to its skull was heavy, but Natalie could clearly see
one gigantic black eye that would be perfect for seeing in the dark.