The Phoenix Trilogy (Book 1): World On Fire (38 page)

There was no need to have
someone spy on us directly either, because again, we got sidelined by the
military anyway. They already had us on the trail to being vilified, so they
had no reason to take an extra step there.

If he worked for somebody
outside the camp, he didn’t need us to get inside in the first place because
the refugee area was open to everyone. We never gave him any special
privileges.

See where I’m going with this
now?

There was no advantage to be
gained against anybody by getting Thomas involved. In fact, even though we got
ignored, having his testimony about the diggers would only have helped us
convince people that there was a real danger outside.

If he is a bad guy, I can’t
figure out what purpose he could possibly be serving. I think somebody in his
group led them to that spot to die, and when he escaped, they didn’t care
enough to finish the job.

Which brings me to my next
point. The weird confusion I’d had at the store where the digger’s body was?
All that uncertainty about what happened and who had been there, I think I’ve
got an answer. Or at least, the start to one.

The whole thing was a setup,
right? Humans led the group there, had them killed, and then left the body for
us to find.

I think they had biters
involved, too, but they were controlling them. I don’t know how, but if humans
were there to give orders, then maybe they made the undead go back underground
before they could get to the corpse behind the counter.

I’m not generally big on
conspiracy theories, but it makes sense.

What if they were killing
two birds with one stone? What if, just like in the camp, they had the digger
burst out followed by walkers, just to make sure it’d work?

The humans in control
confirmed that the creature worked, placed the trap for us by killing it and
leaving the body behind, and then forced the zeds back into hiding until they
needed them again.

Not that any of this stuff
matters if I’m right. The damage is already done, and we don’t have the
resources to fight back against anybody, even if we did know who we were going
up against. We’ve got nothing.

Nobody has brought it up
yet, but tomorrow we’re going to have to figure out what we want to do. My vote
is on returning to the camp to look for survivors.

It’s dangerous, sure, and
probably a really stupid idea, but I don’t care. Those people got left behind
to die, by us and by the soldiers who were supposed to be protecting them, and
I’m not going to run away and never look back.

It’s the least we can do,
and if nothing else, I want to see if those fuckers from the inner ring
survived. If they’re still back there, then they’re going to see that we made
it out, too.

Might not be the wisest
idea, but fuck them. I want to know they’re going back to report to whoever is
pulling all these strings to tell them that BJ’s crew is still kicking. Let ‘em
stew on that for a while.

This isn’t working. No
matter what I say, I’m angry. I keep seeing all of the death, and I keep
blaming everybody who fucked up. I don’t know that I can stop. I’m just going
to sit here, rattling on about conspiracies, until I finally croak.

I don’t even know how much I care about dying
anymore. Might be a good break from all this garbage living.

God, fuck all of this. I’m
done.

    
Sleep never did come to Natalie. Her night had been spent
curled into a ball on her pack, eyes open but looking out at nothing in
particular. The rest of her party had fared the same. Not a single word had
been spoken since they arrived at their makeshift camp, and even though it was
apparent that everyone was awake, Natalie was loath to break the silence.
Instead, that duty fell to BJ.

    “I’m
going back to the outpost. Anyone who wants to stay behind is more than welcome
to.” As the giant finished his simple announcement, Natalie was already on her
feet. Across from her, Marco and Rico had responded in kind. To her surprise,
Thomas had as well.

    “Jessie,
Stephen, and I will stay here and see what we can scavenge from the area.” Lia
spoke next, and judging by matching looks of resolve from her two companions,
they had already reached that decision amongst themselves.

    While
BJ and the boys put their rolls away, Natalie approached Thomas. He saw her
coming, though he refused to look up from the ground, instead awkwardly
shifting in place. As she came to a halt in front of him, he raised his face,
and Natalie saw a glimmer of determination flickering in the burned man’s eyes.
Something had changed during the night.

    “Why?”
Natalie spoke only the single word, a distant memory of BJ asking her the exact
same question echoing in her mind. Now that she was in a similar position, she
felt as though she understood the veteran better. Thomas was injured, he had no
idea what he was doing, and he would probably be happier if he stayed behind…
yet here he was, volunteering anyway.

    “I’m
not going to pretend we’ve had a great start together.” Absentmindedly, Thomas’
hand reached up to graze his face where BJ had struck him shortly after they
had met. “In fact, I hated all of you after you found me. Because of the way
you treated me, because you made me go back... you made me face what I had run
away from.”

    Reading
Thomas’ face was challenging, given the burns and bandages, but Natalie took
him for seeming thoughtful. After another moment to collect himself, he
continued.

    “I
need that, that extra push to confront what I’m trying to escape. I’ve seen
you, all of you, and after everything that’s happened, I’ve come to terms with
why you did all that you did. I get it.” He chewed his lip, a habit he must
indulge in often given the broken, bloody skin that comprised it. Natalie tried
not to wince for his sake.

    “I
don’t know if I can ever redeem myself, for what I did, leaving Alison and the
others to fight that thing by themselves, but I guess if ever there was a way,
it would be with all of you. I… I have to try.” Thomas’ courage flickered,
dangerously close to going out, but Natalie punched his shoulder and put on her
best smile.

    Truthfully,
she thought he was making a bad decision, though she respected his reasoning
for it. Thomas, in a way, reminded her of herself. Natalie had felt similar
fears, and it was only through trial and tribulation that she had come to be
where she was now. Maybe someday, Thomas would be in a similar position.

    With
a nod to Rico, Thomas was supplied with a handgun and a knife, and given the
same basic rundown that Natalie herself had received so long ago. They wouldn’t
be traveling nearly as far as they had when Natalie was first picked up by BJ
and the others, but it seemed like a good idea to ensure that Thomas had at
least some means of defending himself.

    Once
they were satisfied that they were as prepared as they were going to get, they
left, though not before Lia gave them each a tight hug and wished them well.
Natalie smiled, the first genuine feeling of warmth in her heart weakly
sputtering to life. Stephen caught her eye as she let Lia go, and he silently
mouthed
be safe
before turning away.

    Knowing
that there were people wishing her well made Natalie feel a bit better, but it
was a feeling that she knew couldn’t last forever. Soon enough they’d be at the
outpost again, and as the crew stepped out of the laundromat and back into the
street, she knew they all shared the same grim thoughts.

    They
began their march, and Natalie wondered just what they were going to find on
their return. The whole scene had been mayhem, and everything was going south
long before they’d even left. She couldn’t help but believe that it would have
only worsened, and so her thoughts were weighed down with images of steadily
darker suspicions.

    Almost
as if mocking them, the streets continued to show no sign of undead activity.
Empty as they had been for days leading up to the attack, as if nothing had
happened. Natalie bit her lip.

    She
knew there was more than one outpost still standing in the world. What if the
zombies had attacked all of them? What if more people had been caught off guard
and butchered, just like the refugees she had been surrounded by? There had
been plenty of deaths in her own camp, but the thought of countless other
similar supposed sanctuaries also being lost…

    
That’s
enough. You’re not helping yourself. Shut up, and focus. You can do that. Just
focus on what’s ahead.
Looking to get her mind off of her nightmarish
thoughts, Natalie began studying the road they were on in an attempt to
discover where they were.

    After
their flight through the sewers, Natalie had completely lost her bearings. By
the time they’d come up and gotten into the laundromat, she had wanted nothing
to do with anything, perfectly content with shutting down and tuning the world
out.

    Now
that she was back outside, she recognized some of the street names. Another ten
minutes passed, and she knew exactly where they were. The outpost wasn’t far
away, after all. It had only seemed like a great distance because of the winding
path through the tunnels that they had been forced to take.

    Just
ahead, they would be rounding the street corner and be put on the main road
that ran straight into the outpost’s center gates. They would be approaching
from a sizeable distance, giving them more than enough room to dodge out of
sight if things proved too dangerous to continue.

    Once
again, images of what horrors were ahead played through Natalie’s mind.
Rounding the bend and getting the first sight of the camp since they’d left,
she found herself uncertain of what to think.

    From
their distance, it looked the same. The gates looked closed, the walls were
standing. Slowly moving nearer, Natalie noticed the first sign that something
was amiss; there were no guards manning the ramparts.

    Drawing
even nearer, Natalie saw that one of the gates was just slightly ajar, and
pouring out from underneath them both was a fresh pool of blood. BJ gestured
for Natalie to join him, and the two crept right up to the opening in the gate.
It was barely cracked, but it was enough for the two of them to see inside.

    Natalie’s
veins went cold. Even being severely limited in what they could see, it was
unnerving. More blood, gallons of the stuff, covered everything in sight. There
were no bodies, no flesh of any kind. The only sign of violence came from the
red that painted everything and the thick, nauseating scent of death.

    Being
the smallest in frame, Natalie gestured for BJ and the boys to wrench the door
open, at least enough for her to step inside and give the all clear. As one,
they gripped the gate and heaved, even Thomas throwing his best at it. The
creak as the metal was manhandled open sent chills down Natalie’s spine. If
there was anything alive inside, it knew someone else had arrived.