Read The Phoenix Trilogy (Book 1): World On Fire for Free Online Page B

hunting us.
     
    Earlier today I had an
incident with a walker and a raccoon, and I thought for sure
the raccoon would be good bait. It didn't work, but at the time I wrote it off
as bad luck. Marco tells me that it probably wouldn't have worked either way.
The things will watch animals, chase them sometimes, but they tend to leave
them be unless they're attacked first.
     
    What in the Hell does that
mean? They're supposed to be mindless, shambling reminders of somebody we used
to be, but they have the concept of "defense" ingrained somewhere in
their heads, like a sense of what, preservation? That shouldn't be possible. I
mean, none of this should be possible, but that's a whole other ballpark of
unsettling. What if there are other parts of them that are still human, after
all? Ugh.
     
    Now, nobody in Marco's
band is military, but they've managed to pick up a thing or two from listening
in on conversations that suggest this goes deeper than it looks. I guess the
government has been fighting more than the zombies, lately. Uprisings from
civilians who blame them for everything, soldiers who are sick of being accused
and think it’s time to do what they want for a change.
     
    H uman enemies. Their worrying about
people sabotaging them from within is proving to be more dangerous than the
undead. It's bad, and it goes a fair way toward explaining their "lack of
hands" for everything.
     
    Worse, the scientists have
been having a hard time isolating the virus. Marco didn't have a lot of
details, but he said it sounds like it keeps changing, and they're having a
hard time predicting its patterns. He thinks they'll make it eventually, but
things are messy in the meantime.
     
    Still, even with all the
problems, he insists that the outposts are safer than here. They're dug in
deep, and they have a pretty tried-and-true system for maintaining security
inside the walls. It's when you set out on your own that you start running into
the really dangerous stuff, which is why they came out here looking for people
to bring back home. Marco tries to pass it off like following their lead is the
obvious choice that any smart person would make. It's annoying, but he's
probably right.
     
    Though it's funny, for as
harsh as he seems, it's BJ who has been the most insistent that I need to come
with them. At first I thought he was threatening to kidnap me if I refused, but
I think he's just really concerned. I don't know.
     
    You see people like that
in the movies all the time, the badass with a heart of gold. Maybe I'm just
seeing what I want to see, but I think he genuinely wants to make sure I'm
somewhere safe. He's scary, whether he wants to be or not, and Rico has gone a
long way to help me feel comfortable. Rico actually reminds me a lot of Dad,
surprisingly patient and easygoing. I like him.
     
    The n there's Marco.
     
    Everybody knows a Marco,
that guy who's just cocky enough to be annoying, but not so bad that you want
to throw him into traffic. If this were like the stories, he'd secretly be the
sensitive and heartfelt one, but I'm pretty sure he's just a smarmy guy who
likes to feel important. To be fair, he might be saving my life in the long
run, but it’s hard to feel grateful when he's making fun of you. Whatever. If
it means surviving, I'll get over it.
     
    To that end, we're
supposed to set out at first light, tomorrow. They haven't bothered to lie to
me about how dangerous it will be. They have a path that should be safe enough,
but "safe enough" isn't exactly reassuring when you're talking about
the things we'll be facing out there.
     
    We'll be on foot for a
while, but they said there's a possibility we'll be able to use a car when we
get to a certain point, if they get the go-ahead that the road is clear. Given
how unstable the environment is, the only thing they're really sure of is that
the outpost will be manned and operational when we show up.
     
    I'm going to be honest, I
doubt that. I know I compare real life to