Free The Phoenix Trilogy (Book 1): World On Fire by Charles Scottie Page B

zombie at all. Impressed with BJ's vision, she realized
her mistake as Rico raised his rifle to look at the creature through his scope. Not eagle vision, just smart thinking. She also noted that their scopes looked
to have electrical tape on them, an oddity she reminded herself to ask about
later. For now, there was a more pressing matter that needed tending.
         They had nearly finished moving through
the green belt and were just entering another neighborhood when BJ had flagged
their mark. It was standing with its back to the group by a house on the
opposite side of the road from where they stood. Curiously, it didn't appear to
be moving or active. BJ signaled for the group to follow behind him, slowly
inching closer.
         As they reached the corner of the house,
Rico tapped Natalie's arm and motioned for her to stay put. Without anything
further, he dropped to his belly and crawled out toward a car in a nearby
driveway. Scanning the surroundings, he gave the all clear sign and beckoned
for Natalie to join him. Heart pounding in her chest, she ducked down and moved
to meet him, while BJ and Marco paired up and set off toward another vehicle at
the neighboring house to their left.
         Natalie wasn't sure what the plan was, but
the confidence with which the group had moved suggested there was definitely a
ploy in action. She tried to focus on that, instead of what felt like a vast
pit of uncertainty yawning in her mind. Another tap at her shoulder revealed
Rico's intention to crawl under the car. Following suit, she caught Marco's
eye. He was already in position under the vehicle on his side, and he nodded at
her as he put a finger to his lips before pointing at BJ.
         He appeared to be holding a rock, and
Natalie's heart dropped as she realized what he intended to do. Without any hesitation, BJ hurled the stone as hard as he could at
one of the homes across the street from them, aiming for a window. As soon as
the projectile was loosed, he dove down beside Marco. Everything after that was
a haze of sound and motion.
         The stone shattered the window, and a
heartbeat later the zombie who had been so passive a moment ago was suddenly
ripping into the broken glass and hurling itself into the home. Worse, glass
and wood seemed to be raining down around Natalie's cover as more undead
exploded out of the houses around them.
         There were at least eight of them, some
running upright while others leapt forward on their hands and feet. Natalie
almost considered it a blessing that their frenzy was so intense. Otherwise,
they may have run the risk of being spotted by a crawler, and in their position
they would have found it nearly impossible to defend themselves.
         Feeling anxious, Natalie glanced at Rico
for orders. His only reply was to put his hand on her arm and whisper the word,
“Patience.” After a few minutes of waiting and as soon as the last set of
rotten feet had seemingly joined in on the hunt within the decoy house, Rico
and BJ flashed another exchange of signals before rolling out from their hiding
places.
        Wasting
no time, Natalie mirrored their actions and was immediately forced to run as
Rico sprinted diagonally across the street. BJ was already rushing down the
side of another home ahead of them, rifle sweeping between yards as he did.
Marco held his position at the corner, scanning their flank until Rico and
Natalie were both ahead of him.
        Regardless
of his attitude, there was no denying that Marco followed his orders without
complaint. The group's actions were second-nature, and for all of the character
they had when they were relaxed, it was clear that they were more than capable
of handling themselves in an orderly fashion when it was necessary.
         Ahead of them, BJ signaled all-clear at
the backyards. Continuing his pace, he dove into another greenbelt, trying to
put as much distance and cover between the ghouls and themselves as