Chapter 1: Phoenixes

January 8, 2024 4:12 PM

It had been almost five hours since they had left the flame teams to die. Jacob still couldn't put it out of his head as their group moved through the forest. No matter what his Dad or Darius said, it didn't change that they had left them. Left people who hadn't volunteered... The fifteen men who had gone to the base knew what they were volunteering for, knew they were going to die. But the others... It just wasn't right.

But that wasn't the worst part. The worst part was no one else had even bat an eye at them leaving. Even when word got out that five of the fire teams were missing, no one suggested they stay behind. No one volunteered to keep on the lookout. And no one missed a beat when getting everything ready to go. It was like some unspoken understanding passed through them all, an understanding that Jacob did not get.

He shouldn't be surprised, though. He was still very new to being a soldier and no one was eager to show him the ropes. Or talk to him, or be near him, or anything really. He couldn't blame them after what he had done. Sneaking out like that and taking all those people with him... He had just wanted to show he was as good as his Dad and help... Just wanted to help warn them of the storm... and now they along with the people who went with him were dead, save for Martha and Stan. It was no wonder the soldiers didn't like him.

Jacob sighed as he keep walking, following the people ahead of him. His depression was interrupted as someone tapped his right shoulder. He looked over to see nothing before turning to his left to see Samantha's smiling face. Samantha was a good head shorter than him and had short brown hair. Her full lips spread into a smile as her brown eyes stared at him.

"Still moping after getting chewed out by Darius?" she asked falling in step with him. Samantha had been Jacob's friend for well over five years. And more than that for about two. She had, also, joined the soldiers a year ahead of him despite him being a better fighter than she was. He was sure his Dad had something to do with that... She used to be rather scrawny, but over the past year she had bulked up quite a bit. Now she was well toned and muscled, looking more like a professional athlete. Of course, with the heavy fur clothing she was wearing, you would never know it.

"I am not moping, just...we left them Samantha," Jacob said as he sighed. Samantha looked at the ground and her smile faded a bit.

"Yeah...If it makes you feel better, it was tough my first time too. Knowing there were people out there still fighting and being told to pack up and leave," she paused as she shook her head, "its not an easy thing to do." Despite her words, Jacob knew a but was coming, and he was not disappointed.

"But, its something we have to do. It is horrible and wrong morally, but it is the only way we can survive out here. If we had stayed, we would have all been killed by the Society. Who would have been helped by that?" she asked him. Jacob knew she was right, some part of him had always known that, but it still didn't make it the right choice.

"No one, I know. But it was still wrong. We could have at least sent someone," Jacob said getting a sigh from Samantha.

"Should have sent you then, Jack-off," one of the men ahead of him said as he glared back at him. Jack-off...their favorite nickname for him, though they never used it in earshot of his Dad. They thought it was clever because it sounded sorta like Jacob.

"Naw, then Derek would have had to go save his useless ass then and the kid would have gotten him killed too," a woman beside the man said getting a few chuckles from the people ahead. Jacob's anger flared inside him and he might have yelled something back if the group didn't suddenly halt. Jacob was new, but he still knew that when the group halted, it was time to shut up. He bit back his rage and clenched his fist.

Everyone began to crouch down and the group fell completely silent. Jacob looked around and strained to hear but didn't hear anything unusual. And then it was there, distant, but there. The deep boom of a footstep sending a cold chill up his spine. The one noise every Phoenix was terrified to hear. The leader of their group, a woman named Susan, gave the signal to hide. The group fanned out and began to hide in trees, fallen leaves, and anything else they could find. Jacob looked around for a spot and saw the group ahead of them doing the same along with the group behind them. Samantha motioned to a hole in a tree she had found and they both crammed into it together.

Jacob might have been excited to be so close to Samantha in different circumstances, but the slowly growing boom of footsteps drove such thoughts out of his head. He tried to reach for his rifle, but it was wedged between him and the tree. Samantha nudged him and slid the broken tip of a knife out of an animal skin "sheath". Samantha had tied a piece of wood on the end to make it a jury-rigged, but still effective, combat knife. He nodded to her and stopped reaching for his gun.

The booming stopped, still rather distant, after a second and the place fell silent. A moment passed before the crack of a branch and a curse got both of them to tense. Jacob didn't recognize the voice, but he didn't know everyone in his group that well either. Samantha tightened her grip on her knife as the soft sounds of footsteps began to get louder. The footsteps were almost right outside now, just on the other side of the tree. The footsteps stopped along with Jacob's breath and all other noises. For what seemed an eternity the world was silent.

"Bland! Bland! BLANCH!!" a voice yelled out, breaking the silence. A soft muttering came from the other side of the tree.

"What?!" the person on the other side of the tree yelled back before moving away.

"Where ar- oh there you are. What are you doing? This is outside the search grid and you know how anal Carly is about that stuff," the first voice said, sounding a bit closer now.

"Just got an odd feeling of being watched so I went to look," Blanch responded as his voice became more distant. Jacob let out his held breath and he felt Samantha relax a bit too.

"Oh you got a "feeling". Look man if you need to take a leak just admit it," the other voice said as their footsteps began to head further away from them. Their words became less and less distinct until, finally, they vanished all together. Samantha didn't move, however, and neither did anyone else for another full minute. The booming footsteps started up again, but this time grew more and more distant till they fell away to nothing. Finally, Susan gave the signal, a snow bird call, to come out. Samantha squeezed out first before Jacob followed her out, both groaning and stretching their cramped muscles.

"Shit that was close," Jacob said. Samantha nodded as the rest of the group came out of their hide spots, most looking just as cramped up as he did. Jacob's muscles were still complaining when the group began to move again, a good bit faster now. Susan pointed out three of the group and then pointed out around them. They nodded and split off into the forest, going out to screen their movements.

"And Jack-off wanted to stay and wait. Those damn Rangers would have had us pinned in if we hadn't have moved when Darius said. Dumbass kid," one of the men behind him, Luke, said. Jacob wanted to rise to the bait and yell at him, but Susan cut that off before he could.

"Quiet. No talking," she said glaring at Luke and then the rest of them. With the order given, the group fell silent.

It was two days of almost complete silence as the group made their way to their destination. The two days passed without incident while their nights were cold, dark, and lonely. His Dad, who was leading the squad, had forbidden fires so all their food was cold and their nights spent huddled together. The others might not have liked him, but were more than happy to snuggle up on him during the nights along with everyone else. Samantha helped make those nights somewhat better, but Jacob was in no mood for sex. If Samantha minded, though, she never showed it. Finally, on the third day, they arrived at their destination.

Jacob wasn't sure how long they had jogged, but it was longer than he would have liked. The sky was beginning to darken, but it was still light enough to be mid afternoon. Finally, the trees began to thin and the group slowed to a stop. Ahead of them were the two lead groups in the squad. Behind them, the trailing group came to a stop a few meters back. Jacob could see his Dad peering out of the trees and into the parking lot of the rest stop they had arrived at. He looked around before motioned forward. Five people moved up out of the trees and began to make their way toward the rest stop itself. After a few minutes of waiting, the blinking of a signal light came back.

With the signal given, the lead group rose and made its way across the parking lot to the rest stop, sprinting the whole way. The line of groups moved up and waited at the trees till the signal came again. Then the next group headed on and it was their group's turn. It was a slow process, but it made sure the entire squad was never caught completely in the open.

Jacob took a deep breath as they waited for the signal. Being spotted in the forest was one thing, at least there were places to hide and the potential for escape. Out in that parking lot, though. Out there, there was nowhere to hide and no chance of survival. Get caught out in the open like that and you were dead, no ifs ands or buts.

With that wonderful thought in his head, the signal came and Susan lead the group out into the open. The group broke into a full on sprint heading toward the far side of the parking lot. Even with the sun bearing down on the broken pavement, it was still rather cold and Jacob found his lungs beginning to burn from the cold air. The group keep right on sprinting and him along with them, though. Stopping out here would be just tempting death and no one was going to come back for you. Finally, the edge of the parking lot began to loom up and the slowly crumbling parking bars rose upward as well. Susan lead them to one with a large hole smashed into it where a few other Phoenix members were waiting.

The group stumbled into the parking bar and its welcome cover, all of them gasping for air and a few nearly collapsing. Jacob leaned against the wall as he got his breath back and looked to see Samantha doing the same. He might be new, but at least he was in no worse shape than any of them. Of course, you would have to be super human to sprint that far and not nearly collapse. The group took a moment to catch its breathe before Susan motioned for them to move. By then, the two other Phoenixes were using a piece of glass to signal the last group.

They made their way out of the bar and to the edge of the sidewalk. A line of cobweb rope tied down to the ground lead up into the sidewalk and Susan began to climb it up. The rest followed her up and into the small crack between the two paved blocks of the sidewalk. A few trees and other brush had grown into the small space, though a path had been cut into it to allow them to walk. With most of the brush dead and the leaves gone, there was not nearly as much cover in the crack, but Jacob could imagine it was completely hidden in the spring, summer, and most of fall.

The crack exited into another small forest that went from the sidewalk to the edge of the old rest stop building. Rather than head for it, however, Susan turned them to the right and lead them toward a, ruined, water drainage canal. A large rent had opened into it about halfway down and, from the water stains, looked to veer the water left rather than let it head down all the way. At the bottom of the drainage canal was the hole the water should have gone into, though it too was ruined. A large amount of rubble from the sidewalk and fallen on it and looked to have sealed it.

Susan lead them to the rubble and to a specific piece of said rubble, a piece that was only a bit larger than them. She smacked it with the butt of her rifle before yelling out,
"From ashes."
"We rise," a muffled voice responded before the rubble shifted and the piece slid out to reveal the entrance to the Phoenixes' watch post in this area. Two large men grunted as they moved the rubble and then motioned everyone inside. Jacob scrambled in along with the rest. Once everyone was in, the two men grabbed a stone handle that had been carved into the back of the rubble and pulled it back into place.

Jacob let out a sigh of relieve as he and the rest headed down the drainage tunnel and into the outpost proper. The tunnel opened up into what had been the old rainwater lines running below the streets. A large amount of tables, chairs, and other furniture had been rigged up with random bits of wood and such. A number of beds were, also, lined up along the walls before ending at some metal walls the workers had rigged up. A bit of water still ran through the wreckage giving the place fresh water and a large deer was being cooked up above a large fire-pit. A few other fires were burning here and there to light the place. After the cold and constant trudge of the outside, it was paradise in here.

Jacob took off his gloves and headed over to the fire to warm himself. A number of others were already doing the same while the rest were arguing over who got the beds. Samantha went to join the battle leaving Jacob alone for the moment. He glanced over and saw his Dad talking to a large balding man. The man was missing his right arm and had a massive scar across the right side of his face. The scar had left his right eye blind, and half missing, and completely removed his right ear. To say he was ugly would be to put it mildly.

With nothing better to do, Jacob headed over to them to hear what was going on.

"-rom them yesterday. Said they made it and be headin' out today," the other man said before turning his working eye toward him. Jacob had to fight back the urge to turn away from his stare. Derek glanced back with an annoyed look till he noticed it was him. His features softened then as he turned back to the man.

"Swanson, I don't think you have meet my son yet. Jacob, this is Swanson. One of our best watchpost Commanders," his Dad said with a smile. Swanson's features lightened as well as he gave Jacob a less than pretty smile and extended his left hand to shake. Jacob took it and shook it as Swanson talked.

"Ohh, so this is yer, lad. Aye, I can see the resemblance. Nice ta meet ya, lad. Father's told me a lot about ya," Swanson said with an accent Jacob couldn't place. He tired to return the smile, but it faltered at the mention of hearing a lot about him. Another guy just being nice cause his Dad was around...

"Yeah...I'm sure he has," Jacob said as he looked down at the ground. Or he tried to till Swanson snatched his head back up.

"No what was that fer, hmm? Ye be worried I heard about yer little fieldtrip? Well let me ease yer mind, aye I did. And aye, I think yer an idiot. But so is yer father and so am I, so I can't hold that against ya, hehe. But I heard other things too. Other more worrying things," Swanson said his mouth so close his rancid breath blasted into Jacob's face. He thought for sure his Dad would pull him away, but Derek simply looked on with a neutral face.

"And what was that?" Jacob asked as he tried to wiggle out of Swanson's grip, but the big man's hand was like a vice.

"That ye still don't be knowing WHY everyone is mad at ye. That ye think it was because ye took those people out or that you were a survivor. Is that what ya think, boy?" he asked his two eyes, one working, one useless and half missing, staring at him.

"What else could it be?" Jacob answered returned the stare as best he could, which wasn't that good if he was honest. Looking at Swanson made his stomach turn. At that Swanson gave a short sniff of disapproval before releasing his grip. Jacob pulled back and nearly stumbled into someone as he backed away from Swanson and his rancid breathe.

"If I was you, I would be figuring that out in a hurry, boy. Darius' got no use for a clueless idiot. Now off with ye, yer Dad and I got man's talking to be doing," Swanson said before turning back to Derek. Jacob scowled at Swanson, but left all the same. He headed toward the beds and decided to find Samantha.

He found her lying on a bed looking rather pleased with herself. When she noticed him coming and the face he had, she leaned up in the bed.

"What happened?" she asked as she moved to let him sit down. He flopped down and thought about what Swanson said. Not that he had taken them our or that he had survived...then what was it? What did everyone hate so much about what he did?

"Swanson told me that people don't hate me because I survived or because I took those people out. Told me there was some other reason," Jacob said as he sighed to himself.

"And you still don't know what it is," Samantha said staring at him. Jacob felt a bit...odd having Samantha stare at him like that. It wasn't like her to look so serious.

"No...I don't," he admitted. Samantha shock her head and sighed before standing up.

"Then you know nothing about being a soldier," Samantha said before walking off.


Spoken Knowledge from Anonymous Trader, Subject, Phoenixes:

The Phoenixes? Now there is an odd bunch. An odd and long lived bunch. They've been around since pretty much the start of the Society's attack. Haven't always been as big as they are, but they have been around. Now that they have been getting big, they been getting a bit testy. Used to be you could mess with them here and there and get away with it. Not know, though. You got picking a fight now, and you'll be kicking the hornet's nest for sure.

They're not a bad bunch though. Treat them alright and they'll treat you the same. Done a number of deals with them and they've never shorted or shafted me. And they haven't tried to kill me so that puts them leagues ahead of most. Course, this is assuming you can even find the bastards. They keep their places well hidden and got some ingenious ideas on how to hide them. Why they have survived as long as they have despite fighting the Society. They might not have the numbers of the Elves, the vehicles of those fucking Marauders, or the equipment of the Romans, but their tricky bastards.

Course, they still try to fight the Society at times, so they can't be that smart, am I right? Haha! Still, if it was up to me, I would rather stay on their good side. Doubly so with that Darius guy leading them, woo! Now there is one scary ass fucker. You heard he used to be a fucking serial killer?