“Anyone wanna stay out in this, or do we look for shelter?”
The answer was unanimous, and when Nate pointed out an abandoned farm to the south, I sent the car onto the access road leading there. The summer heat had done its own to kill the high grass growing everywhere, but if I could avoid getting stuck in the sudden mud, all the better. It took us a good half hour to clear out the two barns and the farm house itself, a total number of five zombies, two badgers, and an entire horde of raccoons getting displaced. There was some debate whether we should chance leaving the cars in the barns rather than out in the open—with the land this flat around here, lightning might strike and burn down the barn—but in the end comfort won out over paranoia. It was dark as night by the time all of us assembled in the main house, dragging in enough mud that it made me wince even though I had no intention of cleaning up after us.
I volunteered for guard detail, but Pia had already called out the rotations, leaving both Nate and me, but also Jason and Charlie suspiciously out of it. She made as if to join us in the small office where Nate directed the leaders of the Chargers to, but at the shake of his head she remained in the kitchen, taking care of distributing provisions. I followed Nate into the room, settling my ass against the desk as Nate remained standing and Charlie and Jason sat down on the sofa.
“Guess you’ll be wanting to know what you missed,” Jason said, getting more comfortable as he leaned back. A cloud of dust rose, making Charlie cough, but Jason took it with an easy smile. “No offense to anyone, but if all you’ve had to rely on are the squints up at the Silo, you’ve been missing out.”
I noted that Nate didn’t glance at me as he nodded. “Would be great to be all caught up, thanks.”
“Well, where to start…” Jason mused. “Radio transmissions and Tamara’s bulletins make it sound as if Dispatch has turned into paranoia central, but it’s still business as usual there. Lots of people, lots of booze, and you can’t take a swing without hitting someone who declares how independent and unafraid they all are. Lots of bullshit, of course, but I think you already got that the time you were there.” We both nodded, Nate smiling faintly.
“It’s not just talk,” Charlie interjected. “People are suspicious, and the rift between the settlements and the scavengers is getting wider. Not everyone’s out there to do the right thing, or to play hero for the people, and you only get burned so many times before you decide that it’s not worth it. Not saying your speech back in Harristown kicked off a revolution, but you’re not the only one who wasn’t afraid to voice their grievances. And in that town it actually helped.”
Jason nodded. “Last we heard they kicked out the asshole of a mayor and his flunkies who thought it was such a good idea to police us in good ol’ TSA style. Turns out, they used similar scare tactics to keep their own people quiet. After we left, they started talking, and there’s only so much a handful of people can do against the masses, even if they have the guns. Rita sent three scavenger groups down there when she heard that the assholes left the settlement almost without any defenses. They still say they don’t want any trouble with the government so they won’t declare themselves neutral, but I bet that if you need a place to lay low for a week or two, they’ll gladly let you in.”
That was a lot more than I had expected. Nate looked impressed as well, but his features darkened a moment later. “On the way over to the Silo we ran into a band of soldiers—as you know, that’s where we got our wanted posters from. We almost ran into another group as we were passing by a mall on the way down south. Looks like they’re out there, scouring the abandoned buildings and towns for anything useful. Got any intel on that?”
Jason and Charlie traded glances that mirrored the anxiety I felt at Nate’s recount. It was one thing to boast that we were all happy to be out on the road, far removed from what nowadays counted as civilization, but a lot of that was based on the fact that it was easy for us to find virtually anything that we might need out there. Bringing loot in was one of very few trump cards that we had to make settlements harbor us in times of need. Lacking that, things weren’t looking quite that rosy anymore.
Charlie was the one to answer. “We’ve heard of groups disappearing, but with everyone and their mother staying off the long-range frequencies at the moment it’s hard to say sometimes. There have been cases of groups turning up days later, unscathed, not even aware that they gave everyone the scare of their lives. We know of more than one group that has decided to drop off the grid to maybe check in once fall forces us all to make plans for the winter. And the streaks have taken care of at least five groups that we know of by now. With people anxious to stay offline they get the warnings too late—“
“Or there simply isn’t anyone to warn them,” Jason interjected.
“That, too,” Charlie agreed. They traded glances, and he sounded dejected as he continued. “There’s also talk that some townies plain out shot a number of scavengers that refused to leave, or might have gotten too pesky with their demands. Rita went ballistic when she learned of that, and she’s started blacklisting settlements because of suspicious behavior. Not sure I agree with the method, but she’s getting a lot of backing for it.”
Nate didn’t comment on that, so I did. “Sounds like she’s establishing herself as the general of the resistance.”
Jason snorted, shaking his head. “People talk to her. She listens. Ever since Tamara sent out the emergency bulletins about the settlements no longer being safe, it’s chaos on all fronts. No one knows who to trust, mostly because there is no one to turn to. The government would like to establish itself as some such, but so far they haven’t even managed to let us all know whether we still have a president, and how they intend to govern us, except for the clean divide they’ve established. Or tried to, but look how well that worked. Yet both the settlers and the nomads have Dispatch to turn to, and Rita’s as close to a person in charge there as it gets. And with so many extra people making the town burst at the seams it’s in everyone’s best interest if she sends groups where they might be needed, rather than have to feed them on top of everyone else. Last I talked to her she snapped my head off for suggesting we drop by even for a single day. They’re trying to scale up food production as much as possible, but there’s only so much you can do late in the season.” His grin widened as his eyes skipped to Nate. “She might make an exception for you. Then again, probably not, now that you got hitched.”
Nate didn’t look too amused by that remark, but that one he deserved. “I wouldn’t know why we should go to Dispatch right now, unless they need us there. You said so yourself—everyone’s there. I usually make a point not to follow the crowds.”
“Better not to tempt anyone,” Charlie agreed. At my raised brows he shrugged. “I don’t think anyone would rat you out for money, or food, but there are people who might decide that gaining favor with the government is in their best interest. If I were you, I’d try to lay low. No one will recognize you in any of the settlements if you don’t advertise who you are. If they haven’t done that yet, ask the guys at the Silo to set you up with a few fake group identities. We did so last week. Turns out, traders are still welcome if they aren’t armed to the teeth.”
That didn’t sound like the worst idea, and came pretty close to something Clark had brought up on the way south. With the fake transponders it was easy to mask our identity. Add to that the patches that Sadie had given us, and it might even work.
“Dave gave you that same list as us, the one with the settlements that might opt to be neutral?” I guessed. I got twin nods.
“We can likely add a few more,” Jason offered. “Our folks back home aren’t on there, same as a few other towns they’ve been keeping in contact with. I’m sure that Utah’s not the only place where local trading has picked up since the spring. It’s the larger, more isolated towns that seem the most reluctant to trust anyone.”
As interesting as all that was, I was starting to get antsy. I felt like a fucking hy
pocrite for this, but I kind of wished I could just step outside and let Pia do the talking so that later I could complain again that I hadn’t been involved. Things had been so much easier in the spring.
Nate seemed to pick up on my increasingly worsening mood, clearing his throat to draw everyone’s attention back to him.
“We have a favor to ask,” he started, glancing at me to resume once Jason nodded.
“Sure. What you need?”
“Not us, directly,” I said. “And it probably doesn’t even concern you, but it would likely be the safest if you could broker the deal.” Jason and Charlie both looked alarmed, so I was quick to explain. “It’s about Sadie. You know, Emma and Bert’s daughter? She’s pregnant. And as things are right now, we agree that it’s the best that she doesn’t have the kid back in Wyoming.”
Jason looked somewhat skeptical, but Charlie grinned outright. “Let me guess. Her parents wouldn’t approve of the union that produced said child?”
I shrugged, having to swallow once to keep my voice even. “That’s not even an issue anymore, seeing as the father is dead. It was Chris Bates, one of our guys.” At their confusion, I offered, “You never met him. He was the one who died at the cannibal compound.”
Jason’s eyes lit up with recognition. “So what you’re saying is that he was—“
“One of us,” Nate remarked. “Normally I would have told her to plain out lie, but there’s the possibility that someone will test her blood again, or the baby’s, and there’s a good chance that this is the last we'll hear or see of the both of them. I’d rather avoid that, seeing as Sadie’s the closest thing to a niece that I’ll ever have.”
“Sure thing,” Jason agreed, his eyes just a little wide. I had no idea how much he knew about the—proven wrong—theory that none of the super soldiers could sire children. It might have been the simple concept of Nate and Sadie’s relationship to each other. “What do you need us for?”
“We need someone to pick up Sadie and bring her somewhere safe,” I offered. “We’d like to get confirmation first, but New Angeles seems like our best bet.”
“Not the Silo?” Charlie asked. “Or maybe even Dispatch. For her, Rita would make an exception.”
I hesitated, but when Nate remained mute—clearly leaving the decision to me just how much I wanted to divulge—I shrugged. “As you just said, Dispatch is huge and might be home to all kinds of opportunistic assholes. The Silo sounds safe, but I’d rather not subject her to being badgered by the scientists there.”
“You think one of them is a rat?” Jason wanted to know, sounding surprised.
I shook my head, if after a moment of deliberation. “Not really, but I may have a beef with a couple of them and their finer sensibilities. She’s already scared enough as it is, and the last thing she needs is someone treating her like a test subject. The Silo also gets a lot of influx nowadays, and as deserted as Montana and the other northern states are, it’s exactly that territory where we ran into that patrol. Am I wrong guessing that there’s still no established trade route leading to New Angeles?” Jason shook his head. “Good. Maybe this is the biggest mistake that we could be making, but I think that them keeping themselves apart makes them the right place to stash someone that we want to keep off the radar. We would drop her off there ourselves but it goes without saying that whoever is out there to get us is still watching us. So we can’t, and seeing as everyone knows that we’re friends—“
“Neither can we,” Jason finished my thought. “Don’t worry, we’ll find someone.”
“How about Sylvie?” Charlie proposed, turning to Jason. “She’d be ideal.”
“Sylvie?”
At my question, he explained. “She’s a midwife, from Frenton, Colorado. She was one of the first who spoke up that she noticed women disappearing all over the settlements. Word is, she has helped a couple more to disappear deliberately.”
Jason nodded emphatically. “And we just heard this week that her own daughter’s expecting. If there’s anyone in this country who would know who to turn to, it’s her.” He paused before his face lit up. “I’m such an idiot, you probably know anyway.” At my stupefied look he grinned. “Her daughter’s Gussy, the Raiders girl who you helped get away from the ambush you all wound up in?”
I felt my stomach contract into a ball of lead, but did my best not to let the wave of emotion show on my face. Another piece of the puzzle clicked into place. I caught Nate glancing my way, concern heavy in his gaze, but did my best to ignore it.
“Why is everyone all of a sudden getting knocked up?” I murmured, hoping that I could postpone any further discussion of the subject, seeing as guys usually weren’t that gushy when it came to the topics concerning the endless female mysteries.
Not getting the hint at all, Jason grinned. “It’s been over a year since the shit hit the fan. People’ve had time to settle down, get used to the new world order. It wasn’t like there was much to do all winter. And damn, was that a long winter. Now everyone’s ready to repopulate the earth and take back what is ours.”
My attempt not to react was a botched one. I could tell the very moment Charlie picked up the cues, his face taking on a pinched look before he turned to his friend. “Dude, shut the fuck up.”
The same couldn’t be said for Jason, though, who snorted at Charlie’s reprimand. “Just because you won’t contribute to the propagation of the species—“
“Seriously, shut up,” Charlie hissed, his gaze flitting over to us. Jason followed along, frowning, but it took him another few seconds to get the hint. What felt like the epitome of a soulless stare etched into my features probably did the trick. Sadness, mixed with guilt wiped what remained of Jason’s good-natured smile away.
“Shit. I’m so sorry. I—“
My throat was too tight to answer, but Nate jumped into the breach without needing to be prompted.
“It’s okay, man. You couldn’t have known. It’s not like that’s something we feel like advertising.”
I could practically feel the mood drop further, making me offer what was supposed to be a chuckle, but turned out all kinds of wrong. “It’s the only reason I’m still alive,” I offered. “Yay for the age-old tradition of parents killing their young.”
Nate made a sound that was somewhere between a groan and a growl. Obviously, no one but me found my remark funny. Before the depressing silence could get any worse, I offered up how Jason’s reveal about Gussy had strengthened my conviction about what had actually been going on.
“It was a trap. A damn elaborate trap that took someone weeks to plan and execute,” I explained, briefly looking at Nate. “I’m not going as far as saying that it was for us specifically, but it’s coming damn close. The Raiders all had recently inked marks so whoever set the trap also knew about Gussy. And they knew about me. Maybe it was even my stupid remark that set this all in motion when I pretty much told Stone in Aurora that we’re happily screwing each other’s brains out. Not hard to connect the dots. They probably even had someone listening in to when I confronted you”—meaning Nate—“about why my body was producing antibodies like crazy. They just had to run another test and confirm… everything. The Harristown contract put us back on the map, and with us dropping by Dispatch and the Silo, it was easy to estimate where we’d end up next. All they needed to do was dangle a contract in front of our noses that they knew I wouldn’t refuse. Or any of the other heavy hitters, and we all know that most of us have at least one or two guys who got inoculated with the serum. Even if someone else had taken the contract first, it was such a big hit that sooner or later someone would have bitten that they were interested in. Spring the trap, and bam!”
Charlie nodded, none too happy about having to agree with me. Jason’s frown made him look downright ready to punch someone in the face.
“Only that you got away. Kinda,” he replied.
I shrugged. “All of us are expendable. And if not for Bailey sacrificing himself, we would have ended up
either defeated or dead. When I woke up and Nate told me about… what had happened I thought that this was special somehow, with the bullshit Sunny fed him. But now there’s Sadie, and even if the father of Gussy’s baby isn’t one of the super soldiers, I bet that a lot of the women who have gone missing had contact with them. I haven’t had time to confirm my guess with anyone, but I don’t think that most of those that have disappeared were the mayor’s wife or esteemed members of the new communities.”
Jason shook his head, looking more stricken by the second. “Far as we know, most were whores.” He cleared his throat, looking downright apologetic.
Charlie took over from him, snorting at his boss’s antics. “Young women, mostly. Maybe some of them really took fancy in one of the scavengers and ran off with them. Can’t fault them, particularly if what they did was frowned upon. You’ve seen how they look at us? I don’t think they’ll treasure the girls who freely associate with us.”
“It’s so cute that of all the things that could have survived the apocalypse, slut-shaming has to be it?” I harped. As expected, I didn’t get an answer except for silent agreement. Not that anyone in the room had the guts to speak up against me right now, but none of the guys struck me as particularly hypocritical in this.
Nate cleared his throat, looking from me to the guys on the sofa. “So, who gets to talk to that Sylvie woman? I know that you’re burning to get confirmation for your suspicions, Bree, but—“
I shook my head. “Jason is the safer bet,” I replied, waiting until the man in question nodded. “We weren’t joking when we told Sadie that we did everything to paint a giant target on our backs. Chances are they’re still watching us, and anyone we talk to will be scrutinized. It’s still risky to send you guys, but if you can come up with a good excuse for why you need to drop by Frenton…”
Resurgence: Green Fields book 5 Page 21
