“Bree! Nate! Remember me?” the young guard called down. “Hey, since when do we allow scavengers in here?” It was at hearing his voice that I recognized him—Skip, one of the college kids that we’d dragged along with us across the country. Last I’d seen him had been in Harristown. Harristown, the settlement where John had been mayor. Looked like he hadn’t left there alone.
I had just enough time to tense before strong arms closed around my torso from behind and I was wrenched to the side, away from the others. For a few seconds it seemed as if all hell would break loose, but the guards were quick to get their weapons up, and, more importantly, get between my guys and their rifles. It would still have taken them too long had Nate and the guys tried to make a run for it, but as it was, he remained standing in the middle of the road, hands up, a few feet separate from where Burns, Andrej, and Martinez stood grouped together, pawing their sidearms but with no weapons drawn. There was still a chance for de-escalation, and maybe we could avoid the looming bloodshed. It made sense for Nate to stage the mission like that, even if I personally disagreed with the tactic. I was so over caring for all those innocent bystander lemmings that ended up pulling us deeper and deeper into their bullshit. Or maybe I was biased because it was John who had grabbed me and was holding a knife to my throat now, his other hand only inches away from my breast.
“Nobody move or I’ll bleed her like a stuck pig!” the idiot behind me shouted. Somewhat less loudly, but still loud enough that the guys could hear him, he told me, “Almost didn’t recognize you there, all dressed and shit.”
I wasn’t even afraid, only pissed off. Maybe it was plain stupid to disregard him as a threat, but I’d been in too many much scarier situations in too short a time to still give a shit about a plain knife. Taking two deep breaths to gather myself, I continued to stare straight ahead.
“Just open the damn gate," I called out, my voice going from soft to commanding. "You don’t want us here. We don’t want to be here. We won’t cause you any trouble unless you force our hands.”
It didn’t come as a surprise that he didn’t take me seriously, but his raucous laughter grated down my spine like nails on a chalkboard.
“Big words for such a small, little girl,” he ground out. “Maybe you haven’t gotten a good grasp of the situation yet—“
To underscore his words, he pressed the edge of the knife harder against my throat. I was tempted to jerk my head forward so he’d nick me. It would serve him right if he died because of his grandstanding gesture.
“Oh, I have a very good grasp of the situation,” I told him. “You think you and your handful of flunkies are a match for us? Let me tell you a secret. Four of the five of us are your worst nightmare—and I’m not the weak link.” I didn’t feel like I was spoiling anything for anyone at this point. If they hadn’t figured it out that this was a ruse, they deserved to be shot in the face.
John laughed, not even doing me the courtesy of answering me. I caught Nate’s gaze, trying to read something there, but all I got was a stony expression back. I decided that this meant that he’d leave it up to me how to play this—and let’s just say that I was all out of diplomatic solutions.
Expelling the air from my lungs in one forceful exhale, I reached up and grabbed John’s arms, at the same time hooking my left leg around his. A hard jerk as I pulled his arms forward and rounded my upper back was enough to make him lose his balance, and in an almost perfect move I brought his body flying over mine. A hot slice across my throat registered, but it didn’t hurt enough to be a lethal cut, so I ignored it. I staggered as the weight of my opponent pulled me forward after him, but I was ready. I hit the ground with my shoulder first, tugging my chin to my chest. I wrenched his arms around, at the same time wresting the knife out of his grip. Within seconds I was up again, behind him now, the knife pressed against his neck as I pulled him back onto his feet.
“Nobody fucking move or he’s dead!” I shouted. Half of the guards looked downright paralyzed, their pea-sized brains still needing time to catch up to the change in situation. Ramming my fist into John’s side where I expected his spleen to be, I made him scream. That got their attention. Looking around, I made sure that my back was to the gate, where only someone up on the palisade could gun me down easily. “And don’t you think for a second that just because I’m a woman, I won’t kill him right here and now! I’ve had a really shitty week and my fuse is a breath away from lighting up, so you better not tempt me!”
One of the guards—the joker from before—made a move as if to raise his shotgun, but he halted immediately when I pressed the knife into John’s skin, warm blood trickling over my fingers. Oops.
“Not. A. Move,” I repeated, fixing my gaze on him. “Put down your weapons and step away from them. And somebody open the fucking gate!”
Most of the guards didn’t move, but a few looked quite nervous. Martinez gave me an imploring look but I answered with a quick jerk of my head to the side. I wasn’t going to give up on this situation just yet. Nate still had his hands up but looked as if that was entirely his choice now.
“You really think you can just walk out of here?” the guard sneered at me. “You’ll be dead before the end of the day.”
“And who do you think will kill us?” I taunted. “You? The only reason you’re still alive is because none of you was stupid enough to get too close to me. Or do you think that Taggard and his boys will come to your rescue? Why do you think your rotation is days late? I’ll give you a hint. They should have stuck with imprisoning and raping hapless girls rather than pick a fight with someone who can defend herself. None of them will come, because they’re all dead.”
Of course I had no way of being certain—and it was too good to be true—but none of them could know that.
“You’re bluffing,” the guard accused, but already there was doubt in his tone.
Baring my teeth at him in an approximation of a smile, I shook my head, pressing the knife just a little harder against John’s throat until he let out a pained gasp.
“Why would I? I have no reason to lie. Do you really think that it tarnishes my reputation? You know who I am? Check that wanted poster. I’m already supposed to have killed a group of traders and the soldiers guarding them. Do you think that a bunker filled with newbie recruits and braindead droolers is a match for me?” Turning my head to the side, I singled out Hamish in the crowd of onlookers. As far as I could tell, the entire village was standing there, pressed against each other at what they wrongfully thought was a safe distance away. “Why exactly do you let these clowns terrorize you? Open the gate, and kick them out along with us. Trust me, either we take care of them, or the undead will. No one will come to punish you. If you get on the radio now and hail Dispatch, they’ll have someone over here within the week to help you rebuild a self-sustaining community that can take care of itself.”
I got no answer from him or anyone else, but I hadn’t expected that. I waited for another moment, then turned back to the still indecisive guards next to the gate. “I won’t repeat myself. Open the gate.”
Two of them twitched, but the joker made a quick “down” gesture that got them freezing once more.
“I’d do what she says,” Nate spoke up.
“You’d say that,” John ground out. “Pussy-whipped, dickless—“
That was as far as he got before I tightened my grip on the knife, effectively cutting him off.
Nate ignored him, speaking to the other guards instead. “Right now there are three RPG launchers trained on your walls. If we don’t make it out there in the next ten minutes, my people will reduce your neat little barricade there to a smoldering heap of ash. See how much your measly guns will help you against the zombies that will come pouring in. Your choice.”
Another ripple of agitation ran through the guards. “How do we know you’re telling the truth?” one of them called out.
“Standard operational protocol,” I replied, not hesitating for a moment. I had
no idea if they’d really picked up some rocket launchers—Burns had been gushing nonstop about them since borrowing one from the Raiders in the flight from the factory—but far was it from me to call anyone’s bluff, if it was one.
A few moments of mostly hushed debate followed, until a good eight of the guards put their weapons on the ground at their feet. At a jerk of my head, two of them stepped up to the gate and engaged whatever mechanism made the huge partition swing inward, opening both sides of the box at once.
I waited for Nate’s nod before I started walking backward through the gate, dragging John along with me. “I’ll let you go as soon as we’re out of range,” I told him. “Please, try something so I have a good excuse to slice you up like a pig. Please.”
The guys followed me, picking up their weapons as they passed the table. As soon as they found themselves confronted with what were obviously men who meant business and knew how to properly use the rifles in their hands, the remaining guards backed down, joining the entire village in silently watching the proceedings. John kept cursing under his breath but I ignored him. I’d tried not to, but as I passed through the outer gate, I couldn’t help but take a last, good look at the lemmings. Disbelief and horror were painted on their faces, not a single one of them ready to cry for revolution. My deranged brain of course had to find Sam in the crowd where she stood next to Margo, her eyes impossibly wide. It came almost as a relief when my eyes started tearing up anew, washing those last impressions away. My attention snapped back to the guards, but they seemed to have given up the fight for good.
I could likely have let go of John then, but kept dragging him along until I was standing right beside the Humvee. Burns and Andrej pretty much built a wall of flesh and body armor between me and the settlement, making me feel just a little less exposed. As soon as I lowered the knife, John tensed, but before he could try anything, I kicked the back of his left knee, sending him to the ground so I could step out of range unhindered. He glared up at me but was wise enough to keep his trap shut when Nate joined me, the muzzle of his AR maybe five inches away from John’s face.
“Make sure that I never see your cowardly ass again,” I told John. “Now run.”
He was up and scrambling away a moment later, but I didn’t think for a second that it was because of me. The gate had started to close, and apparently he wasn’t sure if they’d let him in if he didn’t make it there in time.
I stared after him for a moment before I turned to Nate. There was a world of questions in his eyes, which I pointedly ignored as I took the first free, unencumbered breath in… forever.
“Your gear’s in the car, over there with the others,” he said. It was likely not hard to read my mind right then.
I nodded and got into the Humvee’s back row. Martinez and Andrej followed while Burns took the wheel, with Nate riding shotgun. No one even looked at the stupid turquoise decoy car.
“Anyone got a map?” I asked, forestalling any questions. While Andrej got busy pulling one out of his pants, Burns started the vehicle. I’d never ridden in one of these, but I figured they usually didn’t come with dried blood all over the inside, the seats and doors riddled with bullet holes. How it was still moving was beyond me.
As soon as Andrej handed me the map, I spread it out across my lap, trying to orient myself. “We’re here,” Andrej offered, pointing at a speck on the map in the middle of nowhere. It took me a few moments to find the town I’d jogged through, and the one where I’d stumbled across the stashed zombies. Both were farther away from the mark Andrej had indicated than I’d expected. From there on I could only guess where the underground complex must be, but when he saw my finger hovering over that part of the map, Andrej got out a pencil for me to mark it.
No one said anything else in the three minutes it took us to drive up the small rise to where the other cars were waiting, the familiar sight of them making my heart constrict painfully. Taylor and Clark were standing watch on either of end of the huddle of vehicles while Pia was already waiting for us—a rocket launcher settled firmly on her shoulder.
I was out of the Humvee as soon as Burns brought it to a halt, marching straight over to the Rover. My pack, weapons, and gear were right where they belonged, and I started tearing off the useless clothes I was wearing as soon as I’d pulled some underwear and a clean bra out of my pack, never minding who saw my naked ass. It was only when I was down to my panties that I realized that, just maybe, it might have been a good idea not to give Nate and Martinez such a good look at the partly faded bruises all over my body, but there was no way to undo the damage now.
But damn, it felt so good to be back in my usual layers of stifling hot, tear-resistant tactical gear.
As soon as I straightened from lacing up my boots I came face to face with Nate, and I knew that he wouldn’t move an inch until I answered at least the most basic of his questions. I was in absolutely no mood to play games, so I ran right through the list before he could even pose them.
“I’m okay. I don’t need any medical attention. I can drive. I can shoot. Running might get a little uncomfortable because the soles of my feet are still damaged from running a fucking marathon cross-country without anything to protect my feet, but I’ll live. And unless we have any pressing places to be, I have a promise to fulfill.”
I turned away, intent on getting behind the wheel, but Nate’s fingers closing around my upper arm held me back. The contact also make me jump and jerk away, instantly falling into a defensive position, my fingers already wrapped around my Beretta. He let go immediately, the look in his eyes hard, worry etched into the lines of his face.
“First you tell me what the fuck happened to you.”
I hadn’t really expected him to let me get away with not answering that, but I still hated that I had to do so now. “The short version? I was stupid enough to let myself get drugged. I woke up inside a cell in an underground bunker. I got out. I spent a day running through backwater… this is Nebraska, right?” He gave a sharp nod. “Then I ended up in this damn settlement. I couldn’t shake the last of the zombies that I’d had on my tail all night, no food or water, so I couldn’t chance staying on the road. The last four days I spent sitting uselessly around on my ass, twiddling my thumbs. Satisfied?”
He wasn’t, but I didn’t expect him to be. Nate’s mouth twisted into a hard line, but after a moment he glanced from me to Burns. “Who’s that guy that idiot mentioned—“
I barely managed to keep myself from tensing up all over, but the look that Burns sent me was so conflicted that I knew I wasn’t fooling anyone. When I didn’t speak up, Burns answered for me.
“Gordon Taggard. One of Bucky Hamilton’s lieutenants when we started the evacuation in Lexington. I’ve been on two missions with him before that. Can’t say it was a pleasure. He’s an asshole through and through, the kind that finds any excuse to stir up shit. Not sure if it’s the same guy—“
“Sounds exactly like him,” I cut in. Nate glanced from one of us to the other, his gaze remaining on me. He opened his mouth but I didn’t let him speak—again. “Can we maybe do all the gossiping later? They’ve already had five days head start, and I’d hate to give them a sixth.”
“They being the people you single-handedly killed?” Nate asked, just a hint of strain in his voice. I didn’t interpret it as doubt but rather apprehension of what I was obviously not telling him.
Chuffing, I gave him a pointed look. “You know that I’m not good enough to kill thirty armed combatants on my own. Yet. Having three fresh, ultra-strong zombies on the loose helped. I’m not deluding myself into hoping that they’re all dead, but the fact that the guards in there couldn’t make contact with them anymore makes me guess that they ran.” Pausing to catch my breath, I looked away but then made myself catch Nate’s imploring gaze once more. “I’ll fill you in on the details later. For now what you need to know is that there’s an underground bunker out there with some corpses and a handful of zombies chomping down on th
em. I have absolutely no idea where they might be heading to, so the logical move is to go there, clear it out and take it apart until we find something. Got any better ideas? No? Then what are we waiting for?”
Nate’s hesitation made my heart sink, but it only lasted for a few moments. “You know the way?”
“I can backtrack part of it. From there we have to wing it, but it’s a bunker next to a gravel road right in the middle of nowhere. Can’t be that hard to find,” I said, not even trying to keep the sarcasm out of my voice.
Nate nodded, not reacting to my barbs. “Then let’s go.”
I was already in the car with my right foot when I halted, looking around. With the agitation of finally being out of that fucking hellhole of a settlement I’d chalked up the weird feeling of apprehension to that, but now it was even stronger. I remembered feeling it before, as I’d crested that very rise we were parked on now. It had remained a latent, low buzz during my entire stay in the settlement, but here it was different, sharper somehow, more focused. Getting back out of the car, I looked around, then closed my eyes and tried to get a better reading on where exactly it was coming from, that sensation that was just outside of what I could pick out with my senses but couldn’t deny I was feeling. Walking through the tall grass where it had remained undisturbed outside of our perimeter, I paused when my toes hit something metallic. Crouching down, I pulled the grass away, revealing some kind of device next to one of those solar-powered lawn lights—or that was what it resembled. The battery, I bet.
“Campbell?” I called out. “Can you take a look at this?”
Our tech wiz—trailed by Nate—joined me, eyeing the box critically. “What’s up?”
Resurgence: Green Fields book 5 Page 40
