Green Fields Series Box Set | Vol. 2 | Books 4-6

by Lecter, Adrienne

  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 hypocrite 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 Jaso
n’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…”

  “Not even an excuse needed,” Jason offered. “Remember when I told you we had plans to drop by our people in Utah to help bring in the harvest? First crops are ready right now. The reason we dropped by your folks was because it was one of the secure settlements on the way there.” I didn’t contradict him about our change in allegiance, and he went on without pausing, either ignoring his faux-pas or not quite aware of having committed one. “We can either use I-80 or I-70. If we go through Colorado, we can bypass Salt Lake City, even if that adds some miles to our route. We have some cargo loaded that any settlement along the way will be happy to divest us of. Who says this wasn’t the plan all along? And if we do run into any complications, Utah is close enough that we can send another group back and let them broker the deal. We get and unload shit for someone else to distribute all the time. No one from outside will find that suspicious. Provided you can spare a week or three?”

  It wasn’t ideal, but it was better than taking unnecessary risks. I let Nate nod in affirmation. “Just get her down there in one piece,” he agreed.

  “If you meet Gussy there, can you maybe ask her about the father? Just to be sure exactly how paranoid I need to be,” I said.

  Charlie and Jason traded looks. Charlie answered. “Gussy’s not in Frenton, last I heard. She and part of what is left of their group went to Yuma, I think. That’s a new settlement in eastern Colorado, close to the old border. I doubt she’ll leave there soon. The entire middle part of the state is still a hot zone. If she were to visit her mother she’d have to go up to Wyoming and then south west of Aspen, or come up from the south. The entire state’s a mess.”

  I nodded, thinking. I trusted his assessment—the Chargers were from Colorado initially, and the fact that they now considered Utah their home was saying a lot. Come to think of it, it struck me as strange that they sounded somewhat reluctant to visit any settlement there, including Frenton. But maybe it was something similar to our cooled-down enthusiasm toward the Wyoming Collective. Nate had explained it to me before—nothing stung like getting exiled by the people who should have had your back.

  “Yuma it is then,” Nate agreed after making eye contact with me. “Any idea where they lie on the scale of unfriendly to pitch-fork-wielding?”

  Jason shrugged. “They let the Raiders in. I think their head honcho is a local? Could be wrong. We haven’t been there but so far I haven’t heard of any red flags. They have no lab or military installations, far as we know. I could ask around, but that’s probably not the smartest idea.”

  That we could easily agree on. “Can’t be worse than them not letting us in, right?”

  “It’s worth a shot,” Nate said. I was a little surprised that he didn’t protest that entire, possibly stupid idea, but we didn’t exactly have places to be. As much as I yearned to tick off the settlements on the list that Dave had given us, Gussy was someone we knew, and a much better bet than hunting ghosts.

  “We should probably head south tomorrow,” Jason suggested. “The less time we spend together, the less conspicuous we’ll appear. Although, if you say you have the time, I think sending someone up from Utah is the better bet. If they really watch you that closely, they’ll check up on us, too.”

  That was a decision that I left to Nate. My knee-jerk reaction would have been to try to get Sadie out there as soon as possible, but he was the one who had the tight connection to her. I’d already killed our child; I didn’t want to be responsible for nixing another name on the list of those near and dear to him.

  And my, wasn’t I the cheerful one today.

  “Go home first,” Nate eventually stated, his voice slightly gruff. “Sadie’s not on her own, and I trust her to be smart enough to disappear if it takes too long. Her survival chances might not be up to par with what I put Bree through last winter, but I taught her a thing or two over the years that I’m sure her parents wouldn’t approve of. In a pinch, she won’t need us to get out. And as we proved over the past weeks, it’s easy for two people to disappear off the grid. If we’d never turned on the radio and made a point to stay clear of anything moving out there, no one would know that we’re both still alive.”

  Jason nodded, pensive. I couldn’t quite keep my tongue, even though I knew I was straining Nate’s patience with this.

  “And, in the end, what else is she but a young, impressionable woman who already is known to associate with the wrong people?” I got a glare back from Nate, but he didn’t speak up to contradict me. That made it worse, somehow—and for the first time I realized that he might have had another reason to go rather than stay at the bunk
er and wait for all of us to be vetted. Technically, it wasn’t hard to find out where we’d spent the winter, but there was no public record of us being there. Long before Emma had instated herself as governor we’d left, and I doubted that many more than the folks we’d helped directly still remembered us. He might have spared us the grief of getting exiled by the people we knew—but he’d also made sure to protect Sadie the only way that he knew how to. Me he hadn’t done that same courtesy. Not that I would have wanted it, but that thought still stung.

  A knock on the door tore me out of my gloomy thoughts, not a second too early. At Nate’s gruff answer Pia stuck her head in, letting the heavenly scent of fresh stew waft through the crack. “Dinner is ready, if you’re done hiding?”

  I couldn’t help but crack a smile at the annoyance lacing her voice. “We are,” I said. “At least I am.”

  “You’re up for graveyard shift,” she told me succinctly. So much for sparing me. It was strangely soothing that the fact that I’d been here for the inside talk still didn’t change a thing about her giving me the shitty guard duty.

  I took that with a nod, and after a last glance at the others left the room. Whether Nate still had anything to discuss with Jason or not wasn’t my responsibility, or else he would have already brought it up. After the news of the day, I needed some time alone to process all that. So I got myself a cup of stew and some bread that were both as tasteless as I’d known they would be, and went outside to watch the rain from below the awning of the roof, trying to get comfy on the somewhat dry hay stacked up there, alone with my glum thoughts.