Raynor’s features remained perfectly composed, but I could see her eyes take on a certain gleam. “The deal is off the table if you actively sabotage the mission, and the objective isn’t obtained. It’s a dangerous mission. I cannot hold you accountable for accidents that happen to other members of your team, now, can I?”
Bucky’s smirk dimmed, if only for a moment. Not the answer he’d been sure to hear, but nothing disconcerting, either. Just as well.
“You have my word that I”—I paused, glancing at Nate to include him—“we won’t sabotage the mission. And, unlike some other people present, I take my oaths seriously.”
“Very well,” Raynor quipped, quick to get up. “I knew we would reach a mutually beneficial agreement. You said you wanted to talk to your friends? Your plane is leaving at 1700; that leaves you about three hours to decide. Lt. Richards will provide you with transport for your sortie. If you have any further questions, you can address them to him directly. Before you leave, you will be provided with any gear you will need for your mission.” She flashed me a brief grin, albeit not a friendly one. “Good luck.”
That apparently concluded negotiations, Raynor and the general filing out before I could come up with anything else to say, Bucky and most of the other soldiers flocking out after them. I thought about approaching Stanton, but a primly dressed aide came in to wheel her out before I could stop dragging my feet and walk over to her. Why they’d paraded her before me was obvious—one more reminder of all the things I might want to forget. Red was the only one who remained besides us, and I chose to ignore him for now. I got the sense that I would do a lot of that over the next few weeks. Or months. I didn’t even know the time frame of this fucking mission, whatever it was.
When I turned to him, Nate gave me a look that was both bleak, but also held a lick of anger that resonated so perfectly with the flames creeping up my spine. “Well, you complained I never take you anywhere romantic,” he offered. “Looks like someone else volunteered to fill in.”
It was a loaded remark, but I chose to ignore that as well.
“Europe, huh? What could possibly go wrong?”
The corner of Nate’s mouth jerked up, but there was no humor in his eyes. “I have a certain suspicion that you will be the one to cause it.”
“Gee, you say the sweetest things,” I muttered, but couldn’t help but offer him a real smile back. Oh, I would—and none of them would see me coming. Let Hamilton think that the powers that held his leash had forced us into this, rather than serve him up on a silver platter. Accidents did happen, after all.
Acknowledgments
A huge thank you goes out to my beta readers. You are amazing, and my books have improved so much since I found you! Also, my sanity.
I’d be lost without my editor and cover designer, because they make this madness look downright professional. Chuck, my muse and writing buddy—check out his series, Day Zero by Charles Ingersoll. A must read, really!
I have the best readers in the world—so thank you as well! I’m reminded of that every time I check my books on Amazon, open my inbox, or log into facebook. You keep me going, even if writing turns hard—and, let me tell you, this book sent my mind on a bender, particularly the last third of it. If you ever ask yourself why you love reading shit like that, well, I often ask myself why I write it—but I have an easy answer for that: you. At the end of the last book, I promised I would write until book #10. Last week I came up with a possible plot for two more books. Let’s make a deal, shall we? You keep reading my books, and I’ll make sure there will always be a next one coming! Very likely before the end of the year.
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Catharsis: Green Fields #8
Dedication
To M
Because you’re the light of my life.
What happened in the Green Fields Series so far:
Nate Miller is a man on a mission—and that mission is to find out how exactly his brother died, and who is responsible for it. He recruits Bree Lewis, a virologist, to help him, even if she doesn’t know it yet. They end up destroying the virus that killed Nate’s brother—and turned him into a zombie—but it is too late. The zombie apocalypse is already happening.
With Nate’s group of mercenaries and a few others who join along the way, they flee the city, barely escaping a mob of zombies that devours everything in its way. Scared and hungry, they start their trek across the country. Their destination: a shelter in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, half a continent away. With rations and ammunition running low, they soon have to resort to looting the dead to stay ahead of the undead hordes. And the zombies are not the only thing out there ready to end their lives.
After spending the winter in their bunker in Wyoming, it is time for the gang to rediscover the world out there. With a loose trade network emerging, there is always need for someone to go raid a mall. They end up hunting super zombies in Sioux Falls, and take out the cannibal compound in Illinois—but at a cost paid in blood. Bree, grieving for her friend, isn’t sure any longer if the scavenger life is right for her. When they deliver the survivors of the cannibal camp to Aurora, Kansas, she finds out that not only are there efforts being made to find a cure for the zombie virus, but she is also offered to take over as leader of the laboratory. Her enthusiasm takes a hit when she learns just how far the super soldier program went that Nate and some of her friends have been a part of, turning elite soldiers into ticking time bombs. The new world order discriminates against their former hidden weapons, exiling them to a life on the road.
Forever leaving her calling of science and academia behind, after some kicking and screaming Bree embraces her place in the new world—at Nate’s side, as co-leader of the Lucky Thirteen, merry band of misfit scavengers and zombie killers.
Only others have different plans for her.
Ambushed by Nate’s former friend and now head honcho of what remains of the army, Capt. “Bucky” Hamilton, Bree narrowly survives getting savaged by the undead, leaving her with some disadvantages, but also immune to the virus. That unique circumstance puts her on the radar of a rogue faction of soldiers and scientists, who have her kidnapped. Bree survives and escapes her white-tiled prison to swear bloody vengeance on Taggard and his men, but those plans have to be suspended when the better half of what remains of the Lucky Thirtee
n either die or get severely wounded in an ambush set for them. With no other option, Pia, Burns, Nate, and Bree travel across the country to southern California and the by-now infamous settlement of New Angeles—only to find Gabriel Greene, the very first man to make her kill list, in charge of the city, and in possession of the information they need to plot an end to the headhunt on scavengers all over the country.
People rally to Bree’s call for resistance, and, hundreds strong, they attack the base in the mountains of Colorado where their adversary has settled down. Fighting soldiers and zombies alike, they win—forcing Bucky Hamilton to agree to a truce that puts an end to the civil war raging between the fronts, bringing peace to the shattered nation just before winter is coming.
All actions have consequences, and Bree quickly find out that hers aren’t the exception. What she thought was immunity to the zombie virus she got from the bites has festered into a systemic infection, turning her life into her worst nightmare—she’s rotting from the inside out. What started as a casual last run to maybe get some information at the Silo turns into a fight for survival against the snow and cold, wolves, the undead—and all that with her own body having morphed into a ticking time bomb. With hours left to live, they make it to the Canadian base where one of the serum project’s lead scientists has set up shop since before the apocalypse, and Emily Raynor is her last hope for survival. Yet a nasty surprise is also waiting for them: no other than Bucky Hamilton is in charge of the defense of the base, and he wastes no time putting Bree, too weak to fight anymore, in her place. She gets inoculated with the super soldier serum, and against all odds survives the horrific operation required to rid her body of all its decaying parts. Rather than letting her and Nate go, Raynor forces them to accept her proposition: work for her and her soldiers in turn for her doing her very best to fix Martinez’s grave injuries that left him paralyzed. With “no” not being an acceptable answer, they find themselves agreeing to join the mission led by Hamilton—and they are heading to Europe.
Chapter 1
“You look like death warmed over.”
I squinted at Burns, trying very hard to think of a witty reply, but came up blank. Every single cell in my body hurt—some more, some less; some that weren’t even attached to me any longer. The harsh sunlight did a number on my already mushy brain, even though my eyes stung somewhat less than I was used to. That was one small reprieve, compared to…
I forced that train of thought to grind to a halt and focused on the most important thing: to not just stand there like a brain-dead zombie. I’d managed to get through the brief ride on the truck. I hadn’t screamed my head off when I’d slid out into the snow, my feet having to bear my entire weight again. I was not going to let this get me down now.
“Gee, you say the sweetest things,” I finally replied. The words came out just a little garbled, although the cold had helped bring down the swelling in my jaws. Nate gave me a cautious, sidelong glance, but remained silent.
Jason and Charlie were still busy eyeing the truck behind us with distrust, while Tanner stepped up to Burns, Gita hot on his heels. All of them looked beat up from the fight with the wolves and zombies, but hypothermia seemed the greater concern. I had a solution for that either way. Maybe.
“Just telling it like it is,” Burns pointed out. “We’re between a rock and a hard place again, aren’t we?”
I would have shrugged under different circumstances, but simply cocking my head to the side was hard enough. “What gave it away? Our little entourage, or the fact that they didn’t give us our weapons back?” To be honest, I had my Beretta back in its sheath on my right thigh, all the good that it did me without ammunition—among other issues. I was still surprised that Red—Lt. Richards to those bothering to remember names—had only brought ten soldiers with him on our little trip outside the heavily reinforced fence of the base. Apparently, my ability to simply take off running into the snow-covered hills had been deemed nonexistent, and they knew that Nate would never leave without me. For once, I could have done with more of that usual underestimating of me going on, but that assessment was sadly very accurate.
“Some things never change,” I offered, feeling the irony of that statement bite all the sharper. “We’re heading to Europe.”
Burns’s eyes widened infinitesimally, but he took it in stride. The others, not so much, but after another round of staring at the soldiers no one spoke up.
Exhaling forcefully—and my, didn’t that cause some nice spikes where my right kidney used to be… and half of my liver… and gallbladder… and other things—I went on, speaking in low, hushed tones now, trying not to make my voice carry back to our entourage.
“I should tell you that this is goodbye. We’re caught up in this, but you’re all free to go. And you should. Just turn around, hunker down for the winter, maybe pray for us if that’s your thing.” No one laughed. I hadn’t really expected them to. “Fact is, I can’t. We desperately need some backup because this is going to devolve into the shit storm of the ages. And I’m very likely going to be the one stirring it up. Even without that, I have a feeling it won’t be pretty and will resemble a suicide mission more than anything else. They wouldn’t be recruiting the heavy hitters if it wasn’t.”
Burns didn’t bat an eyelash. “When are we leaving?”
I hesitated after opening my mouth to reply, having to shift onto my right leg to keep the pain in the left from becoming too overwhelming. A frown crossed his forehead, but Burns did a good job ignoring my obvious… issues. “Today.”
“Where exactly in Europe?” A pause. “And how.”
“Plane. Ship. Need to know, and we don’t.” My cut-off response clearly conveyed both my annoyance with the latter, and the fact that any further questions were futile. If not for the agony pushing away every other sentiment, I would have choked on my frustration.
Burns gave another nod, understanding. “I’m good to go.”
I glanced at the others, not bothering to ask. Every word I didn’t need to enunciate was a small blessing right now. Gita looked scared—smart girl—yet tried to hide it. The guys, mostly determined. “You’re not getting rid of us again,” Jason said, clearly speaking for the lot of them.
“Yeah, we never claimed to be very smart about this,” Charlie agreed, trying for levity but failing.
I offered the most infinitesimal shrug I could manage, likely lost in the heap of winter clothes I was bundled up in. “Like attracts like.” Glancing back toward the truck, I couldn’t keep from adding, “And we’ll be in stellar company.”
Red didn’t sneer back at me as I had hoped, still seeming way too relaxed about his babysitting duty. “Are you done being a drama queen yet?” he asked, his tone level. “We still need to select and pack your gear. The longer you spend standing around here uselessly, the less time you have for that.”
There was no recognition in Burns’s gaze, and bless him for the neutral look he regarded Red with. “He in charge?” he presumed.
I shook my head, hard-pressed to keep down the half-hysteric laugh that wanted to escape me. “Nope.”
“Someone we know?” Burns asked, a hint of caution sneaking into his tone. The way Nate tensed next to me likely already gave the answer away.
“Yup.”
“Who?” Bless him, but Burns wasn’t yet tired of my singular answers.
“Bucky.” No need to expand on that. They all knew who I was talking about.
The fact that Burns didn’t react at all told me that he could easily read the clues right off Nate and me, no further explanation needed. The others didn’t know us quite that well—and likely lacked a lot of background knowledge that even I hadn’t been privy to until very recently—so their obvious confusion was only understandable.
“Why would you want to work with that damn bastard?” Gita voiced her obvious objection.
My snort came out wryer than I’d aimed for, my voice dipping into almost toneless territory. “Trust me, I really d
on’t want to.” That much had been true even before we’d reached the base. Now, it was like a creed, set in stone. Gita’s mouth snapped open, obviously to ask why we still were, but I cut her off before our conversation could dip into dangerous territory. “I won’t hold it against you if you’d rather not stay. You’re still free to leave. All of you.”
“We stay,” Tanner insisted before anyone could say otherwise, his quiet confidence lending me a hint of hope. “We’re in this together. You can explain the details later.”
“You’re not getting rid of us,” Gita insisted, switching course. “You know that you’ll need me. Us,” she quickly corrected. The blank look on Tanner’s face underlined that her slip was just that. My tongue burned with the need to question her about what exactly she knew, which, of course, was just another way of asking what Gabriel Greene had known when he’d deliberately sent her with us. I knew that her fangirl act wasn’t just that, an act, but she might as well have proclaimed her mission statement right there. Instead, I nodded, the idea of having at least a hint of an extra security net in place a strangely comforting one. That was settled then, or so I’d thought.
“Actually, we’re not done yet.” Nate’s voice was hard, raspy, and it took me hearing him say that to realize those were his first words since we’d left that conference room. His expression gave nothing away, but his body was singing with tension—never a good thing, but considering that I still remembered all too well how he’d shut down when they’d shot him up with that changed version of the serum, I’d take quietly stewing any day.
Of course, I always preferred no-nonsense, no-bullshit Nate to Broody McBroodface. The corner of my mouth twitched at that thought, sending pangs of pain up to my temple and all along my jaw. Still, worth it.
Green Fields Series Box Set | Vol. 3 | Books 7-9 Page 36
