Green Fields (Book 3): Escalation (19 page)

They were—from what I could tell—four male and one female, judging from the differences in size, and the fact that the female’s torso was bared. For an insane moment I wondered if they’d somehow retained their sex drive, but that was one small mercy that the apocalypse had spared us.

“We have us a target,” Nate said, his voice somewhat pressed. Maybe that was just due to the circumstances, but I didn’t buy it.

“You sure?” I asked—not because I doubted him, but because he sounded certain beyond what I felt appropriate.

“Yup,” he confirmed.

“How—“ I started, but didn’t get any further.

“Because I recognize one of them,” he replied, shutting off any further questions I might have had.

Burns had no such qualms. “Well, shit,” he murmured. Then, “Who?”

A brief pause followed. “Emilio Raul. At least that’s what they used to call him. Seen him a couple of times at the base in Somalia.”

Another pause, and the rustle of fabric made me guess that Burns had liberated a scope from someone. “Which one is it?”

“The bulky one to the right,” Nate replied. “He has some pretty serious tats all over his body so once we get him out into the light, he should be easy to identify.” Clearing his throat, he amended, “It.” Normally, it was easy to not regard the zombies as former people, but I hated it when moments like this snuck up on us and made us remember that they were. The emotion in Nate’s voice also made me guess that their acquaintance had been a better one, if still casual.

The following silence was heavy, but Burns broke it before it could get worse.

“How do we do this? Just scare ‘em up and then try to pick that one out?”

“Pretty much,” Nate confirmed. “But I think a little more planning would do us a favor, as far as survival is concerned.”

Burns chuckled, and I was surprised to feel my own cheeks move in a grin, if a grim one. Oh, great. Now they’d done it, and infected me with their weird-ass sense of humor.

“Not sure this needs much planning,” Cho provided. “There are emergency exits left and right of the stage. I think we just need to bust one of them open, and the light will startle them awake. Then it’s just some shouting and shaking our delicious booty for them, and they’ll be all up and after us. The fleshy ones should be the quickest, so if we lead them on a chase away from campus, they’ll likely be the only ones that will keep up.”

“Sounds… plausible,” Taylor agreed, but sounded as enthusiastic as I felt.

“What keeps the entire horde from coming after us?” I asked, not liking where this was going.

“Nothing, unless we close that door again,” Burns replied.

“We don’t need them not to come after us,” Nate pointed out. “We just need to draw them out enough that we can cherry-pick Raul and catch him.”

Campbell grunted. “How you planning on accomplishing that?”

“Tranquilizer darts,” Nate replied. “I prepped a few last night. Should be enough to down him for half an hour. That gives us time enough to get away, then return and pick him off the street.”

Except for one glaring detail. “What keeps the others from eating him—“ I cut myself off there. “It in the meantime?”

A pause of deliberation followed. “We could plan a kill zone somewhere. Post a sniper and down every one of the fuckers that tries,” Taylor proposed. “Then there will be enough food for them, and maybe distraction enough that we can sweep in and bag and tag it.”

“It’s worth the risk,” Nate remarked. To me, all of that just sounded like the easiest way to bite it.

“So that’s it?” I asked, not bothering to take the scorn out of my whisper. “We stir them up, then we run like hell to separate the fast ones from the rest, somehow down Raul, not get eaten, and then return to drag him back to our base?”

“Couldn’t have said it better,” Nate replied, having the audacity to actually sound just a little proud.

“That’s the worst plan I’ve ever heard,” I hissed back.

“Got any others?” Burns wanted to know. That shut me up for a while, and when I kept coming up blank, I eventually conceded.

“I hope that this is worth it,” I grumbled.

“Don’t we all,” Nate replied, still sounding amused. “The road right outside the auditorium leads straight to the other college campus. There it should be possible to shake the tail and make them spread out enough so we can pick them off one by one, leaving just our prize. If we have to, we keep it tranqued up for hours until the others go back into hiding. Not my favorite plan, but better than nothing.” When no one spoke up against him, he cleared his throat. “If we have no other volunteers, I’ll be bait. On the off chance that I’m wrong, it was nice knowing you all.”

I probably should have shut my trap there, but after thinking hard for five seconds, I spoke up.

“I’ll be bait.”

If the silence had been heavy before, it was deafening now. The vain side of me was waiting for protest, but I figured it was a weird kind of respect that made them shut up.

“You sure?” Nate asked.

The temptation to shake my head was strong, but even though nobody would have seen it, I refrained from it. I felt borderline mad as I replied, but conviction bolstered my words as I explained.

“It makes the most sense that I play bait. I’m a quick runner, certainly quicker than Taylor, Cho, or Burns. I don’t get turned around easily, so even if I get lost, I’ll find my way back to base. I also can’t shoot as well as any of you, so it makes more sense that I lead the chase while you make sure that I’ll survive it.” Pausing, I wondered if I should stop there, but after the talk Nate and I’d had outside just before reaching the campus, I felt like I owed him that part, too. “Besides, I’m the most expendable of us. I don’t know electronics, I’m only a decent shot, and I’m not juiced up, so I can’t contribute the same fighting strength as some others.” It felt stupid to not name any names, but I still didn’t know who besides the four Nate had confirmed had been subjected to that super soldier serum Raul had also been exposed to, making him a most formidable enemy now.

No one spoke up in protest, which made me laugh wryly, almost choking me.

“See, I’m the perfect woman for the job.”

It still would have been nice if Nate in particular had objected, but with him I knew that it was respect that kept him silent now. Not just because of who I was to him, but also because he must have agreed with my assessment. It still sucked, but less than I’d expected when I’d puked out that suggestion.

“Good,” Nate agreed, sounding just a little resigned, but maybe that was wishful thinking. “Taylor, Campbell, I want you somewhere elevated in a sniper nest down at that other campus. That way we should know if the air’s clear down there, too. Cho, Burns, spread out somewhere on that stretch of street between the houses so you can give some support and cover fire if need be. If too many of the zombies follow her, we need to spread out and beat it, and try again later. Move out and report back in when you’re in position.”

A round of acknowledging murmurs followed, and within seconds Nate and I were the only ones remaining in the room—us and my nerves, which were quickly becoming their own, larger-than-life entity.

“And you?” I asked, mostly to break the silence.

He sighed, or maybe it was just a somewhat heavy exhale; it was impossible to tell.

“I’m going to try to funnel part of the horde away from you.”

“How?”

Clothing rustled softly as he shrugged, or so I presumed. “You try to draw the lead group after you. Once they take the bait, I will open the doors on the other side and try to distract those that aren’t following you yet. Maybe blow up that door and the other with grenades, if possible. Depending on how chaotic things get, I’ll try to catch up to you, or hunt down Raul from up close. No need to tell me that’s a rather half-assed plan.”

That made me smile in spite of myself. “All our plans are half-assed. We still survived all of them so far.”

“Yeah, so far,” he agreed, then paused. “The only reason you volunteered is because you think you need to live up to the example you want to strike, right?”

I hated that I was that transparent.

“Doesn’t mean that I’m wrong,” I pointed out.

“Bree—“

“Shove it,” I told him. “I’d love to say that I don’t need you to protect me, but actually, I’d love for you to keep them off me. Just not in the metaphorical sense. Literal is quite enough.”

His silence spoke for itself, agreement and resentment all bundled up in one.

“Guess this is the part where I should tell you to shut up and kiss you,” he surmised, and I could tell that he was smiling, just from the lilt in his voice.

“Actually, I think this is the part where you tell me to break a leg and get in position,” I replied, unable to keep an even face myself. “We always have time for the other later.”

“And if we don’t?”

“Considering that I won’t be around if that happens, I don’t really give a shit,” I retorted.

“That’s my girl,” Nate said—and in clear contradiction to his agreement he grabbed me and pulled me close, muffling my beginning protest with his lips. Oh well. At least that made me forget what I was about to do for a moment or two. Because after that it was all flight and fright for me.

Chapter 12

In the first few weeks of our flight across the country last year, I’d thought that the running part was the worst. Now that I was waiting right outside that exit, I realized that, no, not running could be ten times worse. A million times, really. That I’d volunteered for this didn’t change a thing about it.

Burns and Cho had already reported in, but the other two were still silent. I liked to pretend that it was because they were taking care to search the second campus before finding their hideouts, but my mind was only too happy to conjure up a storm of doom and gloom. They certainly had been overrun, and I was about to get eaten by that same zombie horde lurking all over the grounds there. I tried telling myself that at least my death would be quick, but that idea held a lot less comfort than it had a couple months ago. Adapting to the new world order had been hard, but now that I felt that I was finally fitting in, I was rather loath to part with my newly acquired skills and confidence. I hadn’t busted my ass the entire winter only to get eaten mere weeks after we’d left our secure bunker. I deserved to make it at least until summer.

“The north section of the campus is clear,” Campbell reported in, startling me out of my resentful brooding. “The road’s not completely clear, but clear enough. You have two entire blocks to run, then you get to an open space at the north end of the other campus. Taylor and I are in the buildings flanking that lot. You just run right through, and we’ll use that as a kill chute. You should have an easy enough time to shake your tail in the open park landscape of the campus, or just run through a few of the buildings. Looks abandoned enough.”

I nodded, although no one could see it. “How far is it?”

“Less than half a mile,” Taylor chimed in. “We cleaned up the sidewalks a bit, so you’ll have some extra distraction. But the center of the street is clear.”

It sounded easy enough, but I just knew that it couldn’t be that easy. Nothing ever was.

Taking a last, deep breath, I tried to calm myself, although that was impossible. “Any other advice?”

“Just run,” Burns replied. “We’ll take care of the rest.”

I would have felt better about this had I known that I wasn’t running into the big unknown, but speaking up now to do more recon sounded like only more excuses and a massive waste of time.

“Okay. I can do that.”

“Run, Bree, run!” Burns offered, laughing about his own joke. Annoyance raced up my spine, but I left it at a grunt. He was the kind who would dance on my grave, if only to get the last word.

Checking my pack one more time, I exhaled, then grabbed the handle of the door. I really shouldn’t be doing this. I was asking for trouble. I would certainly get myself killed. I—

Pulling the door open, I didn’t wait for my thoughts to quiet down but just raised my shotgun and fired blindly into the mass of bodies that lay beyond, barely illuminated by the gloom. In the silence, the shots were deafening. One, two, three—more I didn’t allow myself to waste.

And then I whipped around and ran across the path toward the road, straining my muscles to work at peak capacity. Before I’d taken more than three steps, the howling and angry shouting swelled into a crescendo behind me, making looking over my shoulder to check if I was followed completely obsolete.

Well, at least that part of the plan seemed to be working.

If I’d thought before that I was scared, that had been nothing compared to the utter, bone-deep panic that was gripping me now—and for the first time in a long, long time, I didn’t even try to staunch it, but let it rage through me, mobilizing every ounce of strength stored in my body. It might make me stupid and blind, but it also made me fast, faster than I’d ever run in my entire life.

Within seconds I reached the street, passing by the parking lot and the buildings Nate and I had searched before. And then I was across the first intersection, with only two more blocks to go. Suddenly, the entire endeavor didn’t seem as harebrained as I’d thought—