Resurgence: Green Fields book 5 (22 page)

“Thanks,” was all I managed to reply.
 

“You’re welcome,” Sunny said, looking from me over to where Nate and Stanton were still talking. “Looks like they want something from you.” At my glance over I caught Nate’s nod that let me know that he was about done.
 

Turning to Sunny, I forced myself to swallow the perpetual lump in my throat. “I’ll keep you updated, should I notice any unexpected changes.”

“You do that,” he said. I waited for him to offer up anything else—condolences, or some inane attempt at a pep talk—but he pretty much dismissed me as he turned back to his computer. I gave myself a mental shake as I returned to Nate, deciding that it was in our best interest to at least pretend like I was ready to move on. It wasn’t like I had much of a choice.

“What did we miss?” I asked, glancing from Nate to the printed-out map that he held in his hand.
 

“Rumor mill is still going strong,” he explained. “No one knows anything concrete. Dispatch is on high alert. Some of the settlements haven’t even realized anything is going on. The traders are scared. The scavengers are out for blood. There’s no telling how the bounties on our heads will reflect on us. Might get us shot on sight in some places, or invited for a drink in others. Elsewhere people say it’s all propaganda because no one would pull a stunt like the factory. Or survive it. Everyone has an opinion, and no one knows the truth.”

“Sounds just like politics,” I offered. Before I could say more, one of the radio techs signaled at us to come over.

“Call just came through for you,” she explained. “From Luke’s Chargers?”

I couldn’t help but crack a smile at the mention of Jason’s guys. If there was anyone out there that I considered on our side, it was them.

“Are they still on the line?” Nate wanted to know.

“Waiting for you,” the tech replied. “Signal isn’t good because they’re using their car radio, but strong enough.” As we joined her at her console, she flipped a switch, sending static out of the small speakers of the workstation. “Front Charger, you’re live,” she said into the air between us, making me guess that she’d also turned on the microphone.

It wasn’t a male voice that answered, though, but Sadie—Emma and Bert’s daughter. “Thanks. Nate? Can you hear me?”

“Loud and clear,” Nate replied, smiling slightly at hearing her voice.

A noticable pause followed, and when she came on again, Sadie sounded slightly harassed. “How ya holding up? I wasn’t sure if I’d hear from you again after our last talk.” I raised my brows at him, but he shook his head. He’d explain later. “But we got this weird bulletin yesterday, and I thought I’d try the Silo to see if they knew more…” She trailed off there.

Ever the asshole, Nate let her hedge on without alleviating her obvious concern.

“As good as can be expected, I guess,” he replied.

“You’re sounding a little strange,” Sadie noted, her tone still careful and soft. “Did you catch a cold?”

I couldn’t help but snort, while a sardonic grin flashed across Nate’s face.

“You mean why I sound so weird? Busted nose. Burns did a shit job setting it yesterday and I had to re-break it this morning.”

“Why—“ she started, but cut herself off there in favor of asking, “Did you deserve it?”

Nate gave me a sidelong glance as he replied. “Bree seems to think so.” At my glare, he relented. “Guess I did. This time.”

The pause that followed was heavy enough that I couldn’t let this go on any longer. Clearing my throat, I said, “I’m here, Sadie. He’s not talking about a figment of his imagination.”

“Oh my fucking—“ Sadie cried, but censored herself almost immediately, pitching her voice from a screech to more human registers. “Why didn’t you tell me? I spent the last week trying to decide what to say to maybe try to cheer you up, and now you tell me that there’s no need to?”

Nate replied with a low chuckle. “I still have a busted nose—“

“So what, I have bruised knuckles,” I interrupted him, maybe a little sharply. Exhaling forcefully, I made myself calm down again before I went on. “Thanks, Sadie, I really appreciate it. Good to know that should I bite it after all, someone’s going to look after him in a way that doesn’t involve collective suicide.”

“You’re welcome,” she replied, but the momentary elation and levity quickly drained from her voice. “Listen, do you guys mind dropping by here soon? Unless you’re heading for Canada, we’re practically on the way.”

Glancing at Nate, I saw the same indecision on his face as I felt. Did I want to see Sadie and everyone who’d remained in Wyoming again? Sure thing. But there were the bounties, and everything else that was going on. Wyoming might have declared itself neutral—and there were those radios to distribute—but that didn’t mean that we were welcome.

Nate cleared his throat. “Not sure that’s such a good idea at the moment,” he offered.

“But you have to come!” Sadie cried before she continued a little less frantically. “Dave said he has something to tell you, but he’s not comfortable communicating over the radio. You know him and Kevin, old conspiracy nuts that they are. It’s probably nothing, but you won’t know until you get here, right? Could be important.”

Nate still wasn’t convinced. “Sadie, I’d love to drop by, but—“

She was quick to interrupt him, her voice almost breathy. “You know that I’m your favorite not-niece. You’re obliged to come running when I call.”

Sudden tension made the muscles at the side of his jaw stand out visibly, but he ignored my alarmed look. His voice was practically a drawl as he said, “Sure thing, sweet cheeks. We’ll drop by in a couple days from now.”

“Awesome,” Sadie enthused. “Looking forward to seeing you all soon!” With that, she ended the connection, making me scowl at Nate.

“What was that about?” I asked. “And I’m not even talking about the grammatical atrocities.” I’d overheard them more than once speaking with each other at a level that any Oxford English professor would have approved of.

Nate didn’t look happy as he turned to me and shrugged. “Code phrase and confirmation. It’s something we’ve been doing since she was old enough to understand that sometimes when I call I can’t tell her everything that’s going on. And before you ask… No, I have no idea what’s going on, but she needs us, so that’s where we’re going.”

“You are aware that this could be a trap?” I asked, guessing that I was stating the obvious.

Nate shrugged, but he didn’t look particularly disturbed. “I doubt it. Of course this could be a truly elaborate scheme where someone captured the transponder from Jason’s car, or is mimicking its ID, and forced Sadie to say those exact words, but I trust her that she would have managed to sneak in at least a weird phrase that would have tipped me off. It’s probably nothing grave; just grave enough that she doesn’t want to run it past her mother.”

That made sense—a lot more so than the stable of conspiracy theories that had piped up in my head at his explanation. Well worthy of Dave, I had to admit.

“You mean like when she pulled you aside before our last loot run to Cody in the fall so you’d fetch her some contraceptives?”

Now he did look alarmed—comically so. “She said she needed the pill because otherwise her cramps were bad.”

It was suddenly hard not to laugh in his face. “Yes, Nate, any seventeen-year-old girl asks her godfather to fetch her something her parents might frown upon out of earshot because of cramps. Because being a responsible female adult can’t be the reason for it.” I might have smirked a bit, making him scowl—although that could have been because of the implications just the same.

“Why would she need contraceptives? Maybe now that they’re almost a thousand people, there might be a boy her age around that she might consider having relations with, but last fall it was just us.”

“Relations, huh?” I teased, shaking my head at his innocence. “I hate to break it to you, but just because you still see the pig-tailed, gap-toothed five-year-old in her doesn’t mean that she wouldn’t have loved to start repopulating the earth with you if you’d shown even the hint of an inclination. For a guy who gets off on being such a know-it-all, you really are oblivious.”

That made him practically white in the face, until I couldn’t hold it in anymore and started cracking up loud enough that several heads turned toward us. Even the radio tech allowed herself a small smile, betraying that she had, of course, been eavesdropping the entire time. Nate glared at me, and yes, I definitely had that coming.

“Next time you call me an asshole I’ll remind you of this,” he remarked, the belligerence in his tone doing its own to further my mirth.

“What, the idea of some hot, barely-legal chick having the hots for you makes you uncomfortable? We might be married, but that doesn’t mean you have to turn yourself into a eunuch.”

I was ready to fend off any attack that might draw as he leaned in, but instead of coming for me—or, worse, tickling me to the point where he made me shriek—he just gave me a peck on the side of my chin and smiled. “It is good to see you smile again. Even if it’s at my expense.”

“It usually is,” I reminded him, and although humor slowly drained from me, it wasn’t hard to offer up a small smile. “Doesn’t mean I’m not mad at you any longer.”

“Of course it doesn’t,” he said, snorting. “God forbid you stop holding a grudge a second before you’re forced to. The world as we know it would end if that ever happened.”

I ignored that in favor of steering our conversation back on track. “So, the bunker’s up next?”

Nate nodded. “Looks like it. Anything you still need to do?” I didn’t miss the look he sent in Sunny’s direction.

“No, I’m all good,” I replied. “Ready to roll.”

So that was what we did.

It took a little while to drum up everyone, but we left the Silo long before noon. It was downright unfamiliar to be back on the road as part of a convoy, but I certainly didn’t protest when Burns took the lead, reducing my need for attention to just making sure that I didn’t rear-end him when he slowed down. There was no question that I was driving and that Nate was riding shotgun again, rather than me looking for a different co-pilot. With us down to just ten people in five cars, everyone had their duties cut out for them, and it wasn’t like I intended anyone else to suffer for any misgivings I might still be harboring.
 

Nate insisted that we took a break during the hottest hours of the day—not just because I was about as useful as a mole out in the glaring sunlight, but also because the sun was baking down on us, and with easily eighteen hours of daylight we could allow ourselves a nice siesta. Of course Nate had to sell it as stating that it was no use if one of the cars broke down because the engine was overheating, but I didn’t care. I was happy to curl up in the shade of some trees and let the whisper of the wind through the high grass lull me into a false sense of complacency, if not outright sleep. It only made sense that I wouldn’t get any daylight guard shifts, seeing as I was next to useless. We were back on the road once the shadows started to lengthen again in the afternoon.

We made camp in the western foothills of Mt. Edith, near a lake. Burns and Campbell proposed to go elk hunting to supplement our dinner, but thankfully they could be talked down to trying their luck at fishing. Wilkes had sent us off with a good stock of provisions, but as Nate and I had recently found out, it never hurt to be prepared ahead of running out—or bear the consequences. I wasn’t too happy when Pia informed me that from now on I’d get the late night watch, from one to three, but rather than protest I took it with a stoic nod and decided to take my ire out on myself by doing pushups until I was ready to fall face-first into the grass. I burned through my usual thirty repeats with ease, and when I still managed to hold myself in an extended plank after doing fifty, I started to feel like something was severely screwed-up with my endurance. I wasn’t the only one, I figured, when I realized that Pia and Nate were both watching me, neither of them betraying their thoughts on their faces.
 

“What?” I asked, not having to feign exasperation.

Rather than answer me, the Ice Queen glanced at Nate. “Think we need to have the Talk with her?” The way she said it, that came with a capital T.

“‘Fraid so,” he replied with a chuff, but instead of launching into an explanation, he called for Andrej to join us. Burns and Campbell followed, making it obvious what this must be about, given present company. Dusting my hands off, I waited for someone to say something. Anything, really.

Instead of doing that, Nate fell into a defensive stance. “Attack me.”
 

The blank stare I gave him should have been answer enough, but he continued to wait for me to jump into action. So I did. Fully expecting this to be a trap, I didn’t attempt anything as stupid as a kick, but went for a series of jabs instead. He effortlessly blocked those that he didn’t evade outright, but he wasn’t even the slightest bit winded when we disengaged. Neither was I, I realized, a little taken aback.

“Again,” he told me, the corner of his mouth quirking up. “And this time make it count. Considering how many hours you spent today gnashing your teeth, you must be burning to sock me a good one.”

That was enough of an insult that when I came at him again, I put my entire weight into each motion, but the result was about the same.
 

“I mean it,” he kept on taunting. “You punch like a little girl.”

Well, if he really wanted his nose broken again, I was only too happy to oblige him. Mid-attack I took a step back and shifted my weight to my good leg, using the left one to kick toward his middle. He evaded me again, falling for my feint. So when I added a roundhouse kick as soon as I came down, my other foot landed squarely in his stomach. Of course he didn’t go down, but the pained grunt he gave was kind of satisfying. Getting a little cocky, I hesitated a moment with my follow-up jab to gloat a little more, and that got me taken down as I deserved. Air exploded from my lungs as my back hit the ground, but as soon as Nate let go of me, I rolled back onto my feet and came right at him again, this time without tapering my response.