Green Fields (Book 4): Extinction Read Online Free

from anything else moving out there, and the cows were kind of a dead giveaway, too. I still switched on the transponder on our radio when we were about a mile out, the red light coming on a distraction I didn’t need. A sidelong glance at Nate revealed that he had that same stony look on his face that I’d last seen as we’d left Aurora, Kansas, two weeks ago. We’d hit several targets in the meantime, but this was the first settlement that we approached. There were seven between Kansas, Iowa, and Missouri that we knew of, and until the cattle job none of them had given us any incentive to come any closer, hygiene-related wish-fulfillment aside.
    Static cracked over the radio before an unfamiliar voice came on, laced with a soft mid-western accent.
    “Convoy approaching, please identify yourself, and state your business.”
    I found that oddly formal, but what did I know? Reaching for the mic, I pushed the button to engage it and rattled off the details. “Lucky Thirteen, code three-nine-seven-five-zulu. Thirteen Alpha pilot speaking, Bree Lewis. Heard you were looking for cows?”
    There was some movement going on up at the palisade, but no one made a move to open the outer gate of what I expected was a similar two-tier mechanism as they’d had in Aurora—letting one vehicle in at a time, creating a kill chute between the two gates to make sure that no shamblers could gain access alongside.  
    The radio gave another squeak that made me grimace. “Can you repeat that?” the voice asked.
    “Which part? That we’re the five cars right outside your gate? Or that we have your cows, tied to said cars?”
    More silence followed. “Your code.”
    I looked at Nate, but he gave me nothing. Apparently, he was still deadly serious about that part where I was dealing with all civilian matters. I really didn’t like where this was going, but still rattled off the number again. When after another pause that I guessed was several people debating the voice came on and wanted to know, “How many?” I figured he wasn’t asking about the cows. Nate’s knuckles went white for a second as he cracked them.  
    “Six.”
    As expected, the following silence was even longer now, making me gnash my teeth. So much for this glorious new civilization acting civilized.
    “We can’t let you in,” the voice replied, sounding small now.
    “Come again?” Even if I’d tried, I couldn’t have kept the sharpness out of my voice. “You know, those papers that your settlement signed to belong to this fucking great new alliance? We signed them, too. You’re obliged to let us in.” That, and more, but with my dream of bathing slipping away like water through fingers scooping it up, I wasn’t going to haggle about the details.
    The voice sounded sincerely apologetic but not exactly sad as it came on again. “We would, normally. But we already have two groups in here. They brought cows, too. We don’t need any more.”
    This was getting better and better. “When did they get here?”
    “Yesterday,” the guy admitted.
    Screwing my eyes shut, I debated screaming, but seeing as that would get me nowhere…
    “Are you fucking kidding me? We signed in with Dispatch this morning. You were still looking for cows then. And now you tell me that we risked our lives for nothing, because you were too fucking stupid to cancel your order?”
    Nate gave me a smile that was as sweet as they got. “I love it when you get all diplomatic.”
    I didn’t know who to be more angry at, him or these idiots, but after hitting the steering wheel twice, I forced myself to assume a semblance of calm.
    “Will you at least take the cows? You can have them if you give us something to eat.” Somehow I got the feeling that I was doing this bartering thing wrong. Next I would be begging them to let us play fetch for everyone.
    “We don’t need them,” the guy repeated. “And we don’t have much food to spare.”
    Glaring at the palisades didn’t help, and