Green Fields (Book 4): Extinction Read Online Free Page B

to lock them all in their little settlement—but their open hostility and mistrust was gnawing on me. I hadn’t exactly expected to be welcomed with open arms, but this went a little far.
    “We’ll do the exchange at the gate then,” he relented when I continued to stare at him. I hadn’t thought that would work—it never did on the guys—but far was it from me to complain.
    “Thanks,” I offered, even though I didn’t feel very thankful. The reserves of nuts and jerky that we had with us, raided from that mall, suddenly didn’t sound all that monotonous anymore. It still bothered me. We would only be able to go on canned food for so long, and on the road we had no chance to grow something for ourselves. We might be able to get some fresh fruit from trees, but I didn’t expect many vegetable patches to exist a few years from now.
    The cows proved to be docile enough, following along as they were herded through the gate. I wondered if they had been following us because we’d led them away from the stink of decay. They must have learned to keep away from that to survive. But what had they been doing in an area so infested with zombies that they had ran straight into the same trap I’d accidentally followed them into? The occasional lone shambler couldn’t be much of a match for a cow herd, but the tracks we had seen spoke of a thousand easily—enough to overwhelm anything still up and running on this planet.
    Nervous Guy and four of the other armed men remained with us, their backs to the gate, continuing to eye us cautiously. There was enough posing happening on on both sides, but I didn’t feel like telling the guys how ridiculous they looked. Finally, the outer gate opened again, admitting two of the cattle herders returning, one carrying a huge pot, the other a large basket full of bread and rolls. My mouth instantly watered but I forced myself to curb my enthusiasm. Martinez and Clark took it upon themselves to liberate them of their burden. After stowing away most of the bread and one of the two pots they’d transferred the stew into, they started distributing the aluminum cups that we ate most of our meals out of, whatever the consistency. Nate brought me mine, topped with a chunk of bread. The second half of it had already disappeared in his mouth. So much for him appearing uncaring about the food. One glance at Nervous Guy and he turned back around, leaning against the Jeep next to Andrej.
    I dug in, not caring with manners like using cutlery. The stew wasn’t too thick but nicely spiced, the texture of the ingredients enough to make me moan happily. I could easily do without people—but food? Fresh, warm, multi-ingredient food? I’d never thought that would become the commodity it was.
    “You don’t look like you’re starving,” Nervous Guy observed, a little puzzled at the display I must have been putting on. I continued to chew until the last bit of beef had made it down my gullet before I shrugged.
    “It’s less about the caloric value. But however much hot sauce you dump on cat food, it still tastes like crap.” His eyes went a little wide, and I was sure I’d just served him up fodder for the next few great tales he had to tell.
    “Cat food? You really eat that?” he asked, disbelieving.
    “If nothing else is available, sure. We were hoping that with the settlements we’d get actual human food more often, but doesn’t look like you’re that big on hospitality.”
    I was surprised to see that hit home, but he didn’t offer up another apology. The cows really must have thrown them for a loop. I would have thought that if they didn’t want mercenaries inside their walls, they’d be glad to get a few spare ones that would last them longer. I had no idea how large the settlement was, but even if there were more than a couple of houses in there, they must have had lawns aplenty to easily host a much larger herd of pretty much any domesticated kind of animal. Three cows couldn’t