Green Fields (Book 4): Extinction by Adrienne Lecter Page B

anything yet that would deter us,” Nate replied, the hint of bravado in his voice making me frown. What was that about?
    Jason gave us their team frequency so we could contact them when we were close enough for direct communication, and a few more instructions about what roads were likely clear, and what stretches to avoid. I tried to remember that, but counted on Nate to let me know where to go once we got there. I might joke about him being dead weight, but he was my navigator for a reason.
    As soon as he’d broken the connection, Nate got out of the car, facing the others. Everyone had been listening in so there was no need for an update, and he didn’t call for a vote, either. I wasn’t sure how that made me feel, but then the grim determination I saw on people’s faces made it obvious that they felt ready for this. Just my luck that I had to throw in my lot with a bunch of trigger-happy lunatics.
    “This mission has a high potential for disaster. We’ll decide whether we do this when we have all the information and visual confirmation of how bad it really is,” Nate said after making eye contact with every single one of us. “I’m not going to jeopardize our safety needlessly. If we do this, we have to do this as a unit. Right now, we need to get going. The night has been quiet—too quiet. Wouldn’t surprise me if the main body of the horde was less than five miles east of us now.” So much for me not freaking out, but I forced my muscles to lock in place and continued to listen to him. “We don’t owe anyone in that town anything, but there’s a good chance that they won’t make it without our help. I have no idea how many are in there, but from what we’ve been hearing all year long, it's one of the communities that draws a lot of people here, families in particular. You know what I think of blatant acts of bravery—” He paused to look at me in particular before he went on. “But this might be our chance to make a difference. To show them that we’re not scum out to raid and deliver their mail for them. Fame won’t do us much good in this world, but it might get us a roof over our heads when we need it and food in our mouths when we want it. Now pack up your things. We have work to do.”
    I thought about lingering—or asking about breakfast—but the idea that any moment a zombie could stumble into our camp and draw attention to our position shut me up and got me scrambling like the rest of them.
    Less than ten minutes later we were on the road, heading south, the sun just topping the low, rolling Missouri hills to the east.

Chapter 5

    How do you sneak driving a car? The simple answer is, you don’t. But driving at a slow crawl of about five miles per hour, trying to stay on soft ground like grass, or a gravel-free road, can almost accomplish the trick. At least when you’re shadowing a sheer endless stream of zombies that make enough noise to drown out the occasional crunch or squeal. Mechanical noises they tended to ignore. Mostly.
    Nate’s estimate hadn’t been that far off. It only took us about twenty minutes to top a small rise and come face to face with the mass of zombies—thankfully still at a distance. I stepped on the brakes immediately, my pulse jumping into uncomfortably elevated territory, but except for a few heads turning, they didn’t react. “They” were a good few hundred zombies, shambling along the highway about half a mile away from where we’d come to a halt. They were moving slowly, almost sluggishly, but their numbers made them menacing enough. From what I could see, most looked the worse for wear—limbs torn off, clothes in stark disrepair—but I didn’t doubt that should they make out something edible, their slow progress would surge into a vicious attack. With so many around, they didn’t need to be skilled to hunt—a few quick ones would suffice to bring down the animal, and the rest was history. I tried to gauge whether the ones we’d come across