Read Green Fields (Book 3): Escalation for Free Online Page A

here in the next years.”
    “Oh joy,” Emma grumbled, while her daughter took the news with much more enthusiasm.  
    “Wyoming’s not that bad for farming, really,” Sadie supplied. “We just need to dig a few more wells and map out the irrigation system. I already have a list for seeds and stuff, if you’ll go shopping any time soon.”
    “You shouldn’t call it that. Looting is looting, and there’s no sense to beating around the bush,” Emma said.
    Sadie seemed rather unperturbed by her mother’s chastisement. “Looting, then. Doesn’t change anything about the fact that if we want to turn the prairies into farmland, we need something to plant.”
    “She’s right,” I interjected before they could go off on a tangent. “We’ll probably need a while to get everything, with none of us really versed in the art of farming?” The last part I said looking at Nate.
    “We might have to skip over into Montana and Nebraska, but I’m sure that we’ll find everything you need. At the worst this summer, when all the plants are growing all over and we just have to dig them up or harvest them for seeds. Except for corn, everything else should be good for a few years now, and by then we’ll probably find someone who knows how to properly breed them so we can use them for several years in a row.”
    Sadie nodded. “And if you swing by some university or agricultural school, bring me some textbooks. I’m sure I can teach myself everything I need. Just need some starters.”
    “But that means that you will leave soon,” Emma said, her tone taking on a weird tint. We’d all gotten along more or less splendidly, but cabin fever was a real issue, even with rotations for pretty much everything going on to keep us all busy. I’d certainly butted heads with Emma a time or ten, so it came as a surprise to hear her so reluctant now. But maybe she was just afraid of what would happen if it was just them, without our protection?
    “Soon, but not right now,” Nate clarified. “First, we’ll go look if anyone has left an answer to the messages that we’ve left all over. And we have to kill off that mob before they become a real problem. But after that—“
    “On the road again, we’re on the road again,” I mumbled.
    Nate flashed me a rather excited grin. “You bet.”

Chapter 3

    Of the mob cleanup, I didn’t really see much, as the first raiding party went out before I was even awake and the second collided with my midday perimeter duty, so all I got to do was traipse across the frozen ground and listen to the occasional shot ring across the plateau. Bates looked about as enthusiastic as I was about being left out, but then I’d already done my share of body dropping and running for my life. It was only halfway through my watch that the impact of what had happened yesterday—and could have happened—really sank in. I hadn’t exactly become complacent over the course of the winter, but the human mind is a beautiful thing. After months of dull, regularly scheduled days, I felt like I’d somewhat recovered from the insanity that had been the first few months. But now, all of that was going to start again and probably get much, much worse. I just didn’t believe in everything working out in the end anymore.
    Just after sunset, the second party returned, dripping with gore and other unmentionable liquids. I helped with the cleanup, mostly because it was fun to rub down Andrej and Nate with snow, and every so often not spare out their faces. That got me good and wet, too, but laughter was the best medicine against pretty much anything—and often our last resort. I was happy to go back inside, though, and thaw my freezing fingers in front of our little indoor camp fire. I was surprised when Nate sat down next to me, leaning in with one arm slung across my waist, but so didn’t complain. With a clear gender imbalance going on—and all females off-limits by either their own choice or social status that they