We Had Flags (Toxic World Book 3)

by Sean McLachlan

  Their Kalashnikovs were in better shape than their uniforms. All were antiques—thankfully they hadn’t opened up an arms factory—but looked well cared for. They probably had a heap of spare parts. He wondered how often they had to use their weapons.

  All in all, they were about as healthy as the scum in the Burbs, and far better armed.

  They drew closer to the ship. Sailors lined the railing, looking down at them. Some lowered a gangway. Gebre Selassie shouted up and a man in gold braid who looked to be in his sixties shouted back to him.

  The Doctor could tell this was the man in charge. He had more gold braiding than the officer who had led the first shore party, and was older and carried more of an air of authority. This must be the Captain Wang they’d talked about.

  Their boat moored at the bottom of the gangway and Gebre motioned for him and Yu-jin to step off. They exchanged glances and did as they were told.

  Make a good impression or this is all going to turn worse than it already has.

  The Doctor fixed his gaze on Captain Wang, now standing at the head of the gangway, and strode up the steps to meet him.

  To his surprise, the captain saluted.

  Shit. These guys really are military and not just putting on a show.

  He returned the salute, feeling foolish.

  “Yu-jin, tell him who I am and that I want peaceful relations between our two peoples. Tell him the ambush was not on my orders, but done by a mob of squatters living without permission outside our gates.”

  Yu-jin didn’t look too happy with that description of her neighborhood, but he didn’t care. The truth hurts sometimes.

  As she had a brief conversation with the captain, The Doctor studied him. He was erect, impassive. He didn’t wear a gas mask and The Doctor could hear a harsh wheeze as he breathed. Taking a last gulp of filtered air, he took off his own gas mask out of courtesy. Yu-jin did the same.

  “Captain Wang wishes to welcome you on board the Admiral Zeng He,” Yu-jin translated. “The captain apologies that mistrust on both sides has led to this unfortunate incident. He releases you from custody but requests that you stay on board to enjoy his hospitality.”

  “Eat first, business later, eh? Well if the stink from this bay doesn’t turn my stomach, I’d be happy to sit and talk. Um, make that sound nicer than it came out.”

  As Yu-jin translated, he studied the ship. The foredeck upon which they stood was battered and rusted, but clean. The cannon, a hulking steel thing, stood not far off. Its crew was made up entirely of women, who looked to be under the command of a squat, ugly bull dyke with a buzz cut. He saw a few other women sailors about, mostly on the central tower.

  In all the excitement he hadn’t noticed that the shore crew had all been men. In his part of the world, men and women had long been integrated into every job out of sheer necessity. Here, however, there seemed to be some sort of separation.

  A large number of sailors, both men and women, had gathered to stare. None had weapons, but The Doctor felt painfully aware of the heavily armed shore party standing right behind him. He was as good as a prisoner no matter what the captain said.

  Yu-jin and Captain Wang continued talking. The Doctor felt frustrated hearing the babble of words that meant nothing to him. All he caught was what sounded like Yu-jin’s name at the end of one of her statements.

  One of the sailors in the crowd shouted something. Captain Wang stepped back, a look of obvious surprise on his face. Yu-jin called out something to the sailor.

  The man who had shouted said something else just as one of the female gun crew let out a yell.

  Both of them rushed at the translator.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  “They’ve taken The Doctor!”

  Pablo stared open-mouthed at the man running through the Burbs. Pablo and everyone else in earshot hurried over to him.

  “I saw the whole thing!” the man said, gasping for breath. “They set out a meal for the sneaky Chinks and just as they sat down to eat they pulled guns on The Doctor and forced him to go to the ship. It was all that Chinese scavenger’s fault. She betrayed them!”

  “What about the others?” someone asked.

  “They let them go. You should have seen it, Doc was such a hero. He threatened to kill himself unless they let the others go. The Chinks decided all they really needed was him. The rest are coming back now. But what do we do about The Doctor?”

  Everyone started talking at once, but Pablo was no longer listening. If they had kidnapped The Doctor that meant they were going to attack soon. He needed to help Hong-gi.

  He hurried for the market, and then stopped. Hong-gi said that Mr. Fartbag was going to hide out on his farm. If he still wasn’t allowed to come inside New City, what could he do?

  The emergency bag! The one Mom made him pack. He could give that to Hong-gi. Pablo didn’t need it. Uncle Marcus and Aunt Rosie would take care of him.

  Pablo sprinted back through New City gate to the house, grabbed his bag from the corner where he was sleeping with some of the other kids, and ran back out. No one was guarding the gate. Everyone was running around shouting at one another and looking like they didn’t know what to do.

  As he ran through the open area between New City and the Burbs he heard Aunt Rosie calling his name. He saw her and the rest coming back. Mr. Devon and the guards weren’t with them. He hoped they were busy shooting the Chinese and saving The Doctor.

  Pablo didn’t stop. Aunt Rosie could be mad at him later.

  The Burbs were even crazier than New City. In the market everyone was packing up their stuff while others were taking down their tents and heading out of town. Lots of grownups shouted and waved guns. Down one alley he saw three guys beating somebody up, but he didn’t stop to watch. He had to get to Hong-gi before he left.

  He found him and Mr. Fartbag packing up the last of their flour.

  “Pablo! What are you doing here?”

  “I came to give you my emergency bag! It’s got some food and spare clothes and stuff. You’ll need it.”

  “Hey, thanks!”

  Mr. Fartbag shouted at him as he tied the end of a flour bag. “Quit jawing and get to work, unless you want to get left behind!”

  Pablo moved next to his friend. “Here, I’ll help you.”

  “There’s one of them now!” someone shouted.

  It was the mean scavenger who had sworn at Hong-gi the day before. He waved over a bunch of other angry-looking adults.

  “This kid ripped me off on a trade. I bet he’s one of them! A secret Chinese just like that scavenger.”

  Hong-gi trembled. Mr. Fartbag’s eyes went wide and he sputtered out something that didn’t make sense. The scavenger strode up. He looked really big.

  “You are, aren’t you? Hiding among us and tricking us out of our trade.”

  “He’s Korean,” Pablo’s objected, his voice coming out as a squeak.

  “Shut up, brat.”

  “Leave us alone or I’ll call my mom!” he shouted.

  The scavenger laughed. “Yeah, I’m real scared of your mommy.”

  “Watch it, bud,” one of the other guys in the crowd said. “That’s the sheriff’s kid.”

  The scavenger paused and looked at Pablo. “All right, don’t you worry. We’re not going to do anything to you.” He turned back to Hong-gi. “But this Chink, on the other hand…”

  The sound of running feet made everyone turn. Mr. Fartbag was sprinting away, a bag of flour under each arm.

  A third bag sat on the counter, still open. Pablo grabbed it.

  The scavenger turned back and leered at Hong-gi. “Looks like you’re all alone, you little yellow—”

  The scavenger coughed as Pablo threw a cloud of flour into his face.

  Pablo grabbed his friend. “Run!”

  “Get them!”

  Pablo and Hong-gi tore through the market stalls with a bunch of adults howling after them. They cut left around a big tent, ducked beneath a table, and crawled und
er a few stalls. They froze as they saw the legs of several of their pursuers hurry past.

  Once they were gone, Hong-gi tugged at Pablo’s arm.

  “Come on,” he whispered. Pablo shook his head. He was too scared to move.

  Hong-gi looked around. There was shouting and the sounds of running feet all around them.

  “We can’t stay here,” Hong-gi whispered.

  Hong-gi was about to say more when he let out a yelp and flew backwards.

  “Got you!”

  The mean scavenger pulled him out from under the table.

  “Leave me alone!” Hong-gi screamed. The man only laughed.

  Pablo looked around. The others had disappeared somewhere. In the distance he could hear a woman screaming. Pablo was still under the table. He didn’t think the scavenger had seen him. If he stayed real quiet maybe he’d go away.

  “So, trying to cheat me, you little yellow bastard? Let’s see what color you are on the inside.”

  Pablo closed his eyes so hard that lights flashed in them. That man was going to hurt his friend, and if he caught Pablo, what would he do to him for throwing flour in his face?

  He heard a loud smack. Hong-gi cried out.

  And then something strange happened.

  Pablo remembered something Mom said to him once.

  I want you to grow up here so you have a childhood. You don’t get one in the wildlands. When I was just about your age I lost my whole family to bandits. That’s when I had to grow up. It’s safer here. We have civilization. If you live here you won’t have to grow up until you’re an adult.

  Why did Mom always have to be wrong?

  Pablo opened his eyes. The first thing he saw was his clasp knife in his hands. It was the one Mitch had given him. It had been in his pocket and he didn’t remember pulling it out. The next thing he saw was the scavenger’s legs close by. He didn’t see Hong-gi’s legs.

  Pablo opened the knife.

  Ducking out from under the table, he stood up right next to the scavenger. The man was holding Hong-gi up by his shirt. His friend had a big red mark on the side of his face.

  The man turned and looked at Pablo.

  Pablo didn’t feel scared anymore. He didn’t feel anything except a weird prickly feeling. It seemed like everything was far away and he was watching himself face off with the scavenger. He held Mitch’s knife in both hands, pointing it at the bully.

  “Let him go,” Pablo said. His voice sounded weird. Strong. Scary, almost.

  The scavenger only laughed.

  Hong-gi kicked him in the nuts. The scavenger yelped, more surprised than hurt, and dropped him. Hong-gi hurried over to Pablo’s side.

  The scavenger’s eyes narrowed. “Get over here.”

  “Stay away.”

  The scavenger took a step forward.

  Pablo jabbed with the knife a little and the scavenger stopped. “My mom is sheriff. If you want to hurt my friend you’ll have to hurt me. And if you do that, my mom will give you a necktie.”

  The scavenger looked confused. “Huh?”

  Pablo and Hong-gi edged away. The man took another step forward. “OK, kid, you win. I’ll let you go, but the Chink stays.”

  “Leave us alone,” Pablo said, his voice coming out more scared than he wished.

  The man grabbed a stick that was holding up a corner of an awning nearby. He swung it through the air with a whoosh. Gripping it, he stalked towards the two boys.

  “What’s going on here?”

  Another man stepped up. Pablo recognized him as one of the regulars at $87,953. He looked from the boys to the scavenger, his hands balled into fists.

  “That Chink robbed me,” the scavenger said.

  “Yeah, right. What did you do to him?”

  The scavenger turned towards the newcomer. “Mind your own business.”

  As soon as the scavenger’s back was turned the two boys bolted. They ran out of sight around some other stalls. They kept running and saw the Burbs were going crazy. There was another fight going on, with a whole bunch of guys beating on someone the boys couldn’t see. A shot rang out. Pablo wanted to clap his hands over his ears, but he didn’t dare let go of the knife.

  They passed by Mr. Fartbag’s stall. It had been tipped over and all the flour was gone. Pablo spotted his emergency bag lying underneath the wreckage of the counter. He ran over and grabbed it.

  “Now we have everything we need!” Pablo said.

  “What do we do?” Hong-gi asked. Tears were running down his cheeks and his eye was swelling.

  “I know a place we can hide, come on!”

  They headed north through the Burbs. An old lady started swearing at Hong-gi and another old lady told her to shut up. That drew a crowd. Someone threw a clod of dirt at Hong-gi and hit a bystander instead. When the two men started fighting, they slipped away.

  “Why does everyone think you’re Chinese?” Pablo dug into his emergency bag and pulled out a blanket. “Here, wrap this around your head so they can’t see your face. I’ll hold your hand so you don’t bump into anything.”

  Pablo led his friend north out of the Burbs. Once they got past the last tent he told him it was safe to show his face.

  When Hong-gi took the blanket off Pablo expected to see him crying. With that big puffy eye he had, Pablo sure would be crying. But he wasn’t crying at all. Instead Hong-gi had a blank look on his face that made Pablo kind of scared.

  “You OK?” he asked.

  Hong-gi didn’t answer.

  “I’m going to take you to a secret place I know in the dunes. No one ever, ever goes there. We’ll be totally safe there.”

  Hong-gi still didn’t say anything, so Pablo led him out through the fields. Every now and then he looked back at the Burbs. They’d gotten far enough away they couldn’t hear the shouting anymore, just the distant pop pop pop of gunshots. Smoke rose from a couple of places. He hoped Mom was OK. Knowing her, she’d be right in the middle of it trying to save people.

  Suddenly he wanted to see Mom real bad. For a moment he forgot about her killing Mitch and all the times she said she’d spend time with him and got called away to work instead. All he wanted to do was get a big hug that would last all day.

  He shook his head and looked away from the Burbs. That was baby stuff. He had to be a grownup now. They were heading into the wildlands.

  They made it to the spot in the dunes where the radio was hidden. Hong-gi still hadn’t said anything.

  “Sit right here. Don’t worry, it’s safe here like I told you. I’m going to the top of this dune and take a look around.”

  Hong-gi sat down like he was told and wrapped his arms around his legs real tight, resting his chin on his knees. His eyes looked unfocused, like they were staring at a blank wall. Pablo stood there worrying about his friend for a moment and then remembered he had to act as lookout.

  He hurried up to the top of the tallest dune and had a long look around. There was no one out to sea and nobody in the nearby fields. Far off to the east, though, he could see a big group of people walking along the main path towards the Burbs. Even though they were so far away there were just little black dots, he could tell there were a lot of them. They were coming from the north and heading south towards the Burbs and New City.

  Pablo scratched his head. Who were they? Farmers coming into the Burbs to fight the Chinese? Or maybe Mr. Devon called them in to help Mom put everyone in jail. He hoped she caught that scavenger. He deserved a necktie.

  He hurried back to Hong-gi.

  “No one’s close by. We’re safe.”

  Hong-gi didn’t reply.

  Pablo forced out a laugh as he took off his shoes and emptied them of sand.

  “The only bad thing about this spot is you get sand everywhere. Careful you don’t get it in your underwear!”

  Hong-gi just sat there, staring at nothing. Pablo felt a cold feeling spreading out from his stomach and through his chest.

  “Hey, you want something to eat?”
Pablo asked, grabbing the emergency bag. His hands shook. “I got pemmican and a jug of water and nuts and oat cakes probably some other stuff too. It’s all fresh. When it’s been in the emergency bag a week we eat it and replace it with new stuff. My Mom only replaced this stuff like two days ago. Smart thinking, huh?”

  Hong-gi didn’t even turn to him. Pablo saw that his entire body was quivering.

  Suddenly Pablo was shaking all over too. He put his arms around his friend and they sat there, trembling together.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  “Cousin!”

  A man and woman came running over to Yu-jin and embraced her. She could hear The Doctor shout something but she was too surprised to pay him any attention.

  “I’m Able Seaman Song Jianfu,” the male sailor said, “and this is Petty Officer Third Class Song Panpan.”

  Yu-jin couldn’t believe what she was hearing.

  “Your family name is…Song? So’s mine.”

  The female sailor grinned. “My family name? Your family name? What are you saying, cousin? It’s our family name!”

  Yu-jin looked from one to the other. Their faces beamed with joy.

  “I don’t understand,” she said.

  The male sailor laughed. “You’ve lived too long among the Anglos, cousin. You’re a Song, she’s a Song, I’m a Song. We’re all related.”

  “That’s very kind of you, but my family came here in the nineteenth century. We couldn’t—”

  Song Jianfu laughed again, the deep smile lines around his eyes and mouth creasing. “So what? All Songs, everywhere, are family.”

  Yu-jin’s head spun. She glanced around and saw Captain Wang had stepped back and was giving them a fatherly smile. The Doctor looked confused.

  Song Panpan asked, “So where are your close relations? We’d love to meet them! Let’s get them all together and have a big party!”

  The sadness that was lodged like a knife into Yu-jin’s heart suddenly twisted. She looked down at the rusted deck.