Refugees from the Righteous Horde (Toxic World Book 2)

by Sean McLachlan

  “I agree with you on that,” The Doctor grunted.

  Hope dawned in Jeb’s face. “So we have a deal?”

  The Doctor nodded. “We have a deal. You act as guide and if you’re good to your word we’ll let you go.”

  Jeb turned to Annette.

  “Getting you to The Pure One won’t be the problem. But how are you going to kill him? He’s always surrounded by at least twenty bodyguards, and there’s the Elect to worry about too. There are a few hundred of them.”

  Annette treated him to a grim smile. “I’m a sniper.”

  Jeb raised an eyebrow. “Really? Got a good weapon?”

  Clyde laughed. “The best rifle I ever seen. She can take out someone at more than a thousand yards. I can’t tell you the things I offered in trade for it, but Annette won’t let anyone even touch it.”

  Jeb looked confused. “But during the attack The Pure One was in plain view. Why didn’t you take him out?”

  Annette felt a sick feeling in her stomach.

  If I had been manning the walls instead of hunting down Radio Hope for Abe, I could have ended the war right then and there. Damn it, Abe! If you had told me the real reason for that mission I would have never gone. How many people would be alive today instead of lying in that mass grave next to the cove?

  She realized Jeb was waiting for an answer.

  “I was on a scout,” she mumbled, not able to look at him.

  “Anyway,” The Doctor said, “let’s get down to business. Annette, I need to talk to you. Clyde, take the prisoner back to the holding pen until we need him.”

  “Can you put me somewhere else? Those other guys are a bit crazy. I don’t feel safe with them,” Jeb said.

  “You’re right in view of the walls, nothing’s going to happen,” Clyde said, gesturing with his pistol to get Jeb moving out the door.

  When the two left, The Doctor moved to the next room and sat heavily down on the sofa. Annette took a chair nearby.

  “You OK?” she asked. “You look tired.”

  The Doctor rubbed his eyes. “We’re all tired.”

  He took his hand away from his face and glared at Annette. She resisted the urge to wilt. At $87,953 she faced drunken scavengers swinging knives and bottles. In the wildlands she’d faced bandits and cultists. None of them intimidated her more than The Doctor’s disapproval.

  “Yeah, I’m tired. Tired of patching up the wounded, tired of trying to keep a lid on the Burbs, but most of all I’m tired of defiance from people who should be showing a bit of gratitude.”

  Annette straitened her spine. “I was duly elected sheriff by the voters of the Burbs.”

  “There wouldn’t even be a post of sheriff unless I had created one for you.”

  “The vote gave me legitimacy and independence. I need to be seen as my own woman otherwise I won’t have any authority. There’s a lot of bad feeling in the Burbs against the citizens of New City.”

  “And I’m trying to bridge that divide by extending law and order to the Burbs. Hell, it’s like something out of the Wild West!”

  “The what?”

  The Doctor waved a dismissive hand. “A barbaric period in the early Old Times. My point is that if the people of the Burbs want to be treated with respect, they have to stop shooting and knifing one another.”

  “I’m working on it. It’s only my first week, remember. By the way, I visited Fly Daddy Bradley,” Annette said.

  “Why?” The Doctor asked, obviously surprised.

  “Because one of the independent prostitutes got cut up. I think he did it.”

  “Did she say he did it?”

  “She wouldn’t say a thing.”

  “Then I don’t see what we can do.”

  “I made a new regulation against soliciting.”

  “I got your note. Not sure what good that’s going to achieve.”

  “It’s going to show Fly Daddy who’s boss. I told him if there are any more attacks on working girls that I’ll ban prostitution.”

  The Doctor’s glare returned. Annette bit her lip.

  “I didn’t give you authority to create laws, only regulations,” he said.

  “Oh, so you support prostitution?”

  “No, but banning it isn’t going to stop it. Besides, some of these scavenger girls have nothing else to trade. You want them to starve?”

  “That’s what Fly Daddy said.”

  “Watch it.”

  Annette paused, threw out the first thing she wanted to say, reconsidered, threw out the second thing she wanted to say, and then settled for, “Look. I respect you. I respect what you’ve done for the people here and I’m grateful for the help you’ve given me. Remember when you removed that bullet from my gut a couple of years back? Yeah, I owe you a lot. I acknowledge that. But you made the decision a long time ago to let the Burbs run most of their own affairs. Well, now you have to live with that decision. The Burbs are developing on their own. We need you and you need us. You’ve always left us outside the walls when an attack came—”

  “Letting your children inside!” The Doctor interrupted.

  “Yes. When the Skullcrushers came around Pablo got to stay within the walls. And that other bandit group, whatever they called themselves, same deal. But the people of the Burbs had to scatter into the wildlands and hide. The last time the Skullcrushers raided I spent a week curled up under a tarp trying to keep dry in the pouring rain. I was lucky they didn’t find me like they found some people. Every time there’s an attack people in the Burbs die.”

  “Yeah, and look what happened when we let them in a few weeks ago.”

  Annette had no response to that. Infiltrators from the Righteous Horde had slipped in with the scavengers. One shot The Doctor and that set off a firefight inside the walls that left dozens dead, mostly innocent people. Even the mere act of letting everyone in had caused a deep rift between the Merchants Association and the rest of the New City citizens.

  “Here’s what I want you to do,” The Doctor said.

  Oh, what a surprise. You’re about to tell me what to do.

  “First, I want you to question those prisoners closely, assuming Clyde isn’t doing that already. Then I want you to spend a couple of days getting the Burbs slapped together. The jail I’ve heard you talk about isn’t a bad idea, just don’t expect us to pay for it. New City has enough expenses right now as it is. The harvest was bad, as you know, and then there was the attack.”

  “I understand. The Burb Council is already on the jail situation.”

  “Fine. Get things settled down in the Burbs and assemble a team to go after the Righteous Horde. I’m sure you’re going to want to take one of your deputies. Take Jackson and leave Frank.”

  Annette raised an eyebrow. “Why?”

  She already had made that decision but she was curious to see what The Doctor’s reasoning was.

  “Because Jackson knows the wildlands. He was a scavenger once. And Frank is more popular in the Burbs. He can do a better job holding the fort while you hunt down that maniac.”

  Annette nodded. Those were her exact same reasons.

  Damn, do The Doctor and me think alike? That’s a scary thought.

  “I’ll want to make some special deputies to bring along,” Annette said.

  “I’m sure you’ll have plenty of volunteers. Clyde will equip you with whatever you need. When it comes to that, New City will spare no expense.”

  Annette thought a minute.

  “You know, they have a big lead on us and if we wait another two days they’ll get even further away.”

  “Stability here is our priority.”

  “We can catch up easily enough,” Annette said.

  “How?”

  “Give us a ride in one of the vehicles. Kevin or Rachel can drive us to the South Pass. That will shave off at least two day’s travel.”

  The Doctor considered a moment. Annette tensed. She knew she was asking a lot. New City’s collection of vehicles, lovingly preserve
d by Kevin and Rachel, who were as much married to their engines as they were to each other, were more valuable than anything else New City possessed except for the solar panels and tidal generator.

  At last The Doctor nodded. “All right. From what Kevin and Rachel tell me the All Terrain Vehicles can even make it to the other side of the pass. Plus the scouts say the Righteous Horde is moving slow, foraging everything they can. You’ll be able to catch up with no trouble.”

  Yeah, no trouble,Annette thought, shivering.But there will be trouble enough once we do catch up.

  “Now I need to see some more patients. It’s getting to be about dinnertime and Marcus told me to tell you that you’re invited to his house. I think he’s already told Pablo.”

  Oh great, trouble is coming sooner than I thought.

  Annette bade The Doctor goodbye and reluctantly headed down the steps and out of the warehouse. She usually loved going over to Marcus’ for dinner. He was a kind man, and his wife Rosie was even kinder, and a damn good cook to boot. The problem was, Marcus was seriously pissed off with this whole election thing.

  She arrived to find everyone already there. Marcus and Pablo were tossing a baseball in the front yard while Marcus’ wife Rosie, her gray hair tied in a bun, puttered around the kitchen and peeked smiling through the window at them.

  Annette’s tension eased somewhat. Marcus and Rosie had had several children of their own. If they had survived they’d all be older than Annette was now, but the world had taken them away one by one. Now they were “Uncle Marcus and Aunt Rosie” to any number of local kids.

  Marcus spotted her and tossed the ball to Pablo one last time.

  “Go on in and get washed up, time to eat,” he told him, tousling his hair.

  Pablo gave his mother a wave and a smile as he hurried inside. Marcus turned to her.

  Here it comes.

  “I heard about you threatening Fly Daddy Bradley,” he said. “Nice work.”

  “News travels fast in this town.”

  “The Burbs never had a sheriff before. You’re the talk of the town, especially among citizens.”

  Annette bit her lip. “Um, yeah.”

  Marcus smiled and put a hand on her shoulder. “Yes, I’m annoyed, and so are most of the citizens. I understand why you called an election, though. I even understand why you named Jackson as deputy.”

  Annette blinked in surprise. “So everything’s OK?” she asked.

  Marcus laughed. “OK? No, nothing’s OK, but I know you’re going to do what’s right, even if that goes against what we want.”

  “I’m not sure The Doctor shares your understanding,” she said as they walked inside. Annette noticed he still walked with a limp that he’d had since the attack.

  “Doc’s a fine man but it’s his way or the highway.”

  Annette nodded. “That’s why I called an election.”

  “I figured that. And after a while I realized it’s for the best. Doc needs an ally, not just another follower.”

  Annette stopped and smiled at Marcus. They stood in the front hallway, the walls covered with old photographs of his family from the bygone days when the City States still kept a semblance of civilization. Yeah, she was The Doctor’s ally, and if he was too pigheaded to see it at least Marcus did. Because while they might argue over who decided what and what regulations should be passed, when it came right down to it, they were all on the same side.

  For some reason that prisoner, Jeb, came into her thoughts. Maybe that’s why he was so anxious to live here. It wasn’t just the food and the electricity, it was the end to wandering, the end to sleeping next to your weapon every night. This was why the Burbs grew every year as more and more scavengers settled down and tried to find a way to make a living in the precarious local economy.

  They continued into the kitchen. Rosie was just lifting a spit with two sizzling rabbits off the fire. She placed them in a pan and took another pan off the fire that contained the dripping. Annette licked her lips. Out in the Burbs she only had meat once or twice a week. Marcus was a citizen, though, with market stalls and fields and herds. He could trade for fresh rabbit anytime he wanted.

  The kitchen was one of the nicer ones she’d seen, built by Marcus’ own hands and beautified by Rosie’s relentless optimism. Near the slate fireplace stood a wash bucket and a sink scavenged from some ruin from the Old Times. The other side of the room was taken up by a wobbly old card table that doubled as the dining room table. An array of homemade chairs stood around it, durable but not fancy, like Marcus and Rosie. Fly Daddy Bradley’s place was ten times more luxurious, and infinitely less welcoming.

  The atmosphere came thanks to Rosie. The window, framed with scrounged glass, had a heavy hand-knit curtain to keep the cold out and the heat in. The walls were decorated like most people’s with photos taken from old magazines. Rosie had chosen country scenes with lush fields and babbling brooks and tidy red farmhouses. They reminded Annette of the novels she liked.

  Annette sat down as Rosie and Marcus bustled around the kitchen. They were both over sixty yet managed to move with energy, although that limp Marcus had made her worry.

  He wasn’t hit,Annette thought.Perhaps he strained a muscle. It should have healed by now, though.

  Marcus set down a jug of beer.

  “Best in the Burbs,” Marcus smiled.

  “You mean Roy’s brew,” Annette smiled back.

  “Yup. I’m sure you get to drink it free all the time.”

  “Not at work. I have to keep my wits about me in a bar full of drunk scavengers.”

  “You’ll have to keep your wits about you twice as much in your new job,” Rosie scolded. “I don’t like you running around the wildlands after all those criminals.”

  Annette shrugged. Running around the wildlands was what she and Jackson did best. But that made her realize something. Roy was going to have to get himself some new bouncers. She and Frank wouldn’t have time anymore. She felt a tug of regret thinking that she wouldn’t be hanging around with her best friend every night.

  At least it was getting her associate status, and eventually citizenship. Pablo deserved to grow up inside the walls.

  As if on cue her son tore into the room and plopped down in one of the chairs. A moment later Catherine and Jessica followed.

  “It’s been a while since I’ve seen you,” Annette told Jessica. “How are you settling in?”

  “Great!” the girl beamed. “There’s lots of cool kids here. The wildlands were so lonely.”

  “I grew up in the wildlands and you’re right. It’s best to find a group and stick with it.”

  Jessica’s mouth fell. “Father didn’t trust any of them.”

  Jessica was about fourteen and had shown up a few weeks before with a weird scavenger who claimed to be her father but looked too old. Within a few days he had distributed a bunch of radios that only received Radio Hope, united the Burbs to demand to be let inside the walls before the Righteous Horde arrived, dropped off his daughter with Marcus and Rosie, and then disappeared back into the wildlands.

  Annette had only seen the man once more, looting Mitch’s corpse after she took Mitch out with her sniper’s rifle. A black mood settled on her. Everyone thought she was a killer, and she supposed she was. That didn’t make killing any easier, especially when it wasn’t in self-defense.

  It was self-defense,she reminded herself.He would have told Abe where Radio Hope was, and that would have been bad for everyone.

  Catherine, a girl Jessica’s age who had instantly become her best friend, pulled Annette out of her memories by saying, “I’m trying to find Jessica a job.”

  “That would be great!” Rosie said, putting down a tureen with the rabbits basted in sauce, carrots, and onion. “How about you write down Radio Hope’s broadcasts like Catherine?”

  Jessica shrugged. “My writing isn’t good enough. No way can I write as fast as she does.”

  “Wish you’d reconsider working at one of my market s
talls,” Marcus said.

  Jessica’s mouth turned down again. “You know my father wouldn’t approve.”

  Annette shook her head. While you had to watch your kids in this world, Jessica’s father took that to almost obsessive levels. Only the fact that cultists were ravaging the wildlands convinced him to let her stay with Marcus while he went off to do whatever he was doing.

  Or was that the real reason? Annette wondered. Nobody knew anything about the man, not even his name. And from what she’d heard from Marcus, Jessica didn’t tell them anything more than they already knew.

  They all tucked into dinner, the kids wolfing down their food as usual. Annette wasn’t far behind. Rosie’s cooking was the best in town, and it was warm and cozy in this little house. Between mouthfuls she looked around. Yeah, this is the kind of home she wanted to give Pablo one day.

  Play your cards right and you’ll be citizen. Then you can have all this,she told herself.The problem is, you have to get The Doctor’s approval, and if you keep choosing the Burbs over New City, he’ll put you right back where he found you.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  Jeb you are a fucking idiot. You had them eating out of your hand and one slip of the tongue destroyed all the trust you had built up in them.

  He walked down the stairs with Clyde behind him. He glanced back at the guy. Now that he may have blown it, he needed to reconsider his options.

  Option 1: Fight. Clyde was on the wrong side of 50 and had a paunch. In a fair fight he could take him no problem. But it wasn’t a fair fight. Clyde had a pistol leveled at his back and the confidence with which he held it showed he knew how to use it. The chances of overpowering him, getting the pistol, taking The Doctor hostage, and getting the hell out of there were too damn slim for his liking.

  Option 2: Run. No, Clyde would shoot him in the back, or at least in the leg if he was feeling charitable.

  Option 3: Go on the hunt for The Pure One and see what he could do along the way. Not a good option, but it was the only option that wouldn’t see him with a bullet in his body within the next few minutes.