Refugees from the Righteous Horde (Toxic World Book 2)

by Sean McLachlan

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  The guards woke Jeb up early the next day to give him breakfast. Instead of two eggs he got three, and the bread was more than usual too. Just as he was finishing, Annette came up to the enclosure at the head of a small group that included the people who had originally captured him.

  His heart lightened to see Pablo was with her, tagging along beside her and tugging at her hand.

  “Pleeeease?”

  “For the third time no.”

  “I’ll be really good.”

  “You’re always really good, but the wildlands are too dangerous.”

  “I was born in the wildlands.”

  “And I brought you here to keep you out of them. No.”

  “Rachel can bring me right back. I won’t even get out of the car.”

  “No, no, and no. And, oh, by the way? No.”

  Annette came up to the wire. Pablo hung back with the others, looking glum.

  “Ready to go for a ride?” she asked.

  “Ride?”

  “Yeah, we’re driving up to the pass to save time.”

  Jeb’s jaw dropped. “You guys have a vehicle that can make it up the mountains?”

  “We got six!” Pablo said. “Two Hummers, three four-by-fours, and a forklift.”

  Jeb shook his head. “This place is getting better and better.”

  The kid pouted. “You’re lucky, Rachel’s giving you a ride.”

  “You don’t want to go where we’re going, kid,” Jeb said as the guard let him out.

  “Yeah, but you get to ride in one of the four-by-fours!”

  Annette frowned to see her boy talking to him. Thinking fast, Jeb saved the situation.

  “How about you ask Rachel to drive you around the Burbs a bit? She’ll probably need to check the vehicle anyway. All your friends will see.”

  Pablo’s face brightened. He turned to his mother.

  “Can I?”

  “You can ask. Don’t be disappointed if they say no.”

  Pablo was off like a shot before she finished her sentence. She smiled after him and when she turned to Jeb that smile held for half a second. Then she remembered herself and took on a serious look.

  “OK, here’s the deal. You’re going to guide us to The Pure One and I’m going to take him out with this,” she jabbed a thumb at the rifle case slung across her back. “In return you’ll get a pack of food and some gear and you can go on your way. You show your face around here again and it’s open season.”

  Jeb nodded. “That’s a fair trade. I’d rather be a citizen of this place, though.”

  Annette snorted. “Even I’m not a citizen.”

  “But couldn’t I stay in the Burbs?”

  One of the women in the group cut in. “Not even the Burbs would take you, machete man!”

  Jeb recognized her as the citizen named Christina, the hard case who had wanted to gun him and the others down when they’d surrendered. He looked around and saw the group was almost identical to the posse that captured him and the machete men. He recognized the deputy named Jackson. He was off to the side hugging a hot little number. The woman was crying.

  Jackson felt a pang of jealousy.

  Must be nice to have someone give a shit about you.

  “So these are the folks coming with us?” he asked.

  “Yeah,” Annette said, pointing them out. “This here’s Christina Raines, Charley Shibell, Jackson Andrews, and two more you don’t know—Tanya Popov and Nguyen Phan. I’ve warned them about you.”

  He looked at the two newcomers. Tanya wasn’t bad looking. But what was with this Asian guy? He wasn’t. . .

  The guy frowned at him. “No I’m not Chinese, so don’t ask.”

  “Sorry, do you get that a lot?” Jeb asked.

  “Too much.”

  “Oh wait, yeah, you don’t even look Chinese. We came across a band of them a few months back, probably the descendents of one of the armies. Wiped them out.”

  Nguyen smiled. “At least you guys are good for something.”

  “After what those people did to this land—“

  “Blame,” Annette said.

  Jeb looked at her. “What?”

  “Blame. Blaming any particular group or religion for the fall of civilization is illegal here.”

  “What the fuck?”

  Jackson tapped a scar on his cheek in the shape of a “B”.

  “Gets you branded and exiled from New City,” he said.

  Jeb blinked. He’d been wondering about that scar.

  “So wait, talking about what happened is illegal?”

  Christina nodded. “Yeah, and since you’re riding with the sheriff you better keep your mouth shut.”

  “The Chinese aren’t to Blame anyway,” Jackson said. “This land was going to hell way before they invaded thanks to—”

  “Shut up, Jackson,” Annette snapped.

  “You’ll see things my way after working for the system long enough.”

  Annette rolled her eyes. Jeb got the feeling that this conversation had played out countless times before.

  Jeb glanced back at Nguyen, who gave him an understanding look.

  “So, where you from?” Jeb asked.

  “Here.”

  “No, where are you really from?”

  “Here, but if you’re asking my heritage, my ancestors came from Vietnam.”

  Jeb had never heard of Vietnam. “Oh yeah, I heard they kicked China’s ass in one of the old wars.”

  Nguyen laughed. “Yeah, I bet they did!”

  A rumbling behind him made Jeb turn and gasp. A four-by-four drove over the field in front of the walls. At the wheel was a middle-aged woman grinning from ear to ear as Pablo sat in the back seat, leaning out the open window and yelling for all he was worth.

  As they passed by Jeb the boy waved and shouted. “You were right! Rachel let me go on the test drive!”

  He smiled and waved back. Annette waved too and called out, “Get back inside, don’t hang out the window!”

  Pablo dove back inside and then stuck his feet out and wiggled them as Rachel made another pass.

  “I think he’s sassing you,” Jeb chuckled.

  Annette rolled her eyes. “I know he is.”

  Jeb looked at the vehicle in wonder. He had only seen functioning cars and trucks maybe a dozen times in his life, and the last time was so far back he couldn’t have been much older than Pablo. And these people had six.

  After a couple more passes the four-by-four pulled up in front of them. Pablo bounded out and danced around his mother, talking so fast that no one had the slightest idea what he was saying.

  Jeb peered inside the vehicle. Rachel gave him a suspicious look that broke into a grin at his obvious admiration.

  “Not many of these left,” she said with pride. “Took us a year to get it in running condition. Had to cannibalize twenty other vehicles just to make up this one.”

  “It looks great. Sounds like it runs great too, not that I know anything about that.”

  “Good as the day it was made. Of course we had to add a few things. The upholstery is all new, and we had to replace the wheels.”

  “Yeah, I was wondering about that. The rubber from old tires is all cracked and dried out.”

  “We make our own rubber here.”

  Jeb stared at her openmouthed. “How?”

  The suspicion came back. “That’s our business, not yours.”

  Jeb shrugged and looked back at the four-by-four.

  “Never thought I’d get a ride in one of these,” he muttered.

  “Neither did I,” Nguyen said, coming forward with a couple of packs. He was armed with a strange type of assault rifle Jeb didn’t recognize. Christina came right behind him along with Jackson, both carrying the same weapons they’d carried in the posse. Tanya took up the rear, armed with a Chinese-model AK-47. Rachel opened up the back for them and they stowed their gear inside.

  “This one’s for you,” Nguyen slapp
ed the smallest pack. “Food enough for the mission along with a firestarter, a blanket, and a canteen. You steer us right and it’s yours to keep.”

  Christina fixed him with a glare. “You steer us wrong and I’ll blow your fucking head off. I still can’t believe we’re bringing you along.”

  “Relax, he was practically a slave,” Nguyen said.

  “Slave with permission to kill,” Christina snorted. “I’ll be watching you, machete man.”

  And I’ll be watching you, bitch, Jeb replied silently.

  Rachel slammed the back door shut. “Time to go, folks. Hop in. The Doctor only authorized one vehicle for this trip. It’s going to be crowded so give everyone half a cheek.”

  Everyone said their goodbyes to the friends and family who crowded around. Jeb hesitated a moment, then slid inside. The seat felt surprisingly plush and comfortable. Christina sat down next to him and jabbed a .22 automatic in his ribs.

  “This is to keep you friendly,” Christina said.

  “Keep your finger outside the trigger guard. I don’t want you plugging me the first time we go over a bump,” Jeb said.

  “Yeah, that would be a real shame,” the woman replied.

  Through the window he could see Annette giving Pablo a hug. He was whining and crying for her not to go. She tried to put on brave face and failed.

  Jeb felt sadness and envy tug at him. No one had cared about him in a long, long time. At last Annette sat in the front passenger seat, wiping her eyes. Rachel hopped in the driver’s seat and her husband Kevin gave her a lingering kiss through the open window.

  “Take care, and radio in once an hour,” Kevin said.

  “I will.”

  Jeb looked at the dashboard and saw a radio similar to the one they’d taken from the New City patrol. Rachel flicked a switch and it crackled to life. She revved the engine and a moment later they were moving forward. Jeb looked around, heart pounding.

  “I can’t believe this!” Jeb said. He spotted Pablo running along behind in their dust cloud waving. He waved back.

  “I can’t believe I’m actually riding in a vehicle!” he repeated.

  By the time they’d driven down the main street of the Burbs and into the outlying farms he wished he wasn’t. The motion of the four-by-four felt strange and left a queasy sensation in his stomach. The swaying along the uneven path and getting jabbed in the ribs by Christina’s pistol every time they went over a bump didn’t help either.

  “You’re looking a bit green around the gills,” Rachel said, watching him through the rearview mirror. “Focus on the outside. Your body isn’t used to this and you’re getting car sick.”

  “Car sick?”

  “The Doctor explained it to me once. Your body senses it’s moving but if you look at the inside of the car your eyes think you’re staying still. That confuses your body and makes you feel sick.”

  Jeb took her advice and looked outside. That helped a little. They passed fortified farmsteads and people working in the fields.

  “Sorry we’re going so slow,” Rachel said. “Got to be careful with this baby and it’s not an emergency.”

  Jeb looked at the landscape whipping past. They seemed to be going an impossibly fast speed and this chick was apologizing for going slow?

  “Just how fast are we going?” Jackson asked.

  “The speedometer’s busted but I’d guess twenty miles an hour.”

  “Twenty miles an hour?” Jeb gasped. “That’s a long day’s march.”

  “We’ll catch up to your friends in no time,” Christina said.

  “They’re not my friends.”

  “So what’s the plan, Annette?” Nguyen asked.

  “Rachel’s going to drive us up to the top of the South Pass and from there we’re going to head down to the plains on the other side. After that, Jeb here is going to lead us to the Righteous Horde.”

  “Or what’s left of it,” Nguyen laughed.

  “There’ll be plenty left,” Jeb said. “Even though they ditched the porters and machete men, that still leaves hundreds of the Elect and The Pure One’s bodyguard. They don’t get along, though, so there might have been some infighting.”

  “Good,” Jackson said. “Tell us more about the nutcase in charge.”

  “I never got to talk with him,” Jeb lied. “We had to sit through his speeches, though. He’s crazy. Hates anything he thinks is impure. Once on the march a couple of the Elect came across some toxic waste and got sick. You know how that happens sometimes. Nobody’s fault, just bad luck. But he thought it was a sign of God’s wrath and had them executed.”

  “Damn,” Jackson said. “You’re right about him being crazy, but all that toxic waste is someone’s fault. It got there because of the greed of the ruling class. In the Old Times they kept polluting the earth to make money and—”

  “Blame,” Annette said from the front.

  “But you know—”

  “Blame,” Annette cut him off again. “Just because you’ve already been branded and somehow made deputy doesn’t mean you get to Blame.”

  Jackson shook his head and looked out the window. For a minute no one spoke. Jeb broke the silence. “As I was saying, there’s a big rivalry between the Elect and the bodyguard. The bodyguards believe in the shit he’s spouting. The Elect are just tagging along for the loot and women. If things get too bad the Elect will desert if they can.”

  “Then our problem may already be solved,” Nguyen said.

  Jeb shook his head. “It won’t be that easy. Some of the Elect will stick. They’re scared. Besides, where are they going to go? They’ve burned all their bridges. And even if The Pure One loses most of his army he can build one again. He may be crazy but he’s a hell of an organizer and he can whip up a speech like you never heard.”

  “Bet you bought everything he said,” Christina grumbled. The barrel of her pistol was still stuck in his ribs, which gave him a much different feeling than the warmth of her thigh pressed against his in the crowded back seat.

  “I never bought a word of that bullshit, though some of the machete men and even some of the porters did. That’s how good he was. You don’t understand because you got it easy in New City. But if you’re stuck out in the wildlands with all your family and friends gone, your settlement burned down, and nothing in your future but starvation, you’ll grab onto anything. Yeah, you got it easy.”

  Although Christina looked away, her pistol didn’t stray from his side. Jeb went on. “You got a crime against blaming anyone for the fall of civilization, but out in the wildlands and the farms people talk about that shit all the time. Everyone’s got their own idea of whose fault it was.”

  “And that’s why it’s illegal,” Rachel said as she swerved around a rock. “If everyone starts Blaming, pretty soon everyone starts arguing. Then it won’t be long before some group or other becomes the scapegoat.”

  Jeb thought for a moment. “Yeah, I can see that. In the smaller settlements people usually all agree whose fault it was, or at least the people who don’t shut the hell up. In a big place like New City you’d have all kinds of ideas and that could lead to trouble. The thing is, though, you keep people bottled up like that and sooner or later they’ll bust out.”

  “They’ve never busted out before,” Christina said.

  Jeb glanced at Jackson. The deputy’s face was turned out the window.

  “Don’t be so sure,” Jeb said. “You’ve kept together because you’ve had to fight the Righteous Horde and probably a bunch of bandit groups before that, but if people don’t get to speak, they get antsy. Cause trouble.”

  “We know how to deal with troublemakers,” Christina said, following Jeb’s look towards Jackson.

  “With the Righteous Horde they were able to keep everyone in line by shooting anyone who said anything wrong. That worked for a time but as soon as things got bad the machete men. . .me and the rest. . .rebelled.”

  “The scouts say there’s still infighting,” Annette said. “S
hootings in the camp every night.”

  Jeb nodded. “I bet. Probably been a couple more coup attempts since they retreated, and there’ll be plenty of executions. It’s going to be a lot smaller group than the one you tangled with.”

  Soon they were heading up the first foothills to the mountains. The road from the Old Times was cracked and crumbly from years of weathering, so Rachel kept the vehicle to the side, which Jeb noticed had been cleared of trees and bushes and large stones. Obviously the farmers out here were doing their part to keep New City connected with the outlying settlements.

  How far into the mountains did those settlements reach? He wondered. One of the guards had mentioned that more and more people came to stay every year. Would New City keep expanding, becoming something like the old city-states Dad used to talk about?

  He’d ditched his old bandit group and joined the Righteous Horde because he thought it would be the winning side, and with it sweeping the wildlands it seemed for a while that it would. But then they’d come to New City, which looked like a piece of the Old Times, and they’d been defeated. He was glad. The Pure One and his true believers were a sour leftover of the old wars, the worst of the Old Times. New City offered some of the best—community, medicine, safety, law. Sure, they weren’t perfect, but they were a hell of a lot closer to perfect than anything he’d seen since he was a kid living on the farmstead. And it had proven to be strong too, pushing back the biggest force anyone had seen in decades.

  New City was the future, and he wanted to be part of it.

  But the deal had already been made. He had to risk his neck tracking down the Righteous Horde so Annette could take a shot with that cool gun of hers, and all he’d get in return was a thank you and a bit of gear. Bad trade. He needed to think of some more options.

  Option 1: Bug out the first chance you get. You’ll keep the gear and avoid the fight with the Righteous Horde. Christina didn’t look like she’d lower her guard, though, and the others probably wouldn’t either. Plus that cut out any possibility of getting back to New City.

  Option 2: Turn them into The Pure One. Tricky, and you might not get the chance. Would make you one of the bodyguards, though. Something to think about.

  Option 3: Pull another trick to make you look like the hero, like you did with Leonard. That might get you back to New City.