Would a bad guy carve him a baseball bat and give him a knife?
Mom said they had kicked him out of the city. What a lie! He knew what Clyde meant when he said “necktie party”. A necktie was the rope they put around your neck when they hang you from a tree.
They killed my friend.
No. He would never talk to Mom again. Not ever.
“You want something to eat?” Jessica asked.
They were sitting in her room at Uncle Marcus and Aunt Rosie’s house. Jessica had been trying to cheer him up. At least they hadn’t killed this friend too.
“No.”
“There are some apples. You like apples.”
“I don’t want any apples, I want Jeb!”
Jessica held his hand. “I’m sorry. They say he was one of them.”
“He wasn’t! He wasn’t a bad guy! He was my friend!”
They sat in silence for a time. Finally Jessica asked. “Would you like to go out and play?”
“No.”
“You want to go to the beach?”
“The beach stinks.”
Jessica leaned close to him and whispered.
“You want to go on an adventure?”
Pablo looked up at her and wiped his nose with the back of his hand. “An adventure?”
Jessica smiled and her eyes were all bright like she was excited about something.
“Yeah, an adventure in the wildlands.”
“I’m not allowed to go into the wildlands.”
Jessica looked at the door she had closed when he had come over and leaned closer to him.
“So what?” she whispered.
Pablo smiled. Yeah, so what? Why couldn’t he do what he wanted?
Jessica’s voice went even softer. “We have to go on an important mission, an adventure, and I need your help.”
Pablo’s eyes went wide.
“A mission? What kind of mission?”
“It’s a secret.”
“Tell me!”
Jessica drew away a little bit.
“I don’t know. . .”
“Is it for your father?”
Jessica frowned. Pablo thought maybe he had said the wrong thing. Would she leave him behind?
“No, it’s not for my father. It’s something I’m doing myself.”
The way she said it he knew he’d better remember it or else.
“What?” he asked.
Jessica glanced at the door again. “Setting something up.”
“Setting what up?”
She leaned closer.
“The biggest. Surprise. Ever.”
“Really?” Awesome!
“I’ll let you in on it, but you have to promise not to tell anyone. Not Uncle Marcus, not Aunt Rosie, not even your mother.”
“I can keep a secret.”
Pablo knew he could keep a secret. This mission sounded cool. He could keep a secret for that.
Besides, he wasn’t talking to Mom anyway. Not ever.
And he sure wouldn’t talk to her about going to the wildlands on a mission.
Don’t miss Book Three in the Toxic World series
WE HAD FLAGS
Coming November 2014!
About the Author
Sean McLachlan worked for ten years as an archaeologist in Israel, Cyprus, Bulgaria, and the U.S. before becoming a full-time writer. He is the author of numerous fiction and nonfiction books, listed below. When he’s not writing, he likes to hike, read, travel, and most of all, teach his son about the world. He divides his time between Madrid, Oxford, and Tangier.
To find out more about Sean’s work and travels, visit him at midlistwriter.blogspot.com. He also runs a blog dedicated to his Civil War fiction, civilwarhorror.blogspot.com. Feel free to friend him on Goodreads at http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/623273.Sean_McLachlan
Fiction by Sean McLachlan
Radio Hope
In a world shattered by war, pollution and disease. . .
A gunslinging mother longs to find a safe refuge for her son.
A frustrated revolutionary delivers water to villagers living on a toxic waste dump.
The assistant mayor of humanity's last city hopes he will never have to take command.
One thing gives them the promise of a better future--Radio Hope, a mysterious station that broadcasts vital information about surviving in a blighted world. But when a mad prophet and his army of fanatics march out of the wildlands on a crusade to purify the land with blood and fire, all three will find their lives intertwining, and changing forever.
Book One of the Toxic World post-apocalyptic series. Available in print and electronic editions!
The Scavenger
In a world shattered by war, pollution, and disease, a lone scavenger discovers a priceless relic from the Old Times.
The problem is, it’s stuck in the middle of the worst wasteland he knows--a contaminated city inhabited by insane chem addicts and vengeful villagers. Only his wits, his gun, and an unlikely ally can get him out alive.
Set in the Toxic World series introduced in the novel Radio Hope, this 10,000-word story explores more of the dangers and personalities that make up a post-apocalyptic world that's all too possible.
Available in electronic edition!
A Fine Likeness
A Confederate guerrilla and a Union captain discover there's something more dangerous in the woods than each other.
Jimmy Rawlins is a teenaged bushwhacker who leads his friends on ambushes of Union patrols. They join infamous guerrilla leader Bloody Bill Anderson on a raid through Missouri, but Jimmy questions his commitment to the Cause when he discovers this madman plans to sacrifice a Union prisoner in a hellish ritual to raise the Confederate dead.
Richard Addison is an aging captain of a lackluster Union militia. Depressed over his son's death in battle, a glimpse of Jimmy changes his life. Jimmy and his son look so much alike that Addison becomes obsessed with saving him from Bloody Bill. Captain Addison must wreck his reputation to win this war within a war, while Jimmy must decide whether to betray the Confederacy to stop the evil arising in the woods of Missouri.
Available in print and electronic editions!
The Night the Nazis Came to Dinner and other Dark Tales
A spectral dinner party goes horribly wrong. . .
An immortal warrior hopes a final battle will set him free. . .
A big-game hunter preys on endangered species to supply an illicit restaurant. . .
A new technology soothes First World guilt. . .
Here are four dark tales that straddle the boundary between reality and speculation. You better hope they don’t come true.
Available in electronic edition!
The Quintessence of Absence
Can a drug-addicted sorcerer sober up long enough to save a kidnapped girl and his own Duchy?
In an alternate 18th century Germany where magic is real and paganism never died, Lothar is in the bonds of nepenthe, a powerful drug that gives him ecstatic visions. It has also taken his job, his friends, and his self-respect. Now his old employer has rehired Lothar to find the man's daughter, who is in the grip of her own addiction to nepenthe.
As Lothar digs deeper into the girl's disappearance, he uncovers a plot that threatens the entire Duchy of Anhalt, and finds the only way to stop it is to face his own weakness.
Available in electronic edition!
History Books by Sean McLachlan
Wild West History
Tombstone—Wyatt Earp, the O.K. Corral, and the Vendetta Ride (Osprey Publishing: 2013)
The Last Ride of the James-Younger Gang (Osprey Publishing: 2012)
Civil War History
Ride Around Missouri: Shelby’s Great Raid 1863 (Osprey Publishing: 2011)
American Civil War Guerrilla Tactics (Osprey Publishing: 2009)
Missouri History
Outlaw Tales of Missouri (Globe Pequot Press: 2009)
Missouri: An Illustrated History (Hippocrene Books:
2008)
It Happened in Missouri (Globe Pequot Press: 2007)
Medieval History
Medieval Handgonnes: The First Black Powder Infantry Weapons (Osprey: 2010)
Byzantium: An Illustrated History (Hippocrene Books: 2004)
African History
Armies of the Adowa Campaign 1896: the Italian Disaster in Ethiopia (Osprey: 2011)
Refugees from the Righteous Horde (Toxic World Book 2) Page 29