Radio Hope by Sean McLachlan

Author:Sean McLachlan
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub, mobi
Tags: Post-Apocalyptic, Sci-Fi
ISBN: 9781495231704
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
Published: 2014-04-28T12:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Jackson screamed as he slipped off the edge of the bridge. The world spun. He had a fleeting view of the jagged rocks and white water of the river far below.

A strong pair of hands gripped him below the shoulders and hauled him up. In desperation he flung his arms around the far edge, his fingers finding the crack between the level surface and the slab that had shifted.

Annette pulled again and he made it another precious few inches back onto the hard surface. He swung a leg over.

His foot smacking the cracked slab was enough to send it plunging into empty air. Jackson was left straddling a narrow span of concrete.

Annette looked over her shoulder.

“Shit, it must be the Righteous Horde!” Annette said.

Jackson saw Mitch and Ha-Ram crouched behind a rock and firing off to his right. Looking in that direction, he spotted a number of figures making their way up the road, firing as they came.

“They’re still far enough away that we can make it to the others and get away,” Annette said, “but we have to movenow!”

Jackson clung to the concrete, his arms and legs wrapped around it, muscles shaking from the strain. His mind was gripped with panic and he couldn’t think, couldn’t move.

“Come on!” Annette yanked at him.

“I’m going to fall!” Jackson shrieked.

A bullet whined overhead.

“Now or never!” Annette said.

“I—I can’t,” Jackson replied helplessly.

And he couldn’t. Terror had plunged him into an icy bath and had frozen his body. It was ridiculous, humiliating, he who had faced so much yet couldn’t stand high places, but he couldn’t fight it. The figures on the far cliff drew closer. Mitch shot one, sending the man doubling over and clutching his gut, but the rest kept coming. Ha-Ram was waving at them.

Annette looked in his eyes. “Please come.”

Jackson merely shook his head.

Annette looked back at the approaching men. She’d have to sprint if she was going to have time to reach the others before getting cut off. More gunfire crackled in the air.

Annette gave him another tug. Automatically Jackson clenched the concrete even harder.

“I’m sorry,” Annette said, moving back.

Jackson had a sudden thought.

“Wait!” he cried.

“I can’t wait. Move!”

“No, come back.”

Annette crawled forward again as another bullet sang through the air near their heads.

“Reach into my shirt and take my topo,” Jackson said. “Find Radio Hope. Ask them to help New City. But don’t let the others find it. Abe will try to shut it down. He’ll destroy the only good thing in the wildlands.”

Annette reached forward. Jackson pressed his chest against the bridge.

“Promise,” he demanded.

Annette looked in his eyes. “I promise.”

Jackson summoned the will to raise himself up a little. Annette’s hand slipped into his shirt, found the topo, and yanked it free.

“Come with us, please!” she said as she tucked it inside her own shirt.

Jackson merely shook his head and pressed his face against the surface of the bridge, sobbing.

He could hear the others calling to them over the sound of the gunfire. Annette hesitated a second more.

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