Rainbow Warriors: A Post-Apocalyptic Adventure Fiction (Rainbow Warriors Book 1) by Shirley Bear Fedorak

Author:Shirley Bear Fedorak [Bear Fedorak, Shirley]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: YuJu Publishing
Published: 2021-04-18T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirteen

Ain’t No Call

Dead tree branches, weathered boards, and crumpled sheets of tin blocked our path through Thompson Valley. Ten meter high guard towers interrupted the makeshift wall every fifty meters. We weren’t going any farther until we found a new route.

“What is this place?” Willow said.

“That’s what I’m aiming to find out.” Chief Roy stepped out of the airlock and approached a guard at the main entrance.

The guard readied his assault rifle. “Halt!”

“Relax sergeant, we’re just passing through. But what is this place?”

“Murtle River Detention Center, and there ain’t no passing through.”

Chief Roy frowned and set his bio-comm. “Detention center? What on earth for? They’re climate refugees, not criminals.”

The sergeant shrugged. “Folk’s been coming here nigh onto five years looking for food and shelter.” He spat on the ground. “Ain’t finding much a that anymore.”

“But why here?”

“Was supposed to be a relocation center for sending folks to better places in the North, excepting there ain’t no better places. It’s bad all over.” He squinted at the chief. “But I reckon you know that.”

“Aa.”

We climbed out of Voyageur for a better look.

Atian whistled. “It’s a tent city.”

Mud-splattered army tents, thousands of them, stretched through the valley, many set up in the dry river bed, others under the collapsed train bridge. Rocks held down the tents against the harsh winds blowing through the mountain pass. Winds or not, the heat was stifling. Sweat oozed along my back, and I wiped my face with my damp t-shirt. This was the kind of place Cardiff planned to send everyone on Voyageur, to wait to die.

Chief Roy placed his bio-comm on record and kept up a running commentary. “No sign of electricity or running water in the detention camp, except for a pipe sticking out of the wall.”

A little boy, not more than three, tipped his head and caught the slow drip from the pipe. Children lined up behind him. They waited only so long, then pushed him out of the way. “You got enough, Jimi, it’s our turn.”

Jimi slunk away, pulling up his tattered blue shorts, two sizes too big.

A young couple dodged pools of stagnant water as they trudged through ankle-deep mud in a narrow alley running between the tents. Even in this harsh environment, some were finding love.

Swarms of mosquitoes buzzed the water puddles and hovered around us. Chief Roy slapped a mosquito on his arm. “Betting there’s malaria in this camp, and likely dengue.”

I dug a bug zapper out of my knapsack and waved it over the kids. “Keep your breathers and suits on.”

The feeble sun peeked through the green and pink sky, but dark clouds circled the camp and threatened rain.

Tomko eyed the clouds. “Wonder if they get tornados in the mountains.”

“Doubt it,” Atian said. “Even plough winds would’ve wiped out this place years ago.”

A frail woman hung ragged clothes on a line snaking between and over the tents in the futile hope that rain would wash off some of the grime. An emaciated dog limped across the wretched alley and stopped to sniff a pile of excrement beside the tent.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.