Refugees from the Righteous Horde (Toxic World Book 2) by Sean McLachlan

Author:Sean McLachlan [McLachlan, Sean]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
Published: 2014-07-07T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Jeb woke up to toxic rain spattering his face. The rain had a pungent, rotting odor cut with a metallic tang. He cursed and tried to get further under the tarp, pushing aside the machete men to get away from the stinking downpour.

It was no use. A fierce sea wind blew the rain almost horizontally. The tarp didn’t do anything except flap above them like a frightened ghost.

He wrapped his blanket around him, covered up his head, and tried not to breathe too deeply.

He hated these rains. They happened out on the wildlands pretty regularly. A dust storm in a poisoned area would kick toxins high up into the atmosphere to mingle with the clouds, or some old factory container would burst and send up a cancerous vapor. But this rain was coming in off the sea. While the oceans were all poisoned, it was mostly with stuff you couldn’t smell or taste. This chemical stench smelled more like some toxic waste spill or old munitions dump. The rotting funk mingled with it smelled like dead fish, so maybe it was some new spill in the water. Perhaps there were islands out there with old factories or cities that got nuked. He didn’t really know.

Damn, this is a bad one. You’re not going to make it to a hundred if you keep breathing in this shit.

The storm lasted all morning, soaking them through. The sick machete man developed a fever. Jeb called out to the guard on the wall with the news. It wasn’t that he was worried about the guy; he just didn’t want the idiot coughing near him. The guard grumbled a response Jeb couldn’t catch.

Poor bastard is just as exposed up there as we are down here, Jeb thought.

About half an hour later The Doctor came out with two assistants, both covered head to foot in hooded wool capes. Jeb gazed at their clothing with jealousy. They looked warm and dry. The prisoners were ordered to stand to one side, covered by a pair of riflemen, while the assistants put the sick man on a stretcher.

“Hey, any chance we could get some better shelter?” Jeb asked.

The Doctor scowled at him. “Don’t press your luck.”

They left and Jeb hunkered back down under the tarp.

At around noon the rain stopped. A guard came back out and built a fire next to their enclosure and set up several wooden stakes next to it. Then he ordered the prisoners out.

Another guard came with a large bucket of water. He turned to Jeb.

“You, wash your clothes and hang them by the fire to dry. You’re heading out soon and we don’t want you stinking up the patrol. The rest of you, strip down and hang up your clothes too. You can still stink for all I care, but The Doctor has something against you getting pneumonia and dying. Why, I’ll never know.”

They did as they were told and were given dry blankets to wrap around themselves until their clothes dried. One of the machete men shook his head in disbelief.

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