Read Online Radio Hope (Toxic World Book 1) by Sean McLachlan - Free Book Online Page B

a little this morning,” The Doctor said in a tone that didn’t leave Marcus convinced. “Anyway, I need to rest now, as you always remind me. I had to deal with Clyde and his patrols at dawn, Abe all morning, and I need to go to the Burbs this afternoon. I’m taking a nap.”
    “You’re going to the Burbs?” Marcus asked.
    “Ahmed tells me a scavenger came in with a nasty cut. It’s infected.”
    “Ahmed can deal with that.”
    “It’s not the cut I need to check out. The guy says he survived an attack by the Righteous Horde.”
    The scavenger lay on a bedroll inside an old shipping container, one of many that civilians rented out to the people in the Burbs. This one was shared by a dozen scavengers. A small window had been cut at the back, but it was still murky inside. Filthy too. Marcus wrinkled his nose in distaste. Yet another reason scavengers lived here and citizens lived inside the walls. Gear and dirty rags everywhere, and many of the scavengers were none too used to bathing. Near the back one of them lay curled up on his blankets, stripped almost bare yet sweating despite the chill.
    Marcus put a hand on The Doctor’s shoulder.
    “You’re not going in there,” he told him.
    The Doctor opened his mouth to object. Clyde, who had tagged along on this visit, cut him off.
    “I agree with Marcus. I’ll go get the wounded guy and bring him out.”
    As Clyde ventured inside and talked in low tones with one of the scavengers, The Doctor muttered under his breath. “Great, another flu case. Just what we need.”
    “This happens every harvest market ,” Marcus reassured him.
    Clyde emerged leading a man whose forearm was encased in a thick bandage.
    “You The Doctor?” the scavenger asked. He was a young man, but skinny, his cheekbones sticking out through thin, leathery skin. Sunken eyes teared with pain.
    “I am.”
    “I want to thank you for sending out your assistant. The wound’s been leaking pus. He put some iodine on it. Imagine, iodine, and not a word about trading!”
    “We take care of the sick for free here.”
    Now the man’s eyes filled with tears that spoke of more than pain.
    “Ahmed tells me you got cut by a machete,” Clyd e said, sitting the man down at the entrance to the container.
    The scavenger paled. He nodded and cradled his arm.
    “What happened?” Marcus asked.
    “It was tho se cultists, those crazies calling themselves the Righteous Horde. Righteous my ass. We had a little settlement by a river about fifty miles from the eastern end of the Northern Pass. Nothing like this, just thirty people, but we had a good setup. Clean water in the river, enough rabbits and squirrels to keep us in meat, and some decent scavenging in a few valleys most people don’t know about. Then they came.”
    “When was this?” Clyde asked.
    “A week ago.”
    “They were two days march from the Northern Pass a week ago!” Clyde’s voice ran into a high octave.
    “Calm down,” The Doctor said. “None of the outlying farms have reported anything. They’re not going to come storming through the gate this afternoon.”
    He turned to the scavenger. “So tell us everything you can.”
    The man swallowed, rubbed his arm, and replied, “They came charging at us from across the eastern fields. No attempt at hiding, no coming up through the gully off to the west like they could have, just right over the horizon and straight for us. So damn many we knew we couldn’t fight, so we legged it. Then we found out why they didn’t try to hide. They had already gotten us surrounded. Appeared to the south, then the north, then pouring out of the gully like the river was puking people. There were so many we didn’t try to resist, no point in that. Threw down what guns we had and threw up our hands. They surrounded us, stripped us of everything but our clothing, and lined us up.”
    “How many were there? What kind of weapons did they have?” Clyde asked.
    “Thousands. More people in one place