Sean McLachlan [McLachlan - Emergency Transmission

EMERGENCY TRANSMISSION

Toxic World Book Four

By Sean McLachlan

For Almudena, my wife

and Julin, my son

Copyright 2019 Sean McLachlan. All rights reserved.

Cover courtesy Andrs Alonso-Herrero. Public domain photo courtesy U.S. Coast Guard.

Characters in this work of fiction are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

CHAPTER ONE

David Nimitz trudged near the head of the column as the Righteous Horde made its way across a dry, seemingly endless plain. Little grew here, not because it was toxic like so many patches they had passed through in their long journey, but because the plains lay in the lee of the mountains that loomed close by to the west. The rains from the sea beyond got caught by the peaks, leaving precious little to hit the plain. Only a few creeks trickled down from the slopes. Each time the column came across one of these creeks, The Pure One, in his bottomless generosity, would pull back the white drapes of his palanquin and call a halt so the faithful could give up a prayer of thanks to God and drink their fill. David would mouth the words without feeling them. There was no point in praying. God had stopped listening.

David had become accustomed to thirst, and hunger, and weariness. It had all become a dull ache that he barely noticed anymore. In the past few days, however, a new feeling had come through, a nervous racing of his heart and a sudden cold sweat. It had taken some time to figure out what it wasfear.

It had been a long time since he had felt fear or, indeed, anything else. The march, the massacres, the constant frenzied sermons of The Pure One, it had been such an orgy of emotion for so long that it had eventually all guttered out. David hadnt felt anything in months, not even when they had been decimated in the attack on New City, or when he had helped slaughter the machete men after they rose up against The Pure One. The retreat across the mountains and to the south had been one long dull nothing, the frequent executions of traitors barely noticed, the cuts in rations just another burden.

Then he had woken up. One morning a couple of weeks after the failed siege, their leader had come out of his tent to give the morning sermon before breakfast. David had been at his usual post a few feet away, watching the crowd of faithful for any trouble. Hundreds of traitors had been executed in those early days of the retreat.

A flash from a nearby hill caught his eye. A sniper!

David had whipped his head around to check on his leader, just in time to see The Pure One flinch and a strange shell of blue light appear around him like some magical cocoon. For a moment David had been awestruck, until the leader recovered from his initial shock and checked the dials on that strange little black box always he wore on his belt. The blue light disappeared. The Pure One adjusted a dial and then raised his arms to the multitude.

The Lord has protected me from an infidel! he had screeched. There, on that hill, is the one who tried to kill me. Go! Go and kill!

David had done as he was bidden, chasing down the band of assassins from New City. They had failed to catch them, but Davids mind hadnt been on the chase, his mind had been on that little black box. He had always wondered about it, always wondered why The Pure One constantly wore it but never spoke of it. And it got David to thinking.

Most others saw it as a miracle, but he knew some of the Elect, those who stood as close to the leader as he did, had started thinking as well. He could see it in their eyes.

David knew little about technology from the Old Times. He wasnt a techno like Harold or Graham. Before all this he had been a fisherman. But he knew that the devices of the Old Times could do almost anything. Hadnt people in those days flown like birds, and even built a village on the Moon? Hadnt they destroyed entire cities with a single bomb? Surely they could make something to stop bullets.

So as the Righteous Horde retreated south, abandoning most of the porters and comfort women since there wasnt enough food, David started paying attention when the technos talked. Although he didnt understand all they said, he learned valuable things. Things like battery limits and recharge time.

During the day, at rest times, The Pure One would set out a small solar panel attached to a box he had heard the technos call a battery, something that stored the energy that machines used. At night after the evening sermon, The Pure One would retire to his tent until the next morning. David, being one of the Elect, often stood on guard duty outside. After a few minutes, David would hear a low hum coming from inside the tent. It lasted about half an hour. David thought maybe this meant that He was using this battery to recharge his blue shield of light, and that it would be shut off during that time like other machines had to rest.

God had not saved Him. It had been a trick. A lie.

It had all been a lie.

David had so wanted to believe. He wanted to think that the world really could get better, that this man whose words sent a thrill through the hearts of so many really did have the answers, that He was leading them on a righteous crusade to cleanse the Earth.

But no, it had all been a lie, and David had come to a decision.

He would kill The Pure One.

And so he felt fear, not fear that he would be killed, for he knew that would certainly happen, but fear that he might fail. To have sinned so greatly and not have a chance to make amendsthat would be too much. If David had to spend all eternity in hellfire, he should at least have a chance to make amends. He knew God would not forgive all the things he had done, should not forgive them, but at least David could balance things a little.

He remembered a story his mother used to tell about the Virgin Mary. Mom kept a little statue of her in their hut by the shore. The Virgin Mary wasnt pale-skinned like white people thought, but black like David and his family. Mom used to tell him that one day the blessed Mother of God had visited Hell and seen the sufferings of the damned. She had interceded with God and asked that the suffering souls be given one day of reprieve a year in order to rest. God had granted that, and so even the damned received a bit of divine mercy.

David liked that story. He had never heard it in all The Pure Ones countless sermons. The leader never spoke of the Virgin Mary. He didnt talk about Jesus much either. He only talked about God the Father, and his wrath.

But maybe God really did show mercy to the damned.

Or maybe God didnt care. There didnt seem much proof that the Lord did. Perhaps it was true what some said, that God had abandoned the world after the fall of civilization. Or perhaps the unbelievers were right and there was no God at all.

It didnt matter. David would kill The Pure One, and when he died in the attempt, he would get eternal hellfire or eternal darkness. Either one would be no better than what he deserved.

Days passed. The executions tapered off as the last of the malcontents were killed or escaped. The Righteous Horde, which once numbered more than ten thousand, had been whittled down to a couple of thousand true believers. At least David assumed they were true believers. Perhaps many people now only followed The Pure One because they had nowhere else to go. Word had spread of the miracle, and now some of the machete men had returned, begging forgiveness. There were even some new converts from among the scavengers, who used to hide at their passing. Despite their terrible defeat and the short rations, the Righteous Horde looked like it might come back to life.

David couldnt let that happen.

He had to plan this right. He was one of The Pure Ones oldest followers, and had become a leader among some of the Elect. Some, but not all. There were factions and mistrust, and He knew of this and made sure that there were always two guards at the entrance to His tent, and took care to pick them from rival factions. David could always shoot the other guard and then rush into the tent, but what if He could turn the machine back on and stop Davids bullets? No, he had to kill Him first, without warning.