We Had Flags (Toxic World Book 3) (10 page)

“A lot of hate speech going around. People are picking on the Asians.”

“A scavenger swore at Hong-gi,” Pablo told her.

Mom shook her head. “Everyone’s scared of the ship and they’re taking it out on the good Asians.”

“Mr. Andrews says not all the Chinese are bad.”

Mom snorted. “Mr. Andrews says a lot of things.”

She put a hand on Pablo’s shoulder. “Hey, I’m going to need to get back to work soon. Want to read? We hardly ever read anymore.”

Pablo pouted. “You’re too busy giving people necktie parties.”

Mom sighed. “Not that again. I explained it to you.”

“You let other people from the Righteous Horde stay.”

“They were slaves. Mitch wasn’t a slave, he was—”

“He wasn’t bad!” Pablo shouted and stormed off to his bed.

He buried his face in the pillow. Why do adults always think they know everything? They think they can tell the good cultists from the bad, and they think Hong-gi is a Chink. Jessica was right, adults messed up everything.

Pablo lay there for a long time, hoping Mom would show up so he could shout at her again.

CHAPTER TEN

“Let us pray.”

Yu-jin bowed her head and stared at the little silver cross hanging from her neck. Randy sat next to her on the rough wooden pew of the New World United Church. They and a hundred other parishioners followed along as Reverend Wallace led the prayer.

“Oh Lord, protect us, your faithful, in these trying times. We strive to do Thy will and keep Thine covenant. We keep the faith when so many others turn away. We still praise You when others curse you. When the unbelievers gnash their teeth at the fallen world, we call out ‘Thy will be done’! Amen.”

“Amen,” Yu-jin and the others intoned.

The church was a simple frame building. Spare and scrupulously clean, the only other furniture other than the pews was a wooden altar covered in a clean white cloth. On the wall behind hung a beautiful steel cross that was more than a hundred years old.

Reverend Wallace was a short man who, despite being in his early fifties, had jet black hair. Yu-jin suspected he dyed it. He wore thick, horn-rimmed glasses from the Old Times. Like many people with bad sight, he hadn’t been able to find glasses with quite the right prescription and they made him squint and blink constantly. He wore a loose robe of purest white.

He stretched his arms wide like he was going to hug the entire congregation.

“Brethren. I see we are fewer in number this Sunday morning. That is as it should be. Many fine young men and women are in the hills protecting us from the greatest danger our community has ever faced. Others have chosen to come to the Lord’s house at this moment of crisis, and that is good too.

“And a crisis it is. While we can all see that it is a military crisis, a cultural crisis, we must remember that this crisis goes even deeper than that. It is a spiritual crisis.”

Reverend Wallace pointed a finger to the sky to emphasize his point.

“Yes, my friends, a spiritual crisis. We all know the Chinese are a danger, but even now there are those who try to negotiate with them. ‘Why haven’t they attacked?’ they ask. ‘Perhaps they are here to trade.’ Perhaps they are indeed. Many would like that, wouldn’t they? My grandfather, a good man, one of the Lord’s men, remembered a time when we bought much from China, back when our society was a great Sodom worshipping at the altar of Mammon. The Chinese helped us onto that wicked path. Oh yes, they were crafty. Selling us cheap baubles that made us happy only long enough for us to save a little money to buy their next trinket. On and on it went, a gluttonous consumption that wrecked the environment and drained our coffers. We were left with a poisoned world and a bankrupt nation.”

Yu-jin tensed. The Reverend had never talked about the Chinese before. This had been a place to go to be accepted, a place of hope, and now she was hearing the same bullshit she’d been hearing all over the Burbs.

The Reverend went on.

“Oh yes, they were wily, as all minions of Satan are. They came to live among us. They worked hard, paid their taxes, appeared to obey the law, all the while plotting our downfall. They were everywhere, saluting the flag and joining the government and running our schools, but were they really loyal? Oh no, my friends. Behind those expressionless faces there lurked evil thoughts. Some even pretended to be Christian. My Lord, what a travesty!

“We all know what happened next. Once all the money was gone, once those yellow vampires had sucked all the wealth from our great republic, they demanded payment of our debt, a debt they had tricked us into, they and their corrupt lackeys in the government. At first we placated them by giving them ports, and mines, and forests. But they always demanded more. At last we would give them no more. At last some true patriots rose up and overthrew the puppet government they had installed.”

Yu-jin seethed. Lies. Propaganda from a country that had collapsed more than a century ago to justify a war both sides lost. The Reverend’s face grew red as he continued his tale.

“The Chinese showed their true face then. Yes, the mask came off! We all know what happened. The greatest war the world had ever seen. And not just one war, several. Nations banded together into a dozen different factions and fought each other over a hundred reasons, but it was all to achieve one goal. It was all planned by the Chinese and their agents. Divide and conquer.”

The Reverend paused. Sweat was coursing down his face and his chest rose and fell as he sucked in great gulps of air.

“But it didn’t work quite as they planned. They were destroyed too, the fools. What they didn’t know was that they were mere tools of the Evil One, and when the Devil is done with his tools he casts them aside. They died by the hundreds of millions.”

The Reverend’s face took on a smug smile as he said “millions” like he’d just eaten some honey candy. Yu-jin felt rage rising up in her. Reverend Wallace had always talked of peace and faith and understanding. He’d even welcomed some of the refugees from the Righteous Horde into the congregation, saying they weren’t at fault for being deceived by a false faith. Now he seemed like a different person. His face was a red, sweaty mask of hatred. His glasses had fogged up, his mouth a big windbag that spewed bile.

“Yes, they died, but still they killed. Still they continued to do Satan’s work. Many of you are too young to remember, but when I was young, just forty years ago after the last of the city-states had fallen, there were still roving bands of Chinese killers, the remnants of their old armies, stalking through the land. They were helped by the local Chinese, those who spoke English and wore proper clothes and pretended to be the same as us. It was they who rooted us out, they who betrayed us to those murderers. Those false neighbors who smiled at you and then plunged the dagger in your back. I was there, brethren, I saw. I saw the yellow hordes swooping down on us, killing, killing, killing.”

Reverend Wallace’s voice broke off on a sob. He staggered and clutched the altar. For a moment he fell silent, trying to catch his breath. He took off his glasses and wiped his brow with the back of his sleeve. Then he seemed to collect himself. He stood erect, put on his glasses, and looked right at Yu-jin. Her heart turned to ice.

“Now I wish to hear no Christian say a word against the good Asians among us. For I remember my history, by friends. The Koreans, the Vietnamese, the Cambodians, and all the other groups. They fought by our side, or in their own factions against other factions in wars the Chinese tricked them into. No other Asians besides the Chinese attacked us. We must remember that. The Asians we have as neighbors are our friends. They are the good Asians.

“And who knows the evil of the Chinese better than they? It was the Chinese who started the Great Malaysian Famine. It was the Chinese who turned Korea from a peninsula into an island. It was the Chinese, my friends. It was those people on the boat in Toxic Bay. They ruined this world!”

Yu-jin stood up and shouted, “I’m Chinese. That’s right, I am, and I’ve never hurt anyone. Everything you’re saying is a lie. We didn’t start the wars, you people did!”

Then she stormed past the pews of astonished faces and out of the church, slamming the door behind her.

No she didn’t. That was her other self, the tough scavenger who faced down bandits and pulled a living from the wildlands. Right now she was the scared little girl, cowering in her pew with her mouth clamped shut, wincing as the Reverend’s words lashed at her soul.

The sermon went on, and on. When it was finally done she slunk out of the church. Randy held her hand, oblivious.

“Wow, that was real fire and brimstone, huh?” he chuckled. “I guess we needed it, though. Hard times ahead.”

“Yeah,” Yu-jin said, managing a smile and hating herself for it. “Look, I got to see someone about a trade. Meet you in the house in a bit?”

“All right,” Randy said, and gave her a kiss.

Yu-jin walked off in a daze. She wandered between two shacks and suddenly doubled over. Her stomach heaved, spewing her half-digested breakfast all over the alleyway. She coughed, spat, bent over and shaking until the last contents of her stomach came out.

As she stood there with her hands on her knees, she saw the little silver cross dangling from her neck. She pulled it off, threw it in the dirt, and walked away.

By the third step she felt sorry. She went back and picked it up. She raised up the chain to put it around her neck, paused, and then finally put it in her pocket.

Then she made for New City gate.

The guard stopped her.

“State your business,” he said.

“I need to see The Doctor.”

“He’s only seeing emergency cases at the moment. Go to Ahmed.”

“This is an emergency case.”

The guard looked her up and down. “You look OK.”

“It’s a…woman thing.”

The guard got an uncomfortable look. “Oh. Leave your weapons and go right in. You might have to wait, though.”

Another guard accompanied her to the waiting room and had her sit by a desk where a teenager was writing down everything being transmitted by Radio Hope.

“If you are living in a dangerous area, it’s best to try to remain invisible. You can camouflage your shelter and clothing in various ways…”

After a few minutes the door opened and The Doctor poked his head out.

“There’s a patient to see me?”

Yu-jin rose, trying to control her trembling.

“Yes.”

“Come on in.”

Yu-jin followed him into a bright, clean medical office that looked like something from an old photo. The Doctor had her sit on a padded table. He cocked his head as recognition came to his eyes.

“Ah, it’s Little Miss Peaches.”

“My name’s Song Yu-jin.”

“Right.” He went over to a filing cabinet and started searching through it. “I’m looking forward to opening that Blue Can. You’re right about how badly I wanted them. You came to see me last year, didn’t you? Ah, here’s your file.”

He began to read. Yu-jin fidgeted.

“I see you came in for a fertility test with your husband…”

“Boyfriend.”

“…and he tested infertile. You tested OK, though.” The Doctor snapped the folder shut. “So, how can I be of service, Ms. Song?”

“First I wanted to apologize for my behavior.”

“Your behavior?”

“Threatening to eat the peaches in front of you. That was disrespectful.”

The Doctor laughed. “If you think that’s disrespectful, you should spend time with your sheriff.”

“Well, I was raised to be polite to my elders. So I’m sorry.”

“Apology accepted, Ms. Song,” The Doctor said. “So what seems to be the trouble?”

Yu-jin froze. Her heart pounded. She felt dizzy. She was glad she was sitting down.

The Doctor got a concerned look on his face. “You’re not feeling well? Could you describe the symptoms?”

“I’m…”

Yu-jin’s voice trailed off.

I’m Chinese. You need a translator and I want to help you. I don’t want to hide anymore.

She hung her head.

“Ms. Song. I’m a physician. You can tell me anything.”

Yu-jin looked at him briefly, tears filling her eyes, and then she looked back at the floor again.

I’m ashamed to say it. Afraid too, but that’s not what’s stopping me. I’m ashamed. All those words, all those insults, I’ve taken them to heart. At some level I’m ashamed to be what I am.

Self-loathing washed over her.

Father, Mother, I’ve failed you. Failed you and all my family.

“Ms. Song, there is something called the Hippocratic Oath. I’m bound by it. I am not allowed to reveal a patient’s medical condition to anyone.”

“I don’t have a medical condition,” Yu-jin mumbled.

“You’re not sick?” The Doctor asked. She shook her head. “Would this…did something happen? I could have you talk to one of my female assistants if that would make you more comfortable. And remember Sheriff Cruz is very vigilant in apprehending…”

Yu-jin shook her head again.

What, you think I was raped? I guess I was. Raped of my identity. But that’s not illegal, is it?

The Doctor knelt in front of her so he could meet her eye. He looked different than how she’d seen him before. He wasn’t being the charismatic leader or the professional physician; he was being the concerned elder. He reminded her a bit of her father, stern and kind in equal measure, the sternness and kindness both products of a deep caring.

Yu-jin wiped her eyes and sat up straight.

No, that wasn’t enough. She stood.

The Doctor rose to face her. She looked him in the eye from barely two feet away.

“I’m Chinese,” she said.