Silence greeted his words, and John went on carefully, hoping he wasn't about to step on anyone's toes, namely Adrian's.
"I've only been here a couple of days, but I've been a doctor for a long time. I can tell you what illnesses we'll face in the coming months and how to prevent some of them."
Adrian gave him a barely perceptible nod, aware and pleased at the man's use of we. "What kinds of things can we expect if we ignore your suggestions?"
John's answers were fast, sure, "Scurvy, rashes, nasty colds, weak immune systems that will let the sniffles last for weeks instead of days, migraines, vomiting and diarrhea for weeks at a time. The list gets bad after that. We're slowly absorbing all the toxic chemicals that fell with the bombs. Once there's enough built up, we'll start getting sick, start dying."
The crowd stirred uneasily but Adrian did nothing to calm them as most were expecting. They needed a reality check, he thought, his mind seeing idiots catching rainwater on their tongues the last time it stormed. They knew less than nothing.
John noticed Adrian's eyes on him and the retired Army Medic recognized unspoken orders. He wanted to scare them. John nodded. That was easy. Use the truth.
"Our biggest threat is the radiation. It's usually 90% fatal at high doses, but it's the low doses we have to worry about now. It's a slow death that finds each person's weak link. It wakes up dormant genes, like Cancer and MS, and since exposure kills the immune system, we'll be attacked from the inside. The immune system is the army and though the radiation can't be stopped, it can be slowed by a body whose army is strong, well taken care of. For us, it could mean only 15% will die instead of 90%."
"But them bombs is gone and the toxics soaked into the ground. Why are we worryin'? We ain't even seen any radiation vics," a slender, older white woman in the front stated, and people immediately began speaking up.
"I did."
"We have."
John held up a hand, and Adrian was pleased to see the crowd's talk fall off to mostly silence, "Those who were exposed during the War are gone now. Our threats come from the weather dropping it on us, and from the radioactive debris still on the ground where we sleep and need to grow food. It takes a long time for the toxics, as you call them, to go away. You see that layer of smog when its daylight, makes it look like dusk all the time? It's the toxins. Until that's gone, we're not safe. Near the bomb zones, that'll take 30 years or more."