There were a few sighs of long suffering patience.
Yet he did not actually hear anyone say that they would not work with him. “I’m not forcing anyone into anything, am I?” he asked. “If you would rather be doing something else, I’ll understand. But once you accept this new task in front of you, I need you all to be on the same page and putting everything you have into it. When I say it’s life or death, I’m not exaggerating.”
No one left as he looked at each one of them. While they had sighed a bit, he could see that they were all up for this challenge. He grinned. “Good then, I think you’ll like this as much as I do anyway.”
It took Derek a week to teach them everything he knew about the outdoors and camping. Some were able to fill in the gaps of the knowledge they picked up while others were not. In an interplay of knowledge and experience, the group of nine sales people turned into wilderness scouts were now comfortable with each other while sharing their knowledge among themselves.
On the last day, he sat them down outside on Sheridan’s front step. This had turned into a daily routine with them. Derek looked at each one before turning looking out at the road, and back to the small crowd in front of him.
“I want you to learn one thing from me and it’s this—we’re a team. Yes, someone always needs to be team lead, but we can’t be too shy to share something. If you know something that you know someone doesn’t you need to speak up and tell them. If you learn something that will make all of our lives easier, you share it. That’s our job description now. We watch, we listen and we learn. That’s our mission and our code… if you will.” He grinned as he picked up his pack and pointed to the North West. “Now let’s test it.”
They all stood up when Marissa came out in a hurry and half dressed for the weather. She was clearly distressed as she pointed down the south road and vaguely to the east.
“What’s the matter, Reese?” he asked in concern.
Marissa was not often panicked to the extent of being wordless. “The river’s burst the bank... it’s up into the south east field and is threatening the outermost barn.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
On the hill below three towers burned. The flames were bright enough to cast the entire downtown core in shadows and allow the former defender the ability to see where he was going as he finally fled the confrontation.
Daniel led his pursuers straight to the east and up the hill at the end of Cedar instead of to the south in order to lead them away from the mayor and her people. He had no idea if they would be able to ever meet back up—this part of Sudbury did not exactly connect up with the University but he would certainly attempt it if he could.
He was alone now—the others that had fled with him had all died to the last or were scattered.
I don’t even know if Fitz made it out, he realized as he leaned heavily on a tree, panting from the exertion of climbing the hill.
The last he saw of Fitz she had been pushed up Brady and towards Lorne, which was in the complete opposite direction as Lescelle… or even Daniel himself. That would either lead west out to Copper Cliff, and perhaps out to Sheridan, or north to Chelmsford and Azilda.
The rest, when he ordered the retreat, they had been picked off one by one as they had wound through the streets.
After he had managed to climb the stairs to the street above, all signs of pursuit simply stopped as if they had lost interest.
The truth was he was likely as dead as the others and just did not know it yet. He was alone, unarmed except for his shotgun—which was out of ammunition—and his sidearm. He did not even have his body armour. Without food or any sort of shelter, he was pretty much screwed over.
No point in dwelling on that now. He could only move forward. When I get a second to catch my breath… I will. I’ll make sure the word gets out.
Daniel turned away from the burning downtown core and limped his way deeper into the other neighbourhood.
* * * * *
“The lake looks like it’s cold,” said Adrienne. She turned around as Russell walked into the house and made his way to the window where she pointed. “Why are you soaked?”
Russell rolled his eyes as he began to peel his clothing off. “Because the rocks are still a bit slippery and the water levels are still higher than normal… and I fell in.”
She laughed, taking a sip of tea. “That will teach you to clamber around the lake side before the weather warms up. Why were you down there anyway?”
“Pump stopped working,” he answered. “Unfortunately, I have no way of fixing it until the water is far warmer than this. I think the blockage is at the far end.”
“So… we’re carrying buckets up here now?”
He nodded. “Yeah, unfortunately.” Russell looked over at her as she continued to sip from her cup, looking out over the lake. “How are you doing?”
She shrugged.
With a sigh, Russell dried himself off and then dressed again in dry clothing. He poked his finger through a hole and sighed again. “We’re going to have to start figuring out a way to repair things, or even replace. Our clothes are threadbare and the plastic cooking utensils are getting old. We can only scavenge for so long before we run out.” He grinned as he joined her by the window. “Don’t suppose you have any carving or sewing skills?”
She crinkled her nose as she turned to him. “Nah, sorry, my hobbies were always sports and some reading. Once I graduated, work became my hobby.” Adrienne looked down at the ground. “Dad could have carved some nice forks… and Mum could have fixed our clothes if they were still alive and healthy.”
Her parents had died over the winter from the strain of having to live a nearly pioneer life. In truth, he thought her mother died from the heartbreak of leaving everything behind—and her father had not lasted much longer.
A knock sounded on the door and the artist they had befriended came in. “Well, we’re heading to Long Lake to see if we can do any trading. Did you want to come along?”
Russell looked over at Adrienne with a crooked eyebrow. Upon putting her cup down, she grinned. “Yeah, sure, why not,” she said. “Better than looking at the same four walls.”
* * * * *
The melt had tapered off, but the lake behind the High Falls dam was still higher than normal and the overflow gates still wide open. Normally, at this time of year, the power generation would be supplying full power to the grid.
It still was.
There just was nothing at the other end receiving what they generated. Garrett sat in front of the computer screen while stymied by what it was telling him.
No one sat at the other end—the computer and server still threw the same error. Signal left, went down the switch at the mine and then failed to continue from there.
For now, he had the whole system in standby because if he did send authorized power down the line he could do more damage to the grid. Downed power lines suddenly made live again would wreak havoc and be extremely dangerous on top of everything.
He hated to sit still but until someone gave him the all clear he was not going to risk putting people in danger. Mind you—normally—a technician should have thrown the breaker to the off position so that the circuit was not even live if there was any trouble.
But—and this is what concerned him most—if no one was dispatched or knew where to go those circuits were closed, and therefore on.
This was only one of the concerns facing him. The other was the coup on his leadership he was almost certain would happen. Paranoia was not in his nature and he liked to think the best of people.
The fact that it had not yet happened concerned him greatly. If they had changed their minds, then he had wasted entirely too much time worrying about it and that frustrated him. He had other things he could have done rather than constantly look over his shoulder for something that never came.
On the other hand—if they were waiting for him to drop his guard he wished they would just get it over with. He hated trying to outgue
ss their twists in logic in order to be ahead of the game. That was a political game and he hated politics.
With a harrumph he decided that if they were that hell bent on being stupid then that was their problem, not his. He had already wasted enough time on it.
* * * * *
Kaine shivered as he stepped from the outside into the common area. The winter had clogged it full of snow. But as it melted, he could at least step onto the paver’s stones. The door opened behind him and he turned to see Niala freezing in the doorway.
“I don’t bite,” said Kaine.
“I wouldn’t… I didn’t…” she sighed and then she started over. “I never said that you would. I just didn’t want to intrude.”
“You’re not. I only came outside because I’m getting a little sick and tired of being inside,” he said. “How are you holding up? I know it’s been a few months since you lost your father, but still…”
She shrugged. “I’m doing the best I can. All I have now is my sister and she keeps herself busy in her lab.”
“And not you?”
“Well, I could. I do have my own work to do but I haven’t found much in the way of inspiration lately. Who’s going to review it when it’s done? Who will even care?” she asked as she leaned against the door frame.
Kaine led her back inside, letting the door close behind him to cut off the cool breeze from outside. It was refreshing for a while but then his knees began to protest the chill from the still frozen ground. He glanced over at the younger woman and thought for a moment. She has a point… who will conduct our peer reviews now? Doesn’t seem the same. After trying to make sense out of the situation, he said, “I think I understand why our morale has been low lately, and while losing your father was a significant blow, I suspect he is just the tip of the iceberg… so to speak. I think we’ve lost our way and our purpose. It needs to be found again.”
“How will we do that?”
“By being our own damn peers. We’re a university full of professors and students… who else should be our peers but those who share the same interests?” he answered, smiling. “It may not be the best solution, but if it helps raise the spirits of everyone here, it may be the best course of action. Give us purpose again, and then we can also be that beacon in the dark.”
Niala nodded and slowly smiled and the spark Kaine remembered began to light up her eyes again. “Now I know why you’re leading the university.”
He shrugged. “I don’t know. I just couldn’t stand by with my head in the sand. I had to do something that would at least help us… but I won’t be able to do this alone either. Niala, I believe I need your help.”
She perked up, her eyebrows rising. “You have it already.”
“What about your sister?”
Niala looked surprised.
His cane tapped on the floor as they entered the building, and she slowed her step so he could keep up with him. “Zara never talks much,” admitted Niala. “She never did.”
She watched as a few of the others walked up to her. “Speaking of whom, shouldn’t you be in the lab?”
“It’s locked,” said the first one.
“Zara is there every morning…” began Niala, frowning. “She unlocks it right before making herself tea.”
“Well, it’s locked. Do you have a spare key?”
She pulled it out and briskly walked with the other three students, leaving Kaine standing alone in the hallway. He tapped his finger on his chin for a moment, but then shuffled along behind. Now he needed to know why Zara had uncharacteristically failed to open her lab.
When he caught with them, the lab was already open.
He stood in the doorway and looked in. He could hear Niala’s voice and he followed its sound until he found himself in a cozy little corner occupied by a desk and comfortable chair. “Is something amiss?” he asked.
Niala shook her head in confusion. “My sister is missing,” she said, her voice shaking. “No one has seen her since last night at around supper. Her office is completely undisturbed.”
“Take a breath, Niala, we’ll find her.”
“You don’t understand,” Niala stepped over to him. “Zara has always been sensitive—she didn’t react well when Mom died and kept trying to go find her. With the way Dad died… I don’t know what to think.”
Kaine blew out a breath. “We’ll organize a search. I’ll personally see to it even if I can’t physically join it.”
“Thank you,” said Niala, and he left the lab with one last glance in her direction.
Kaine returned to his office, and Martin was already there. “What took you so long?” asked Martin.
“I need you to organize a search for me. A young woman has gone missing,” he said, and Martin’s eyes widened. “Not like that—her sister suspects that she may have wandered off to search for her dead father.”
“I… see,” said Martin and he nodded. “All right, done.”
“Good—if you do this you make me another strong ally on campus,” said Kaine. “It doesn’t matter if we actually find her, or find her alive, but we have to be on point. I need Niala’s support. The other students respect her.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
They all had forgotten the spring flood risk that came from living beside a major river. Now it was threatening their very lives and the lives of the horses, which were now their only way to drive the machines of life. Each and every horse was now worth their weight in gold.
The ride through the muddy grass and rock was treacherous and Derek found himself eyeing the footwork of his horse as he rode to the barn. He was a bit slower than Sheridan and Shiloh, but that was mostly due to the fact that it was their farm and their horses… and unlike him they had been riding for most of their lives.
That did not matter now. All that mattered was that barn and the horses.
Once they came around the last copse of trees, he could plainly see how high the river was. The water was breaching the first and closest wall. Within seconds, they had jumped down from their horses—Derek’s knees protesting at the sudden move—and inside the barn.
The sound within was almost deafening. Frightened horses nickered and whinnied, desperate to get out of the stalls they knew were now unsafe. The rising floodwater was like a slow rumble as it carved swathes from the ground below the barn, slowly seeping into the barn as it did so.
There was water up around his ankles as he led the horses outside.
Finally, Sheridan yelled, “Just open the stalls and let them run. It’s better to let them run free than drown and if we stay any longer we’re going to drown too!”
That was an order he was happy to oblige as Derek, Sheridan and Shiloh ran from stall to stall, opening the doors and guiding the horses out into freedom.
All of sudden, a new sound arose and greeted him—the glorious sound of hooves on dirt as they beat a staccato out into the daylight from the dark of the barn.
Derek breathed a sigh of relief, and he leaned on the wall using one hand.
One of the horses knocked him flying on its way by, sending him spinning before he hit the wall opposite to the one he had been leaning on.
A chill seeped through his clothing, and he pushed himself to his knees but fell heavily into the water, now knee and almost thigh deep. It was freezing cold and it was then that he realized he had fallen victim to the oldest and deadliest spring threat—hypothermia.
“Sheridan!” he called weakly, but his voice was not enough over the sound of the rushing water.
“Is anyone here?” called an unfamiliar voice as a woman came around the bend. “Because if there is we have to—Jesus!”
Whatever this new woman had been about to say was lost to her shock. Derek groaned in appreciation as the woman, despite being smaller than him, hoisted him into a fireman’s carry to the dry outdoors. However, that relief was short lived when he felt the still cold wind despite it being the middle of April.
“Someone help me!” called the
woman as she laid Derek down on the ground, stripping off his wet clothing.
Derek numbly let the woman strip him something he would not have normally allowed and then, much to his eternal relief blankets still smelling heavily of horse but were still at least dry and warm were draped over and around him. He finally stopped shivering and came around enough to fully notice his own predicament. “Thank you,” he breathed out finally. “When I went down I thought that was it.”
“It damn near was,” said Marissa. “If she hadn’t come around just then… dammit… wait, who are you?”
“I should have kept a better eye on things,” said Sheridan as they turned to face the newcomer.
“It could have been any of you,” she answered. “And I’m Abigail.”
With a final creaking rumble, the barn finally let go and slid down into the river. Without the stone and cement foundation, the structure was flimsy. It quickly broke up into the river and washed away downstream as they all watched.
“Did we get them all out in time?” asked Derek.
“Yes,” answered Shiloh. “All fifty.”
“That’s something at least,” he slurred, as he felt himself drifting, suddenly feeling uncomfortable.
* * * * *
The newcomer stood up and Marissa eyed her cautiously before turning to her goddaughter. “Sheri, she’s soaked like the rest of us are. We need to get Derek and all of us back inside.”
“Abigail,” the newcomer spoke.
Marissa looked back at her and nodded. “Abigail.”
There was an awkward silence between the two until Sheridan broke it and said, “Not to break up the romance there, but we have to get Derek back to the house and into something resembling a clinic, now.”
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