Emilie and Marissa wrapped Abigail, and watched. Derek looked around, a bit unsure of himself until François turned to Derek then and said, “Thank you.”
“I only wish we could have also saved Michel,” answered Derek, and Abigail… yet another one to add to the list. “You were right—he was a good man in a bad situation.”
“You couldn’t have known either,” said François, and he turned to the woman, hugging her again. “We promised you a way around Naughton… you have it. The rest of Naughton is dead and gone… we are all that is left and what you see here is what we have managed to scrounge up. Take the highway to the north of here to Lively. Godspeed to you… and when you return I will make sure your boat is ready for you.”
Derek shook Francois’ hand. “We have one thing to take care of first, and then we’ll move on,” Derek looked over to where the others had wrapped Abigail. “It’s the least we owe to her.”
The younger man nodded in understanding. “On the other side of the mountain there is a lovely place. I think she’d like that.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
Derek did not want to even think about just how very lucky they had all been in escaping Naughton without injury, even though he now had two more names to add to an ever growing list.
The thought of it still brought bile up to his throat, especially after what she had had to do in order to even find them in the first place.
He could not afford to lose himself in such thoughts now or they would end up losing someone else. This new life was in many ways far harsher than his old life had been. Derek would give almost anything to be able to simply sit in front of his television and enjoy something as simple as a big game or even a movie.
He had to accept that those days were now long gone. His beloved den was likely now dust filled and the electronics—and all his photos and memories—left to the merciless freeze and then likely to rot as everything melted and leaked.
Much like the rest of Naughton.
It was all as Michel and François described. The deserted town added to the ever growing list of ghost towns that dotted Sudbury’s landscape even before the end of oil.
Derek caught himself.
He had finally referred to the end of their old civilization—and the event that triggered it—as the end of oil and this new world was what would be after it… A world after oil.
He swallowed thickly at the mere thought of it. The feeling that came over him was akin to dread, but at the same time was different than it. It was not relief—not dread—but something not unlike those two mismatched emotions only mashed together into some new, and raw, emotional parcel.
It was not unlike the town they now rode through.
The houses within this part of Naughton were torn into and some even demolished leaving nothing but foundations of empty concrete. Those not torn down for their raw materials stood in mute testimony to the harsh winter they had survived. The grass—where once there had been lawn—was now as tall as his hips and knees.
It all lay abandoned.
After passing the third lake since starting their trek they finally reached the outskirts of what had been Lively as the terrain began to level back out again. It was a very gentle descent down and into the valley. Derek began to feel the same feeling of being watched as he had back in Whitefish only now there were far more houses and far more hiding places for an ambush.
As one they reached the first set of lights—which he noted were dead and slightly bent out of shape as if something had collided with them—at a major four lane intersection. This particular intersection had always formed the main point of entry into Lively and in fact was also part of the road north to Chelmsford. At this point Sudbury with its distinctive smoke stack well over a kilometre tall stood in the distance.
“Well, that’s still standing,” pointed out Zachary sarcastically. “Wonderful to know that failing all else the world’s biggest smoke stack still stands even after the end of the world.”
Derek snorted in a short chuckle as he had been thinking the same thing. He pointed north. “There’s a major clinic and Fire Hall that way, if I’m not mistaken. Sheridan said her practise was always out of there. Maybe…”
His hackles rose at the same moment that the people came out of every nook and cranny that someone could hide suddenly surfaced and surrounded them. He looked around and held up a hand to Marissa, who was already reaching for her shotgun. Derek could tell just by looking that these were the survivors of Lively and not raiders.
“If you’ve come looking for trouble, you’ve found it!” someone from up the hill yelled through a bull horn
Derek raised his hands and shook his head. “We haven’t!”
“Then where did you come from and why?” asked another one pointing at Emilie’s stance. “I don’t want to have to. But if I have to defend these people, I won’t hesitate to do it.”
“And that’s why we’re not drawing any weapons,” said Derek, again motioning for Emilie to stand down. “My name is Derek… we’re here because Dr. Sheridan Wither from Panache Lake sent us.”
The other one, who had an open radio channel, spoke quickly into it. “They say that a Dr. Sheridan Wither sent them.”
“My god, is she still alive?” asked one of the other ones holding a gun and he pointed the barrel to the ground.
“And well,” answered Derek. “The name’s Derek Moss, and…”
“The solar panel sales guy?” asked another one. “Of all the people to survive the end of the world is someone who can supply power…”
Derek looked at the others as they slowly relaxed in his group’s company. The one with the radio shook his head and said, “Well, if they trust you, I suppose I can too. Lieutenant Kevin O’Neill, Algonquin Regiment… and as far as we know we’re what’s left of it.”
“As simple as that?” asked Zachary.
“Let’s just say that if you prove to not be who and what you say you are, it won’t really matter in the long, or short run. Raiders have come… and then they’ve gone,” he answered. “If there is one thing we do and do well, it’s to keep the citizens alive while the present circumstances allow us to.”
A young man of Middle Eastern descent pushed his way forward after running clear down the hill from the clinic and Fire Hall. “Excuse me!” he yelled up at them as the throng did not let him through. “My name is Dr. Assad. Did you say that Dr. Wither is still alive? I don’t see her with you.”
“She is, but her husband and the others protecting her—and her land—thought it best that for her to remain there and keep things running,” answered Derek honestly. “What did you need?”
“It’s best if we continue this at the clinic. Let them through!” called Dr. Assad.
Derek and the others followed Dr. Assad and Lt. O’Neill back up the hill to the clinic which had been fortified. As soon as they came up the long curve and around the corner, Zachary whistled at the sight of two armoured personnel carriers with their cannons pointed back down the hill. Portable fortifications of military make and engineering further protected the approach. “I’m guessing you’ve had issues with raiders,” said Zachary.
“We have…” answered Dr. Assad.
“Constable Radzinsky?” came a voice as they came into view. “Oh my God, Zack? We thought you were dead!”
Zachary looked up and his eyes widened and then he grinned widely at the sight of two more members of the Sudbury Police—others he had thought dead. Derek grinned at the reunion and the mood seemed to brighten substantially. Zachary turned to Derek and said, “Luis, Shana, this is Derek, Marissa, and Emilie… if not for them I wouldn’t be here right now. Guys, these two are my colleagues… Lieutenant Luis Sanche and Auxiliary Constable Shana Mackenzie.”
Dr. Assad suggested, “Perhaps more reunions are best done in the clinic where I can explain things better?”
The waiting area of the clinic in Lively was large and open concept. For now, it had been commandeered as a me
eting room for Derek and his friends. In many ways it reminded Derek of Sheridan’s living room. But, unlike Sheridan’s house, the structure was modern and the clean lines of something meant specifically as a medical clinic.
Not everyone could fit within the waiting area. Those in it included Derek and his group as well as Lieutenant O’Neill, Doctor Assad and a few others yet to be introduced. Assad appeared to be the nominal leader of the group and Derek noted that it, again, who led the community, was also another doctor.
“When the power went out we didn’t know what to think,” admitted Assad as he turned back to face them, his coffee in his hand. “The lieutenant here was quick to focus his attention on fortifying this part of Lively.”
Derek could see Marissa’s amused face as he breathed in the fumes of his own cup of coffee in deep appreciation. He was more than happy to let Zachary take the lead on this while he had his first real cup of coffee in months. And he was determined to appreciate it while he could.
“It was a good thing, too, as the rest of the world seemed to come apart at the seams once all contact was lost,” said O’Neill. “Once Ottawa and the brigade leadership stopped responding, we knew all hell had broken loose… that the unthinkable happened. At Christmas it all came to a head when each tin-star brass decided to make a bid at carving their own piece of the pie under the guise of military exercises.”
“So… there was no actual martial law declared,” mused Derek as he looked over at Marissa. “It’s a miracle we even got through to Panache from Coniston in the first place.”
“I’d say so,” answered O’Neill in surprise. “That’s one hell of a trek at that point—especially since travel had been severely restricted between districts before Christmas.”
Derek shrugged, not about to share his resources quite yet. Not that they apparently mattered anymore. “So, what happened then?” asked Zachary. “The government?”
“Toppled like the stack of cards they really were,” answered O’Neill. “As soon as it became plain that their fragile little illusion of resources they controlled was shattered, control simply fell. One party tried to take power, and then it turned into a free for all in Ottawa… and others parts of the world. The great engine of politics and government fell under the weight of the disarray brought on by a revolution gone drastically wrong.”
“Surely not also in the US?” asked Marissa, shocked.
“Where do you think it started?” snorted O’Neill. “Once what everyone thought was holding the economy together was revealed as a fraud, it was overnight chaos—both here and there.”
“How?” asked Emilie.
“It started with Russia,” answered Assad. “And China.”
Derek snorted. “Seriously?”
“Seriously—they both wanted more oil because their reserves had run out… But they couldn’t tell anyone else this because Russia was a major exporter of oil and China a major buyer,” answered O’Neill. “Russia began to buy more oil, under the table so to speak, to supply China… and that major supplier was the Middle East.”
“Which had reached its own state of peak oil long before this—we knew… It’s why Dubai and other places had become tourist trade meccas instead of just oil. The great mother oil fields were running dry,” said Assad. “Which meant we also had to run further afield to find more oil.”
“Which leads to Texas oil and the Alberta oil sands,” said Marissa. “But Alberta has loads of oil—it’s the major export.”
“So they claimed,” O’Neill added. “The reality was they were cutting their oil with Texas crude and off shore platforms, as well as squeezing every last dirty drop from the sands.”
“But, the Texas oil fields were also beginning to run dry—which meant we had to search further into the ocean into high stakes drilling,” said Assad. “Eventually, what no one was telling the other was that one was buying from another. Who, in turn, was borrowing from another, who then turned and sold it right back to the originator in order to appease each other.”
Derek and Zachary looked at each other and Derek then remembered Zachary’s analogy of paying credit with credit until finally there was nothing left. He swallowed.
“So what happened?” asked Emilie. “You can’t tell me that the only thing that toppled the whole works was a credit issue.”
“It wasn’t—it was also the fact that they were relying on piracy to hide the fact that they needed to supply each other’s oil. They were resorting to stealing it,” answered Assad. “Until finally one country invaded another one for its oil—or for the oil they thought the other had.”
“Which brought on trade sanctions and… oh my God,” said Derek. “The whole thing came to a head and the truth was revealed…”
“Instant global anarchy,” answered O’Neill. “Political suicides, assassinations, coups… and then finally they pulled the plug on any and all communications. No effort to regain control was made. Near as I can guess I think someone finally pushed a button and we went to war… only we weren’t exactly invited. Civilization—as we know it—is gone. Our governments have fallen and there’s no leadership, no controls and no law.”
“Sheridan has instituted laws, and government,” said Zachary quietly but despite how quietly he said it everyone heard it and turned to him. “In the absence of anyone else we voted her in as our leader for the community of Panache Lake. She made sure we survived the winter and we’ve given her our support.”
“So why are you here, then?” asked O’Neill pointedly. “You planning on annexing us?”
“Hardly,” admitted Derek. “We didn’t even know you were here. Don’t get us wrong; we had hoped someone survived that would be willing to consider trading and not killing us on sight.”
Assad snorted in amusement, “So, we’re a happy accident?”
“If you want to call it that, sure,” answered Derek.
“What kind of trade are you looking for?” he asked.
“Knowledge, supplies, future options for alliances and more trade,” answered Zachary. “As well as a jumping off point for further exploration east.”
“Are you insane?” asked O’Neill. “The only thing in the city is more death. You don’t want to know what happened to Sudbury.”
The five of them looked at each other and Derek asked, a sinking feeling settling into his gut. “What happened?”
“If you really want to know, it’s best I show you,” answered Kevin.
“First things first,” said Derek as he held up his empty coffee cup. “Where did you get the coffee?”
Kevin laughed and answered, “The coffee shop down the road from here must have just got a shipment in before everything went to hell.”
He led Derek outside and waved off his people, which effectively gave Derek and his group free rein in Lively.
“I would like to check out what’s to the north... If you haven’t already picked the grocery stores clean that way,” said Derek, inwardly celebrating the chance to finally have a supply of coffee again.
Kevin shrugged his indifference. “We have, but if you find anything we missed, it’s yours.”
“How about we…” Derek trailed off as one of the young men from Kevin’s unit ran up and saluted.
“Sir, we spotted a band of raiders in Copper Cliff.
Copper Cliff was another small town—only right next to the city of Sudbury and so close to it that it was all but part of Sudbury proper. Lively was immediately to its west which put the town of Lively in the dangerous position of being right next door to the most dangerous of areas now that the law was gone.
The city, as Derek had suspected, had crumbled into itself. The only ones to survive the implosion of control had been the toughest and meanest within the city. The real rough necks and the other less than savoury types who had no issues with taking and fighting for what they wanted—or, even, killing for it.
Kevin turned to Derek. “The grand tour is going to have to wait. I would suggest that you and your
friends head back up to the clinic and wait this out with the others.”
Normally, Derek would have taken his advice, and he was still inclined to do so. But something made him pause and think about it. Perhaps it was the time spent as a ranger himself and having to serve a greater purpose of protecting his fair share of the land Sheridan granted him to protect—and his new home—caused him to decide something entirely different. “If it’s all the same to you, I’m not a man that lets others protect him while he runs and hides,” answered Derek, and then he shrugged. “Then again, I’m not exactly a head on fighter.”
“Oh?” asked Kevin. “I have to admit that wasn’t the answer I was expecting.”
“I did ride on horseback through the desolate and raider ridden road between here and Whitefish,” he pointed out.
Kevin nodded in acknowledgement of that. “What’s your style, soldier?”
“I’m not—” Derek protested and then sighed as there was no point in arguing. At this point, he was a soldier… of a sort. “Ranger—from a distance and from where they never see it coming.”
Kevin grinned, “I think I have just the place for you.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
Derek and Kevin climbed the ladder part of the way to the top of the radio tower. Now that they were high enough he could clearly see over the trees and into the extremely industrialized area that bordered Lively and Copper Cliff.
The view from the tower was incredible, despite the fact that the wind, while not very strong, still made the skinny aluminium tower sway against the thin tension wires holding it in place. He would never have climbed this tower or anything like it before this, but he and Kevin needed to gather enough information in order to formulate a plan of action to repel the most recent influx of new raiders from Copper Cliff.
“Do they always come from Copper Cliff?” asked Derek as he took out his binoculars and looked through them to see even further into what was left of Sudbury.
His stomach sank.
What little he could see of the city was not very pretty at all and he was glad that they had met Kevin in Lively instead of having to find the information he wanted in Sudbury. There was no doubt now that when the rule of law vanished like morning mist after sunrise, the city had fallen completed into anarchy.
After Oil Page 32
