the generators. It’s nearly all gone, Edward. There won’t be too many more party nights for our boys.’
‘But we got fuel in them barges out back, yeah?’
‘No, it’s an entirely different grade of diesel. You can’t pour that in, it’ll clog everything up.’
Snoop folded his arms unhappily. ‘Why the fuck I learnin’ this shit now, man?’
Maxwell stared sharply at him. ‘Talk to me like that again and you’ll be out, Edward, do you understand?’
Snoop realised he was pushing his luck. He might be able to snap the man’s old wattled neck without any real effort but that would leave him in charge; leave him holding the baby . . .
. . . just when it needs its shit cleaned up.
‘Sorry, Chief.’
Through the double doors the boys roared. Someone must have scored again.
‘Look,’ said Maxwell, ‘we knew this day would eventually come, Edward. We’re lucky to have lasted this long. But here it is. And it will be bad. When the food and the generators run out, the boys will turn on you and I, then probably on each other. The workers will turn on the boys. We will end up like the other safety zones did. It won’t end up particularly well for anyone.’
‘The praetorians will be well angry, Chief. They believe you . . . you said the Zee was going to last for ever.’
‘They’re just fucking children. What do you expect? They can’t think five minutes ahead, let alone worry about tomorrow, or next year.’
Snoop said nothing for a while. Maxwell was right. The boys were perfectly happy doing what they were told just as long as they had their smokes, their treats; just as long as they had access to the girls in their cattle shed. He tended not to venture down there much these days. It smelled of shit and stale sweat. More than that, he preferred to keep a little distance from the girls - the distance of authority; the cattle-shed girls were for his foot soldiers: the general got his pleasures elsewhere.
‘So you got a plan, Chief?’
Maxwell grinned. ‘Of course I do. When do I not have a plan, Edward?’
‘What?’
‘The new boys - Nathan and Jacob - they’ve come from a community that has access to fuel, Edward. Fuel on tap. They’re living on drilling rigs for fuck’s sake. Do you understand what that means?’
Snoop nodded. ‘Sure, we can make more power.’
Maxwell smiled dismissively. ‘It’s much more than that. It’s the life blood that flows through a civilised world. When the last of our little stockpile runs out, and the floodlights go dark here . . .’ Maxwell shook his head. ‘We’ll all become cavemen again. It’s that simple. Just like those wild children . . . fucking savages.’
Snoop didn’t need him to say any more. He’d seen those pale feral wraiths up close enough times. He’d seen the remains of their eating: dogs, cats, rats . . . and on one occasion the tattered remains of a human cadaver.
‘We’re going to the rigs, then?’
Maxwell nodded.
‘When?’
‘As soon as possible,’ replied Maxwell.
‘How soon?’
‘We should start preparing the day after tomorrow.’
Snoop’s eyebrows shot up his forehead. ‘What?’
‘You heard me right, lad. We need to start preparing. I’d say we’ve got another month of reliable summer weather, hopefully, and if we’re going to use those river barges, then we need the best weather we can get.’
‘But . . . ain’t those barge things just for rivers an’ shit?’
‘They’ll float just as well on the North Sea, so long as we’re not dealing with choppy weather. That’s why we need to get a move on. Autumn’s coming. We wait too much longer, then we’ll have to do this next year.’
Snoop considered that for a moment. ‘The boys won’t be happy leavin’ the dome behind. S’all they know.’
‘Those little thugs will do as you tell them. Anyway,’ he continued, ‘I’ll tell them the place we are heading to is tapping oil, that we’ll have power that will last us for ever. And we’ll bring along on the barges all the comforts the boys are used to - their games machines, the girls, the booze. There’ll be space enough for those things. And when we get settled there, they’ll be able to play the games and movies every night, not just once a fortnight.’
‘Yeah? For real?’
Maxwell smiled. ‘Yes, Edward, for real.’
Snoop grinned. ‘My boys’ll like that.’
‘Of course they will. And we’ll also have a smaller, more manageable population; a smaller kingdom, but at least one that doesn’t have a sell-by