It's a sweltering summer day. The fiery Sun beats down in all its thermonuclear glory as I watch Heath and a few of the remaining neighbourhood kids splash in the still waters of the lake. Every opportunity we get, we're down here, at Heath's insistence, jumping, diving and swimming in the cool clear water. He's like a fish, spending more time below the surface than above, it seems.

We floated a large platform about fifty meters offshore and anchored it there a few weeks back. The kids love it, with it's slide and dive platform, it's been in near constant use since we put it out here. And to be honest, the adults are making good use of it as well. It's the little things like this that remind us that the world hasn't gone to hell completely. Not yet at least.

I rise from the Muskoka chair, stretch and take a moment to scan the horizon, only two boats out today, no sign of anything untoward as far as I can see. Stepping over Heather and Freya, who lay supine on the deck, soaking up the rays, I make my way to the dive tower. A rifle leans near the ladder, because we can never be too careful. Picking it up I notice the sun-baked synthetic black stock has become uncomfortably hot, I take another quick scan across the water through the scope and set it down in a shady spot to cool off.

I climb the ladder to the top of the dive platform and do a quick headcount of the swimmers. "Okay, I'm heading in, you two hanging out for a bit?" I ask the ladies.

"Yeah, it's too nice to get back to work," Freya answers, shielding her eyes as she looks up toward the tower.

"Getting our vitamin D," Heather adds, rubbing her baby bump.

"Okay, I'll leave you the canoe," I say and leap from the tower plunging to the water in a perfect cannonball, sending a small tsunami over Heath and his friends.

"Dad!" Heath yells when I resurface.

"Gotchya," I say. "You all listen to the ladies and when they say it's time to get out, you get out. No arguing."

"Okay," a couple kids respond in unison.

I front-crawl the fifty meters to shore, cutting smoothly through the placid waters. Swimming always reminds me of Dana and I resent myself a bit for that. Climbing out onto a giant limestone boulder, I turn back and wave. Heather waves back, the kids aren't even paying attention and have returned to Marco Polo. The ladies will bring the canoe back in with the kids when it's time, but the kids invariably opt to swim back to the break wall to prolong their time in the water.

The long grass is crispy beneath my feet as I cut through the vacant lot. We have had weeks of beautiful weather, but little rain. I often watch the afternoon clouds gather and darken only to see them sail by without sending a single raindrop earthward. If it weren't for the irrigation system we set up, the crops would be in a sorry state by now. I check my watch and head over to see Ari, hoping he has some good news.

It's been a tense week since the ordeal at the Lager Haus. We have all stuck close to home to avoid run-ins with the Pelex people and more potential conflict. After a discussion with the group we decided to let things cool off first, then send an emissary of sorts to smooth things out. It was also decided that neither Jake nor I should be the ones offering the olive branch. In the end, Ari was to be our elder statesman, so this morning he headed down to Pelex bright and early to work some diplomatic magic.

When I arrive, I see both Merida and Diesel snoozing in the shade of the pear tree in Ari's front yard. Neither so much as raises a head as I pass, responding only with a half-hearted wag when I address them. I cut around the side of the house, alongside the garage and through the wrought-iron gate, passing into the backyard. Ari's oasis is still meticulously kept, he's one of the few who still bothers to mow grass, having found himself a reel mower.

"Connor!" he exclaims like he hasn't seen me in weeks. We shake hands and he slaps me on the shoulder. "Beautiful day."

"Yes," I agree with him, but I get right down to business. "So how was the meeting?"

"Good and bad, good and bad. Come, sit. We talk, eat some fruit," he says. Most meetings with Ari involve eating and there is already a prepared plate of plums, cherries and crackers. A pitcher of water sits in the middle the table, with a pair of tumblers already filled.

The pergola is beset with vines and we take a seat in the shade provided beneath it.

"So you talked to Denton? What's the scoop?" I ask, popping a cherry in my mouth.

"No. Mr. Frost would not see me, I spoke only with Mr. Beck."

I frown, this already sounds bad. "Okay? And?" I say.

"I will give you bad news first," he starts. "You are still prohibited from visiting the hospital."

"I expected that," I reply, although still disappointed. I haven't seen Kate in weeks. Through Sabine and Hartt, I get updates on her condition and she's doing well, although I hear she is also frustrated in not being allowed to come home. However, she suffers from complications from the head injury and apparently she needs to remain in hospital. I can't help but feel sometimes that she's practically a hostage.

"Jake is still wanted by Pelex. The wish him to come before the magistrate to give his statement. They would also like to speak with you on a matter of interfering with Pelex operations."

"That's horse shit!"

"Mr. Beck assured me that there are no charges being laid, they just want to discuss a few things. Mr. Beck said that it is important that the Harbour Guard understands that Pelex is in charge and you especially need to respect that."

"I don't recognized their authority."

"I told Mr. Beck as much. He impressed upon me the importance that you do however. He wished me to change your mind. He wants me to remind you that the Harbour Guard is not the authority in Grey Harbour."

"Did you tell him to fuck off?"

"No Connor, I did not. I told Mr. Beck that you and I would sit down and discuss the situation, and that is what we are doing. I set out to make things better, not worse. You don't need to go out of your way to make enemies," he tells me before sipping his water. "Plenty of those will present themselves in time."

"Plenty already have," I reply.

"This Pelex thing, you need to make it work. You have to get over your feud with Mr. Frost, we might need him."

"I disagree Ari, he's the last thing we need."

"You are wrong Connor, we lose people, they leave every few days," Ari reminds me. He speaks of the ongoing exodus of families and couples from the neighbourhood that's been going on for months, but has picked up the pace as food stores run low and our security situation worsens. It has created a negative feedback loop, as the more people that leave the longer it takes to finish the perimeter wall and the harder it is to tend the gardens and hunt game.

"I know," I admit. "But at least we gained a few good people when Pelex disbanded the remains of the military. I'm sure Frost didn't expect to lose an entire section to us." Luckily for us, Hartt's connections paid off in the form of eight reasonably young and fit volunteers that joined the Harbour Guard. Only three were combat types, but all had useful skills and I was glad to have every last one.

"Yes, and Mr. Beck voiced his displeasure at us for poaching those people."

"C'mon, they opted to come here and volunteer rather than be folded into the Pelex security force. We hardly poached."

"That's not the way they see it."

"I don't care how they see it."

"That's narrow-minded of you."

"You know, you're starting to piss me off. You're the diplomat here, not me."

"Connor, you asked me to go talk to them on your behalf. You asked me because you know when it comes to dealing with Pelex and Frost you are unable to see beyond your emotions. I'm just giving you the advice you have asked me to give. Don't get upset if you don't like the advice."

I get up from my chair and pace, because I'm angry and because I know Ari is right. But despite of those things, deep down I cannot bring myself to trust Frost. There is something off, but I can't define what it is, other than a feeling. A bad feeling.

Returning to my table I say, "you're right Ari, but I'm still going to give it a couple weeks. Then I will see if I can meet with Denton and iron a few things out."

Ari nods. "That would be for the best, Connor."

"What about the good news?" I ask, hoping to end things on a bright note.

"There isn't any," he deadpans.

I stare at him hard for several moments and he stares right back. His sense of humour is, at times, infuriating. As I rise to leave he says, "take some plums."

******

Heading for home with a handful of plums, still conflicted over my discussion with Ari and the potential for future interactions with Denton during which I will have to bite my tongue and kowtow to that demagogue son-of-a-bitch, I stroll right past Sung-Mi who is jogging in the other direction. I'm oblivious to all but the grainy texture of the cement curb I'm fixated on as thoughts tumble through my head.

"Hi," she calls out with emphasis from behind me. The inflection tells me it was likely the third time she said it.

Spinning about I say, "Hi, Sung. Sorry. Lost in thought," I say. She's still jogging in the other direction, but then she swings back.

"Hey," she says, before taking a long draught from her hydration pack. "Gorgeous day," she adds while stretching out her quadriceps.

Sung is one of our recent ex-military volunteers, or more aptly, recent Harbour Guard additions. Hartt tells me she's one of the few soldiers that came away unscathed when they tried to re-take the tunnel last year. I was secretly quite happy to gain someone else with combat experience, but I kept that to myself.

"Bit hot to be wearing a plate-carrier isn't it?" I say, noting her jogging attire includes a tactical vest and sidearm in a thigh rig.

"Train like you fight," she says. "I read that somewhere." She raps her knuckles on the front of her vest making a dull thud, indicating she even has the hard plate inserted adding considerable weight to the vest.

"Just don't stroke out." I advise, although I admire the tenacity of anyone who would go for a run purposely carrying all that extra weight.

"Nah, I'm heading down to the lake for a swim from here."

"Would this be one of your refreshing fifteen-hundred metre swims?"

"Maybe..." she replies with a grin.

"You still all bunked up in the same house?" I ask, referring to the other soldiers who migrated to our little outpost along with her.

"Yeah, it's a communal thing. We've all been living in close quarters for so long now, it feels weird not to have other people around all the time."

"We have other empty houses you know."

"Yeah, we know. We're kinda more comfortable this way, for now at least. We're used to it this way."

"Suit yourself. Can I ask you a personal question?"

"Sure, go ahead."

"Why did you come here, rather than Pelex? As I understand it, the Pelex deal is pretty sweet."

"It wasn't an easy decision, the Pelex offer did seem to have a lot of perks. It came down to a couple things. One, Hartt made a pretty good pitch, although he made it clear that coming here wasn't the easy option. No stipend, no food ration et cetera. But he made a case for the sense of community and to be honest, a lot of us look up to Hartt and he's here with you people. Plus there's a certain mystique about the Harbour Guard. I kinda wanted to be part of something like that. It's one of the reasons I joined the forces in the first place."

"You said you had a couple reasons," I coax.

"Yeah," she starts and I can tell she's searching for the right words. "I don't know how to put this exactly and I don't want to put anyone down because some good friends took the Pelex deal. But people talk, soldiers talk, you know, scuttlebutt and rumours, all that stuff. I don't want to be specific because I don't know what's true, but I just felt like if I went with Pelex I'd have to compromise."

"Compromise?"

"Ethically."

"Hmm, I see."

"Keep it between us, okay? I don't want anyone to think I'm judging them."

"Sure thing Sung, no problem."

"I should get back to my run before I cramp up."

"Don't let me keep you, and have a nice swim."

"Thanks."

She jogs off and I turn to head home in the opposite direction. Fifteen minutes ago Ari had me half-convinced that I was being unreasonably paranoid about Pelex. Now, I feel even more so. Even still, I'll have to try to sort things out with Denton before the situation gets any worse. We just can't afford more conflict, got enough of that already.

To the west I see the afternoon clouds building the way they do on hot summer days. White cumulus churning up into the atmosphere, some of the towering peaks laced with gray. The air around me feels unsettled and angry, like the atmosphere has a vendetta. There's a pent up rage lingering in the sky. It feels like a storm is imminent.

Or maybe it's just me.