In Minnesota

“Hey Dan!” called a voice from his doorway. “Check this out! CNN is saying the power grid is going to be struck by ecoterrorists! You know CNN’s motto should be ‘Making a Mountain out of Molehill’. Their source is twitter. Ha! Hey Dan, are you alright?” Tom, from the next office, was staring at Dan, who had gone pale.

Along the Nation’s Roadways

On top of the bridge, the burning van suddenly glowed white hot. A fire bright enough to cause the onlookers to squint had ignited. While those below had been lighting their vehicles on fire, the driver of the van had lit the magnesium fuse to the thermite crucible concealed in the cargo area. In a few minutes, the fuse had lit the powdered barium peroxide and magnesium mix, which had in turn ignited the 75 pounds of iron oxide filings and aluminum powder. A white-hot flow of molten metal dripped out of a hole cut in the floorboards and right into the expansion joint at the bridge’s center.

At Pipeline Hubs Across North America

Jason had opened all the windows and maxed out the car’s ventilation system. Rebecca put her gloved hand out of the window and squeezed the bottle, pointing it down and away. Liquid streamed onto the pavement and the smell of rotten eggs hit them both, even through their respirators.

Elsewhere Along the Pipelines

“ ‘Many feel that pumping stations are the most vulnerable component of a petroleum pipeline system.’ ” Ben smiled at Erin. “Can you believe they wrote that in a public document?”

“It’s like entrapment. But these block valve stations are just as good.”

On Chicago’s Seventy-Fifth Street Rail Corridor

Sonny had just stopped the two-mile-long freight train half way through its passage over the busiest intersection of America’s rail network. He referred down to his notes.

“Emergency, emergency, emergency,” he transmitted on channel 93, the BNSF “maintenance of way” frequency. “A semi has hit the Western Ave overpass bridge. Repeat. The Western Ave overpass is not safe. Please confirm. Over.”

Along a High-Voltage Transmission Line in California

Both women gripped the ropes below the slipped knots. Eva counted down. As she reached one, they heaved on their lines and immediately dropped them, springing back, just in case. The ropes whipped around the tree trunks as the heavy cables attached to the hooks swung in to make contact with the transmission lines in a shower of sparks and crackles. The snap and pop of the lines continued for a few seconds, pausing and restarting as the giant circuit breakers down the lines switched on and off, sensing the short they had caused. Shortly, the lines fell silent and they knew the power was shut down along the spine of California’s primary long-distance transmission network.

End Game

“Yeah, but give it a year,” said Eric. “The people working together will be doing better than the loners and they’ll come in from the cold.”

“Maybe,” said Eva.

“I wonder if our neighbors have any idea,” said Lauren.”

“They must be curious about outsiders buying half the houses in the village and then showing up right after the collapse,” said Bret.

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Ecoguerrillas is a serialized climate-fiction audiobook written and read by S. A. J. Johnson, now on to iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, Spotify, Audible, YouTube, and other podcast apps. Supporters can get early access to each chapter by subscribing to the project on patreon.com/sajjohnson.

Find more at ecoguerrillas.com.

Support the project and gain early access to chapters on Patreon (patreon.com/sajjohnson).

Musical background is Mahler’s Piano Quartet in A Minor, arranged by Michelle Diehl (Pub. Dom.).