Peak oil. This is a theory that oil extraction will eventually reach a peak and will begin to decline, while demand will skyrocket to immense proportions. This means that demand will rise while the supply of oil decreases. This was my reality on the eve of January 30, 2024. that day, there was no more oil left in the world. This disaster has been building up for awhile now, ever since the 2000s, but everyone chose to ignore the horrific implications of what peak oil would have meant. Now we are in a collapse. No oil meant no plastics, no gasoline, no machinery. We are back to the Middle Ages.

I was in my dorm in the University of the Philippines when it all happened. In a panic I tried my phone. I immediately went to our messenger group chat to give myself some sort of agency in this situation.

Nothing. No signal.

Dammit, I am truly alone now. I had no idea what to do. Suddenly I heard a voice.

“Rollo! Are you there? God, please tell me you are there!”

It was Sebastian. He was part of the university Taekwondo team, and my dormmate. I opened the door for him and shut it behind him as fast as I could.

“Sebastian, what’s going on?”

“it’s complete Pandemonium out there, man! The police seem to have gone rouge and has started taking supplies from the student dorms in the University!”

“Society has gone down the shitter this quickly?!”

“All comms has gone down; the government communicate with each other anymore!”

“So, the local police is doing this out of their own volition? Rat bastards.”

“We gotta get supplies and fast!”

I picked up my duffel bag from the corner. I stuffed it with as much canned food and toiletries. It must have been several days’ worth of supplies. I shoved in a few changes of clothes and that first aid kit that was inside the Go-Bag for emergencies. This was technically an emergency, the end of our known world and all that.

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Sebastian spoke up in the chaos of me packing our stuff.

“Hey, where you reckon we go?

“Melchor hall, down near Oblation statue”

“The one filled with nerdy engineers?”

“Exactly the one. Ardie is there.”

Ardie. He could be a useful person to be with. Not only is he part of the ROTC, but he is also an engineering student. There might be someone like him can offer, especially in the apocalypse.

“Sebastian, grab a few knives for us. We might meet the police on the road.”

“That isn’t going to help at all against guns.”

“You are right. I might have to resort to the old reliable.”

I opened my drawer and pulled out a gun. A snub-nosed revolver. Its dark wooden handle I gripped with my palm. It was cold. There are only six bullets in this bad boy. Six wishes, if the wish is for someone to experience total oblivion.

“Why the hell do you have that Rollo? What were you going to do with that originally?!”

“I don’t know, kind of just liked holding it, I guess. But hey we got something to defend ourselves with if the police come over. “

“Fair enough Rollo.”

We went out of the dorm. We walked our way to the Oblation statue. God this all feels surreal. I look at the pictures on my wallet. My mom. My dad. My little sister. I hope my little sister is okay. I must reach Diliman. No matter what. I want to know that she is alive. I do everything I am doing for her sake.

Suddenly a shout from the other side of the road.

“FREEZE, POLICE! HAND OVER YOUR BAGS NOW BY ORDER OF THE QCPD!”

I tried to grab my revolver but before I could a warning shot rang across the sky. I froze.

“Hand it over now. Slowly put it down chump.”

We had no other choice but to comply. The cop slowly walked towards us, with his revolver aimed at my head. He slowly took the duffel bag. Out of nowhere, he kicked both of us and we fell to the ground. I bruised my elbow on the hard asphalt of the road.

“Thank you for your service to the Quezon city Police Department. Now scram before I-”

Before he could finish his sentence, a crack rang across the sky. We looked up at the cop and there was a tiny penny sized hole straight through his skull. We looked around to see where it came from. And truth be told, I was not ready to see who just did that.

It was Ardie. He was holding an air rifle and wearing a pristine blue Rayadillo ROTC uniform, behind him were more people in full ROTC regalia.

“Rollo, Sebastian! Over here, come with us!”

Him and his friends dragged us all the way to Melchor Hall a few paces away, where they seem to have taken as their base of operations.

“Welcome to Melchor hall, one of the safest places in all of the University!”

“Thanks Ardie.” Sebastian gasped out.

“We have had trouble with the police for a while, but luckily a few of us here in the Engineering department are ROTC members as well, and helped arm Melchor Hall and everyone who is in here. We set up camp here since it seems to be the most defensible.”

I spoke up.

“Any news on the other buildings?”

“We have rudimentary communications with Palma Hall, and we seem to be in good terms, considering everything. The police have held up in the Institute of Mathematics and refuse to come out.”

Sebastian spoke up.

“we have to get the police out there! They will continue to harass us for supplies if they keep this up!”

Ardie replied.

“You are right. Us and Palma Hall reached an understanding that we need to take the institute of Mathematics.  It’s a strategic building, built like a fortress. It would be an immense boon to us if we take it. But just us and Palma Hall won’t cut it”

“So what do you suggest?”

“We might be able to find help in a… neighboring university..”

“you can’t mean… Ateneo?!”