The group quickly left Clogagh village with the trailer, and Heinz pulling it, in tow.
There was no telling when the clearing convoys would arrive and they wanted to get the trailer back to Heinz’s van first. I38-FB was two zones away from Courtmacsherry and four zones away from Kinmore and they weren’t sure what to expect from the other ‘home’ zone’s response. The first group of Courtmacsherry reclaimers they’d met had tried to smash their heads in and the second wouldn’t come within 20 metres of them. No one in the group had forgotten how Timogleague now looked either.
On the way back they met only two Swarm. A Springer and later, a Boar. Both fell to the combined effort of the team but the Springer caused a lot more trouble. Even prepared for its signature jump, Louise and Shane were unable to prevent the creature from leaping through a gap between them. Tara, who was at the centre of their formation, was able to jump out of the way but the fight was messy for a while.
Phil walked away with a limp and Tara was bruised and covered in mud. Both creatures were killed after each member of the group struck a blow.
Heinz walked away from both encounters without any new pains but with only 2 Credits and 10 Energy to show. Their fights were growing quicker and the time it took to get his halberd out of the trailer cost him.
“Should we leave the van here or drive across the bridge towards the zone?” Phil asked as they removed the branches from Heinz’s van.
“Drive over.” Heinz answered quickly. He had considered this on the way back. “There will be more people in the area for the clearing work and the van will be harder to hide with the trailer. If I leave it with the other vehicles people will be less likely to take anything.”
Louise shrugged and neither of the other two had a comment.
They found an issue when they were all setup. When the trailer was hitched onto the van the rear door could only open partially. It was wide enough for anyone to squeeze through normally but with all the layers of armour…
Shane took one look before heading to the front seat. Heinz unhitched the trailer and Phil and Louise hopped in after a quick exchange with Tara.
Sinking into the driver’s seat sent spikes of pain through his back and Heinz grimaced. Shane and Tara gave him a commiserating look and they set off.
They didn’t need to wait long at the former zone wall before a series of vehicles arrived.
Three people rushed out of the first jeep as it stopped. They all carried the same long metallic poles with a flat cross at one end that the previous Courtmacsherry groups had. The trio stayed by their vehicle and held their weapons not at the ready, but not casually either.
“Who are you?” A man stepped forward and called out.
“Reclaimers from Kinmore.” Louise stepped forward and called back. “Here to help with the clearing.”
“And help yourself to whatever's in the zone I see.” The man gestured to the trailer and van behind them. “You’re muddy but we didn’t hear anything about another group being in the zone when the walls fell. Did you rush over here when you got the message?”
More people were getting out of the other vehicles and a crowd was forming opposite them. Many had some sort of helmet on and Heinz was unable to recognise anyone.
Shane huffed and stepped forward but Phil placed a hand on his shoulder.
“We were in Clogagh when the walls fell.” Louise replied, resting her hands on the blades attached to her waist. “The place is untouched. We killed a Sprout, a large stony one but there was nothing else.”
This caused some murmurs amongst the crowd. The man speaking exchanged a glance with another from his jeep.
“We had Clogagh marked as off limits before the walls fell. A team went missing there.”
Now it was time for Heinz’s group to exchange glances. There had been no sign of any other Reclaimers in the village. Louise and he would have spotted any ‘fresh’ bodies in the graveyard and no houses had been disturbed.
“We saw no bodies or signs of them.” Louise replied hesitantly.
“Then you got lucky and something’s still out there.” The man finished his sentence by spitting on the ground. Several people in the crowd scoffed or gave them dark looks as the man put emphasis on 'lucky' but the tension fell. The crowd broke up and set about preparing to clear the zone.
The man who had been speaking came over, still flanked by two others, and regarded them closely.
“I’m Christopher. I’m organising the sets of teams that are going out today.”
“Louise. We’re happy for our group to join one of your sets or we can wait for others from Kinmore to arrive.”
Christopher hummed and looked over her shoulders to the trailer. “The supplies in that trailer would be a lot of help to Courtmacsherry. Not everyone got as lucky as Kinmore did.”
There was that emphasis again.
“Lucky?” Shane ground out, face going red. Phil’s hands on his shoulder relaxed a little.
“The supplies in that trailer are going to be a lot of help to Kinmore.” Louise replied. “But I’m sure we can spare some. There are plenty more to be found in Clogagh too.”
Christopher’s grunt was anything but pleased but he didn’t push further. Louise turned at Shane’s sharp intake of breath to mouth ‘grandniece’ at him. Shane clenched his fists and remained silent.
As Christopher and Louise started to discuss Clogagh, Heinz took the chance to examine the Reclaimers from Courtmacsherry. As a whole they seemed ‘rougher’ and more worn than the Kinmore clearing volunteers but that might just be his bias at play. He had never felt the need to examine any of the Kinmore clearing volunteers closely, aside from providing first aid supplies to the volunteers who were ambushed in I38-4P.
The groups from Courtmacsherry were more consistent. They wore similar armour and headgear and carried similar weapons. There was the usual assortment of random weapons but the metallic building supports were the most common type. Several had made modifications to the familiar poles, adding points to the end, draping wire over them or welding blades to the sides.
“Fin?” Phil called suddenly. Heinz followed his gaze to a man who had taken his helmet off and was helping set up a table.
The man grimaced and turned towards them. He looked a few years younger than Phil and seemed to shrink a bit as he waved back.
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Phil stepped past Christopher and Louise. With a glance at Shane and Tara, Heinz followed.
“How are you?” Phil asked as he got closer. “How’s your family? Fiona and the kids will be happy to hear about you.”
“They’re fine.” Fin replied, standing stiffly.
Phil frowned at his response but after a second of inspecting Fin, his eyebrows rose.
“You were in the crowd.” Phil said and his head rocked back a bit. “Why didn’t you say something? I thought they were going to attack us for a second.”
Fin’s grimace deepened and he inhaled.
“It’s nothing personal but the world has changed.”
“What do you mean the world has changed?” Phil snapped, his voice rising. “We’ve known each other for years. Attended birthdays. You were at Samantha’s baptism for Christ's sake.”
Fin hunched over a little.
“The Phil I knew was fine but the neighbours I knew didn’t kill each other either.” Fin exhaled and turned away. “I’ll let Steph, Lisa and Sean know you’re well. Give my best to Fiona.”
“Finley?” Phil asked but the man had nothing else to say.
They ended up being assigned out to the south-west of the zone. It was a well travelled area and they found only a few hiding Seeds as they cleared.
They weren’t too upset about the assignment, they were all hurting from their earlier fights, but the thinly veiled reason was troubling. The Courtmacsherry Reclaimers did not trust them to watch their backs. Not when approaching a dangerous area that his group had recent experience of. Not when within earshot of others from Courtmacsherry. Not when there were real monsters out there.
Zone Control - I38-FB
Swarm Growth
25%
Local
75%
The control hadn’t shifted for a while when an end was called to the clearing work. They trudged back to the field where all the vehicles were parked to discover it had grown busier. The Kinmore clearing convoy had arrived and taken over one side of the field.
Any Courtmacsherry cars that had been parked by Heinz’s van had been moved across to the other side of the field to make way for the Kinmore cars. There was no shouts or arguments between the groups, but they weren’t mingling either.
Jamie and Jack’s group were part of the Kinmore contingent and Heinz spent some time catching up with them. They were still acting as Maggie’s ‘bodyguards’ but other Reclaimers that Maggie knew from her cultivation classes took over when they had duty.
Maggie’s cultivation classes or ‘cult’ as Jamie called it took up a lot of their discussion.
Both Jack and Jamie were concerned about how Maggie's following had grown. What had started as a small class in the garden allotments outside of town had grown until multiple buses were shuttling people back and forth. The classes had expanded rapidly after the fire at the town hall and the looting in the town. People became disillusioned with the council and began to look elsewhere for guidance.
Maggie was largely unaffected by the growing numbers. Jamie and Jack had attended her classes which ran as usual, aside from a shift in focus towards earning the food cubes and absorbing Energy. She organised fewer aspects of her lessons than she used to, having passed the work over to volunteers. She didn’t seem to notice the danger from her students' growing ‘devotion’ that Jamie did.
They didn’t come up with anything they could do but agreed to talk to Maggie about it later. People were becoming targets.
Heinz’s van earned a few looks from both convoys when they followed behind the Courtmacsherry vehicles instead of turning away with the Kinmore ones. There were a few beeps but neither convoy stopped.
Before long they were waiting outside a makeshift barrier across the road into Courtmacsherry village. The barrier was a bit absurd, a SUV that was pushed back into place as each vehicle passed. The people moving the SUV must have been Reclaimers, likely fighters, given the ease in which the SUV slid into place.
When it was their turn, Christopher came back and with his assurances they were let in. Following his directions they stopped in front of a small shop. Louise hopped out to organise the unloading of some of their supplies while Shane was directed to someone who had a list of residents. Tara accompanied Shane after a quick chat with Louise. As muddy as she was, her age would help smooth a lot of Shane’s bluntness and frowns.
Phil disappeared after muttering something about his bestiary.
Heinz was stuck in the van alone. After the unloading was complete he would need to move the van from the narrow street. Prepared for a long wait, he closed his eyes for a short rest. So it was a surprise when the passenger door opened with a rattle and a woman hopped in.
“Hello again.”
Heinz looked at her in confusion. She was athletic, stout and had a sly smile. He had no idea who she was. A student’s parent?
“So I didn’t get your name last time we met but when I heard about a stop sign..” She trailed off and held out a hand. “Alisha.”
Heinz took the offered hand automatically as he thought.
“Heinz.”
“Nice to meet you Heinz.” Alisha said and her gripped tightened.
Heinz frowned as he heard light grating from his bones before he gripped back. Soon after he did, the pressure reduced and Alisha’s smile broadened.
“You’re a Fighter then. Or you’ve crossed the fourth threshold. Cormac and I crossed the third yesterday.”
It dawned on him. She was the Courtmacsherry reclaimer from I38-9G. One of the ones wearing the biking gear.
“Fighter.” Heinz confirmed. “I’m glad you got out of that zone safely. There were some nasty Swarm.”
“We narrowly avoided a big one on the way out. Huge tusks.” Alisha shuddered and her smile tightened. “But that’s not what I wanted to ask about. Last time I helped you out by letting you know about the killings. You owe me one.”
Heinz lifted her eyebrows at her. “I seem to remember being told that after one of your group attacked us and you led a pack of Swarm to our door.”
Alisha grimaced. “Then I’ll owe you one. What’s going on with Kinmore and the system? Why were you able to set a tax here?”
“You have the tax too?” Heinz asked, confused. He pictured the zone map that hung outside the outdoor centre. “9I and KE fell yesterday. Didn’t you get a message about the zone changing?”
Alisha frowned and her eyes unfocused. Heinz waited
“No.” Alisha said finally. “I received only the new messages.”
Heinz drummed his fingers against the wheel and reached for the message himself. The older the message the more difficult it became to recall it, no matter what Tara said.
Zo-e I-8-KB
Su-ronud-ng ze--s ave-erac-ed c-ntl-rled th-esh-dl.
Dse-gnat-ng -one -enrte a- Se-tlmee-t.
uClti-ation Del-gaets s-lecetd.
It was a scattered mess.
“When all of the zones around Kinmore fell we got a message. Our zone was changed to a Settlement. Some of the Cultivators were chosen as Delegates and they were the ones to set the tax in Kinmore. But I didn’t realise that carried over to here.”
Alisha nodded as she processed this information.
“Why?”
Heinz shrugged. “We don’t know. The delegates aren’t telling anyone.”
Alisha frowned then exhaled.
“I’ll let people around here know. People here aren’t too happy with Kinmore right now.”
Heinz opened his mouth to try to defend Maggie but was interrupted by a knock on Alisha’s door. She opened it to reveal a lanky man with a crooked nose, like it had been broken before. The man nodded at Heinz before beckoning Alisha closer and whispering something to her. Alisha stepped outside and asked the man a few questions that Heinz couldn’t hear through the closed door. A back and forth later and he watched the man jog down the street in front of the van.
Alisha opened the van door again but made no move to climb inside.
“You’ll need to go soon. A group of Reclaimers found a house full of bodies between Courtmacsherry and Kinmore. It’s best you get home.” Alisha paused and she leaned back to size up the van. “Could you take a few families back to Kinmore with you? All cultivators or teleportees who are scared.”
“I could.” Heinz said slowly. “But I don’t know if they’ll be able to get food or shelter.”
Alisha shook her head. “That doesn’t matter to them. They’ll go anyway even if they need to walk. Those bodies that were found? They were likely those that tried to get to Kinmore by themselves. Alone they were sheep to the slaughter.”