Heinz got changed and left the marina quickly.

He needed to think. Talking to Claire had cleared up his confusion around her but it only made him feel worse. He hadn’t known her for long but they seemed to get along well. He lost nothing but it was a connection cut.

What bothered him more was the why. People had never been afraid of him before. He’d been disliked and he knew plenty of people thought him and his lifestyle to be weird but fear was different. This wasn’t a child afraid of getting in trouble or a scolding. Claire was honestly scared.

Heinz was uncomfortable with the idea. It wasn’t who he was.

Heinz was let inside the O’Donovan’s practice/ new Kinmore hospital after a short time queuing. The receptionist was still screening entry but she recognised him today. He wasn’t given much trouble once he mentioned who he was visiting.

The story behind Ann’s injuries had gotten around and it seemed that anyone hurt saving children got special privileges.

He diverted when he saw Louise sitting in the lobby to check in about Shane but she had no news. Shane was still in with a doctor. Louise sounded very unimpressed with Shane. It was looking like he was a lot more hurt than he had been letting on.

Ann's room was towards the back of the patchwork hospital. To Heinz’s relief the crammed dormitory rooms were gone. There were still people suffering from System withdrawal, as it was now called, but fewer. He hadn't run into Tom the last time he was here but he kept an eye on the funeral lists. Tom’s name hadn't shown up and Heinz hoped that he was healthy now.

It was only when he saw the pile of flowers and gifts by Ann’s bed that it dawned on him that he had come empty handed. This realisation came too late as Ann turned towards the opening door.

“Heinz! How are you? How was your duty?”

Heinz crossed over to the chair by the bed and lowered himself with a wince.

“I’m fine. How are you?”

Ann snorted and held her hand at a point on the covers of her bed. “I can’t move anything below here without pain and I need help if I want to pee.”

“Oh.” Heinz said hollowly.

“The doctors don’t have the equipment for anything else and I’ll be having more surgery over the next few days. I was prescribed cultivation along with all the other medicines if you can believe it.” Ann let out a hollow laugh as she showed Heinz a biscuit tin with two food cubes inside. She set the tin down and rubbed her stomach. “But we saved them, didn't we? Five of them. Millie, Ann, Ella, Jacob and Ned.”

“You saved them.” Heinz insisted. “I was searching the changing room when the screams started. You’re the one that kept them safe.”

Ann hmphed but stretched her arms out to the side. “I remember too much pain and lying down for that to be true.”

They fell into silence as they remembered the fight. Heinz’s stomach rumbled.

“Mind if I?” Heinz gestured to the tin with the food cubes.

When Ann nodded he grabbed one, accepted the system message and took a bite.

“I’m on a limited diet for the next few days. Which is awful as people keep bringing tasty food.” Ann said, shuffling around the gifts on the table beside her bed.

“Gifts are piling up at the centre too.” Heinz said absently. ”Half the town has turned up to wish you well. Jacque was telling me they have so much that Rosa’s organising a celebration for Paddy’s day.”

“What? They said nothing about that earlier.” Ann groaned. “Couldn’t they have waited till I was out?”

Like that the awkwardness was broken. Ann’s complaints grew until they were recounting times where Jacque and Rosa’s plans hadn’t quite worked out like expected.

Shane was pretending to doze on the armchair as Heinz walked back into the waiting room.

Pretending, as when Heinz walked in, he cocked his right eye open to check who had arrived. Shane’s right eye as Louise was sitting to his left looking angry. The likely source of this anger was likely the sling wrapped around Shane’s right forearm.

“How bad is it?” Heinz asked.

Shane shifted lightly but didn’t say anything. Louise sighed.

“You aren’t fooling anyone Shane.”

Shane slowly opened his eyes. He looked a little embarrassed but he didn’t try any more acting.

“Fractured Ulna.”

Heinz’s shoulders fell and he sat on the arms of a couch.

“So you’re out for a few days?”

Shane shook his head and Louise closed her eyes and inhaled.

“Shield arm. Splint and straps and I’ll be fine.” Shane drew a line across his forearm as he spoke.

Heinz rubbed his eyes as he considered the two.

“When did you break it?” He asked finally.

“In the graveyard. Before I swapped with Phil.” Shane replied gruffly but almost proudly.

Heinz groaned. That explained why Shane had switched to swinging his sledgehammer one handed. How had they missed it?

It also defeated most of his arguments about why Shane should stay and rest. If he was able to continue fighting earlier without any support why should he take the time off to heal.

“And there’s no convincing you to rest?” Heinz asked, giving it one last attempt.

Shane shook his head.

“What's the plan for tonight then?” Heinz asked.

“Bandon.” Louise stated. “With I38-FB open, we are two zones away from the town. Hopefully it will be a home zone like Courtmacsherry and they'll have cleared the next zones. We keep going from there.”

Heinz stretched his right arm as it cramped. He was hungry again already.

“That makes sense. Meet at the marina at..” Heinz paused as he called up the duty timer.

Reclamation duty leave remaining: 9.3/ 12 hours

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

Leave Settlement control zones before leave expires.

“Ten? We’ll need to sleep in the zone.”

Shane and Louise both looked as ‘eager’ as he felt at the idea.

“We’ll let Phil and Tara know.” Louise said, stressing the ‘we’. It looked like Shane wasn’t off the hook yet. “Bring extra food. I want to take down the next zone and reach Bandon tomorrow.”

Heinz wandered towards the outdoor centre after leaving the hospital.

He joined a flow of people heading the same way but the roads weren’t as busy as they had been earlier. There were a few things he wanted to do with his limited time before he could relax and enjoy whatever Rosa and Jacque were putting together.

He needed to let Rosa know about the plans to push for Bandon, help out with the harbour patrols, wash his gear, buy food and maybe buy some augments. He was up to 135 credits now.

Buying food shot up in his priorities as his stomach rumbled. Ann’s food cube should have been enough for him but he was still hungry. At least his muscles weren’t as stiff as earlier... It clicked.

“Ah.” Heinz murmured as he rubbed his arm.

He was hungry as he was healing.

The notices at the Shop about the Healing augments mentioned supplements. He didn’t have either of the augments but Phil had said that the augments were for additions to changes they had already experienced.

The reason for the lack of traffic on the road was revealed when Heinz turned a corner. A huge crowd was gathered on the main road. It wasn’t a particularly noisy crowd, more groups of people milling around together but it answered why the number of people heading to the centre had trickled down.

They were already there.

With a sigh, Heinz joined the crowd and began to try slipping through.

It was nice to see people and especially the children out. He rarely saw anyone under the age of 16 outside of the centre now. Few parents were willing to let their children out of their sight these days. And having missed or avoided the last few town meetings, Heinz rarely saw adults in large numbers aside from in a clearing convoy.

Heinz squeezed between two groups and felt two sharp jabs into his lower back. There was a muffled cry of pain and another curse behind him.

“Fucking pinpricks!” Someone swore.

Heinz tried to shift around but the crowd was dense enough it was an effort to turn. He caught a glimpse of two men retreating away from him before the crowd swallowed them up. Heinz started to shift back towards them but gave up after making it a metre.

He hadn’t seen their faces and they could be anywhere in the crowd.

“Heinz!”

Heinz turned again to try and follow the voice but he couldn’t make anyone out in the crowd.

“Heinz!”

The next call was clearer and Heinz’s scowl disappeared as he saw Mike’s head poke out above the crowd. A little bit of shuffling and they were beside each other.

“I’ve been trying to find one of you for days.” Mike began. “You’d think it would be easier with us all locked up.”

“All good Mike?” Heinz replied awkwardly.

The last time he’d seen him, Mike was carrying Patrick’s body through the wall.

Shane hadn’t responded to any questions about a funeral so it wasn’t surprising that none of them had gone out of their way to find him. They weren't sure how Mike, Dick and Patrick's family felt about them.

“Not really but that’s life now I suppose.” Mike said, a little bitter. His face grew bleak then resolved. “Listen, what’s going on with Shane? He won’t talk to us. We only see him at Patrick’s home.”

Heinz hesitated. They definitely didn’t know about his broken arm as that only happened today but should he get involved? Shane was prickly enough these days.

“Please.” Mike said. His brow was creased and he looked battered even as the crowd flowed around him. “It’s driving Dick and I crazy. We have enough to worry about right now.”

Heinz exhaled and started with the broken arm.

“Damn it Shane.” Mike was rubbing his eyes tiredly at the end. “Why didn’t you tell us about your niece?”

Heinz grimaced. He hadn’t expected just how much Shane had been leaving out. Their group had found out about his niece before the disaster at Aiden’s farm.

Shane was going to kill him when he realised who had told Mike.

“You’re aiming for Bandon tomorrow then?” Mike confirmed, eyes narrowing.

“Yes, but we’re going out tonight. I can’t say where we’ll be in the zone.”

Mike waved him away. “Don’t worry about us. We crossed the third threshold yesterday. We’ll be fine.”

“Shane passed the third threshold days ago. His arm was broken today anyway.”

Mike just gave Heinz a smile and clapped him on the shoulder. “Thanks for telling me and stay safe alright?”

Heinz echoed the sentiment and they split up and away into the crowd.

Thankfully the crowd hadn’t spread into the centre’s parking lot. Or rather it hadn’t been allowed to. Barriers, which included picnic tables set on their side, were set up to try and block the push. The road was kept clear in front of a series of odd cars and a bus.

Rosa was inside her usual tent but more interestingly, so was Jack, Jamie and Maggie. Jamie spotted him first, raising an eyebrow in a questioning greeting and Jack was next with a nod.

Maggie and Rosa themselves were too busy arguing over a map.

Heinz stepped closer quietly. Were they finally discussing the whole council/ delegate thing?

“No, no. We can’t go that way. It’s too dangerous.” Rosa jabbed at the map. “We need to go this way and loop around.”

“If it’s narrow we can go slowly. The people are already waiting there.” Maggie argued.

“And that’s why we can’t go there! They won’t get out of the way.” Rosa's voice rose with her exasperation. She sank back in her chair and shook her head. In doing so she caught sight of Heinz. “Heinz! Perfect timing. How was reclamation? I hear another zone was cleared and you arrived back with a cart full of food.”

Heinz smiled and took a seat by Maggie. They were planning a route through Kinmore for whatever they were throwing. The two of them butting heads over it wasn’t great but it was more usual. He opened his mouth-

Control in zone I38-K0 has reached manageable threshold.

Dropping zone barrier.

There was a pause as everyone took in the message.

“I hear another zone was cleared.” Rosa said, looking up. Nothing happened.

She shrugged when Heinz looked towards her with a raised eyebrow.

“Don’t you need to..” Heinz asked.

Rosa shook her head and narrowed her eyes at him. “Killian is in charge of clearing work right now.”

“Right, well I do have some information.” Heinz said with a smile that dimmed a little as he turned to Maggie. “About Courtmacsherry too.”

When he was finished all eyes turned to Maggie. She closed her eyes and flexed her fingers before slumping.

“I can’t say anything. I gave my word.”

Rosa scoffed.

“Can you tell us anything? Give us a hint maybe?” Heinz asked. He knew if hearing about the situation in Courtmacsherry didn’t work she wasn’t going to budge.

Maggie hesitated.

“Going to Bandon is good. Population and linking up with the other home zones is important.” Maggie said finally.

Rosa snatched up a pen and made another note on the page she’d scribbled details of Heinz’s trip on.

“We’ll try focus on that over completing another ring then.” Rosa murmured before standing up. She waved the sheet. “I need to let some people know about this.”

Rosa scooted around the table before stopping at the exit to the tent. “I’ll be back in 10 minutes and we can finish-” she gestured at the table. “- this off.”

Heinz turned to Maggie as she left.

“Any chance you have some of those food cubes on you? I’m starving. I think recovering from earlier is making me hungry.”

Maggie grinned at him and lifted a bag onto her lap. She took out a half full tupperware and offered it to him.

“I’ve a batch from my classes earlier.”

Heinz let out a sigh of relief and grabbed one, accepting the System prompt quickly.

“Oh wow that’s filling.” Heinz said a few seconds after finishing it. He had gone from feeling hungry to bloated.

Jack nodded. “There's something more about them now that she’s passed the second threshold.”

Maggie hummed.

“They take a little longer to make now but I think they’re denser.”

Heinz eyed the tupperware.

“Any chance I could take the rest of them off your hands?” He asked. “It could be a long day tomorrow with both Louise and Shane on the war path.”

“All of them?” Jack asked. “That’s several days of supplies.”

“It is? Have you figured out what they’re made of?” Heinz asked with a frown. If his group was going to try to get to Cork they would need to prepare for longer trips. Planning the amount of food they needed to bring was going to become more important.

“Well no, but we think the normal ones to be around 1000. Maggie’s ones you need half as often so about 2000.”

“Entire meals in one bite. A solution to world hunger.” Maggie said before groaning. “Did they have to taste like meat?”