User I38-3NA5 - Fighter
Threshold crossed. Removing zone restraints.
Heinz flicked the message away again, tilting his head back until it hit the fender. He could faintly tell that the ground was cold, but the cold didn’t reach him. Half an hour he’d been sitting here on the ground, unmoving, and the cold hadn’t even started to make its way into his bones.
The aftermath of the stampede wasn’t over yet. He wasn’t even sure if the stampede itself was over yet. Reclaimers were still out hunting stragglers down. Cultivators had started recovery efforts during the battle. Did this count as after, before or during?
Heinz had volunteered to help, but a doctor had taken one look at his leg, asked about his threshold and sent him over here to wait. He hadn't expected to wait this long, but he couldn't complain as more and more critical cases arrived. People staggered into the field hospital, were dragged in on sleds or in the worst cases, carried by grim faces.
At this point, Heinz wished he’d sneaked away at the start. Sitting here, at the edge of the field hospital, listening to cries of pain, muffled sobbing and worst of all, the faint, almost imperceptible struggling breaths was torture. The noise ate away at him and the smell would haunt him. Metallic, it caught in his throat, foul and sickly like a sewage meeting a factory’s outflow.
Heinz glanced down at his foot. Maybe he could still go. Flicking at the feeling of the system messages over and over again wasn’t distracting him any more. He’d seen his status a million times.
He reached for it again anyway.
User I38-3NA5
Classification
Fighter
Credits
230
Energy
Threshold
152.3
1600
Agility
6 +2
Channel
5 +1
Endurance
11 +3
Recovery
9 +1
Strength
14 +2
At this point he almost knew the numbers off by heart, even if they’d changed so much in the last day.
He stretched forward and absently rubbed his leg. All his ‘Attributes’ were past five now. He still didn’t know what that meant. Phil had bandied around so many different theories by now that they all blended together. But some things he'd said had stuck with Heinz. Twenty percent. That was the most definite number Phil had ever given for the change from an attribute. With five in each attribute, was Heinz now one hundred percent better? One hundred percent more human? One hundred percent something else?
Pain made him scowl and look down at his leg. The blood had long since dried, but his absent rubbing had turned into scratching and bright red dots were now appearing against the flaky brown. Heinz moved his hand again, pulling the source of his pain away from his leg with a twinge. The scale’s silvery grey was hidden under dry blood, but Heinz rubbed that off as he turned it in his fingers. What was he supposed to do with this now? Did he leave it on the ground or try to find a bin? Was it like leaving a nail cutting behind or throwing a sock out the window as litter?
A disturbance in the rush and pain around him broke Heinz from his thoughts. He looked up and scanned the area, seeking the change out. Nothing stood out. The doctors and nurses scurried around, moving quicker now that a new shift had arrived from Kinmore to back them up. The wounded hadn’t moved. Most couldn’t.
Someone walked out from behind a minibus. She moved slowly, attempting to hide her hesitation but the jerkiness of her movements was clear to him. Rosa's face was slightly green.
Heinz watched her, wondering why she was here. She shouldn’t be. This wasn’t where she could help, where she was in control, where she was safe.
It took a long time for Rosa to spot him in the crowd. Not all that long by the clock, but Heinz felt every second of it as she slowly took in the area, her complexion growing pastier.
He stood as she started to make her way over. It was strange. He expected to be stiff. To feel some more effects from the battle beyond an itchy leg.
“Hi Beans,” Rosa said in an attempt to appear unfazed as she got close. It failed as she was unable to stop her eyes from darting to the side to look at a still body.
“Rosa.”
Rosa’s eyes flicked back to him, scanning him until she locked onto her leg. Her stance steadied slightly.
“Should you be standing?” Rosa asked, voice rising as concern overrode her hesitation.
“I’m fine,” Heinz replied with a wan smile. “What are you doing here Rosa?”
Rosa scanned his leg one last time before letting her eyes wander off to the sides again. “I came with the support from Kinmore..”
Heinz stepped around her, keeping a distance, Phil’s revelation from that morning floating around in his mind. “Come on, let’s walk.”
It was a sign of how shaken Rosa was by the field hospital that she followed without a word. They walked steadily away from the small encampment formed by circled vehicles until the smell wasn’t all encompassing, but only a faint reminder in the wind and the sounds of pain were muffled and distant amongst all the other noises as hundreds of people dealt with the aftermath of the stampede.
Rosa shook herself and exhaled. “Sorry, I don’t know what came over me, I just..” She trailed off and looked back at the field hospital. “Is it always like this? I’ve seen the hospital back in Kinmore and the.. the dead at the church, but..”
Heinz shrugged, tiredness wearing on him. He thought of Aiden’s farm, the failed clearing operation out west, Bandon. “Sometimes. This was the worst.”
Rosa swallowed and stared at the hospital again.
It was awful seeing Rosa like this. Heinz hadn’t realised it, but he was starting to compartmentalise his life. Rosa may organise the clearing missions, but did so from Kinmore. In his mind, she was safe there. He didn’t have to treat her like other reclaimers who might not come back. Even after the Swarm attacked the slipway by the outdoor centre, he hadn’t thought of her as at risk. Maybe because she hadn’t acted like she was until here and now.
“Rosa,” Heinz prodded gently. “What’s up? Why did you come here?”
Rosa twitched and fixed her vision on him. “A meeting. You need to be there for it too. Your group that is.”
Heinz rubbed at his face, crystals of salt falling from his eyebrows, evidence of his earlier struggles. “Right. right. Let’s go.”
Rosa took a second to get her bearings before setting off again, at a faster pace. Heinz had no trouble keeping up, moving leisurely and maintaining that distance from Rosa.
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It didn’t take long for Rosa to notice.
“Heinz, Why are you doing that?”
“Doing what?” Heinz tried.
Rosa stopped in her tracks. Heinz followed suit. She took a step towards him. He took a step back. His attempt was a lot more noticeable when they were standing still.
“That.” Rosa scowled at him. “You’re not hiding something are you?”
“No, I-“ Heinz leaned back as Rosa leaned in and sniffed. ”Stop that.”
Rosa sniffed the air one more time before leaning back. “You smell, but that hasn’t stopped you before.” She arched her eyebrow. “You never had an issue stomping into my office covered in river mud and stinking of the sea.”
“Rosa.” Heinz felt like rubbing his face again. Rosa took another step forward. He took a step back. “It’s the- Have you heard anything from the hospital about the rashes?”
Rosa’s eyes widened in surprise - fake surprise and she looked at him again, eyes lowering to-
“Rosa. Stop.”
Rosa clicked her tongue. “Fine, but you’ll stop too.” She sniffed and shook her head. “Rash. The man can lift a little more weight and suddenly he thinks he’s radioactive.”
“Rosa.”
She sniffed again and turned to walk away. “Come on Cinderella. Let’s find your shoe before the meeting.”
Heinz took one last look at his leg before groaning and following after her. He should have stayed at the hospital.
“Ah good, you’re here.” Aisling was the first to notice Rosa and Heinz’s arrival and as she spoke, the scattered conversations around the campervan came to a halt.
Not that many had been in progress. Eight people stood around the large motorhome, divided into small groups. Phil, Shane and Tara sat together at the back of the camper, resting more than anything else. Tara waved as she noticed him. Louise stood under a red awning hanging from the left side of the campervan with William and Robert. The two from Innishannon looked tired and Robert’s right arm was in a hastily thrown together sling, but both looked perturbed at being shaken from the deep discussion they'd been having over a map. Off to the left, not under the awning but close enough to hear the discussion stood Alisha and Christopher from Courtmacsherry.
It seemed Rosa and he were the last to arrive.
Rosa gave Aisling a small wave which, to Heinz's surprise, wasn't met with a scowl before striding towards the map table.
Aisling gave Heinz’s bloody leg and bare foot a quick glance - unsurprisingly, he and Rosa had failed to find a spare pair of shoes, before stepping past them to speak to the guard shadowing them. Rosa hadn’t had any trouble getting past the small perimeter setup around the campervan, but a guard had accompanied them in anyway.
Heinz returned a nod from Alisha, while not extending the courtesy to Christopher. The man had not left a good impression when he confiscated some of their supplies from Clogagh and Heinz wasn't above petty grudges right now.
Rosa had been tight-lipped on the subject of the meeting on the way here but, given the attendees - Two leaders from each town and Heinz group, it was clearly important.
Heinz made his way over to Phil, Shane and Tara. Aisling finished her conversation with the guard and joined Rosa, Louise, William and Robert under the awning.
“Nothing’s changed since I left?” Rosa asked.
Louise shook her head. “We’ve just been discussing the route. The national road is still our first choice but we’ve planned some alternative routes.”
“Great,” Rosa murmured.
“We narrowed down our priority for the zones as well,” Aisling said as she joined them. “The city centre is of course first, but Blackrock and Passage West are our next targets. We think a loop around will give better results.”
“All that’s left is to finalise the content of the messages,” William said. “The content isn’t as important as the message itself of course, but a brief overview of our status, what we know and what we’ve encountered is a good place to start.”
“What’s going on?” Heinz whispered, leaning towards Phil.
Phil shrugged, notebook in his hand, but pen still as he tried to figure that out too. “We got here just before you.” He murmured back.
Aisling turned towards them. It seems they weren't as quiet as they thought.
“We’ve skipped ahead,” Aisling said, stepping back from the map. “We should probably bring the most important people to the plan up to speed.”
There was a bit of chagrin on William’s face but Louise’s face was blank as she straightened up. Aisling eyed Heinz, suspiciously before looking at Rosa. Rosa blinked back at her like butter wouldn't melt in her mouth.
“I asked for everyone to keep this quiet until everything has been decided. We can’t distract people right now.” Aisling began. She gestured around her, at the two representatives from each town. “We all know you’ve passed the fifth threshold. We also know what that means - none of you aren’t the first to cross it, but you are the first full team to do it.” Aisling indicated to Alisha and Christopher. “A reclaimer from Courtmacsherry has confirmed that all of you are able to cross any of the system walls without restriction.”
Rosa shifted a paperweight off the map and held the map up. It was one of those old folded leaflet style maps, the kind you could find in glove boxes everywhere a decade and a half ago. Heinz could feel the soft paper under his fingertips just looking at it. It wasn't a big map, but no one here needed the big bold writing to recognise the route to Cork City.
“We want you to deliver messages to anyone you find on the way to Cork,” Rosa summarised.
As Aisling scowled at Rosa for the interruption, William stepped in.
“There’s no telling what you’ll find on the way there, let alone the city itself. You must retreat before you risk yourselves and I do not say that to be nice. It would be good to find more people and towns-” He looked around them, lingering on the field hospital in the distance. “-it is clear that we are stronger together, but understand that you five count among the most important people to our towns. What you have achieved has changed you and your status. At this point you are assets that we cannot afford to lose.”
Alisha stepped forward. “If there’s anything any of you need, weapons, armour, food - let us know and do not hold back. Two groups will accompany you tomorrow into I38-OL. They will escort you to the border so you may stay fresh.”
The six representatives shared looks but that seemed to be the end of their explanation. Heinz watched Louise, looking for some kind of hint or motivation, but she remained expressionless. This wasn’t a plan of hers. She only found out about the effects of the threshold today, you couldn’t fake a response like hers. Shane and her had also spent last night in Innishannon, restricting plotting time.
Frustrated at the distrust that was building again, he turned his eyes to his teammates. Whatever Louise had done, it changed little of his own plans. He’d already promised to help Shane’s search for his family. Getting the support of all the towns could only be a boon.
Phil had stopped writing in surprise. His hand was trembling slightly.
Tara was similarly shocked. Her eyes were wide and she’d stooped a little, withdrawing in a display of shyness that was uncharacteristic of her these days.
Shane scrunched his face and stepped forward. He picked up his axe, an old battered tool from his family’s farm that was suffering under Shane’s strength. Shane hadn’t treated it with the same respect as he had the sledgehammer they retrieved on the same day, but it was a reminder of his past and the promise that he had made on that day.
Shane held the axe out towards the representatives. “A Sledgehammer.”
Aisling exchanged a glance with Christopher. “I think we can sort that.”
Rosa was next, with a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes. “Heinz needs a shoe.”
Heinz stifled a groan as all eyes turned to him in confusion. He was about to shake his head and deny it, but stopped. His pant leg was torn to shreds along with the missing shoe. He was missing some of the plates from other sections of his armour too. “New boots and armour. A helmet too if possible.”
Louise was next, with a much more concise list of items. Some of which seemed to be too much for a trip to Cork, but Heinz supposed it was better to be safe than sorry.
Item after item was added by all five until they ran out of ideas. A guard was called and word sent out. The five of them were quickly escorted to a car to be driven back to Kinsale. One last stop planned before they were done for the night.
“We are in agreement then? The Rest II augment?”
Four faces nodded back at him.
It wasn’t the augment that Heinz had expected to get next, but it was what they had decided on as a team and what they could all afford. This would be the third augment they got together, and the second from the Rest class.
Heinz turned to Maggie. “You ready then?”
Maggie nodded, lifting her palm up. She looked tired. Her eyes twitched to stay awake and her skin was dry. The extra energy she’d gained from crossing thresholds seemed to have disappeared today.
Looking around the docks, Heinz had an idea as to why. Two unfamiliar faces stood at the edges of the system shop area, watching Maggie like hawks. They had ‘escorted’ her here to meet the group and from her peeved look, without giving her all that much of a choice.
Heinz took her offered hand before she could grab his own. He led her away a couple of metres away from the group. It wasn’t far enough for privacy, but his group seemed to get the idea. Phil started to ask everyone about their statuses.
“Everything okay?” Heinz asked.
Maggie made a face. “No, but it’ll be over soon either way. We’re close to getting it done but time is also running out. It’s.. it’s stressful.”
Heinz glanced over at the two watchers. “And there’s no issue with the-”
“Heinz,” Maggie interrupted, turning his hand over in hers under she had his cupped in her smaller hand. “I’m fine. My usual guards got pulled into your thing in Innishannon. These two are.. overeager, but they don’t mean any harm and it is helpful for me to be here.”
“If there are any issues..”
“I know, I know. Now come on, I'm short on time.”
User I38-3NA5 - Fighter-R
Purchase for 158 Credits from User I38-71UC?
It didn’t take long for Maggie to work through the group and soon they all had small metallic pills in their hands. None of them were going to take the augments here, too much risk of them falling asleep halfway home.
They were due to set off an hour before sunrise. With their new augment, they likely wouldn’t need much sleep, but all of them had some kind of injury after the day and all were in need of rest.
Maggie left first, two guards trailing behind her. She wasn’t the only one to leave the docks with an escort though. All five members of the group gained a tail, there to keep an eye on them and relay any further needs or issues that might come up.
Phil’s bodyguard seemed particularly distressed, suffering alongside Phil as Fiona shared what looked to be some cutting words over the pram she pushed.
Heinz wished his own guard luck. They wouldn’t have much fun minding a boat in the middle of a marina.