“Shite, you haven’t been out here all night have you?” Heinz covered his mouth seconds later. Too late as his voice echoed out over the water.
In his surprise, he’d forgotten that while it was later then he’d been getting up recently, it was still very early in the morning. With all the yachts now in the marina - newly launched from the boatyard, the marina was full to bursting. No doubt he’d just woken a lot of people up. In his defence it was growing harder and harder to notice the time difference. The darkness he’d always associated with night didn’t really exist anymore. A silvery grey world has become more comfortable and less noticeable with every day.
Conor, Heinz’s guard from yesterday, just smiled at his outburst. The spindly man shrugged, long hair shifting as his eyes easily tracking Heinz, likely also in the silvery light from the Vision augment. He leaned closer to the boat to stage whisper. “I got here about half an hour ago. Someone else took over for the night.”
“Right,” Heinz whispered back. He took a look around and winced as he saw lights around them starting to flicker on. Gingerly he stepped across Rennziege until he had the short step down to the marina finger. Rennziege rocked behind him as the marina sank. “Let’s go then shall we?”
He had no desire to be around when the local residents came looking for the source of the disturbance.
Conor smirked and led the way. It was a short walk to the petrol station, and they spent it in silence. Conor wasn’t unfriendly, but he had the definite aura of someone who was here to do his job and that alone. The serious mood as they arrived made Tara’s welcoming wave all the friendlier.
Tara said something quickly to her parents, before striding over towards him. Tara’s mother called after her, but Tara pretended not to hear it in a feat of acting worth any kindergartener.
“So eager to escape already?”
Tara groaned. “They haven’t let me out of their sight since we got back yesterday. They watched me while I slept! I woke up and Mom was standing over me. It’s getting creepy.”
Heinz winced and stopped himself from looking over at her parents. That was particularly bad.
“They’re just worried. You wouldn’t believe what some of the parents at the outdoor centre do. One time we found that a parent had put cameras, speakers and a GPS into their kid’s backpack. They were terrified we were going to lose their child and he'd be stuck somewhere all alone.” Heinz began to stretch as he looked around the petrol station. The area was a hive of activity, all centred around a minibus. Tara and he weren’t the first to arrive, but Louise was talking to Aisling and Lorcan, and Shane was surrounded by Mike and his team. A small table with coffee and tea supplies caught his eye. He wasn’t cold but..
“Sssssh!” Tara hissed. She shivered. “Please don’t give them any ideas. It wouldn’t work but I’m sure they’d try to insist on it anyway. Everything would be so much easier if they-” Tara paused and hunched a bit. “Sorry. I probably shouldn't be complaining to you about this, should I? You said that your..”
“Don't worry. It happened a long time ago.” Heinz assured her. He smiled. “Plus, while it’s not a lot of fun to deal with this yourself, it’s very entertaining to watch someone else suffer.”
Tara eyed him carefully for a second to confirm she hadn't put her foot in it before scowling. “I should set them on you. My poor guard barely left alive last night - they kept hounding him for equipment. I’m lucky I didn’t arrive pulling a cart full behind me.”
Heinz pulled at his own new armour. It was mercifully free of Rosa-related pranks, a nice plain green jacket with all the fibreglass plates sewn inside. He’d also received proper pants instead of the previous chaps. The workshop wasn't yet making pants en-mass due to added complexity, but a pair of workmen's pants had been dug out from somewhere for him. He was now fully outfitted in the ‘Brigandine’ armour as the workshop was starting to call it. Those weren’t the only additions to his outfit either. His shin guards had been replaced with long metal plates made from beaten corrugated iron. Someone from Courtmacsherry had delivered them along with a pair of slightly worn safety boots. The steel capped boots came up to his ankle and were a little uncomfortable against his raw skin but they did make him feel safer.
Tara shifted her own breastplate made from the beaten iron. She had received a copy of Aisling’s plate armour, the less polished kind that Kate had been wearing. It was awkwardly fastened over a brigandine jacket.
“I wanted a few things, but Dad actually asked for a suit of armour. I don’t know if I should be more shocked at the fact they asked or that I got it,” Tara complained.
Heinz gestured over at Shane. “You weren’t the only one.”
Dick, Mike and Sean had Shane hemmed into a wall. They all stood arms crossed, speaking occasionally. If you didn’t know them you’d think they were trying to keep Shane away from everyone else instead of protecting him. Shane’s brigandine armour had been replaced by plate armour like Tara’s, but instead of thin beaten metal, his looked like it was made from solid ingots. His heavy hatch door shield built on the look, but it was the new weapon by his side that gave it a sinister lean. Shane held the sledgehammer by its head instead of the long plastic handle. One half of the head was a thick chunk of metal larger than Heinz’s fist, the other ended in a dome shaped point.
“I guess it could be worse,” Tara said absently, looking the same way. “I’d be miserable if I had to wear all that.”
Heinz noted that she was tapping her own axe against the ground as she said that.
The sound of feet against pavement made them all turn back to the road into town. A minute or so later, a red faced Phil accompanied by a guard of his own arrived. Phil gave them a rushed wave before making his way over to Louise. Phil had opted for a new set of armour like Heinz’s but with some additional plate for the outside of his arms. It seemed as always, their group would be wearing a hodgepodge of different things.
Not long after that they were all loaded into the minivan. Dick’s team of three sat with them while their five guards held on to the outside of the minivan. A lot of creaking and chugging later, it became clear that the minivan’s suspension and struggling engine would be a problem. It took about five minutes but another vehicle was sourced for the group of guards without much fuss.
Then they were off.
The drive was quick and uneventful. They breezed through Innishannon, the bridge guard already waiting for them when they passed. From there it was past the crossroads where they had faced the stampede. The encampment set up at the crossroads hadn't been removed yet. Vans remained at the top of the hill as reclaimers used it for a staging point to clean up the surrounding zones.
Their convoy didn’t pull in yet, but they did swap the order of vehicles with the small security car taking point. From here on was contested land and the system reflected that.
Zone Control - I38-GX
Swarm Growth
30%
Local
60%
It was disheartening, and Heinz hadn’t even been the one to clear this zone. He wasn’t looking forward to travelling past Halfway and into I38-GY, a zone he had fought to clear.
The drive grew tenser. Out the window they saw the odd Swarm in the surrounding fields, but they didn’t stop. Oddly enough it was always the smaller, weaker Swarm that they hadn’t seen in a while. Lizards darted between cars as they passed. Snakes lay in wait undercover. Phil and Louise pointed out suspicious patches of grass that had no business being on the tarmac.
“Thank god we took down that Factory when we did,” Phil said. “If it had hung back or gone around the town..”
“Swarm are rarely alone,” Louise finished, gazing out the window. “They’re searching for more of them from the crossroads base. It’s why the site still exists.”
And with that lovely thought about what might await them, the convoy pulled in a few minutes out of Halfway. No progress had been made on clearing the road in the aftermath of the stampede. The passing Swarm had also done a number on the old ‘path’ as they travelled towards Innishannon. The convoy would be proceeding on foot from here.
Conor called a small meeting as both cars turned home.
“My team will lead the way to I38-OL. We'll stay about 500 metres ahead clearing the Swarm. Mike’s team will shadow you. We expect to run into some swarm, but please leave our teams to deal with them unless we specifically call for your help. Our task is to get you to the northern wall as fresh as possible.” Conor took a pause. “Any questions?”
Heads shook.
“Mike? Are you all ready?”
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Mike nodded. “All set.”
Conor’s team of five took off. They split up, two people to each side of the road while Conor ran down the centre. They weren’t silent, if anything the two of them at the back were trying to make noise as they knocked the hilt of their knives against their metal armour.
“This is weird,” Heinz said, trying to voice his building unease.
“Right?” Tara shifted and scratched one leg with the other.
“It’s like a knock off presidential visit,” Phil murmured.
Dick snorted. “Don’t expect us to jump in front of any bullets. Consider yourselves like the presidents of the local knitting club.”
Louise flicked a knife into the air and caught it as it spun down. “Knitting.”
“Close enough,” Mike agreed gruffly. “Today you’re going to thread a needle.” He sighed, rolling his neck before gesturing down the road. “Conor is far enough ahead. Let’s go.”
Heinz followed, unsure if he should be groaning at the possibly rehearsed pun, or bracing himself for what was to come.
With a forward team dealing with anything lingering on the road, and Dick, Mike and Sean forming a protective triangle around them, the going was easy. They stopped only at the northern section of I38-GY, where the border to I38-OL was. Conor’s team stepped forward first, passing through the now non existent wall and pausing for a short while before returning to the group.
“Local control is at zero as expected, but the swarm growth is also lower. We’ll proceed as before.” Conor informed them before setting off with his group again.
Heinz checked for himself as they crossed the line in the ground.
Zone Control - I38-OL
Swarm Growth
60%
Local
0%
Before Heinz even knew it, they were at I38-OL's north western zone wall. Conor's team passed around water while Mike’s group prepared themselves. After a quick discussion with Conor, Mike's group stepped up to the zone wall. Mike stepped forward first and placed his hand against the roiling purple. After a second he pushed against it. The purple wisps remained as solid as rock.
Even if the Swarm had broken down the wall, the system did not count the zone as cleared.
“So this is it,” Heinz said, picking up his pack. They were on their own from here.
Mike stepped back from the wall and faced them. He nodded, but his attention was focused on Shane. “We leave you here. Find them and bring them back, you hear?”
Conor stepped forward from his group. “A camp will be set up here once the zone is cleared. Should you need to retreat you can find help here.”
“Noted.” Louise said, pulling a knife out. “Focus on clearing this zone. If we find another town, we’ll want to open the road quickly.”
Heinz, Phil and Tara said their quick goodbyes and stepped up to the wall. Shane lingered a little longer, sparing the time to share a moment with Mike and Dick. It wasn’t much, a few awkward pats and lingering eye contact, but Shane seemed lighter as he stepped into place at the head of the group. He didn’t look back or wait for a signal before stepping forward and placing a hand against the wall. The purple collapsed under his hand and Shane disappeared through. One by one, the group followed in formation.
As purple wisps cleared from his vision, Heinz levelled his halberd and scanned the left horizon.
“Clear.” The surroundings were bare and apocalyptic. All the more so in the rising sun’s clear light, but there was no movement in sight.
More ‘clears’ rang out until it was Louise’s turn. “All Clear,”
Heinz reached for the zone control.
Zone Control - I38-LZ
Swarm Growth
75%
Local
0%
“No local control,” Heinz said with a sigh. It wasn’t unexpected. If another settlement had reached this zone, Mike and the other would have been able to cross through, but it was still upsetting in a way.
“We follow the road, light run but we kill anything in the way. ” Louise said, lowering her blades. “If we can avoid Swarm, we do. We aren’t here to clear, just to get through as fast as possible. Okay?”
Heinz scanned the road. It was a mess of cars as bad as the road through I38-OL and Bandon's town centre. They would need to weave through the cars and watch every corner for lingering swarm. It wasn’t going to be a relaxing trip.
“I said Okay?” Louise repeated, tense.
A slow chorus of ‘okay’s and ‘yes’s went around.
“Let’s go.” Shane took off, less an agile runner than a wrecking ball, but leading the way all the same.
“Christ!”
Heinz battered the creature off him and crushed it underfoot as another Lizard dove at him. The bounty flicked into his mind and was dismissed just as quickly as he watched for more movement.
Alongside him, the others had slowed too, readying for a fight. A heartbeat passed. Then another.
Heinz relaxed, shaking his shoulders at another jump scare. “These things are the worst.”
Behind him Louise smirked but didn’t argue. She was dealing with the Swarm’s random attacks a lot better than he was. Her quick reflexes let her catch the creatures well before they were an issue to her. Occasionally she even caught sight of them before they attacked from all the hiding spots created by cars.
Heinz wasn’t so lucky. He was sick of the frequent attack by the small creatures which usually got too close for his halberd to be used, if not onto him. Their progress through the zone had slowed to a series of jerky stop starts as after each encounter they prepared for an ambush. At this point he was nearly hoping for the larger Swarm.
“I think at this point we can guarantee that there’s a Factory in this zone,” Phil said, scanning the sides of the road.
“We can’t deal with it,” Louise cut in quickly, covering what they were all thinking. “It’s good information to know but we can’t stop.”
“The zone will be infested soon,” Phil said grimly, not arguing but not supporting what Louise was saying either.
Shane grunted and started walking forward again.
At the next barrier they took a break to grab water, eat a snack and rest in general. The constant attacks had worn away at them, even if they’d only encounter larger packs of Swarm twice. For better or worse there had been no sign of the Factory, only more hints to its presence.
They found a nice spot at the base of an old railway bridge that towered over the road. The old rusted steel lines cast a shadow over the group. The bridge had been a crown of a railway system that connected the country together, from north to south. In the 1950’s the West Cork railway was closed to make way for roads, a blow against public transport that Ireland never really recovered from. Now this crown was a scattered crumb, a sign of mistakes in the past.
Rested and with the sun now steady in the sky, they prepared to cross to the next zone. Shane went first, pushing through eagerly. Heinz was milliseconds behind.
“Clear.”
“Clear.”
Their calls were quick, likely too quick, but all of them were eager to check that system sensation that was ever prescient in their minds.
Only Louise lingered, refusing to make the all clear call too soon.
Heinz tightened his grip on his halberd. From where he stood, you wouldn’t realise this zone was any different. Trees bordered the road, skeletons of what they once were, but like any other road they’d travelled on today. The purple wall rose behind him, above and off to the sides past where the eye could see. From sight it was no different, but maps told a different story. Past the skeletal trees, roughly a kilometre to the north east lay part of Cork City.
“All Clear.”
Zone Control - I38-42
Swarm Growth
80%
Local
10%
Heinz took a breath, equal parts disappointed and relieved. The zone hadn’t been cleared, the Swarm controlled it. However, someone had been here. There was a settlement nearby.
“Where do we go next?” Phil asked.
Shane took a seat, shaking slightly. Louise didn’t answer Phil, moving to place a hand on Shane’s shoulder instead.
Tara stepped forward too. “This doesn’t change anything Shane. They might have already left the party zone - or they could have been teleported to the next settlement!”
Heinz looked at Phil questioningly. Understanding was dawning Phil’s face.
“His family." Phil mouthed at him silently. “Party spot in this zone.”
Shane shuddered and waved a hand to shoo Louise and Tara. Forming a fist with his free hand he smacked the pavement and pushed himself up. His eyes were closed when he turned to Louise. “Where next?”
Louise let her hand fall to her side. “East. We can follow the road, take a right at the junction and quickly cut across the zone. 10 minutes.”
Shane opened his eyes and set off down the road, faster now.
“Stop here!” Phil hissed as the roundabout came into sight.
Heinz slowed, moving towards Shane and dropping to a crouch to mimic Phil. Shane reluctantly did the same.
“Did you see something?” Louise asked, briskly.
Phil wiggled himself forward until he was behind an aged car. He grabbed the tarnished bumper and pulled. With a crack it came off and revealed the rusted and tarnished underneath. Phil jabbed his finger at the poor condition.
“What?” Heinz asked.
Phil blinked and pointed at the numberplate, ‘221-C-9159221’.
Heinz frowned, another question on his lips - then it hit him. The car looked twenty years old, not one.
“The cars closer to the roundabout are worse. All the plastic isn’t too bad, but the metal looks eaten away,” Phil said, hand inching towards his backpack.
“A new kind of Swarm?” Tara whispered.
Louise stood up. “We keep going. If we find unknown Swarm we avoid or retreat.” She tapped her blades. “If this new kind eats metal we can’t use our weapons against it.”
They set off again, past the now obviously decaying vehicles and structure. Phil was right about the damage being worse closer to the roundabout. When Heinz attempted to push a suv, the plastic and metal crumbled to pieces under his hand.
More unsettling was the total lack of movement on the road. In the five minutes it took to reach the eastern wall, they didn’t encounter a single Swarm.
Heinz hoped they’d chosen the right direction to find the nearby settlement. An awkward side effect of being able to pass through the barriers unrestricted was that they couldn’t check without actually crossing themselves.
The barrier fading beneath Heinz’s hands and he pushed through, halberd smoothly moving into a ready position. He stepped forward, following in Shane’s wake to make space for Louise coming in behind him.
Together they scanned the area. None of them spoke.
About twenty people stared back, shock and fear evident in their faces.