“Christ, that took ages.”

Heinz collapsed to the ground, letting his halberd fall to the side. A few seconds later, Tara crossed her legs and sat down beside him with a little more grace.

It’d been a long few days.

Control in zone I38-LZ has reached manageable threshold.

Dropping zone barrier.

It was finally over.

Heinz rolled his neck and groaned. Everything was sore, stiff or numb.

Tara gave up her attempts to sit upright and fell back until she was lying down.

“Why am I lying down in the mud?” She asked, echoing his groan.

“The mud is soft.” Heinz answered, staring up at the purple sky. Always purple. For the thousandth time he wondered why this colour. “In about.. ten minutes, the army will arrive and it’ll all be tarmac. Hard, cold tarmac.”

“Ten minutes is... unlikely.”

Heinz groaned once more and lifted his head just enough that this vision wasn’t all sky.

Archie tried his best attempt at a smile. It was a bit grim. His cheek twitched, a new scar and weariness straining the muscle. The grin came out lopsided and tired. It felt more right. Heinz didn’t think he could take a cheerful awake Archie right now.

“Five minutes is more likely. The trucks were getting ready when I made my report this morning. They’ll have left as soon as the wall fell.”

“Shit.” Heinz sighed, rolling onto his side. It only spread the mud around, but he was filthy already. His armour had been filthy for two days now. The mud had soaked through everything. It caked anywhere it could if he didn’t scrape it off every half hour. He’d long since given up on doing so.

Archie sagged, but he didn’t sit down. His armour, a mix of thick camouflage and some kind of bomb disposal outfit was still clean. Unlike the rest of them, he could swap out his outfit everyday. The army had some impeccable laundry service. “Don’t bother getting up. You two took the brunt of this fight. Louise is checking the path back to the road while Phil and Shane stand guard here. They want to head as soon as Louise arrives back.”

Tara sighed, but stuck her thumb up in the air. She didn’t bother moving otherwise, content to enjoy the rest while she could.

Heinz let his own head fall back. “Three minutes then,” He murmured.

Louise arrived back far too soon. Tara and he pulled themselves up and the group left the site of their last battle in the zone behind.

It hadn’t been a particularly memorable battle, just a few springers and a magical chair, but it’d been tough anyway. They were tired. They should have stopped safely an hour and a half ago, but they were so close. The other groups in the zone, from both the three settlements and the city, could have done it without them, but none of them wanted to give up. They’d started this and they wanted to see it through.

To Heinz’s dismay, Archie had been right. A convoy of trucks was waiting up the hill when they reached the road. The army didn’t take half measures when they cleared zones. As soon as the walls fell they immediately pushed into the centre of the zone and set up camp there. Holding the centre point made it easy for Reclaimers to locate support, but the aggressive push came with downsides.

Such a large number of people entering all at once was like ringing the dinner bells for swarm. Most kinds would be drawn to it, clumping up together, often in the path of reclaimer groups who were returning tired from their duty. Not all groups made it to the camp in one piece. The last mile home was the most dangerous.

The types of swarm that weren’t drawn to the new camp were also a danger. These were the sneakier or smarter kind. The Kelpies, the Slashers. Another set of reclaimers needed to stay by the entrance to the zone and make sure these couldn’t slip past. Having two full companies, one to rush and one to guard, of reclaimers standing ready for a zone to fall was a costly amount of effort, even for the army.

As the group walked the final stretch along the open road to the basecamp, Heinz fell back and stepped in beside Tara, who was in the centre of their formation as usual.

“Are you sure about this? You can still change your mind and go with Phil.”

Tara tried to glare at him, but the effect was ruined by the short glance at Phil’s back that preceded it and the bags under her eyes.

“I’m sure. I need to do this.”

“You know it’s going to upset your parents.”

Tara’s glare intensified.

“Not in that way. Phil will be returning alone. They’ll see him coming back, and they won’t see you. It'll hurt.”

Tara hesitated, and turned away from him. She spun her axe around in a circle as she thought.

It wasn’t the first time it’d been brought up. Phil had during the planning meeting when Tara declared she would be returning to the city after the zone fell. They weren’t going to stay in the city for long. It would only be an extra few hours, a day at most, before they returned home with Shane’s family and the rest of those trapped in the city when the System arrived.

That could be an agonisingly long time when you were waiting for your family to come home safe.

“No,” She said finally. “I’m going to bring them home too. I- I didn’t have the best reasons yesterday, but today I do. I can’t go back. It would be abandoning all of them.” She waved her free hand at him to forestall him. “I know, I know we’ve done a lot to help already. It would be easy to say that’s enough, but I don’t want to. I want to be able to go home and just relax. I don’t want to have to think about them, or feel bad about being home.”

Tara had started to ramble towards the end, but when she turned back to Heinz, she was determined.

“Alright,” He said. “We’ll be glad to have you, it’s just we would also be happy to know you were heading back too.”

Tara’s face turned a little pinched but she nodded once before turning back to face the camp ahead.

Heinz stepped back into place in the formation, accepting a grateful look from Phil as he did. He might not have succeeded, but it was something they’d all wanted to ask.

Any conversation held within fifty metres of another was no longer as private as it used to be, but over the last few weeks together they’d learned to try to give each other a semblance of privacy when they could . Very little was actually private when you spent this much time together, but it was just easier this way.

They didn’t linger long at the centre camp. There was still clearing work to be done, but their part was over. They shared a quick goodbye with Phil - no one had the energy for anything else, before loading up into a truck and leaving him behind. A contingent from the three settlements, from home, had arrived at the southern half of the zone. Phil would be linking up with them soon enough.

With Phil gone there was room in the car. Given Archie’s tiredness, another soldier joined them to drive them back to the city. There was a bit of negotiation about the process. Even as Archie yawned, he was hesitant to give up the keys and the new soldier just as reluctant to let their filthy selves into her truck. They sorted it out quickly when Shane gave up on waiting and loaded into the truck anyway.

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Louise and he fell asleep in the back on the way.

Out of everyone the two of them had been pushing themselves the most over the last few days. Shane hadn’t been sleeping well since finding his niece and her family, volunteering to take watch duty when he could and lying awake when he couldn’t. Louise spent her time out of the swarm zones organising and negotiating.

Heinz helped where he could, but he was needed less and less after I38-42 fell. With one swarm zone in the way, any Reclaimer could take the dangerous trip across if they were brave enough. Once a steady stream of messages were being passed back and forth, he focused on clearing the last of the way.

When they arrived at the city they were escorted back to their conference room turned barracks. A soldier told them that the clearing effort was still ongoing, and that the cultivators travelling back to Kinmore were preparing. They also informed them politely that they were expected at the city hall in two hours for one last meeting before they left. It wasn’t a request. Heinz was too tired to care. As friendly as Archie was, the group still had an armed escort whenever they were in the city. He closed and locked the door behind him.

There wasn’t much talk as they all found a bed to collapse on.

“..so thank you for your efforts in helping the city.” Mayor Brian finished.

Heinz wasn’t sure what he expected from their last meeting in the city hall. A discussion on which route the convoy of cultivators would take. A few last messages they were to bring to the three settlements. The general revealing that it’d all been a trap and he now had the high ground.

A speech and an award ceremony had not been on his list of possible outcomes.

He stood stiffly as an aide stepped forward and handed him a small frame. There was a fancy looking piece of paper inside with a crest and a big stamp at the bottom. Mud was caked to his clothes. A piece fell off and shattered against the ground as he took the frame.

‘What the hell is this?’

A glance to the side showed that Shane was just as uncomfortable. He was scowling at the frame and holding it with two fingers like it might bite him. Tara was wide eyed, but she held the frame correctly with one forearm underneath while her other hand kept it steady, like she was showing it off to the room. It seemed more out of habit than effort right now.

Only Louise maintained her composure as she took the frame. She stepped forward and thanked the assembled.. councilmen? Heinz wasn’t sure what to call them. They were all wearing the same red robe, though underneath some had clothes as dirty as his own. Only the general had his normal uniform on.

“Now, I hear I will be seeing you again soon, but until then, please keep yourself and our neighbours safe. We wish those good people who have been guests of our city a safe return home.” Mayor Brian finished to a round of applause.

Shane wouldn’t meet Heinz’s eye, still holding the frame at arms length, but he managed to catch Tara. He mouthed a question at her. She frowned back and gave a short shrug.

Louise didn’t turn back, but he knew she had some answers.

It was an odd parade of vehicles that lined up before the city hall. The majority were city buses, borrowed to carry the cultivators, but an eclectic mix of personal cars and trucks sneaked in too. With no homes in the city, the teleportees had clung to whatever belongings they had and the vehicles looked in better shape than Heinz had expected. It was a wide variety that reminded him of Kinmore’s clearing convoy, and made him miss his own van.

The parade wasn’t without a military presence however. Three military trucks would escort them to Kinmore, one in front and the other two behind. They would also carry councillors to act as an envoy to the settlements.

There was another speech by the mayor, this time amplified by speakers for the parade. Heinz fought not to sleep through it. Once it was finally over, the assembled people scrambled to return to their vehicles. They were likely more eager than him to get home.

Heinz stretched and picked up his halberd. Louise and Tara were already on the way to their car at the front of the convoy. They would be acting as backup in case something got through the net of reclaimers securing the way. Shane was still beside him, stock still. He hadn’t moved since the speech ended.

“Shane?” Heinz prompted him. Surely the fisherman hadn’t fallen asleep during the speech. His eyes were still open.

Shane showed no sign of hearing him.

Heinz followed his eyes into the crowd. A woman stared back at them, stern and impenetrable. A man beside her held a little girl to his chest as he tried to catch her attention.

A heartbeat passed.

She looked away, turning to her husband and then both disappeared into the crowd.

It took a while longer for Shane to shift.

“Want to talk about it?” He asked gently.

Shane harrumphed and pushed past him, heading towards the car. He didn’t bother to slow down or wait for Heinz.

“I can see the relation.” Heinz muttered, starting after him.

The drive was tense, but uneventful.

Twice the radio crackled with a sighting of swarm, and they got ready, preparing to jump out of the car and run ahead to deal with whatever it was as the convoy slowed. Twice they were called off as another, closer group dealt with it.

The convoy couldn’t stop. Any break was an accident waiting to happen. All it would take was one person leaving their car and a flood would be unleashed. In the open they’d be sitting ducks, and corralling everyone back into the vehicles would take longer than it should. They couldn’t stop.

They didn’t. In an hour they crossed through to I38-OL, just up the road from Halfway and officially on the Innishannon side.

It was such a short time that it put Heinz on edge. It took them half a day to cross to the city. It took days to clear the area. For the trip back through to only take an hour... He was waiting for the other shoe to drop.

It didn’t.

The slowest progress came in Innishannon. The convoy stopped in the middle of the town and let out the locals. They were met with tears and cheers by their friends and family. He was dreading another round of speeches or a fuss to get those from Kinmore and Courtmacsherry back on the buses, but for once everyone seemed in agreement. There was little fuss as those from Innishannon unloaded their meagre possessions from the baggage trucks. Everyone else waited anxious in their seats. People just wanted to get home.

The convoy split at Timoleague. A third left towards Courtmacsherry, including the second last military truck. The trip from there took no time at all.

Unlike in Innishannon, there was a welcoming ceremony waiting for them in Kinmore.

Aisling, the harbour master, and Lorcan, the rugby player who seemed to be her second these days, stood on a stage in the field beside the petrol station. Whatever they’d planned quickly became pointless as doors were flung open before the vehicles even stopped. A flood rushed out and the tide rose to meet them.

“I think that’s us done then,” Heinz said, looking at his group, his team. “Meet tomorrow?”

They nodded back, just as eager to see their friends and family and get out of each other’s hair as he was.

He pulled open the door and dived into the waves of people.

He found Rosa between the petrol station and the stage. She was hanging back from both events, not related closely enough to any of the teleportees and not wanting to be part of whatever the stage was for. To his amusement, she'd picked up two reclaimer bodyguards while he was gone. They spotted him before she did, and gave stoic nods of acknowledgement that made him laugh harder inside. Rosa was going to tear that kind of behaviour to shreds.

“Rosa!”

She gave him a big smile as she spotted him in the crowd, however when he got close enough for a hug she held up her hands to shoo him back.

“Not a hope. You know the rule. You may stomp into my office covered in river mud and stinking like the sea, but you keep your distance.” She shook her head. “Are you a toddler? How can you go to the city and come back covered in mud?”

Heinz laughed out loud. “It’s good to see you too. And toddlers don’t get awards or whatever this thing is.” He shoved the frame at her.

Her eyebrows crumpled as she stared at the award with bemusement. “I don’t know, looks like a participation award to me.” She looked up at him and blinked innocently. “You know I have all those certificates back at the office. If you wanted one you could have just said.”

He took the adult route of not responding to such childish remarks. It was easier to make a face at her instead.

“How’s everyone?”

Rosa hesitated.

“Rosa,” Heinz said, stilling. “What’s happened?”

Rosa flinched then scowled at him. “Don’t look at me like that. And put that halberd down. You will not be going all Taken on us. The Delegates have been put on lockdown. Word about Innishannon’s barrier got around, and people haven’t taken it well. Nothing’s happened, but tempers are high.”

Heinz looked at his halberd in surprise. He hadn’t even noticed he’d tightened his grip or lifted it. He hadn’t meant to. It was reflex, habit. He was too on edge.

Suddenly he just wanted to be home, to be back on the boat, on the waves.

“Anything I can do?”

“No. It’s a countdown at the moment, and the delegates aren’t budging.” She shook her head. “All we get is ‘soon’.”

He closed his eyes and took a breath. Why couldn’t it just be simple. They’d returned, with a crowd of missing people too. Why couldn’t it just be that.

A light brush on his shoulder made him open his eyes. Rosa patted him once more. “Don’t worry. Everyone’s going to be too busy thinking about Cork for anything to happen. Tomorrow can wait. Today, I’ve got several cubes and something that came from a packet waiting for us if you can believe it. Want to eat it at yours?”

Heinz tried for a smile. “Sure.”

Tomorrow could wait.