Heinz jogged down the road as the first drops of rain began to fall.

He wasn’t sure who sped up first but the cursing from Tara and Phil was a good indicator. Their jog turned into a run which turned into a flat out sprint as drops turned into a downpour.

As they ran the ache in his shins dulled. Heinz split away from the group. His pumping arms were sending his halberd swinging and he didn’t want to hit anyone.

A complaint echoed out behind him. He turned to watch Phil shooting past him and taking the lead. Heinz laughed as Phil turned to give him a smug smile. That disappeared as Louise raced past both of them. It was on.

Heinz caught up to Phil while he was distracted by Louise’s passing. They chased Louise, neck and neck.

Tara joined them on Phil’s right.

Their feet fell in sync, sending water flying as the rain poured down around them. For a moment they were in harmony, splashing in tune. The road fell away beneath them and their surroundings shot past.

Tara pulled ahead and Phil was spurred on. Heinz was left behind as the two made a last dash for Louise.

They split up as they approached her, Phil moving to her left and Tara to her right. Louise looked at both of them as they drew even. She let out a laugh and took off. Her feet barely seemed to touch the ground as she rocketed away from both of them.

Phil chased but he had reached his top speed already. Tara dropped back to Heinz panting. He slowed down as she did and they settled into a more comfortable pace. Shane joined them with an irritated grunt a minute later.

Louise and Phil were waiting under a tree before the turnoff for the school. The rain had slowed to a drizzle.

“How fast were you?” Heinz asked as they came to a stop. He put both hands on his head and tried to steady his breathing.

“A little over 16 minutes.” Phil said with a grin. He pointed to Louise and then at them. “17 minutes. 19 minutes.”

Louise waved a hand at Phil. She was breathing heavily and stretching out.

Heinz raised his eyebrows and gave Phil a thumb up before starting to stretch himself. Each zone was about 5k wide. 16 minutes was a very quick time.

“What time are you going to the Shop later Heinz?” Louise asked and switched stretch.

“5:30?” Heinz guessed. “Gives me an hour forty to clean up and drag Rosa away.”

He frowned. “Actually, does anyone want to swing by where the wall used to be west of town? I want to see if whatever that Rhino-Boar attacked is still there.”

Louise and Tara shook their heads but Phil looked pained. Phil needed to get home but anything related to the System was like catnip to him.

“I’ll come.” Shane said. He was the only one not stretching out. He turned to Phil. “Go to your family. We’ll take photos.”

Phil and Tara agreed to meet Louise and Heinz by the marina to go to the shop together.

Heinz and Shane had some trouble finding the spot where the walls had intersected previously. They knew it was north of the gardening centre and south east of the school but that left them a lot of ground to cover.

Shane spotted a gap carved through a house first and they left the road to follow that line instead. It ended in someone’s back garden where three lines of disturbed soil met at a mound of dirt.

“I don’t think this was part of the landscaping anyway.” Heinz said as he climbed up the mound. The dirt was strangely loose but he could see where other footprints had compacted the soil.

“Shovel marks.” Shane said and pointed to the right side of the mound where someone had dug into it.

“I wonder if they found anything.” Heinz said before he reached the top of the mound. “Huh.”

At the top and centre of the mound was a circular hole. The hole continued down and into the darkness. Heinz took his phone and flash light out. Even with both on he couldn’t see very far down.

Shane walked up and dropped a pebble in. They waited quietly but heard nothing.

“I doubt there was anything here for them.” Shane said with a frown.

Heinz took some photos for Phil but neither of them were eager to dig into the mound. They left the garden, glad that no one had been home for their snooping and walked into town.

“How many credits do you have now?” Shane asked abruptly as they passed the first of Kinmore’s terraced housing.

Heinz reached for his status.

User I38-3NA5

Credits

118

Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

Classification

Fighter-R

Energy

Threshold

324.5

700

It had become easier to ignore and manipulate the messages with the latest threshold. Tara proved to be the best of them at it, which led to Phil mumbling something about UX and age.

“118 why?”

“And Energy?” Shane continued, ignoring the question.

“324.5.” Heinz answered and raised his eyebrows.

Shane exhaled and flipped his sledgehammer over on his shoulder. They walked past an intersection before he continued.

“68 and 239.9.”

“Oh.” Heinz said. Quite a gap had grown in a day and one assignment. “You’re just getting used to not having a shield. You should pop by the outdoor-”

Heinz trailed off. He wasn’t sure if Rosa would be all too happy to see Shane. She had helped him buy things from the Shop but asking people to prioritise Shane over other jobs?

Shane grunted in acknowledgement before speaking.

“I have an idea. I’ll be fine. I’ll come to the Shop later too.”

Heinz left the marina with a nod to the guard.

Today was the first time he got in without an interrogation. The guard had blanched at the sight of him when he had appeared drenched and carrying the halberd.

Heinz wasn’t upset at the guards. He appreciated that they were still keeping an eye out even after the diesel thieves had been caught. It kept his home safe even while he was away.

People were still wary of each other in the streets. They travelled in groups that kept their distance from any others. Anyone walking alone had their head on a swivel.

His path from the wall intersection to the marina had taken him down the main roads and through the town square. A group of people in tidy town vests were cleaning up the area and carting the rubble away in wheelbarrows. The burnt notice boards had been taken down and not replaced. The boards at the Shop or Rosa’s must have taken their place. There was no sign of the teleportees that used to live in the hall.

Rosa was wrapped up in a meeting when he arrived at the outdoor centre. Heinz took a glance at the notice boards but he didn’t see anything new. Phil had yet to bring the information they collected.

Heinz hopped the gate into the centre and joined in the cleanup there. Like the morning before, Heinz became a distraction. Unlike the morning before, it was cleanup time and everyone had plenty of work to do and children to distract them.

Heinz put them out of mind and focused on working.

“You made it back then? And in one piece.” Rosa patted his back and picked up some paddles herself. “I count these you know. No pocketing one.”

“Ha. Ha.” Heinz said but he grinned at her and ignored the throbbing in his shins. “How was your day?”

Rosa frowned. “There was another fire. It looks like we have an arsonist.”

Heinz winced.

“And that’s not the only fire we put out today.” Rosa said and gave him a tight smile but her heart wasn’t in the pun.

Heinz held the outdoor centre’s door open for Rosa with his food and waited till she was inside before speaking.

“I think I might have another possible fire for you. Is your office empty?”

Rosa sank her head onto the table between her arms and let out a muffled scream.

Heinz stopped a stack of booklets from falling and waited for her to finish. The news about Courtmacsherry was never going to go well with anyone.

Rosa began to drum her fingers against the table when she lifted her head.

“Assholes! The lot of them.” Rosa thumped the desk before elaborating at Heinz’s unspoken question. “I saw several council members at a meeting today. It was a last minute thing after the delegates set up a tax without telling anyone. Aisling was insistent that the delegates move in together or leave with a ‘bodyguard’ that the council would provide. I thought it was ridiculous but now...”

“Tax?” Heinz asked.

Rosa waved him away. “I’ll explain to the rest of your group on the way to the Shop. Right now I need to get someone to visit the delegates and push for those council bodyguards.”

Rosa stood and rubbed her face. “Why couldn’t they have just told us.”

“There’s one more thing.” Heinz began. He launched into a description of the Rhino-Boar encounter.

“That I did know of. You weren’t the first to see the swarm attacking the walls but no one has described the wall flickering like that. One more thing to warn people about.” Rosa said at the end of his story. She patted his shoulder as he winced. “Thank you for letting me know. I appreciate you having my back.”

Rosa walked passed to the door.

“One more thing.” Heinz called after her. He held the stack of booklets up. Each had a name on the front and contained records of the child’s progress . ”You’re still filling these out? Even now?”

Rosa gave him her first energetic smile so far. “Of course. If the kids put in the work they get recognised.” She left with a wave.

A cry of “Beans!” broke Heinz from his thoughts. He turned to see Emma waving fiercely with one hand while Fiona held the other. Heinz waved back and walked over.

“How are you today? Thank you again for the beans Emma.”

Emma giggled and grabbed hold of her mother. Fiona gave him a strained smile. She was lightly rocking a buggy with her other hand.

“Phil’s printing some things while we wait for Liam.”

“He’s enjoying helping out then?”

“Yes. He comes here in the evenings. He’s got school in the mornings.” Fiona kept her sentences curt as she spoke to him.

“Me too! At the big school with Liam.” Emma announced.

Her attempt to describe her new school dissolved into giggles as Phil appeared and picked her up. Liam followed him and gave Heinz a nod.

“Hello Heinz. Shop time is it?”

Heinz checked his phone. “Still a little bit left. We can leave when Rosa arrives.”

“Will you mind your sister on the way back?” Phil asked Liam.

Liam sighed and held out his hands. Phil passed a slightly reluctant Emma over.

“You’ll be back by 6:15pm, yes?” Fiona asked but it was more of an order.

Phil nodded and hugged his wife. Fiona was reluctant to let go and Phil whispered something to her as Heinz and Liam waited awkwardly.

Phil sighed when they disappeared from view.

The two of them moved over to watch the notice boards being updated with Phil’s information until Rosa appeared.

“Ready?”