Once the patients woke up, I explained what I knew about the cracks in reality. I also did my best to emphasize its catastrophic nature on reality and people. A few of them seemed skeptical, even after I pointed out the black ‘fog’ in the distance. However, most of them seemed worried by my words, much to my relief. Even though the black fog in the distance resembled a storm front, it was different enough that people could tell something was wrong with it. Then, Trish and I divided up the patients. She would go to speak with those who lived on the eastern side of town, while I would focus on the western side of town.

When we stepped out of the clinic, I saw a few members of the military standing on the corners of the road. They were holding up flyers and yelling at passerby, although it was hard to make out their words over the din of everyone else.

I moved a little closer, before I frowned.

"Warning to all citizens! There appears to be some sort of anomaly to the northwest, with unknown effects! People are advised to take shelter in their basements, and to stock up on food and water while the government gets things under control! Thank you for your cooperation!"

That... was not a very good plan. Basements wouldn't do anything at all to keep people safe from the spatial collapse. At most, it might protect people from some debris, if something got dragged into the sky and then fell back down... but that was a questionable scenario. The military's attempts to maintain order would also make people far less likely to flee... and fleeing was exactly what people needed to do in order to survive.

I debated trying to argue with the man sitting on the side of the street, before I shook my head. Most people would probably choose to believe the military messenger over me, so I doubted I could do anything here. I grimaced, and turned towards Trish. She gave the military messenger a doubtful look, before she rubbed her temple.

"Forget it. Let's just do what we can. Oh - I almost forgot." Trish dashed back into her clinic for a moment, before I saw her scribble a few messages to the clinic workers. It was an abbreviated from of the explanation I had given her about the spatial breaks. Trish hung them near the front of the clinic, in spots where they would be easy for the workers to find. Then, Trish nodded at me. "All right, let's go. Meet back at the clinic in four hours or less."

The two of us broke apart, as the patients who were willing to listen led us towards their families. The patient families were less receptive than I had hoped for. Some of them agreed to follow us out of town, but an unfortunate number of them kicked me out while I was talking. The military's messenger had already given people a 'solution' to the problem at hand, and moving out of town would disrupt their lives. They would have to give up their jobs, their homes, and many other things. Thus, they chose to remain, since they believed they would be safe as long as they stayed. I could understand where they were coming from, but it was frustrating to be shooed away when I was trying to help them. There wasn't much I could do to change their minds, so after discussing with them, I left.

After three hours of running around, only three of the families I visited were willing to follow us. I also stopped by to pick up Iselde and Vance, who, thankfully, were much more willing to listen. It was less than I had hoped for, but I had done my best.

When I returned to the clinic with the three families, I found Felix, Trish, and Anise waiting for me. There were also three medical workers and their families, as well as one more family from Dr. Trish's patients. Seeing the families of the medical workers brightened my mood.

One of them was also carrying a woman I recognized.

My mother.

I gazed at her, and noticed that some of the characteristic blue discoloration associated with Fizz abusers had returned to her face. She was unconscious, and a faint smile lingered on her lips. I sighed, and injected a small trickle of healing magic into her body. It was enough to help... but not enough to completely heal her. There was nothing I could do to completely heal her, especially when she refused to change her lifestyle. I couldn't change that... but I would at least bring her with us when we fled.

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I turned away from my mother and back towards Trish, before I gave her a brief hug.

“I’m sorry. I tried to convince everyone I could, but I only convinced three families agreed to leave with us.”

Dr. Trish sighed. “That’s… not as many as I was hoping for, but I had bad results on my end too. I only got one family to agree. Four out of eleven is a bit low, if the catastrophe is going to be as bad as you fear it will be.”

I sighed. “There isn’t much I can do about it, unfortunately. It’s not like I can drag them with us, kicking and screaming the whole way."

Trish shook her head. "It's unfortunate, but it happens. Even in a clinic, patients have the right to make their own decisions. Even if they choose to refuse lifesaving treatment, as long as they're of sound mind, they are the ones who make choices. It's their body, after all. It's a shame, but their choice is made. I’ve done everything I need to as a doctor. Old Mo is also stable, so we can move him as needed. Your mother is here as well, although she doesn’t seem like she’ll wake up anytime soon.” then, she turned towards Felix and Anise. “Where’s Markus?”

“He said last night that he was going to make a report to the military base near this town. He said he would meet up with us today,” I said.

“How long until the ship leaves?”

“We have about two and a half hours left,” said Felix.

“Let’s wait one hour then. If Markus isn’t back by then, we’ll break into the military base and drag him out, regardless of the situation. I’m not leaving a friend to die here,” I said.

“Break in?” Dr. Trish gave the three of us suspicious looks. “I… appreciate the sentiment. But breaking into a base of armed soldiers is foolish. If you try, the military will lock you up, and then we’ll all be stuck on the continent when the catastrophe hits. If Markus gets the three of you killed with him…”

I hesitated, but decided not to say anything. While breaking into a military base seemed outrageous, we had done exactly that once before in this life. With all of our abilities, while breaking into a military base wasn’t easy, it wasn’t anywhere near as risky as one might expect. With my ability to teleport bullets around, Felix's metal manipulation, and Anise's force manipulation, even a base of soldiers wasn't a huge threat. But explaining that to Trish was difficult. Unless things started really going wrong, I didn’t think it was a good idea to reveal our ‘unusual’ nature.

Luckily, things didn’t go that far. Forty minutes later, Markus appeared at the door of Dr. Trish’s clinic. He looked tired, and more than slightly irritated, but he was present. He schooled his expression back into a tired smile when he saw us.

“I see you’ve got everyone,” he said. “This is a bit more crowded than I thought it would be. Do we have a boat willing to carry everyone?”

"We do," said Felix. "We still have two tickets left, in fact. If you have anyone else you care about and want to bring along... now is the time?"

Markus shook his head. "My parents died when I was eight. Factory explosion." Markus grimaced. "Factories weren't as regulated back then."

Trish touched his arm gently, and Markus seemed to relax a little bit. Trish also shook her head.

"Mine died of illness. It's why I became a doctor."

So neither of them had families to bring along. In that case, two tickets would go to waste. I sighed, before I shrugged. Only wasting two tickets was quite lucky, all things considered. With nine families, I would have actually expected us to need more tickets... but it seemed that we had lucked out in the number of people coming with us. We didn't need to smuggle more people onto the ship somehow.

"Well, at least we managed to get four patient families, Iselde and Vance, and three clinic worker families with us," said Markus. "More would have been better, but it is what it is." He made his way to Dr. Trish, and then planted a firm kiss on her lips. “Can’t save everyone, love. Though I know you want to.”

Trish sighed, but didn’t say anything.

“Let’s go,” said Felix.

With that, everyone assembled their luggage and carefully wheeled the patients out of Dr. Trish’s clinic. We made our way through town, in what must have looked like one of the strangest processions of people ever. However, as we walked through town, I felt a surge of relief. We were moving. We were going to get out of this continent alive.

We made our way to the ship without any major incidents. A little under two hours later, the ship raised anchor and sailed into the boundless blue sea.

We had escaped the continent, and fled from the catastrophe.