The demonstration had better signs than the evacuation routes.
Eli saw them from the far end of the approach: clear arrows, the public viewing entrance, the places where invited hunters should report for rewards. A steward directed people toward the strongest sight line. Behind him, a narrower lane carried mobility carts toward a barrier with no turning room visible from the road.
Tessa stopped beside the shelter organizer traveling with the carts.
“That was supposed to stay clear,” she said.
The organizer held up the current arrangement she had been given. A security instruction had moved the queue. The lane Tessa expected to use if the crowd needed to leave now held residents waiting to be admitted to the viewing enclosure.
Eli looked toward the demonstration barrier. Hunters were setting equipment beneath the supervision of Rook’s staff. The visible work promised exactly what the notice said: a stronger defense people could see before activation. Nothing about the orderly preparations made the blocked lane harmless.
“Don’t tell them to move into the road,” the organizer told the security steward.
“They can’t stay here.”
