The western gate had been narrowed to a cart’s width. Armored Registry soldiers stood across the opening with shields locked edge to edge. A second rank held the stone support frame, and a bronze lock bar secured the gate panels. Above them, the barrier brightened as it drew from the local field.
Families from the outer wards waited on the road with carts and bundles tied in blankets. Registry guards allowed only households listed in the old zones to pass. Several crowded blocks were missing from the list. Their residents stood close enough to see the gate and too far away to reach it.
Ning had directed the sick and young toward the river gate, where a clinic wagon waited. Bai’s runners marked streets with colored strips. But the western road was shortest for several blocks already filling with carts. Some families had begun the longer river route; others refused to leave their neighbors behind.
A woman carrying a feverish child reached the front. The guard checked the register. “Your household isn’t listed for this gate.”
“She needs the clinic,” Ning said.
“Take the river route.”
The child’s face was pale. The mother looked at the queue behind her, then toward the river road. She had already walked half a mile.
