The east wall clinic lane narrowed where two supply carts met the stream of families leaving the ward. One cart carried fever patients beneath blankets. The other held water and bedding. Its driver refused to back up because one wheel already hung close to a drainage trench.
Ning stopped the crowd before someone stepped between the carts. She sent clinic workers to place boards across the rut, then asked Yan to lift the axle. The driver showed him where to grip.
“Under the crossbar,” he said. “If you lift by the wheel, the bed will tilt.”
Yan set his hands beneath the beam. His strength made the load easy to raise, but he held it steady while the boards were placed. He waited for Ning’s signal before lowering the cart. The wheel passed over the trench without shifting the fever patients.
A child near the wall cried when a distant barrier flash lit the street. Ning took her hand and gave her a lantern to carry with the clinic group.
“Does that mean the gate is closing?” the child asked.
“It means a barrier changed,” Ning said. “We’re watching the route. Stay beside me.”
Bai arrived with updated route strips. The school shelter had reached capacity. A converted dye house had dry rooms and a well, but the clinic had not sent families there yet. Ning wanted a water test before anyone who was ill used it.
