Zachary was still climbing around the pile of wrecked carriages. It was expansive, and so far anything which looked like it might be useful actually proved damaged beyond repair upon closer inspection. He was taking a break from his climbing, sitting on an overturned carriage about half-way up the heap and drinking from a bottle of water, when he saw a small group of people walk slowly into view. This wasn't a band of thugs or even a scavenger gang. This was a family, comprised of a mother, a father, and two young children, aged 6 and 10 if he had to guess. However, something was not right. The father was carrying both of the children, and the parents both walked weakly. He couldn't tell exactly what was wrong from up where he was, but it was obvious that they are in quite some strife.

[b][i]Easy pickings, huh?[/i][/b] said Kaa'is, half-jokingly. Upon receiving a death-stare from Zachary, which is quite a feat considering that Kaa'is is inside Zachary's head, Kaa'is laughed, [b][i]What're you going to do? Beat me up?[/i][/b]

"I was actually thinking of helping them," Zachary answered quietly.

Kaa'is moaned, [b][i]We've got enough on our hands helping ourselves. Do we have to help others too?[/i][/b]

"Yes," Zachary replied sharply.

[b][i]Shouldn't have asked.[/i][/b]

Zachary got up and started climbing down to them. Perhaps it was compassion. Perhaps it was wanting to repay the world for the boy he had killed just yesterday. Whatever it was, Zachary couldn't simply let them walk off and die without trying to help. As he got near, he called out, "Do you need any help?" The family, especially the father, was surprised and afraid at their sudden visitor. "I'm not here to hurt you. I just want to help," Zachary reassured them. He made it to the street and closed the gap between them. "My name's Zachary."

The father hesitated, then finally replied. "I'm Andrew. My wife here has fallen ill, my youngest is very ill and my eldest has a broken leg. I'm struggling to find enough food or medicine to care for them."

Zachary's engineer mentality suddenly came into play as he attempted to figure out a solution. The mother looked quite weak and her forehead was soaked in sweat. The youngest son did not appear conscious and was quite pale. Zachary was no doctor, so he did not know how to effectively treat their ailments. However, he could probably do something about the broken leg. Zachary laid his hand on the older child's shoulder and peered into the boy with his mind. It took about ten seconds but he eventually managed to resolve an image of the boy. It showed his skeleton, and by looking at the skeleton he could see how the leg was broken. It wasn't fragmented or anything, it was just a matter of getting it into place.

"I'm no doctor, but I could probably set your son's leg for you," Zachary finally said, "Find me some cloth so I can make a stint."

Andrew put his two children down and said, "Thank you."

Zachary crouched down and turned to the boy with the broken leg. "Does it hurt?" The kid nodded shyly. "I'm going to fix it, but this is going to hurt. But I'm going to need you to be a good boy and not move about to much." Zachary turned and grabbed a piece of metal shrapnel that wasn't too sharp from the ground around the heap. He recalled that in days of old, before anaesthetic, doctors would generally have their patients bite something like a bullet. "Here, bite this." Zachary laid his hands around the break and retrieved the mental image of it. He focussed solely on this image has he moved and rubbed the boy's leg to set the bones back in place. On the edge of consciousness he could hear the boy's cries of pain, and his grip had to be firm to restrain the leg, but in just a few moments it was all over and the bones were in place.

Allowing reality to fill is senses again he saw that they boy's leg was now visibly straighter. He also saw tears of pain on the edges of the boy's eyes. "It's all over now. I've just got to bandage it up." Looking up, he saw Andrew with strips of cloth in hand, appearing slightly distressed, which was understandable since those few painful seconds of setting the leg would have been as painful for the father as it was for the son. Zachary stood and and rummaged around the debris for two objects which would make good rods. He soon found a long narrow L-beam which was part of a carriage's broken chassis. Retrieving his tools, be cut it out and into two appropriately sized lengths of steel, then smoothed out the rough edges as best as he could. Returning to the family, Zachary took the cloth from Andrew and then bound the boy's leg in place. "There we go. Give it a, um... few weeks and it should be as good as new," he announced. An idea struck him, and he added, "Give me a few more minutes and I could probably make a crutch for him so he can walk himself."

"Thank you, Zachary," Andrew said as Zachary returned to the scrap heap.

[b][i]So you've helped one, good job. But soon the mother will get so ill that she will need to be carried around too. The father, carrying around the terminally ill child too, will be too weak to support them. Heck, he's too weak already. Just look at him! And the kid who you've just helped, because he's still dependant on his dad, will starve and die anyway. But good job, you've made their inevitable demise just that little bit less painful,[/i][/b] Kaa'is taunted.

Zachary glanced down at the shopping trolley he had left parked. "Actually, there is something more," he responded with a little smile.

Kaa'is moaned, [b][i]No, not that. We went through enough trouble to get that.[/i][/b]

"There are plenty more, and getting another should not be as hard as last time," Zachary retorted.

After jury-rigging a crutch from lengths of metal and upholstery Zachary descended to his shopping trolley. With a great shove he tipped it over and rolled the skyway unit out. He then righted the now-empty trolley and wheeled it over to the family. He handed over the crutch to Andrew, who handed it over to his son and helped him stand up. "I'd like you to have this as well. Something to help you carry your other child, and anything else," Zachary said, offering the shopping trolley.

Andrew was quite surprised by this gesture. Before he could reply, Zachary took the bag off his back and began pulling out food and water. "You'll need these also. I know it won't go far between the four of you, but you can't expect to recover from disease without good food and plenty of water." He unpacked all the food he had in his bag, about enough dry rations for three meals, and the water bottles he had too.

Andrew was speechless at this unexpected display of generosity. After a little while he managed, "Well, you've been so generous to us already. I don't know if-"

"Just take the bloody gifts before he changes his mind," the mother interjected.

Zachary smiled warmly. "This is no place to be raising a family, but I suppose you've got to make the most of it." His statement reminded him of his own family. He didn't know how his parents were, if they were OK. They probably thought him dead. He missed them, but that was no reason to allow any other family to fall apart.

"You take care, of yourself and your family," Zachary said, closing his bag and putting it back on his back.

"You too," Andrew replied, "I can not express how grateful I am."

"Yes, thank you," the mother added.

"It is not a problem," Zachary responded, before turning away and leaving, the image of the smiling family still in his mind. Sure, most of them were ill or injured, but that did not stop the warm feeling of doing something nice from growing inside him.

When he was some distance away, out of earshot, he asked Kaa'is, "Don't you feel that? Gladness for helping someone?"

[b][i]No,[/i][/b] Kaa'is grunted.

"Maybe if you had contributed you actually would."

Kaa'is scoffed in reply. Zachary continued walking, and he felt hunger in his belly. He needed to return home and grab some more food, then head over to the shopping centre to retrieve another shopping trolley. Then he might be able to resume searching for a carriage.