Zachary walked into the old grocery, bracing himself for the smell. He would have considered clearing it out if the smell didn't serve as a likely deterrent for passers-by. For now he would just have to bear it. At least it wasn't as bad as the supermarket. Entering the back room he found that the skyway unit and shopping trolley were still there, to his relief (although not his surprise). He placed down his heavy bag on the ground and unloaded what he wouldn't need to move the carriage he had found. Out came most of his tools and food, the textbook on endocrinology, cores, and also the plasma rifle. He kept a few choice tools- plasma cutter, crowbar, hammer- a small portion of food and water, and his wind cannon. No point in being defenceless.

[b][i]Why don't you take the plasma rifle?[/i][/b] came the voice of Kaa'is, ever ready to criticise and stir doubt.

"I'm not used to it," Zachary replied, "It'll be a liability."

Ready, he went outside and approached the pile-up. As always, it stood pretty tall, and this time he could easily spot the carriage he wanted. But before he started moving it he would need rollers. Any long rod-shaped object would do, although whatever he chose they should all be of similar diameter. Taking a short look at the pile, he decided that light-posts would be good, as there were plenty of them and they are all of standard size. So he took his plasma cutter out and began preparing them. He needed to cut off the top and bottom of each light-post, leaving just the straight rod-like middle. He found that they were heavy, so he cut them in half to reduce their mass, at the cost of reduced length and as such a reduced margin for error when it came time for the move. He laboured for several hours, eventually managing to prepare and position ten rollers. He had gone through water faster than expected, so he had been forced to return to the abandoned grocery part way through to grab some more, along with grabbing a spare fire and lightning core for the plasma cutter.

Now he leaned against the carriage he wanted to move and pondered how he would go about executing the next step of his plan. He would have to shift the carriage about another meter before it would be free, but to do that he would need to dislodge it from the surrounding wreckage, which would be no easy feat. He started on it anyway, using his crowbar, hammer and powers to shift aside rubble on either side of the carriage by just a few centimetres, which is not much but enough to loosen the pile's grip on the carriage. The harder part would be getting it out from the wreckage on top of it, as that pressed down on the carriage with a substantial amount of mass. But as with the sides, the best approach would be one of increments. If he could shift it by a centimetre, then he could shift it by another, then another, until it was free. So he fiddled around with the crowbar, then a more substantial and longer lever he found lying around, until he found a method which allowed him to slowly push the carriage forwards.

The slow progress over the next hour was at times discouraging, but Zachary's determination to make this carriage work drove him on. Finally, he reached a tipping point and his next push freed the carriage and sent it sliding down the slope and into the path of rollers he had made. Zachary cried out in triumph as he hopped down after it.

The following part was not much easier. While pushing the carriage along the rollers was not difficult, moving the rollers at the back to the front was, as they were heavy. He made it about 30 metres before he stopped to rest and eat. While chewing his rations, he looked up to the sky to get a sense of the time. The Sun was visible overhead through the aerial barrier, meaning it was around midday. Having finished his meal and caught his breath he resumed his task, going through the tiring sequence of pushing the carriage forwards a metre, moving a roller from behind to the front, then pushing the carriage again. It took a lot of straining and sweat, but eventually, sometime in the afternoon, Zachary rolled the carriage into the grocers and got it into the back room. Exhausted, he slumped down on a chair which was in the room.

[b][i]Finally done! That was a lot of work, I must say,[/i][/b] Kaa'is said, [b][i]If we had more power it would have been much easier.[/i][/b]

"Ah, shut up," Zachary responded.

Although the carriage was inside, he still had one final step to do. He needed to get rid of the rollers, because they quite obviously pointed to where he was working. Fortunately, clearing those away was easy, as all he had to do was roll them over to the other side of the street. Finally finished, Zachary allowed himself to rest and started reading the textbook he had borrowed under the light of his torch, which he turned into a lamp by removing the top cover.