I liked this a lot. It has a similar strength to another entry I read, An Apple, Unremembered, for me: the impossible is not treated as spectacle, but as something ordinary and lived-in.
The best part, to me, is how grounded the pressure feels. Rations, curfew, broken transport... so on. And the responsibility of caring for someone else all build into a convincing sense of exhaustion. The repeated public message works especially well because its meaning changes as the story goes on. There is also a bit of Camus-like absurdity in it, at least in my reading: suffering inside a system that keeps asking people to behave as though any of it is reasonable. I think the piece paints that very well.
My small note is about pacing rather than concept. The piece moves from pressure to pressure very quickly, so a few emotional beats can land at a similar intensity. A little more contrast might make the later turns hit harder. Still, this is a strong use of the theme.