Dead.

Chapter Two

"You look like you've seen a ghost!" Jay sat beside her, chuckling a little and he eyed the others. Cass pushed a smile and shook her head,

"Just tired. How was watch?" She asked as she started to eat some of the stew. She missed bread, she missed it a lot actually but it was impossible to come by and she was yet to see anyone clever enough to make it.

"Quiet. They sent out a scavenging party at dawn." Jay remarked with a shrug as he dug into his meal with fervour and Cass figured they would. Even with the small bounty they had here, they always needed more. Now there was a murderer among them somewhere, a cruel one at that and it just added extra tension to the already sparking air. The scavenging party would be back soon, with any good fortune unhurt. It was unlikely but they could hold out some portion of hope. Jay reclined after eating his portion, it was small but it kept them going and the portions would only get smaller as time went on thanks to winter fast approaching and the need to conserve what they had already to try and not starve through the cold.

Cass was slower, everything that happened had thieved away her appetite and eventually she relinquished her scraps to Jay who didn't argue and seemed to know better than to question. She was a medic, a nurse in every sense of the word and some days she had to deal with some more than questionable situations that were enough to put anyone off their supper. Sleep would fix it, a new day usually roused her out of the slump but it seemed to be lingering a little more today. Jay knew better than to bring it up and make a big deal. Cass would talk it out at some point when it wasn't raw.

Cass pushed herself up to stand and then headed back to her small cot bed in the back of the infirmary. She fumbled around for her only weapon that had dwindling ammunition and shoved it under a pillow. She was hardly a firearms specialist but she knew it could pack a punch and it was some sort of pistol that would save her life in a tight spot. If it didn't save her life then it would at least alert others that something was wrong and she gave a check over the two patients she had, neither was looking good but a few scant hours of sleep would help her out and she would wake and take a look over them. Alarm clocks were out, most people relied on their body clocks and it wasn't as though anyone got a full eight hours anymore.

It was pitch black when she woke, getting up immediately and going to check on the two in their beds, both sleeping soundly and resting. She couldn't offer any more than that as she fixed the blankets around them both to keep out the nip in the air and she fixed some of the cheap, solar lanterns in place around them. She didn't know what time it was, just that it was either the middle of the night or the very early hours of the morning. Peter must have upped the night watches, she could see more torchlights and movement outside than usual, she had to wonder who actually knew what had gone on the previous day. Cassie cringed at the memory of the blood and folded her arms across her chest.

"Thought I'd find you up." Jay had come in at some point and Cassie looked over her shoulder at him. She offered up a half-assed smile and he handed her some black coffee, it was bitter but it was hot and she wouldn't say no. Coffee was one of the things that never really expired and even if it did, she was passed caring.

"Peter told some of us what happened, you alright?" Cassie's behaviour at dinner made perfect sense now that hindsight was in play and he understood what was going on. He rubbed the back of his neck and watched the dark-haired woman sip at her beverage.

"I'm fine, what did Peter say?" Cassie asked after a moment of thought. It wouldn't do anyone much good to know that the place was being stalked by a murderer with some sort of motive.