Dead.

Chapter Eight

Cass washed, glad to see everything else was quiet and she ignored the looks she got on the way back to her small office. She fixed her hair and slung on a jacket that would ward off the cold that night. She wasn't sure she could face any extra questions and it seemed like Greg and the others didn't know yet. She figured that was for the best too, given he was still recovering. Cass buttoned the jacket and headed out right as the sun began to set, the breeze was a foreboding cold and winter would be on them without any warning.

"Hey." She called and Jay came down, waving to her,

"Are you sure you can take tonight, you look beat?" He remarked to her and Cass nodded. Sleep was out of the question and she started up the flimsy ladder. She eyed the old camping fold-out chair and sat down, watching as night rolled in. Her rifle was set down but ready to be picked up in case of an emergency and she eased down in the chair. It was cold that night, a definite bite in the air and she figured she should have brought some layers or something hot to drink.

The creaking of the ladder startled her and she shot up in the chair, forgetting that normal corpses couldn't climb for a second. It was Jeffrey who stuck his head up and Cass raised an eyebrow,

"You don't have to do a watch." She told him and shook her head some, moving her eyes back to the lookout spot as she heard him huff to get up with her.

"Not interested in a watch, doll face." He held out a mug of black coffee and Cass took the offer. No wonder he had been huffing trying to get up the ladder with one hand. It was testament to the strength he had, now she thought about it. Most people living on the road likely didn't elect leaders, no, they probably took the role as the ones who were strongest, the best fighters and the most intelligent. Cass had to wonder what it was like out there now.

"Thanks, for talking people round." Jeffrey said to her and Cass shrugged a little, she hadn't done it just because of him. He had people with him and what she had seen in the forest had scared her.

"If they come out that forest, can we fight them?" Cass asked him quietly and saw no reason to really expand. Jeffrey was quiet and Cass found it unsettling but she waited for his honest answer on the subject.

"Depends how many there are." Jeffrey finally breathed out as Cass took a drink from the piping hot brew. It was warming her fingers at the very least and she glanced to him.

"If it's just one, then yeah but these things aren't usually alone. We went through a city; I lost almost half my men one night to them. They bring normal corpses with them too." Jeffrey started to explain, "I wasn't kidding when I said they hunt, they snatch and grab, they can climb like it's nothing. They're fast too, we didn't know what hit us." He mumbled to her, eyes shadowed with the memory of it all and Cass hadn't meant to bring up something painful. Then again, it was the new normal to have horror stories as a backlight. They had all lost people, in terrible ways and some of them Jeffrey himself had been responsible for. Cass sucked in a breath and offered him some of the coffee, which he gladly took without any thought.

"These walls won't stand against a hoard; you got a back-up plan?" Jeffrey asked after he swallowed the liquid down. Cass didn't seem stupid to him, she was a valuable asset to any group too, all that medical knowledge and street smarts, it would be the compassion that got her killed if anything.

"No." Cass said flatly, this was the place that had taken her in when she had lost everything else, she held dear to her, she would defend it until there was nothing left to defend.