Dead.

Chapter Twelve

A glass shattered somewhere and it was enough to pierce the veil of darkness enveloping Cass. She was laid down, when she opened her eyes she could see the ceiling of the infirmary above her. It was quiet, but it was light. The sun streamed in from the windows and Cass tried to move but found pain in her shoulder and it felt heavy. She had something in her system, the edges of her vision were foggy and disjointed. She didn't remember at first what had quite happened. There was a car horn, shards of everything came back to her slowly. The Odd, the herd. The others!

Cass tried to sit up but a pained hiss left her lips as she did so and a hand was put to her good shoulder and eased her back as a thick blanket was brought over her. It was warm, outside of the blanket was cold she realised right then, she hadn't noticed upon waking.

"Easy there, gave everyone one Hell of a scare." A familiar voice remarked to her and Cass looked over to see Jeff sitting on a stool by her bed. The rest of the infirmary was empty,

"Lost a lot of blood." He added for good measure, "You've been out for two days." He explained to her and knew that news would go down like a lead balloon. Cass squinted at him, two days. How had it been two days?

"Help me sit up." She demanded quietly to him and Jeff sighed, obliging her only because she looked so useless in the bed.

"Everyone else alright?" She asked him and Jeff nodded, everyone else was fine save for worrying about her. They had killed the Odd too but then some dead had come out the trees. They were still picking off stragglers.

She watched Jeff for a moment, he looked exhausted and she just leaned back when he was done helping her sitting up, propped up with pillows and she glanced to her shoulder. It was bandaged and when she tried to move, the pull of stitches echoed there.

"Rhona and Jenny patched you up." Jeff explained, "I'm gonna go tell them you're awake. Francis and the others were worried too." He pointed out and hauled himself up, it took effort and Cass watched him amble off. Cass licked her lips, finding them chapped and she just existed in her own medicated world for a while, recounting what had happened from the herd, to the Odd and then to the car. Everything was fuzzy, entrapped in static in her head and she knew it would come back in time. For right then though, she was in the dark about any specifics and luckily, no one had asked. Her eyes fluttered closed, the effort of being awake far outweighed the act itself.

Footsteps roused her half-asleep state and she opened her eyes to see a small flurry of people gathering around her shoddy bed.

"Hey, look who's awake." Francis' voice broke the spell and she sought out his face.

"She's still got some stuff in her system, she might be a bit groggy. Here, drink." Rhona's voice huffed as Cass watched her lift a cup to her mouth and she drank from it.

"How're you feeling?" David was there, he actually looked guilty as if it were somehow his fault and Cass just nodded,

"Yeah, I'm fine." She assured, but hoped they didn't ask for evidence of her testimony because she wasn't sure she could do much to back it up. Even being awake was exhausting.

"Typical, don't do things by half, you." Francis joked and Cass shot him a look, although it must have been half-assed as he didn't even flinch.

"Right, out. She has to rest, Jenny keep them out." Rhona bossed and flailed her hands to emphasise her point. Fun was over, then.