“Are you insane? Sending her there with one escort?!” Jay fumed as the gates closed behind them.
“It’s the best we could do, if we refuse then they fire on us. All they want is some food and a doctor. We made the mistake of turning them away before.” Andrew pointed out and Cass remained quiet as she hitched her gun back up onto her hip, letting them talk amongst themselves. She moved back to get her things from the Infirmary, revelling in the quiet and Jenny looked up.
“I’ll explain when I’m back, I need to take the kit with me, can you watch over for a bit longer?” Cass asked and Jenny nodded but looked concerned. Cass didn’t want to explain any further for fear of worrying her more. Cass hauled the bag up; basic essentials save for a few things and she wasn’t keen on handing out her supplies to these newcomers but they were left with little choice. The tension was thick the moment she exited the Infirmary.
“I’ll escort you.” Jay said as he fidgeted and waited by the gate, fixing the rifle in place. It wouldn’t do them much good if something did happen, two versus thirty. Cass nodded, needing to believe it wouldn’t come to that as she waved for them to open the gate.
“We can see you from the topside, anything happens just run.” Peter said and Cass sighed out, all of this over a miscommunication. A stupid miscalculation on Peter’s behalf and then Jay’s. Francis was keeping watch above and Cass knew he was a goof shot so at least there was that on her side. She ducked outside and the gate closed behind her. She moved around to the east side of the compound and saw them setting up tents and fires. Jeffrey was waiting for them and he smiled.
“Ah, come on. We’ve got some people for you doc.” He said and Cass eyed the group. They looked healthy, if slightly underneath and she moved behind Jeffrey, Jay keeping close proximity behind her.
In the centre of the camp, they made up which was shielded by the vehicles on the out rims, there was a puddle of people.
“Elias here has had a nasty cut on his arm, been getting sick.” One of the men chirped up from somewhere and Cass nodded, gesturing for them to make an orderly line so she could see each of them. Jay stood at her side as she set up her things as best, she could.
“How did it happen?” Cass asked the young man standing before her, his arm was red and angry looking around the gash. He ought to have got stitches but it had scabbed up enough to not need them and she could tell it was infected.
“Snagged it on something, not a dead, we were walking through some building and I went to jump down, next thing I knew there was blood everywhere.” Elias said and Cass nodded, made sense and the injury looked consistent with his story.
“I’ll dress it, I can spare a couple antibiotics.” Cass said, uneasy with the number of eyes on her right then as she pulled out some bandages and two pills handing them over to him. They were strong antibiotics; with any luck they wouldn’t need much. She carefully wrapped his arm tight and ignored his wince. He lumbered off and went to sit. Jeffrey was watching with keen interest from behind her, leaning on a post with his arms crossed, the machete catching the light at his hip. It was a casual reminder that she was in hostile territory.
“You learn all that before this?” Jeffrey piped up. Cass didn’t look up from her next patient as she inspected them. A chesty cough, nothing to worry about for now except getting plenty of fluids. She didn’t carry cough drops around on her, no one really did.
“I was two months off graduating.” She said, keeping her eyes firmly on her job as she ushered the next one forward, a woman who looked like she hadn’t slept in a long time and had a limp in her right leg.
“We aren’t bad people.” Jeffrey started and Cass snorted some, moving her dark hair from her eyes to inspect the woman’s leg. It was difficult, this wasn’t the Infirmary she was used to with beds and tables. She would’ve done a better job inside but that was out of the question.
“Tell that to Jackson and Greg.” Cass muttered, “Not to mention the other men you butchered to get to Greg.” She added for good measure, “You’ve sprained it, you need to rest it, keep it elevated for a few days. You could also use some more food.” Cass said to the women who just stared at her like some porcelain doll.
“Have you got anything for the pain?” She asked hesitantly and Cass shook her head. It wasn’t worth wasting painkillers on this sort of thing.
“You brought that on yourselves.” Jeffrey said, nonchalantly. Cass still refused to look at him as the woman limped off.
“It was a mistake. We aren’t bad people either.” She pointed out to him, “Otherwise I wouldn’t be here.” She shrugged and rolled her shoulders to work out the aches.
“You’re here because you don’t have a choice. Those walls won’t stand forever and you lot were frightened at a show of force.” Jeffrey said, bluntly and Cass closed her eyes.
“I would have helped these people either way, difference is you didn’t ask and you wanted to prance around with guns.” Cass said, her tone sharp and Jeffrey grinned and moved close behind her, Jay shifted with his rifle.
“Kind people don’t last long, look around you, there’s none of them left, doll face.” He whispered in her ear and Cass narrowed her eyes. She nodded to Jay when Jeffrey retreated, if they shot now then they would be gunned down.
“We'll need some daily visits for a while.” Jeffrey carried on like nothing happened.
Cass didn’t want to be anywhere near this place for more than she had to be but he was right, they didn’t have a choice.
“Right, well.” Cass started to pack her things back into a bag, thankfully not down many supplies, “Most of them need to eat more, drink more.” She advised and Jeffrey smiled at her, as if silently gloating.
“We’ll look after them.” He assured.
“Yeah, thanks for your time, Jeffrey.” Cass said curtly and Jeff grinned,
“Call me Jeff.”
“Open up.” Peter called when Jay and Cass came back, they looked unscathed and Cass stepped into the area.
“You alright?” Peter asked as he hopped down the rickety steps that had been fashioned together with rusted nails and the occasional plank of wood. It was hardly sturdy but it worked well enough.
“Fine.” Cass remarked, a little too sharply to be kind about it. It hadn’t been the worst experience in the world but she didn’t want to go back tomorrow, maybe Jeffrey would grow tired at some point if she just refused to bite back.
“They want another council meeting, this time with people from the community.” Peter said and Cass groaned and dragged a hand down her face. She wanted to sleep, it seemed too long since she had slept and if she kept this up, she would make mistakes with her treatments. She paused and Jay put a hand to the small of her back,
“C’mon. After that you can rest.” He murmured quietly and Cass was in no fit state to argue as she moved along the streets and into the cafeteria area. She was late to the part, or so it seemed, as she made her way up to sit with the others, dropping the bag at her feet and sitting down. Being able to sit was a relief in itself but all at once it was like exhaustion hit her. She slouched some and eyed the expectant faces around the hall. She wasn’t sure what they could possibly told to make them feel better about this situation, it was a defeat, they had lost by sheer means of intimidation and nothing any of them could say would make it better. They were supposed to be the ones protecting these people, making the tough calls and here they were, sitting like ducks waiting to be shot.
“What exactly is going on?” a woman with fiery red hair piped up from her spot, a toddler on her lap and Cass let her eyes fall onto them. She watched them and was still perplexed anyone could have a child in this, although life wasn’t as harsh in communities like this but it was by no means easy and normal. The dead didn’t discriminate.
“It’s the best agreement we could come to, they live outside the walls. They need a doctor and food; this could become a mutually beneficial deal.” Peter said and Cass noted how he expertly he left out his own wrong doings in the entire endeavour. She didn’t speak up and highlight them, the thought of a riot sparking was tangible in the air.
“Winter is around the corner; we can barely feed ourselves.” A man snapped from somewhere near the back and Cass glanced over but couldn’t see in the midst of faces who it was.
“Yes, and we plan on speaking with them to try and get them to hunt too.” Peter explained and Cass raised her eyebrows at that, Jeffrey was barely cooperating as it was and if they were spoon-feeding them already, they had no need to go out and hunt. Again, she held her tongue and mused over the idea, it was possible they could speak with him. Jeffrey was aggressive, desperate even but not entirely unreasonable.
“We want you to know that you are safe, we will increase some watches so there won’t be any more of this.” Francis chipped in, “We need to work together.” He added for good measure given that things were uncertain right then and could lead to discourse. Cass watched as everyone mumbled among themselves and started to filter out of the hall, a few looks were shared over their shoulders and for a second, she wondered if they had failed them. Cass got up and headed out, the sun was starting to go down and she still needed to check on Greg. She doubted he would be in any good form and had no intentions of telling him their agreement.
Cass looked over Greg when she returned to the infirmary and sighed softly, he was feverish, spelling out an infection in swing. Jenny was sleeping at the desk and she moved over,
“Hey, go on. Get some rest.” She murmured to her and Jenny didn’t want to argue as she lumbered off to sleep in the tiny home she shared with her nearest and dearest. Cass looked over Greg and wet a piece of cloth, placing it on his forehead in hopes to bring down the fever.
“How’s he doing?” Jay entered and Cass glanced up towards him,
“He’s burning up, I’m trying to bring it down but he might-” Cass cut off, knowing full well that she didn’t need finish that sentence for him to understand. Jay turned his eyes down to Greg and swept back his hair. Cass remained quiet as she tried to pour some water down his throat in a small amount just to keep him hydrated. She fixed his blanket and was relieved at least Greg was swallowing the fluids. Cass retreated and left him to try and rest as best he could but he was struggling. It would take a while, if he came through this, before he would be able to get up and move around let alone do any work.
“I’ve got a watch, I’ll keep an eye, go on and get some sleep.” Jay explained, and Cass didn’t bother to argue as she made her way to the back room and settled down on the bed she had, giving into sleep she so desperately needed.