Dead.

Chapter Thirteen

It felt like betrayal. They had put Jeff and his group up, taken care of them and now there was secret supplies and fuel. She sighed out, she was too tired for all of this.

"Eavesdropping should be illegal." A man's face appeared at the crack and before Cass could react, a meaty hand was put on her good shoulder, and she was hauled in as the door closed behind her.

"Hey, easy there, Darren." Jeff spoke up and Darren released her. Cass looked at the small huddle of men, stunned.

"I suppose someone is going to explain." She uttered quietly to them and Jeff sucked in a breath. He waved a hand to the rest of them and they dispersed, no doubt heading to get some sleep and he laid his eyes on Cass.

"Some of us want to leave." He said to her, plainly. Cass didn't understand that they had shelter here and although rations were scarce, they would be okay until spring, surely?

"Look, things are going bad. Francis is a great leader, better than that rat you had before, but food is going to run out and when it does things will get ugly. I've got to do right by my people." He said to Cass. He had gotten so many of his own group here and to relative safety, but he knew how nasty groups could turn when starvation was prevalent. Cass was speechless, rocked into silence by the realisation of what was going on. She started to open her mouth, but no words came out.

"You- "She cut herself off, this place wasn't a prison, anyone could leave if they wanted to but why would anyone want to. Things had been hard, there was no denying that. It was bound to get harder, too. Leaving wouldn't fix any of that though.

"We're stronger together, Jeff." Cass eventually managed to spit out, somewhat insulted by his actions.

"We used our medicine on you, shared food. Even after everything you and your group did." She continued and sank into a chair, sagging through her knees to try and regain some sort of control of her spinning thoughts.

"We're only giving our people the choice. They can stay and we won't take anything for those of us that leave." Jeff remarked to her, it wasn't as though everyone would be shipping out.

"But- "

"Look, doll, this place is picked clean. It might not be in winter, it might not be in spring but at some point, you're gonna realise that this place is a graveyard. Besides, I was made for the roads." Jeff grinned at her, and Cass stared at him in disbelief.

"Right, yeah." It was all that came out of her mouth, all she could muster as she got to her feet, still feeling a little woozy and everything was an effort still. She pushed herself to stand straight and eyed Jeff over. Some part of her knew he was right; the dwindling supplies were concerning and there weren't many areas they could successfully scavenge without risking life and limb. There had been hopes about farming, but it still wasn't enough, and the cold frost wouldn't do much with production.

"Come with us." Jeff spoke up, rather suddenly as Cass wondered whether he was serious or not. Maybe he had some sort of concussion. Cass licked her chapped lips and shook her head,

"You're insane, you want me to up and leave the people who took me in?" She asked him, surely, he was drunk or something. No sane man would ever suggest something like that. He was asking far too much.

"Sorry, but I can't do this right now." She commented. She really didn't feel up to it either right then. It wasn't a lie.