Chapter 3: Hunger Strike

On her twenty-sixth birthday, Casey had gone a little crazy. When her friends had discovered Casey had never been on a booze cruise, they booked one for her birthday and Lord did they drink. Casey didn't remember much of that night other than throwing up over the side of the boat and waking up on the bathroom floor of a twenty-four hour diner. Now five years later, it was that hazy memory that accompanied Casey when Charlotte's cries woke her up as she had once again fallen asleep on a bathroom floor.

Since Charlotte had fallen asleep in the basin the night before, Casey hadn't dared chance lifting her out of it and waking her up. So instead, Casey left the baby in the sink lined with towels and then made a place for herself right underneath. Casey wasn't surprised that she didn't sleep well. The aspirin had worn off and her wrist was aching. Plus, every now and again someone would walk into the bathroom and wake her. But not Charlotte, she kept right on sleeping in that sink for two whole hours.

Despite Charlotte's crying, Casey gave the kid credit for not screaming bloody murder this time, but she was clearly unhappy to have woken up. Her face kept scrunching up and every few moments she would let out a whine. Casey figured that, like herself, Charlotte was just hungry, so she scooped up the baby and went in search of Anne.

A small number of the 2nd Mass were still sleeping on the gymnasium floor, but most of them were awake and helping the injured patients. Seemingly eager to make a place for himself amongst the 2nd Mass, Jamil was among those aiding the sick. He was helping Lourdes lift the weaker patients onto thin, blue gym mats and covering them with blankets. He was certainly going the right way about gaining everyone's trust.

There was noticeably less cries of pain coming from the triage locker room than there had been two hours before. Casey wasn't sure if that was a good thing. Probably not, she doubted all of those injured people had miraculously recovered in a couple of hours.

The triage was where Casey found Anne bent over an unconscious male patient who had been so severely burned in the Fitchburg fire that half his face was missing. Anne looked frazzled and overworked, and Casey knew just by looking at her that she hadn't stopped working since they arrived at the gym. Which probably mean that Lourdes hadn't either, so Casey's chances for help were limited to some very tired people.

Charlotte's cries had surely announced Casey's entry well before she'd come in, but she called for the doctor anyway. "Anne?"

"Hey," Anne gave Casey a quick glance but was focused on bandaging a section of her patients blackened shoulder. "Everything okay? How's the wrist?"

"Hurts. But I can deal," Casey said. "Can you feed Charlotte?"

In an instant, Anne dropped her hands and stood up straight. "Oh, God. I didn't even think." Her kind eyes fell onto Charlotte. "We don't have anything for her." She paled and held a hand to her chest. "Obviously, Sarah's been feeding Charlotte. I just didn't think of it." Anne took a deep breath, as if to steady herself. "Okay. Okay, we'll need to run for supplies. She'll need formula for a newborn, bottles, it'd be safer to get something lactose free in case she's allergic. And she'll need blankets and clothes, it's going to get colder. And maybe a pacifier, it would soothe her..."

Casey's mind swam with all the foreign information. It dawned on her that getting Charlotte fed was going to be a hell of a lot harder than she had first anticipated.

With Charlotte in the crook of her arm, Casey made her way out to the front of the gym. It was just past sunrise and the day was warming. Outside, a handful of the soldiers were loading up a couple of the trucks preparing to head out. Casey marched passed them towards the hastily constructed tent that Weaver had set up for his soldiers to plot their next move. Anne had said she would talk to Weaver, but given that she was dressing a man's burns at the time, Casey volunteered to take care of it.

Casey peered inside the tent and saw Captain Weaver with his back to her, talking with Hal, Maggie, Dai and Anthony, as well as Pope and all of his Berserkers.

"Captain Weaver?" Casey ventured.

Weaver held a hand up in her direction to silence her. "We need to get on the road," He spoke to his soldiers without looking towards Casey. "I'll talk with Dr. Glass and see when's the quickest we can get those burn victims movin'."

"What? No." Casey's voice went unheard, and Charlotte began to fuss louder. They couldn't go anywhere until Charlotte ate, that was just a fact. And one Casey was hoping she wouldn't have to explain to Weaver.

"We'll need more vehicles; somethin' to transport the wounded. A bus, maybe," Weaver continued. "I don't want us to settle here, we should put more distance between us and Fitchburg before we think about puttin' our feet up."

"We can't leave yet," Casey tried again, growing quickly irritated that Weaver wasn't acknowledging her, or the crying infant in her arms.

"Plus we need to start building up our supplies again. Food, meds, vehicles. So, get to work," Weaver said to his crew. "No time to rest."

"If we leave, this baby's gonna starve to death." Casey's statement had her desired effect. Weaver turned right around to face her, as did all the other soldiers.

Pope scoffed. "Told you you were dark,"

"She needs food," Casey told a stern-eyed Weaver. Charlotte made a loud whinge as if she agreed. "And she can't eat watered down soup or beef jerky."

Weaver exhaled and closed his eyes. "I sympathize with you, Cassie-"

Annoyance flashed through Casey's veins, her name was easy to remember. "Casey."

"-But I won't send people back to what's left of Fitchburg."

"Not people. Me." Casey thought on her feet. "And not Fitchburg. Here. We found a gym easy enough, surely there's some place around here to get baby food?"

"Skitters could be tracking us," Weaver countered. "And any place with food will have been wired with traps or ransacked."

"They have formula at pharmacies," Maggie interjected. "People would steal meds first, not baby food." She locked eyes with Casey. "I'll go with you."

Weaver held up his hands between the two women. "Now, hold on-"

"Captain, you and I were there when Charlotte was born," Maggie firmly reminded him. "You really think Sarah would put finding a bus over feeding her child?"

Captain Weaver's face softened. He looked at Charlotte, then reached out and stroked the fine hairs on her head. She was so small he could have held her in one hand with no trouble. "Alright," He nodded to Casey. "But I'd feel a whole lot better with more than one gun out there."

"I'll come, too," Hal Mason spoke up. "We can take the bikes, be back by dark."

"Whoa, now," Pope cut in. "I know you're not talking about the bikes my crew and I have been keeping up to scratch?"

"You don't like it, you can go with them," Weaver said keeping his back to Pope. "Casey," He rested a hand on her shoulder. "You get that baby what she needs and come back. No dawdling, no scouting, no nothing." He looked to Hal and Maggie. "That goes for all of you, got it?"

Casey gave him a wry smile and nodded once. "Yes, sir."

While Casey was searching for somewhere better for Charlotte to sleep than a bathroom sink, she found a helpful hand in Matt Mason. The young boy met her when she came back inside, and showed her to an office in the back of the gym on the opposite side to the triage centre. Casey had passed the office door a few times and assumed it had been leading to a supply closet or something, but instead it lead to a small space where Matt told Casey he and his brothers had spent the night.

"There's not a lot of room," Matt admitted as he shifted aside a couple of bags. "But it's quiet."

Casey didn't think she could have fit her old king size bed into the office even if she tried, but a quiet space was quiet space. The Mason brothers had removed the desk and computer out into the hall and placed gym mats on the ground so the whole floor was covered in firm, plastic sponge.

"I put my stuff in here," Matt held a plastic clothes basket out to Casey. It had "Clean Uniforms" written on the side of it in black marker and a few of Matt's things inside it including a notebook labelled as his journal. "I thought we could put towels on the bottom so its soft and Charlotte could sleep in it?"

Casey frowned, considering it. It seemed like a good idea to her. Just like with the basin, Charlotte couldn't roll out of the basket. "Awesome," She declared with a grin. Matt set the basket on the ground, removed his things and helped Casey line the bottom with a couple of bright blue towels. Casey set Charlotte in her new bed and then, seeing as how Matt was helping her anyway, nudged the boy with her shoulder. "Can you do me a huge favour and watch her while I go and get her some food?"

"Me?" Matt looked surprised.

"Why not?" Casey shrugged. "You'll probably be better with her than I am anyway. If she starts crying really loud, just get Anne or Lourdes."

"Okay!" Matt agreed enthusiastically and knelt down beside the basket. Charlotte reached out her spindly arms for Matt and then quickly pulled her hands back and gurgled.

Since they seemed to instantly hit it off, Casey left them to it and went over to the triage centre. Anne was already waiting for her. "I made you a list," Anne handed Casey a folded up piece of paper. "But basically anything you find that says newborn on the box is worth grabbing."

"Okay," Casey slipped the list into the back pocket of her jeans. "I asked Matt to watch her. They're in that office," She pointed out the door to Anne. "They seemed pretty happy, I told him to come to you if there was a problem."

Anne smiled. "Great, I'll check on them as often as I can." She squeezed Casey's shoulder and then slipped an empty satchel bag around her neck. "Good luck. And hurry back."

Out the front of the gymnasium, Casey found Maggie, Hal, two motorbikes and to Casey's surprise, Pope. "Thought you weren't gonna help?" Casey reminded him with a frown.

"All about my bikes, sweetheart," Pope didn't look at her and just kept testing the steering on the black motorcycle he was straddling.

Casey was unconvinced that was his main focus. She had witnessed the handful of times he had abandoned the 2nd Mass for some random reason only to show up again. If it was any other time she wouldn't care, but she needed to get food back for the baby. "You're a flight risk." She said to the back of Pope's head. To this, he turned and raised his eyebrows at her.

"That's why I'm taking the Harley," Hal spoke up. "Don't worry. He won't ditch without it."

Casey was still doubtful, something Maggie seemed to notice. "Just bring him," She said to Casey. "It's not worth the headache."

Casey got the distinct feeling it still would be a headache, but they were losing time. And Pope was a good shot and a smart fighter. It had been him who had figured out they could use the Mech's own bullets against them. They would never have gotten out of John F. Kennedy High School if it weren't for him, which Casey found annoying because now Pope had a valid reason to be smug.

"Fine," Casey sighed, then addressed Hal. "Do you know where we're going?"

"Dai scouted the perimeter when we found the gym," Hal said as swung a leg over the Harley. "Small town a few blocks away. Diners, book store, a gas station."

"There'll be a pharmacy there," Maggie said confidently as she slid on the bike behind Hal and held his waist.

Pope looked at Casey expectantly. "You waiting for an invitation?"

Casey's jaw automatically clenched as it did when she was irritated - she wasn't thrilled with her bike partner - but she gave in and draped her leg over the back of Pope's bike.

"You might wanna hang on," He said over his shoulder through the tangled strands of his shaggy black hair.

"Fine." Casey reluctantly gave in, scooted forwards and hugged her arms around his waist. "But just so you know," she added. "Call me sweetheart again? I'll shave your head."

Pope gave her an unimpressed grunt in reply as he kicked the engine over. "You know, your whole dark thing is getting old."

"Just drive-" Casey's words were lost to the wind as Pope sped off deliberately too fast forcing Casey to cling to him much tighter than she would have liked.