Another chapter, going with the muse while it's with me. Enjoy.

Character of Miles belongs to the lovely Jemma :)

Chapter 31: Fences

It was a mall.

Charleston was a mall.

A sort of underground mall. The top section had been levelled like the rest of the city, but underground it housed a small civilisation.

Casey followed the 2nd Mass through the underground parking lot and through to a disabled escalator that lead down to a food court.

There were people everywhere. And something that smelled both warm and amazing.

The space reminded Casey of a cafeteria. People grouped at tables with plates of food. There were smiles and laughs from the couple of hundred people milling around. Casey couldn't help but stare at some of them. They looked so… clean.

Children around Matt's age ran around playing some sort of game. Smiling servers dished hot food onto waiting plates. But when the 2nd Mass entered, all eyes turned on them. Those who were seated suddenly stood, as if in respect, as Colonel Porter addressed them.

"Everyone," the Colonel said. "This is the 2nd Mass. They're survivors, just like us. Please join me in welcoming them to our community."

The Colonel started clapping, and the Charleston folk followed suit. Pretty soon a round of a applause rose up that included whistles and cheers.

Casey stood between Lee and Lyle feeling awkwardly on display. After being with just the 2nd Mass for so long, it was odd to have so many new people reacting to positively to them. Casey found that people tended to get more closed off as time went on post-invasion, not more welcoming. As the cheering died down, the Charleston people started offering seats at their tables to members of the 2nd Mass. Plates of food were passed around and some of the older women even offered hugs.

Everyone sort of spread apart after that, getting in line for food or going off exploring. Casey was checking out the décor. There was a huge American flag hanging proudly above the tables. Painted walls touted store sales and a large sign advertised the Grand Opening was due over a year ago. Had all things gone to plan, this mall would have been up and running about six months into the invasion.

"Nice change, isn't it?" Weaver said.

Casey turned and realised Lee and Lyle had wandered off and she was left standing beside Weaver. "What?"

"The roof," Weaver said glancing upwards. "I love the stars, but its nice to look up and not see spaceships."

Casey smiled. Everything here seemed so different, but not exactly bad different. She had gotten used to her tent and her horrible uncomfortable bed and the food in huge pots and clothes that always stank of something. The 2nd Mass developed their own version of normal. And now to see a nicer version of it in Charleston was slightly overwhelming.

"Lots of kids here," Weaver continued. "Maybe more little ones," he nodded at Etta. "She's never seen another baby before."

Casey adjusted Etta over her shoulder. "She'll be a little outcast."

"Seems too good, don't it?" Weaver said. He put a hand on her shoulder. "Stay guarded."

Casey looked at him, confused. "You don't trust Colonel Porter?"

"With my life," Weaver said. "But these people have their own thing going on and we just showed up on their doorstep. We'd be wary of strangers, no reason they should treat us any different."

"They seem friendly enough," Casey said.

"Just be—"

"Dad!" Jeanne Weaver flew out of the crowd and into her father's arms so fast the Colonel lost his breath.

"Jeannie?" Weaver pulled his daughter back and stared at her before engulfing her into another hug. "Oh, darlin'! You're here, you're safe!"

"Scouts said they found survivors from the 2nd Mass," Jeanne said. "I was so scared you wouldn't be with them."

"Oh, you can't get rid of me that easy," Weaver said.

Casey sensed her presence was becoming of the third wheel variety, so she parted from Weaver and took a spot in line to get food.

The first thing she saw was broccoli. They had broccoli. A huge big tray of it, bright green and steaming hot. Casey had never been so happy to see it. She tried to get a plate and serve herself but with Etta that proved difficult. The woman serving Casey smiled and dished her out some broccoli. The next man was dishing out some sort of pasta and he scooped it onto Casey's plate for her.

"Would you like some bread?" said the person in front of Casey. The rugged young man was clean shaven and appeared to be about Hal's age.

Casey nodded while her stomach growled and her eyes focused on the bowlful of baked bread. Warm bread? Yes. All the bread.

"Your baby is adorable," said the woman standing beside the coffee urn hanging out drinks.

"Thank you," Casey said. She wanted to talk about Sarah, correct the woman and tell her all about Etta's mother, but the line kept moving and she had no time.

"Where are you sitting?" the clean shaven young man picked up Casey's tray for her.

"Um," Casey scanned the tables. Tom and Anne were at a table with Matt, Hal and Maggie were sitting together in two chairs facing each other. They all didn't look like they wanted company. Then Casey saw Lee's mess of hair and Lyle's solid frame and Pope wolfing down something. Tector was missing. When Lee saw Casey, she winked and flicked her chin to the side as if to call her over.

"There," Casey said, pointing.

The young man looked at them a moment before giving Casey a quick smile and heading towards them. Casey had a flash of how the 2nd Mass might appear to people. It was normal for the 2nd Mass to have their guns always at the ready. Even now, Lee, Pope, and Lyle sat with their plates organised around their guns on the table. But glancing around Casey saw that was quite uncommon. Some of the Charleston people had weapons in their hips, but from the look on the young man's face Casey figured that seeing weapons lying casually beside green beans was a bit of a strange sight.

Lee scooted over when Casey arrived and smiled wide at the young man as he set Casey's tray down. "Hi," Her eyes sparkled.

Lyle scoffed to himself. "Keep it in your pants, Craze."

Casey sat down. "Thank you…?"

"Miles," he said, offering her his hand. "I'm one of the scouts."

Casey shook his hand. "Miles. I'm Casey, this is Etta, and this is Lee, Lyle and Pope." She pointed them all out. Aside from Lee, no one else looked all that pleased to see Miles.

"Well, welcome," Miles shuffled on the spot. "We're happy to have you here." He nodded politely and then took his tray to another table.

"Making friends?" Pope said with his mouthful.

"He's just being nice because I have a baby," Casey said. "Everyone's giving me these weirdly chirpy smiles."

"Yeah, and more food," Lee said, stealing a chunk of broccoli off Casey's plate. "MB's bringing the perks."

"This place is pretty sweet," Lyle said. "But weird. Underground mall? Who thinks of that?"

"I heard they have plumbing," Lee said. "Running water."

This caught Pope's attention. "Pray to God that means showers," he turned to Lyle. "You passed your sell-buy date like 400 miles ago."

"Har-har," said Lyle. "So, how long do we wait till we put this, uh, hole in the rearview?"

Casey looked from Lyle to Lee. "What, you mean ditch?"

"Trust me," Pope took a swig of his coffee. "I have no intentions on making Mayberry my permanent residence."

Casey couldn't hide her surprise. "You all seriously want to leave? We just got here. And compared to what we're used to this is a paradise."

"Gotta agree with Taylor here, Pope," Lee said. "I know we're nomads and all, but even we could use some downtime. Up top, Charleston been flattened. Even the fishheads wouldn't know we're under here. No reason for them to attack."

"Downtime means letting down your guard," Pope said to her. "No sense in doing that. We lost Boon because we weren't careful. Not gonna let that happen." He sort of sneered and kept eating.

"You could smile," Casey said to him. He had a permanent frown. His smile changed his face, but she hadn't seen it in a long while. Probably because he hadn't killed an alien. "You have food. Coffee. Your gun. If Boon was here, he'd be smiling."

"And burping," Lee said.

"Or rapping," Lyle rolled his eyes but smiled.

"Yeah, well he's not here, is he?" Pope swigged the last of his coffee then stood up, grabbed his gun and walked off.

Casey finished her food with Lee's help and soon Etta fell asleep in her lap.

A hush fell across the food court and Casey heard an approaching marching of footsteps. She turned and saw group of Charleston's uniformed military breaking through the crowd. Tom and Anne moved ahead of the 2nd Mass so Casey and Lee followed. Maggie and Hal arrived at Casey's side and behind her she saw Dai and Tector with their guns slung over their shoulders.

A large brick of a man stood forwards in front of the other soldiers. "Listen up," he said loudly. "My name is Sergeant Clemons and I'm addressing our newcomers from the 2nd Mass. We have bed assignments for you."

"Beds," Lee nudged Casey. "Honest to God, beds."

"We're still roomies, right?" Casey asked.

Lee gave her a 'duh' face. "Always."

"Now," Sergeant Clemons continued, "we have dozens housing areas all over this mall, you'll be placed among our population."

Anne stepped forwards. "Wait, you're splitting us up?"

"That's not going to happen," added Tom.

"It's the way we do things," Sergeant Clemons said dismissively. "You'll also hand in all your weapons."

"Like Hell we will," Pope said as he arrived beside Casey.

Sergeant Clemons ignored him. "Families will be kept together if possible," he said. "But you'll have to go where we send you."

"And if we saw no?" Maggie asked.

"You all know where the door is," Sergeant Clemons said. Then out of nowhere he pointed at Casey. "You," he said. "With the baby, you'll be with the other mothers."

Casey's chest tightened. "No, I'll be staying with my people."

Sergeant Clemons narrowed his eyes. "You've been assigned the location that will be most comfortable for you."

"She said no," Pope told him.

"You're not separating us," Tom got up close to the Sergeant. "We appreciate your hospitality, but we're staying together."

"I was told you were a leader, Tom Mason," the Sergeant said. "You best lead your people."

Tom shook his head. "We're staying together."

Sergeant Clemons sneered. "Damn it, I am ordering you to step back and allow us to continue."

The crowd of the 2nd Mass began voicing their disagreement. Loudly.

"I don't take your orders, Sergeant!" Tom snapped. "And I'm not letting you split these people up or disarm them without a reason!"

"What the hell is going on here?!" Weaver made his way through to the front of the commotion.

"Captain," Anne said. "They're spreading the 2nd Mass out across a dozen different housing areas."

"This is not a damn resort!" The Sergeant roared. "You will go where you are told!" He pointed angrily at Tom. "You better back off!"

"At ease!" Colonel Porter's voice broke through the crowd. His arrival seemed to instantly calm down the situation. "At ease, Sergeant Clemons."

"Jim," Tom said to Porter. "These people have had each other's backs for months."

"I understand that, Tom," Colonel Porter said. "But you've got to understand this isn't punitive. Down here, we store all the weapons in a central area, and then we issue them according to mission." The Colonel turned to Weaver. "We're just salting your people in where they belong. Now, that said Dan, you tell me 'no way' and I'll back your position."

Weaver looked around at his people, the rabble they were making, but he kept his composure. "Hold on!" He said, holding up his hand. "Now, I may not like it, but the Colonel is making sense. We're here now. We're in Charleston," he looked to Tom for support."

Tom was quiet for a moment. Casey wondered if he'd spotted his sons in the crowd.

"Captain Weaver's right." Tom said, tthough Casey could see it took all he had to maintain composure. "We need to start thinking beyond the 2nd Mass now."

"Good," Weaver nodded. "Carry on, Sergeant Clemons."

Sergeant Clemons gave a firm nod. "Yes, sir."

xxx

Weaver wasn't the only one to meet an old friend at Charleston. Tom met his old history professor, Arthur Manchester who referred to himself as the Majority Leader of Charleston which was about as close to President as one could get. He seemed nice enough, but he shook Casey's hand like a politician. Tom went around introducing his teacher to the 2nd Mass. He looked about as old as Weaver, maybe older, bald but strong. They didn't chat long due to Etta starting to cry, so Casey was quickly lead to her assigned quarters.

Casey's room turned out not to be half bad. There were some other babies around Charleston, but Etta was definitely the youngest, which meant she was spoiled, which meant Casey reaped the benefits. She was given a room to herself, she assumed to keep crying contained, in a small space that hadn't been decorated into a store yet. Maybe it would have been a little jewellery shop or one of those stalls that sells magazines and lottery tickets. The walls weren't even painted and there was hardly room for Casey to stretch her arms out, but there was a single bed with two pillows and a bassinet. More than she'd had in forever.

There was a shelf secured to the wall that had a little lamp on top of it. And one of those clothing racks with some bare coat hangers. There was a massive selection of clean clothes in one of the warehouses by the cafeteria. Casey had picked up a couple of shirts and jeans she thought would fit her as well as some things for Etta and brought them back to her room. She was also given new sheets and a blanket that weren't even out of the packaging. Ugly sheets, yellow with lime green flowers, but they were crisp and clean and smelled so good Casey just wanted to wrap them around herself and inhale.

Etta's bed was white and frilly, and she took to it surprisingly well. Casey thought she might whinge her way to sleep, not being used to a normal baby bed, but she only made a couple of protests before she was dozed out. Casey didn't even bother to make her bed. She flopped down and was asleep in seconds.

xxx

The following morning, things took a sort of strange turn. To start with, breakfast was an oddly solemn affair. Given the spread of the night before, Casey had let herself believe they might have real eggs. But all that was on offer was rice and beans and a very watery orange drink.

Casey tried not to overthink it. Paranoia could emerge easily at a time like this. Maybe last night had been a special occasion. And breakfast was probably being made by a bunch of tired people who wanted to cook the simplest thing possible.

At least there were showers. The water tended to run cold due to all the people using them, but Casey could a few warm minutes and was able to wash her hair. Etta had to settle for a bath in the kitchen sink with water warmed on the stove. She didn't seem to mind though, she slapped the water and drooled.

Etta was definitely a little star in Charleston. Everyone who passed Casey smiled at the baby, and people kept dropping off gifts in her room. Toys, clothes, formula, bottles, a stroller. Casey was repeatedly being told how beautiful the baby was, and Casey kept telling them she couldn't take credit, but they seemed to think she was joking.

"I wish they just knew," Casey said to Anne. After breakfast she'd met the doctor in the makeshift hospital set up at the far end of the mall. Casey needed her bandage changed, and it was nice to wheel Etta along in a stroller as opposed to lugging her.

"It's only day two," Anne said. She was behind Casey cleaning her burn. "We're still getting our bearings. I'm sure everyone here has lost someone. It won't be hard to explain how Etta came to be with you."

"Yeah," Casey noticed something on the table beside the gurney she was sitting on. "This place even has magazines? It really is like a hospital." She began flicking through a well-read celebrity magazine trying to ignore what Anne was doing. Casey paused on an advertisement for teeth whitening. The man in the image had a great big grin. Casey tore it out and held it up to Anne. "I want to be as happy as this guy."

"Almost done," Anne smiled.

Casey winced as Anne set a new bandage on her shoulder. "Does it look any better?

"Yeah, it's getting a nice scab to it."

"Lovely."

"It's a good thing. It shouldn't sting so much anymore. Still, be careful with it."

Etta started to stir so Anne picked her up while Casey put her shirt back on.

"This one is getting chubbier every day," Anne said. "She's very healthy, Casey. You're doing wonderfully with her."

Casey flushed. "I just feed her when she cries and change her when she poops."

"That's kinda all parenting is at the beginning. You know they have a school here," Anne said. "And a little daycare. I'm sure they'd love to have Etta with them. And it would mean you could go and train with the others. I think the more we make our presence felt, the better for us."

Casey had thought about it, but she didn't like they idea of Etta being with strangers. "Maybe."

"Matt's there," Anne said, as if reading Casey's worries. "He'll look out for her."

"Maybe. So, did you meet Arthur Manchester?" Casey asked.

Anne nodded. "Can't quite get a good read on him. He seems like a strong leader. And if Tom vouches for him, that's good enough for me. But…Tom said he didn't take kindly to the news of the skitter rebellion."

"He told him?"

"He kind of had to, didn't he?" Anne said. "Ben will come back eventually. And if he shows up here with skitters, these soldiers aren't going to stop and talk before they shoot."

"I guess it must sound weird to Manchester," Casey admitted. "I still don't trust it."

"I'm worried it gives him a different view of us," Anne said. "That he thinks we're not normal. And that might affect how they treat us."

Casey gave her half a smile. "You sound as paranoid as I am."

Anne set Etta back in the stroller. When she stood up, she suddenly looked pale.

Casey touched her shoulder. "Anne?"

"Oh," Anne put her hand to her face. "I just got a little dizzy."

"Sit down," Casey stood up and set Anne on the bed and took a water bottle from the basket underneath the stroller.

"I'm fine," Anne shook some colour back into her face and took the drink Casey offered. "I think it's just the fluorescent lighting in here."

Casey was relieved to see her cheeks pinken. "Yeah, I guess we got used to moonlight and candles."

"I'm okay," Anne got to her feet. "Let me know if your burn flares up." She gave Casey a confident smile, but Casey noticed she hung onto the water bottle.

xxx

Leaving Etta at daycare was… odd. There were four other small children there. Toddlers. Three boys and one girl. And two motherly sort of women who appeared to be in charge. The older one introduced herself to Casey as Hannah.

"Daycare runs school hours," Hannah explained. "You can drop her off and pick her up anytime between eight and three."

"It'll just be for a little while," Casey said. "I'm going to the training thing."

Hannah nodded. "We'll take good care of her."

"Great," Casey said. Then she realised Hannah had her arms out. "Oh, right," Casey fidgeted Etta in her arms a second then handed her Etta. "I'll only be a little while," Casey told the baby. "And you'll be fine and have fun." She gave her chubby cheek a kiss, then gave her an extra one on her head.

When Hannah turned around with Etta, Casey felt sick and had to resist the urge to turn around and snatch Etta back. Instead she made herself go out into the hall and take a couple of deep breaths.

"Casey!" Matt's voice called out.

Casey looked up and saw the youngest Mason coming with a dozen or so other children being lead towards the room beside the nursery.

"Hey, how's school?"

"Okay," Matt said. "Is Etta staying?"

"Yeah, I just dropped her-"

"I can watch her," Matt said. "They said we have lunch soon. I can feed her, too, if you need me to?"

Casey ruffled his hair. She wondered why he was being extra sweet. A room full of kids around his age and he should be making new friends. Instead he wanted to hang out with a baby? "I fed her," Casey said. Matt's face fell slightly. "But if you could watch her for me for a couple of hours, that would be great," she added. "New place, new people. She might get scared."

Etta would likely just sleep, but Casey sensed Matt needed the task. Etta was good for stuff like that.