Chapter 9 - The Other Side
The Next Morning
There's been a chilling silence among those of us that are still here. The aftermath of everything that happened last night, it's left us without words. When you lose half your group like that, what are you supposed to even say? When your own little brother just got kidnapped by some raiders, how are you supposed to think straight?
I don't know the answer to that question, but I do know one thing. This isn't over. They've got our friends, so we're gonna get them back. And once we've got our friends back, we're gonna hit them back. Harder. We'll make them regret ever thinking about attacking us, and we'll make sure the message sticks with them.
I step out of the dorms to the embrace of a cool morning breeze, the sky still a pale pink, the sun barely even up yet. In the middle of the courtyard, Willy kneels next to Mitch's corpse, mourning the boy he looked up to, and I feel my heart sink. Mitch was a total dick, and I never really cared for him, but he threw himself out there so Tenn would be safe, I can't do anything but appreciate that.
Beside him, Clem comforts the boy, offering her sympathies, even though she and Mitch weren't exactly on great terms, either. Clem's a good person, I really wish Mitch had seen that.
I walk over to pay my respects as I see Louis walking over to join us, he also visibly uneasy after that whole ordeal.
"Abel's tied up in the basement. He's passed out from all the pain." He tells me and Clem, both of us nodding back to him as he crouches over next to Willy. "Hey buddy, it's time to bury him."
"I'll help you bury him-" Tenn offers, before Willy angrily shoves him to the ground.
"Get away from him! You're the reason he's dead!"
"Willy!" Ruby exclaims, shocked.
"Willy, back off." I warn him.
"It's true! We had a plan, and that idiot messed it up!" He yells at Tenn, who looks like he's about to cry.
"Willy! Cut it out!" Clem yells back at the boy. "It's not his fault. You know whose fault it is."
"I can't believe you're defending him! This… This is bullshit!"
Without a word, Tenn runs off, and all eyes go back to Willy, who doesn't seem to show any regret.
"Willy, that was totally out of line." Ruby tells the boy. But before he can respond, Louis intervenes.
"I'll handle Tenn. Go talk to Abel, see if you can't find out where Lilly took our friends. And, don't be afraid to rough him up a bit, but I just couldn't do it. Maybe you'll get more out of him than I did." He tells Clem.
"Sure thing Lou." Clem nods.
"You mind if I tag along? This fucker's made it personal." Clem nods to my request, and the two of us walk down into the basement.
The two of us make our way into the basement, into the deeper part where AJ and Abel are. I've been trying to avoid this place, for one obvious reason, but this is important. I can put aside my personal feelings for the place if it means we can get some information out of Abel.
The first thing I see in the basement is that damn bloodstain, the reason I've been avoiding this place. Brody's blood. Fuck…
I let out a sigh at the sight of her blood, and Clem gives me a supportive pat on the back, to which I can't help but smile. But even then, the more I stare, the more I feel the anger boiling inside me. But, I set it aside, and I make sure to give Rosie, who lies down next to the bloodstain, a nice scratch before I make my way over to Abel and AJ.
In the back corner of the room, there they are. In one chair, AJ, spinning the chamber of his revolver while in the other, Abel, looking as roughed up as I remember him, passed out in the chair, leg still fucked up as Hell, too.
"You still want dibs?" Clem asks the boy, who looks conflicted.
"It's different like this, with him all broken. But I still hate him."
"Should we get this started?" I ask them, and I'm met with a pair of nods. So, I walk over to his unconscious body, and I send a mean slap across his face, leaving my hand stinging as he wakes up with a jolt.
"Rise and shine, asshole!" Clem yells in his face afterwards, and for a brief moment, he looks confused, before coming to his senses.
"Well, that ain't no way to wake an old man up from his afternoon nap. I was having a nice dream, too, about a girl I knew before all this. She also had me tied up, but I wasn't her prisoner if you get my meaning." He remarks, and I give him a look of disgust as he starts coughing a bit. "Now no offense, but I'd rather go back to my dream, so if you don't mind-"
AJ sends several quick kicks to his hurt leg, getting a scream out of Abel as he writhes in his chair.
"Damn it, squirt! Easy on the broken parts."
I get Abel with a hard punch to the gut, which gets another groan out of him, and a few more coughs.
As he gathers himself together, he looks back up at me. "You've never done this before, have you?"
I look at him, confused. How does he know?
"First thing you learn, I can't tell you shit if I pass out from the pain." He tells me with a shiteating grin.
"Well then, I guess you better stay awake then, and give us the information we want. So, where did Lilly take our people." I growl back to him.
"It doesn't matter. As soon as she gets there, she's gonna turn around and come right back for me. You better give me the five-star treatment. If I'm smiling when she gets here, you might just be able to trade me for a little mercy. We underestimated you little shits, but Lilly won't make the same mistake twice."
A sick, twisted idea crosses my mind, and I ponder it for a moment before lightly chuckling. "Five-star? I'll show you five-star treatment." I walk back to where I was, giving Rosie another head scratch as I grab her leash. As she takes notice of Abel, she starts barking, trying to break free and attack him.
"You won't do that, you don't have it in you." He tries calling my bluff, but there's one issue.
I'm not bluffing.
"Whoops." I sarcastically say as I drop the leash, and Rosie runs over to Abel, grabbing his bad leg in her jaws, and bites down hard.
"AAAAAAAHHHHHHH! CALL IT OFF! CALL IT OFF YOU FUCKING PSYCHOPATH!" He frantically begs us, and although I have no desire to call it off, I guess Clem does, as she whistles to Rosie, who goes back to lying down.
"Just tell us where they took our friends so we can go and get them back!" AJ warns him. Despite this, he still seems hesitant, so I add some extra… incentive.
"Rosie hasn't eaten today, if you're still on the fence about all this."
"Lilly will never give 'em up." He coughs out. "The only reason we came here was for more manpower. Losing Yonatan, Dimitri, and me, for four sprouts who can barely hold a gun, even a dummy like me can do the math on that one."
"Doesn't matter. We're gonna get our people back." Clem responds.
"You don't get it, do you? It's a bloodbath out there. From one community to another, from Richmond to the coast."
"I'm from Richmond, asshole. I haven't seen any of this 'bloodbath' you speak of." Clem informs him, but he doesn't back down.
"Well, clearly you aren't looking hard enough. Back at the Delta, we're at war with some really sick fucks who make me look like the Virgin Mary. These sick fucks, they're hiding in plain sight, and I'm sure you've seen them, you just haven't realized it. They're out there, and they're dangerous. We need people to fight it. Soldiers who do what we say. Point the guns the way we tell them to. You little turds were supposed to be easy pickings."
Clem grabs him by the head, and forcefully slams it onto the little desk attached to the chair, to which he yelps in pain, but then he starts chuckling a bit, and I'm not sure why.
"I'm starting to think you're mad at me." He says with a sly grin. "You think we like doing raids like this? Our home is under threat. It's a good home, built to last. I'd do a lot to protect it. Maybe you kids understand that."
"And I'd do a lot to get my brother and my friends back, so let's cut the shit and get down to business." I respond, and he gets a little serious.
"Ok, fine. You wanna find your people? Front pocket, the answer to all your questions." Clem reaches in, pulling out a rolled up piece of paper. "Read it." He instructs.
"Whatsoever parteth the hoof, and is clovenfooted, and cheweth the cud, among the beasts, that shall ye eat. What the fuck? Is this code?"
"No, it's fucking Leviticus." He corrects her. "I was hoping it'd be some timely moralistic shit about turning the other cheek. Well come on, that thing isn't gonna light itself. You wanna know where your friends are? A smoke'll clear my mind."
She turns back to me. "You got a light?"
I nod, sparking my lighter as she lights up the cigarette for him. But without a second thought to it, she plants the burning end of the cigarette onto his cheek, burning him badly and forcing another yell out of him. With another punch to his gut, she gets in his face.
"I'm out of patience, Abel. Tell me where Lilly went with my people, NOW!"
He doesn't answer. Instead, he starts coughing violently, which soon leads to him dry heaving, which then becomes a large spurt of blood being vomited up, pooling up right next to him.
"Shit…Oh fuck, this is bad." He gasps.
"That's a lot of blood." AJ observes. That, it is.
"When you pushed me off that balcony, something must've burst inside of me." He says to us, actually looking scared. "Shit… I never wanted things to end like this. Everything got out of hand so quickly… Now look at me, I'm a fucking mess."
"Is he gonna turn?" AJ asks Clem.
"No!" Abel objects. "Please, no! My whole life, everything I ever got, I got with my own two hands, and my will. For my body to turn on me, to take control… I'll tell you to find Lilly. Just promise, you won't let me turn."
"Fine. You give us what we want, I'll make sure you don't turn. You have my word." Clem promises him, much to his relief.
"Thank you…" He weakly tells her. "We have a boat docked a few miles West of here, at an old fishing pier. Your friends are on that boat. I can't believe you got me to tell you that..."
Clem and I glance at each other for a moment, before nodding to one another.
"You got what you wanted. Now please, don't let me become one of those things. Please…" The man cries out. I silently scoff. What a fucking baby.
"You're gonna be stuck in that broken shell of a body forever." Clem tells the man, absolutely shattering any hope he once had.
"You… You evil cunt. You gave me your word."
"You were stupid to believe me."
"And you were stupid to believe I told you everything!" He gasps out as his pained whimpers grow fainter and fainter. He head rolls to the side, and that's it. He's gone.
"You don't have to see this, AJ." Clem warns her boy, but he stands tall, not wanting to move.
"I want to."
Minutes later, he comes back. It starts off as a gurgling noise, which soon becomes the raspy moan that plagued my nightmares for years. His milky white eyes open as he turns to AJ, immediately trying to pounce on the boy, if it weren't for the binds holding his arms down.
AJ stands there, stunned, as Walker Abel can't reach him, but still lashes out at him. I whistle loudly, and Walker Abel stops what he's doing. "Hey, dumbass!"
As he looks back at me, I put a single round from my M9 into Abel's skull, killing him instantly, his corpse slumps over in the chair.
"We've got what we need. Let's go. We've got a boat to catch."
Benji's POV
I wake up with a groan and a pounding headache. My vision dazed, I blink twice before I realize I'm laying on a cold wood floor. I glance around the room, and it looks like I'm in a jail cell. Shit, that's right. The Delta kidnapped me. I stand up, trying to gain my footing as I slowly walk over to the door, locked, of course.
"Benji, you're up!" I hear Aasim's voice from the cell next to me.
"Yeah, I am. Where the Hell are we?"
"You're on the Delta's ship." A girl's voice tells me, and sure enough, there she is. A taller redhead with an intimidating glare in her eyes meets my gaze. I recognize her. That's-
"You're Minerva, right?"
She nods once. "That's right. You're a new face, Benji. I guess you came to the school after I joined the Delta."
"'Joined' being used very loosely, I assume." I remark. "You mean when Marlon gave you and your sister away, right?"
She ignores my remark, as I hear Lilly's voice coming towards us. "Is the last one awake?"
"Yes, ma'am." She confirms to Lilly, before pointing her crossbow at me. "Step back."
Not wanting to get shot, I reluctantly comply, stepping back a few steps as the door slowly creaks open, and Lilly walks in, a smug expression on her face.
"Benji, Benji, Benji. You look like a fighter. I like that. The Delta could use more people like you."
I simply scowl back, not saying a word.
"Tell me, Benji, when your brother saw you getting taken away, and he did nothing to help you, he just watched me drag you away, how did that make you feel?"
I scoff angrily. "I see what you're trying to do. You want me to turn on Brett. I'm not gonna do it. Your mind games aren't gonna work on me."
Amused, she smiles. "You'll come around to us soon enough, don't worry. You'll find that we're a strong community, with lots of people and it's entirely self-sustaining, a surplus of food and amenities you'd never think you'd have again. Hot water, Electricity, Clean clothes, Ice cream, it can all be yours. All we ask is you contribute to defending our home. That sounds reasonable, doesn't it?"
"You know damn well I'm not doing a thing for you or your community. You're wasting your time."
She scowls back at me. "Yeah, that's about the reaction I was expecting. Don't worry. Like I said, you'll come around to us soon enough. I'll make sure of that. In the meantime, try and play nice. Sound good?"
I stay quiet, glaring at her.
"She asked you a question. Answer her." Minerva orders me, pointing the bow at me.
I have a simple response to Minerva. "Fuck you."
Lilly chuckles once again. "You're definitely a fighter. I like that. A little defiant, but we'll fix that soon enough. We'll break you. I know we will."
With that she walks up to me, and with a soft giggle, throws a quick punch straight to the diaphragm, knocking the wind out of me and dropping me back to the floor, wheezing for air as I see her walk out, shutting the cell door behind her and clicking the lock shut.
"Is that the best you've got?" I wheeze out to her. She doesn't respond, but I hear her chuckle as her footsteps fade away. As I stumble back to the door, I look out at who I can see. Right there, Violet, a strong scowl on her face as she stands there.
"Hey, Vi. You alright?"
"She let me get captured… Clem… abandoned me…" She mutters, but I shake my head.
"You know that's not true. Clem would never let us go without a fight."
"Then why are we here?" She yells back at me. "She saw me, but she saved fucking Louis instead, so now we're here. That bitch!"
"Why would she let you go, Violet? Think about it. It makes no sense." Aasim tries to reason with her, but to no avail.
"I don't know what her reasons were, but her actions said all I needed to hear." She snarls, before walking away from her cell door, laying in her bed.
"So, any ideas?" I ask over to Aasim and Omar, not sure if I'm even expecting response of any substance.
"Do we have any choices? I mean, we're kinda stuck here." Aasim responds. "Plus, Omar's on one leg right now. He's not getting far, even if we get out of here, somehow."
Omar groans in protest. "I'm fine… If we can get out of here, I'll keep up."
I sigh. "Well, I guess you're right. We don't have much of a choice. Let's just hope we get out of here soon. I don't like where this is going."
Brett's POV
Clem leads the way as the five of us continue down a dusty path through the woods, to where Abel told us the ship is. The plan is pretty simple: Scout the place out, see if we can find a way onboard, and then get out of there. Best case scenario, we find a way on, and we can sneak our people out, no shots fired, no harm done. Worst case, well, you know what the worst case is.
"Guys, there it is." Louis points out ahead of us, and sure enough, there it is. A massive cargo ship, docked at the pier. The five of us take cover behind some grass, as AJ hands me his binoculars.
I take a look through them, getting a view of the ship itself. I see a few crew members , a few of them the women from last night, walking around on the top deck.
"See anything?" Clem asks me, and I nod.
"Sure do. I see a few of the Delta fucks that attacked us. This is definitely the boat."
"As if there were going to be any other boats around here." Louis says in a mocking tone.
"Not the time, Louis."
"Let's spread out and get a look at the area around here. Keep your heads low." Clem instructs us."
We spread out, getting a good look at the area. I find myself looking in the same direction as Willy, who eyes a large amount of scrap metal and other shit lying on a dock near the river.
"You thinking what I'm thinking?" He asks me.
"I think I am." I nod as I raise my rifle, looking through the scope at the area. There's a few troops sorting them, but it's generally pretty undefended. That metal could be really useful.
"We could steal those supplies, and use the rafts and ride them down river. It'd be easy." He whispers to me. And I grin with another nod.
"I like the way you're thinking, Willy."
As the five of us regroup, we decide to work out a new plan.
"Well, they've got guards posted on the pier and the boat. There's no way we can take them all at once. Our only hope is to distract them while we sneak on board." Clem starts, before AJ chimes in.
"We should burn their stuff."
"That works," Clem nods in agreement. "We can burn the supplies, or the hay for their horses."
"And then what we don't burn, we should take. Ruby would love having the horses, but I'd rather have the supplies. I could use it to build traps, weapons, all sorts of fun shit."
"Yeah," Clem agrees. "We'll steal their supplies, and burn the hay as our distraction. If you're going to steal from the rafts, do it carefully."
Willy nods as Clem continues her plan. "The fire will lure the raiders away, letting us sneak onto the pier."
"If anyone sees us, they'll shoot on sight." I note, getting uneasy looks from Louis and Willy, but Cem softly smiles as an idea crosses her mind.
"You remember that guy I told you about, James?"
"The guy that wears the walker skin?" I ask her, to which she nods.
"When we got ambushed by Lilly and Abel, he sent walkers at them to let us escape. Maybe we could convince him to do it again." She suggests. "If we lead a big enough group of them onto the beach, we can blend in without being seen."
We all blankly respond, before I ask her one last question. "So, how do you blend in without being seen? That's kinda a big deal. We walk into that herd, we'll be torn to bits."
"You cover yourself in walker guts, and then they can't see you!" AJ enthusiastically answers my question, and I stare back at the boy, both confused and disgusted. I look back at Clem, whose soft smile confirms what he just said, and I just blink twice.
"Please tell me he's joking."
"Not one bit. We've done it dozens of times. They think you're one of them, so long as you keep quiet and don't run."
"That's… really fucking gross." I remark, and Louis agrees.
"We can talk about this later, we should find James and find a way to do all this before we get to that stage of the plan." Clem tells us, as we start to head back.
"Hell yeah! Let's find out how much your friend charges for his… services." Louis agrees rather enthusiastically.
"So what happens after we get everyone back? I mean, the raiders'll just come back and attack us again. What then?"
Before Clem can answer, she freezes, and we all do the same. Not too far away, a chopping noise echos off the tree, coming from a clearing not too far from here. We all dash for the nearest piece of cover, and I find myself behind a tree. I turn to see Clem behind an adjacent tree. She and I both look out from behind, and just barely, I see a girl, bright autumn hair, somewhat taller, chopping away at some wood with an axe. She and I nod to each other as we both sneak out from cover, knives drawn, ready for confrontation.
I'm the first to approach her, and without warning I grab her shoulder with one hand, my knife goes to her throat with my other. "Drop the axe." I instruct her.
She complies, dropping it without resistance, her rapid breathing the only noise being made, so I start asking questions.
"Where are my friends and my brother? Where do you keep the people you steal?"
"I don't know what you're-" I put the knife right up against her throat.
"Lady, you do not wanna fuck with me right now. Answer the question, or I'll cut your throat and leave you to the walkers."
"The boiler deck. Second deck. They're all there, unharmed. I promise." She concedes.
"Brett, stop!" Louis quietly intervenes. With the distraction, she shoves me away and turns around to face us, and the glare of her icy blue eyes meets mine, but before I can react, Louis speaks again. "Hey Minnie…"
The two of them embrace, and her demeanor completely changes. "After the attack, I wasn't sure… I mean, I heard they burned half your school down. Who survived? Ruby? Mitch? Brody? Tenn?"
"Ruby and Tenn made it." Willy informs her. "Mitch didn't. And Brody, she died before."
My heart sinks hearing Brody's name and seeing Minnie's expression after. With a frown, she softly asks another question. "Tenn's boots holding up ok?"
"His boots?" AJ asks, confused.
"They're so old, they're more holes than rubber." She explains. "I duct-taped them up the last time I saw him, but that was a while ago."
"His boots are holding up fine." I tell her, but she only glares back at me and Clem.
"You're Brett, Benji's brother. And you're Clementine. You guys took over after Marlon died. It's weird, I thought everyone would want to lean on their own."
"Yeah, we're in charge." Clem confirms.
"Well what a fantastic job you guys have done." She snarls back at us, causing us to scowl back at her.
"Excuse me?" Clem asks her.
"Abel figured he could talk Marlon into handing everyone over like he and Lilly did… like they did before. You ruined the whole plan." She mutters to me, getting right into my face.
"What are you talking about?" Louis asks. "Marlon traded you and Sophie away like it was nothing."
"Yeah, and we all survived it." She counters, "Marlon would've never made us fight, the way you did. He wouldn't have gotten people killed."
"Are you fucking kidding me?" I hiss back to her. "He murdered Brody, my god damn girlfriend, when she tried to tell the others about what he did, when he gave you and your sister away."
"What?" She looks back in me, in a mild form of horror and disgust.
"You fucking heard me. He bashed her head in for trying to tell the truth to the rest of us. He took her from me, but please, tell me more about how he wouldn't get people killed."
She blankly stares at me, not sure what to say, before Louis asks her a question. "Minerva, where's Sophie?"
Her look of despair only intensifies as she looks down at the ground. "She… she died protecting the Delta. A hero."
"A hero? God you-" Clem is immediately cut off by that same chilling voice.
"Minerva!" Lilly calls out, and we all scatter behind cover, to avoid being seen. "Finish up and head back! I want to be in before dark." She instructs the girl, who hesitantly glances at us, before turning back to the woman.
"Yes, ma'am."
As Lilly walks back towards the ship, Minnie bends over, picking up her axe as she walks over to us, a pissed off look on her face, once again. "Our boat leaves for the Delta in two days. Then, it'll be a couple of weeks before we come back for the rest of you. When we do, don't fight. The only way you're gonna save your people is to let us take them. I'm serious. Don't fight this." She warns us.
"If you guys come back, get ready for a bloodbath, because we'll be shooting to kill." I warn back to her. "So be smart, and don't do it."
She softly chuckles, giving a sly smile as she does so. "Tough talk coming from you. Just like his brother. Let's see how long it takes Lilly to break him."
With a confident look on her face, she hums a tune while carrying the axe on her shoulder, walking back to the Delta's ship.
"Are you ok?" Clem asks Louis, who has an uneasy look as he looks on at Minerva walking away.
"It doesn't change anything. We still have to get onto that boat." He says in the most serious way I've heard Louis say anything ever, as Clem walks to the front of the group.
"You all should head home. Start getting things ready for the attack, and get everyone else caught up on the plan. AJ and I will go find James." She tells the rest of us, and she and the boy go off deeper into the woods, leaving me, Louis, and Willy to find our way back.
"Minnie she… shit…" Willy murmurs, and I frown to the kid.
"I get it, Willy, but she's been manipulated by the Delta. I hate to say it, but I think she's too far gone."
"That's not the Minnie we know anymore, Willy. And I hate to say it, but I think Brett's right." Louis agrees with me. "But damn, I hope I'm wrong."
"Me, too." Willy agrees as the three of us start the long walk back.
"Welcome back, y'all!" Ruby warmly greets us as we come back. "Where's Clem and her boy?"
"We'll explain later." Louis tells her. "But to put it bluntly, we've got a fight to get ready for."
"So we're going after 'em? Good." The wheels start turning in her head as she comes up with an idea. "Oh! I just thought of somethin'! If we're all about to fight these raiders, we should have a party. It might be our last chance to, y'all know?"
"That sounds awesome!" Willy exclaims, and I shrug in agreement. I guess celebrating our possible last night alive couldn't hurt.
"What do you need from us?" Louis asks her, and she points down toward one of the buildings.
"I need y'all to clear out the music room, I think that's the best place to do it. I know there's some old decorations in one of the closets in the Admin Building that would be just perfect." She instructs us. "If we can get this place cleaned up, we'll have a great time!"
"Well, we've got our assignments, boys. Let's get ready for the party." I grin, and the others do as well., and the three of us go off to the music room to get ready.
Hours later, of mostly moving around tables and old books, we see Ruby walk into the room, with Clem and AJ by her side. "Hey y'all, looks like things are coming together!" Ruby smiles warmly.
"Yeah, just about. Anything else you want us to do?" I ask her as I drop a stack of books onto one of the tables I pushed off to the side.
"Well, we need to figure out lighting, some music, and something to write on the banner." She tells us as she points to some candles Tenn brought out, a record player that Louis found, and a plain white banner that Willy found somewhere. Hey, where is Willy?
"Hey, if we're gonna die, we should have some fun first." Clem remarks, and Louis grins.
"That's the spirit, Clem!"
Clem walks over to the record player, putting on an old jazz record, and soon enough, the sounds of piano and saxophone fills the room, and it almost feels soothing, like I'm listening to a jazz playlist on my iPod while laying in a hammock on a warm summer afternoon. Like we're not even in a zombie apocalypse. That kind of relaxing I haven't felt in over seven years.
Clem then thoroughly inspects each candle, before ultimately deciding on the green one. I don't know what her thought process was, but her answer was an emphatic one, so that's that.
Last of all, the banner. She takes a minute to mull it over, before she says something short and sweet. "See you on the other side."
"I'm guessing 'Fuck Delta' isn't really an option?" I chuckle, and Tenn scowls at me.
"Brett…"
"Nope. 'Flip Delta' doesn't work here, buddy. I'm sorry."
"I like what Clem said," AJ tells us. "She tells me that when she needs me to be brave."
"Well, I think we all need some of that right now." Ruby agrees, before turning to Tenn. "Hey, Tenn? Go break out your paintbrush and write it out, please."
The boy nods and walks back to his room to get some art supplies, and Ruby marvels at the sight of it all.
"This place is gonna look good!"
Just as I'm about to sit down, Ruby turns to Clem and I. "Oh right, Willy was lookin' for the two of you. Said he wanted to show y'all something big, but he wouldn't show me what the Devil it is. He's up in the Headmaster's office."
Clem and I nod to each other as we walk over to the office. She leads the way, cracking open the door to see Willy, hard at work with various books open and scattered around the floor. "Clem! Brett! Check it out. I found a buncha books on ships. There's some awesome stuff about fires at sea and explosions and stuff. The key is the boiler."
Clem and I look at each other, confused, before turning back to Willy. "What're you talking about?" She asks him.
"I have an idea about how to stop those asshole from coming back here after we've rescued the others. And stop them from hurting anyone ever again. We're gonna blow up the boat."
"I don't hate the idea, but that sounds kinda dangerous, Willy." I remind him. "We need to make sure we don't get ourselves killed over this. That defeats the whole purpose of this." Clem nods in agreement.
"Obviously, there's a few details to work out, but don't worry. I'll make sure there's time for you to get off the boat before she explodes. Trust me, this'll work. We'll be ok."
From downstairs, we hear the party start to liven up a bit more, and as the three of us make our way downstairs, my first sight of the party is AJ, dancing in the middle of the room, which has everyone laughing and smiling and feeling good, myself included.
"This is great, Ruby." I smile, despite the sinking feeling inside me. I'm worried about Benji. Is he even alive? Fuck, I hope so. I wouldn't be able to live with myself if he died cause of these Delta fucks.
"Oh, you ain't seen nothin' yet, Brett. Look at what I found, y'all!" Ruby pulls out a large box of folders, raising it proudly.
"What's that?" Clem asks her.
"There are our official Ericson's psych evaluations and probationary reports. They explain why all of us got sent to the school in the first place." She explains.
"Aaaand how we all got stuck here as long as we did." Louis adds.
As Ruby sits down, she explains further. "I thought if we're all going on this crazy mission together, you might as well know who we really are. So, I'll ready what some of the adults thought about us, and you have to guess which one of us fits the bill." She explains as she pulls out a file.
She reads the first report. "While otherwise a remarkable student, 'Blank' continues to be plagued by fits of anger, uncontrollable cursing, and repeated physical altercations with the senior faculty."
"It's either Aasim or Ruby," I think to myself with a small smile. Which would be more likely to get physical, though, Aasim?
""That's Ruby's file!" Willy blurts out with a loud laugh, and Ruby joins him.
"Guilty as charged."
"Damn, I was thinking you or Aasim, I picked Aasim." I chuckle as well.
"Our sweet Ruby here was a bit of a nightmare when she first showed up. She once chased the home ec teacher around the yard with a barbecue fork this big." Louis adds to the conversation as he shows how big it was.
"Don't worry, that was a long time ago." She says with a chuckle.
"I can totally see it." Clem says with a smile. "When I first met her, she was all like, 'That little motherfucker'" She says with a very heavy and over-exaggerated Southern twang to mock Ruby, making everyone laugh, even AJ, who felt guilty about biting her.
"You guys wanna know why I got sent here?" Willy asks, almost to excitedly. Louis opens his mouth, almost about to stop him as he blurts out anyways. "Chronic masturbation!"
The entire room just stares at Willy, who is all too proud of himself for absolutely killing the mood. I can't even tell if he's serious or not, which is just as scary.
"What does that mean?" AJ kills the silence. Tenn leans over to whisper, but Clem stops him.
"Don't you dare."
Despite this, he leans in, whispering into AJ's ear, and AJ just stares blankly, probably horrified by some of the things he's hearing. Why we're letting a five year old know what masturbation is is beyond me, but I guess that's just how the world is nowadays.
"Uh, anyways, is anyone else getting tired of jazz?" Ruby asks. "Maybe we could change up the music?"
"Yeah, let's change things up a bit. Maybe some country music?" Clem suggests, and Ruby wholeheartedly nods in agreement. I get up, putting the jazz record back in it's puch before looking at the country selection. One record in particular catches my eye. A dual album by Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson: Waylon and Willie. I remember this. It was one of Dad's favorites. Benji and I never really cared for country music, but Dad loved it. I put the record on the player and music starts filling the room again, and a smile forms on my face thinking about my family. I sit back down with the others as we continue.
"Good taste, Brett." Ruby compliments me. "Waylon and Willie are two of my favorites."
"Dad loved it. Figured it was appropriate to play it now."
Ruby goes through the files, and her expression goes from happy to sad. "I forgot how many we lost…"
"Remember that Justin guy?" Willy asks, and the Ericson residents nod. "And Teresa, and Jasper, that one girl with the colored braces, Joey, Maddie, Lamar.
"Erin." Louis says. "She had the braces."
"Alex, Dewey, Trey, Stephanie. Holy crap, how many of us died?" Willy asks.
"Thirty-Four." Ruby sighs, sifting through the files, as she pulls another one out, and she frowns even further.
"Whose is it?" Clem asks her.
"Violet's."
"Let's not go through that. That's… that's kinda wrong. I can tell you mine, instead." Louis volunteers. "Only if you want, though. It's… not great."
I look at Louis, intrigued. It's Louis, how much trouble could he have caused? He's usually such a happy a well-intended guy, so I have no clue what he could've done. Although, I've been curious myself…
"I mean, if you're comfortable with telling us, then I think we'd like to know." Clem warmly smiles, which he reciprocates.
His smile soon fades away, though, as he remembers what he did. "So, my family was stupid rich. Like, my parents would give me everything I wanted, when I wanted it. Except for one thing: singing lessons. God, I begged my dad. I told him I wanted to be a real musician. But all he'd say was 'You get to be happy, or you get to be rich, can't be both'. I know now that he was just trying to teach me a lesson, but, I hated him for that. So, I decided I'd teach HIM a lesson. I thought, I'll break up my parents' marriage. That'd hurt real bad, right?"
We all stare on in awe. Louis, this funny, easy going guy that we'd known for a while. He did that? That's… kinda fucked up.
"So, I broke into Dad's credit card accounts and made all these purchases in his name. Did this for over a year. This was how rich we were, he never noticed he was spending a fortune on a mistress that I'd made up for him. But I made sure my mom did. I sent her all the receipts for the hotel rooms, the jewelry, all of it. They had a fight all night long. He denied it. She wouldn't have it. I sat in the corner and cried to help it feel more real. When their divorce was final, I told them the truth. I said 'You get to be happy, or you get to be rich, you don't get to be both'. You know… those two would've been happily married forever, but I had to go be a vindictive fuckhead. I wound up here a week after." He finishes, showing remorse, and rightfully so.
But still, he's our friend. And one fucked-up thing he did before all this isn't going to impact what we think of him. The past doesn't matter anymore.
"They said we were bad people. They weren't wrong. Still, none of us deserved to be ditched out here in the middle of the forest by the people that were supposed to make us better."
We get drowned in the silence at what Louis told us, each of us giving uncomfortable and somewhat depressing looks because of it, but thankfully, Tenn breaks the silence.
"Hey, I've got an idea. Do you guys remember when Minnie would sing 'Don't be Afraid?' when all of us used to get scared?"
"Of course I remember," Louis sighs, "I helped compose it."
"Could you maybe play it for us? If Violet was here, she could sing the words, but…"
Louis's face brightens, and gives him a nod. "I'd love to, Tenn."
Louis steps over to the piano, lifting the cover to the keys, and sits on the bench. With a deep breath, he starts playing, and the room fills with the sound of beautiful piano music. I've mentioned how talented Louis is, but this might've been his best work yet. Any feeling of dread or depression or concern in the room immediately lightens, replaced by a surge of confidence and positivity. Like the song name suggests, we don't have to be afraid. Not of the raiders, not of the walkers, nothing.
Omar, Aasim, Violet, Benji, we're coming. We're gonna get you. And we're hit the Delta back. Hard.
I promise.
The fire crackles softly as the six of us sit around, warmly smiling and talking as dinner slowly cooks, part of a wild turkey Sierra shot while we were walking through the woods. Angie, Sierra's girlfriend, tunes her guitar while Sierra's kids, Jackson and Alyssa, both chat and laugh with their family.
Benji and I, having been with Sierra and Angie for almost a year, felt like part of their family. They're warm, nice, genuinely good people. That's not a kind of person you find anymore, and we were fortunate enough to find four of them, just like that. They gladly took us in and watched us, two orphans who had been travelling by themselves for a while.
Alyssa walks away from the fire to go pee in the woods, as Sierra returns with some bottles of water, collected from a nearby stream. She hands one to each of us as she sits down next to her girlfriend, giving her a kiss on the cheek as Angie starts playing a tune on her guitar. Jackson, a year older than me, turns his attention to a stick her found earlier, whittling it into a pointed weapon, as Benji suggested, for killing walkers.
I take my knife out from its holster, using my shirt to clean it from dirt and walker grime, just as Sierra taught me, making sure not to cut myself in the process. Benji does the same with his, and Sierra notices, giving us a warm smile.
"You boys are getting real good at that." She compliments us, and the two of us smile back.
"We had a good teacher." Benji replies, and Sierra simply laughs back.
Before she can respond, a scream.
Alyssa's.
As we all look over, it happens. Alyssa made a good effort to get away, she really did. But, being twelve, it's to little avail. In the dusk, we can barely see the walker sink his teeth into her shoulder. It overpowers her further, pinning her to the ground as it starts feasting on her.
"ALYSSA! NO!" Sierra cries out at her daughter getting torn to shreds as the rest of us watch in shock. She runs out, her rifle in hand as she starts shooting erratically. One shot connects with the walker's skull, but the damage has been done. Alyssa lays there, her insides spilling out from where the walker had feasted. Angie runs out to her girlfriend, who refuses to leave her daughter.
"Shit…" Benji raises his crossbow, and further away, there they are. A couple dozen walkers, all drawn to the commotion. Without warning, one of the walkers pounces, grabbing Sierra by her hair. She barely even reacts, too distraught from Alyssa, as said walker bites a chunk from her neck, and her blood spurts out all over her clothes and the ground.
"Mom! No!" Jackson cries out as he pulls out his knife, running out toward the scene before either of us can stop him. He and Angie both put up a strong fight, but they're soon surrounded, and the sounds of their efforts are drowned out by the walkers engulfing them. My brother and I just stand there, stunned.
"They're… They're…" He stammers. "They're gone…"
I stare with him, and some walkers soon take notice, slowly stumbling at us. My legs freeze up, and I'm forced to stare at the incoming onslaught. I glance to Benji, who can't help but do the same. My feet start to drag in the dirt as I finally snap back to my senses.
"Come on. Come on, we gotta go!" I hiss to Benji as more and more walkers start approaching. I grab our bags, placing Benji's in his hand as he still stands there. "BENJI!"
Benji snaps out of it, and with a quick pull from me, he and I run as our camp slowly gets overrun with walkers. He and I can't even look back.
Just. Keep. Running.
I stir awake as my dream is interrupted by some light knocking. I glance around the room as the knocking comes again. I roll out of bed and open the door to see Clem and AJ in the darkness.
"You ready?" She asks. "It's time."
"Yeah," I nod. "Let's do this."
Happy Friday everyone. This chapter took a very long time to write, being the longest chapter I've written for any of my stories I think. But, next chapter might be the most exciting in the entire story, so look forward to that next week. See you then :]