The River (Clemerva)

Chapter Five: We're Friends Now?

Following the trend set by the last day, they were practically shoved out of bed and marched outside.
Clementine shivered in the cold morning air, her denim jacket doing nothing to stop the icy wind blowing right through her. Every muscle in her body ached from yesterday's training. The punishment probably was a bigger culprit. She could barely lift her arms without everything tensing up.

This time, instead of being taken to the training course, they were stopped near the docks.
Minerva was with them this time. The collar on her jacket was pulled up around her neck.
Clem noticed the occasional side-eye Minerva gave her. She hadn't spoken to the redhead since getting off the boat.
There was something in the look she was giving her, though. It didn't look like the usual contempt.

A woman with a clipboard walked over and addressed them.

"Alright, since you're all staying here, you need to contribute. You'll all be assigned jobs which you will complete to a high standard, or there'll be consequences."

She paced up and down the line, not looking at any of them as she spoke.

"First up; Sulieman, Chase. You two are in the pantry, report to Angus and he'll tell you what to do."

Marlon and Louis looked at each other, confused.

"Uhh... where's the pantry?" Louis asked hesitantly.

The woman rolled her eyes and pulled a walkie talkie off her belt. She called for somebody to come down and escort the boys to their job.

"Ok, next; Burress, Adlon. You're on the farm today. Follow that path over there until you see all the plants, you can't miss it."

"Marsh and..." the woman paused and squinted at the list, checking back and forth between it and AJ, "Junior... uhh, you're in armoury B. I'll show you the way."

The woman turned to Minerva.

"Leigh, help whoever you want."

"Yes, ma'am." Minerva nodded.

With that, the woman took Clem and AJ and walked them through the base. There were a lot of other children and teenagers wandering around, carrying out various tasks. Clementine pretended to be oblivious to the stares she and AJ were getting.
They arrived at their destination, an enormous brick warehouse. The woman led them to a room with a heavy steel door. She grabbed the key ring from her belt, affixed by a retractable cord, and opened the door.
Inside was some kind of workshop. A long wooden bench stretched from one side to the other in the center. At the back there were rows of shelves stocked full of items. The running theme of everything in there seemed to be bullets. There were buckets full of spent shell casings, stacks of empty magazines and boxes of ready to use ammunition.

"You two'll be here on the line pressing new ammo. There's instructions on that sheet over there, work your way through the nine-millimeter brass in the bucket and tell Jorge when you're done." The woman explained.

Every word out of her thus far sounded like she would rather be anywhere else than dealing with Clem and her newfound friends.
The woman left the room and it wasn't long before a stocky, bearded man with glasses walked in.

"I'm Jorge. Dana said you've been briefed already so I'll let you get to it. I've got my own work to worry about."

Without stopping, Jorge walked to the far end of the room and seated himself at another workbench. He began tinkering with something, muttering to himself.
Clementine and AJ took a seat at the bench. She pulled the sheet of paper that contained the instructions towards her and read over them.
The first step was to take one of the primers from the container in front of her and fit them into the base of the shell using one of the various tools. Luckily everything was clearly labelled, Clem had never actually made bullets before.
Following the instructions, she used the provided tool to fit a primer into the shell.
When she was satisfied, she put the shell on the scale next to her and used a funnel to add the correct amount of propellant according to the instructions.
She then fitted the shell into the press along with the bullet, pulled the handle down, and removed the finished bullet.