Two and a half weeks.
They had been at the Delta for two and a half weeks.
Two and a half weeks of menial labour, boot camp, verbal abuse and the occasional knock to the head when they did something the instructor didn't like.
All of this with the knowledge that once their training was completed, they'd be shipped off to fight a war they knew nothing about.
It all weighed on them heavily.
Clementine had been working on the farm with Louis the whole day.
She had protested when the shift manager assigned AJ to a job without her. It amounted to nothing in the end, so she begrudgingly let him go.
He'd be safe, Clem told herself. He was with Violet, she'd look after him.
But nonetheless, she felt uneasy without AJ.
Since he was born, she had rarely been away from him for long. The exception being when he was abducted by the New Frontier.
Clem hated thinking about that time of her life, about the person she was then.
That person who killed without remorse, stole, robbed and pushed everyone else away.
That person was dead now, and Clem hoped to keep it that way.
"You awake in there, Clem?" Louis asked, leaning on his shovel.
"Hm?" She asked, snapping her head around to look at him, "oh, sorry. Yeah, I'm good."
"Daydreaming about something more fun?"
"Not exactly." Clem replied, shovelling part of a rotten pumpkin into the pile behind her.
"Know what I've been thinking about a lot? My piano."
"You have a piano?"
"Yep, back at our school. It's this beautiful grand piano, eighty-eight keys... I could play for hours, totally lose track of time." Louis said whimsically.
He smiled and spoke as if remembering an old friend.
"Most of the people I live with are sick of my playing by now though."
"Well, when we get back you'll have two fresh sets of ears. AJ and I will be happy to listen anytime." Clem shot him a genuine smile.
Louis' face lit up and he stuck a hand in his pocket, leaning against the shovel coolly.
Or at least, what he thought was coolly.
"I will serenade the hell out of you anytime you walk past just for saying that."
"Is that a punishment?" Clem said slyly.
"That's for you to decide." He replied with a wink, shooting her finger-guns.
"You two, keep working. Your shift's not over yet." The supervisor yelled across the paddock.
Clem and Louis continued shovelling. When the supervisor disappeared from view behind the cornfield, Louis leaned in close to Clementine.
"What about that other thing?" He asked in a hushed voice.
"Making progress, but slowly." Clem replied.
"What've you got so far?"
"That gate at the docks is controlled by some kind of pulley system from the tower. If we can get up there, open it and then sabotage it so it stays open, we can steal a boat and escape on the river."
Clem spoke as quietly as she possibly could, thankfully the closest people were almost fifty meters in the other direction harvesting vegetables.
"Hell yeah, I like that idea." Louis grinned.
"There's just a few hang-ups. First of which, they've got other boats that they can follow us in. Also, we still don't know where they keep the guns. I've seen an ammo dump but I doubt they'll let us anywhere near where the guns are kept. If we're out on the boat and they start shooting at us, we'd be like fish in a barrel."
"Oh. That's not ideal." Louis said dryly.
"No it's not. So we've got to figure out a way to stop them from using the boats and learn about the armoury."
"Maybe they have some kind of motor pool where they keep the boat keys? We could steal them and hide them somewhere, maybe at the bottom of the harbour." Louis suggested.
"I like that idea. Good thinking, Louis."
"I know, right? I think I might be a genius." He said facetiously with a mischievous smile.
At the sound of incoming footsteps, they both took up their shovels and began scooping old pumpkin pieces into a pile as fast as they could.
The supervisor, an older, dark haired woman in a tank top, approached them.
"You two, who's your platoon commander?"
"It's Lily." Clem replied.
The supervisor flipped the pages on her clipboard and her eyes darted over the contents.
"Alright, your time's up here. Head back to your barracks and get yourselves to the showers before dinner, you both reek."
Louis and Clem both looked at each other in disbelief.
"Showers?"
***
Left up here, then straight, then the first door on the right.
Clementine recalled the directions in her head, careful not to forget a step. Things weren't exactly clearly signposted around here, so it wasn't hard to get lost in the expansive concrete labyrinth that was the barracks.
"You're positive this is the right way?" Louis asked, trailing behind.
"I'm positive."
Clem hooked a left and continued down the hallway. She couldn't imagine how people were able to remember their way around down here. For every turn down a hallway, there was an additional two paths that forked off for you to take. Some led to more hallway, and others lead to storage closets and dead ends.
Finally they arrived at the aforementioned 'first door on the right' and went through it.
The cramped hallway opened out into a relatively spacious locker room. There were wooden benches in the center, hooks for clothes and a large shelf stocked with rolled up towels.
There was also a guard leaning on the wall next to the shelf. She had a small book in one hand and her was reading intently until she heard Clem and Louis enter.
The guard folded the corner of her page in and put the book down.
"Men's room is on the right, ladies on the left." She said curtly.
She took two towels from the rack and thrust them into Louis and Clem's arms.
"Five minutes max. Clean yourself and then get out."
Clem and Louis both nodded, not really wanting to converse with her.
"Forgetting something?" She asked.
"...Yes ma'am." Clem sighed.
Louis did the same.
"Good, get going." The guard said.
Clementine pushed open the left door to the shower block. She hated having to call all these people 'ma'am' or 'sir', It was demeaning.
The shower room was pleasantly humid and the sound of running water echoed through the tiled space. Someone was showering around the partition wall where the cubicles were.
There was a mirror in the centre of the wall along with several metal basins.
Clem stepped up to it and examined her reflection. She looked different.
The dark circles under her eyes were far less pronounced. Her face looked fuller, less gaunt.
The Delta may have been awful, but they were certainly being fed well.
Clementine sighed, took off her hat and removed her hair from its bun, stuffing the hair-tie into her jacket pocket. She ran her fingers through her hair, getting them snagged in various tangles and knots. She was pretty sure there was a spatter of dried blood staining part of her hair.
It would definitely be nice to have a shower.
Clementine rounded the partition and froze in her tracks.
Minnie stood in the rightmost shower cubicle. Her back was to Clem as she scrubbed her short red hair, which was currently a dark brown from the water.
Clem swallowed hard. Minnie's back was dotted with the same freckles that adorned her face. There was a series of scars, short, deep cuts, all in a cluster on her shoulder blade. There was also a nasty looking scar on her left bicep, a jagged groove carved from front to back.
Clementine resisted the urge to let her eyes wander and quietly made her way to the furthest possible cubicle, her face burning red.
She undressed hurriedly, placing her clothes on the little wooden bench inside the cubicle that was outside of the water's influence, and turned the taps on. After taking a moment to warm up, hot water flowed out. Clem stepped into the steamy torrent and sighed euphorically.
She hadn't bathed in warm water since the world was normal. Clem put her head under the shower head, closing her eyes and letting the water cover her face and soak into her hair.
Holy shit.
Clem could have stayed in there for hours, just fallen asleep and relaxed. But the guard had said five minutes and Clem had a feeling she would barge in and enforce that rule.
So she went about scrubbing all the dirt and much off of herself and working out the tangles in her hair. When she was done, she begrudgingly turned off the shower and dried herself off. No amount of drying with the towel was going to stop her hair from holding water however, there was far too much of it.
She got dressed and stepped out of the cubicle.
When she rounded the corner of the partition, Minnie was standing at one of the basins. She was using her hands as a cup and drinking from the tap.
She noticed Clem's reflection in the mirror and turned with a subdued smile on her face.
"Clem, hey. I didn't hear you come in."
Clementine's cheeks went hot once again.
"Oh yeah. No, I just went straight into the shower. You probably didn't hear me because of the water." She fumbled.
Minnie lifted the towel that was draped around her neck and rubbed her damp hair with it.
"I haven't seen you properly in a while. Not since you helped me with delivering that stuff."
"Yeah, I missed you." Clem chuckled.
She panicked internally when she realised what she had said. It had just slipped out.
Why did you say that, how stupid are you?!
"Me too." Minnie replied, smiling softly.
Clem's mind went blank. She wasn't excepting that, and as a result, she had no response.
She stood there smiling stupidly until Minnie spoke again.
"Are you going to the mess after this?"
"Yeah, I'm starving." Clem replied with a chuckle.
"Did you want to eat dinner with me?"
Clem's heart jumped.
That sounded amazing, but she couldn't bring herself to leave AJ.
She fully intended to keep the promise she had made to him after the massacre at McCarrol ranch, to never leave him again.
"I'd really like that... but I need to stay with AJ. He doesn't like being away from me for too long, and everyone else is gonna expect me to be there with them..."
Minnie's face fell and Clementine instantly felt a pang of remorse. It wasn't that she didn't want to hang out with Minnie. She did. But with the tension between her and Violet that had been going on since they broke up, as well as the stress they were all under to find a way to escape. She just felt like ditching her friends to hang out with Minnie wouldn't go over well with them.
"Oh... that's okay." Minnie replied, putting on a smile.
It very obviously wasn't okay.
"I'm really sorry. Tomorrow night I can though. I'll just bring AJ with me."
Minnie quickly perked up.
"Tomorrow night sounds good." She smiled.
***
Clementine took two plates from the serving table, one for her and one for AJ.
She returned to the table that Marlon, Brody and Louis were sitting at. AJ and Violet still weren't there yet. Clem's stomach knotted and she suddenly didn't feel much like eating.
Surely nothing had happened to them... hopefully.
She must have been making a face, because Louis tapped her on the shoulder.
"Everything alright?" He asked.
"I'm good." Clem dismissed.
"Are you sure? Because you look like you're gonna be sick."
Clem shot him a glare and he threw up his hands defensively. Louis leaned back in his chair and began absentmindedly twirling a fork around between his fingers.
Marlon had already started eating and Brody was tapping away at the table with her fingers and looking around the room.
Clem did the same, turning in her chair to see the front of the room where the door was. She peered through the gaps in the crowd, hoping to catch a glimpse of AJ and Violet, but no such luck.
She turned back around and sighed.
Where the hell are they?
Clementine poked at the food with her fork, causing a boiled potato to lazily roll over into whatever tonight's meat was.
Her stomach growled and she reluctantly cut a piece off the potato and ate it. She felt guilty for eating when she didn't know where AJ was.
Clem looked up from the food at Louis and Brody opposite her.
"Hey, Clem." Louis said, plucking a whole potato from his plate and holding it up, "what would you do if I threw this at that guy over there?"
Louis pointed at a veritable meat-mountain of a man. He had a bushy beard and a scar across the side of his head.
Clem looked at the man, then back to Louis, and repeated the process a few more times just to make sure she knew exactly what he was saying.
"That guy?" Clem asked in disbelief.
"Yup. That guy."
"Dude, there'd be nothing left of you to come back as a walker..."
Louis pursed his lips and furrowed his brow, like he was calculating the risk in his head.
"So... don't throw the potato?" He finally said.
"No, Louis. Don't throw the potato." Clem chuckled.
Brody was smiling as well. Louis' potato ploy was most likely an attempt to cheer her up, which admittedly worked.
Brody's face suddenly fell as she looked over Clem's shoulder.
"Oh shit, look." The auburn haired girl muttered, pointing.
Clementine turned and saw Violet and AJ being flanked by Lily. They were walking towards their table, Violet and AJ looking very uncomfortable.
A million theories went spinning through Clem's head at once.
Did Violet and AJ cause some kind of trouble?
Did Lily somehow know about their plans?
Apparently everyone at the table was thinking similar things, because expressions of terror were plastered on all of their faces.
They tried their best to compose themselves as Lily approached the table.
"Clementine." Lily said in her usual flat tone.
"Yes?" Clem replied, looking up at her.
Lily glanced at Violet and AJ and gestured for them to sit down, which they did. She fixed her gaze back on Clem.
"I need you to come with me."
Lily put a hand on her hip, uncomfortably close to the polished nickel pistol that sat in a holster on her belt.
Clem stood up slowly, getting worried glances from everyone at the table. She reluctantly followed Lily out of the mess hall, leaving AJ behind once again.
The sinking feeling of dread permeated her whole body. Beads of cold sweat gathered at the back of her neck, but she put on a brave face as she was led off through the night.
***
They arrived at a building that Clem had never seen before. The style of it was in keeping with the rest of the base; brutalist, oppressive, concrete and brick.
They climbed a flight of stairs and stoped at a door on the top floor.
"We're are we going?" Clem asked.
Lily took out a set of keys and turned one of them in the door, opening it.
The room wasn't very spacious, it was only slightly bigger than Minerva's apartment. There was a heavy wooden desk at the back with a moth eaten leather chair behind it. Papers were strewn across the desk, some were in piles and some sat loosely, half filled out.
Lily guided Clem to the metal seat in front of the desk and made her sit down. The older woman sat behind her desk, the chair squeaking a little as she dropped down into it.
Clementine looked around the room nervously while Lily, still not saying anything, was sifting through her paperwork. She cleared some space on the desk and finally spoke.
"Do you know why I brought you here?" Lily asked.
Clem met her gaze.
"No."
"I've heard a lot of stories about you since you got here. Brian Anderson says you called him an asshole and disobeyed his orders. Eamon McGill said you argued with him at the shooting range when he let you leave early."
Lily paused, looking up from the papers on the desk and looking her in the eye.
"But I also heard that you're a crack shot with a rifle. And that you're strong enough to hang on the wall for over ten minutes."
The feeling of helplessness and terror slowly faded as Clem realised that Lily had no idea about the escape they were planning.
"You know what that tells me?"
Clem shook her head.
"It tells me that you've got a problem with authority. But you've also got potential." Lily relaxed her posture, leaning back in the chair, "I understand what it's like to be alone out there. You learn to rely on yourself, live by your own rules. You need to unlearn all of that."
"That's harder than you think." Clem replied.
"I managed. The Delta took me in, put a roof over my head and food in my stomach. In return, I learned my place in the social order here, then I rose through the ranks to where I am now."
Lily stood up and pushed the chair away. She walked slowly around the desk and leaned backwards, sitting on the top of the desk, looming over Clementine.
"You've met Minerva, haven't you?"
"Yeah."
A tiny smile played on Lily's lips.
"You wouldn't even recognise the old Minerva. When she came to us, she didn't even want to kill walkers. But I saw potential in her, so I moulded that scared girl into who she really was; a fighter, a leader."
Lily leaned in closer, narrowing her eyes. Now that she was this close, Clem could see how tired Lily looked. She had bags under her eyes and her eyes themselves were reddened somewhat.
"I see that same potential in you, and you're much closer to reaching it than she was when she arrived here. In the near future, she'll be up for a promotion. That leaves a vacancy in her job, which I think you'd be a perfect fit for."
I'll be long gone before then...
"But." Lily emphasised, "you need to prove to me that you're serious. That means no more fighting with superiors, no more being indignant. Learn your place in the social order and learn how to get higher."
Lily looked at her expectantly and folded her arms. Clem saw no reason to be defiant, if Lily thought she was playing along with the Delta's rules then it divert suspicion away from her and make it easier to plan the escape.
"I'll do my best." Clem nodded.
"It'll be worth it, trust me." Lily said in a much softer tone.
She got up and crossed the room, using a different key on a wooden cabinet secured with a padlock.
Lily reached in and pulled out something wrapped in brown paper.
"Since I pulled you away from your meal, you can have some of my private store."
She unwrapped the paper, revealing a miniature smorgasbord. Fish jerky, a few cherry tomatoes, slices of dried apple that were reminiscent of Minnie's, the end of a loaf of bread and a tin of tuna with the label half scraped off.
Clem was shocked how quickly Lily's demeanour changed after their conversation. Maybe it was because of their old friendship, a tiny way of showing kindness to someone who she had missed.
It was also entirely possible that the food was a bribe, a way of convincing her to fall in line and be a good soldier.
Clementine didn't care either way, she was hungry and it all looked delicious.
She made short work of the gourmet selection, wolfing down the dried fish first. She opened the tin and tore off pieces of bread, using them as a scoop for the tuna. She paired the combination with the tomatoes, each one bursting in her mouth. They were sweet and delicious. Finally she had the apples, a sort of dessert for her impromptu meal.
"Thanks..." she said, her eyes darting up at Lily.
She really meant it. That food was some of the best she'd had in years, each morsel bursting with flavour.
Maybe the bribe worked after all.
"Of course. You can head back to your barracks now, curfew is almost in effect." Lily said, picking up a pen and shuffling some papers in front of her.
Clem nodded and got out of her chair, going towards the door.
"And Clementine..." Lily added, "don't forget our chat here."
She didn't respond and stepped out into the hall and shutting the office door behind her.
On her way back to the barracks, Clementine decided to take a detour by the docks. She wanted to see the kind of security they had at night as opposed to the day.
She slowed her pace, moving behind the tall wooden shipping crates that lined the area.
Clem took a peek up at the watchtower.
Still only one guard in the booth that controlled the gate.
The docks themselves were fairly sparse in terms of personnel as well. She counted roughly ten guards.
Clem smiled to herself when she noticed the relative darkness that the docks were shrouded in.
Since they were so far from the main buildings, the only part of the docks that had powered lighting was up on the wall. The guards that patrolled down below carried flashlights
That would make an escape under cover of darkness much more opportune.
She slowly raised herself from her crouched position behind the box and turned on her heel.
Her smile was soon wiped from her face when something solid collided with her nose.
Clem's vision flashed white and her eyes watered from the blow.
It was quickly followed up by another which connected with her jaw.
She spun slightly, trying to stay on her feet. She raised her arms, protecting her head but someone grabbed her from behind.
Clem swung her elbow wildly behind her, hearing a loud pop when she connected followed by a grunt of pain.
Before she could follow up with another blow, she was struck in the back of the head and send to the ground.
Everything was fuzzy, her ears were ringing, her face felt swollen and somebody was now kicking her repeatedly. Clem couldn't even move anymore, she couldn't defend herself.
A hard kick to the face made her bite her own cheek. She tasted blood. A kick to the chest made her cough out some of it onto the pavement.
It felt like it would never end, not until she was beaten to death. In the moment, Clem was almost resigned to her fate. Certainly not happy about it, but what could she do?
Eventually, her vision faded to black.