I stood in the courtyard, my head wrapped up in a bandage as I watched Ruby dig a grave for Mitch and Willy held the boy’s dead body’s hand. Although the boy’s face had been covered in a cloth, I still remembered the look on his face as Lilly stabbed him in the throat. Clementine walked up behind me, grabbing my hand and giving me a reassuring look. I gave her a sad smile and we both walked up behind Mitch.
Willy: Mitch… I… I… At the start, I was so little, and… and Mitch looked after me. People said he was a dick sometimes, but he was always nice to me. And now… Now he’s gone. Stabbed in the eyes by some asshole who never even knew his name.
I put my hand on his shoulder, rubbing his back.
Clementine: Look, I promise you, Willy… the people who did this? We’re going to hit them back. They’re gonna regret ever coming near us.
Y/n: We’re going to rain hell on those fucking Delta soldiers.
Willy: If Mitch were here, he wouldn’t cry. He’d find a way to get our friends back. Then he’d bash Lilly’s brains out with a rock.
We saw Violet, Ruby and Tenn walking up behind us, joining us around Mitch and Willy.
Violet: Hey. AJ’s waiting for you two in the basement. We got Abel tied up tight. He’s alive, but he’s out cold.
Clementine: Thanks.
Violet: We should bury Mitch. It’s time.
Tenn stepped forward.
Tenn: I’ll help you carry--
Willy got up and pushed the boy to the ground.
Willy: Get away from him! You’re the reason he’s dead!
I stepped in between them, helping Tenn up from the floor.
Ruby: Willy!
Willy: Well, it’s true! We had a plan and that idiot messed it up!
Clementine: C’mon, Willy, none of this is Tenn’s fault. You know who’s really to blame.
Willy: I can’t believe you’re defending him! This… this is bullshit.
Tenn ran off behind me, into the admin building.
Ruby: Tenn!
I went to follow him, but Violet held up her hand, stopping me.
Violet: I’ll take care of this. Talk to Abel, find out where Lilly took Louis, Omar, and Aasim. And, both of you… don’t be afraid to, you know, hurt him a little. Maybe you’ll get more out of him than we did.
Y/n: Don’t worry, I have some pent up anger.
I held Clementine’s hand and we walked down to the basement. But as we walked past the boiler, the girl beside me stopped, her face turning into a frown. I looked for myself and saw a dried blood stain on the metal and the floor.
Y/n: Shit… Is this…?
Clementine: Yeah. Brody.
Y/n: Fuck…
We kept walking after a minute of silence, I patted Rosie as we did and then we ended up in an open part of the underground room. Abel was taped up to an old school chair and AJ sat in front of him, spinning the bullet chamber of his revolver.
Clementine: Got your gun back, huh?
AJ: Uh-huh.
Y/n: You ready, little dude?
He nodded and I gave Clementine a knowing look, letting go of her hand. I walked over and slapped Abel in the face, making him splutter and sit upwards quickly. Backing off, we all glared at him with determination.
Abel: … the fuck!?
He took a minute, but he soon got used to the light and surroundings.
Abel: 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 used to know, from before. She also had me tied up, but I wasn’t her prisoner, if you get my meaning.
He started coughing uncontrollably and I grimaced as blood sprayed from his mouth.
Y/n: We don’t want to hear about your kinks, it’s making me sick.
The man glared, but cleared his throat and didn’t speak about it anymore.
Abel: Got any water?
AJ got up from his seat, holding a canteen.
AJ: Drink.
Abel: You’ve got good manners, squirt. Don’t mind if I do.
The canteen was tipped for him and Abel drank quickly, then it was taken away, again. Clementine stepped forward.
Clementine: You’ve had your water. Now it’s time to talk.
Abel: This is your first time interrogating someone, isn’t it? You let me dictate the agenda. Makes me think you’re weak.
Clementine: Don’t make this harder than it needs to be, okay?
Y/n: We just wanna know where Lilly took our people.
The man shook his head and coughed slightly.
Abel: It doesn’t matter. 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 be able to trade me for a little mercy. We underestimated you little shits, but Lilly won’t make the same mistake twice. She’ll be back. Trust me. She can’t afford to leave anyone behind.
Clementine: You think Lilly would come back for you? Look at the state you’re in. You’re worthless to her now.
Abel: I can hear.
Y/n: There’s no fucking rescure party. Get it in your thick head. All you have right now, Abel, is a bunch of pissed off kids who want you dead.
AJ: So tell us where our friends are. You trade it for mercy.
Abel: Lilly will never give ‘em up. Only reason we came here was for more manpower. Losing Yonatan and me, for three sprouts who can barely hold a gun… Even a dummy like me do the math on that one.
Clementine: We’re gonna get ‘em back.
Abel: You don’t know what it’s like out there. It’s a bloodbath, one community against another, from Richmond to the coast. Back at the Delta, we’re at war, with some really sick fucks who make me look like the Virgin Mary. 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.
Clementine: That’s called kidnapping.
Abel: Call it whatever name you want. I call it survival.
Y/n: You need a dictionary.
Clementine: What kind of place is this Delta if they use forced labor to defend it?
Abel: 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 can understand that.
Y/n: And we’d do a lot of things to get our friends back. So stop fucking wasting our time.
Abel: Okay. Front pocket. The answer to all your questions.
I gave him a look and walked forward, taking a cigarette out from his shirt pocket. I passed it to Clementine and listened while she read it, keeping my eyes on Abel.
Clementine: ‘Whatsoever parteth the hoof, and is clovenfooted, and cheweth the cud, among the beasts, that shall ye eat.’
Y/n: The fuck is this? Code?
Abel: No, it’s fucking Leviticus. I was hoping it’d be some timely moralistic shit about turning the other cheek. Well, c’mon. That thing isn’t gonna light itself. Wanna know where your friends are? A smoke’ll clear my mind.
Clementine raised her eyebrow and used the lighter I gave to her to light the end of the joint.
Abel: Help me remember stuff. Like where Lilly went. C’mon, kid. Don’t make me wait all day.
So she leaned forward, about to hand it to him and then she stubbed it out on the desk.
Clementine: Oops.
Abel: You little bitch… Fucking…
Y/n: Watch your mouth!
The man started coughing up blood in front of us, carrying on for about a minute, leaving puddles of the red liquid all over the wooden desk.
Abel: Shit.
AJ: That’s a lot of blood.
Abel: Oh, fuck… this is… not good.
Y/n: Uh, no shit.
AJ: He’s gonna die, isn’t he?
Clementine: We have medicine. We can still patch him up.
Abel: I don’t think so. When you pushed me off that balcony, something must’ve burst inside of me. No medicine can fix this. Shit… I never wanted things to end like this. Everything… it all got out of hand. Now look at me. I’m a fucking mess.
I turned to Clementine, eyes weary as I tried to be quiet.
Y/n: He’s gonna turn…
The dying man still seemed to hear me, though.
Abel: No! My… my whole life, everything I ever got, I got with my own two hands and… and my will. For my body to turn on me… to take control… I’ll tell you where to find Lilly. Just promise you won’t let me turn. I’m begging you.
Clementine: If you’re honest with us, we’ll put you out of your misery. You have my word.
Abel: Okay… we have a boat. We’re docked few miles west of here, at an old fishing pier. Your friends are on the boat. Okay… okay. In my boot. You’ll find a paper with everything you need to know.
I ducked down and took out a piece of paper and we read it quickly.
Abel: We have a boat. That paper shows the miles to the nearest stops. Those words, they’re city names… Use ‘em like a call and response… make sure we don’t go shooting our own. Only one we use these days is Rockingham. I can’t believe you actually got me to give that up. You got what you wanted. Please, don’t let me become one of those things. Please… I don’t want to turn…
I nodded and stepped forwards.
Y/n: I’ll do it.
Clementine: Hey, are you sure?
Y/n: Yeah. Completely.
AJ got up and was about to hand me his gun.
Abel: Not that. I wanna… let me keep my face.
I widened my eyes, but complied and took out my small knife from my belt.
Clementine: You don’t need to watch this.
AJ: I want to.
I swallowed and stabbed Abel in the side of the head with as much force as I could muster, but I couldn’t stop the guilt creeping up my throat as I took the knife back out, seeing the damage I had caused. Clementine came up behind me, slowly removing the knife from my hand and holding it instead, giving me a side hug.
AJ: At least he can’t hurt anyone anymore.
Clementine: Yeah.
I took a deep breath and nodded.
Y/n: C’mon. We have a boat to find.