"I know we've asked a lot of you Minnie, but you need to think harder. What else should we expect from the Delta?" Clementine asked for the fourth time in the past five minutes. Minnie feeling useless with the same 'I don't know' answer she's given the past three times before.
"I wish I can help more, I really do. But I honestly don't have any more leads to help you guys. Believe me, I want those bastards to pay for what they did to me." Minnie answered, the last sentence running cold and venomous.
"Okay, I believe you." Clem said, feeling guilty for dragging this out longer than it had to be. "Thank you for everything you've done for the team. You have been a huge help for what its worth."
"Yeah. I just wish I can be more useful." Minnie says again. "I want to see him burn in hell." Minnie added.
"Him?" Clem questioned, getting the redhead to have a sense of realization.
"I meant 'them.'" She corrected herself.
Clementine looked away and veered her eyes to meet the green ones across the room. They were contemplated and she stared at the broken redhead next to Clem. And as much as she hated to admit it, she didn't like how much Vi was looking at her.
"When are your friends gonna get here, C? We're burning daylight." Brody asked. Sometimes she called Clem 'C' and Clem would call her 'B'. It was their own little thing.
"They're running late. I'm sure they'll be here soon." Clem answered blindly.
"They tend to be late a lot." The metallic voice emitting from the phone carried by Louis said. He shrugged as Clem set her eyes on him.
"They'll be here. They're just busy, probably." Clementine said again, turning her look to Brody again who's phone vibrated briefly.
"Can I have a moment?" Brody asked before stepping out of the room to take the call. Clem then moved her gaze back to the blonde who wasn't standing where she was a minute ago.
"How are you feeling?" Violets soothing voice cleared the silence before getting a response out of the redhead.
"Terrible. I feel used at Delta and useless here." Minnie said before dialing her tone down so that she can only let Violet hear. "What if he comes looking for me?"
Clementine furrows her eyebrows and Violet catches her gaze. She shook her head as Minnie wrapped her arms around the blonde. Violets look said that she knew and that she would fill her in later. At least that's what Clem got from it.
Minerva's hug continued and lingered for way too long for Clem's liking. She looked at Violet gently and project her thoughts onto her. But alas, Vi couldn't read minds.
"Ahem!" Clementine scoffed, watching Minnie retract herself from Violet before returning her glare back onto the brunette.
"Your hiding something." Clementine accused, feeling the heat rise onto her skin. Her frustration growing evermore as she got up close to the redheads face. Looking back and forth between eye to eye. Waiting for the cracked lenses to tell the brunette all they learned.
Minerva squirmed from the glare. The amber eyes piercing through her as she tried recollecting again. Tell her some other random useful Delta information and hope she hasn't told her yet.
"I-I'm not hiding anyth..." Minnie began being cut off by Violet. The blonde speaking up with a hoarse voice.
"There's a guy in the Delta that Minnie is afraid of." She told her, getting four pairs of eyes on her.
"Violet!" Minnie interrupted, "you promised."
"We can't get through this obstacle as a secret. Everyone has to know, Min." Vi said to her. The nickname feeding into Clem's jealousy as she fights her urge to blow up in their faces. She trusts Violet, but that's one thing. Trusting Minnie was a completely other thing.
"There's a man named Abel." Violet continues.
"Violet!" Minnie tries again.
"She was having those bad dreams about him because he raped her back in Delta." Violet finished, causing tears to roll down the redhead's cheek. A look of betrayal in her eyes as she looks down at the carpet.
Clementine hardly realized what she said before Minnie began to cry. She was shaking to the bone and started to lightly rock herself, trying her hardest to not make it visible. But she was and it was obvious. Clementine was more calm now and put her hand on the weak girls shoulder.
"I-I'm so sorry. I didn't know." Clementine told her, feeling guilty for the negative thoughts and harsh things she wanted to do to the broken girl. Minerva didn't say anything back, however, she just sat there, rocking.
Clementine noticed this behavior and looked at everyone else in the room. Motioning for the others to exit. The door opened with Brody's face on the other side as she stopped to assess the situation. Clem signaled her to leave as well and everyone followed Brody out the door. Violet got up and made her way to the door but was stopped when Clem grabbed her wrist.
"Why don't you stay? She trusts you more than everybody." Clementine said and brought her back on the bed, seated next to Minerva.
As much as Clem hated this idea, she had to trust Vi for now. She got up and gave Violet a look to bring confidence in the girl. She walked out of the room and joined the others.
"What do we do now." The robotic voice asked, Louis controlling the words.
"We wait." Clementine says from behind, watching the tall boy turn around quickly.
"Wait for what exactly?" Brody asked, her breath picking up. She's starting to freak out, but Clementine knows how to deal with that by now. Brody freaks out a lot when something is wrong with one of her friends.
"Look what they did to Minnie! We need to do something, FAST!" Brody said, her voice rising with the panic attack threatening to kick into the small ginger.
"Hey B, no need to worry." Clementine said, "I got it under control. Why don't you go get something to drink?"
"No Clem, we need to worry about this. This is big, not a time to calm down and relax." Brody through her arms up.
"We need to remain calm if-" Clementine got interrupted again.
"We need to quicken our pace is what we need to do." Brody said. "If those Frontier whatevers won't meet us, then we'll just have to raid these assholes ourselves." She began.
Louis grabbed Clem's attention, the confused state of the boy washing over him. Clementine brushed off Brody to go follow Louis as they stepped down the stairs. She gave him a confused look as he typed on his phone rapidly.
"I know you might not want to here this; but your friends aren't coming like they said they would. We should be thinking of a plan B." The computer voice said Louis looked at her for an answer.
"A plan B might not be such a bad idea." Clementine told him. Then her mind wandered back to Brody and her breakdown moments earlier. "Do you have any drinks? You know, to calm Brody down." She asked.
Louis merely nodded before leading her to the kitchen one floor down and reaching into one of the high cabinets. He pulls out a bottle of whiskey, and Clem shook her head.
"Not anything too strong. Just something to calm her down." Clementine told him, his expression lowered as he placed the bottle back where he grabbed it. Seconds later he pulled a bottle out and started to walk back up the stairs.
Clementine followed him shortly after and let the silence sink in. She thought of the day after Louis's tongue was cut out. The day at the park, when Lily was there and they had their first real chat.
"I've done things that you might not even imagine. Damn, coming of recent, I've ordered to chop off a young boy's tongue out. That's not the scary part though, Clem. The scary part is... I didn't feel anything, no remorse."
She couldn't stop herself from assuming that it was her fault. Louis would be way more enthusiastic about everything if it wasn't for Lily. But she knows that Lily is trying to atone for her misdeeds. It's just hard for Clem to control the anger that built up inside of her. And she knows that she acts poorly when she's angry.
She looked to Louis next to her, and as if he read Clem's mind he stopped to face her. She stopped and came face to face with the man with nothing to say. His genuine smile lighting up the stairway. He gave a thumbs up and patted her on the shoulder.
After that, after the silent reassurance. Clementine broke down, she wrapped her arms around her friend swiftly as she sniffled. They both shared their moments of silence which began to irritate Clem as she looked at Louis with torn eyes.
"Louis. I am so lost right now. I need to think of something, anything." Clem said as she stepped back while Louis typed something on his phone.
"How are you and Violet doing?" He asked with a smirk. Clementine thinking for a minute before answering.
"I think we're doing good. I hope so. Yesterday we spent the whole day spending time with AJ and it was just the three of us. Well, other than Lee." Clementine said, Louis lifting an eyebrow at the unrecognized name. Practically asking her with just the gaze he left her.
"Lee's my dad." Clem told him once she noticed the questioned look on him. Louis then got busy on the keypad on his phone as he said.
"I thought you said your dad was dead?"
"I thought so. But I was wrong, and I couldn't have been happier than I was yesterday." She told him as she cheered up quickly.
"You found out yesterday?" He asked.
"Well, it was my first day to spend time with him. I found out the night before." She told him and sighed loudly.
Louis placed his hand on her shoulder again with a soft smile. An understanding look as he motioned for her to follow him. He began to climb the stairs again and they reached the third floor again.
Everyone remained out in the hallway and Brody was pacing frantically. The two neared the group and they can slightly hear Brody's panicky voice as she paced the floor.
"Hey, what's going on?" Clem asked quietly as she neared the redhead.
"She's been going at this ever since you and Louis went downstairs." Sophie said, sounding concerned for her friend.
"Just gotta do something. We gotta do something. Think, Brody, think. What to do." Brody murmured to herself as she kept walking back and forth anxiously.
"Brody?" Clementine said, failing to gain the attention of her friend as she kept pacing. Talking to herself as Clem furrowed her eyebrows while raising her voice. "Brody!"
The Auburn haired girl stopped and looked in the direction of her friend for a moment. Noticing the upset structure she imposed in her stance. Brody quit pacing to bring her attention to the brunette.
Clem gave a short glance towards Louis, his smile growing as he raised the bottle. Brody followed the brunette's gaze toward the boy in dreadlocks and the bottle in his hands. Then she steered her eyes back at her neighbor.
"I thought you could use a drink." Clem said, taking the drink off of Louis and opening the cap. Brody crossed her arms and frowned at Clem.
"I don't need a drink." She said, but Clem knew how to persuade her. She merely shrugged as she brought the bottle up to her lips and taking a quick swig of the liquid inside. Exhaling as she swallowed it down and looked back at her friend.
Brody watched Clem tease her with the bottle and it was beginning to get to her. "Oh, give it to me already." She rolled her eyes and took the bottle out of the brunettes hands. She, too, took a swig of the sour liquid and extended her arm for Clem to retrieve the bottle.
"Go for it." Clem said and Brody gave her another look before taking another sip. Briefly after, the door opened and the blonde rushed out. Her face a crimson red and her eyes meeting Clementine's for a moment before retreating out of the house.
"Vi?" Clem called for her but she was already halfway down the stairs. She looked at the other members of the group and Louis nodded her dismissal. She nodded back and chased after the blonde. Descending the stairs until she reached the first floor. And by the time she reached it, the front door had already been closed.
Clementine immediately followed after. Opening the door and following the blonde haired girl from outside the gates.