We all just looked at Willy and Minnie in shock. Willy walked forward and Minnie put her hand on his head. I glared and watched her just in case. She pulled away and looked at Willy.
"After the attack I wasn't sure.. I mean.. I heard they burned half your school down." She spoke, she frowned.
"Who survived? Ruby? Mitch? Brody? ... Tenn..?" She asked, Willy looked down.
"Ruby and Tenn made it. Mitch.. didn't. And Brody.. um, she died." Willy announced, Minerva put her hand on her forehead.
"Is Tenn's boots holding up okay?" She asked, Aj looked at her in confusion.
"His boots..?" Aj questioned. Minnie frowned.
"They're so old, they're more holes than rubber.. I duct-taped them up last time I saw him but that was a while ago.." She explained Clem glared and crossed her arms.
"His boots are fine." She spoke, Minerva glared at her.
"Your Clementine. The girl who took over after Marlon died. That's weird.. I thought everyone would want to lean on their own.." She hissed. Clem rolled her eyes.
"Me and (Y/N) are in charge. If I'm leading so is she. We work together." She snapped, Minerva turned and looked at me.
"Your (Y/N)? you don't look like a leader." She sneered, I glared at her.
"I am. But why is that any of your business?" I defended, Minerva glared at me.
"Is that so? Well look at what a fantastic job you two have done." She spoke, Clem stared daggers at her.
"Excuse me?" She replied, Minerva turned away from us.
"Abel figured he could talk Marlon into handing everyone over like he and Lilly did.. like they did before." She began, she then turned to us again, getting close to Clem's face.
"You two ruined the whole plan." She snapped, I stepped in front of Clem in a protective manner. Willy shook his head.
"But.. Marlon gave you guys away to raiders..!" Willy spoke, shocked. Minerva looked at him.
"Yeah! And we all survived it! Marlon would have never made them fight like you two did. He wouldn't have gotten people killed!" Minerva hissed, glaring at me. I glared back and refused to step down to her.
"Your ridiculous Minerva. We saved everyone." I defended.
"Yeah..! Clem and (Y/N) was protecting us!"Willy added.
"Oh yeah? Then how come so many people are dead?" She hissed. Willy looked down.
"Really? He wouldn't have gotten people killed? He murdered Brody!" Clem announced, Minerva looked at her in shock.
"What?!" She spoke. It was silent for a bit before Willy broke it.
"Minnie? Is.. is Sophie still alive..?" He sadly asked. Minerva looked down sadly.
"She.. she died protecting the Delta.. a hero." She announced, my eyes widened. 'What did Lilly do to them..' I thought. Willy looked down. Clem quickly stepped forward.
"A hero? God you-"
"Minerva!" A voice called out, interrupting our conversation. We all looked at each other in a panic.
"Shit!" Clem cursed out. We all quickly ran to hide again. Clem grabbed both me and Aj's hands and pulled us behind a but to hide. We stayed silent when a familiar person came from behind the trees. Lilly.
"Rockingham!" She called out, Minerva quickly turned to her. My eyes widened 'Rockingham..? Why does that sound familiar..?' I thought as I watched Minerva and Lilly's conversation.
"Finish up and head back. I want to be in before dark." Lilly demanded, Minerva quickly looked at me and Clem before turning back to Lilly, her face quickly shifted into a fearful expression.
"Yes ma'am." She quickly responded. Lilly and the other two raiders that were accompanying her walked off. Minerva turned towards her axe and picked it up again. She then turned to Clem and me.
"Our boat leaves for the Delta in two days. Then it will be a couple of weeks before we can 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." Minerva spoke, Clem shook her head and glared at Minerva, determined.
"If Tenn could see you now.. he'd be ashamed to call you his sister." She whispered back, I nodded.
"Besides. When you decided to come take your people to a place they don't want to go against their will, you lost all of our respect and your control of our decisions Minerva." I added. Minerva glared then quickly ran off to join her people. I placed my hand on Clem's shoulder and she nodded at me. We all stood up and watched her run off. Willy frowned and we all looked at him.
"You okay bud?" I asked, Willy shook his head, determined.
"Yeah.. we gotta get on that boat though.. and find a way to get them to leave us alone for good." He spoke, determination on his face. I smiled at him gave his shoulder a pat. He smiled back. Clem nodded and addressed us again.
"You head home Willy. Start getting things ready, get everyone caught up on the plan." She ordered, Willy furrowed his brows.
"Everyone except Tenn." he muttered, Aj turned to him threateningly.
"I warned you.." He snapped, Clem turned to him.
"Enough! Both of you." She spoke, I slowly grabbed Clem's hand.
"I'm guessing us three will go find James?" I spoke, Clem nodded. She lifted my hand that was holding hers and kissed it. I blushed a bit.
"Be safe, alright guys?" Willy spoke, we all nodded.
"Yeah of course I will. And you be safe too Willy. We'll See you after." I waved before walking along side Clem and Aj. Clem kept her hand in mine as we walked.
After a little while of walking in silence, Clem decided to break it.
"So. How many walkers do you think James will help us get?" She asked, I put my free hand on my chin.
"Hmmm.. fifteen.. maybeeee 20 maybe more?" I laughed, I looked over at Aj who was sadly looking at the ground. He was about to answer when his face shifted in pain.
"Clem I don't... ow..!" He cried, holding his side. Me and Clem quickly reached out to support him.
"His gunshot wound..." I spoke, Clem quickly began to check on him.
"It feels like someone pinched me from inside.." He added, Clem frowned.
"Here. Let's rest a second." She spoke, we both helped Aj sit on top of a log. I sat next to him while Clem kept a lookout. Aj put his hand on his side.
"Clem.. (Y/N)..? I keep thinking.. when Willy said all that stuff about Tenn before.. I got so mad. He was being mean! And Tenn wasn't even there to defend himself. I wanted to hurt him, I know I shouldn't. But I just can't stop thinking about it... I wanna just.. punch his head. I tried breathing.. kicking rocks.. I don't like this feeling.. wanting to hurt somebody."He admitted, I placed my hand on his lap.
"I know it's hard Aj. But thoughts like that, they go away." Clem explained, I nodded.
"It might take some time, and maybe talking to someone about your feelings can also help." I added, Aj groaned.
"Ugh.. waiting's hard.. I'm just thinking too much.. like I.. think I'm mad at Tenn too. Running out of cover when Lilly attacked the school was really stupid. But.. he just doesn't know stuff like we do. And then.. Willy started yelling at him instead of helping him learn.. why don't the other kids know stuff like we know? When there's a plan.. we have to follow it. And when you yell at someone, it just makes them not listen." He added. I smiled.
"Your a good kid Aj. I think the reason they don't know much is because they've been sheltered. What, with the safe zone Marlon implemented. They haven't been able to have those types of experiences yet." I explained, Aj looked and me. Clem sat down on the other side of him.
"(Y/N)'s right. But we can also learn some things from them as well Aj." She added.
"Like.. drawing and playing the piano?" He asked, I grinned.
"Yeah! Exactly." I agreed.
"We can teach them how to survive and they can teach us how to be.. normal." Clem added, Aj nodded and smiled.
"It's weird that people are so different." He muttered, Clem shrugged.
"Well it is Ericson's boarding school for "troubled" youth." Clem spoke, Aj looked at her in confusion.
"Troubled youth.. trouble like, bad? So they did bad things? Why?" Aj quickly questioned.
"Okay.. Uhm. Sometimes they do bad things because bad things happened to them. I knew a doctor once, back when you were just a baby. He called it trauma. You have it too you know, the thing where people can't walk up behind you?" Clem explained, I looked down.
"I have it too, Aj. You know how can't really use guns much anymore? Especially on people?" I added, Aj nodded.
"Mmhm.. I don't like my trauma. How do I get it off me? How do I get rid of it?" Aj asked me, I sighed.
"Well.. there isn't really a way to "get it off you" Aj. One way is to well, get help." I explained, Clem grinned.
"Orr.. you sock it right in the mouth." Clem joked, I smiled and laughed.
"It has a mouth?" Aj asked, stunned. I laughed.
"No no.. I mean, like everything else in the world. You fight it." Clem explained, I nodded.
"Huh. So it's like controlling my anger?"
"Almost exactly." Clem smiled.
"I can do that!" Aj spoke confidently.
"But remember It's usually different for everyone." I mentioned. Clem nodded.
"How is it for you (Y/N)? How do you control it?" He asked, I looked at the ground.
"I uh. I just try not to think about it." I muttered, Clem looked at me with concern. It was silent for a bit then Aj spoke again.
"I still like them." Aj began, he stood up and me and Clem followed. We began to head out to find James again. She slid her hand in mine again as we walked.
"I like Tenn the most. I think.. even if he does dumb things. Actually.. I think he's my real first friend." He smiled, Clem looked at him, offended.
"Oh yeah? I thought me and (Y/N) were your first friends!" She grinned, Aj laughed and nodded.
"Well, yeah.. but you two don't count! Your old!" Aj defended, I put my hand on my heart.
"O-Old!? Me and Clem are not old!" I gasped sarcastically. Aj let out a sigh.
"Fine.. he's my "third" first real friend." Aj corrected I smiled then frowned. 'Yeah.. friends..' I thought, placing my hand on the old scar that was traced across my right cheek. We continued to walk though the forest, when the sounds of walkers quickly caught us off guard. We all walked behind a tree and looked out from behind it to see a small group of walkers wandering about. Me and Clem nodded at each other and grabbed our knifes, ready to defend ourselves. I looked around, trying to see if I could spot James. We all crouched down and quietly snuck to another log that was laying on the ground to get a better look. We all looked around and I began to get a bit worried.
"Clem. I don't see him." I whispered, Aj nodded.
"Yeah, all I see are monsters." Aj added, suddenly the sound of someone clearing their throat made all three of us stand in defensive positions. We all turned to see James, motioning for us to be quiet. He quickly grabbed his arm when I realized he was bleeding.
"Your hurt..-" I spoke, we all nodded at each other and bent down to look at James' camp again.
"Did the raiders do this?" Clem asked, we all turned to James and he began to explain.
"It looked like they.. had people from your school." James spoke, I nodded.
"They do." I quickly responded. James looked at me in shock.
"Why are you here?" He asked, Clem looked down.
"Those people you saw, we're going to save them." Clem explained, James nodded and waited for her to continue.
"But.. to do that.. we need your help moving some walkers." She admitted, James looked towards his camp then back at us.
"I could.. maybe help. But... my mask is still in the camp. Inside my bag. I can't pass through a herd without it." He answered, I nodded and gripped my knife, beginning to stand.
"Okay. We can help you get it-" James quickly grabbed my arm in a panic.
"Please.. I just ask that you don't kill them. The walkers." He begged, I looked at Clem, shocked. She nodded at me and held my hand again. I sighed, sliding my knife back into its holster.
"Okay.. but how are we going to do that?" I asked, James looked at the walkers, then back at us.
"If you can distract them.. I can sneak around and grab my mask." He explained, Aj looked at him, stunned.
"Distract all of them?!" He whisper-shouted. James looked at us.
"Please." He begged, I nodded.
"We-we'll try." Clem agreed. We all stood up and Clem gave my hand a kiss for good measure. We all quickly spread out and I took a deep breath, to slow my beating heart. I looked up at the walkers, determined.
'You got this (Y/N)...'
A/N
Sorry for not updating last week! I was busy with school work again! Thanks for understanding!
Stay safe!
Mikah ❤️