Why The Rivers Run Red

The Wolf Within

The group walked through the gate grabbing everyone's attention. "Took y'all awhile," Ruby called out.

"How poor are they who have not patience?" Louis said as he threw five rabbits on the table. Violet coming up behind him and placing three more down.

A boy named Willie ran up and saw the haul. "Aasim! Mitch! Check it out! Food!"

All the kids came and gathered around the table. "That's like a lot of food," Mitch said.

"Observant as ever Mitch," Louis said.

Then Aasim walked up. "I can't believe this. Just look at it. Even I can't get this much on a good day. Where did you find all of them?"

"Clem knew where to look," Louis explained. "I don't know how she did it, she wouldn't say. But she came back with a lot of rabbits."

That's when Brody and Marlon joined the group. "Where did you find all this?" Brody asked concerned.

"Out past the safe zone. Clem scouted out an area to hunt." Louis said not caring for the concerned tone in Brody's voice.

"Outside the safe zone?!" Then Brody grew angry. "What the fuck!" She walked up to Clem and pointed accusingly at her. "What the hell were you thinking!? This is fucked. How could you be so stupid?!"

Clem placed a hand on her hip and glared at her. "I made the right call."

"Bullshit!" Brody yelled at her. "What if someone saw you? You don't know what people are capable of!"

Clem glared at her, her voice firm and serious. "Think again."

Brody walked away a few paces and held her head with a hand. "I just can't...I won't...just not again...fuck!"

"What the hell's going on here?!" Marlon came up and asked.

Brody pointed at Clementine. "She took them outside the safe zone. They could have seen someone! You know what that means!"

"ENOUGH!" Marlon shouted. "You are overreacting."

Brody shook her head. "You can't be serious!"

"Let's go somewhere and talk about this." Marlon hissed under his breath as he grabbed her arm.

But Brody wasn't taking any of his shit and shoved him to the ground. Then she walked up to Clem and pointed accusingly at her. "If ANYTHING happens...I'm holding YOU responsible!" Then she stormed off.

Then Marlon turned to Clementine with his hands on his hips. "Clem...I know I asked you for help...And you did." He brought a hand up to his head. "You did. But...shit."

Clem knew Marlon's rules weren't the best but if she wanted to guarantee them a place to stay she figured she'd better apologize. "I'm sorry I went outside the safe zone. But I didn't see any other options."

Marlon nodded. "Yeah, I know. It's just hard keeping this together." Then he folded his arms and cleared his throat. "Well...at least we're eating tonight. And for the next few I'd wager. Um...I'll go talk to Brody. Thanks for the haul, Clem. You guys should go enjoy it...you've earned it." And he walked off to go find Brody.

Clem went and sat down to eat with the other kids. She sat between AJ and Violet and had to try and ignore the buzzing sensation she felt when around the blonde.

She sighed to herself. She hadn't wanted to cause trouble but it was one of those situations where you were damned if you do and damned if you don't. She needed food so Marlon wouldn't kick them out, but she also needed to obey the rules or they would get kicked out.