CHAPTER 159: 159-LAND OF LUST

Clementine:

"So, we will ask you the same questions we’re asking your squadmates, and we expect an honest response." Mr. Rick sat down in the chair.

We had all been taken to small prison-like interrogation rooms, but they were less suffocating than you’d expect. Each was just a small square room with one table in the center, a chair for me, and three chairs for the ringleaders across from me, right in front of the door. So I was basically facing the door.

"We will start from the beginning. What were you doing at the train station?" he asked, tapping his fingers on the table. I was sure he knew it was making me anxious.

"We were taking a walk and then we arrived—" I stopped when he started shaking his head.

"I told you I only need the truth. This is not how the statement with your squadmate started. They said something different."

I took a deep breath. We hadn’t even thought we’d get arrested when we arrived. We should have known better, since they always take us straight in to submit statements. Why did we think this time would be different? Or maybe we were just too stunned to think clearly.

"Well, if you already asked them, why do you need to ask me?" I muttered, sounding defensive.

Next to him sat ringleader Anna and ringleader Lenora. They didn’t let Miss Rue join them.

"Clementine, I hope you realize you can’t be sassy with us. Not after the shit you’ve been caught doing," Anna said, folding her arms on the table.

"Well, we were curious, so we went to see what was up with the train," I answered without hesitation, because we hadn’t done anything wrong. We didn’t trust them, that’s why.

"And don’t you think it’s breaking the rule?" Mr. Rick pressed.

I smiled. "I don’t think so. I don’t remember that rule ever being mentioned."

My words made them exchange a glance, at least Anna and Leonora did, while Rick only tightened his fist.

"Please tell me, where does it say we’re not supposed to go anywhere under the barbed wires?" I asked. I noticed Mr. Rick had no answer. They were just trying to fool us with big words, thinking we’d never question the validity of their statements.

"With that being said, the train station comes under the barbed wires. We are allowed to go there, aren’t we? Now, it’s not our fault we took routes where none of the lurkers spotted us. Do you expect us to go look for them and say, hey, we’re moving there? That’s not our job. It’s their job to spot us," I said, forcing myself to regain confidence after being down for so long.

But just because I was traumatized by what happened in the North didn’t mean I should let these ringleaders get away with the shitty things they do, then punish us for something we didn’t even do wrong.

"Clever you are," Mr. Rick remarked.

I shrugged and smirked, not realizing it wasn’t over yet.

"So, how about you start telling us what happened there? That is part of the rule, isn’t it? Whenever you’re in the North, you come back and let us know. Because there’s no way you stayed there for four days without facing any monsters. So we want to know. Every monster or infected area you had come across. We want to hear about it," Mr. Rick said, opening his notebook.

I started to feel strange. Four days? It only felt like a day to us.

"Come on, start with the monster you came across," he pressed.

I took a deep breath, wondering what my squadmates had already told them. "We came across a tiny village," I said.

"Be specific. What’s the name of the village?" he pushed, making me inhale deeply again.

"What did my squadmates say?" I asked instead.

Anna smirked and shook her head. "Why do you want to straighten your story? Why would you do that? Did you not come across a monster? And if you did, why are you trying to hide it? Don’t tell us four days there already turned you to the side of the monsters." Her words felt like peer pressure digging at me.

"Clementine, you will not be filled with what your squadmates said. Stop wasting our time and tell us," Mr. Rick demanded.

"We were at the gnomes’ garden," I admitted. As soon as I said it, he started shaking his head.

Anna’s eyes widened, and even Lenora’s face showed she knew something about it. I did not like their expressions

"And your expression tells me you know something about it," I added.

Mr. Rick tapped his finger on the page, then suddenly started laughing. The other two looked uncomfortable with the way he laughed.

"Oh, so you were in the land full of lust?" he said. My heart skipped beats. So that’s what it was?

He must have noticed my reaction because he added, "I mean the lust hidden inside someone, the one that comes out in that land. Usually, people don’t survive there. They get consumed by it. A few came back, but they admitted to doing things before realizing what was happening to them. So, Miss Clementine, what happened there?" His smirk was nasty.

I took another deep breath, gulping, looking around for water. They didn’t offer us anything.

"We did nothing," I lied, staring him straight in the eye.

"Well, your squadmates—" Anna began, but I cut her off, pointing at her.

"My squadmates must have said the same thing, because nothing happened. Nothing."

I don’t know what came over me, but my confidence in them was so strong I refused to believe they’d told him otherwise. And the look on Mr. Rick’s face confirmed it. He rolled his eyes, exhausted, then put his pen back down.

"How did you guys come back?" he demanded.

"We killed them all." As soon as I said that, he straightened his back, looking almost excited and impressed.