CHAPTER 174: 174-COCKY MUCH?

Clementine:

Everybody stood around them, watching awkwardly. But the way Matthias kissed her didn’t seem like it was just out of emotion. It looked like they were deeply connected. She wasn’t fazed. She gently held his wrist and deepened the kiss.

"Wow, and some people call me a slut."

As soon as Suki said that, both Joshua and Jack turned toward her. The side-eye they gave made her shrug, grunt, and pout in frustration.

"I mean, I guess her definition of slut is completely broken. It’s called love." But Ian speaking up was something I did not expect. Everybody slowly turned to look at him while he searched through his bag. He just made a comment without even checking who reacted or if anyone heard him. Then Matthias pulled back from Jessie.

"I am going with you. They can find their own cleaner," Matthias said, hinting that we had been looking down on cleaning. I hadn’t, but it didn’t change the fact that he felt some type of way about it.

After a few seconds of thought, Jessie nodded. "Then we can go together." She wanted him with her.

"Just great," Joshua muttered.

"But anyway, we don’t even need a cleaner. It’s not really a tough job. Anybody can do it," Jack spoke up, letting everyone know why Matthias even picked the job in the first place. Joshua and Jack had been so condescending and full of themselves, they thought anything that didn’t involve extreme mental or physical strength was stupidity.

"So we’ll pick Jack," Joshua said, pointing at him. That even shocked Jack, because just a day ago, hell! just hours ago, they had been fighting nonstop.

"Really, you want me to come?" Jack asked, pointing at his chest.

"Do I have to repeat myself?" Joshua snapped.

Jack raised his hand quickly, showing him there was no need to be so hostile. "Fine then, we’ll go."

"Take this with you." Then Ian shocked us all when he set a bag full of supplies on the table.

"Hey, hey, hey, that wasn’t in the plan. They’re going out on their own mission. This is for the rest of us who are doing something meaningful," Jack cut in, disagreeing with them taking supplies like food and water bottles.

But Ian had already separated the stuff for them. He didn’t stick around for arguments. He just walked away.

"You don’t get to make the decision. And just because it’s her own mission doesn’t make it less important. There’s a crusader out there, and if she gets found, we’ll be there. It’ll be the happiest moment, a win-win situation," Yorick said, pointing into the air.

I was just glad my squadmates weren’t so tone-deaf.

"Fine, fuck it, do whatever you want. Don’t come crying to me when you run out of supplies and these assholes won’t share," Joshua hissed, waving his hand to show he was done arguing. Honestly, we all appreciated that.

After that, it was decided that Oriana, Matthias, Jessie, and even the three members from Blue Team would go with Jessie to find her sister. That left just the White Squad and Black Squad together to do the mission. I think the rest of the new Red Squad realized that if they came with us, they’d be outnumbered and we’d prioritize our own members. So they changed their minds and went with Oriana instead.

"Just make sure you’re careful of the monster we talked about," I told Jessie before giving her a hug and saying goodbye. Then I turned to Oriana.

"Are you sure you want to go with them? I mean, they’ve been bullying you. I wouldn’t be comfortable going with people who hold grudges against you." I whispered, holding her hand.

"Oh, it’ll be fine. I see this as the only chance to escape their bullying and maybe make them realize I’m not that bad of a person. This could be my way out," Oriana said, making me proud of her. It really meant something for someone to recognize the truth and try to become a better version of themselves. In this case, she had made it clear she hadn’t even done anything to harm Valerie. But it was her decision, so I let her go.

It was clear outside, so they were all set to leave. One by one, they began walking away. I was still curious about what happened last night, so I left the mansion with them, taking just a few steps ahead before returning so we could plan our own way. But when I got outside, I couldn’t help looking down at the road. Fresh blood splotches were everywhere. Then I looked around and saw the fleshmingos’ heads severed. And not just severed, some were brutally torn apart.

Oriana and her team froze when they noticed the chaos, likely caused by the monster I mentioned. The hesitation in their bodies was clear, but Jessie looked more determined than ever to find her sister. That left everyone with no choice but to follow them.

"Did you see what happened outside?" I asked as I walked back in, letting my squadmates know. Troy shook his head, then rushed out to check. He came back with a shocked look on his face.

"Well, we don’t have time to cry about that, do we? We should get going. We don’t know how fast the net is being severed or tampered with. So let’s go." Of course, it was Joshua, saying it with little to no concern for anyone. But I guessed he was also right. It was just fleshmingos, and who really cared about them?

We quickly packed our bags and before long we were all heading out. We walked toward the big city, the same one I had run into and Haiden had found me. But it didn’t leave my mind that the last time we were there, we heard deadly screams. Could it be this monster?

We were all walking together, White Squad mostly sticking together and Black Squad on the left side of the road. I quickly picked up my pace to reach Ian, who was walking ahead of everyone.

"It was very nice what you did back there," I said, referring to the bag he prepared for them.

"Well, I didn’t do it to impress you," he replied with a shrug.