Seven months ago

When Winona entered the kitchen early Sunday morning, she planned on making herself pancakes and eating them while watching TV all day long. She had not planned to see a random shirtless male brushing his teeth while simultaneously cracking eggs into a bowl.

The sight of the man startled her beyond belief. She let out a short shriek before grabbing the closest thing to her. This just so happened to be a paper towel holder. Upon hearing her shriek, the man jumped, his eyes rapidly moving to the source of the noise. The two stared at each other with wide eyes. Winona clutched the paper towel holder tightly in her hand.

"Who the hell are you?" She exclaimed. The man spit the toothpaste and saliva mixture that was in his mouth into the sink. "Who am I? Who are you?" He asked back, wiping his lips with the back of his hand. "I asked you first," she snapped. He rolled his eyes. "I asked you second and two is greater than one," he retorted. Winona's eyes narrowed, "Yeah, but one comes before two." He thought over her words and she smirked.

"I win. Now tell me who you are or I'll hit you with this," Winona said, raising the object up. He narrowed his eyes at her. Heavy footsteps bounding down the stairs caused the two to divert their attention to it, albeit reluctantly. Edward entered the kitchen and paused, taking in the scene.

A loud laugh erupted from his mouth and he shook his head. "What are you two doing?" He questioned. "I'm preparing myself to attack this dude. But since you're not freaking out, I'll assume that you know him," Winona said. Edward nodded, "This is Dominic. Renee's brother." Winona lowered her weapon and looked Dominic up and down.

"I'm her half brother, in case you were wondering," the man, Dominic, clarified. "I wasn't wondering," Winona replied, her eyes still narrowed. He looked her up and down before turning to Edward. "What are you doing here, Dom?" Edward asked, taking a few steps forward to give his brother-in-law a hug.

"Renee didn't tell you that I was coming?" Dominic asked, pulling away from the hug. Edward pondered the question for a moment before shrugging. "She might have, but I've been really busy lately so I probably wasn't paying attention," he answered.

"I, for one, was not informed that he was coming. Or that Renee even had a brother," Winona said, lifting her hand in the air. "Who are you again?" Dominic asked. "That's Winona. She's a mutant that Renee found on the street. Literally," Edward said. Dominic took a step closer to her in order to get a better look at her face.

Winona took a step back and scrunched up her nose. "Have we met before?" Dominic asked her. She shook her head. "No, we have not," she responded. "Are you sure? Because you look familiar," he replied. Winona shrugged and took a seat in one of the stools. "Maybe you've seen me on the news. Or on social media. You know, the crazy mutant who freaked out in a store and screamed really loudly and yeah," Winona trailed off. Dominic nodded slowly, "Oh yeah! You're the girl who killed that guy." He began walking about the kitchen. Edward shook his head at the man's inconsiderateness whilst Winona ignored his comment. She turned to Edward.

"What were you doing upstairs, Edward? Your room isn't up there," Winona said. "It's my house. I can go wherever I want in my house and you don't have to know," he replied. Dominic laughed aloud. Winona sent Edward a glare. "I was looking for clean towels," Edward admitted, growing uncomfortable under her gaze.

Dominic walked back over to the counter and picked up his toothbrush. "I'm gonna go finish brushing my teeth in the bathroom," Dominic informed. "Teeth brushing is meant to be in the bathroom anyway," Winona muttered. A grin made its way onto Dominic's face.

"I like you. We're gonna be best friends. I can feel it," he said. Winona scoffed, "I highly doubt that." Edward tilted his head from side to side. "I can see it. He'll be the brother you never wanted. He's the brother I never wanted," Edward said. Winona glared at him before standing from her seat. "Where's Renee?" She questioned.

"Work," Edward answered, rummaging through the fridge. "Great well, I'm gonna go to my room and stay there until Dominic leaves," Winona said, walking to where her room is located. "Very mature, Winnie. Can I call you Winnie?" He said. "No," Winona deadpanned, not sparing him a glance.

"I'm gonna call you Winnie anyway," he said. Winona stopped and turned to face him. "No. I don't know you. You're not allowed," she said, a glare on her face. "All right, fine," he said, holding his hands up in surrender. Winona nodded and turned back to the direction she was originally heading in.

"It was nice meeting you, Winnie!" Dominic called. She flipped him off.

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Winona carried multiple blankets in her arms as she walked around the Underground. She handed blankets to many of the new refugees who needed them. Pretty soon, she ran out. With a sigh, she began making her way through the building to look for more.

She walked toward one of the storage rooms but stopped when she saw John and Marcos talking by the door. She exhaled in annoyance and turned around as John saw her. Winona began walking in the direction that she came from as John called out to her. She ignored his calls and picked up her pace. A hand wrapping around her upper arm pulled her to a stop.

She turned to face John and roughly pulled her arm from his grasp. John sighed as her eyes narrowed into a glare. "Come on, Winona. You're not honestly still this mad at me are you?" He said. Her mouth fell open in disbelief at the question and she scoffed. "Me? Mad? Now why the hell would I still be mad at you, John? I mean, it's only been, what, a day since you broke your promise to me and I found out that you're a liar," Winona replied, her tone clipped.

"Listen--" he began with a sigh, but she quickly cut him off. "You know, I would've helped you guys find Lorna anyway. She did aid in potentially keeping me out of prison. But then Marcos promised to help me find and help Elaine if I helped find Lorna. And you promised too. You both broke your promise. Don't worry though, I'm obviously still mad at Marcos too," she said. She turned away from him and started walking again.

He ran around her and stopped in front of her, blocking her from moving. "Wha-- get out of my way," she said. She moved to one side and he did the same. She rolled her eyes at his actions. "Winona," he paused and she stared at him blankly. "Look, I want to help you find Elaine," he continued. She scoffed again, "Oh really?"

"Yes, really. It's just, we can't do that anytime soon," John replied. Winona rolled her eyes and turned in the opposite direction, attempting to walk away again. John didn't let her. "If she really is where Marcos said she is, there won't be any way for us to get in there. We don't even know where it is or if she's even there for sure. It's not safe. Especially with Sentinel Services cracking down on us. We will get her back, okay? Just give me time to figure out how," John said.

"I don't have time, John! And neither does she," Winona exclaimed. She took a breath before releasing it. "I've been trying to find her for over a year now, John. A year! And I had nothing. No intel, no information. Nothing. And now I have something and you won't even help me get her back," she said.

"Not without knowing all the facts. We don't even know that she's there for sure," John said. "And we didn't know if Lorna and Reed would really be on the route that the cartel said they would be on. But you didn't bring that up then," Winona responded. "That was different," he said quietly. "Why? Why was that different?" She asked in exasperation.

She waited for his reply but he gave her none. "Yeah, that's what I thought," she said. She brushed past him and began walking away. This time he let her. Lauren showed up by her side and sent Winona a small smile. "Do you need something?" Winona asked, not sparing the girl a glance. "I saw that," Lauren said.

"What exactly did you see?" Winona asked. "The little dispute between you and John," the blonde replied. "Okay and?" Winona was not in the mood for this. "Are you okay?" Lauren asked. Winona briefly pursed her lips before replying. "I'm great. Just fucking perfect," she said. "So, that would be a no," Lauren said.

"Lauren, I don't wanna talk about this," Winona said, trying to contain her annoyance. "Yeah, I figured. But I just wanted you to know that if you need help finding your sister, I'll help," the blonde said. Winona stopped walking and turned to her. "Why?" She asked. "Because you helped save my dad. I kinda owe you. And so does he. I'm gonna talk to him about Elaine, see what he knows," Lauren said.

"What makes you think he knows anything?" Winona questioned. "I remember seeing you on the news last year. My dad talked about you briefly. Said that a lot of people were looking for you. I think he mentioned your sister too. I'm not sure if he prosecuted her because it happened in Texas but, he travels sometimes for his job. He might have," Lauren explained.

Winona nodded slowly. "You really think he knows something?" She asked the younger girl. "I'm hoping he does," she replied.

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The upstairs of the Underground was just as busy as downstairs. Winona was moving about, helping as many people as she could. She handed out food and water, helped people settle in and find places to sleep. She even aided Caitlin in the makeshift infirmary downstairs, wrapping wounds and giving people medicine.

Needless to say, she had been very busy. When she wasn't helping out, she spent her time looking for Clarice. The girl was nowhere to be found and Winona was getting worried. She began asking around to see if anyone had seen her. No one had.

Winona sighed as yet another person said they had not seen the purple haired girl. She began walking back to her shared room. The sound of her name caused her to stop next to an opened door. She peered inside and saw Sonya and and a man standing in front of her. His back was to the door but Winona could tell that it was John. She rolled her eyes but didn't move away from the door.

"Come on, Johnny. Let's be honest. The only reason that Winona's still here is because of what she can do. Or more like what she could do if she actually used all of her abilities," Sonya was saying. Winona's eyes widened a fraction as she continued to listen in. "Don't say that," John replied, shaking his head.

"You know I'm right. I mean, she has a second mutation that could be useful to us," Sonya said. John shook his head and moved away from her, going to stand next to one of the windows. Sonya followed after him. "She's not like us, Johnny," the redhead said. "She's barely different from us. She's special and her abilities could be beneficial to us but..." John trailed off.

He crossed his arms over his chest and Sonya placed a hand on one of his shoulders. "See, you know I'm right," the woman said. Winona leaned in more, waiting to hear John's reply. He remained quiet for too long and that silence was all Winona needed. She shook her head in disbelief before stepping away from the door.

She walked away from it and continued to her room. Once she reached it, she entered and quietly shut the door behind her. She took a seat on her bed and stared at the wall in front of her. Her mind was reeling with thoughts. Her eyes flitted down to her backpack. She still hadn't unpacked it after Clarice had convinced her to stay.

Winona sighed and flopped down on the bed. Angry thoughts filled her head and she closed her eyes for a moment, trying to calm herself down. After a few minutes, she reached over to her backpack and pulled out her burner phone. She dialed the number of Renee's burner and placed the ringing phone against her ear.

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How are they gonna do my girl Winnie dirty like that? I honestly enjoy writing this book too much. And I'm usually not one for angst and drama but it's so much fun to write not gonna lie. I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. Have an awesome day.