WHITE FLAG
chapter twenty-three : give him time
{ season two - episode eight }
"WE'VE BEEN OUT. We've been combing these woods looking for her and she was in there all along?" Shane began as the Greene family slowly walked back to their house. Kloe kept beside Glenn, and she didn't speak once throughout everything that was happening. She couldn't speak, and she didn't even know why. She wasn't related to Sophia, but she still felt like family. "You knew?"
"Leave us alone," Maggie said angrily, sending the man a death glare. Everyone else had decided to stay back to tidy up the mess we - Shane - had created.
Rick grasped onto his best friend's arm, "Hey, Shane, just stop, man-"
"Get your hands off me," he bellowed, swinging his arm around as he narrowed his eyes at Rick. He turned back to the Greene's and sped up his pace. "You knew and you kept it from us."
The more Shane spoke, the more it made Maggie's blood boil. She gritted her teeth before looking over her other shoulder and saw Glenn and Kloe behind her. "I didn't know," Hershel defended, his arm wrapped around his youngest daughter.
"That's bullshit. I think y'all knew," he retorted, getting more aggravated as time passed.
"We didn't know!" Maggie snapped, defending her father.
"Why was she there?!" Shane growled, wanting to know answers. And if she was being honest, Kloe wanted to know too. Why was Sophia in their barn? Was that why they wanted to keep it a secret? So then they couldn't find out that the girl they were looking for was in there?
"Otis put those people in there," Hershel replied, emphasizing the particular man's name. He let go of his youngest daughter and turned around once they reached the porch to his house. "Maybe he found her and put her in there before he was killed."
"You expect me to believe that?" Shane scoffed. "What do I look like? I look like an idiot?"
Noticing Shane's anger, Rick put his arm in front of him to prevent him from lunging at the man. "Shane, hey, hey, hey."
"I don't care what you believe!" Hershel roared, obviously getting annoyed with the whole situation. Kloe didn't blame him, she was severely aggravated at Shane's behavior.
"Everybody just calm down!"
Kloe gripped onto Glenn's upper arm tightly as more shouts leaped across the area. Glenn noticed quickly and set his own hand on top of hers. "Get him off my land!" Hershel pointed directly at Shane, hatred in his voice for what Shane had done.
"Let me tell you something-" he aggressively stepped toward the elderly man, gritting his teeth and clenching his fists.
"Hey. Don't touch him!" Maggie shouted, trying to push Shane away from her father with one hand. Her hand quickly and forcefully connected to the man's cheek, "Haven't you done enough?"
She held her father's wrist and stepped up the porch stairs. She opened the door to the house, allowing Beth and Patricia to go inside. Before Hershel followed his daughter, he turned to face the four with a serious look, "I mean it. Off my land."
The same silence that Kloe was very much used to was sitting around in the air again. She shifted weight onto her left leg since the awkward tension was hitting her like a hammer. She crossed her arms over her chest as her eyes flickered between the three men.
"What are you doing?" Rick asked as Shane avoided eye contact, looking off into the field. "Hey, what are you doing?" he repeated, actually catching the other man's attention.
"Daryl, and you, Kloe, both almost died looking for her, Rick. Any one of us could have. I'm gonna tell you right now- that son of a bitch, he knew," Shane gestured toward the house, where the elderly man was.
"He didn't know," Rick held his head in his hands at his best friend's stupidity. "He's not like that. He opened his home to us."
The Walsh man shook his head, "Put us all in danger. Man, he kept a barnful of walkers."
As much as Kloe wanted to say something, she held back. She didn't want to start another argument, but from the way things were going, there might've been one coming.
"So, you just start an insurrection?" Rick stared at Shane with disbelief. "Hand out guns and massacre his family?"
Shane raised his eyebrows at Rick, stepping closer to him. The whole time, Glenn and Kloe just sat in between them, watching them. They didn't know what to do, so they observed as if they were watching their parents argue. "His family's dead, Rick."
"Well, he doesn't believe that. He thinks you just murdered them in cold blood!" Rick argued, gesturing toward the barn.
"No, man, I don't care what he thinks-"
"I was handling it, brother." Rick raised his voice, cutting him off.
"No, you weren't-"
"I was handling it and you just went ahead and-"
"You had us out in those woods looking for a little girl that every single one of us knew was dead!" Shane spat, pointing to the woods. Kloe clenched her jaw tightly at the mention of the little girl. "That's what you did. Rick, you're just as delusional as that guy."
"You're really asking for another whack across the face, hm?" Kloe grumbled, catching his attention. He raised his eyebrows at the youngest Schmidt, a gesture asking her to continue. "I think you have it the wrong way around. You're delusional, not Rick."
He scoffed, shaking his head as he stared into Kloe's angered eyes in disbelief. "This is how you pay me back? I saved you back at the camp, and this is how you treat me? Do you remember when you went to protect Carol, and you ended up getting yourself strangled? Who saved your ass? Me, I did. So, tell me, Klo, how am I delusional."
"I'm not talking about that, I'm talking about what you did over there," she pointed over to the barn, not taking her eyes off the enraged man.
Kloe could tell he gritted his teeth again, his right eye slightly twitching. He looked like he was about to punch the girl across the face since his fists were clenched, but she wasn't scared. Even though she still had to be careful with what she did.
He glanced over her shoulder for a second, and then his glare was gone. His fists were no longer clenched. She frowned, looking to the side. Her eyes widened as she saw Glenn. He wasn't glaring, he didn't have clenched fists. He only had a certain look in his eyes as if he was ready to defend his best friend if Shane had attempted anything.
Shane scoffed and shook his head with a smug smirk, and walked away. He rubbed the back of his head while he was walking away. And Kloe knew that he knew that the three of them were blasting holes into his back.
They then shared glances and Glenn awkwardly pursed his lips. Kloe's mind traveled to the Greene family, and she got a wave of guilt thrown onto her. "You know what... I'm just gonna go check on Maggie and the others," she shared, already walking up the porch stairs. "You guys do what you need to do. I won't be long."
She pulled open the door, meeting the cool yet humid air that the house held. It was a lot more quiet. Usually, you'd hear Beth and Jimmy giggling in Beth's room. Now there was nothing.
Kloe was greeted with Maggie's back facing her, though. She was standing in place right behind a couch. She seemed hesitant, as if she was waiting for Kloe to say something.
"It's just me, Maggie," she muttered out. Maggie's head tilted to the side and waited for her to say more. "Don't worry, I believe you. I know your family didn't know about Sophia," Kloe's heart dropped at the girl's name, and she stared at the dark wooden flooring.
This time, the eldest Greene girl turned around fully, revealing her neutral expression. She circled around the couch so she could sit down, and once she did, she continued to stare at Kloe and say nothing, making her slightly uncomfortable.
Kloe shifted weight between her feet and tried to look anywhere but at the brunette. She tried coming up with more things to say, only to come up with something that was the truth. "We can stop worrying now, I guess that lifts some weight off our shoulders. Maybe we can move on."
Maggie's brows connected with confusion, "Move on?" she asked that as if Kloe didn't care about the situation and that it didn't bother her, but it did.
"I- I don't know. It just means that our group doesn't have to worry about her safety anymore. We just wanted to find her and hope that she was okay. I- I guess not everything has a happy ending," she stammered, mentally slapping herself for stuttering.
"So now you just move on?" Maggie questioned again, her ocean blue eyes piercing through Kloe's dark brown ones.
"I guess so. But this is different... This is Sophia, a twelve-year-old girl who could never leave her mom," Kloe felt her nose burn, meaning tears were gonna spring to her eyes. She blinked rapidly, attempting to stop them.
"So what happens now?"
"We bury her, just like we do with your, uh, step mom and step brother," Kloe answered, her voice lowering to hide the sadness.
"And then?" Kloe looked up at the brunette again, this time, her eyes were red, meaning she was on the verge of tears. She gazed at Maggie with sympathy as she tried finding an answer, but there simply wasn't.
"I- I don't know," the Greene girl sealed her eyes and stared down at her lap, Kloe's heart shattered upon seeing her like this. The last time she saw her cry was the night Otis died. Instinctively, Kloe trod over to the couch and sat down beside her, placing a hand on Maggie's shoulder supportively. "But I know that we won't leave. Rick is good at persuading and I'm sure he'll talk your dad into letting us stay."
...
"Kloe," a voice called out to Kloe. After talking with Maggie for a large duration of time, she decided to sit down by a tree. Her eyes drifted away from her knife that she was staring at and looked at the person who called her name.
It was Rick, who had an unreadable look. In an instant, Kloe arose to her feet, placing the knife in her sheath. She quickly stepped over to the Grimes man and once she was close enough to him, she came to a stop. "Everything okay?" she inquired, her eyes blinking from the wind.
"Yeah, everything's fine so far," Rick responded. "I know it's not really the right time, but I need to know. Who is Isabelle and where does she come from? She's only told me that her name is Isabelle, that she stayed in a treehouse and she's sixteen."
Kloe nodded, forming an 'o' shape with my lips, "Her name's Isabelle Marshel, and she's been alone since a few days after the outbreak. She hasn't really told me anything else. She's a quiet person, Rick. It will probably take a few days before she starts speaking to you. But right now, I'm guessing she only feels safe with me."
He hesitated for a moment, but gave in and nodded. "Alright, she can stay. But we still have to ask her questions once she's comfortable. She seems harmless, she forced us to take away her knife and throw it away."
"What, why?" Kloe's brows knitted together with confusion as to why the girl didn't want her knife.
"She said that she'd feel guilty every time she'd look at it since that was the knife she stabbed you with," he explained, pointing to her healing stab wound. "She said she won't ever be able to forgive herself for what she did and was practically about to have a breakdown. I had Lori and Andrea comfort her, but she couldn't bear to see you when you were unconscious."
Kloe's heart fell into her stomach at the man's explanation and immediately made her want to run over to Isabelle and engulf her into a massive hug. "I'll talk to her later, I'll get the information you need."
"Hey, guys," Glenn appeared behind Rick, causing their attention to fall on him. He pointed off into the distance where there was a gathering around the fresh graves their group had made. "We're ready."
...
Everyone all stood around the three graves that belonged to Sophia Peletier, Annette Greene and Shawn Greene. It was a bit like Otis' burial; Hershel did his speech, wearing his suit, and everyone was gathered around them.
Everyone except for Carol.
According to Lori and Daryl, she refused to join the funeral and stayed inside the RV. Once the funeral was over, Kloe went back to the Greene's house with Glenn.
They both leant against the wall in the living room, often catching one another staring at each other. Their shoulders were brushing together at every small movement they made. They wanted to talk to each other, but the youngest Greene, Beth, was right across the room in the kitchen, cleaning the dishes.
Maggie unexpectedly appeared from the corner and stopped in the entrance to the living room. Glenn and Kloe both pushed themselves off the wall and looked at Maggie, waiting for her to speak. "So if your group leaves, you both wouldn't stay?"
The sudden question took the pair aback, and they both shared a quick glance as Glenn went to answer, "W- We hadn't really thought about it. I haven't at least," he stuttered, putting his hands in his pockets. "I- Uh- Well-"
"Um- is this really the time to, uh, discuss this?" Kloe scratched her cheek awkwardly, earning a small grin from Maggie.
"Well, I'm not really feeling like there's a lot of time for anything," she shrugged, her sweet grin falling.
"What? No- there is! There's a lot of time-"
A loud crash and clatter came from the kitchen, making the three young adults jump back from the sudden loud noise. Kloe's eyes widened when she saw the girl that was once doing the dishes was now on the floor, along with a few broken plates beside her.
"Oh my God."
The three young adults sprinted over to the blonde girl. Maggie crouched down in front of her and shook her repeatedly while Kloe knelt down on the other side. Her whole body was frozen and she was staring into space as if she couldn't control her body.
She was literally frozen.
...
Maggie, Glenn and Kloe managed to carry the teenage blonde girl into the spare bedroom after her fall. It had been approximately ten minutes after she collapsed, and Maggie was still talking to her, in hope for her sister to hear her.
"Sweetie, can you hear me?" she asked with a soft voice, brushing back strands of Beth's blonde hair behind her ear. Kloe heard footsteps approaching the room, making her glance up at the door frame where she spotted a panicked Lori. "What's wrong with her?"
"She might be in shock," Lori answered, eyes widening when she saw the blonde girl's state. "Where's Hershel?"
"We can't find him anywhere," Glenn responded beside Kloe, his arms over his chest and leaning against a set of drawers.
Lori nodded, leaving the room saying nothing else. Maggie glanced over at Kloe while she pursed her lips.
The brunette turned back to her younger sister and held her limp hand, "Hey, kiddo. I'm just gonna go in the other room okay? Call if you need anything."
With that, the trio went into the other room where they found three stressed out adults: Rick, Lori and Shane. Rick was rummaging through a cardboard box full of all sorts of items. "Your stepmother's things?"
"He was so sure she'd recover," she glared over at Shane in the corner of her eye before turning back to Rick, "They'd just pick up where they left off."
Kloe stared at Shane the whole time, still not happy about what he had done not that long ago. He was fidgeting around with things that were in Hershel's room. His eyes laid upon a metal hip flask, and he grabbed it. "Looks like he found an old friend," he tossed it over to Rick, who caught it in one hand.
"That belonged to my grandfather, gave it to dad when he died," Maggie took the hip flask out of Rick's grip and examined it with a confused look.
"I didn't take Hershel for a drinker," Rick commented, staring at the hip flask in the brunette's hands.
"No, he gave it up on the day I was born," she turned around, walking over to the previous spot she was standing in. "He didn't even allow liquor in the house."
"What's the bar in town?" Rick questioned.
"Hatlin's. He practically lived there in his drinking days."
Rick nodded, stepping over to Glenn, Maggie and Kloe. "Betting that's where I'll find him."
"Yeah, I've seen the place when I was with Kloe. I'll take you," Glenn offered, resulting in Kloe placing a hand on his upper arm with furrowed brows. Although, he would be with Rick, so she quickly shrugged it off, trying to throw away the worry for Glenn.
"Alright, I'll get the truck started."
Once the man left, the other two followed him, leaving Glenn, Maggie and Kloe in the room. "You better come back in one piece," Kloe playfully punched Glenn's arm lightly.
"Don't worry, I will," he chuckled in response, patting the top of Kloe's head, resulting in her glaring across at him. "You seem shorter than you usually do, how?"
Her face scrunched up in confusion. "What do you mean shorter? I'm literally a few inches shorter than you!" she pinched the tip of his ear gently. He jokingly swatted her hand away and softly smiled at her as she continued to glare at him, "I mean it, though. If you don't come back in one piece, I will punch you harder on the arm."
"All right, deal," he grinned as he left the room.
Rolling her eyes, she followed him out of the room as he made his way to the front door. Maggie was no longer by her side, which most likely meant she went back to check on her sister.
Glenn opened the door and grabbed the gun. "Glenn," Kloe called out to him quietly, making him turn to face her. "Please, stay safe."
He nodded, turning back around, but she swiftly grabbed onto his wrist. "Wait, do you have a second before you go?" she asked, glancing at Rick, who was preparing the truck he and Glenn were gonna be leaving in soon.
"Yeah, I think so. Why?" he questioned with confusion.
Kloe took a deep breath, having second thoughts on what she was about to do. She stepped forward closer to him, inching her face closer to his before pressing her lips against his. Butterflies erupted in both of their stomachs when he started kissing back. Never had she ever gained that much confidence before.
Reluctantly, she pulled away, keeping her eyes closed as he rested his forehead on hers. "Be careful. I can't risk losing you. I don't know what I'd do without you," she whispered, feeling Glenn's soft breath on her chin.
That's when his body tensed up, but he slowly nodded. A small smile formed on her lips and she wrapped her arms around him. "Thank you. I, um, I love you," she muttered out, his body more tense than it ever had been.
Since he didn't respond, she pulled away from the embrace and looked at his eyes deeply. He had a shocked expression, and his lips were parted. "You okay?" she asked, blinking a few times.
After a few seconds, he nodded. "Oh, uh, yeah. Um, I- I gotta go," he stuttered, gesturing over to Rick, who was looking over at the two from the baby blue truck he and Glenn were gonna leave in.
"Oh," she said in a low tone, looking down at the ground. She glanced back up at him. "See you soon, then."
With that, he turned around as she smiled at him. As he got further and further away, a hit of regret washed over her and she mentally slapped herself once again. When the two men got in the car, she spun on her heel and stepped up the porch stairs.
She trod inside and shut the door behind her, making her way over to Beth's room. She couldn't believe she actually said that to Glenn. He didn't say anything. She just made a fool of herself. She held my face in her palms as she got closer to the blonde's current room.
She entered the cooled room, her eyes setting on Maggie who was gazing out of the window. Kloe's boots against the wooden flooring caught Maggie's attention and she averted her eyes over to the youngest Schmidt. "You guys made my heart melt," she smirked, dramatically smacking her hand against her chest.
Kloe's eyes grew wide as she realized that she had been watching the whole thing, "You saw it all?"
"Yeah. Despite everything going on right now, you both know how to make my day just a little bit better by admitting your love to one-another," her smirk got wider throughout every word.
"Um, about that," Kloe started, fidgeting with the ends of her black leather jacket. "I told him I loved him, but, um, he didn't say it back."
Instantly, her smirk faded into a frown. "Wait, what? What do you mean?"
"Well, he just froze. Did I mess up?"
"No, Klo. No, you didn't. Maybe it was a shock to him, give him time."
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Words: 3556
- 21st March 2022
um, glenn and kloe kiss-