WHITE FLAG
chapter thirty-three : eight months
{ season three - episode one }
IT WAS LATE spring. The temperature was getting warmer. Lori's baby bump was as big as it could get since it was close to her due date. Nearly eight months had passed since everyone left the farm. Everyone thought it would be easy to find shelter, but they thought wrong. They had been looking for nearly eight months, and they were still nowhere.
They were tired, hungry, thirsty, and in desperate need of a shower. Their body needs weren't the only thing that they needed. They needed happiness. They had been stuck in the same emotion for eight months and nothing joyful happened to make them happy.
Overall, it was stressful. For Kloe Schmidt anyway. They had all agreed that once Lori gave birth to her baby, Kloe and Beth would be the babysitter while Lori rested. Kloe had trained Beth how to look after a baby once in a while, to make sure she had the hang of it, and she did.
That lifted some weight off of Kloe's shoulders, seeming she wouldn't have to look after a screaming child twenty-four-seven. But even if she did, it wouldn't have bothered her too much.
The group had changed a lot since the previous year. Nothing was the same and it was much to everyone's dismay, but they could do nothing about it. The night Rick had announced that everyone was infected, they debated whether they should leave, but after Rick had yelled at them with anger and switched their minds, they stayed.
They all understood why Rick was so angry, well, Kloe did at least. He came back to camp to find out his wife had been sleeping with his best friend. His best friend got his wife pregnant. And he had to kill his best friend for the benefit of the group. He was grieving, and he had every right to be.
Everyone climbed out of their vehicles. They had stopped in the middle of the road to read the map, to try and search for a place to stay. Zayn, Glenn, Kloe and Maggie stepped in front of the hood, unrolling a map and spreading it out.
They had drawn on the map where they had been and where not to go with a red marker. Most of the map was covered. "We got no place left to go," Hershel announced.
Kloe's eyes landed on the two red circles on the map, meaning they were herds. "When this herd meets up with this one, we'll be cut off," Maggie pointed at the circles and demonstrated as Rick and T-Dog joined their side. "We'll never make it south."
"What would you say? About a hundred-and-fifty head?" Daryl, who had now joined their side and leaned against the hood, asked Glenn.
"That was last week," he shook his head. "It could be twice that by now."
Hershel leaned forward, pointing to the river. "This river could have delayed them. If we move fast, we might have a shot to tear right through there."
"Yeah, but if this group joins with that one, they could spill out this way," T-Dog reminded, pointing to the red circles.
"So we're blocked," Maggie frowned.
"Only thing to do is double back at twenty-seven and swing towards Greenville," Rick trailed his finger across the map, showing the road they would take.
T-Dog snickered, "Yeah, we picked through that already. It's like we spent the winter going in circles-"
"Yeah, I know. I know," Rick nodded, interrupting the man. "At Newnan we'll push west. Haven't been through there yet. We can't keep going house to house. Need to find someplace to hold up for a few weeks." He lifted his gaze over to his wife, who was sitting in the car staring into nothing.
"Alright. Is it cool to get to the creek before we head out?" T-Dog requested as Maggie rolled up the map and stepped away. "Won't take long. We got to fill up on water. We can boil it later."
"Knock yourself out," Rick accepted. Kloe, Glenn and Zayn stepped away from the car hood, stopping at the side of the road.
"I get deja vu everyday," Kloe sighed, knowing that they had been on that road before since she recognized a tree that had a rotten blood stain from where she had taken out a walker with her bow. "It's that damn tree I see once a month."
"Oh yeah," Zayn said, squinting his eyes at the tree, also recognizing it. The three watched as everyone apart from Lori, Carl, Rick and Daryl walked off into the creek. "Let's go," Zayn tilted his head to the side, gesturing to the couple to follow them.
The trio followed them, following the pathway to the creek which wasn't even that far from the road. It was only around a two minute walk.
While they collected water by putting them in their bottles, Kloe looked up and noticed Isabelle by herself, not only collecting water, but watching something. She stood up, carefully stepping over a few rocks to get over to the girl.
She crouched down beside her, making the teenage girl shoot her head towards her. She smiled once she realized it was Kloe, slowly turning back to face what she was watching in the water. Kloe leaned to the side, trying to spot what Isabelle was looking at.
It was a frog. It was sitting on a small rock, looking into the other direction. "It's a tree frog," she told Kloe, watching the frog with admiration. Kloe flinched slightly when the frog suddenly hopped towards the girls, making her smile.
Isabelle set down her water bottle to the side as she cupped her hands together beside the frog, the frog then jumping into her hands. The frog didn't attempt to jump away as she brought it closer to Kloe's view.
It was a pretty green color, the color of leaves. Underneath though was a sandy beige color with purple feet. Kloe glanced up at the rest of the group, and everyone was busy collecting their own water. Everyone except for Glenn. He smiled at the girl's interactions with the frog.
She sweetly smiled at her boyfriend, who smiled even wider at her. She turned back to frog, and just as she did, the frog leaped at her, making her fall backwards with a small yelp. She gasped as she felt the coldness of the water hit her skin where it soaked through her black skin tight jeans.
Isabelle's hand flew to her mouth to contain her laughter, not wanting to attract the attention from the group and look weird. Although trying to be quiet was useless, since everyone had heard Kloe fall into the water. They all turned to face them with confused looks, but soon they turned into smiles and little laughs as they spotted Kloe sitting in the water while there was a frog on her shoulder.
"You having a little swim there, Klo?" T-Dog teased, a wide grin on his face.
Kloe's mouth was still open from the sudden coldness. She sent T-Dog a glare, but it soon turned into a small laugh. "Holy shit, this is cold," she muttered, shivering for a few seconds as she moved her arms, feeling the cold a lot more. Isabelle struggled to keep in her laughter, and when there was a small snort erupting from her, Kloe turned to her and splashed her, making her slip.
Luckily for Isabelle, she managed to steady herself before she could fall in just like Kloe did. Isabelle froze in place at the frosty water seeping through her clothes and onto her skin. "Jesus, how are you sitting in that Kloe? It's freezing," Isabelle questioned, stepping away from the water.
Kloe's brows knitted together and her jaw fell. "I did not intentionally sit in this freezing cold creek for the fun of it. I blame both of you," she pointed to both Isabelle and the frog that was still sitting on her shoulder.
"Me?" Isabelle asked, her jaw now falling.
"Yes, you," Kloe continued. The rest of the group were no longer filling up their bottles, but now watching the two with amusement. "You let it jump at me."
"I can't control the frog," Isabelle retorted, attempting to dry her shirt with her flannel.
Kloe playfully rolled her eyes, now getting used to the water so it wasn't as cold. She reached for the frog on her shoulder, grabbing it carefully and setting it down in the shallow water. Isabelle let out one final laugh before extending out her hand, offering Kloe to take it. She grabbed onto the teenager's hand pulling herself up before smirking, coming up with an idea.
"Uh oh. Bad move, Isa," Zayn chuckled, earning a confused look from the teenager. Before she had time to think through what the older Schmidt had said, she was immediately pushed into the water by Kloe.
"What are y'all doing?" a new voice appeared from the trees, making everyone's head shoot over to Daryl. Him and Rick stood still, their brows connected with confusion as to why everyone was no longer filling their bottles, why Kloe was drenched and why Isabelle was sitting in the water with a shocked expression.
"Uh, swimming lessons?" Kloe shrugged, earning a snort from her older brother.
"Well, swimming lessons' over, we found something."
...
With pliers, Rick snapped open the chain linked fence. The 'something' the two men had found was an abandoned prison, except it was full of walkers. But their plan was to take out all the walkers and claim it as their own. A walker stumbled over to them, making Glenn and Kloe quickly nod to each other. Glenn shoved his shovel into the walker's stomach, pinning it to the fence as Kloe drove her knife into its skull.
"Watch the backside," Rick ordered as everyone climbed through the fence.
"Got it," Lori replied. Once everyone got inside, Rick gestured to his wife to enter. She quickly pulled herself inside, the only person left was T-Dog and Rick himself.
"Hurry. Hurry!" Rick ushered, catching the man's attention who instantly jumped through. Glenn and Daryl pulled the fence apart so Rick could enter, and once he did, Glenn reconnected the fence with an orange wire.
Once he was done, a walker lunged at the fence, making Glenn jump back and let out a little 'woah'. Zayn handed back his shovel as everybody began to sprint through the small pathway. Daryl took the lead, his crossbow in the air as all the walkers that were inside the prison courtyard.
Daryl pulled open the chain linked door, raising his crossbow and looked through the aim sight. Everyone stepped through the door, holding it open for the person behind them as they did the same.
They all simultaneously stopped in front of a large gate that was covered on the other side by a tipped over bus. They all panted as they came to a stop, their eyes traveling over the large grounds inside the prison.
"It's perfect," Rick stated. "If we can shut that gate, prevent more from filling the yard, we can pick off these walkers." While the man explained the plan, many walkers from inside threw themselves onto the fence, attempting to get the living group beyond it. "We'll take the field by tonight."
"So how do we shut the gate?" Hershel questioned, searching Rick for an answer.
"I'll do it," the voice of Kloe's boyfriend spoke up beside her, her brows furrowed at the man. "You guys cover me."
Zayn, who was on the other side of Glenn, shook his head, "No way. That's a suicide run right there."
"I'm the fastest," Glenn reasoned, placing a hand on his hip.
"No," Rick stopped, "you, Zayn, Maggie, Beth and Isa draw as many as you can over there." Rick pointed over to another area, "Pop 'em through the fence. Daryl, Klo, go back to the other tower. Carol, you've become a pretty good shot. Take your time. We don't have a lot of ammo to waste. Hershel, you and Carl take this tower."
With that, everyone rushed to head to the places where they were assigned to go.
"I'll run to the gate."
Before Kloe followed Daryl and Carol to run to the other tower, she took a final glance behind her shoulder, watching her brother and her boyfriend go in the opposite direction. She turned back around, jogging after Daryl and Carol.
Daryl pulled open the metal door, allowing Carol and Kloe to enter before him. They quickly rushed up the stairs, knowing that Rick would need their help in any second. Once they reached the top of the tower, the three of them raised their weapons, aiming at any walker they saw.
Kloe closed one eye while she stared through the aim sight. She aimed at all the walkers that were surrounding the fence where Rick had to run to while Daryl and Carol aimed at the ones that were after Rick.
She released the string, the arrow flying straight through a walker's head that just spotted Rick but was a few feet away. Two walkers fell lifelessly to the ground near Rick, making him look up at Daryl and Kloe, nodding his head.
Many shots erupted from Carol, Carl and Hershel while Daryl and Kloe continued shooting their arrows. The rest of the groups yells came from the fence where they were popping them. As Rick ran, a bullet just missed his feet and dust particles flew into the air.
He glanced up at Carol, who only shouted out a 'sorry' in return as she reloaded her gun. Kloe noticed two walkers heading Rick's way, so she used one of her tricks she hadn't used since the night at the farm and gripped onto two arrows in her quiver.
No one had ever seen her use two arrows except for Isabelle. She set the two arrows on the arrow rest, pulling back the bowstring as she tilted the bow to the side. She released the string, the two arrows driving through the walkers' skulls.
Rick's eyes widened at the sudden fall of the two walkers that had gone down at the same time. His head shot up to Kloe, noticing that they were her arrows and not Daryl's. She smirked triumphantly before continuing to shoot the walkers down.
After hearing all the shots that Rick had made, the walkers that were focused on Glenn and the rest began to set their attention on the Grimes man instead. Rick pulled onto the gate that was slightly open, pulling it shut as he kicked a walker out of the way. He managed to shut it tight, using a chain with clips on the end to keep it locked.
He spun around, noticing all the walkers closing in on him. Glenn, Zayn, Maggie, T-Dog, Beth and Isabelle couldn't do anything but watch since all the walkers had left them alone. They watched all the walkers that were surrounding Rick.
Kloe went back to using two arrows again, doing the same as she would to use her arrows and letting go of the bow string. Once again, two walkers fell down at the same time, while another walker that Daryl had taken down fell beside the two.
The group behind the fence widened their eyes. At the same time, they all looked up at the tower where they saw Daryl, Kloe and Carol. Neither archers' had arrows in their arrow rests, meaning they had just shot them.
They watched as they grabbed another arrow, but Kloe didn't just grab one, but two. "She's using two arrows?" Zayn questioned with disbelief as he watched his sister fire the arrows. "I didn't even know she could do that."
"She did that back at the farm," Isabelle informed, continuing to watch the girl she looked up to. "Maybe one day she'll try using three arrows. Who knows?"
"If she uses three I'll be the one asking her how the hell she knows how to do that. Using just one arrow is a skill, how would you be able to do three?" Zayn pondered, leaning against the fence.
"Wait, guys. Rick's in. He did it," T-Dog told them.
"Light it up!" Daryl yelled to everyone, spinning his index finger in circles, signaling them. Now everyone apart from Daryl and Kloe still, were using their guns to take down all the walkers.
Everyone began to shoot down the walkers, all of them falling to the ground within a blink of an eye. There was one singular walker left, and Rick took it down with his shotgun.
Kloe lowered her bow, sharing a glance with both Carol and Daryl, smirks growing on their lips. Daryl motioned his head toward the exit of the tower, making the other two women instantly make their way over to it.
Once they got to the bottom, they forced open the door, rushing over to the entrance to the actual prison, where everyone else had been. They turned a corner, greeting Hershel and Carl. "Fantastic," Carol beamed, a wide smile across her face.
"Nice shooting, both of you," Daryl congratulated. Hershel patted his back as the three of them walked over to the gate, but Kloe switched directions and headed over to the others.
The six others were jogging over to the gate, which is where Kloe was. "Since when did you know how to use two arrows?" Glenn smiled, asking Zayn's question.
Kloe shrugged, "Since I watched the Lord of the Rings. Awesome movies." They all walked through the chain linked door where Lori was standing, allowing everyone to enter before her. "Remember Legolas, Zayn?"
Zayn's eyes looked up at the sky to try and remember, when it suddenly clicked to him. "Oh shit, yeah right. He's the one that used two arrows and he was the one that inspired you into wanting to be an archer."
"Exactly," Kloe grinned at her brother's realization. Maggie and Isabelle joined the trio's side, panting heavily from the hard work. "One day, I'll make you all watch it."
"In your dreams. I've watched them more than any bug that flew into our house," Zayn rejected, shaking his head.
"I'll talk you into it, don't worry," Kloe laughed. Everyone's attention set on a walker on the ground that hadn't been killed. It had been shot down, and it looked up at everyone and snapped its teeth.
Glenn instantly left Kloe's side, rushing over to the walker. He pushed his foot onto its shoulder, pinning it down to the ground and shoving the metal bar through its skull.
T-Dog let out a loud laugh, before yelling out, "Whoo!"
...
The next morning, they had planned that they were going to try and take out the walkers that were inside of the prison. The night before, they had run out of time and decided to have a small campfire and slept outside for the night.
Rick, Daryl, T-Dog, Glenn, Kloe, Zayn and Maggie all stood in front of the locked gate that Rick had closed the afternoon before. Kloe bit into her bottom lip, feeling the nerves rising in her stomach.
"Ready?" Hershel questioned, ready to pull open the gate for the small group to enter. Rick unlocked the gate, pushing it open. Kloe tightened her grip on her knife as they all walked through at the same time.
They stayed close together, not wanting to be apart in case anything bad happened to someone. They were in a circle, facing opposite directions as the dead came closing in on them. Kloe drove her knife into the walker's skull, as everybody else did the same.
Over the winter, Kloe trained herself to not always be pushed to the ground by the walkers, and so far, it seemed it worked. A walker reached out its bony fingers towards her, but was immediately stopped when Kloe grabbed onto its collar and plunged her knife through its skull.
While Kloe had killed the walker, she had somewhat trudged away from the circle. Glenn noticed that she was further than she should've been and quickly grabbed onto her wrist, gently pulling her towards them. Zayn patted her on the shoulder for a moment before going back to looking around.
T-Dog spotted some shields that were abandonedly left on the concrete. He leaped forward hastily, grabbing one and stepping back to rejoin the circle. There was one walker left, and Maggie paced forward shoving her machete through its head while Rick called out her name.
She rushed backwards, Kloe grasped onto her forearm, pulling her back beside her. The six of them whipped their heads around the area, making sure that they were clear. They weren't, they knew that, but there were no walkers to be seen at that moment.
"Almost there," Rick announced, carefully and quietly pushing open a metal door, seeing that there was nothing, or no one, inside, he moved to the side and was greeted with a few dozen more walkers. "Shit."
He raised his hand in the air as he pushed himself up against the wall, along with T-Dog, Maggie, Glenn, Kloe and Zayn. Daryl was off to the side with his crossbow in the air. Kloe's eyes landed on more walkers that were emerging from the side. Her eyes widened a little when they weren't prisoners, but prison guards. They were wearing armored suits and helmets on their heads.
The only place where they could kill them was the heads, and they were covered by helmets. The walkers soon realized the living standing right beside them, and Daryl raised his crossbow, pulling the trigger as the arrow flung forward, except it didn't go through. Instead it hit the glass shield that was protecting their faces.
The walkers continued to drag their feet over to them, making them back up. Rick attempted to slash his machete across a walker's head, but it didn't even leave a dent. A walker dispersed from the room that Rick had opened, making its way over to Maggie.
Another walker that was a prisoner made its way over to Kloe, and without hesitation, she sliced the walker's head clean in half with force. Rick yelled out Daryl's name, and Kloe would've looked to see what was happening, but her, Glenn, Zayn and Maggie were getting cornered by the armed walkers.
Just as Kloe pushed a walker away from herself, Maggie plunged her knife underneath a walker's helmet from its chin. "See that?" She smiled widely, proud of herself as she panted heavily. Kloe, Glenn, Zayn and T-Dog watched in shock as another walker that had a helmet approached the three.
Glenn reached forward, lifting its head upward for Kloe to shove her knife through which she did. The others copied all of their action, grabbing the walkers from the back and front. There was one single walker left, and it was a lot taller, around six-foot-five-inches.
She crouched down and slid her leg across the pavement, tripping the walker over. It fell to the ground with a smack as Kloe got back up and shoved her knife through its head. She looked up, seeing that all eyes were on her with surprise, especially her older brother who had seen a whole lot more from her recently.
"What? I always used to get pushed down by these assholes, you think I wouldn't have trained myself a few tricks to stop myself from falling?" Kloe laughed, breathing heavily in between some words.
"Okay, well, it looks secure now," Glenn said, eyeing the place.
"Not from the look of that courtyard over there," Daryl pointed over to the courtyard, then pointed over to a dead walker. "And that's a civilian."
"So the interior could be overrun from walkers from outside the prison," T-Dog slowly turned to Rick. Kloe slumped her shoulders, knowing that if there was a hole in the prison where walkers from the outside were entering, there was no way they could block it off. Could they?
"Well, if there's walls down, what are we gonna do?" Glenn questioned Rick, having the same thoughts his girlfriend was having. "We can't rebuild this whole place."
"We can't risk a blind spot," Rick nodded, looking over his own shoulder. "We have to push in."
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words: 3973
15th july 2022
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YES i'm going super sonic speed with this book now i ain't spending another half of a year writing only one season ANYWAYS HERE IS THE FIRST CHAPTER OF SEASON 3 HELL YEA