WHITE FLAG
chapter forty-three : the dixon arena
{ season three - episode nine }
ZAYN WALKED UP to his younger sister, who was standing with Maggie. She was helping Kloe rewrap her thigh with a new piece of fabric that they had gotten from some clothing in the back of the car.
He had a small smile on his face as he reached down into his pocket. Kloe's head whipped up to her brother, a look of confusion picking at her face as he smiled. He pulled out the all too familiar blue container, with the canister that Kloe needed inside of it.
The corners of her lips tilted upward as Zayn tossed over the reliever inhaler. She caught it with her hands, cupping it tightly as if it was the thing that she needed most at that moment. She took a deep breath, hearing how the wheeze got five times worse in the time of ten minutes.
She shook the inhaler, bringing it to her lips as she sucked in the air the canister held and pushed it down. She pushed it down twice, immediately feeling her airways going back to normal with ease.
She handed it back over to Zayn, "Thanks." He nodded, stuffing it inside his pocket.
"You're lucky I found one in the duffel. I knew I would never forget it. I never would. I put it in there because I knew that you'd need it since you didn't take your preventer this morning," he explained, making Kloe raise her eyebrows.
"Wow, how big of a memory you got up in there?" She asked as she poked the side of his head, making him chuckle.
"Hey," Rick called out to the three, making them shoot their heads over to the man. "Let's go."
And with that, Rick, Maggie, Zayn, and Kloe all left for Woodbury to retrieve Daryl.
...
The five of them made it there within five minutes, not wasting any time in case they were too late. Kloe occasionally had the help of Maggie to help her walk, but other than that, she was doing fine.
Currently, they were sprinting across Woodbury to where all the commotion was happening. They moved extremely carefully and quietly, not wanting to catch any attention. But since all of the attention was on whatever was going on, it was as easy as ever to get inside.
They turned a corner, instantly getting a glance at what was going on where everyone was cheering. Kloe frowned deeply when she saw Daryl and Merle, both fighting together as they punched walkers that were held by snare poles that men held. There was a group of people around them, cheering as they wished death upon the brothers.
And in the midst of them all, Kloe caught a glimpse of the man. The Governor. The man that tortured her in the way she couldn't explain. Rick and the others crouched down behind a dumpster.
Kloe kept her eyes trained on the Governor, who now had a white bandage wrapped around his right eye. There was blood trickling down from it, running down his cheek as he watched the brothers with pure hatred.
That confused Kloe to the core. Why was the Governor making Merle fight alongside his own brother against walkers? And why were nearly the whole of Woodbury wanting them dead? From being gone for the previous thirty minutes or less, so much had happened.
Zayn and Maggie peered over the dumpster, resting their guns on it as they aimed directly at the people. They both pulled their triggers, the bullets going straight into people's chests.
Kloe then looked over, aiming her shotgun that Rick had handed her before at people's limbs. She didn't want to give them an easy death that would be instant, she wanted them to suffer with pain just like she did.
She shot a man's shin, making him fall to the ground with an agonizing screech of pain. She then averted the aim sight to his shoulder, pulling the trigger as the bullet went into his shoulder. And lastly, she finally shot him in the chest.
Rick threw a grenade that held gas inside of it into the middle of the small arena, making everyone around scream with fear as they ran to hide and protect the children.
Kloe frowned as she watched the mothers hide them. Who the hell brings their children to something like this? That thought lingered in her mind nearly the whole time.
Little did Kloe know, in the distance amongst the crowd of people, stood the woman and her daughter that had encountered her some time prior. The woman that had said Kloe's name. She kept her daughter behind her, scanning her eyes across the arena to catch sight of the group she had seen.
She wanted to confirm herself that she had seen the girl that had the name Kloe. And the second she set her eyes on the young woman, she had just confirmed it. Beside Kloe was Zayn, making the woman's eyes widen.
The Governor brought up his gun, biting his bottom lip with annoyance as he examined the area for his enemies. Maggie shot all the lights around them, making the lightbulbs burst and shatter.
"Mom? What are you doing?" The girl, Brianna, asked her mother, who raised her rifle and aimed at the people who held the snare poles. She shot down all of the walkers and the men that held them. "Mom?"
"We're on the wrong side, Brianna," she replied, now aiming at people she once called her friends.
"Vickie, the fuck are you doing?" A man yelled out before having a bullet go clean through his head.
Rick, who heard and watched the man, transferred his eyes over to the woman, Vickie. His brows deepend as he watched her shoot down her own people. His eyes landed on the perplexed teen behind her, recognizing her within a second.
"Kloe," he turned over to her. She faced him. "Is that the girl that threw a dagger at you?" He pointed.
She followed Rick's index finger, searching for the girl that tried to kill her. Her eyes landed on the girl and another woman, and as she squinted her eyes to try and make out who they were, her eyes widened like saucers when she recognized the woman.
"Holy shit..." she muttered, amazed that a woman she hadn't seen for a long, long time was only a few meters away from her, shooting down her own people. Just as she was to alert Zayn that she was there, Rick beat her to it and stopped her from doing so.
"Come on!" Rick yelled as everyone in the arena began to evacuate. Zayn latched onto Kloe's upper arm, pulling her with them as they hid behind a wall. Rick, who had a flashlight, aimed it high to spot Daryl.
A man who held Daryl's crossbow and shot a walker with an arrow, jolted as the owner of the crossbow lunged at him and took it off of him. Merle, who was behind his brother, hit the man with a thud across the head, making him fall to the ground.
The brothers sprinted toward the small group that were calling out to them. "Let's go!" Rick yelled, making eye contact with the Governor, who stared at Rick with utter anger and evilness.
The group managed to make it out of the arena as they hurried out onto a dark empty street. Many gunshots still went off in the arena they had just left, meaning Vickie and the teenager were still protecting themselves.
Kloe wanted to go back for the woman she knew as a child, but from the way things were going, it seemed like she wasn't able to. She would just have to hope that Vickie would find them herself.
"They're all at the arena," Merle stated, breathless. "This way." He went to run in a certain direction to lead them, but Rick was quick to stop him.
"You're not going anywhere with us," Rick growled. Anytime Kloe looked over at the older Dixon, all she did was glare considering what the man had done to her and Glenn was unforgivable.
"You really want to do this now?" Merle responded, ignoring the Grimes man and stepping over to the exit they had. He began to kick the panel, making a loud bash rush through the air.
Rick, Zayn, Maggie, Kloe and Daryl were all guarding Merle as they waited almost impatiently for him to open whatever he was doing. "Come on, man," Daryl muttered beside them. Just as Merle managed to open it fully, he sprinted through it to leave. Daryl turned around as he crouched through the gap that Merle had just opened. "Rick, come on. We've gotta go."
Maggie stood to the side, allowing Kloe to go through first. She nodded stiffly, crouching down to exit as Merle bashed his metal stump against a walker's skull. "A little help would be nice!" He shouted at the top of his lungs.
As the others made their way through the open wall, they all raised their weapons alongside Daryl and Kloe and shot the walkers that stumbled their way over to them.
"We ain't got time for this!" Merle screeched, making Kloe frown deeply at the man who looked like he had shit himself.
Daryl was quick to follow his older brother, sharing a glance with the others. "Let's go," he said, running after Merle. Kloe, who didn't look so fond of the idea of even being near Merle, faced Rick, Zayn and Maggie.
Zayn and Maggie then turned to face Rick, leaving him being the one to decide. Leaving them with no other choice, he nodded his head. Kloe's expression changed into annoyance as they all went after the brothers.
She rolled her eyes, knowing that if she stayed where she was, she would be eaten by walkers as they neared her. She quickly jogged over to them, ignoring the blaring pain coming from her thigh.
...
The group made their way back to where Glenn, Jayce, and Michonne were kept, forty-five minutes after escaping Woodbury, taking a few minute breaks so Kloe could catch her breath and check her thigh to make sure something bad didn't happen.
"Glenn! Jayce!" Rick whisper-shouted, making the three whip their heads up to the group that were in the woods. Rick was at the front, then Maggie, Kloe, Zayn, Daryl and Merle.
Everytime Merle spoke on their journey back to the road, all Kloe could do was roll her eyes and silently groan as she quietly begged for Merle to shut up.
"Rick?" Glenn replied, immediately soothing Kloe's tensed muscles as his soft voice rang through the air. Glenn, who was sitting on the concrete with his knees brought up, stood to his feet. His eyes landed on the group, a look of relief present on his face as he rushed over to them. "Rick. Oh, thank God."
Rick hurried up his pace as did Kloe, overtaking Maggie. Rick raised his hand, knowing exactly how Glenn's reaction was going to be due to Merle being with them. "Now we got a problem here. I need you to back up."
Kloe watched Glenn's expression drop, making her bite her cheek. He pulled out his pistol that he held, aiming it directly toward Merle as Michonne took out her samurai sword, also not happy seeing the man.
"What the hell is he doing here?" Glenn gritted his teeth, harshly stepping forward as he glared ahead at Merle with pure hatred. Michonne raised her sword, ready to slice his head off his own body.
Both Rick and Zayn hurried forward, stopping the pair that wanted the man dead. Kloe stood still, not bothered if they wanted him dead, because so did she.
"Hey, hey, hey!" Rick shouted as he attempted to lower Michonne's sword.
"Put it down, Glenn," Zayn stated sharply at his best friend, who ignored him.
In a blink of an eye, everyone was yelling except Kloe. She stood off to the side, watching as everything happened. Rick and Maggie had their guns trained on Michonne's forehead as she pointed her sword directly at Rick's chest. Daryl was standing in front of his brother in defense, yelling at Glenn to lower his gun while Zayn and Jayce repeatedly told Glenn to put it down.
"He tried to kill me!" Michonne bellowed.
"Put down the sword!"
"Do as he says!"
"If it wasn't for him!"
"He helped us get out of there. Drop it," was the only thing Kloe could basically make out as their commotion died down. Daryl was the one that had said the statement, making Kloe roll her eyes for probably the hundredth time that morning.
"Yeah, right after he beat the shit out of you," Rick cut in, anger even in his own voice as he kept his gun at Michonne's head.
"Hey, we both took our licks, man," Merle spoke up, making Kloe sigh as she rested her back against the tree, glancing back down at her thigh that had started to bleed once again.
"Jackass," Daryl said, another way of telling Merle to shut it.
"Hey, shut up," Merle replied as he glared at his brother.
"Enough!"
Kloe pursed her lips as more yells escaped everyone's mouths. Her eyes dropped down to the ground as she shut her eyes for approximately five seconds before the shouts came to an end.
"Get that thing out of my face!" Daryl shouted at Glenn, who did as he was asked and lowered it. Michonne lowered her sword as she knew there was no point in trying.
Merle laughed, making Kloe push herself off the tree she leaned on and stood beside Maggie, who was putting down her gun that was aimed at Michonne previously. "Man, look like you've gone native, brother."
Daryl, who had a clear present expression of irritation, turned around to face his brother as he stepped over to him. "No more than you hanging out with that psycho back there."
Kloe clenched her jaw as Merle smugly smirked. "Oh, yeah, man. He is a charmer, I got to tell you that. Been putting the wood to your girlfriend Andrea. Big time, baby," he made a moaning sound, wiggling his tongue.
"Wait, what?" Kloe finally spoke up, her eyes widening at the sound of a woman's name she hadn't heard in a long time.
"Andrea's in Woodbury?" Glenn's voice shook, disbelief in his tone.
"Right next to the Governor," Daryl replied, his voice more softer than before. Kloe gulped as she thought about the blonde woman. Andrea? Against them? If someone said that to her back in the camp that she would be against them all, Kloe would've laughed in the face and call them an idiot for thinking stupidly.
Michonne, who had a new wave of rage wash over her, brought her sword back up as she went to lunge at the smug looking asshole. Rick stood in front of her, sending her a deadly glare. "I told you to drop that! You know Andrea?" Rick asked her, who didn't reply and only continued to stare at Merle. "Hey, do you know Andrea?"
"Yep, she does," Merle answered for her. "Her and blondie spent all winter cuddling up in the forest. Mm-mm-mm. Yeah. My Nubian queen here had two pet walkers. No arms, cut off the jaws, kept them in chains. Kind of ironic now that I think about it."
"Merle, for the love of Christ, shut up," Kloe snarled, glaring across at the man who only chuckled in return.
"Hey, we snagged them out of the woods," he reasoned. "Andrea was close to dying."
"Is that why she's with him?" Maggie questioned, her brows deepened as she watched Michonne. But Merle once again answered for her and replied with a 'yeah'.
Both Glenn and Kloe looked over at Maggie who was beside them. "Snug as two little bugs," Merle continued, making the couple turn back to him. "So what you gonna do now, Sheriff, huh? Surrounded by a bunch of liars, thugs, and cowards, man."
"Shut up."
Merle laughed, "Oh, man, look at this. Pathetic. All these guns and no bullets in them." Glenn went to step forward, but Daryl beat him to it and told him to shut up, but of course, he didn't listen. "Shut up yourself!" He pushed himself off a tree, making it so his back was to everyone but his brother.
Rick and Kloe shared a glance, and he could see the desperation she had in her eyes to just punch him. He gave her a nod, tightening his grip on his gun as he prepared to whack him across the head with it.
"Bunch of pussies you roll-!" He started, but was cut short when a fist connected to his nose, making him stumble back from the force. He clutched onto his nose, holding it as blood dribbled out of it. He looked up at the person who had punched him, and there stood Kloe. "You-" Before he could speak again, Rick bashed the back of Merle's head with the butt of his gun, knocking him out.
"How many noses am I going to have to break today?" Kloe asked as she hovered over the unconscious man. "Asshole."
Very faint clapping was to be heard in the distance, making everyone's head shoot up and raise their guns. Despite the man laying on the floor, breathing in all the small particles of dirt that lay on the ground, the group no longer held any attention to him.
Rick was the one to take the lead, his eyes peering through the aim sight as he scanned the entirety of the woods around him and his group. Kloe stayed back with Maggie as she clutched onto her thigh, needing nothing more than a few stitches at least.
She still held her gun high though, squinting her eyes. Glenn kept his eyes on his girlfriend as he stood in front of her, swallowing thickly before rustling came from the woods. Everyone looked in the direction it came from, instantly spotting two feminine figures standing side by side.
"Stay where you are!" Rick bellowed, his eyes trained steadily on the two women. Kloe took one step forward, wanting to see for herself who the people her group had just encountered were as she looked over Glenn's shoulder.
The woman raised both of her hands in the air, her gun connected to a strap that was wrapped around her neck and shoulder. The teenager beside her kept her hands to her waist, eyeing the man up and down as if he was some sort of weirdo.
The second Kloe laid her dark brown eyes on the two figures, she recognized them both. It was Vickie and Brianna. Kloe's lips parted as she watched the pair, amazed that she was seeing the woman she hadn't seen since she was fifteen years old. For seven years.
Zayn, who was a few meters in front of his younger sister, lowered his gun, his eyes wide from seeing the woman in front of him. "Vickie...?" He muttered out, catching the woman's attention.
Everyone set their attention on the eldest Schmidt, making everyone except Kloe confused. No one put down their guns apart from the Schmidt siblings.
The woman let out a small breathy laugh, "Hey, Zayn."
"You know this woman?" Daryl asked the eldest Schmidt, not taking his eyes off Vickie as he continued to aim his crossbow at her. "She was at the arena."
"I apologize for that," Vickie cut in, darting her eyes across everyone before turning back to Zayn. "The minute I saw you and your sister, I knew we were on the wrong side."
Now, all the attention turned to Kloe, making Glenn step to the side as he stared at her. Before, Vickie couldn't see the younger Schmidt considering Glenn was standing in front of her.
A large smile plastered Vickie's face as she watched the youngest Schmidt. "Hello, Klo."
"Hi, Vick," she replied, sending the woman a weak, small smile. Kloe shared glances with everyone in the group, sending them a mental message to lower their weapons.
The group slowly and hesitantly put down their weapons, watching the woman and the teenager carefully. Vickie turned to the group leader, Rick. "I'm Vickie Parson. This is my daughter, Brianna," she introduced.
Rick nodded. "Rick Grimes." He turned around to face the Schmidt siblings, who were now standing beside each other's side. "How do you know each other?"
The siblings shared a glance, looking ahead at the woman who stepped forward to answer, making the group turn back to face her. "I've known them since they were little kids. I worked with their father in the military. I was very good friends with him, so every time I'd have time off, he would always invite me round their house and let me see them."
Kloe pursed her lips awkwardly as some people in the group turned to face her and her brother. "Surprise. Meet the woman who made my bow."
...
Twenty minutes had passed, and the group that were from the prison were standing in a circle as they made a debate. Michonne, Vickie and Brianna all stood with one another, considering they knew each other at the time Michonne was there with Andrea.
Merle was left where he was, out of consciousness. A few times, he would mutter words as if he was asleep, well, technically he was. Kloe was staring at the man over her shoulder, sending the man the harshest glare, despite the fact that he was unconscious.
"Nope, it's not gonna work," Zayn declined, making Kloe gaze back over at the group. Kloe didn't listen on what they were going to do, but what Zayn had just said made it clearly obvious that Daryl wanted to bring Merle back to the prison.
"It's gotta," Daryl retorted calmly, raising his brows between the group standing around him.
"It'll stir things up," Rick reasoned, shifting all of his weight onto one leg. Kloe agreed with her brother and Rick. Kloe wouldn't want the eldest Dixon anywhere near the prison. Especially when there was a newborn around.
Daryl silently scoffed. "Look, the Governor is probably on his way to the prison right now," he stated, shaking his head as he spoke. "Merle knows how he thinks and we could use the muscle," he gestured toward his brother, who was still on the ground.
"Daryl, you must be in some sort of other reality if you think we can have him near the prison," Kloe crossed her arms over her chest, Glenn nodding in agreement. Zayn, Maggie and Jayce, who were also against the idea all agreed by just looking at Daryl and not saying anything.
"He held a gun to our heads. Do you really want him sleeping in the same cell block as Carol or Beth or Isabelle?" Glenn asked him.
"He ain't a rapist," Daryl defended, his face scrunched up.
"Well, his buddy is," Glenn replied, instantly making Kloe's eyes slightly widen and look at him, her brows frowned. Jayce cocked a brow at the Asian as Maggie and Zayn stared at him.
"They ain't buddies no more. Not after last night," Daryl shook his head again, trying his best to reason with the young adults to try and change their minds, but it wasn't working.
Daryl turned back to Rick. Judging by Rick's facial expression, he hadn't changed his mind either. "There's no way Merle's gonna live there without putting everyone at each other's throats," he referred to the young couple beside them, knowing full well that the pair wouldn't hesitate to want to kill the man.
"So you're gonna cut Merle loose and bring the lost samurai and the others home with us?" Daryl wondered offensively.
"The 'lost samurai' isn't coming back. Vickie and Brianna are, only because Klo and Zayn know them," Rick remarked, glancing over at the three women.
"She's not in a state to be on her own," Maggie chimed in, having Kloe and Glenn agree with her.
"She did bring you guys to us," Glenn said, making his girlfriend beside him nod in agreement.
"And then ditched us," Rick added, eyeing the three. Kloe slumped her shoulders, exhaling heavily out of her nose as she looked over at Maggie.
"At least let my dad stitch her up."
"She's too unpredictable," Rick reasoned, lowering his voice in case the woman could hear him. Kloe's lips formed into a straight line, darting her eyes across everyone.
"That's right," Daryl nodded, agreeing with the Grimes. "We don't know who she is," he stated before looking back over at Rick. "But Merle, Merle's blood."
Kloe sighed as Glenn shook his head, pointing toward the crossbowman. "No, Merle is your blood," he corrected. "My blood, my family is standing right here and waiting for us back at the prison."
Kloe watched her boyfriend as she spoke before looking over at Rick and Daryl. Rick nodded, "And you're a part of that family. But he's not. He's not."
A loud groan of pain rang through the air, making both Daryl and Kloe look over in the direction where Merle was originally passed out on the ground. Instead, he was standing up with his arm against the tree.
"Man, y'all don't know," Daryl scoffed. He stared at the group, who still weren't going to change their minds. He looked between them, seeing the stoic and serious expressions they all had. "Fine. We'll fend for ourselves."
"That's not what I was saying," Glenn immediately said, about to say another thing but got cut off by the man who wanted to leave.
"No him, no me."
"Daryl, no. You don't have to go," Kloe told, not wanting the man that she had just started to get along with to leave them. They were basically archer buddies since they both used arrows.
He gulped as he noticed the sadness growing in Kloe's eyes, turning away to face Rick and Glenn. "It was always Merle and I before this."
"Woah, Daryl. Seriously, you're not leaving us, are you?" Zayn asked him with genuine curiosity.
"Don't," Maggie shook her head, also not wanting Daryl to leave them.
"You serious?" Glenn said barely above a whisper. "You're just gonna leave us like that?"
"You'd do the same thing," Daryl retorted before turning to Kloe. "You would, Klo."
The younger Schmidt's lips parted to speak, but nothing came out while she shook her head. Glenn continued to try and reason with the man to stay. "What do you want us to tell Carol?"
Daryl glanced between the group once again, as if the answer to the question was the easiest thing on the planet. "She'll understand." The group stayed in silence as they watched Daryl with disbelief. Glenn was right, was he really just going to leave them? After all what they've been through? "Say goodbye to your pop for me," he told Maggie before brushing past Glenn and Kloe.
Without hesitation, Kloe went to grab onto Daryl's forearm, but at the speed he was walking, her hand fell back to her side. "Daryl, are you serious? Daryl!" Glenn called out to him as he grew further and further away from them, Rick on his heel.
Kloe placed both of her hands on the back of her head, shaking her head with disbelief as the four young adults stood side by side. "Can't believe it. Can't fucking..." she trailed off, bringing her hands back down to her waist.
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words: 4606
21st september 2022
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everyone welcome vickie parson and brianna schmidt-parson. try and guess why brianna also had the name 'schmidt' in her name. don't worry, i'll only look at the replies, i won't spoil LMFAO