WHITE FLAG
chapter forty-five : the need for revenge
{ season three -episode ten }
KLOE'S ARMS SAT firmly across her chest, watching her boyfriend while he drew on the ground with a white chalk. He was drawing tombs of the prison, the second youngest member of the group, Carl, couching directly opposite him.
She only had around an hour of sleep. Everything had lingered in her mind that night, keeping her awake as she tossed and turned every five minutes. When it got to around four a.m., she'd given up on trying and sat there, biting at her fingernails as she thought of ways she could plan her revenge.
Most of the group thought that the Governor wouldn't try to attack them since they hadn't technically done anything wrong, but as Kloe thought deeper, that wouldn't be the reason why the Governor would attack them.
It's plainly obvious to the woman that the Governor loved power. Hello? He claimed himself to be the Governor. It wasn't that hard to piece together that he would return some time soon. After all, they did kill a few of his people to get Daryl back, and the way the Governor watched the group sent shivers down Kloe's spine.
She blinked a few times, trying to unnoticeably remove the thoughts as she attempted to listen to what Glenn was saying. He drew a square on the ground, a rectangle linking up to it.
"Right," he muttered as he continued drawing. "Now, you said you found Tyreese's group here?" he asked the young boy opposite him, who let out a small 'yeah' in reply. "We secured this."
Carl shifted slightly, pointing over to another square that Glenn had drawn down. Zayn squinted his eyes as he tried to work out what square was what, sharing a few glances with his sister, who looked completely out of it as Carl began to speak. "He thought he came through here."
Glenn let out a quiet sigh, staring down at the ground. "Means there's another breach." Kloe broke out of her thoughts once again, her tired eyes landing on her boyfriend. "Okay," he mumbled before looking back up at the group. "The whole front of the prison is unsecure. If walker's just strolled in, then it's gonna be cake for a group of armed men."
"Why are we even so sure he's going to attack?" Beth questioned, her own arms over her chest. "Maybe you scared him off."
Kloe silently scoffed, averting her eyes to the ground as Zayn briefly watched her. There was no way in hell that they, a few people that had been on the road for eight months not so long ago, scared him off.
"He had a fish tank full of heads," Michonne spoke up, making everyone simultaneously look up at her. "Walkers and humans. Trophies..." she trailed off, then drifted her eyes to Beth. "He's coming."
"We should hit him now," Glenn said, agreeing with Michonne. Kloe pondered for a moment, biting the inside of her cheek as Beth replied with a 'what'. "He won't be expecting it. We'll sneak back in and put a bullet in his head."
"We're not assassins," Carol stated, her brows furrowed as she watched the Asian man.
Glenn stood to his feet, limping his way over to Michonne. "You know where his apartment is. You and I could end this tonight," he suggested, making Michonne sigh heavily. "I'll do it myself." The woman squinted her eyes as she debated, giving in and barely nodding her head. "Okay."
"You're making it sound easy," Kloe said, the attention falling on her as Glenn turned to face her. Her eyes flicked between Glenn and Michonne. "You're acting as if there won't be anyone on watch around the entire town."
"We managed it before. We can do it again," Glenn replied, watching his girlfriend as he clenched his jaw.
Kloe shook her head, biting her bottom lip. "But they were distracted. Both times. When we got out, there were nine of us, and we barely made it out. One of us died while getting out, and Daryl stayed behind, leaving us with seven. Then when we went back for Daryl, there were only four of us. We got in quite easily, but that was because the entire town's attention was focused on the Dixon brothers fighting to the death or whatever." The group watched her, while Glenn just stared at her. "If you go back, just the two of you while possibly the entire town on look-out, you would be spotted within seconds."
The entire group stayed in silence as they thought about what the youngest Schmidt explained, until Hershel stepped forward. "She's right, you know? He didn't know you were coming last time and look what happened. You were almost killed. Daryl was captured. And you and Kloe were almost executed."
Glenn glared at the older man, quickly glancing over at Kloe who stared at him. He harshly walked over to Hershel. "You can't stop me. Neither can you, Kloe."
She raised her brows unconvincingly. Sure, her and Glenn both agreed that they wanted the Governor dead, but bluntly going into Woodbury was a suicide mission.
"Rick would never allow this," Hershel told him, and it didn't even take Glenn a second to reply.
"You really think he's in any position to make that choice?" he seethed in return.
"Think this through clearly," Hershel responded. "T-Dog lost his life here. Lori, too. The men that were here. It isn't worth any more killing. What are we waiting for? If he's really on his way, we should be out of here by now."
On the verge of scoffing, Glenn stared at the man. "And go where?"
"We lived on the road all winter."
"Back when you had two legs and we didn't have a baby crying for walkers every four hours," he retorted.
"We can't stay here," Hershel told him in a low tone.
"We can't run," he stated firmly. Kloe took a deep breath with her nose, staring at the two men.
She almost rolled her eyes, tired of the bickering. "Look," she spoke again, making the men face her, "we should stay here for now. We just need to defend this place head to toe."
Hershel sighed, facing back to Glenn as he shook his head disappointingly. Glenn, who kept his eyes on Kloe, slowly nodded in agreement, swallowing thickly.
He quickly crouched back down, darting his eyes between Carl and the eldest Schmidt. "Carl, Zayn you guys and I will go down to the tombs. We need to figure out where the breach is."
"You got it," Carl nodded.
"You'll need some help," Michonne offered, stepping forward. But she immediately got turned down by Glenn.
"No, in case anything happens, I need you out here," he said. Simultaneously, Kloe and Zayn turned their heads to each other, both mentally talking to each other through facial expressions. He nodded, approving that he'd be okay with Glenn and Carl. She pursed her lips, looking back at her boyfriend, who was scanning his eyes across the entire group. "Who's on watch?" he asked, anger beginning to lace in his tone. He scoffed, realizing no one was, standing to his feet as he let out a small 'damn it'.
The man was quick to leave the cell block, leaving the group in complete silence. Beth's brows furrowed. "Why is he so angry?" she innocently asked, generally confused at Glenn's behavior.
Maggie, who was close to Kloe's side the whole time, noticed that she had looked to the ground. Kloe knew why he was acting that way, and so did Maggie. "Is it because of what the Governor did...?" she didn't finish the sentence, knowing that it would be wrong of her to announce it to the whole group.
Kloe gulped, hesitantly nodding her head. Zayn brought his hand to his chin, growing deep into his own thoughts. Isabelle's brows furrowed at the Schmidt woman. "Of course Glenn would be mad about that. The Governor hurt you, and Glenn wants his revenge for what he did. But isn't he a little too mad?"
Kloe's breath got caught in her throat, immediately shaking her head as she looked up at the group. "He's not mad about him hurting me - well, he is - but that's not the main reason..." she trailed off, the group growing confused. "The Governor did something else."
It didn't take any longer than five seconds for the group to realize what Kloe was getting at, their eyes growing wide and filling with shock. "My God..." Carol muttered out, her eyes as wide as saucers. "Are you alright?" she asked her, earning a nod in reply.
"Oh yeah, no, I'm fine. Really," she told them simply. "He ripped my shirt with a knife and touched my stomach, that's all. Then he took me to Glenn - you can think what was going through his mind, you could see it in his face."
As she began thinking about what the Governor had done to her, certain snippets of pictures returning to her memory were enough to make the sadness and anger return to her.
Her arms dropped to her hips, her eyes nervously flickering between everyone in the group. "I'm gonna go lie down..." she mumbled, loud enough for the group to hear before rushing out of the room.
...
It had been around thirty minutes before Glenn, Zayn and Carl returned to the cell block after checking the boiler room. Beth unlocked the metal steel bar door, pulling it open as the three entered in a hurry.
"The tombs outside of the boiler room are overrun again," Glenn announced to the group, his eyes searching for his girlfriend, but was nowhere to be seen.
"That whole section had been cleared," Beth said, firmly shutting the door as the other two entered.
"It's a steady stream of walkers," Carl added, walking over to Hershel, who was sitting at a table.
"Must be a pretty big breach for that many walkers to get in. We have to find a way to secure it, somehow," Zayn commented, placing his machete, which was slightly coated with walker blood, onto the ground in the corner of the room.
"We're wasting time," Hershel stated. "The Governor is supposedly on the way and we're stuck in here with walkers."
"Trapped between a rock and a hard place," Carol added.
"For the last time, running is not an option," Glenn insisted.
"Glenn, the tombs have filled up again, it may just be a matter of time before they push in here."
"Or until some fence gives way," Beth sided with Carol and her father.
"What if one of them herds is passing through? Or settled?" Axel said.
"We spent seven months with the Governor, and I worked with him. I know that he will easily get in here, Glenn," Vickie spoke up, staying quiet the entire time with her daughter, Brianna, beside her, not having said a single word to the group.
"Can't handle that with just the few of us," Carol softly said, not wanting to anger the man. Now that they knew why he was furious about the Governor, they didn't want to anger him any further.
"Okay," he panted. "Alright, we need... we just need to scout the far side of the prison. Find out what's going on."
"You're going out there?" Hershel inquired.
"Take a car and make it quick."
"I'll drive," Axel shared.
"No," Glenn declined, shaking his head, "you stay here. Help with the fortifications. I'll go by myself. Where's Klo?"
"She went to lie down," Hershel answered. "Her leg seems to be doing just fine. Must've had hardly slept last night."
Glenn looked off into the air, slowly turning to the ground. He turned around, beginning to walk off toward the cell block where his girlfriend was.
"Glenn," Hershel called out to him, stopping the man dead in his tracks. "Kloe told us what happened - what the Governor did to her." Glenn's eyes flickered to the ground. "We understand why you're acting like this."
The Korean peered over his shoulder, shooting his eyes across everyone. "No, you don't understand. You weren't there."
...
Kloe stared at the wall that was beside the bed she was laying on. She barely blinked, only stared. She tried her best to sleep, but her thoughts stacking on top of each other in her mind stopped her from doing so.
Her thoughts were so loud that she didn't even hear the presence of her boyfriend behind her, facing her back. "Are you alright?" he asked her quietly, not wanting to startle her.
She blinked rapidly, gradually turning over on her back so she could face him. She looked over at him, noticing he was covered in blood; walker blood. She hesitantly nodded.
"We need to figure out how the walkers are getting into the tombs," he informed her, while she stared at him. She swallowed thickly as she stayed silent, shifting her eyes up to the bunk above her. "You sure you're okay? You can talk about it, to get it off your shoulders."
This time, she shrugged, darting her eyes between Glenn and the bed above her. "I'm sure it wouldn't be normal if I said I was okay, not gonna lie," she said, barely above a whisper. "Got smeared in my own boyfriend's blood. My lip was cut. Got my leg sliced open. All while being threatened. Then this guy that I have never seen in my life comes in and puts a knife to my throat right before getting strangled..." she trailed off, her voice beginning to shake. "What do you want me to tell you, Glenn? You know what happened. You want me to repeat it in more detail? Okay. He pinned me to the wall with force and was so close that I could feel his breath on my neck while he ripped off my shirt with his knife. Put his hands all over me while he kept his hand around my throat. Pushed his body against me."
At that point, she was trying her hardest to stop the tears in her eyes from falling. Glenn watched her sadly. "Did he...?" he asked her, staring darkly at the ground as he waited for an answer.
"Rape me?" she inquired, finishing his question as she carefully sat up. "No. I didn't lie to you," she answered, placing her hands in her lap. She lifted her chin, catching Glenn's eyes. He was staring at her again, slightly unconvinced. "Didn't we already have a conversation like this yesterday? Wasn't that enough for you?"
"Kloe, I'm not trying to-"
"I could see it in his eyes," she cut him off. "I knew that if I tried to get away from him, he would do something to you. So I let him. I let him touch me, so he wouldn't hurt you," she told him, making Glenn's eyes fill with remorse. "I listened to Merle beat the shit out of you in the other room, and all I could do was sit there. There was nothing I could do."
He unhurriedly stepped forward, extending out his arm as he placed his hand on Kloe's shoulder. "I'm sorry," he whispered. Kloe felt as a hot tear ran down her cheek.
He sat down on the bed beside her, wrapping his arm around her shoulder as he rubbed it comfortingly. Kloe rested her head on his shoulder as her lip quivered. He set the side of his head on top of her head, muttering out more apologies as she continued to cry.
...
After around ten minutes of comforting Kloe, Glenn had left her alone as she wanted, going back to what he was doing. Kloe stayed put on the bed she was sitting on for another hour, lost in her thoughts
Although, while Kloe stayed still, staring down at her hands in her lap, two shadows appeared on the ground from the doorway. Her head whipped up, catching sight of the Greene sisters. Maggie and Beth stood beside each other, Judith in Beth's arms.
Kloe lightly smiled as the baby made a noise. Beth bopped Judith in her arms as she glanced around. "We wanted to come cheer you up, and Zayn told us that babies were the best thing for that," Beth informed, stepping inside of the cell, her older sister following in behind her.
The blonde teen sat down beside Kloe, Judith reaching out for her hair. All of Kloe's thoughts vanished as she watched the baby, a bright smile on her face. Maggie set herself down on the other side of Kloe, brushing her fingers through her tangled hair.
"You can feed her too if you want. I brought her milk up with me," Beth gestured down to her hand that held a baby bottle filled with milk. "Here," she steadily handed the baby over to Kloe, who gladly took her as she continued to smile widely.
"Hey," Kloe smiled, looking down at Judith who watched her with her wide brown eyes. Beth gave Kloe the baby bottle, who took it and pressed it against the baby's lips.
"I had to teach Maggie how to feed her earlier," Beth said, a small chuckle escaping her as Maggie smiled in return. "I'm gonna go see what daddy wants to eat and I'll make it for him."
"Okay," Maggie replied, smiling briefly at her sister before looking back at the baby in Kloe's arms over her shoulder. Beth stood to her feet, hastily walking out of the room as she made her way to her father who was outside with everyone else.
While feeding Judith, Kloe glanced up, her eyes landing on the dagger that she had gotten off Brianna. "I need to give that back to Brianna," she stated, motioning over to the dagger.
Maggie looked over at it before turning back to her best friend. "She's with your brother and Vickie at the moment. They're talking about something about pizza."
Kloe snickered. "Could be talking about anything, and they're talking about pizza? Sounds like my brother." Maggie nodded, still smiling at Judith who looked back and forth at the two young women. "What about Jayce?"
"What about him?" she replied almost instantly, making Kloe smirk suspiciously.
"Well, I was gonna ask where he was... But you know, I might ask something else," she looked up at Maggie, a wide smirk etched on her lips. Maggie pursed her lips as she watched her best friend. "You two a thing? Hooked up at all?"
"How did you know?" Maggie asked, her pursed lips turning into a bright smile as she quietly laughed.
Kloe averted her gaze to her, her eyes wide. "No way. You slept with Jayce? I was only kidding but..." she trailed off. "I thought I could tell something was going on with you two."
"Yeah, well he's actually a really nice guy," Maggie commented. "I'm not sure if I like him or not, but he's hot," she stated, making Kloe snort.
Just as Kloe was about to add something, a gunshot pierced through the air nearby, making her heart drop into the pit of her stomach. "Why are they shooting guns-" she was cut off by more gunshots, meaning people were shooting at each other. "Shit."
Within a second, she instantly stood to her feet, Maggie doing the same beside her. Kloe kept her arms around Judith protectively, setting her bottle down on the floor before hurrying out of the room.
"Here, I'll take her. You get the guns," Maggie said, taking the baby from Kloe's arms. Kloe nodded firmly, carefully rushing down the steps while Maggie ran to a cell to settle Judith down.
Not wanting to rip her wound on her thigh, she limped as she jogged to the corner of the cell block where they held all their guns. She gripped onto any she saw, throwing the strap around her shoulder.
Just as she was about to turn around, her eyes caught onto her bow and quiver full of arrows. Muttering an apology, she broke away her gaze from her bow and hurried over to the exit of the building.
Maggie appeared beside her, a long knife in her grasp. "Kloe," she called out, making the woman turn to her. "Give it to Brianna." Kloe nodded, taking the dagger out of the other woman's palm as she shoved it into her belt.
Kloe handed Maggie three guns. Kloe held three too. Nodding in unison while several gunshots shot through the air outside, the pair pushed open the door and sprinted over to the people they saw.
Carl, Beth, Isabelle, Jayce and Zayn, all covered behind a wall. The gunshots from the people who they guessed were the Governor's minions came to a temporary stop.
"Hey!" Kloe shouted, catching their attention. Instantaneously, Zayn, Isabelle Beth rushed forward towards them, grabbing onto the guns that they held out for them.
While handing the guns over to them, Kloe's eyes landed on Carol, who was coated in blood that wasn't her own. Beside her, laid a lifeless masculine body - Axel's body. Blood trickled down the side of his face, and he was more than dead. Beth took an extra gun for the woman on the ground before hurrying back over to take cover.
Maggie wrapped her fingers around Kloe's wrist, pulling her to cover as they hid behind several drawer units. As they crouched down, someone shot at the two women, making them jolt.
They both peeked over the top of the drawer units, aiming their guns directly at the man on the guard tower who aimed at them. They pulled the triggers, but they missed since they were from a distance.
Kloe squinted her eyes and gritted her teeth as she continued to shoot at the man, who kept on dodging her and Maggie's bullets. Although, the shooting came to a stop once again, and an engine could be heard in the distance.
Kloe crouched back down, whipping her head to the side to see what the engine was. While searching for the apparent vehicle, her eyes landed on a very familiar man that she would remember for the rest of her life.
The Governor. Her jaw clenched at the sight of him. She had to fight every urge within her to not just shoot him right there and then. She would've loved to do it with pleasure, but she knew that she would be killed the second she showed herself.
Both Maggie and Kloe watched the entrance to the field, waiting for the vehicle to appear as the engine grew louder and louder. Suddenly, the vehicle they had been waiting for appeared, driving directly into the gate.
The van drove full speed into the prison field, breaking down the two gates that made a perfect entrance for walkers. The van came to a stop, making everyone wait for what was to come next.
As if things could've gotten any worse, the back to the van fell open, loud growls coming out from it. Kloe felt her heart hammer against her ribcage as she watched the several number of walkers pile out of it and onto the field.
Then, all the gunshots erupted once again, taking their attention away from the field that was currently being filled with walkers. Kloe brought her gun back up to the top of the drawer units, pressing her finger against the trigger as she continued to shoot at the man who shot at her.
Making her crouch back down, the man fired a bullet that went straight past her head, making her eyes widen with shock. Maggie fired at the man, successfully hitting him as he fell limply to the ground of the guard tower.
"Come on!" Maggie yelled, sprinting over to the gate as their eyes landed on a car that drove in. Glenn. He had been gone the entire time. Maggie and Kloe, being in front of everyone, pulled open the gate as they raised their guns.
Everyone followed behind them, Vickie and Brianna being spotted beside Michonne. The Parsons were shooting down any walker in sight, while Michonne slashed her samurai sword across their skulls.
Kloe kept her eyes tracked on them, finally landing on Glenn who stopped his car and sprinted over to Hershel. The old man had been on the ground for cover, and since he only has one leg, he needed help getting away from the walkers.
The youngest Schmidt shot down any walker that managed to get near the small group of five. While she continued shooting at any walker that she could see, the small group all got into the car that Glenn had been in, almost immediately driving over to the gate that they had left open for them.
Noticing that the walkers were now focused not only on the car, but Kloe and the others too, they slowly strolled backward to the gate.
They waited for the car to drive through before Carl slid the gate back shut, blocking the walkers from reaching them. The four car doors opened so the people inside could get out, Maggie stepping over to her father.
Kloe limped over to the gate, her eyes displayed with concern as she eyed the overrun field that the Governor had caused. Everyone joined her side, watching as the walkers strolled across it.
She felt a hand hold onto her shoulder, knowing not after a second that it was Glenn. She set her hand on top of his as he watched over her other shoulder, panting.
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words: 4279
9th october 2022
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I'M SO SORRY FOR THE LONG WAIT FOR THE NEXT UPDATE, but here it is!! :)