WHITE FLAG
chapter fifty-seven : a singular man
{ season four - episode eight }
"WHY ARE YOU still in here with me, Klo?" Glenn raspily asked his wife, who never left his side. Not once. Just like how he never left hers, she couldn't take her eyes off him.
The last time she took her eyes off him, he almost died. Perhaps that's just what fate had for them. If one was away from the other, then that person would suffer with something.
"Because I am not leaving your side," Kloe stated firmly, still holding her husband's hand, who held hers weakly. "You should be over this by tomorrow, though. If it works out the same as it did for me."
"Hopefully," he chuckled weakly, flashing her a true smile. "We could use a vacation."
Kloe grinned widely, "Yeah. Definitely." She no longer had the virus that Glenn still had, being the first person to actually recover from it. She had every chance to leave the hell-like building, but she just could not leave him to deal with the death around him by himself.
"You know," he started, "I think our anniversary is coming up."
Kloe's brows raised, knowing full well that their anniversary was a long time away yet. "In about another seven months, yeah."
Glenn furrowed his brows, puzzled, "But it's August?"
"No, Glenn," she laughed, "It's January. I think whatever Bob put in your veins is getting to your head. You're getting ahead of yourself." The smile never left her, still laughing at her husband who began to laugh himself
"Oh."
"But yeah, I guess it will be soon. Seven months will fly by as quick as light travels," Kloe said in a soft tone, glancing down at her wedding ring on her finger that rested on her thigh.
"I think I'm the luckiest man alive to be married to you," Glenn commented, noticing her watching her wedding ring. She looked back up at him, a wide smile plastering her lips. He raised his free hand, poking one of her dimples.
Kloe leaned forward, pressing her lips against his forehead. She pulled away, still staying inches away from his face as he watched her with warm eyes. "I'm gonna get you water."
"I can get it-"
"I know," she interjected, leaning back. "But I'm going to get it. End of discussion." She let go of his hand, rising to her feet effortlessly. "I'll be back."
Glenn smiled at her as she walked away, glad that she didn't have to suffer anymore. She could move freely without struggling. She could breathe properly without having to use her inhaler repeatedly. She could be normal again. Now she was waiting for his turn to be normal again.
Kloe jogged down the metal stairway, the sound of people still coughing around her making her sympathetic. She knew exactly what they were all going through, and it was presumably the worst illness she had ever had in her life. Clearly.
She skipped the last two steps, scanning the area around her for the stored water. Her dark brown eyes landed on the many bottles of water, small flasks and cups beside them, waiting to be filled up.
She jogged over to them, crouching down in front of them. She wrapped her fingers around one of the cups, elevating it high enough to fill it up. She picked up one of the filled water bottles.
"How're you feeling?" Maggie Greene asked from behind her. The auburn haired woman had stayed inside the block that was filled with the ill all day, taking over her father's job while he and Michonne went out for something.
"I feel...normal," Kloe responded truthfully, pouring the contents into the cup for her husband. "It feels like nothing happened to me. It doesn't feel like I died. It feels like it was just a bad dream, and I've woken up relieved that it's over."
"Well, I told everyone that you're finally okay and that Glenn was recovering, and they're all glad that you're both alright," Maggie informed, stepping over to the crouched down woman so she was beside her.
Kloe set the water bottle back down to where it belonged, standing back up with the cup tight in her hand. "When you next go out there, tell them I'll come out when Glenn's okay."
Maggie nodded, smiling at her best friend. The Rhee woman returned the same smile, going to turn around and return to the other Rhee, but was cut short when the whole ground shook, an explosion going off in the near distance.
The water, being close to the top of the cup, spilled out of it. Kloe whipped her head back over to Maggie, who snapped her head over to the door - the exit of the building.
The pair both shared a glance, causing Kloe to bop her head and set the now half-filled cup of water down on the ground beside her, "Nevermind, guess I'm going outside now."
...
For Kloe's reunion with the group after several days of pain and torture, she would not have expected it to be like how it went. Everyone took cover behind the entrance to one of the burnt down guard towers, looking off into the distance.
Kloe peered over her shoulder, spotting her brother and half-sister, who both sent her a look of relief before turning back to whatever was going on outside of the prison.
She narrowed her eyes, trying to work out who exactly it was. There were several parked cars in a pattern with a tank in the center. And atop of the tank, stood the very man that Kloe least expected to make a return.
The Governor.
The man that the original prison group fought half a year before. They assumed he was gone forever, but every single one of them thought wrong.
Beside the tank, around the cars, were many people. Or soldiers. Who had joined the Governor's side. Kloe felt her brows furrow deeply, "That bastard," she muttered to herself.
"Rick!" his voice echoed through the air. "Come down here! We need to talk."
The mentioned man stood in the center around the small group staring straight ahead at the Governor, surprised that they had seen him again. The Greene sisters stood side-by-side, panting heavily. The Williams' siblings were together, Sasha finding her inner strength to move since she was still somewhat sick.
Brianna watched the man she had once trusted more than the prison, taking his side to try and kill them as Isabelle stood shocked. Holding onto Brianna's shoulders, was her mother, Vickie, who glared at the man who she expected to make a return one of these days.
Around a meter beside Rick Grimes, stood his son and the only surviving prisoner, their guns intact to their palms as their lips parted with shock. And lastly, the Schmidt siblings - except, Kloe was no longer a Schmidt, but a Rhee, sent the man a deathly glare, except they knew he could not see them, they couldn't help it.
"It's not up to me!" Rick shouted back, "There's a council now. They run this place!"
"Is Hershel on the council?" He gestured over to one of the female soldiers, causing her to step over to a red car, pulling out the old man that saved Kloe's life.
Maggie's hand raised to her mouth, covering it as her heart fell into her stomach, fearing the life of her father.
"What about Michonne?" Then, a male soldier pulled the Hawthorne woman out of the same car. Both Hershel and Michonne had their hands tied with string behind their backs, unable to fight for themselves as the two soldiers set them down onto their knees. "She on the council too?"
"I don't make the decisions anymore!" Rick bellowed.
"You're making the decisions today, Rick," he returned, setting his hands onto his hips smugly. "Come down here. Let's have that talk.
Hesitantly, Rick twisted his head to the side, facing the Dixon. He nodded at the Grimes man, making Rick turn around to face his son, Carl, who also nodded.
The man turned to face the rest of the group, who all sent him a silent nod. "We can do this, alright?" he told them. Daryl and Zayn took a step forward, both of them grabbing hold of the gate.
Rick moved forward as the two men pulled it to the side, allowing him to walk through it. They all watched the man cautiously as he got closer to the Governor, who waited for the man patiently.
Daryl stepped back, joining his partner's side. "We can't take 'em all on," he said to the small group in a low tone. "We'll go through the admin building, through the woods like we planned. We ain't got the numbers no more. When's the last time someone checked the stash on the bus?"
"Day before we hit the Big Spot," Sasha replied. "We were running low on rations then. We're lower now."
Sure, they may not have expected the Governor to make a blunt return, but they still had things prepared in case they were ever attacked. Whether it be walkers or humans.
"Yeah, we'll manage," Daryl stated. "Things go south, everyone heads for that bus. Let everybody know."
"What if everybody doesn't know when things go bad?" Tyreese wondered beside his sister. "How long do we wait?"
"As long as we can."
Kloe released a shaky breath, knowing that no matter what they did, someone was going to die soon. She had the feeling within her. It was the Governor.
He wasn't easy to persuade into letting people go.
...
While Rick was negotiating with the Governor, the small group managed to equip themselves with weapons. Daryl lightly tugged at the hem of Kloe's black polo shirt, catching her attention.
He held a carbine in his hand, it lowered down so no one in the Governor's group could see that they were preparing to fight back if they had to.
"On the count of three," Jayce began, giving everyone a single nod. "One...two...three!" Simultaneously, everyone with a gun lunged forward, pushing them through the fence.
They all did it at once so no one with the Governor decided to fire. Kloe couldn't help but glare. After all, with all the shit the man put them through less than a year before, it seemed that it would be the common reaction from everyone around.
"We gotta do something," said Carl, who was between the two archers of the group. Kloe squinted her eyes as she aimed her gun directly at the Governor's forehead, feeling nothing but pure hatred and revenge.
"Your dad's got it," Daryl assured from beside the Grimes boy.
"They're talking," he replied as if it was pathetic. "We could kill the Governor right now."
"From fifty yards?" Daryl asked, almost scoffing. The three were almost brushing shoulders at how close they were, and usually Kloe would cut into these sorts of situations. The Dixon turned his head to the side, his eyes setting on the Rhee woman.
He noticed the cadaverous glare that was painted onto the woman's face, not even recognizing the look. He slightly glanced down back at the Grimes boy, waiting on what more he had to say for his reasoning.
"I'm a good shot," Carl said nonchalantly, confident in himself after what had happened the night before when walkers broke through the fence. Him and his father had to take them all out. "I could end this right now."
"Yeah, or you could start something else," Daryl countered gruffly, his eyes now set back onto the Governor and his crew. "You gotta trust him."
"It's taking everything within me not to just shoot the bastard right now," Kloe muttered, clenching her jaw as she could just about watch the man smugly chuckle.
"Whatever it is that Rick's doing..." Vickie paused, making sure her gun was still stuck onto the man she used to work for, "I'm not sure it's working."
"Yeah," Brianna agreed, holding her gun high in between her two best friends, Beth and Isabelle. "Just by looking at his stupid face... you can tell he isn't giving in."
Kloe felt her body, head-to-toe, tense up when the Governor pursed his lips with anger and hopped off the tank harshly. She gulped and felt her heart begin to race with nerve as he took out Michonne's katana.
He pushed the female soldier that was guarding Hershel, only then setting the long weapon up against Hershel's neck. Kloe felt her glare turn into a look of worry.
She watched cautiously as the man's daughters gasped beside her, Rick beginning to come up with reasoning as to what should happen. Vickie and Brianna were right - whatever Rick was doing, none of it was working.
It was either Rick was right, and the Governor didn't like it like a little boy who declined everything he did, or Rick had some pretty shitty things to say about the past. But most likely, it was the Governor being an asshole.
Then, to her surprise, the Governor slowly edged the katana away from Hershel's neck. She finally gained hope that the scare was over. Though wasn't she very wrong about even thinking about that.
Within a blink of an eye, the Governor hauled the sword above his head, swinging it down straight onto the side of Hershel's neck. Blood began to pour out of it like a waterfall, making everyone's faces behind the fence to fall at the speed of light.
At the exact same time, Maggie and Beth Greene both screamed as loud as they could as their father fell down to the ground on his side. The rage returned to Kloe, being the first to shoot at the man, the bullet going straight through his arm.
Not even a second after, Rick let out a piercing scream as he raised his gun, firing at them. The Governor's small army were lightning speed to retaliate Rick and Kloe's actions, shooting back at them.
Carl and Daryl were the ones to follow the other two's lead as tears brimmed Kloe's eyes. The man that had saved her, but just like that, he was taken like it didn't matter.
Maggie and Beth's screams of devastation upon seeing the cause of their father's death were drowned out by the firearms filling the air around them. Kloe never let go of the trigger, not caring if she killed any of them.
She promised herself that she would never kill anyone unless she really had to. Now that was the time when she had to. She didn't aim for anyone's head, wanting to give them a slow, painful, suffering death.
She was outraged, as well was everyone else firing at the Governor's army. It wasn't long before the tank rammed through the chain link fence while they continued to shoot at it.
"We gotta move!" Zayn shouted, backing up as the Governor and his group inched closer to them. Kloe, still filled with adrenaline and didn't plan on moving, was more-or-less dragged away by her brother.
She grudgingly dropped her gun to her side sprinting away as fast as she could by her brother's grasp as the enemies sped over to them in their vehicles.
Someone directly aiming their gun right at Kloe and Zayn pulled the trigger, causing Kloe to pull her brother down before it could hit either one of them. They slid across the ground, being covered by some of the wooden coverings that they put up six months prior beside Isabelle Marshel.
Hastily, Kloe rose to her feet, poking her gun through the gap as she didn't hesitate to pull the trigger at the first person she laid her eyes on. Making the three duck down, the windows on one of the blocks behind them bursted from one of the grenades sent from the tank.
Her heart then sank into the abnormally large pit in her stomach as a bomb was sent straight into A-Block. A.K.A, the block that her husband and many other people were inside of.
"Shit!" she shouted, crouching down so she was out of sight. She looked up at her brother and Isabelle, who were still firing at the enemies. "I have to get in there!"
"I'll come with you!" Zayn yelled over the loud gunshots echoing around them.
"So will I!" Isabelle added.
"No! You both have to help everyone get onto the bus!" his sister reasoned, her teary eyes landing on the Greene sisters. "Look, they're both getting people on the bus - go help them! Isabelle, I want you on that bus!"
Before Zayn or Isabelle could retort, the woman pushed herself off the ground, sprinting as fast as she could to get to A-Block. She pushed the doors open, being met with several sick people pacing around with worry.
She pushed her way through them, knowing that they were itching to leave the building as quickly as they could and leave the prison premises - while Kloe was trying to get inside.
Once she was past the herd of people, who were now screaming, she jogged over to the main room where Glenn was put. Her eyes lifted to the staircase, where she spotted her husband weakly stepping down it.
"Glenn!" she yelled, managing to catch him before he could fall. She wrapped her arm around his shoulder, holding him up for his balance.
"What the hell's going on?!"
"We have to get everybody out of here!" she told him, an excruciatingly large hole forming above them as a bomb was sent through it. "We have to leave! Now!"
Along with everybody else, the married couple ran as fast as they possibly could out of the building. She kicked open the door, meeting the bright light of the sun on their face.
What a shit day for it to be a sunny day.
Kloe searched around frantically for the prison bus. She knew she wouldn't be getting onto it herself. She had something she wanted to finish. Something she wanted to end.
Her eyes landed on the prison bus, immediately switching the direction of the way the married couple were heading in. Then, from a few meters beside them, a man was shot down, killing him almost instantly.
Except, the bullet that came after it went clean through Kloe's lower arm, causing her to let out a pained yell. Glenn's eyes widened as she stopped, her hand pressing against the new wound on her left arm.
From all the adrenaline, the pain soon subsided as she snapped her head back up to her husband, who held onto her with extremely concerned eyes as he stared at the hole in her arm.
"Come on, we don't have much time!" Kloe yelled, ignoring the fresh blood dripping off her arm as she led her husband away.
"Kloe! Your arm!"
"Yes, I know! But that doesn't matter right now!" Once they reached the bus, she allowed Glenn to enter first. He was expecting her to get on with him, but she had other ideas planned.
With the help of her newly gained strength, he hauled himself into the bus that was roughly already filled with people. He stepped up, holding onto the leather seats for support.
Kloe stopped at one of the steps, her eyes scanning through all of the people, hoping to find someone she was close to. There was no one. She had told Isabelle to get onto the bus, and she expected her younger sister and Beth to be on there too.
"Where's Isabelle? Or Brianna?" Kloe asked the woman at the front, still clutching onto her wound that was pumping out way too much blood.
"They went to find you. They're together," the woman responded, earning a panicked 'where?' from the Rhee woman. She pointed in a certain direction.
Kloe didn't hesitate to turn around instantaneously, her husband not thinking twice to follow her. "They'll be okay-"
"No!" she told him, turning her body back around to face him before he could leave the bus with her. She held onto his weak arms. "Stay in here."
"What? No, you're not going by yourself!" he remarked, his eyelids beginning to fall as he lost all of his strength, falling. Kloe managed to catch him before he fell.
He sat down on the top step, his eyelids reopening to look at his worried wife. "I'll be back. I have to get to them and you're too weak to move. If I don't make it back, I promise I will find you."
That was the last thing she said to her husband before dashing into the direction the woman pointed to. She dodged every bullet that flew past her, not wanting another open wound in any part of her body.
She crouched down slightly, turning a corner where she spotted Maggie, Sasha, Bob and Vickie. "Guys!" she called out as loud as she could, catching their attention.
"What is it?!" Sasha asked, lowering her large gun as she darted her eyes between Maggie and Kloe.
The Rhee woman halted to a stop beside Maggie, her hand drifting over to her other arm as she applied pressure to the gunshot wound. "Where is everyone?"
"We're not sure! Is Beth on the bus?" Maggie inquired, searching Kloe's emotion filled eyes. Kloe panted heavily, closing her lips as she shook her head for an answer. Maggie's expression fell. "No..."
"What about Brianna?" Vickie questioned after.
"No. No, none of our families are on the bus..." Kloe stated, answering everyone around her. "Except Glenn. But that's because I just put him in there less than a minute ago-"
Unexpectedly, one of the Governor's soldiers shot Bob, the bullet going through his right shoulder. A grunted with pain, dropping his gun to the ground. "Look inside my shirt. Check my back for an exit wound," he instructed Maggie and Kloe as the other two continued to shoot at whoever shot at the man.
"Yeah," Maggie replied as she pulled the back of Bob's shirt away from his skin, eyeing the wound.
"That's good. We can treat it-" the man cut himself off when he saw the bullet hole in the youngest woman's arm, "Kloe, your arm!"
"Yes, I know," she repeated her exact words from when Glenn had said the same thing, "It went clean through. We can treat it too."
"Not here," said Vickie, still darting her eyes across the grounds of the prison in hope to find her daughter. "Stay down, all of you. We'll find someplace safe."
Everyone's attention was set onto the prison bus, which drove away from the prison - leaving nearly everyone behind. "Shit," Kloe cursed, her hand flying to her forehead with anxiousness and frustration.
"We'll figure it out," Sasha assured not only Kloe, but Maggie and Vickie too. "C'mon!"
With the help of the Greene and Parson women, Bob steadied to his feet. Sasha covered them while Kloe cocked her pistol that she kept in her thigh holster.
The small group of five ran as fast their legs could out the same way the prison bus went.
Everyone from the prison was split up. The person that caused it was the Governor. A singular man.
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words: 3875
2nd january 2023
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holy. shit. it's. TWENTY-TWENTY-FUCKING-THREE. anyway what a great way to start the year w the death of the governor and hershel greene LMAO