THE REASON

chapter ten : truths be told
[ season five – episode five ]

   "I DON'T THINK I've laughed so hard in ages," Kloe whispered as she stared up at the ceiling, a small smile on her lips as she drew circles on Glenn's bare arm that lay over her.

She turned her head to the side, her heart warming as she spotted Glenn's sleepy eyes watching her. "I haven't seen you that happy in a long time," he murmured, struggling to keep his eyes open. "I missed seeing you like that."

"Yeah, well, my throat aches from laughing so much and my eyes are puffy from the crying," Kloe chuckled, admiring her husband's beauty beside her. "I feel bad, you know? About leaving the others behind."

"Hey," Glenn's eyes fully opened this time, and he prompted himself upward and leaned on his elbow as he looked down at his wife, "we get to have little vacations on bookstore floors."

Kloe pouted her lips and somewhat shrugged, "there's not much they're missing out on much, huh? I just... I hate being split up with mostly everybody again. We have different goals this time. They're looking for Daryl and Carol, and we're looking for a cure. Our goal kinda sounds stupid. We're having it easier than they probably are right now."

"Well," Glenn began, lifting his head as he glanced across the room, "we did almost die today. And we don't have a car. And we're drinking toilet water."

Kloe grinned widely, her dimples forming in her cheeks. "Now that you say that..." The pair silently chuckled for a moment. "It's just... every single night we've had has felt different. It went from being really shitty... to being nice and peaceful. Yet, they're most likely still all there in the shitty—"

Glenn interrupted his wife from speaking much further when he leaned down and connected his lips with hers. Like always, that feeling of butterflies in her stomach erupted.

He pulled away, but kept his face close as he looked down at her. "Don't feel bad," he whispered, to which she nodded in return. He pressed his lips back onto hers.

She smiled into the kiss, making Glenn copy her actions. He flopped back down onto the small bed they'd made, setting his arm back over his wife and burying his head into the crook of her neck.

She absentmindedly smiled as she positioned her head comfortably, sealing her eyes shut as she drifted off into a proper sleep that she had not had in days.

...

Kloe took a big step forward to avoid the small puddle that everyone else mindlessly stood in, surrounded by cardboard packaging that was left stranded.

She lifted her chin, taking a better look at the fire truck that Abraham had mentioned to them less than five minutes before. Most of them had tried to talk the man into staying in the town for a few days.

The town hadn't been touched since the outbreak — meaning nothing had been looted. As expected — due to the man's small outrage the day before — the man denied the suggestion and was adamant on leaving as quickly as possible.

Kloe folded her arms over her chest as she examined the exterior of the fire truck in the passenger's seat. She subconsciously frowned and stuck out her tongue, her eyes darting around the steering wheel to make sure nothing was missing.

From what they had all seen, nothing could go wrong with this ride. Everything was in place.

Glenn leaned his arm against the side of the leather seat Kloe was currently sitting on, Abraham climbing in from the driver's side. As always, the man hummed a song that continuously played in his head.

The moment he sat down, Kloe scooted over to the right of her, climbing out of the truck. Glenn offered out his hand, to which she took gratefully and hopped down onto the concrete.

Eugene took her place, a serious expression etched onto his face as he shifted himself comfortably in his seat.

Both Rhees peered over Eugene and across at the red head, squinting their eyes and pursing their lips as they hoped that the vehicle would work. Abraham pushed his finger against the red button which said 'start' underneath it.

The red vehicle revved as it persevered to activate, but as it tried, it gave up and failed. He licked his lips and singly shook his head. With more force, he pushed down the button and twisted the ignition.

The Ford man scrunched up his face as he now hoped the engine worked. The engine once again pushed itself to its limits — except this time, it was a success.

Abraham let out a few satisfied laughs, while Glenn and Kloe both smiled widely at the man. Kloe couldn't help but lightly clap her hands together.

"'Bout time things started going our way!" Abraham shouted over the loud engine, an impressed smile stuck on his face. Glenn stood down from the step and shut the passenger side's door, as Abraham did the same.

The moment the other two hauled themselves into the back of the truck, Abraham didn't hesitate to push his foot down on the accelerator. He wasn't kidding when he said he wanted to get to DC as soon as he possibly could.

"I'm not even gonna lie," Kloe began as she buckled her seat belt that went across her abdomen, "I wasn't expecting it to work—" She was cut off when the fire truck came to a stop unexpectedly, causing everyone to somewhat jolt forward. "Shit, did I jinx it?"

"Yeah, I think you did," Abraham answered from the front of the truck, thumping the steering wheel with his clenched fist. "Just once..." he gritted his teeth, jumping out of his seat and onto the pavement, "One damn time!"

Kloe bit down onto her bottom lip, guilty, as she followed her husband out of the back of the truck. "We'll find another ride," Glenn spoke up as Rosita climbed out of the truck.

"If there was a ride worth a shit in this town, we'd have seen it," Abraham replied, sending the truck a short glare as Glenn examined it some more. "This thing's done some crowd cleanin'. Right up at the intake." Glenn, Kloe, and Rosita all watched the man with confused eyes. "Which means we've got an air filter filled with damn human remains," he clarified. "And there is no damned corner on this damned Earth that has not been dicked hard beyond all damned recognition."

He snatched a plastic bag off of the ground and stepped forward to the air filter harshly, beginning to scrape off some of the blood and guts.

"Abraham," Rosita said in a monotone pitch.

"What?" he spat.

"That feeds the radiator." Abraham snapped his head over to the woman. "The intake for the engine is actually on the roof."

Kloe pouted her bottom lip as she looked over at Glenn, an impressed expression stuck on his face just like it was hers. Abraham glanced over at the Espinosa woman, a smirk on his face.

A frown snuck its way onto Kloe's face when she began to hear something from behind them. She was the first to turn around, perplexion beginning to flow through her veins as a wheel rolled out of a door that had been slightly pushed open.

"What the hell...?" she muttered as Glenn and Rosita copied her actions and turned around. She gazed over at the other three, "get an exorcist—"

She was interrupted with a loud clash, making her jolt backward. Everyone's heads instantly darted over to the door that was ajar — it now being wide open — with walkers piling out of it.

"Tara, Maggie!" Glenn yelled, clasping his hand around his gun.

Abraham harshly trod over to the walkers, his teeth gritted together, "one. Damn. Time!" With the end of his gun, he struck a walker across the head, causing it to fall backwards onto the floor.

Glenn did the same with the butt of his gun as Kloe gripped tightly onto her knife. Maggie and Tara both stepped out of the truck, shock expressions on their faces as they reached down for their weapons in their belts.

"One damn time!" the Ford man repeated, bringing his gun down onto another walker's head, beating it over and over again until there was nothing left on its head — being nothing but mush.

"Abraham, just wait!" Rosita shouted over the loud snarls as the creatures dragged their feet over to them. Kloe didn't waste any time standing there and drove her knife through one of the walker's chins.

"There's more from the back!" Glenn informed them as he spun on his heel, sprinting over to the walkers and raising his gun into the air.

Out of nowhere, Kloe felt water drip onto her head from above her. She shot her head up, squinting her eyes when she watched water blow out from the hose. She turned her head, spotting Eugene controlling the machine.

Glenn had rejoined the group and pressed his back against the red truck. He didn't hesitate to lean forward and wrap his fingers around his wife's wrist, pulling her back away from the water that was more than powerful to cause bodily harm.

Kloe blinked religiously as water ran down into her eyes, observing the watery/bloody mess in front of her. Most of the walkers lost their limbs and heads, which floated around in the water that began pooling.

The moment the water stopped flowing, everyone was drenched. They all stepped forward, lifting their heads to look up at the Porter man. Kloe flicked the strands of clumped hair over her shoulders, wiping away the water droplets that ran down cheek with the back of her hand.

"I been to eighty county fairs and one goat rodeo," Abraham announced as he paced. Kloe briefly brushed some hair out of her husband's face so it was out of his eyes. "I never seen anything like that."

Eugene was in a proud stance, a pleased smirk escaping onto his lips.

"There was a Goodwill over there by the library," Glenn pointed over to the mentioned store, sharing a glance with the red head. "It's pretty blown up, but there might be some supplies, some dry clothes maybe?" His voice raised with the last few words he spoke, looking up at Eugene.

"Yeah, I mean, unless we all decide to lay out on the ground and sunbathe, we're gonna be soaked for at least two hours," Kloe commented as she rung out her shirt by twisting it.

"Not necessary," Abraham shook his head and strutted away. "I can clear that intake in two shakes. Then the engine will get some wind," he hauled himself onto the roof of the truck, "and so will we. You'll air dry. We roll on."

Kloe's shoulders slumped as she watched the man stare down at something on the ground behind everyone. In an instant, the man broke out into laughter as he set his hands on his knees.

Everyone's brows connected with deep confusion as they all turned around to work out what exactly the man was laughing so much about.

SICK INSIDE

LET THEM DIE

They all looked across at each other, sure as hell confused at what was so funny about the red spray painted words on the ground. Sure, it would've been nice to see the message beforehand, but it was covered from all the shit on the ground.

"What?" Abraham asked as he watched everyone send him a certain look. He straightened his back, a grin still on his expression. "This shit is screwed up!" he laughed some more before kneeling down and clearing out the intake.

...

"Oh, Christ," Kloe muttered as she stared down at the card in her hand. She placed the card upside down in her lap, lifting her hands up as she mindlessly. She shook her head, unsure.

"Just act out what the card says," Tara giggled as she shuffled the Charades cards. "It shouldn't be too hard since it's only for kids."

"Alright," Kloe cleared her throat, a side-smile erupting onto her lips. With the side of her hand, she briefly rubbed it against her cheek — imitating the animal on the card.

Maggie clapped her hands, "cat!"

Kloe chuckled as she handed back the card to Tara. The Chambler woman took it and added it to her stack of cards. "This is getting boring. It's just all animals," Rosita silently groaned, rummaging through her backpack for a bottle of water. "And we're almost out of water."

"We have enough for a few more hours at least," Glenn countered. "We'll have to stop off somewhere later to get some more near a creek or something."

"Some food too," Tara added, shoving the cards back in its box and putting it back in her backpack. "We really should've scavenged around before we left the town."

Kloe leaned back in her seat when the fire truck came to a stop, shifting her eyes over to the back of Abraham's head through the small window. He thumped his fist down onto the steering wheel, cursing out a few words.

She sighed heavily, unbuckling her seat belt. Everyone copied her actions after hearing the red head's burst of outrage through the small window. Kloe stepped forward, clicking the door open.

The group were met with cool air, which they were all unfamiliar with. Glenn, Kloe, Tara, and Maggie were all used to the warm, humid climate back in Georgia — despite the fact it was February.

The twenty minutes of waiting for Abraham to fix whatever had gone wrong with the truck flew by faster than ever.

Tara and Glenn both took watch — Tara at the back, Glenn at the front. Eugene sat on the back of the truck with a book in hand, occupied. Rosita stood on the side of the road with her gun leaning against the back of her head with the arms wrapped around it. Maggie sat on the step, and lastly Kloe leaned her back against the truck and stared up at the sky.

The sound filling the ears was the same song Abraham kept humming. At that point, it wouldn't surprise anyone if they could all hum along, not even knowing what the song is.

Out of boredom, Kloe walked over to one of the trees and picked up a small rock. She wrapped her fingers around it, pulling out the knife that Reina had given her. The knife had gone blunt after so much use.

She guessed that the Salazar woman had used it since the very beginning of the outbreak. The knife was a paring knife, one that Kloe hadn't seen for a while.

The only knives her and the group used at the prison were pocket knives. She couldn't help but miss her pocket knife she had thrown into the bushes back at the church.

She had had that knife for a long time — since her and the group from Atlanta were stranded on a particular highway. The very day Sophia had gone missing. That wasn't exactly a nice memory, but that wasn't what crossed her mind when she thought of it.

The thing that crossed her mind was how different her mind set was. How different the old her was. The old her. She'd liked to say she was the same, but she knew deep down something within her had died somewhere over time.

"I'm pretty sure I watched Isabelle get the knife you threw into the bushes yesterday morning," a voice that belonged to Rosita Espinosa said from beside her.

"What are you, a psychic?" Kloe wondered, a small grin on her face as she looked over at the shorter woman.

"Yeah, it's my super secret power. Don't tell anyone," she whispered, lifting her index finger to her lips. Kloe shook her head and chuckled. "I can see it in your face. The way you're looking at that knife, it's making you think about the other one. Sentimental value?"

"Eh, kind of," Kloe shrugged, observing Reina's knife in her hand. With the rock, she slashed it across the knife in an attempt to sharpen it. "Not exactly sure this will work, but I'm bored so I might as well try."

"Whoa, what the hell is that?" the voice of Glenn Rhee was heard after a foul smell greeted his senses. He spun around almost instantly, his face scrunched up.

Kloe and Rosita shared a glance with each other, their expressions contorting into confusion. "What?" Maggie shouted over to him from the back of the truck where she was talking with Eugene.

The Rhee woman threw the rock back onto the ground, shoved her knife into her sheath and followed Rosita back to the center of the road where everyone was.

"Winds picking up," he had to hold himself back from gagging, "you're about to smell it."

Out of nowhere, the smell Glenn had mentioned hit everyone else like a ton of bricks. All at once, they all groaned. Kloe threw her hand to her nose within an instant, "Jesus Christ."

"What is that?" Maggie asked, copying Kloe and pinching her nostrils.

"Whatever's making that stench," Abraham began, peeking his head out the truck, "it ain't nothin' nice."

"No fucking shit," Kloe commented as she battled down the bile rising in her throat.

"We're not stoppin'," Abraham stated, grabbing onto his rifle and hopping out of the vehicle.

"Uh, we're stopped," Tara mentioned, sharing a glance with Maggie and Eugene behind her.

Abraham only ignored her and continued walking forward. Maggie and Rosita grinned at Tara's humor. Kloe stopped beside her husband, a very unamused look on her face.

"No way are we gonna walk towards that smell?" Kloe quietly said, leaning her head closer to Glenn. She then turned to face the others that were now beside her. "I think I'm gonna need a hair tie."

In front of them was a hill — one that wasn't that steep. It took them approximately thirty seconds to get to the top of it, and when they did, their eyes widened.

"No way," Tara muttered, disbelief present in her eyes.

They now all understood what was causing the wretched smell. In the distance ahead of them were thousands of walkers — more than any of them had ever seen before.

"Now that," Kloe pointed ahead, her brows raised as she looked at the others with a worrisome expression, "that is a lot of fucking walkers."

Glenn just shook his head as he dragged his eyes across the risen corpses. They were blocking off the road. There was no way in hell they could cross that amount.

He turned around, not wanting to waste anymore time before any of the walkers gathered the fact that there was a meal waiting ahead for them.

"Let's go," he stated in a low tone. "We gotta go."

Kloe didn't take second thoughts to follow him, along with the others. Rosita called out to Abraham who stood completely still as he watched the walkers. He muttered something, but it wasn't loud enough for any of them to hear.

They all stopped. Rosita called out some more, growing annoyed and anxious.

Kloe rolled her eyes. "Look," she stepped over to the red head and set her hand on his shoulder, "if you couldn't tell, there is more than a crowd of walkers over there and we need to leave."

"No," Abraham shook his head, eyeing the hand on his shoulder.

She brought her hand back to her side and raised her brows. "What? What'd you mean no?"

"I mean no, we don't," Abraham repeated sternly. "They can't hear us and they can't see us. Not from here. We're fine."

"Yeah, this is the definition of fine," Tara returned sarcastically.

"There has to be a detour somewhere," Kloe mentioned, glancing around her before turning her full attention back to Abraham. "You mind if I take a quick look at the map?"

"I'm not doing it."

"You're kidding me?"

"No, I'm not kidding you, Kloe," Abraham said sharply. "I'm not doing it. We detoured and detoured and detoured from Houston to Georgia. I'm not playing that game anymore."

Glenn didn't think twice to strut forward, joining Kloe's side. "We are not going through this, okay? It isn't gonna happen," he raised his voice, gesturing over to the herd.

"Talk about suicide mission," Kloe murmured, clearing her throat as if she hadn't said anything as Abraham turned around and faced them.

"You got a shitstorm behind door A and a storm of shit behind door B. If you're lucky, it's walkers or a shot-up truck. But sooner or later you get cornered. You wind up stayin' and you wind up killin'. We don't go back. We can't go back."

"We're not talking about going back," Glenn pointed out, the irritation boiling in his blood for the safety of him, his family, and his friends beginning to rocket. "Just south a few miles—!"

"No," Abraham repeated firmly.

Kloe scoffed. "I thought you wanted to keep Eugene alive?"

"I do."

"Well going through this is gonna kill all of us!"

"We already hit a full stop 'cause of an air filter compromised by innards," Eugene chimed in to the small argument. "That will happen again."

"Then we'll hit 'em with the hose," Abraham answered, pacing to the right.

Rosita provokingly shifted her weight onto her other leg as she watched her boyfriend with disbelief. "The tank is empty, Abraham."

"If we floor it—"

"We will still hit them, they still slow us down, and then they stop us," Glenn argued.

"I'm not saying we just go straight!"

"That's the way the road goes," Maggie stated the obvious for the man.

"Abraham!" Rosita shook her head.

"We can get through!" he roared. "I know it! And that means we are not going south, going around, or going back!"

"No." Abraham's head snapped over to Rosita, who was shaking her head at him repeatedly, "they're right."

He quietly scoffed, turning his head back ahead of him as he then himself shook his head. But the shakes soon turned into nods, which surprisingly took Kloe aback.

He twisted his body around, beginning to walk back to the direction the others were begging him to do.

Glenn and Kloe both shared a glance with each other, both sighing heavily before they followed the red head.

Abraham harshly gripped tightly around Eugene's arm, which began to hurt him as he pushed him along.

Everyone began to shout at the Ford man, all rushing forward to him as they yelled at him to let go of the Porter man.

Tara pressed her hand against Abraham's chest, telling him to stop. He pushed her back, which if Kloe wasn't there to catch her and steady her, she would've fallen to the ground.

Glenn sprinted forward, pushing his hands against the red head. Several yells were let out, and Kloe couldn't help but feel her heart begin to pound so loudly that she couldn't hear anyone anymore.

She shook away the feeling and stepped forward with Rosita. Kloe grabbed onto her husband's shoulder, attempting to pull him away before matters got worse than they were already becoming.

Rosita did the same but with Abraham. The man turned to the women to the side of him and swung his arm, making them stumble backwards. Kloe lost her balance, resulting in pushing Rosita to the ground behind her.

She attempted to steady her balance, but it was useless since she turned around to see if the Espinosa woman was okay and ended up falling down along with her.

This action caused Glenn to yell louder than before, nothing but pure rage in his eyes as he went back to pushing Abraham.

"I'm not a scientist!"

The shouts stopped. Everyone froze. They all stared at Eugene.

"I lied," he glanced across at everyone as Kloe and Rosita helped each other off the ground. "I'm not a scientist." Kloe's lips parted, and she just stared at the man ahead of her as did everybody else. "I don't know how to stop it. I'm not a scientist."

The man slowly cowered backwards, shivers rolling down his spine from the amount of eyes that were settled on him. But not eyes of amazement — eyes of shock and betrayal.

"You are a scientist," Rosita instantaneously returned. "I've seen the things that you can do."

"I just know things."

"There is no fucking way," Kloe scoffed, glaring at the man with pure anger. "You dragged us all the way out here, and it's all just one big lie? Are you fucking serious, Eugene?!"

"I know I'm smarter than most people, I know I'm a very good liar, and I know I needed to get to DC," he said, avoiding eye contact with Kloe's harsh, cold eyes.

"Why?" Maggie asked.

"Because I do believe that locale holds the strongest possibility for survival, and I wanted to survive," he answered, fidgeting with his fingers. "If I could cheat some people into taking me there, well, I just reasoned that I'd be doin' them a solid, too, considering the perilous state of the city of Houston, the state of everything."

Abraham stared into space as he gradually crouched down, his own shock punching him in the gut.

"People died trying to get you here," Rosita choked.

"I'm aware of that," he replied. "Stephanie, Warren, Pam, Rex, Roger, Josiah, Dirk, and Josephine. And Bob." His chin began to tremble, "you see, I lost my nerve as we grew closer, for I am a coward... and the reality of getting to our destination and disclosing the truth of the matter became some truly frightening shit. I took it upon myself to slow our roll. Find time to finesse things so then when we got there— But at this moment, I fully realize there are no longer any agreeable options. I was screwed either way."

"You," Kloe's voice cracked as she jabbed her finger at the man, "you are an asshole." The man cowered once more, backing up to the truck behind him. "I have a thing about breaking assholes' noses. And I am this close..." she brought up her finger and thumb, which were merely a centimeter away from each other, "from breaking yours."

"With all due respect, I don't think breaking my nose will help the sudden rage. But if it means it will help you, then I think I deserve that punch," Eugene rambled out.

She clenched her jaw, her fist subconsciously hardening. Maggie inched forward, setting her hand on her friend's shoulder to calm her down. "Klo, don't," she whispered, carefully pulling the woman back with her.

"I— I also lied about T. Brooks Ellis liking my hair," Eugene added as if it was necessary to point it out. "I do not know T. Brooks Ellis. But I did read one of his books, and he seemed like the type of guy that wouldn't blink twice at a Tennessee Top Hat."

Kloe attempted to lunge forward, but the tight grip around her upper-arm restrained her from doing so. The man flinched, glancing down at the ground.

"Again..." he nodded, looking down at Abraham, "I am smarter than you. Now, you may want to leave me here, but—"

The Ford man dropped his gun to the ground and dived forward, striking the man across the face. Then again. And again. Tara and Glenn both rushed forward, trying to pry the man off of the liar.

But with the third punch, the man fell forward. He face-planted the floor, completely unconscious from the force of Abraham's fist.

"Jesus," Kloe quietly gasped, stepping forward as Rosita stood in front of Abraham, her hand settled on the gun in her belt.

Within a few seconds, Abraham turned around and walked away. The wound on his hand had cut open once again, his hand coated in his own blood.

Both Kloe and Maggie grasped onto each shoulder of Eugene, pulling him around. "Oh my God," Maggie muttered, the bloody mess on Eugene's face catching her and Kloe off guard.

Kloe knew she wanted to strike the man across the face herself, but not to the point where he fell unconscious.

The man wasn't evil, he was just, as he said, a coward.

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words: 4731
12th june 2023
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my brother's currently watching twd for the first time, and get got to the line up n i sat n watched w him. i couldnt help but literally imagine how that scene's gonna go in this book.