THE REASON

chapter seventeen ; flare over a water tower
[ season five - episode eleven ]

   KLOE ANXIOUSLY TAPPED her index finger against her arms, crossed over her chest. She was waiting impatiently for the others to return outside of the barn, her back pressed against the wooden planks that formed the barn.

She tried her hardest not to slide, not wanting a splinter in her shoulders from where they were bare. Rick and Aaron were inside, along with a wailing Judith — she was starving along with everyone else.

The rest of the group had been set in places scattered around the barn on lookout, while Kloe just stayed outside. She occasionally brought the oxygen tank up to her mouth, but the more she used it, the less she needed it.

She already felt better — but not a hundred percent. She had to give that to Aaron. If it wasn't for him... she didn't want to think about that.

Her eyes were trained onto the soil beneath her leather boots, numerous twigs in the midst of it. Whatever the hell had gone on last night was like a blur for Kloe.

Who was she kidding? The last few weeks were a blur.

A familiar feeling of the muscles in her ears lifting, catching onto a faint revving sound that drew closer and closer to the small barn they had camped out in overnight. The bones in the back of her neck cracked as she looked up, her chocolate brown eyes landing on three vehicles approaching their small accommodation.

There were two cars that were rusted and definitely over five years old at least. One was silver, supposed to be a shiny silver but the amount of dirt smeared over it made it look matte instead. The other car was baby blue and was somewhat cleaner than the other.

The third vehicle was an RV. Nostalgia waved over Kloe the moment she set her eyes onto it. The last time she had seen an RV was at Hershel Greene's farm, the RV belonging to the memorable Dale Horvath. She swallowed down a lump in her throat at the memories. If only she could go back to the good times.

Once the three vehicles came to a stop, everyone that was out on watch had regathered around the barn and greeted the ones that had come back from the run. Kloe rushed over to Glenn and Isabelle, their expressions flooding with relief seeing that she was much more energetic than she had been.

"Everything's okay? He was telling the truth?" Kloe wondered, her eyes dancing between the pair in front of her as she set a hand onto her hip. Her other hand fiddled with the hems of her black tank top, her leather boots anxiously bashing into the soil beneath.

"We're still not sure," Isabelle shrugged, beginning to walk over to the barn with the others. Kloe stepped in sync, side by side with the others as she waited for more explanation.

"You found the cars but not the two people he was with?" Kloe asked again, still vividly puzzled. She was expecting them all to return with the two unknown people — but there was no one.

"We thought we did," Glenn began, sighing heavily as he turned to face his wife while they walked. "But it was just walkers. I made sure everyone held their guns high. I couldn't risk it."

Kloe vaguely nodded, "That's understandable. I would be cautious too."

They all pulled open the doors to the barn, being met with Rick scurrying over to them with a quite happy baby Judith in his arms. He managed to calm her down somehow, and she was babbling joyfully as she reached for some of the other members of the group.

Abraham, Rosita, and Reina all gave Rick a black trash bag filled with some items that everyone was intrigued with. Kloe folded her arms over her chest again and continued to tap her finger. She squinted her eyes and went on her tiptoes to examine what Rick pulled out of the bag.

Her jaw mindlessly fell open upon spotting all the canned foods that they had gotten from the RV. How much food did these people have? Then there were canned desserts, drinks, chips, etc. Her mouth began to water. They had been desperate for food for weeks — to the point they had to kill dogs and eat them. In front of them was something they deserved. A treat.

Rick stood up from his crouching position and turned around. He lifted a can in his hand and turned to the guy that had been tied to a wooden plank that held up the roof of the barn. "This," Rick said, his brows raised, "this is ours now."

Aaron sighed tiredly and nodded. "There's more than enough."

"It's ours whether or not we go to your camp," Rick added, making himself clear. He swerved around, turning his back to Aaron and faced his group.

Carl's face scrunched up into perplexion as he watched his father's face intently. "What do you mean?" he questioned. "Why wouldn't we go?"

"If he were lying," Michonne began, her voice as soft as silk as she spoke to her group — wanting what was best for them, "or if he wanted to hurt us... but he isn't and he doesn't. We need this. So we're going, all of us. Somebody say something if they feel differently."

Everyone seemed up to it. Apart from Rick, of course. He was the least trusting person there and he had every reason to be. After what they had all gone through, they had no idea who to trust anymore. But Aaron had proven himself to them all that he was trustworthy.

"I don't know, man," Daryl fidgeted with his fingers that were connected, sitting on the ground and watching the Grimes man. "This barn smells like horse shit."

"Smells worse than just horse shit," Jayce commented before licking his lips and nodding. "We need something better than this, and it needs to be soon. We've been out here, searching, surviving, suffering... and now we've found what we were searching for. This is our chance. We need to take it."

The others all discreetly agreed with the man. He wasn't wrong and Rick knew that too. Aaron's hopes were getting high, his heart hammering against his ribcage as he anticipated.

"Yeah," Rick said, barely above a whisper that the others that were at the back of the barn could hardly hear what he had said. Although, they caught onto what he said next. "We're going."

...

"Why can we not just go on Route 16?" Reina complained as she held her hand out the car's window in the passenger seat. "I don't see what's so distrusting about driving on a road."

"Rick's orders," Zayn sighed from the driver's seat, rubbing his head as he concentrated on the dark roads ahead — following the RV that was following the car in front of that.

The first car consisted of Rick, Aaron, Glenn, Jayce, and Michonne. The car behind the RV held Zayn, Reina, Kloe, Maggie, Carl and his baby sister Judith — who slept peacefully in Kloe's arms. The RV supported the rest of the group.

It was way past nightfall, the moon lighting up their faces as it beamed down onto the dark roads. Kloe's legs bobbed up and down, Judith's head rested on her arm with her mouth hung open, drool running down her chin.

Carl oftenly wiped it away with a cloth he used for her. "Sorry if she drools on you," Carl grinned, his left index finger trapped from moving since Judith had wrapped her small chubby hand around it. "I never knew a baby could produce that much saliva."

"It is normal for a baby to drool, you know. And sure, it's fine. I'm not bothered with drool," Kloe quietly chuckled. "Babies are obsessed with screaming, shitting, crying, and of course, drooling."

Carl immediately shushed Kloe. "Hey, no cursing in front of kids!" he hissed, an even wider grin on his lips. "Don't tell anyone else I said this, but when she's older, I think both of you will be her favorite aunts," he told her and Maggie, being honest.

Reina snickered. "Carl, I hate to tell you this now... but I was lonely in elementary school because I snitched on most of the kids in my class." Laughs filled the vehicle after Reina finished her sentence, and Carl decided to play along.

"Oh, shit. I'm doomed" he falsely gasped, his hand flying to his mouth.

In unison, everyone's mouths fell open and turned to Carl. Zayn's eyes flickered up to Carl through the rear view mirror, his own shocked expression on his face. "Carl Grimes," he said in a warning tone. "That language is unacceptable."

"Since when did you start speaking filthy words like that, little man?" Maggie poked him in the arm before wiggling it as disapproval.

"Oh c'mon," Carl flailed his free arm, exasperatedly slapping it down onto his thigh like a ragdoll. "I'm fourteen, guys. I bet you all started swearing when you were, I don't know, twelve?"

"I wasn't even allowed to cuss in the house at twenty-two," Maggie shook her head, recalling the moments she had said words like 'crap' or 'hell' or 'damn', her father would always lecture her.

The others all laughed along, being moderately happy for the first time in a while. It was nice. Something Kloe wasn't so familiar with recently, and it pained her and the others that they were all the same.

Maggie then leaned forward and shared a look with her raven haired friend with Judith. "Did you tell Zayn about that song Abraham found in the church bus last month?" she inquired, a smile present on her lips as she remembered when they had a small karaoke session.

Kloe chuckled and shook her head. She focused her sight onto the rear view mirror, already spotting Zayn watching her with a look of anticipation. He clicked his tongue and raised his brows, tapping his finger on the wheel. "I'm guessing it's a song that we know?"

"Definitely," Kloe answered, brushing some loose strands that fell out of her ponytail behind her ear. "It was a song we were obsessed with when we were kids. Three guesses."

"God, you're gonna make me guess? We were obsessed with, like, a quadrillion songs, Klo," Zayn silently groaned, squinting his eyes at her through the mirror.

"Three guesses, whiner," she sighed.

Carl and Reina shared a glance before their eyes landed on Kloe, also desiring to know the answer.

Zayn exhaled half-heartedly. "Bed Of Roses?"

"Nope."

"The Sign?"

"Nuh-uh."

"Oh God, please don't say it's Barbie Girl or No Scrubs. You played those on repeat in the car when you were eleven," Zayn's face fell, however the car filled with small laughters coming from the others.

Kloe's face filled with shock. "First of all, Barbie Girl is a great song to dance to. Second of all, No Scrubs is one of the best 90s songs. Third of all, you're wrong."

"Oh, c'mon," Zayn's shoulder slumped, rolling his eyes back to the road and concentrating. "Watch it be something like Kiss from a Rose..."

"Bingo," Maggie chimed in, causing the Schmidt man's mouth to fall open.

"You're shitting me."

"Language!"

"You're pooping me," he corrected after being wrongly scolded by the teen in the car and whacked on the shoulder. His eyes then widened with seriousness as he noticed the RV in front was veering into another direction. "You're shitting me."

The small group subsided joking around and returned to the significance. Something had gone wrong and it panged Kloe in the gut when she saw through Maggie's side of the window that the other car had driven straight into a herd of walkers.

From the sudden jolt in the car, the baby in Kloe's arms stirred awake and gurgled. She looked around, her eyes landing on Carl who began to comfort her.

Kloe nodded to him, to which he wrapped his hands around his sister's body and held onto her, setting her on his lap. The Rhee woman leaned forward, her head beside her brother's. "Where are we gonna go? What about the others?"

"They'll find us. First, we gotta find somewhere to go—"

In the distance, a red flare similar to the one Aaron had flew up into the sky, meaning his friends were in trouble. It couldn't have been Aaron's one since Rick had it and they were in the completely other direction.

"Just keep following the RV," Reina stated. "The walkers aren't following us. They're focused on the other car. They'll all be okay, we'll get back to them soon."

Kloe nibbled on her bottom lip with anxiousness. Of course something had to go wrong. It was always that way in the apocalypse — what comes good provides something bad to succeed. She just hoped it wasn't extremely bad.

"Rick and the others will go after the flare. It's the same thing we did with Terminus," Maggie commented, her hand protectively on Carl's shoulder. "The signs we found, we all followed them because we knew the others would go. Think of that concept. Keep goin'."

...

The RV and the car had come to a stop, reaching the location that had been flared. It was a water factory with a water tower. The inside had been lit with candles and once they had all climbed out of their vehicles and scouted it out, they realized that Aaron hadn't been lying.

There were indeed two other survivors with him. One of them was injured with a broken ankle. Isabelle and Maggie had immediately come to his aid after another man begged them too. He said the injured man was like a brother to him and that he would do anything, whether they trusted him or not.

They all agreed to help him. They had seen enough lies in the previous few years to know when they weren't. Unless they're good at it like a certain someone in their group.

The injured man had introduced himself to them as Isabelle patched his leg up, wrapping some rags around it with a stick to keep it straight. His name was Eric, and the other man with him was Max.

While they waited for the other group in the car that had driven into the herd, Max had been social with them all, telling them all about their community and how much it seemed like they were creeps. He was awkward at times and hardly as much persuading was in his tone like Aaron's was.

Unlike Aaron, Max told them that it was completely up to them if they truly wanted to join them or not. If they had preferred to stay on the road and suffer, then it was their choice and he couldn't change that.

Kloe and a few others took a liking to him within an instant.

Everyone in the room jumped out of their skin when Daryl Dixon bashed his hand on the glass from outside the door to the building, alerting them that the group in the other car had successfully found them.

The first three to rise to their feet and rush over toward the door were Kloe, Maggie, and Carl. Kloe pulled open the door with force, surprised her body had the strength to sustain the weight the door held.

The moment her eyes landed on her husband, she let out a loud sigh of relief and muttered out a few oh my God's. She ran over to him, crashing into him and wrapping her arms tightly around him. He buried his head into the crook of her neck, glad that she was okay too.

"Were you driving by any chance? My mind is fuzzy," Kloe breathlessly laughed, lightening the mood.

She felt his head nod into her neck. "Yeah. Rick found a modified microphone in the glove box and, uh, I looked down at it and took my eyes off the road for two seconds... two seconds."

Kloe pulled away and smiled, ruffling her hand through his damp hair. "I'm just glad you're okay. That you all are," she whispered, pressing a soft kiss to his lips.

"Eric? Eric?!"

Kloe spun around as she watched everyone pile out the door. Isabelle being the last. Max was behind her, drifting his bright blue eyes across the group, examining some of the members he had never seen before — apart from the times when they were watching them of course.

"Who's that?" Glenn wondered quietly, close to his wife's ear. His eyes were glued onto the unknown man, who gifted them a true and genuine smile. "Is he one of the two?"

Kloe nodded instantly. "Yeah. His name's Max," she clarified.

As everyone reunited by hugging one another, telling them that they were glad they were all okay and unharmed, Rick couldn't help but narrow his eyes over at Max.

Max had pale skin, his dirty blond hair kept short and groomed just like Aaron's had been. His eyes held a shine in the middle of them that was surrounded by a mesmerizing ocean blue. He wore a clean white tee, an orange jacket the color of dead leaves wrapped around his arms. He wore black denim jeans, his belt consisting of a knife and a gun that hadn't been touched since they'd been there — so they didn't see the need to take them away.

They all trusted them... except for Rick.

Max looked the man approaching him up and down, not a single sign of fear in his expression. Rick tilted his head to the side, attempting to intimidate the man that usually worked for others.

"Hi?" Max frowned. He was confused. The others had proven they'd trusted him, yet here they were with someone who didn't. "I'm Max. Max O'Niell."

...

"Excuse me," Aaron announced himself, stepping into an abandoned room that was used for storing packages back before the world ended. The group had been in it and spoke with one another, speaking about whatever lingered in their minds. "Excuse me. Everyone," he repeated, causing them to finish their chatters and turn to face him.

Max stayed put in the corner after being ordered strictly by Rick to 'not try anything stupid', he didn't want to risk being slashed across the face with a machete that he had spotted in his belt.

Kloe watched the man in the center of the room, who had nothing but gratefulness in his face — his eyes glossed with tears with relief that his friend was alright.

"Thank you," he smiled, sighing heavily. "For saving Eric. I owe you. We," he gestured to himself and his friend in the corner of the room, "owe you. All of you. And I will make sure that debt is paid in full when we get to our community. When we get to Alexandria. Now, I'm not sure about you, but I'd rather not do anymore driving tonight. Um... Maybe we can hit the road tomorrow morning."

"That sounds fine," Rick spoke up from behind him, agreeing with Aaron's suggestion. Each person looked at him. "But if we're staying here for the night, you're sleeping over there," he pointed over to the opposite corner of the room, and then turned to Max. "And you're staying right there."

Kloe couldn't help but subconsciously shake her head and silently scoff as she reached into her pocket, pulling out an asthma reliever and inhaling it.

Maggie shifted her weight onto her other leg as she stared across at Rick. "You really think we gotta do that?"

"It's the safest play. We don't know any of you."

Aaron wiped his tongue across his top lip and breathed calmly. "The only way you're gonna stop me from being with him right now is by shooting me."

"And if you plan on doing that," Max began, causing Rick and the others to turn to him, "then I'll stay right here. I wanna see my sister if you don't mind. Thanks." He sat down, sitting like a child that had been forced in timeout by his father.

There was silence for a while, and Max's words reminded them all that they had families of their own too. Enough with the thick tension in the silence, Aaron went to brush past Rick and return to Eric, but was bluntly stopped by Glenn extending out his hand.

Kloe watched her husband as he turned to Rick, gulping as she waited for what he had to say. "Rick, they told us where the camp is," he started, pointing out when Tara, Rosita, and Noah told him about the two enlightening the answers they wanted to know. "And he really was only traveling with two other people. They're all unarmed, Max put his weapons on the table over there and let us check him for anything else. One of them's got a broken ankle. I want us to be safe too."

Glenn kept his eyes on Rick's, expecting something within them to change. And he swore he did, but he also spotted some sort of hesitation deep beneath. He shifted. "I can't give up on everything else. I know what I said, but... it does matter."

The hesitation had vanished.

The inner part of Kloe's brows raised with pity as she remembered the day they scouted Noah's community — the day Tyreese had been bitten and died. She remembered how Glenn continuously told Rick it didn't matter. That nothing mattered. Now he knew. It all did.

Rick nodded, "alright."

...

The Rhee woman woke up that morning feeling fresh. For the first time in a while, she woke up with no breathing complications. And she could've sworn she smiled when she realized she didn't have to sit up within an instant and try to cough and gasp at the same time.

You could say she woke up in a good mood that day and stayed in that mood. They didn't even get a full five minutes to wake up before shoving themselves back into the vehicles and going on their merry way to Alexandria.

None of them could complain though. They all wanted to get there soon. It'd taken them an entire day.

Instead of going inside the car she was in the night before, she decided to hop into the RV instead. They thankfully found another car before they left with juice — which Rick, Michonne, Carl and Judith were in. The car behind them consisted of Zayn, Reina, Maggie, Jayce, and Sasha. The RV held the rest.

Kloe had gotten up and stumbled to the back of the RV after Noah had sat back down from talking with them, using the walls to make sure she didn't fall from the moving vehicle driving over debris in the road.

She stopped in the doorway, setting her eyes upon Aaron leaning over Eric, who was out cold on the bed. On the seat behind him was Max, his eyes closed and definitely sleeping too.

"Hey," Kloe spoke up, catching Aaron's attention. He kindly smiled up at her, yet she could tell he was worrying about Eric. But he knew he'd be okay, thanks to the others.

"Hello," he greeted back. He smiled. "I wasn't expecting so many visitors today."

Kloe laughed warmly. "Sorry. Just wanted to check up and, uh, thank you for what you did for me yesterday." He was intrigued and shifted himself to properly face her as she pressed her back against the wall and folded her arms over her chest. "If it wasn't for you coming when you did, I'd be dead by now. And uh... Isabelle was right when she said I was staying stuff I didn't mean. I regret saying those things, and I will forever be grateful for you for making me stop. I'll pay you back someday in some way, you got it?"

The corners of Aaron's lips lifted and he smiled. "Of course. I'm always more than happy to help people. I saw you suffering, we all did. We all wanted you to get better because we hate it when we do see people suffer. And from what we saw, you deserve another chance at this. At living."

She couldn't help but snort. "This is actually my third chance." Aaron's brows raised and his jaw mindlessly opened. "The place we were at before we went on the road, I had a virus and, uh, yeah. My asthma also had a part of play in that."

"Sorry to hear that. We've never had someone in our community with asthma before, but we always made sure to keep plenty of inhalers stacked in our clinic in case someone like you joined us," Aaron stated warmly.

Kloe pursed her lips and smiled, that was until the RV's engine hissed and came to a slow stop, catching Kloe off guard. She caught onto Abraham's cusses and bashing his fist on the steering wheel with frustration.

He cursed under his breath continuously as he harshly pushed open the door and stepped out of the vehicle. Kloe sighed, "one second. Stay here."

She spun around, walking down the narrow walkway in the RV. She followed the others who jumped out onto the ground outside. She stepped over to the front of the RV, meeting Abraham and Glenn.

"What happened?" she wondered as Abraham popped the hood. Glenn dug his hand inside the engine, attempting to fix the problem.

"The damn battery gave up on us," Abraham answered before, once again, slamming his hand against the metal. "Can't win. Might as well paint it red, put a ladder on it."

Glenn exhaled heavily as he stepped back. "All we need is another battery."

Kloe's face lightened as her and her husband shared a glance, knowing exactly where they'd find one. Abraham's face scrunched up with bewilderment. "Where in the hell are we gonna find another battery?"

"Right this way," Kloe gestured to follow her, brushing past the two men and walking over to the side of the vehicle. The pair watched her, and Glenn patted Abraham's shoulder.

Kloe leaned her back against the RV beside the door, a small grin on her face as she watched Glenn chuckle and shake his head. He reached down for the wooden step and pulled it up, revealing a battery.

Abraham stood still, his eyes glued onto the specific item. He glanced up at the Rhees. "How'd you both know they were there?"

In unison, Glenn and Kloe smiled. The reason they both knew was because of a particular old man they knew at the start of the apocalypse that was obsessed about his own RV.

"We knew this one guy that had an RV like this," Kloe answered. "He told us."

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words: 4467
4th august 2023
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i loved writing the car scene ong. can u tell idk what to write here anymore. my life is boring 😭