THE REASON

chapter twenty-eight ; herd in the quarry
[season six – episode one ]

   "HE GOT NOAH killed," Tara asked, her words more or less coming out in a statement rather than a question however. It was the day after the meeting, and it was mid afternoon.

Everyone had been assigned to help with the construction of the wall. Despite the fact that Rick had pointedly stated that it would be useless, everyone still took in Carter's words and opted to do part of what he suggested.

Kloe breathed heavily as she straightened her back, the baby hairs on her head sticking to her damp, pale skin. Her short hair had been tied back into a bun. She was accustomed with her usual black tank top, along with her skin tight jeans that had rips in them from use as time gradually went on. She had her fingerless, leather gloves on, her thin jacket wrapped around her waist.

Maggie had been telling Tara about what had happened while she was unconscious, announcing the news on how Noah's death occurred. Maggie had been paired with Kloe, helping her out as they dug up some soil from the ground. Tara had stayed close by them, unable to do any work due to her head still healing. She barely managed to stay on her feet, having to sit down occasionally as she grew lightheaded.

"He did," Maggie confirmed, her eyes subconsciously glaring at Nicholas. Kloe swallowed thickly as she watched Maggie's eyes flicker over to Jayce, who was beside Nicholas and Glenn in the distance. "He did more than that," she said, her head low as she pulled off her gloves. Kloe frowned, baffled. "Jayce told me last night that he lured Glenn into the woods and tried to kill him."

"What?" voiced Kloe almost in an instant. She shoved her shovel harshly into the soil, it standing upright before she stepped over to the pair. "So there weren't any walkers?"

"No... I thought Glenn would've told you that," Maggie responded, her hands flopping down to her sides. Her face dropped in realization. "Has he not been telling you anything? Jayce told me that you guys weren't on speaking terms right now. He should've still told you that, though, right?"

"Wait, you and Glenn aren't speaking?" Tara wondered, feeling completely out of the loop. Kloe pursed her lips as she scratched the side of her face absentmindedly, shaking her head for an answer. "Woah... why?"

"Story for another time," she responded, not in the mood to talk about the entire situation as her emotion had been switched to annoyance. Not only had her husband not been speaking to her for a stupid reason, he had also lied to her. She faced back to Maggie. "Nicholas tried to kill Glenn?"

Maggie nodded, "yeah. When Jayce found them, Glenn was atop of him with his gun pointed to Nicholas' head. Jay had to stop him. And it wasn't just anger... It was pure rage. And it wasn't just from what Nicholas did to Noah, it was somethin' else. Jayce wouldn't tell me what. Told me it was something personal Glenn wanted to keep to himself for now."

Kloe felt like scoffing, yet she held it back.

"Apparently Glenn said that we could tell everyone if we wanted to. Get Nicholas exiled," Maggie continued, her eyes focusing on the three men. "He'd die out there. Could have done that. Either of you could do that now," she directly said to Kloe and Tara. Kloe didn't take her eyes off her husband, squinting her eyes at him all the while Tara stood still with shock, her face scrunched up.

"He got Noah killed and he tried to kill Glenn," Tara countered, practically pointing her finger to the ground as she stated every word clearly. She had to repeat the thoughts that plagued her mind for clarification, to which Maggie simply nodded in return.

Kloe shifted her weight onto her other leg. "I know Glenn like the back of my hand — well, at least I thought I did. But I know for a fact that it doesn't matter who you are or what you've done, he wouldn't pull that trigger." Maggie and Tara thought about the words for a short moment. "He hasn't killed a single person yet. And he doesn't plan on doing so... Any— anyway, you guys say what you wanna say. I'm gonna take a break over there for a while."

...

Three more days went by in a flash. Every one of those days consisted of Kloe throwing up in the mornings and nights to the point it began to concern her and a couple of others. The others being Brianna and Rosita.

Kloe's illness wasn't her main concern at that moment in time. The sun was directly above them, and everyone had been placed near the quarry. Despite it just being cold the day before, the temperature had risen which represented the small droplets of sweat on everyone's skin. Hardly any clouds were to be seen from anyone below.

The sun casted a blinding bright light onto them, their eyes all squinting in unison. Two trucks were positioned as Heath had explained a few days prior at the meeting, enclosing the walkers and restraining them from breaking through. Walkers' eyes were glued onto the large group that looked up to Rick ahead of them, who was propped up higher than the rest as he was the spotlight of attention.

She felt as if lava was pouring over her with every breath she took. She regretted throwing on a long sleeved, skin tight, fabric black shirt. Even though she had cut off the long sleeves so it ended beneath the elbow, it didn't feel like it. Her fingerless leather gloves seemed to be a need at this point. Everywhere she went, she wore her gloves. Beige cargo pants seemed to also be her signature look, her thigh sheath consisting of her gun. The black belt that wrapped around her slim waist had her pocket knife.

The closest person she was near was one of the newest members of the community, Morgan Jones.

"I know this sounds insane," Rick Grimes began, "but this is an insane world. We have to come to them before they come to us. It's that simple." The man subconsciously peered over his shoulder after hearing the walker snarls louden. "This is where it all starts tomorrow. Tobin gets in the truck, opens the exit and we're off. He hops out, catches up with his team at red staying on the west side of the road. Daryl gets on his bike—"

Unexpectedly, a thundering rumble flowed through the air, grasping onto everyone's attention. Simultaneously, their necks snapped over to the direction on where the reverberation came from. Sasha was the first to notice where it was as she pointed at the cliff. "You see that?"

Everyone maneuvered into a position where they could see across the dry quarry. Kloe lifted her hand to her face, shielding the bright luminosity from her eyes. Her face filled with horror as she swallowed thickly, anxiously. A large portion of the cliff began to crumble, soon dropping down onto a small part of the incredibly large herd. Even from a distance, they could hear the loud metal groaning from the truck that blocked off the east exit.

"Oh no," Kloe cursed under her breath as the truck tumbled off of the cliff, colliding with the ground and some of the walkers beneath it. The walkers that were pushing against the truck previously didn't think twice to proceed walking the path, to which it led straight to them.

"It's open!" Rick alerted. "We got to do this now. We're doing this now!" He jumped down from the platform, moving toward Tobin as he pointed at him. "Tobin's group, get moving, go!"

"No, Rick, we're not ready!" Carter shouted in return as everybody scrambled around to get into their positions. Kloe, who coincidentally happened to be near Carter, rolled her eyes. Even if they weren't ready, what else was there to do?

"Sasha! Abraham!" Rick ignored the other man since he was too occupied with guiding the group.

"Damn straight, we'll do it live," Abraham said as he and Sasha darted to the vehicle. Kloe pulled open the trunk to the car as the pair pulled open their doors, hastily pulling out all the ammunition that were in a backpack that was assigned for her team. She threw the backpack over her shoulder as she slammed the trunk shut.

"You meet Daryl at red," Rick instructed Abraham and Sasha. "Let him take them through the gauntlet!"

Yeah, we meet at red," Sasha repeated, acknowledging what Rick was ordering her to do. Rick replied with a firm 'go!' as she climbed into the driver's seat.

Kloe sped over to her group she was assigned with. Her group only had five members, including herself. She stopped in front of Jayce as he turned away from Glenn, who had handed him two flares from his pack. "Jayce, Reina, you both hold the flares and fire 'em when I say," Kloe instructed as she unzipped her backpack, handing out ammunition to the others. "I'll hold the walkie-talkie. Max, you'll lead the way since you know this place better than any of us. Madolyn, you're gonna be at the back with the binoculars. We're going uphill, so we'll be able to see down from it if the walkers are following us."

"Alright," the twins answered in unison, nodding. Kloe tossed Madolyn the binoculars who caught them in an instant. "So we know our jobs," Max said for confirmation, his head watching the other four.

Kloe nodded immediately. "Yes, we do. I'll be in control of communication. Jayce and Reina are the flare shooters. Madolyn is on watch. And lastly, Max is the navigator. Got it?"

"Got it," the four replied together, their voices harmonizing.

Rick headed over to Kloe's group, an urgent expression on his face. "Kloe, you remember which way you're going?" he questioned as everyone rushed around him.

"Yeah," she breathed. "Glenn and the others go right, and we go left—"

"Rick, this was supposed to be a dry run!" Carter interrupted the woman out of sheer fear. Kloe couldn't help but glare at the man harshly. She had only found out that morning that Carter had been trying to plan with some of the other Alexandrians to eliminate Rick for 'better protection'. Eugene had been there getting some strawberry jelly from the pantry and had heard everything. It resulted in him getting a gun pointed to his face, only for Rick to walk in on the situation.

Walkers from the gap of the two trucks growled loudly, making Rick ignore the man once more. "Daryl, get ready," he commanded. Daryl lifted his crossbow to the gap. Kloe unwrapped her bow from her right shoulder as well as grasping onto an arrow.

"We gotta leave," she recommended. "Far too many for any of us to handle."

"Rick, we haven't even gone through the whole plan!"

"If you wanna go back, go back!" Rick spat back in Carter's face, fed up with his constant badgering. "We're finishing this." Kloe and Daryl both shared a glance side by side, both knowing for a fact that arrows were going to be useless against the entire horde. Daryl sent the woman a nod, to which she returned it and stepped off to the side back where her group were.

Everyone grouped up as if it was some sports tournament in high school. Kloe felt herself gaze over at Glenn, in hope that she could at least mentally wish him good luck through their eyes. She was immediately taken aback when she realized he was already looking at her, the same look in his eyes that she had just thought. He singly nodded to her, blinking once. Despite the situation going on around her, she found herself somewhat smiling as she replied with the same nod.

"Tobin, you hit on my signal!" Rick instructed firmly. Everyone all shared a similar look with one another, not thinking twice to put their legs into sprinting mode as they ran into the directions they were appointed. "They're heading for home. We don't have a choice. Get ready to hit the flares!" The flare shooters all lined up as they lifted them into the air, firing them.

Everyone had been running for a solid five minutes without stopping. If Kloe hadn't taken her daily dose of corticosteroids, she would've for sure been on the floor from lack of oxygen after flat out sprinting for so long. She made sure she definitely brought more than two reliever inhalers with her, just in case.

Currently, the five were sprinting up a hill. They were all breathless, but they persevered and didn't give up. They couldn't. The walkie in Kloe's belt often produced static, breaking out of range as some of the leaders of some of the other groups spoke through.

"You all have your assignments," Rick's voice crackled through the radio, which was loud enough for the five of them to hear. "You know where to rendezvous. Daryl leads them out. Sasha and Abraham join him at the bottom of the hill." Just as his voice faded out, two flares fired in the direction where Zayn's group were from. "Glenn, you hit us when you take care of the walkers at the tractor place. That's the one thing we gotta get ahead of. Kloe, you make sure the walkers don't go in the direction of the tractor place. If you see they have lost track, you make sure you fire as many flares as you can to lead them back to where they're supposed to go. Everybody, keep your heads. Just keep up."

Reina's head turned to the side to face Kloe, who felt the eyes burn into the side of her face as she looked back at her. Reina slowed down her pace, as did Jayce. The pair both raised their flares up to the sky as they pulled the triggers.

That day was a long day. And they had no idea what was to come.

...

Another flare flew up into the sky after Jayce pulled the trigger. They had reached the point where if Glenn hadn't picked up his speed to take out the walkers from the tractor place, then the whole thing would've been a 'mission failed'. Jayce and Reina were running low on flares, being extra more cautious with where the walkers planned on heading.

Kloe held the walkie while they jogged. They were nearing red, and Rick had informed them that he, Michonne, and Morgan had gotten to yellow.

The colors were a signification on safe areas. For the past few days, everyone had been building small outposts, restraining the walkers from getting past them through the metal walls that were built. Inside of the walls were balloons. Red balloons, yellow balloons, and green balloons. Everyone had practically memorized where the safe spots were, having been plotted down on their maps.

"Glenn, you need to hurry," Daryl's voice came through the comm. "The noise could distract the herd right off the road. Talk to me."

"We're here," Glenn replied within an instant.

All of Kloe's nerves were messing with her, having to stop herself from chewing on her nails from anxiousness. Everything was unexpected — they had it planned that they would all take out the walkers at the tractor place before the next day. Now it was all a mess and was a rush.

"We've almost reached yellow. We're only down to three more flares left though. Picking up our pace now," Kloe informed, earning a 'copy that' from Rick in return.

"Why does everything have to go to shit today?" Reina sighed. "Could've waited one more day, man. I was stacking up on caffeine to shove in my face in the morning so I didn't run out of stamina while doing this." She blew some of her hair out of her face as she raised her flare again, firing it. "Are we just The Bad Luck Crew or something?"

"Seems like it," Jayce responded, tilting his head in agreement.

"Keep it up, guys," Max encouraged his teammates over his shoulder. "Just another two minutes and we'll be at yellow. I doubt we'll get a break, however. Look through the trees." As the man pointed to the right of them, the other four all whipped their heads into the direction in unison. Through the gaps of the trees, the walkers were there. They were right next to them.

"Okay, well, these binoculars are useless," Madolyn stated warily. "We better get a long ass break tomorrow. My legs are gonna be on fire," she exaggerated, groaning from the back of the small group.

Kloe's face remained unamused. "Stay focused. Everyone, speed up."

Max was correct. It only took them roughly two minutes to reach the yellow outpost. Rick was the first to spot them in the distance, ushering them over quickly since his eyes were trained on something else at the same time.

The five sprinted to the walls. Kloe looked over her shoulder briefly while running, her eyes broadening as her eyes landed on the never-ending frenzy of walkers. It was the biggest herd she had ever seen.

Daryl was on his motorcycle, and beside him was the red, rusted car that consisted of Abraham and Sasha inside. Both were driving slowly to make sure the walkers kept on track. If the Bad Luck Crew had been any later than they had been, they would've been screwed.

The small group all stood lined up against the walls as the three behind them tossed over some flares for Kloe, Max, and Madolyn. As the three caught them, the five simultaneously aimed them to the sky as they came face to face with the herd. They all shared a look with Daryl, Abraham and Sasha before Kloe called the signal to fire.

At once, five flares went off at once. 'Signal Quinque', which translated the word 'five' in Latin, was something Kloe had planned while the group had meetings. When the five flares were to be fired, it signified that Kloe's group had successfully made it to yellow. Not only was it the signal that they had made it, it was also to keep all the walkers on track as they edged near the tractor place.

"Was that Signal Quinque?" Carter wondered through the radio that he would soon have to give back to Rick. The batteries were running low. Kloe frowned as she and the other four waited for Daryl to honk the horn on his motorcycle, which would signal them to sprint to the woods in the same direction the walkers were heading.

"No, dumbass. That was 'Signal Did You Not Listen In The Meetings?'," she sarcastically responded. She slid the walkie back into her belt, the excessively loud horn from Daryl alarming them in an instant. Without thinking twice, they all leaped to the side. The walkers growled louder at the fast movement the beings had done, lifting their arms.

Kloe couldn't deny the intense feeling that surrounded them all — drowned them. It was all nerve wracking, unsure if the plan was going to go well or not. None of them had no idea what was to come, especially since everything was happening a day earlier than expected.

The flares from Rick's team flew up into the sky, distracting the walkers away from the group of five that lunged into the woods.

...

After fifteen minutes, everyone aside from Glenn's group rejoined in the midst of the shadowed forest, hidden away from the walkers. Kloe wasn't anxious for her husband's safety, taking into account that he had only said a few minutes beforehand that he and the others had left the tractor place unharmed.

Kloe's eyes were fundamentally fixed on the extraordinarily enormous horde. She was still aghast about it. It felt unreal. She also forgot to think about how astonished she was — being that close to walkers without them noticing, it felt... weird.

A whistle broke her attention away from the walkers however. She snapped her head over to the side, relief immediately flowing through her veins as she caught sight of her husband. He seemed as if he was looking around for someone in particular. He needed to see if she was okay — if she was unharmed.

He may have been mad at her, and didn't want to speak to her, but he still cared about her deeply. The moment Kloe entered his vision, the feeling of assuagement coursed through his body.

"It's working," Carter stated in a moment of surprise, his eyes stuck on the herd behind the trees. Rick stopped beside the man as Kloe returned to gazing across the herd. The leader of it all inhaled deeply in through his dry mouth. Despite the fact that Carter was going to thank him, he couldn't be satisfied with his actions until the mission had been checked off as complete. He would only be proud of the plan if everyone had returned to their home unharmed afterward. Carter turned to Rick and stuck out his hand, signifying for a hand shake. "You were right."

Rick's eyes ducked down to the hand in front of him before flicking back up to Carter's. He shook the hand, which seemed to be clammy from his nerves. As the pair released each other's hands, Rick swirled around and faced everybody else. "Everyone, we need to finish this," he stated sharply, making himself clear. "We have to keep moving and fan out down that thing front to back. Like we said, cops at a parade. Glenn, you take the back. You have one of the other walkies."

"Got it," Glenn agreed without hesitation.

"If it gets sloppy, we fire our weapons, pull them back on track," Rick added.

"I'll hit the front," Carter informed, cocking his shotgun. Kloe felt herself extend out her arm to stop the man from walking.

"I'll go with you," she told him, to which he nodded in response. He felt as if he was stupid. All this time, he had been against Rick and his group's plans, thinking it would get them all killed. But he had been proven wrong. He was then willing to do anything they said — after all, he was wrong. Kloe lifted her eyes to Rick. "I have the other walkie. Carter's is out of juice. I'll let you know if anything heads south."

The woman communicated silently with a reassuring nod, catching the skeptical look in the man's deep blue eyes. Before he could give her a verbal response, Carter had already taken off into the direction where the front of the herd was. Kloe didn't want to let him go on his own — she still somewhat didn't trust him. She spun on her heel and jogged toward him.

Carter seemed to be in a rather big rush, baffling Kloe. Sure, they were more-or-less in the midst of a walker frenzy — but the sprint was unnecessary. Regardless of the amount of walking she had done when she was on the road with her group, the thirty minutes of running non-stop was beginning to catch up to her. The muscles in her thighs seized, her knee caps felt as if someone was squeezing onto them from the inside.

"Could you not slow down just a little?" pleaded Kloe, heaving. It seemed the man did not hear her. He continued running at his relentless high speed. Along with the fact that Kloe had spent a majority of her time walking around over the past couple of years, it never slid the part where she wasn't an active person under the rug.

Kloe ducked her head down, lifting her pistol into view. It was an AMT AutoMag V. She never once owned her own gun, and was out of the armory in Alexandria. Using guns had always been her last resort, preferably wanting to not draw attention to both the dead and the living. She cocked it. She was cautious. Who knew what could've happened if the walkers were somehow led off the road—

Her head snapped up as her eyes widened at the sudden sound. A walker snarled a few meters ahead of her, and its hand had gripped onto Carter's collar, pulling him toward him. He was restrained from a tree, which would've given the living man the upper-hand if he hadn't been put into a state of shock. The man gasped loudly as Kloe didn't think twice to push forward.

It was too late. Even when she was only four meters away did the walker lean into the man's face and sink its teeth into his cheek. Dread flooded Kloe's interior as Carter let out a blood-curdling scream. "Shit— Carter, stop screaming!" she shouted rather loudly in a hiss.

She gulped unexpectedly as another walker came into view, blocking her path to Carter. She peered over the walker that approached her's shoulder, her eyes sinking as she caught onto the large bite mark on Carter's face, the blood running down his chin to his neck.

"Kloe? Talk to me," Rick's voice crackled through the radio. From the way he spoke, he was clearly panicked by the screaming that she was sure everyone had heard. Before she grasped onto her walkie, she leaped forward and drove her knife through the walker's head that blocked her path. "Kloe," his voice was more urgent.

She breathed heavily as she rushed over to Carter and the walker. She cursed under her breath as she circled the tree. She clutched onto the walker's shoulder and pulled him back, resulting in Carter falling to the ground as he held his face and screamed. She shoved the knife through the walker's skull, falling down to the ground lifelessly.

Spinning around, her eyes latched onto the walkers that were on the road and how their attention had switched to Carter and her. "Oh fuck," she muttered as she wrapped her fingers around her flare gun, over a thirty walkers having their eyes on her.

"Kloe?" the voice that made Kloe finally look down at her walkie in her belt and grab onto it asked. The voice belonged to Glenn, and it was possibly the first time in what felt like years that he was finally talking to her. He was panicked, worried, and fearful that she hadn't responded to Rick at first, but as her voice came back through, he was relieved furthermore.

"We got a really big problem," she informed the others. "You guys gotta get here now and help Carter! He's— he's been bit. He won't stop screaming and the walkers on the road are heading our way. I can distract them — lead them back on the road." She dashed to the side as the walkers growled loudly, their eyes trained on her specifically as she edged toward them. They practically ignored Carter's screams and went after her. "Follow the flare!" she aimed the flare up to the sky and pulled the trigger.

"Klo, don't do this on your own," Rick told her firmly. "Tobin, get to her. Fire your guns and hold them back."

"No! There's not enough time. If I remember measurements correctly, then I'd roughly say they're five meters away from me and I can't let them get Carter. Even if he won't make it anyway, I can't let him get torn to shreds in front of me," she rushed, the walkers behind her following her trail.

"I got this."

...

It wasn't too much of a hard job to get the walkers back on the road. All she had to do was fire her gun in the air so the walker's took zero notice of the man behind. The only thing she had to do was press herself behind a tree and fire a flare into the road that took the walker's attention away from her. Instead of the phrase 'easier said than done', it was 'easier done than said'.

She walked along the edge of the woods in hope to find someone from her group. She wasn't so fond of being critically close to the substantial herd beside her on her own. She may have been able to take care of thirty or so, but a few thousand? Hell no.

Reaching down for her walkie, she breathed heavily like she normally did. It seemed she was always out of breath... yet she never understood why. She shrugged the thought away and assumed it was her asthma. She had been running a lot, but she didn't hear a wheeze and it was an unfamiliar feeling. It was as if she was well-and-truly out of breath.

Oh well, she thought to herself and proceeded forward as she lifted her walkie to her face. "I sorted it out, don't know if you could tell," she enlightened the others. "Where is everyone?"

"To your left," Rick replied, to which Kloe subconsciously turned her head to the side. Her muscles relaxed when she caught the Grimes' eyes and didn't hesitate to jog over to him. "Good job," he said proudly. She returned a small smile in return.

In unison, both of their smiles practically dropped to the lowest parts of Earth as a strong, vehement horn that could've been heard from the entire town blared through the air. Rick and Kloe whipped their heads to the side, their jaws dropped.

"Oh no," Kloe whispered. "What the fuck is that?" Her eyes transferred over to the walkers, resulting in her eyes broadening like saucers. Rick twirled his fingers around Kloe's upper-arm, catching her off guard as he pulled her with him toward Michonne before the walkers could reach them.

As they came to a stop and were quite a distance away from the walkers, Michonne stepped forward over to Rick. "Whatever that is, it's far," she said as Kloe wiped away a bead of sweat from her head. She had no idea if it was due to the humidity in the air, or if it was fear. Possibly both. "It sounds like it's coming from—"

"Home."

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words: 5039
15th november 2023
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JESUS CHRIST THIS BOOK IS NOW 2 YEARS OLD AND I AM NOW 16- yes it was my bday on the 10th and white flag's on the 11th. i was actually 13 when i started writing this book, just never got around to publishing it until the date above. thank you all for how amazing the past couple of years have been on this platform! <3