THE REASON

chapter thirty-four ; crowd of the dead
[ season six - episode eight & nine ]

SCREAMS ERUPTED FROM everywhere, all of which were filled with terror. Walkers flooded inside the walls. People got bit. And for once, Kloe was panic-stricken. She suddenly felt scared to die. Her hands shook, but she knew everything she had to do.

After the tower had fallen and crashed onto the walls, she didn't hesitate to scramble to her feet. Some walkers got in before the big herd piled in, planting themselves in between Rick and Kloe. Thankfully, she had Jayce on her side. The smell adjacent to them was no longer fresh, but a foul, sickening, pungent odor instead.

She coughed from the dust, but she managed to subside it and kneel over to grab onto Jayce's arm. He had been hit hard, and his shoulder was bleeding. It was either wood or debris — it pierced through his shoulder and grazed him. He grunted with pain as Kloe used all of the strength her body had to offer in order to help him up.

"Jayce, we gotta run!" Kloe yelled, taking Jayce's breath away as she sprinted through the electricity panels. He had nearly tripped a few times, but as he began to regain his awareness he managed to return to normal. "I saw Maggie go that way! She's going to the watch tower I was at earlier!"

The man equipped his gun from his belt, lifting it as walkers blocked his and Kloe's path. He shot it down immediately, not taking any chances. "That was my only bullet, Miss. We're gonna have to avoid them from now on!" Kloe nodded with acknowledgment. She dived forward, crouching under several walkers' arms before they could grasp onto her.

The pair both pulled out their knives, taking any of the walking dead people out and close encounters. Yet, to their misfortune, a small group of walkers emerged from around the corner of a house, meaning they were beginning to circle around the community. Kloe cursed under her breath, unsure on what to do.

They were surrounded, and Jayce couldn't help but keep his friend close to him. He would sacrifice himself for the people he loved under any circumstances — and this happened to be one of them. As if on cue, the walkers were all shot down. Simultaneously, the pair whipped their heads over to the side, spotting a small group of people that Kloe succeeded in recognizing the Grimes' family.

Rick was screaming at his son to get back, yet he ignored his father's pleas and only cared for the safety of his two friends. At once, Kloe and Jayce sprinted over to them, Carl shooting down a walker that had extended out its bony fingers for the Rhee woman.

"C'mon, quick!" a voice Kloe was familiar with yelled out over the awfully loud growls and snarls. Jessie Anderson had her gun raised, and her eyes were dancing between Kloe and the weak woman with her arm wrapped around Rick's shoulder. Deanna Monroe — from what Kloe could see, she had two bleeding wounds. One on her leg, the other on the side of her torso.

Gabriel, Michonne and Ron were also there, waiting for Kloe, Jayce and Carl to catch up with them.

They all simultaneously ran up the porch to Jessie's house after she ushered them inside, stating that she had Judith inside. Kloe felt intensely nauseous for the safety of others. It frightened her.

...

She leaned up against the doorframe, her eyes practically glued to the injured woman laid down. At one point, Kloe had folded one of her arms over her stomach absentmindedly, while the other hand was brought up to her mouth. She chewed on her nails, attempting desperately to be rid of the sheer panic in her body.

She had never felt like this before, and it confused her majorly. She prayed Deanna would be okay. The poor woman had been through so much — losing her son and her husband in one week would be heartbreaking, and Kloe didn't even want to know what that felt like.

Footsteps were to be heard to the side of Kloe. Her head whipped to the side, her eyes landing on Rick who had raced up the numerous stairs. He brushed past the Australian sitting on the ground with his head in his hands. He was fearing the life of Maggie — Kloe could see it in his face. She knew what it felt like after all.

Rick stopped mere inches away from Kloe, their shoulders barely touching. He breathed, "How is she?" Michonne didn't risk tearing her eyes away from Deanna's wounds, wanting to make sure she couldn't possibly hurt the woman anymore than she already was. Kloe swallowed thickly.

"No offense to Michonne," Deanna croaked, her weak eyes stuck onto the woman's face, "but whatever she's doing hurts like a son of a bitch." At once, Rick, Michonne and Kloe exhaled out a small breath. Her face was much paler than normal, small droplets of sweat slithering down her skin. However it didn't surprise any of them — she had lost a lot of blood.

"I just finished with the leg," Michonne said. Rick nodded, still panting as his own sweat ran down his face. She lifted her eyes to the wound on Deanna's torso and went to lift up her shirt. With a cloth that Jessie had given her, she wiped away the blood. "And that seems to be the worst of—"

A bite mark.

On Deanna's torso.

Distressed, Kloe pressed her palm against her own forehead, puffing out a shaky breath. Deanna stared at the bite on herself, eventually staring off into the air as she processed what was happening. Ultimately, she somewhat lifted her chin and met Rick's eyes, tears glazing hers.

"Well..." she trembled, her bottom lip quivering as she stared up at the ceiling, "shit."

Kloe grew more distressed by the minute, running her hand down her face. She was about to tell the others that she was to get some air, but she soon got reminded by the loud growls that she couldn't. Subconsciously, she turned her head to Jayce, who had already been looking at her. He patted the floor beside him.

She managed to squeeze herself past Rick instantly, treading down the small hallway to get to her friend. She was aware of his own stress levels — having left Maggie out there. As if he wasn't already swimming in an ocean filled with regret for leaving people out there. Jayce and Kloe were the only ones in the house separated from their families, and it swallowed them whole.

The Australian persistently ignited his lighter, not taking his eyes off the flame. It was a plain gray Zippo lighter, but with small decorations on it. A sticker. One with a single letter. M. Kloe's heart pounded with understanding. She supportively set her hand on his shoulder, breaking his gaze away from the lighter. She sent him an assuring smile. "She's gonna be okay. She's on that watchtower, completely out of reach from the walkers."

"I know..." he said softly. "Reina brought back stickers for the lil' one a few months ago. Before the prison fell. Said she felt generous and offered me a quarter of the sticker sheet." He flicked open the lighter once more, looking back at it. "I did it again. I left someone else behind..."

"You didn't leave anyone behind, Jay," she replied, moderately shaking her head at the man. He stared into her eyes, tears filling them. "We know Glenn is alive. And you didn't leave him behind, okay? You saw him fall into a herd of walkers. You had every right to leave and save yourself. You didn't leave Maggie behind either. We got separated."

A sad smile crept its way onto Jayce's chapped lips, and it was only then Kloe noticed the beard he had been growing. It suited him, his overgrown hair matching it perfectly. It was proportioned correctly, despite only brushing his fingers through his hair every morning to comb it. A small tear slid down his cheek. "I'm glad you decided to be one of my best friends, Miss. You're great at shit like this."

She nudged his arm playfully. "Hey, no crying. I deal with great empathy, Jay, and it'll set off my hormones." The smile on Kloe's lips stayed put, while Jayce's slightly fell. A small, breathy laugh erupted from her chest as she looked ahead of her. "Surprise."

"Holy shit," Jayce gasped. His back straightened and his tears soaked into his skin. "I was only faffing around when I said that you might be..." he waved around his hand with his own abdomen, his eyes virtually bulging out of their sockets. She met his eyes once more, nodding with pursed lips. It was still unfamiliar for her, and strangely abnormal. She still wasn't aware of how to feel about it all, yet she knew she had to accept it at one point. "Oh my God, oh my God. You're pregnant—?"

"Shh," she hushed immediately, lifting up her index finger within an instant. "Only a few people know. I'm not even sure if Glenn knows yet. Although, I'm a hundred percent sure that if Brianna found him, she would've told him. I know she would have."

"H— how long have you known?" he pondered, a mixture of interest and excitement taking over his mind.

"Reaching the 24 hour mark, I assume," she answered honestly. "Can't lie, I did and still do feel really shit about it all. Especially last night..." She looked down at her lap and twiddled with her thumbs nervously. "It scared me. Having to do it all alone. But— but now that I know that he's still out there and that he's trying to get back, I've taken back that small sense of hope."

"Hey," he patted her knee and offered her a soft smile that almost seemed brotherly to her, "congrats. I've seen the way you are with Jude. You've got that motherly trait in you. You're gonna be great."

Unexpectedly to her, a wide and genuine smile grew onto her lips. She shrunk back as she began to sense the self-consciousness within her. She lowered her head and stared at her lips — the smile staying put. "Thanks, Jay."

"Of course—"

Fear seeped into Kloe's face. A booming crash came from the garage, followed by loud grunts. At once, she got up to her feet, Rick and Jessie simultaneously dashing out of a room they had been in. Their sons were the only ones on the bottom floor — everyone else had stayed either on the third floor or the second.

A pained yell followed the crashing and grunts, which came from none other than Carl. Rick was off in a flash, skipping several steps down the steps as Jessie followed immediately. Kloe glanced down at Jayce, who was halfway standing up before she pulled him along with her to the staircase.

The moment they reached the bottom floor, the first thing Kloe noticed was Rick and Jessie against the door. It had been locked from the other side. The two parents cried desperately for their children to open the door, yet neither of them listened. Kloe breathed heavily as the sound of glass shattered and clashed against the hard flooring, snarls becoming ever so louder than they once were before.

"Back up," Rick ordered the other three, to which they obliged instantly. Jayce had his hand wrapped around Kloe's upper arm, holding her back tightly cautiously. Rick clutched onto his signature axe, tensing his muscles as he put all his force and strength to the weapon. He repeatedly smashed the axe down onto the lock, producing a loud banging sound. Kloe chewed onto the skin around her nails timidly, the stress almost making her feel dizzy.

The lock had broken away from the wood inside the door, making it possible to peek through it. The sound of the dead increased intensely, only making Rick set extra tenacity into the swings of his axe. The lock fell to the ground the moment he did and the door loosely flew open, revealing a stunned Ron sprawled out on the floor, his eyes glued to the window Carl was so urgently attempting to cover.

The second Ron felt all the eyes land on him, he didn't think twice to stand to his feet and clutch his gun to his hand. Rick screamed at the two boys to get out of the garage, to which they sprinted out. Jayce rushed forward and pushed his back to the door in hope to refrain the dozens of walkers from getting inside. Jessie and Carl pressed their hands to the door to help, Ron still partially dazed as Rick and Gabriel lifted up the couch from the living room.

Kloe stepped out of the way as the two men hurried to the hallway, shouting at the three to move. She slowly retreated her knife from her sheath around her waist, not taking any chances. Rick's eyes dragged over to Michonne, who was at the bottom of the steps with her hand hovering over her samurai sword. "We need more, and we need to be quiet," he whispered loudly, small grunts coming from Carl and Gabriel as they strained themselves.

"I'll see what I can find," Michonne responded, running off into another room.

"Yeah, I'll look too," Kloe added, nodding reassuringly to the others.

...

It all seemed like something out of a horror movie. Surrounded by the dead all the time. It was a never ending story. No matter what happened, death followed the living around in their shadows everywhere they went. It was creeping, preparing itself to pounce upon its prey.

She stared aimlessly out of the window discreetly in between Michonne and Gabriel. There were so many— too many. They couldn't even see the concrete floor from the amount. Sweat of trepidation covered her forehead. Loose strands hung around her face, slipping out of the bun in her hair.

Her entire body jolted when a few walkers pressed their bodies against the metal sculpture of an owl over, the material clanging against the floor. The sound attracted some more walkers over. Jessie, Ron, Carl, Rick and Jayce stepped over. "They knocked the sculpture over," Jessie pointed out for the ones not looking out the window.

"All that noise, it's drawing more over," Michonne muttered, frowning.

A loud wail came from upstairs, concurrently making everyone in the room whip their eyes over to the staircase. It was the nearly nine-month-old baby who had woken up from her daily nap.

"I'll get her," Rick informed them, making his way over to the stairs as Kloe instantly followed suit.

"I'll go with you," she stated. "I'm good at shutting up children, remember?"

It didn't even take 30 seconds before Rick and Kloe reached the top floor. Muffled music came from Jessie's youngest son's room. It was a classic song; Tiptoe Through the Tulips. Kloe hadn't heard it in years, and it was rather peculiar that an eleven-year-old was listening to such an oldie song. Most kids she once knew his age would always listen to the modern type. Well, she supposed kids didn't really get that luxury during the apocalypse. She felt bad.

As Rick wrapped his hand around the door handle to Sam's room, Kloe absentmindedly turned to the room opposite. The door was wide open, and it was where Deanna was. Except, she wasn't. All that was left of her on the couch was two blood patches from her two wounds. Adrenaline pumped into her veins instantly as she looked straight ahead at the door where Judith was.

Her cries had ended.

Kloe didn't hesitate to tap Rick on the shoulder religiously, her other hand pointing to the spot where Deanna was supposed to be. His face fell when he also realized.

He was first to step forward, inching closer to the door that was left ajar. It was Ron's room — the room that was used for Judith during the day whenever Jessie agreed to babysitting her when others got busy with their jobs. He carefully pushed open the door, leaving enough room to his side for Kloe to peek around the doorframe.

There she was, the bitten woman with her knees on the ground at Judith's crib with her arms reaching for the baby. Kloe didn't even have time to think when Rick pulled up his axe and leaped forward.

Mere moments before Rick slashed the axe across Deanna's head, the woman cried out, "No, it's still me!" He stepped back at once, lowering his axe with an apologetic look. Deanna dipped her head and breathed heavily at the sudden anxiety spike.

Kloe entered the room and stood beside Rick, her eyes glued to Deanna's trembling state. "I'm so— I'm sorry," he expressed regret, leaning forward and setting his hand on the woman's shoulder for comfort. "I'm sorry."

Deanna lifted her head. "I— I— I wanted to see her one last time. I thought I could make it," she raspily said, watching the baby. Rick retracted his hand from her shoulder and shoved his axe through his belt. "My legs had other plans."

"C'mere," Rick whispered, wrapping one of Deanna's arms around his shoulder and lifting her up from the ground. "Easy, easy," he soothed softly, the poor woman grunting with pain as she stood up. He used his other arm to wrap around the back of her knees and effortlessly picked her up off the ground.

He walked her over to Ron's bed, while Kloe stepped forward over to Judith. She kept her eyes glued on the child, swallowing thickly as the young eyes stared back at her. Kloe remained facing her as she turned her head over to the other two in the room.

"You and plans," Rick commented as he unwrapped his arms from Deanna.

The woman breathlessly chuckled, her face even more pale than before. Kloe was sorrowful. Deanna's eyes flickered between Rick and Kloe, only until she opted to look at Rick. "They're yours now."

He looked down and moderately nodded. "From now on... someone needs to be with you."

"Yeah," she muttered with understanding.

"It can't be her," he referred to his baby daughter.

In unison, Deanna and Kloe both looked down at the girl, who innocently looked back with awe. "Yep."

Kloe inhaled deeply before bending forward. She wrapped her hands around Judith's small body, hauling her up. Small baby noises came from Judith as she reached for Kloe's nose. A small smile blossomed Kloe's lips as she rocked the baby in her arms. She turned to Rick and Deanna, who were both already watching her. "I can take her into another room," she offered to Rick.

It took a few seconds, but he eventually nodded.

...

Five minutes went by. It only took three minutes to cradle Judith back to sleep. She spent another minute just watching the child sleep peacefully, but Kloe knew she had to go back downstairs just in case anything bad was to happen. And it was good that she did.

The moment she reached the bottom step, she didn't hesitate to call out to Rick, who was still upstairs talking with Deanna.

The walkers outside had caught onto the fact that there were living people inside of the very house they surrounded, and their weight against the window was enough to shatter it and break through. Everyone had put up a table against it, but it did nothing unless at least five people were up against it.

Same with the front door. There was a unit pressed up against that.

Kloe sprinted to where the others were, seeing how they were struggling to the point their feet were sliding against the floor. Despite her desire to help them, she was still recovering from her exhaustion and so she was too weak to do anything. She tried anyway.

Audible whimpers sounded from Jessie, squeezing her eyes shut tightly. Gabriel was in between her and Kloe, leaving her on the far end from the others before Rick crashed his body onto the table. "There's just too many of them!" Gabriel yelled out.

"Everybody get upstairs now!" Michonne shouted from across the hallway, her samurai sword making a satisfying slash sound as she pulled it out. The unit that was pushed to the door soon crashed down — the walkers outside stumbling inside the house within seconds.

Fate never gave Kloe a moment to process what on earth was going on, immediately getting yanked away from the table by Jayce and pulled over to the staircase. The pair both stopped, spinning around as they heard the snarls grow louder.

They had broken in from every entrance, and if Kloe wasn't in the position she was in, she was sure she would've thrown up from terror. She still couldn't fathom why she was so terrified. She felt so vulnerable, despite having her bow wrapped around her shoulder. The weapon felt useless to her because she didn't find the courage to grasp onto it and actually use it.

Gabriel stopped in front of the pair, his eyes trained on Michonne and Rick as they grip onto the couch they used to block the garage door. A bloody machete was held tightly in his hand, and Kloe couldn't deny the fact that she was surprised. He had grown, and she was proud of him for that. She couldn't find herself forgiving him just yet, but she was proud he was overcoming his fears.

Rick and Michonne positioned the gray couch at the bottom of the stairs, restraining the dozens and dozens of walkers from reaching them. Rick lifted his axe and gestured to one of them, sweat dropping onto the wooden flooring. "I got this one, you get the one behind it. Jayce, get the one trying to reach in through there. We're gonna need at least three."

...

Kloe had been in a similar occurrence once before. She had experienced the very thing some of the others around her had never done before. Blinking once, she slowly turned her head to Rick. Aside from sneaking around Terminus while searching for Glenn and the rest of her family, she hadn't smeared herself in blood since the day she had found Rick.

He felt her eyes on him and abruptly met them.

Everyone was standing on the porch of the Anderson household. All were wearing sheets thick with guts and blood. Kloe had to hold back her heaves every time she inhaled, an explosion of nausea hitting her like someone was reaching down through her throat and into her stomach and twisted her organs.

Kloe had thought that the walkers she, Glenn and Rick had to walk through a year and five months before in the heart of the deceased city Atlanta was the most she would ever come face-to-face to. However, that had changed.

The walkers that filled the community were beyond Kloe. She had never seen so many, all so clamped together like it was a concert with over a hundred thousand people while there were only twenty thousand seats. It was overwhelming.

She clenched her slimy, vile blood-coated hands under the sheet from nervousness. They had managed to get out of the house without any of the walkers noticing them — she knew this already, but it was working. She had no doubts that it wouldn't work, although she couldn't get rid of the irritating voice on her shoulder yelling into her ear that something bad is bound to happen. She hoped not.

Baby Judith was hidden carefully under Carl's sheet, rocking her gently so she wouldn't randomly scream or cry for whatever reason.

Someone tangled their fingers around Kloe's wrist, making her whip her head to the side at lightning speed. Jayce flicked his eyes down to their hands, motioning for them to hold hands since everyone else began to.

Rick had given them all instructions. They were going to make it out of the walls together. They were going to go to the armory to get flares to lead the walkers away. Little did they know, however, Kloe and Jayce had other plans. They were going to separate from the group and help Maggie and anyone they happened to bump into on their way.

Kloe had not a single clue where her brother was. She wished he was okay and that he had found a way to protect himself. Hopefully he was with others. Specifically Max. Zayn had spent a lot of his free time with his new lover, and Kloe couldn't deny the fact that she missed hanging out with him, but she understood that perhaps Zayn was mad at her.

She was going to leave without him with Max and Madolyn. She didn't want to put him in any sort of danger, not after what she had gone through with nearly losing the love of her life.

She swallowed thickly as she connected her hand with Jayce's, doing the same with Ron on her right.

And all together, hand-in-hand, they pushed their way through the walkers.

...

"Alright, new plan," Rick declared as he pulled everyone off to the side — away from the walkers. They had been walking for around fifteen minutes, and everyone began to realize that the plan they once had was off limits. "Flares from a few guns aren't enough. Too many walkers, too spread out. We're not going to the armory. We need our vehicles back at the quarry. All of us drive. We'll need to round 'em up. We leave, we come back."

Carl looked around cautiously, keeping an eye on all the walkers in case they spotted or heard them. Kloe glanced down at the youngest boy with them, Sam, and began to feel sympathy for him. He was only a little boy and he had never been face-to-face with a walker before. He'd also just lost his father. The boy was petrified and Kloe only wanted to assure him everything was going to be okay. But she didn't want to supposedly lie to him either. She remained quiet.

"Okay..." Jessie nodded, whispering quietly. She seemed completely okay with anything Rick had planned, but she immediately started to shake her head frantically as she peered over at Carl. "But Judith... to the quarry and back, I—" she cut herself off, not knowing what to say next.

Rick rubbed off the excessive amount of sweat off his forehead, glancing around as he pondered. What could he do? He couldn't think of anything. Everyone was quiet until Gabriel had an idea come to mind. "I'll take her," he said, making Rick stare at him for a moment. "Keep her safe in my church until you all lead the walkers away."

The look the man held in his eyes was genuine. After everything that had happened between Gabriel and the group, the priest acknowledged the fact that he was in the wrong. He apologized to each of them, one-by-one. Kloe had been somewhat stubborn, hesitant whether or not to forgive him — she did in the end.

"Can you do this?" Michonne asked from over her shoulder, being the furthest away from everyone.

"I'm supposed to. I have to," he replied with assurance. He turned to Rick and made sure he held eye contact with him. "I will."

Carl tapped his father's arm, redirecting the man's attention to his son. He was nodding, trusting him with his baby sister's life. Rick agreed to it immediately as Carl held onto Judith carefully, handing her over to Gabriel discreetly so she couldn't spot any of the walking dead people in the distance.

Gabriel shushed her as he hid her underneath his sheet. Her face was scrunched up, small noises sounding from her with fear. Blood from Carl's sheet had managed to smudge across her chin.

"Take Sam," Jessie didn't think twice to clasp onto her youngest son's shoulders, her motherly instincts kicking in for the safety of him.

"No," Sam instantly replied, his brows furrowing at his mother.

Jessie kneeled down slightly and stared into his eyes. "Yes, Sam, it'll be safer."

"I'm not leaving you."

"Sam..."

"Mom, I'm not," the boy stated sternly, a confident look dancing in his eyes as he held his mother's gaze. "I can keep going."

"Sam..." Jessie repeated.

"I can keep going." Everyone watched the young boy. He was determined to not leave his mom. "Please. Please. Let's just go." Jessie blinked forcefully, her bottom lip twitching slightly as she began to nod.

Gabriel watched Rick. "I'm going to keep her safe," he assured, earning a quiet and an authentic 'thank you' in return.

Simultaneously, Jayce and Kloe met eyes. She didn't hesitate to discreetly nod and mouth the word 'yeah' to him. She could sense the panic coursing through his veins like a flush. He hesitantly glanced up to the others. "Kloe and I aren't coming with you," he announced quietly, the others all turning to face the pair with confused expressions as Gabriel departed from them with baby Judith.

"You guys should follow the plan. Lead them all away," Kloe chimed in. "But we're doing this to save people, so that's what we're gonna do. We know Maggie is okay, so we're gonna start with her."

"We can't all split up," Rick returned, shaking his head lightly. His sight was glued onto them, as well as Gabriel in the distance as he blended into the walker frenzy. "This isn't smart—"

"Rick," Kloe cut the man off, tilting her head to the side. She narrowed her gaze, shaking her head. "You're fine. There's enough of you. We'll be fine." She blinked a few times, sucking in a deep breath through her mouth. "Plus, Glenn is out there and I have to make sure he doesn't get himself killed. Brianna's with him too, I know that much."

"Hey," Jayce set his hand on Rick's shoulder, shaking it assuringly. "You save your family, and we'll save ours."

...

The sun had fallen. The sky was dark. The moon had shone brightly upon all the walking beings below. Whether they were alive or not, shadows formed from the blazing light. Dropping along with the sun, the temperature turned breezy. The cold air nipped at the back of their necks as they trudged through the crowd.

The crowd of the dead.

Kloe had no idea how long it had actually taken for them to reach Maggie. Sure, it had only been thirty minutes or so, but she was nearing the point where she just wanted to run to her. She was growing impatient from how long it was taking.

They just had to turn one more corner before they approached the watchtower. Not a single word sounded from either Kloe or Jayce's mouth. They remained completely silent.

Some walkers often bumped into their backs, nearly knocking them off their feet if the other person wasn't there to tighten their hold. It made Kloe's heart skip numerous beats, but she lived. She was fine.

However, the luck of everything going great didn't last long as a walker stumbled into another walker, which then led to the walker pushing another walker and then that walker fell and pushed another like dominoes. The walker that was pushed just so happened to be behind Jayce.

He released a small yelp as he fell out of his friend's grasp, his chin smacking down onto the pavement with a loud thud. Kloe jolted backwards from shock, immediately bumping into a walker behind her. "Oh, fuck," Kloe gasped, her hand flying down to her belt as she slashed out her knife and drove it into its head.

Her head snapped back forward, taking a subconscious step forward instinctively to help Jayce. Although, she nearly tripped over her own foot when she nearly crashed into yet another walker that blocked her from him. "Jayce?!" she practically screamed, dragging most of the deads' attention to her.

"Kloe?!" he yelled back, the direction from where his voice came from seemed like he had gotten back up onto his feet. "Are you okay?"

"What? I'm fine. Are you okay?!"

A loud grunt came from the man. "Yeah, just a graze—" he stopped abruptly, another grunt. "Hey, you should run. Right now."

"Not without you!" she shouted, backing away from the walker that followed her. She leaped forward, shoving her knife through its face. As it fell to the ground lifelessly, Kloe's eyes landed on the walker whose face was inches away from Jayce's. The man restrained the walker, his arm against its throat.

She jumped forward instantly, her heart falling at the danger her friend was in. The color drained from her face as she noticed Jayce's strength lessened. The walker was ready to sink its teeth into his face.

"No!" Kloe screamed gut-wrenchingly, only until a ring dagger sliced through the walker's head. Everything was happening so quickly, she couldn't keep up with it all. She couldn't tell if she was just imagining it, not accepting what she was about to witness before her.

When the dead corpse fell in front of Jayce's feet, Kloe snapped back to reality and stopped screaming within an instant. She stood completely still as a statue, her eyes drying up, in bewilderment. She recognized that dagger from a mile away...

Her head promptly snapped her head to the side with hope. "Jayce! Kloe!" a voice screamed out, and it then occurred to Kloe how close they truly were to Maggie. She looked up slightly, spotting Maggie with a worried Enid beside her.

A smile nearly broke out onto Jayce's bloodied face, despite their situation. His chin was smothered in his own blood from the gash. He didn't care — he was glad to see his girlfriend was okay.

Kloe nearly jumped out of her skin as a piercing gunshot rang through the air, as well as another dagger setting its place in the core of a walker's head mere inches away from her. She took one step back, stunned. She was out of it, and right then wasn't a good time.

"Hey, Kloe!" someone else yelled out, and before she knew it, someone had wrapped their fingers around Kloe's arm. She blinked religiously and looked down at the face in front of her. "Are you okay?" Brianna shouted over the loud snarls surrounding them. "That walker was about to bite you! Did you not see it?"

Another gunshot. Yells.

"Over here!" a masculine voice screamed out, several more gunshots. Kloe's face lifted, her eyes widening as she searched around her, specifically where the voice had come from. All the walkers were walking straight past her, their attention set on the loud noise. That's when she also realized her sister, who was alive and in front of her, had been leading her away while Jayce sprinted through the crowd of walkers toward Maggie. "Hey! Come on, here!"

Kloe ripped herself out of Brianna's grip, earning a yell from her in return. She took a few steps forward, peeking across a tree with tears nearly coating her eyes.

"Glenn?" she whispered at first, Brianna taking out any walkers that stumbled over to them while her sister's attention was too concentrated on her husband — who she just found out was truly alive. There he was. Shooting at walkers as he led the walkers away from her and her sister — as well as the walkers rattling the watchtower Maggie was on. "Glenn!"

"Come on! Over here!" Glenn yelled at the top of his lungs. Kloe felt a tear run down her cheek as she screamed his name repeatedly. He was getting surrounded, and it panged Kloe in the gut. "Come on! Hey!"

"Glenn!" she cried, her breath unstabling with panic while the walkers enclosed around her husband.

The man lowered his gun, his eyes traveling over to his wife. "Go! Just go!"

"No!" she returned, her bottom lip quivering as she shakily reached down for her gun — only to then recognize the fact that she didn't have it. "Shit, shit," she cursed, not knowing what to do. Gunfire that didn't come from Glenn's gun sounded from the watchtower, attracting everyone's attention. Jayce had her gun. He aimed it high and at the walkers that were reaching out for Glenn. Maggie copied her boyfriend's actions and pointed her gun, then realizing she had no ammo left. She cursed under her breath.

Glenn screamed more, drawing the walkers' attention to himself. Jayce's gun dried out. Maggie yelled. Enid made a rope out of rags to get them off the watchtower over the wall. Brianna repeatedly took out several walkers. Kloe cried.

"No! Glenn!" Her knees buckled, falling down to the ground as several tears poured down her cheeks.

Over the sound of Kloe's strangling, grief ridden screams, gunshots from submachine guns filled the air. All the walkers circled around Glenn all dropped down dead to the ground, their brains splattering all over the place. Despite the fact Glenn had been saved, Kloe couldn't help but sob with her hands clutched to her chest. She kneeled over, crying.

Nevertheless, she eventually lifted her head once the shots came to an end. There stood two beings: Abraham and Sasha. Both were equipped with submachine guns. "Can you get the gate?!" Abraham shouted as Glenn looked around, shocked. The red head smirked and nodded humorously. "Appreciate it, pal." He laughed, lifting his gun back up and took down more walkers.

Glenn didn't hesitate to rush up onto his feet, sprinting over to the gate. He didn't waste any time, pulling it open. Behind it stood a van that consisted of Daryl in the driver's seat.

Brianna hurried over to Kloe, crashing down onto her knees as she wrapped an arm around her. "Hey, hey, he's okay," she soothed, to which a small smile blossomed on Kloe's lips, ignoring her tear stained cheeks.

She lifted herself up onto her feet as she watched the back of Glenn's head as he guided Daryl inside to help Maggie, Jayce and Enid off the platform. But his mind instantly traveled back to who his main concern was. His body spun around, his eyes dancing around the area in hopes to see a certain someone.

Kloe silently sobbed some more as she rushed out of Brianna's grasp. She threw off the horrible, disgusting gut covered sheet off of her and stepped into view so her husband could see her. Her bottom lip quivered violently as more tears flooded her eyes. Glenn set his eyes on her, and his own face scrunched up with not just happiness to see that she was okay, but severe guilt.

Not a millisecond later did Kloe sprint forward. She nearly tripped over her own foot again from how weak she was getting, but she didn't care. The only thing that mattered to her was feeling her husband under her own fingertips. As much as she felt him in her heart, she desperately needed to feel him physically. To know she wasn't hallucinating. To know she wasn't going insane.

The moment Glenn started running forward to her, she knew it was real. As soon as she was close enough, she threw her arms around him. She was grateful he was strong, otherwise she was certain she would have pushed him over from the force. He stumbled backward, his hand caressing the back of Kloe's head as he buried his head into her neck. He sealed his eyes shut.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," he whispered, his voice muffled as it vibrated through her neck. She sniffed loudly, trying her hardest to take in his scent.

"You— I— I thought—" she attempted to speak, yet it didn't work well. She stuttered uncontrollably, her tears soaking into Glenn's neck. He pulled away, cupping her cheeks into his hands. She lifted her eyes to his, and she watched him watch her deeply. He wiped away her tears with his thumbs, his inner brows lifting with remorse. "I thought you were gone," she choked out, her voice nearly inaudible from the lump in her throat.

"I'm here," he told her comfortingly, his voice as soft as a feather. He shook his head, "I'm staying right here. I'm never leaving."

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words: 6710
28th march 2024
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I AM SO SORRY I HAVEN'T UPDATED IN A MONTH- jesus. mb.
anyway, i apologise for how rushed the ending may be, but it's currently 1am and i'm tired as shit- BUT, i HAD to update sooner rather than later so I couldn't sleep. oops. ANYWAY OMG GLENN AND KLOE ARE FINALLY HAPPY AGAIN-
they haven't had a single happy moment since october 2023 so i've been very klenn deprived.