WHITE FLAG

chapter one - the beginning
{ two months before season one }

THE RINGING FROM Kloe's phone was to be heard from the other room in her dorm. She had just finished a test for drama, and now she had the entire weekend free with her 'boyfriend', Ryan. Doing drama for college sucked for her, but now, as a twenty-one year old, she had to do what her mother wanted her to do ever since her father passed away. Be successful.

The raven haired girl stumbled over to the dining table, where her phone was sitting, and read the name of who was ringing her. Zayn. Her older brother, Zayn. Subconsciously, she picked it up and swiped across to answer, only to hear shouts from the other end.

"Hello?" she greeted, confused as to why Zayn had been calling her.

"Kloe?! Kloe, is that you?!" Zayn yelled through into her ear, making the girl grimace.

"Yeah, it's me? What do you need?" her eyebrows drew together with confusion. "What's going on?"

"Have you looked outside?! Look out the window!" She felt herself begin to worry as she stepped towards the window.

"Holy shit,'' she muttered to herself. The things the girl saw were not things she wanted to see, her stomach churned at the sight of everything. She swallowed thickly, trying not to vomit to what she saw. There were screams, cries, people calling out for help. People were dying. In the most brutal way, too. People were eating other people. Alive. She had no idea what was going on.

"I'm coming to pick you up now! I'm with my friend, Glenn. You know, the guy I work with," Zayn informed. She didn't exactly know who Glenn was, but she had heard her brother talking about him at times when she visited him on the weekends. "Get things you need; food, water, toiletries, anything-"

"Zayn, what the fuck is going on?!" Kloe yelled through the phone, biting at her nails with fear, her eyes locked on all of the people that were now dying. Some of the people were people she'd met in class, and some of them were teachers.

"I- I don't know! It all happened so fast! People are getting eaten by dead people that come back! I know it sounds crazy!" her brother stuttered, loss of words. "Y- You know the bow and arrows Vickie got for your fifteenth birthday? Bring them! They'll come into good use," his voice suddenly lowered.

"Zayn, I'm not going to kill those people-"

"They're not people, Kloe! They're dead. Just- Just go pack. I'll be there in five!" he hung up. The girl slid her phone away from her ear, confusion, shock and fear running through her veins. Abruptly, she spun on her heel and grasped onto the backpack that was on the couch, and began to pack anything she needed. She held back the tears that were layering her dark brown eyes, causing her vision to go watery.

She blinked them away, swallowing the lump that was forming in her throat. The raven haired girl sprinted across the room, gathering supplies and whatnots, her bag was practically full all ready. At the moment of rushing towards the door, she suddenly got reminded of what the girl's brother had told her to get. Her bow and arrows.

Since Kloe lived in a dormitory, she had to hide them pretty well, which the sneaky girl did. She headed to the closet in her bedroom, swinging open the doors, getting a hit of a breeze from them. Kloe extended out her arm, grasping onto the handle to a secret hatch behind it. Swiftly, she pushed it open, revealing the weapon the girl's father had given her the day before he died.

Absentmindedly, Kloe seized onto the handle of the bow, and the quiver that stored the arrows. The sound of a repetitive knock banged against the entrance to Kloe's dorm room, causing her to jump slightly. She rushed out of her bedroom and into the hallway where the door was. She swung it open to be greeted with her sweaty brother, who had a look of fear in his smokey blue eyes, and his friend he had talked about stood beside him, who was most definitely Korean and spun his head around in every direction to make sure there was no threat around them.

Zayn had a forest green jacket wrapped around his shoulders that was zipped up to the top, even though it was summer. He also had dark denim jeans on, with a pair of walnut colored sneakers. Glenn had a cap on, covering his chocolate brown hair, and had his work jacket on, with a dark t-shirt on underneath. He had the same jeans as Kloe's brother, considering they worked at the same place, she guessed they also had to wear the same things.

Without realizing, Zayn had gripped onto his sister's arm and began to drag her down the hallway, Glenn only being a few meters in front of the siblings. "Avoid any of those dead people out there, if they get you, you'll turn into them," Zayn mumbled, loud enough so only Glenn and Kloe could hear. "We just need to bolt it to the car, then make our way to Atlanta."

Kloe's eyebrows glued together with confusion. "Why Atlanta?" the younger sibling asked with curiosity.

"The dude on the news told everyone to go there, that it would be the safest place to go," Glenn answered, who peered over his shoulder to face the girl for a few seconds before turning back ahead.

"What is even going on?!" her voice raised a little as they pushed through the doors to the outside, where there appeared to be some eaten corpses lying across the ground, that were slowly getting back up again. "What the fu-" she was cut off by the sudden pull of her brother, dragging her. Although Zayn was a pizza delivery guy, he was still strong enough to pull someone without struggling, which slightly shocked the girl.

Before she knew it, the three young adults were all ready in the parking lot, where a few cars were. Usually, the parking lot was full, but over half of them were gone, making it pretty obvious that they had the same idea as they did. Going to Atlanta.

As soon as Glenn motioned towards a car, which Kloe didn't recognise, the three all sprinted towards it without stopping to take a final glance at the place Kloe had called home for the past year. She stuffed herself and her belongings into the backseat as Zayn and Glenn hopped into the passenger seat and the driver seat.

Gasping for air, the girl buckled up the seatbelt as the car began to reverse. Kloe didn't feel like conversing with Zayn and his friend, after all the shit she had seen, she was pretty sure if she had opened her mouth, her voice wouldn't be the only thing leaving it. The poor girl was not ready for all the blood and gore that was now coming to life.

Kloe still couldn't comprehend the thought of dead people getting up and walking, eating others, turning them into the dead that were walking.

"Did you get bit or scratched or anything like that?" Zayn inquired, twisting his body to face his younger sister. She simply shook her head, confusion continuing to flow through her young body. "Good, because if you do by one of them things, you'll turn into them no matter what." The raven haired girl's eyes widened with shock at her brother's statement.

Her heart suddenly dropped into her stomach at the thought of the people she loved. Her best friend, Norah and her other best friend, Ryan.

Ryan was Kloe's best friend for many years. Although, the whole relationship was just one big lie. The only reason the girl had made everyone believe that they were a couple was because of her mother before... never mind.

She leaned forwards, her mouth parting as she began to speak, "What- what about Norah? A- And Ryan? I need to know if they're safe."

Zayn bit his bottom lip and shook his head before sharing a glance with his sister, "Ryan didn't make it. He arrived at my doorstep and- and then one of the geeks came out of nowhere and just... I'm sorry, Klo. And Norah, I don't know where she is - hopefully safe." The girl's eyes began to dwell up with tears, Ryan was one of her longest friends and now he was dead. Kloe quickly wiped away the silent tears that were falling down her soft cheeks as she leaned her head against the glacial window, watching all the cars driving the opposite way.

...

"Damnit, we're out of gas," Glenn bashed his hand against the steering wheel in frustration. The three young adults had been on the road for approximately twenty days. The whole Atlanta plan became a failure, the whole city was overrun with geeks.

"Guess we're gonna have to go find some," Zayn gripped onto the car handle and pushed it open, stepping his feet onto the concrete outside. Glenn soon did the same as did Kloe. Since they'd left home, they had managed to get a few weapons and supplies. The three didn't have anywhere to go, not that they knew of, so they'd practically driven all around Georgia. Kloe gazed up at a sign and saw an arrow facing upwards, saying Atlanta.

"Hey, we're heading towards Atlanta again, we're not safe here," the brunette spun around to Zayn and Glenn, who were both filling their backpacks up with supplies. Glenn lifted his chin to look at Kloe, throwing a hand up to his eyes to shield them from the sun.

"We're not safe anywhere," he said, sending an innocent smile before seizing onto the knife that was placed in his belt. She silently rolled her dark brown eyes at him, turning back to the sign. For Kloe, the whole atmosphere was extremely different, and she still wasn't used to it. It was always silent, no planes in the sky, no cars, nothing.

The first car the three had started with, they'd lost. Glenn, Zayn and Kloe had gone on a supply run, leaving the car they had on the side of a road. On the supply run, they luckily got some walkies. They came back to see the car stolen, another survivor had taken it. Luckily, Zayn had found an open car that was full on gas, so they quite simply took it.

"I'm going in the woods, see if I can find a cabin somewhere with supplies," Kloe informed as she grasped onto her bow and quiver full of arrows as she turned to the two men.

"Not by yourself," Zayn said firmly, sending his sister a hard glare. She reacted by dramatically rolling her eyes as she returned the glare that he was once giving the girl.

"Okay, you two, stop," Glenn stepped in between the brother and the sister, holding his arms up, realizing that the siblings were exceedingly close to physically fighting each other. Ever since the apocalypse had begun, the relationship with the siblings had gone downhill. Kloe thought she had every right to be pissed with him, but in reality, all he did was save her. "Someone needs to stay with the car, I'll go with Kloe if you don't want her by herself, Zayn."

Although the brunette wanted to be by herself, being with Glenn couldn't be too bad, he wasn't as annoying and over-protective as her brother. The two younger adults looked at Zayn for an approvall, which he eventually gave in and nodded.

"Okay. You both better talk to me on these," he tossed over a walkie over to Glenn, who caught it with one hand, "Be back in two hours." He spun on his heel, heading towards the car. The girl dropped her shoulders, sighing as she tightened her grip on the bow.

Not long after, Glenn and Kloe had left for the supply run, leaving Zayn behind to guard the car.

...

"How are you two doing out there?" the green eyed man's voice ruffled through the walkie that was attached to Glenn's belt. It had probably been twenty minutes since the two friends had left, and they had stayed silent the whole way, not a single word.

Instantaneously, Glenn grasped onto the walkie and pushed down the button to speak into it. "We're good," he released the button, the two of them stopped in their tracks to see what Zayn had needed. "Everything okay?"

"Uh, yeah. Doing good, just checking in. Over and out." Silence filled the dead atmosphere, the only sound being the leaves rustling together from the cool wind. The brunette's eyebrows drew together with confusion as Glenn shoved the walkie back into his belt.

"You okay?" Glenn inquired, noticing that the girl was staring into the soil and dirt in the ground. Swiftly, she switched her gaze from the ground to his chocolate brown eyes, which were staring into her dark brown ones.

She hesitantly nodded in response, parting her soft lips to speak, "Yeah, I'm okay. Are you?" Glenn pouted his lips and bopped his head. Kloe spun on her heel, beginning to walk in the direction the two were walking in previously, Glenn jogging over so he was beside the archer.

The silence continued as the two young adults dragged their feet across the soil, the cool breeze brushing against Kloe's cheeks, her brunette hair flowing with it. The silence was comfortable, but not at the same time. Since Glenn and Zayn had saved the girl from her own dorm, she had always been harsh and rude to the two. She mainly thought it was because she never got time to grieve for her best friend. Six years they were best friends for, and it all got thrown away like it was nothing.

"Zayn cares about you, you know?" Glenn's voice broke the brunette out of her deep thoughts, causing her eyes to land on him from beside her.

"Yeah, I know," she answered quietly. The Schmidt girl knew exactly what he was thinking. If she was in his shoes, and her best friend and his sister were arguing, the sister being cruel and merciless, she would think the sister would hate her brother too. But that wasn't the case. "I've just been so... I don't know? Angry? Sad? Scared? I- I don't know. I just hate it when he's over-protective, you know? I'm a grown woman now, not six years old."

"He's just trying to keep you safe, but I'm not the one who should tell you how to think," Glenn sympathetically smiled, causing the girl to smile back.

"I know, but a part of me doesn't like that. I don't want him to risk his life to keep me safe. None of us even know what's going on with this world right now. Hell, we don't even know if we're the last ones standing," she spoke, barely just above a whisper, keeping her eyes on the ground in front of her.

"I also know that you get mad at me too, because I'm on your brother's side," He smirked playfully, causing Kloe to shift her gaze from the ground back to him. She apologetically smiled before parting her lips to speak again, but only to get cut off by an unfamiliar voice on the walkie.

"Hello? Hello, does- does anybody copy? We heard you on our radio, we wanna know if there's anybody there? Do you copy?" In an instant, the Schmidt girl reached her hand out to the walkie that was on Glenn's belt, yanking it out. She pulled the walkie closer to her face as she pushed down the button to speak.

"H- Hello? We copy. Who is this?" Kloe questioned, stuttering on her words slightly, keeping her dark brown eyes on Glenn, who also had his chocolate brown one's on hers, often switching to the walkie.

"So it wasn't just our imagination. My name's Shane. Shane Walsh. Where are you? We have a camp outside of Atlanta." Kloe's eyes widened with shock as she listened carefully at the crackled voice blaring out of the walkie's speaker.

"We're outside of Atlanta, too. We're in the woods, I- I don't know where though," she answered truthfully, letting out a breath the girl realized she was holding.

"Well, you must be close. Because you're in range," the man continued, "We'll send someone from our group to come out for ya, how many are there with you?"

"Three. There's three of us, what about you?"

"Around thirty. What are your names?" The brunette hesitated to press the button on the walkie to answer, considering if it would be a good idea or not, so she continued to look into Glenn's eyes, waiting for an approval. He silently nodded his head, knowing what she was thinking.

"My- my name's Kloe Schmidt. The other two guys are Zayn Schmidt and Glenn Rhee."

...

Zayn, Glenn and Kloe successfully made it to the camp Shane was talking about. The whole area seemed so safe. Kloe was told that there had been no geeks around the area, so they were good to go. She felt relieved, finally.

An old man who owned an RV, Dale, gave the girl and her brother their tent which they would have to share, and Glenn had his own tent.

Everyone around there was so friendly. There were kids, too. How did kids manage to survive this far already, she continuously asked herself in her head.

But now, everyone was all sitting around a fire, eating canned fruits for dinner. Well, at least Kloe was. She was never a huge fan of meat, so when two sisters named Andrea and Amy brought up a few fish from the quarry, the Schmidt girl decided to stick with canned peaches instead.

"Are any of you guys related?" a guy named T-Dog inquired, locking his gaze with Kloe's, Glenn's and Zayn's. The three of them decided to sit beside one another, considering they didn't know these people.

"Uh, Kloe's my younger sister by two years, and this is Glenn, my good friend," Zayn answered, patting his best friend's shoulder as they both shared a smile. Ever since the little talk Glenn and the girl had a few hours prior, they decided to stick together as much as possible. When they arrived at camp, Kloe and Glenn offered to be the ones that would go to town, despite Zayn not exactly being so fond of their idea since it would just be the two of them, but the less people, the less attraction gets drawn.

Everyone around the fire shared a few laughs, a few smiles. It felt pretty much normal again for Kloe. As if they were all just in a campsite, greeting a few others who were also camping. There were a few embarrassing moments, where Zayn began to expose Kloe's childhood, all the memories she had succeeded with removing, now flooding back in again. But if she was being completely honest, the girl was glad she had those funny, embarrassing memories back.

Even after dinner, Glenn and Kloe had decided to sit down on the grass, looking up at the stars that were now visible since the light pollution had now vanished. The two spoke about life, all of their great memories. They then began to quietly giggle at a few memories, it seemed Glenn and Kloe were alike. Personality wise. Deep down inside, she definitely regretted everything she had done the last few days, such as taking her emotions out on her brother and Glenn, when all they were really trying to do was help.

As the days went by, Glenn and Kloe got closer and closer. They also went on supply runs into Atlanta, which was a big risk. But they always managed to accomplish them, gathering the supplies and materials Shane and the others had requested back at the camp.

Things like this continued on for the next month. Zayn, Glenn and Kloe had officially become extremely close, she was happy to say that Glenn was her new best friend. And Zayn, of course, he was her brother.

And nothing could ever change that.

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Words: 3275
- 13th November 2021

Heyy everyone! I hope you liked the prologue of Glenn and Kloe's adventure! I'm extremely excited to write their story and I hope you're excited to read it too!

I don't exactly have much to say, but comments and voted would be gratefully appreciated! If you spot any mistakes in these chapters, please contact me in any way; whether that being sending me a private message, or even simply just tell me through the comments.

Thanks for reading!