WHITE FLAG

chapter forty-one : to the rescue
{ season three - episode eight }

GLENN PANTED HEAVILY as he paced back and forth in his room. He kept the leg of the chair he was tied up to tight in his grasp. His head whipped up to the door as Merle pushed it open, a guy with a gun over his shoulder behind him.

Glenn raised the chair leg, but Merle raised his hand. "Uh-uh." Glenn knew he didn't have a choice as the dude beside Merle trained his gun on him. So, he lowered the chair leg in defeat.

Except, when another man who held Kloe by the arm stormed inside, his eyes widened and anger began to fill them. A pit formed in his stomach as he examined her state.

Her bottom lip was bleeding, running down her chin. Her cheek was coated in blood, but it didn't come from a wound. She was limping from the large wound on her thigh that also pumped out blood. Her tank top was gone, leaving her in just her bra while her stomach and chest were covered with blood. Her neck had a strangulation mark, one similar to the one she had back in Atlanta camp.

Kloe's eyes watered even more as she stared at her boyfriend, who was covered in his own dried blood. The blood that looked like it came from his nose and mouth ran down his neck and onto his chest. His right eye was bruised and bloodshot.

Her arms were crossed over her chest, feeling extremely uncomfortable since she was standing in a room with men she didn't know without a shirt on. As Glenn took in her appearance, he instantly raised the chair leg again, his eyes filled with rage.

He took a few steps forward, but immediately stopped when the guy with the gun aimed it at Kloe's head. "Drop it," he ordered, brushing his finger over the trigger.

Glenn, who's eyes began to water as he never took his eyes off of Kloe, dropped the wood onto the ground. The man in charge wiped his nose with the back of his hand, the bleeding coming to an end.

"We're through with games," he said, pulling out a pistol from his belt. He held his finger over the trigger. "Now, one of you is gonna give up your camp." The pair stayed completely silent, holding each other's eyes. Taking the hint that they weren't going to answer, the man clicked his gun, aiming it straight at the woman in his grasp.

Kloe still didn't take her eyes off the person she loved most. If she were to die, Glenn would be the person she'd want to see before she would. But before he pulled the trigger, he released Kloe and stepped forward so he stood in front of Glenn. Now, the gun was aimed right between his eyes.

"The prison," Kloe choked out, attempting to limp forward, only to be stopped by Merle who extended his arm out so she couldn't get through.

"The one near Nunez?" Merle questioned, earning a firm nod from the pale woman.

"That place is overrun," the man who aimed his gun at Glenn stated.

Kloe weakly shook her head. "We took it."

"How many are you?"

"Fourteen," she answered straight away, swallowing down her tears as she feared the life of her boyfriend. "Only fourteen."

"Fourteen people cleared that whole prison of biters? Huh?" The man behind the gun pondered skeptically, glancing back and forth between Glenn and Kloe. Glenn tensed up when the man aimed his gun higher, although he lowered it not even a second after.

He spun around, walking past Merle and the other guy. He came to a stop beside Kloe. Her entire body tensed up when she felt his hand graze her cheek. "Hey," he moved his hand to her chin, moving her to the side to face him. "This broken nose you gave me is nothing. It's alright. It's okay." He wrapped his arms around her, causing her to let out a sob as she tried to break free, but it was no use.

Glenn gritted his teeth, his brows tilting upward as he watched them. His heart clenched at Kloe's pain. To make Glenn's anger build up even more, the man placed a kiss onto Kloe's forehead as he shushed her to stop crying.

The man pulled away from the 'comforting' hug he gave Kloe, but kept his hand on her cheek and his other on her back. He wiped away a tear that ran down to her chin before looking up at her boyfriend, who had a clear look of rage present in his expression.

Glenn grunted with hatred toward the man who had Kloe in his arms. The man let go of Kloe's cheek before pushing her harshly toward Glenn. As soon as her body crashed into his, she wrapped her arms around him, burying her face into his neck as she cried.

He held Kloe in his grasp, not daring to let go until the men left the room. He placed his hand on the back of her head as he watched the man that had tortured her leave the room, Merle and the other man following behind him.

He glared at the men as they closed the door, leaving them by themselves. He stroked her hair softly to comfort her as he then buried his head into the crook of her neck, tears coating his eyes. As the men that left the room walked away, something caught Kloe's ears. "What are you gonna do, Governor?" Kloe wanted to frown but she couldn't considering she was crying. That was the only thing she heard as they left the building.

Kloe pulled away shakily, keeping her hands on Glenn's shoulders as he cupped her cheeks, wiping away the tears that stained them. Kloe swallowed thickly as another tear escaped. "I'm sorry."

Glenn instantly shook his head. "No, no, Kloe. It's not your fault," he told her as he sniffed. "None of this is your fault."

"But-" she cut herself off, gulping as she sucked in some air, "but now they know where we are. Something terrible is going to happen, I can feel it." Glenn went to speak to stop her, but she stopped him instead. "I swear I didn't want to say anything, but if I didn't he was going to-"

"Kloe. Stop," his hands moved to her shoulders, shaking her gently. "Stop it." Kloe remained silent as Glenn held her teary eyes. His eyes then went down to look at her body, his heart clenching at the sight of her. "You need to sit down, Kloe."

He led her to the wall, letting her slide down the wall as he joined her side. Kloe groaned quietly as she sat down, her leg shooting a raging pain. Glenn grabbed onto the edges of his black shirt, carefully pulling it over his head as he let out a grunt of pain.

He handed it over to his girlfriend, who took it and pulled it over her own head. She rested her head against the wall as Glenn did the same. As the pair sat there, Kloe couldn't help but wipe the back of her hand against her cheek, trying to get the blood off of her.

She stared at the back of her hand, noticing that some of the blood came off. She went back to wipe her cheek again, but then moved her hand to her neck and her chest, wiping the blood off.

"It's not gonna come off that easy, Klo," Glenn raspily said, watching his girlfriend with a pained expression.

"I know," she replied, but continued to wipe it off. "I just want it off. 'Cause it's not mine," she added as her bottom lip began to quiver as she felt more tears spring to her eyes.

Glenn frowned instantly as he grew confused, but it didn't take him long to figure out what she meant when he saw her glance up at him sadly. The blood she was covered in was his blood.

His eyes averted to the ground, then back up to his girlfriend as another thought lingered in his mind. "Kloe," he softly called out to her, who looked over at him as she placed her hand over her thigh, "did he...?"

She instantly shook her head. "No," she responded, but he continued to stare at her in case she was lying. "No, Glenn. Most of this," she gestured down to her thigh and her lip, "was all Merle."

He gulped as he looked at where she pointed. Her thigh and her lip. Both were equally as deep and covered with fresh blood. He hated what Merle and the man who was apparently called Governor did to her. And he despised them both.

Kloe watched her boyfriend, her heart feeling like it was in a million pieces at all the blood that was drying out from his face down to his bare chest. She turned back to the ground. "All this time... being scared of walkers, fighting for survival, running from them... you forget that assholes still exist." She slowly turned back to her boyfriend, who watched her with a sad expression. "Look at what they did to you. To us. You never deserve this."

Glenn shook his head. "Doesn't matter what they did to me. You suffered more." His eyes traveled down to her thigh as he spoke, sighing heavily as he looked back up to Kloe, who stared back down at the ceiling. "As long as he didn't-"

Kloe shook her head again. "No. I promise," she assured, placing her palm in Glenn's as she weakly squeezed it. Not being able to resist the urge, Glenn wrapped his arms around Kloe again, holding her close. Her arms wrapped around his waist, resting her chin on his bare shoulder.

As Glenn held Kloe, his eyes caught onto something on the floor a few meters behind her. "Hey," he pulled away slowly, making Kloe peer over her shoulder to see what he was looking at. He carefully stood to his feet, grunting with pain.

He limped his way over to the dead walker that he had killed, panting heavily. Kloe frowned curiously as she watched him. He knelt over the walker, grasping onto its arm and pressing his foot against its chest.

He let out strained yells with pain as he tugged at the walker's arms, making Kloe frown even more as she tried to guess what he was doing. The arm ripped from the walker's torso, making Kloe weakly stand to her feet.

She placed her hand onto the wall to steady herself, knowing that she had lost far too much blood to even walk. Glenn gripped onto his stomach where a bruise was painted before stomping his foot down onto the middle of the arm, snapping it.

Kloe let go of the wall, placing her hand over her thigh as she limped over to her boyfriend with a confused and disgusted expression. The bone in the walker's arm poked out as Glenn ripped away the decomposed skin.

He wrapped his fingers around the bone, taking one deep breath before pulling the bone out of the arm. He let out an agonizing yell as he continued to pull, until he managed to pull two bones out of the arm.

He breathed heavily as he handed Kloe a bone, making her more perplexed by the second. She held the slimy, gorey bone in her palm, making her seal her eyes shut with disgust.

"What's this for?" She questioned as she swallowed down the bile that rose in her throat.

Glenn pointed toward the door as he clutched his stomach from the burning sensation that rang from it. "They're gonna come back. They'll be armed and they'll walk in here thinking that we aren't."

...

The couple waited for at least ten minutes standing beside the door, waiting for someone to open it so they could lunge at them and make an escape. Kloe ripped some clothing off the walker, wrapping the fabric around her thigh.

Just as Kloe turned her head to the side to look at her boyfriend, the door was pushed open, causing the adrenaline to course through them both.

Without hesitation, the two jumped out into the hallway, spotting Merle and another random guy. Glenn pushed Merle to the wall, raising the walker bone to try and stab Merle with it, but considering he was weak, Merle caught his arm and punched him across the face.

Kloe pinned the man to the wall, pressing the walker bone against his throat. The first thing she noticed was the scared look in his face, something the other men didn't have. She gulped as she kept him there, feeling hesitant about killing the man.

Killing him. She was going to kill a living being. The man that realized she looked regretful, took that as an advantage and grabbed onto her arm to pull it away, but she instantly raised her knee to his groin, making him yell out with pain.

A new idea plunged into her mind, making her move the bone to his lip, pressing it sharply against it and dragging it down to his chin. Then she moved it to his stomach on his right, shoving the bone clean through. And lastly, she swiped it across his thigh, making a loud pained yell shoot through the air.

"Hurts, doesn't it?" She tilted her head before he slid down the wall, his finger pressing onto the trigger as many bullets flew through the air and onto the wall.

Kloe ducked down and so did everyone else until the man faded out of consciousness, his breathing becoming very faint as he lost blood. Her eyes shifted down to his belt, ammo catching her eye.

She moved forward, clutching onto the box and shoving them inside the submachine gun as her hands shook with worry for her boyfriend. She looked up at Merle and Glenn for a second, noticing instantly that Merle had the upper hand, throwing Glenn to the ground and pushing his knife against his throat.

She rose to her feet immediately, aiming the gun straight at Merle's head. "Let him go, Merle," she ordered firmly through gritted teeth. She glanced down at her boyfriend, who watched her with fear in his eyes.

Merle tilted his head to the side for a moment, a grin forming on his face as he hesitantly removed his knife from Glenn's throat. "Okay," he raised his blade and his hand.

Just as things could get any worse, two guns cocked behind her, making her heart drop. She turned to the side to see who the men were behind her, but before she could, Merle stood up and gripped onto the gun she was holding.

"Give me the gun!" He shouted, taking the gun clean from her hands as he turned back to the man on the floor. "Get up!"

...

A tear ran down Kloe's cheek, even though her expression was stoic. Her and Glenn were pushed down onto their knees, and they didn't have to have second thoughts to realize they were going to be executed.

"Glad we could catch up," Merle said as he stepped behind Glenn, raising the gun that Kloe had gotten at his head.

Glenn's hand slid down to his girlfriend's hand, intertwining his fingers with hers as he watched the tear run down to her chin. "Just keep looking at me," he whispered, making her turn her head to the side.

Her stoic expression didn't last as her body began to tremble. She sniffed as she heard a man behind her come up to her. "I love you," she mumbled before having a pillowcase pulled over her head.

Glenn felt a tear escape his eye as he sealed them shut, feeling the pillowcase go over his own head. Two men wrapped tape around their wrists, meaning they couldn't escape no matter what they did.

"On your feet, move," someone they didn't recognize the voice of ordered, pulling them both to their feet. "Let's go, come on." The men kept their hands on the pair, leading them out of the room.

But before anyone could do anything, a loud explosion went off in the room, the gas the bomb held not taking a second the fill the room. The men shouted as they fell to the ground from surprise, instantly coughing loudly as they breathed the gas in.

Knowing that the men were now on the floor, not having any attention on the two hostages, they both pulled the pillowcases off their heads. Before they could do anything, someone grabbed onto their arms, pulling them away.

Kloe opened her eyes, instantly lighting up when she recognized the people that came to save them. Rick, Daryl, Zayn, Maggie and another woman she didn't recognize, but had a samurai sword that made her look badass.

Rick had hold of Glenn, while Maggie held onto her best friend. Kloe felt like she could just pass out right there and then, no matter where they were. She was far too weak to do anything. But was that going to stop her from getting revenge? Absolutely not.

As they got outside, Kloe recognized two new figures. Oscar and Jayce. As the group ran through the town unnoticeably, Daryl, Zayn, Oscar and Jayce kept their weapons raised high.

"Inside, quick!" Rick whisper-shouted, allowing Daryl to take the lead and push open the door, scanning his gun across the room to make sure no one was in there. Rick and Maggie let go of Glenn and Kloe, raising their guns across the area outside of the door as they waited for everyone to enter.

Not even after a second of being let go, both Glenn and Kloe tumbled to the ground from being too weak. Glenn pressed his back against a cabinet, holding onto his arm as he breathed heavily.

Kloe looked up and crawled over to him, connecting her hand with his as she squeezed it assuringly. She looked up at the rest of the group. "How did you find us?" She asked with genuine curiosity. What are the chances that they figured out where they were?

"What did they do to you? How badly are you hurt?" Rick didn't answer, only asking her another question. But before she could answer, Glenn answered for her.

"I'll be alright. She won't be though," he muttered, gesturing toward his girlfriend. She frowned as she watched him answer. "She has a deep cut on her-"

"I'll be fine," she cut her boyfriend off. "We'll worry about it when we get back." Glenn looked up at her, but the pain that was running through his veins made him unable to talk. She gazed across the room, looking for the woman with the samurai sword. "Hey, where's that woman?"

Rick, who glanced around him, noticed that she was gone too. "She was right behind us." He peeped out of the window, eyeng everyone that was gathering around.

"Maybe she was spotted?" Oscar suggested, darting his eyes between everybody in the room.

"Want me to go look for her?" Daryl offered, making Kloe nervously look up at him. It was his brother that did this to her and Glenn. She looked back down at her boyfriend, who was still wincing with pain. Kloe couldn't lie, she wanted to groan with pain from all the torture she had gone through. But at that moment, she cared more for Glenn than herself.

"No," Rick responded before pointing over to the couple that were in pain. "We gotta get them out of here. She's on her own."

Zayn and Maggie knelt down in front of the pair, quickly checking to see if they were okay. "Are you okay, Klo?" Zayn asked his younger sister with worry, eyeing the scar on her lip. If he could see the other marks she had on her body, he wouldn't hesitate to go out there by himself. But since it was dark and the marks were hidden, he could only see the large cut on her lip going down to her chin. "Is that cut deep?"

Kloe brought her fingers to the cut, draping them across it making her wince with the pain. "Yep. But I'll be fine, trust me." Glenn continued to stare at her with confusion as to why she wasn't telling them about anything else.

"Klo, you're not going to be fine," he corrected her, pointing down to her thigh that was wrapped with fabric, that clearly had blood soaked through it. Kloe's eyes widened at her leg. She hadn't even realized that it was dangerously bad.

Zayn and Maggie's eyes transferred down to her thigh, instantly widening their eyes as they noticed the amount of blood that had soaked the fabric and her jeans. "Oh God," Maggie muttered out as she quickly unwrapped the fabric.

Zayn's brows were frowned until he saw the large, deep and gorey cut that was across her thigh. "Who the hell did this to you?" He asked not only Kloe, but Glenn too as a new type of anger flooded through his veins.

Kloe sighed heavily as she looked down at her boyfriend, who glanced up at the youngest Dixon. "Daryl," he called out to the man, making him look down at the beaten man, who was putting on a hoodie that Jayce handed over, "this was Merle." Daryl stared down at Glenn with shock. "It was. He did this to me and Kloe."

This new information caught Rick's attention, watching as Kloe helped Glenn into Jayce's hoodie. "You saw him?" He questioned, generally amazed himself that the man was alive.

"Face to face," Glenn replied as he breathed heavily, swallowing thickly before adding more. "Threw a walker at me. Threatened and tortured Kloe. He was gonna execute us."

Daryl stepped toward the four young adults that were on the ground, only eyeing Glenn and Kloe. "So my brother's this 'Governor'?" He questioned them.

The sound of the word 'Governor' made Kloe's heart drop, knowing exactly who the Governor was after overhearing the men in the hallway when Kloe revealed where they lived.

"No. Merle's not the Governor. He's someone else," Kloe answered with a slight shake in her voice as Glenn watched Kloe with sadness, knowing exactly what he had done to her. "Merle's his right hand man or whatever. Still a dick, by the way."

"Does he know I'm still with you?" Daryl wondered, still shocked that his older brother was alive.

Kloe was quick to nod. "He knew because that was the first question he asked us. We told him to trust us so we could get you to speak with him, but he didn't cooperate clearly."

"Rick, I'm sorry," Glenn added almost immediately after Kloe finished speaking. "We told him where the prison was. We couldn't hold out." Kloe looked down at the ground, knowing that she was the one that outed their home to people who tortured both her and Glenn.

"Don't," Rick replied, stopping the Korean as he handed him and Kloe a gun each. "No need to apologize."

"They're going to be looking for us," Maggie spoke up as she examined her best friend to make sure she was okay. Kloe looked up at Maggie, nodding her head to tell her she was fine as she wrapped a new fabric piece around her thigh.

Rick, who kept peeping out of the windows to make sure no one was making their way toward them, whipped his head over to the four young adults, his eyes landing on Glenn and Kloe. "We have to get back. Can you two walk?" He questioned them as he jogged over to them, crouching down in front of them. "We got a car a few miles out."

Kloe watched her boyfriend as he nodded, making her turn back to Rick who stared at them both as he waited for an answer. "We're good," she answered. Rick and Maggie both held onto Glenn's arms as Kloe sat on the floor, her hand over her thigh as it continued to bleed.

Once Glenn was stood up, Zayn held out his hand for her to take. She took it gratefully and she could barely pull herself up, so Zayn did most of the work and lifted her to her feet. She put all of her weight onto her good leg, not being able to put any weight on her other.

Glenn, who almost fell back to the ground as Rick and Maggie let go, was instantly caught by Zayn who was beside him. As Zayn caught onto Glenn's arm, Maggie wrapped her fingers around Kloe's arm, making sure she was okay with standing up. "Thanks," she weakly smiled.

"Hey, if Merle's around, I- I need to see him," Daryl stated as he stood in front of Rick, trying to reason with him.

"Not now," Rick declined. "We're in hostile territory."

"He's my brother. I ain't-"

"Look at what he did!" He whisper-shouted, pointing toward Glenn and Kloe who could both barely stand on their own feet. "Look we gotta- we gotta get out of here now."

"Maybe I can talk to him. Maybe I can work something out."

"No, no, no," Rick kept declining Daryl's continuous begging to see his brother that he thought was dead for eight months. "You're not thinking straight." Rick shared one glance with the couple behind him that were standing side by side with Zayn and Maggie holding onto them as they led them to lean against the wall to adjust to standing. "Look, no matter what they say, they're hurt. Neither of them can barely walk. How are we gonna make it out if we get overrun by walkers or this Governor catches up to us? I need you. Are you with me?"

Giving in to Rick's reason, Daryl nodded his head in defeat. "Yeah."

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words: 4320
8th september 2022
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ANOTHER CHAPTER WABOOOOM