WHITE FLAG

chapter forty-six : a familiar face
{ season three - episode eleven }

"WE'RE NOT LEAVING," Rick stated firmly, cocking his gun in his grip as the entire group stood around in the cell block for their 'meeting'. While Rick was outside of the prison, two familiar faces had returned to the group. Daryl and Merle Dixon.

Kloe couldn't help but glare up at Daryl, who peered over the edge of the railing he stood on. She was standing beside her brother, Zayn, who was also occasionally glancing up at the man.

"We can't stay here," Hershel retorted, who was sitting on the metal steps.

Maggie nodded, pulling out her pistol to check for ammo. "What if there's another sniper? A wood pallet won't stop one of those rounds."

"We can't even go outside," Beth chimed in.

"Not in the daylight," Carol added.

"Rick says we're not running, we're not running," Glenn stated firmly to the group, sharing glances with them.

"No, better to live like rats," a new voice spoke up, making the entire group turn toward the steel bar door, where a man both Glenn and Kloe wished to never see again stood. Merle.

"You got a better idea?" Rick asked him, narrowing his eyes at the man.

"Yeah, we should have slid out of here last night and lived to fight another day," he responded before averting his gaze to Glenn and Michonne. "But we lost that window, didn't we? I'm sure he's got scouts on every road out of this place by now."

"We ain't scared of that prick," Daryl grunted, intimidatingly walking across the ledge toward his brother.

"Y'all should be," Merle said. "That truck through the fence thing, that's just him ringing the doorbell. We might have some thick walls to hide behind, but he's got the guns and the numbers. And if he takes the high ground around this place, shoot, he could just starve us out if he wanted to."

"God your voice is irritating," Kloe glared, speaking her thoughts.

"He's got a point," Daryl remarked, making Kloe roll her eyes.

"You know, Merle, if it wasn't for you, we wouldn't be in this situation right now. Thanks for that." She sent the man a tight-lipped fake smile, instantly dropping it as she rolled her eyes back over to the group.

"What difference whose fault it is?" Beth stepped forward, stopping at the top of the steps beside Carol. "What do we do?" she questioned as she walked down the metal steps.

"I said we should leave," Hershel raised his voice. "Now Axel's dead. We can't just sit here." Rick, who only stared at the man, spun on his heel and began walking away from the group, only to be stopped by the old man. "Get back here!" he yelled, standing up. He limped his way over to the Grimes man. "You're slipping, Rick. We've all seen it. We understand why. But now is not the time. You once said this isn't a democracy. Now you have to own up to that. I put my family's life in your hands. So get your head clear and do something."

...

"Welcome home, Dixon," Kloe greeted sarcastically through the wall. She was in her cell by herself, Daryl's being beside hers. "How was your one day off from the prison? D'you have fun with big brother Merle?"

He stayed silent as he let out a grunt. Rolling her eyes, Kloe stood to her feet as she stepped out of her cell, her arms crossed over her chest as she slowly trod over to Daryl's cell. He sighed as he lifted his eyes to the doorway, spotting the young woman. "What do you want, Kloe?"

"Answers," she didn't take a second to reply, now staring at the man with an unamused expression plastered across her face. "I wanna know why you left us for him."

"Well I'm back now aren't I?" he threw his legs off the bed, sitting up as he set down an arrow he was fidgeting with. "Why does it matter?"

"Because not only did you leave us, your group, you left us for Merle," she retorted, gesturing down toward the man that was below them.

"I left because he's my brother. My blood," he grumbled, getting up to his feet to stand in front of the woman. "You would do the same thing if it was your brother."

"Not if he tortured two of my friends that are family," she shook her head, squinting her eyes at the man as she stepped forward. "He tortured Glenn and I, Daryl. And 'cause we escaped, you- you knew that the Governor would retaliate on us!"

"Good thing I came back in time then!" he snapped back. "We're back now, and we're staying here."

"You shouldn't have brought Merle back with you," Kloe stated through gritted teeth. "He did unforgivable things. I don't care if he's your brother - you're nothing like him, Daryl."

"Then you're gonna have to suck it up and deal with it, 'cause he's staying," Daryl sneered.

"You have no idea what he did, do you?" Kloe replied, her nose beginning to burn. "Want me to list? Okay. First off, beat the shit out of Glenn. Secondly, wiped Glenn's blood all over me before slicing open my leg and cutting open my lip. Thirdly, threw a walker at Glenn while he was still taped to the chair. Then sent the Governor into my room, and he did things. Things that will now always be embedded in my mind. And you wanna know the worst part, Daryl? Your brother stood outside of the room, listening to the things the Governor was doing to me. How can you still trust him and leave us for him?"

"I'll never forgive him for that, you know that Klo. But he's my brother that I thought was dead," he reasoned. "I didn't want to leave him."

"Well you made the wrong damn choice," she growled. "You know, I was just beginning to see you as family - an archer buddy. But hey, guess I can never be right on everything, huh?"

"Kloe-"

"No," she interrupted him, raising her hands to stop him. "You're an asshole, just like your brother. If you want to stay with your abusive brother, then fine. Go ahead. But that makes you no better than him. Maybe you two really are the same."

With that, she stormed out of the cell and back into hers, her hands trembling from the rage.

...

After thirty minutes of taking deep breaths to calm down, the youngest Schmidt decided to talk with one of the newest members of the group, Brianna. The girl that she hadn't spoken to yet.

She lightly pushed open the metal steel bar door to the cell where the teenager was. Brianna's head snapped up to the doorway, and there stood Kloe.

She swung her legs off her bed as she sat up. Her mother was outside with Maggie on watch, so Brianna had stayed inside. "Hi, Brianna," Kloe greeted with a small smile on her lips as she slowly stepped toward her.

"Hi," Brianna hesitantly replied, her voice croaky from underuse. Kloe flicked her dark brown eyes between the Parson teen and a stool beside her bed, mentally asking if she could sit. Brianna nodded, making Kloe scoot over to it.

"I wanted to give this back to you," Kloe said as she sat down, pulling out an accustomed dagger that was in her belt. It was the one Brianna had thrown at her head, just mere inches away from killing her. Although, right before Kloe could give the dagger over to the teenager, gold metallic ink caught her eye on the handle. "B.S..." she muttered with a frown before looking back up at Brianna, who had a nervous expression. "Bullshit?" Kloe dumbfoundedly asked.

Brianna took the dagger immediately, hiding the writing with her palm. "N- no. It doesn't mean that," she answered, her raven brown hair falling onto her face as she looked down. "It's a long story."

Not wanting to push the girl, Kloe shrugged the confusion away and leaned back. "I was meant to give it back to you yesterday when the Governor attacked, but it completely vanished from my mind. Sorry."

"No. I'm sorry, Kloe," Brianna corrected, shaking her head at the Schmidt woman. Kloe's brows deepened with confusion again as she tilted her head. "I'm sorry for almost killing you. I know how close the dagger was to your head. I- I just thought you guys attacked us for no reason, a- and I wanted to protect my- their people that I thought were my people," she explained.

"Hey," Kloe extended out her hand, placing it on Brianna's shoulder as she rubbed it comfortingly. "I honestly don't care if you tried to kill me or not. You weren't told the full truth and like you said, you thought we attacked you. If anything, it should've been me and the group that were more careful. Besides, I forgave someone ten minutes after stabbing me."

Brianna's brows raised with surprise. "Stabbed you?" Kloe nodded, removing her hand from the teen's shoulder as she reached down for the edge of her shirt and lifted up, stopping just below her rib cage. Brianna's eyes widened as her eyes landed on a long very clear scar on the right side of Kloe's abdomen. "Woah."

"Yeah, woah," Kloe agreed, staring at her scar. After a few moments, she dropped the edge of her shirt as it covered the scar, making Brianna avert her eyes back to Kloe's. "Isabelle thought I was a walker and stabbed me, but she saved me after."

"Isabelle did that?" Brianna questioned, filled with shock. The older girl nodded, pursing her lips as the memory flooded back into her mind.

The pair stayed in silence for a few moments, not knowing what to say. Surprisingly, it wasn't awkward. The silence was comfortable, and it was needed. Neither of them knew why, it was just nice.

That was until someone broke the silence when they entered the doorway. "Girls." The pair's heads moved faster than bread popping out of a toaster, their round eyes landing on the woman that was out of breath. "Andrea's here."

Both Kloe's and Brianna's eyes widened as they stood to their feet. Vickie Parson panted as she stared at the two, motioning her head toward outside where everyone else in the prison were headed to.

Without hesitation, the three women rushed outside. Trying her best to be careful, Kloe purposely limped so she wouldn't hurt her leg. For Vickie and Brianna, seeing Andrea was like seeing someone who was just a part of the group in Woodbury. But for Kloe, she was someone that Kloe hadn't seen since the farm.

As Kloe watched everyone rush past them with their weapons, she realized that Andrea might not be there to help them, but to get info for her new boyfriend. So, with that, Kloe latched onto her bow and arrows, throwing the quiver over her shoulder as she pulled an arrow back on the bow string.

Rick, who was in front, pushed open the door, Daryl, Merle, Vickie, Zayn, Brianna, Kloe, Michonne and Beth behind as they followed him out. Carol, Jayce, Glenn, Carl and Maggie were above, aiming their guns straight ahead at the blonde woman on the field. Hershel and Isabelle stayed inside with the baby.

Kloe's eyes landed on Andrea, who had a snare pole connected to a walker that was snapping its teeth loudly. They all took cover behind a silver car, Rick gesturing to Merle to search for a sniper.

Once they got the call that it was clear, Rick, Daryl, Merle and Zayn all sped over to the gate. Beth and Brianna stayed behind at the car while Vickie, Michonne and Kloe followed the men, only to stop halfway as they raised their weapons high.

Kloe pulled back the bow string tightly, the arrow aimed directly at the walker that was attached to Andrea's snare pole. "Are you alone?" Rick questioned the woman he hadn't seen for eight months.

"Open the gate!" the blonde yelled back, growing closer and closer to the gate as nervousness ran through her veins from how close the walkers were getting to her.

"Are you alone?!" he raised his tone, pressing his back to the chain-link fence. He didn't want to open the gate if the woman wasn't alone, which was a valid reason.

"Rick!" she shouted, her eyes darting between the walkers that stumbled over to her. Beside Kloe and Vickie, they both noticed Michonne lowering her gun as she watched the woman.

Although, as they turned back to the others, Daryl knelt down, unlocking the gate with a key. He pulled it open, jogging backwards to get better range with his crossbow.

Andrea unhooked the walker from the snare pole, immediately sprinting inside. Merle slid the gate shut after her, holding a firm hold as walkers dragged their feet over to it.

"Hands up! Turn around!" Rick bellowed, earning a confused and fearful 'what'. "Turn around now!" he pushed the woman into the fence so her chest was pressed against it, her hands in the air.

Kloe gulped as she nervously lowered her bow, watching as Rick searched Andrea head-to-toe. A walker, that had spotted Andrea through the fence, threw its body against it, making her scream loudly.

"Get down," Rick ordered, throwing the woman onto the floor so she was on her knees. "Get down on the floor." He cocked his gun before continuing to search her. "I asked if you were alone," he snarled.

"I am," she responded breathlessly before Rick pulled her backpack off her shoulder. He turned to Beth and Brianna, instantly throwing the backpack over to them.

"Welcome back."

...

Rick Grimes pushed the door leading to Cell Block C, Andrea behind him along with everyone else. Her eyes landed on Carol, not taking seconds to approach her with open arms, embracing her.

Everyone else piled inside, setting down their weapons in their accustomed places. Kloe tilted her chin up, catching the eyes of Glenn who was stepping down the steps to join the group.

She looked back at the embracing friends, resting each other's heads on their shoulders. "After you saved me, we thought you were dead," Carol explained. Andrea, who had her hand on the back of Carol's head, drifted her eyes over to the group who were all watching her.

Then her eyes landed on Hershel and his one leg. "Hershel, my God," she gasped, her lips parted with shock as she stared at his stub. She then looked across at everyone again as she pulled away from the embrace. "I can't believe this. Where's Shane?" she asked, looking at Rick for answers. The group only stayed in silence, which was awkward. "And Lori?"

Both Kloe and Maggie gulped and turned to the side with guilt, both sharing glances with sadness. "She had a girl," informed Hershel. "Lori didn't survive."

"Neither did T-Dog," Maggie added.

"I'm so sorry," Andrea apologized, her eyes landing on the youngest of the group. "Carl..." she said sympathetically. He stared at her, trying his best to cover up his own sadness with strength. And it, somehow, was working. She then turned to Rick, her eyes becoming glossy. "Rick, I-" she cut herself off when Rick only avoided eye contact, sniffing. "You all live here?"

"Here and the cell block," Glenn answered, causing Andrea to whip her head over to him.

She set her eyes on the one cell block that was in front of her. "There?" she lifted her index finger and pointed over to it. Glenn responded with one single nod. "Well, can I go in?" She began stepping over, only to be stopped by the Grimes man.

"I won't allow that," he declined, standing directly in front of her so she couldn't move anywhere.

"I'm not an enemy, Rick," Andrea reasoned.

"We had that field and courtyard until your boyfriend tore down the fence with a truck and shot us up," Rick retorted, slight anger lacing in his tone.

Andrea frowned, shaking her head. "He said you fired first."

Kloe wanted to scoff and comment, but she decided not to since it would only add fuel to the fire. Rick instead decided to answer the exact thing she wanted to say. "Well, he's lying."

"He killed an inmate who survived in here," Hershel stated, making Jayce turn to the ground.

"We liked him. He was one of us," Daryl added. "Out of the six of 'em that survived, JJ over there is the only that has so far," he gestured over to the man, who was rubbing his chin as sadness was present in his eyes.

"I- I saw you there," Andrea stated, shocked. "But I- I didn't know that you were-" she stuttered, unknowing on what to say. "I didn't know anything about what Philip did to you. As soon as I found out, I came." She spun around so she wasn't just speaking to Rick and Daryl. "I didn't even know you were in Woodbury until after the shoot-out-"

"That was days ago," Glenn cut her off, a small fake smile on his lips.

"I told you, I came as soon as I could," Andrea reasoned, shifting her weight onto her left leg. Glancing away from Glenn, she spun around to face her friend, Michonne. "What have you told them?"

"Nothing," Michonne replied, resting her arm on the metal chain-link.

Andrea silently scoffed, turning her eyes to the Parson family that were only standing a meter beside Michonne. "You were both at Woodbury too. You were there shooting at them too."

"And then I realized I was on the wrong side when I saw two beaten young adults," Vickie retorted, gesturing over to Glenn and Kloe. "One of them being someone I knew for a long time when she was just a child."

Andrea's bright blue eyes gradually grew wide when she realized that Vickie had known Kloe, swiftly looking over at the young woman who now had her arms folded over her chest. "I don't get it. I left Atlanta with you people and now I'm the odd man out?"

"He almost killed Michonne and he would've killed us," Glenn stated. He began to continue his reasoning, only to be interrupted by the blonde woman's sudden outburst.

She raised her index finger toward Merle Dixon. "With his finger on the trigger. Isn't he the one that kidnapped you?! Who beat you?!" Kloe's muscles tensed up at the woman's loud tone, although, was she wrong? No. It was true. Andrea, who realized she had gotten too angry, exhaled heavily as she rubbed her face. "Look. I cannot excuse or explain what Philip has done. But I am here trying to bring us together. We have to work this out."

Kloe felt like laughing with sarcasm. There was no way she was ever going to be pals with the Governor or the people that helped him keep her and her boyfriend hostage. Rick, who had the same idea, shook his head firmly. "There's nothing to work out. We're gonna kill him. I don't know how or when, but we will."

"We can settle this," Andrea tried to reason with the man. "There is room at Woodbury for- for all of you."

The eldest Dixon chuckled. "You know better than that." Vickie hated to admit it, but she agreed with Merle. There was no way in hell the Governor was going to want to work things out with Rick. And Rick had the same thought.

Hershel sighed. "What makes you think this man wants to negotiate? Did he say that?" he pondered.

"No," she answered simply.

"Then why did you come here?" Rick wondered, having the same thought as everyone else did in the room. Why did Andrea come there if she knew she technically wasn't supposed to be?

"Because he's gearing up for war," she announced, making Kloe's arms drop to her sides nervously. "The people are terrified. They see you as killers. They're training to attack."

"I'll tell you what," Daryl spoke up, catching the blonde woman's attention. "Next time you see Philip, you tell him I'm gonna take his other eye."

Zayn pouted and nodded in agreement. "And while Daryl does that, I'll chop off his filthy hands so he can't go touching people without their permission." Kloe felt a pit form in her stomach, but the statement only confused the blonde.

Glenn clenched his jaw, taking a deep breath before speaking up. "We've taken too much shit for too long. He wants a war? He's got one," he stated sharply.

Andrea's mouth was open to retort, but she couldn't find the words. She only stuttered. She snapped her neck over to the leader of the group. "Rick. If you don't sit down and try to work this out, I don't know what's gonna happen. He has a whole town," she warned. The blonde went back to look at everyone again. "Look at you... You've lost so much already. You can't stand alone anymore."

"You want to make things right, get us inside," Rick insisted. He wasn't giving in. Not after what the Governor had done to him and his friends that were like family.

"No," she declined, shaking her head.

"Then we've got nothing to talk about," he brushed past her.

"There are innocent people!" Andrea snapped over him, scoffing when Rick pulled open the door into the cell block. Everyone watched as he left the room, leaving them in complete silence.

...

The group kept their eyes trained on Andrea as she climbed into the car Jayce had gotten for her. She had stayed for around thirty minutes, saying hello to everyone she once knew back at the farm.

Rick handed over a pocket knife and a gun to the woman who took them. Kloe's eyes flickered to the ground with somewhat sadness. Her and Andrea seemed distant, but it was still like seeing an old close friend. They both had a good relationship back in Atlanta, and it hurt Kloe to realize that it would've never been the same again.

She started the engine, pushing her foot down slowly as the car moved forward. The group followed behind it, their large guns held tight in their arms with cautiousness. They didn't feel safe whenever they stepped out into broad daylight, so they kept guns on them at all times to feel protected.

Merle pulled open the gate, yelling the word go to the woman as she drove the car forward, into the field filled with the undead. Kloe blinked sadly as she watched the car fade away into the distance.

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words: 3797
23rd october 2022
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SORRY I TOOK SO LONG TO UPDATE! i was on vacation and never found time to sit down and write. but here's this chapter :)
i feel like from now, kloe and daryl's relationship is only going to improve which i'm super excited for