WHITE FLAG

chapter thirty-five : minus a leg
{ season three - episode two }

"THIS WAY! THIS way!"

"No, no, no, back! Back!" Glenn pointed in the other direction as they searched for the arrows on the wall. Rick, Zayn, and Maggie spun on their heels, pushing the metal table that Hershel was laid on, unconscious. Glenn was behind them, his machete raised high in case they ran into any more walkers.

Daryl and Kloe were of course at the front as Rick yelled out their names after laying his eyes on two walkers that happened to walk into them. They both took it down at the same time, giving them a clear path for the metal table.

"Come on!" Daryl ushered, stepping off to the side to allow the group to go through first with the metal table, knowing that the exit was at the end of the hallway.

Kloe's stomach twisted with anxiousness, knowing that Hershel could possibly die and turn. Since she was at the back of the group now, she froze in place after hearing commotion behind her. She turned around, noticing the shadows of the five prisoners that were in the cafeteria following them.

"Ah, shit. Guys!" Kloe whisper-shouted, catching the group's attention as their face expressions dropped upon seeing the five men appear around the corner. The man at the front still aimed his gun ahead of him.

"Go, go, go, go," Daryl frantically muttered as they continued to rush forward. Kloe aimed her bow at the five men, walking backwards. Daryl jogged to the front of the group, quickly unlocking the door that led to C block, which was the block they were settling down in.

"He's losing too much blood," Maggie informed, holding her leg over Hershel's bleeding leg.

"Open the door! It's Hershel!" Rick shouted to his son who was on the other side of the door. Glenn stopped in his place, waiting for his girlfriend to step through the door that you could not see inside of.

Once he noticed her, he looked at her for a few seconds before going back to the group. Kloe lowered her bow, not taking a second to dash over to Hershel. None of them bothered to shut the metal steel door, meaning the five prisoners could enter at any given moment.

"Carl! Come on!"

The young boy pulled the door open, letting Hershel be pushed in by Rick, Maggie and Zayn. "Oh my God," Carol muttered, her hand flying to her mouth at the sight of Hershel's missing leg.

"Daddy!" Beth practically screamed, grabbing onto Carol's arm as tears formed in her eyes.

"Go, go, go, go, go! In there!" Rick pointed to a specific cell. Kloe headed inside the cell before the others could, setting up the bed for the man to lay on. She pushed up the pillow just as Rick, Zayn and Maggie wheeled him in. "He got bit."

"Oh my God. He's gonna turn," Beth sniffed, watching her father with sadness.

"Did you cut it off?" Lori questioned.

"No, Lori, he karate kicked it," Kloe sarcastically answered, frustration rushing through her veins as she grabbed some clean sheets out of a backpack, handing them over to Carol for her to wrap around the man's leg.

"Maybe you got it in time," Carol stated as she gripped onto the sheets Kloe handed her before everyone seized onto each of Hershel's limbs.

"One, two, three!" Rick counted as they all lifted him up, hastily placing him down on the bed Kloe prepared.

"I need bandages!" Carol told firmly as she pulled off the now blood stained sheets that used to be white.

"We used everything we had," Glenn stated, panting from lifting the man up.

"Well, get more! Anything!" Carol exclaimed with panic, using the same current sheets that were useless to soak up the blood, but it didn't work.

"Carl, go get the towels from the back, right next to my bed," Lori pointed, making Carl swiftly sprint over to the mentioned cell.

"Is he gonna die?" Beth asked, her bottom lip quivering as she turned to Lori who immediately cupped her face.

"No, no, no, no. He's gonna be okay. He's gonna be okay," Lori comforted, wrapping her arms around the blonde teenager. The other teenager stood in the doorway, staring at the wound on Hershel with wide eyes.

Hershel's breathing began to pace up, making everyone's nerves reach their limit. "You think you can stabilize him?" Rick asked Carol.

"I need to keep his leg elevated. Isa, can you lift the leg while someone gets a pillow?" Carol asked the teenager, who in an instant rushed forward and lifted Hershel's leg. "Get some pillows!" Carol yelled.

Rick directly hurried out of the room, going into the other cells to grab what Carol was asking for. Kloe placed her palm on her forehead out of frustration and cautiousness. "He's bled through the sheets already. We'll soon run out of sheets in no time," Kloe commented.

"We can burn the wound to clot the blood. I can start a fire," Glenn suggested, crouched down beside Hershel's head.

"No, please don't do this," Beth begged, her face scrunched up as she rocked side to side with anxiousness.

"No, we can't do that. It would put him in shock," Isabelle announced, sharing a glance with the Korean, who nodded in return.

"She's right. The shock could kill him," Carol agreed as Carl entered the room with clean white towels. Lori took them from her son and, without hesitation, placed them directly in front of Hershel's wound. "It's not gonna stop the arteries from bleeding. We need to just keep it dressed and let it heal on its own."

"Glenn, check his pulse," Kloe said as she joined Isabelle's side. Glenn nodded and placed his two fingers on the side of Hershel's neck. He felt a slight pulse, but it was extremely faint, which worried him.

His hand moved away from the elderly man's neck, turning back to his girlfriend and the rest of the group as Rick came back with a pillow. "It's faint, but it's there."

Isabelle took the pillow off of the Grimes man, promptly placing it underneath Hershel's leg. Rick leaned against the doorframe, rubbing his head. "We need to find something to patch it up with after."

"Have you checked the infirmary?" Carol questioned, earning a shake of his head from Rick. "Once we stop the bleeding, we need to patch it up fast."

Isabelle stopped. "What? No," she shook her head, the attention falling onto her. "First we need to obviously stop the bleeding which is what we are doing, then clean the wound with rubbing alcohol, then we need to disinfect it. After all of that, that's when you bandage it up. If we don't do it the correct way, he'll come down with some serious infection."

Everyone blinked as they stared at the smart teenager with shock. Carol slowly nodded her head. "That's right," she muttered. "How did you know all that? Hershel never taught us that part..."

"My mom. She was a nurse. I learned from her," Isabelle replied, starting to feel a mixture of sadness when she began to think about her mother.

Kloe's heart practically froze in place when she heard a gun click and the same voice from the man that aimed his gun at her ten minutes prior. "Hey, this is my house, my rules. I go where I damn well please."

Everyone's heads snapped over simultaneously toward the unfamiliar voice. "What was that?" Beth asked nervously.

"Prisoners, survivors," Rick responded, earning scared looks from some of the group. "It's alright. Everybody stay put," he instructed before gesturing to Glenn and Kloe to follow him. The younger Schmidt glanced up at Maggie, who had her arms wrapped around her younger sister. The older Greene sister nodded her head, motioning her to go.

Glenn and Kloe followed Rick, tracing his steps as they rushed to the door that was ajar. Carl followed the three adults as they exited the room, locking the door shut so the prisoners couldn't barge in.

"There ain't nothing for you here. Why don't you go back to your own sandbox?" The three watched Daryl, who's crossbow was aimed directly at the impatient man who aimed his gun at T-Dog.

"Hey, hey, hey!" Rick yelled, catching their attention. Glenn and Kloe stood side by side as Kloe lightly pressed her finger tips against her bow that was on her shoulder, hesitant to grab it. She held back, seeming the other four were as calm as cats sleeping. It was only the guy who Kloe would call the 'main villain' in a movie. "Everyone relax. There's no need for this."

"How many of you are in there?" The man holding the gun questioned.

"Too many for you to handle," Rick replied with narrowed eyes. The unnamed man's dark brown eyes flickered between the five others, who weren't fazed by the gun that he was holding. If anything, he was terrified at the glares that they were all sending him, but he didn't let it show.

"You guys rob a bank or something? Why don't you take him to a hospital?" He questioned them all. Kloe's eyebrows rose as high as they could go, unconvinced that the man was suggesting something beyond stupid.

"Wait, you guys don't know?" Glenn asked out of curiosity, having the same look as his girlfriend did.

"How long have you been locked in that cafeteria?" Rick inquired with a soft tone.

"Going on like ten months," he answered, shifting his grip on his gun that was still raised. Kloe's brows lowered, but were still raised. They had been in that one room for almost a year and they had no idea what was going on with the dead world.

"A riot broke out," the man, who was more muscular than the others and darker toned, at the back started. "Never seen anything like it."

"Attica on speed, man," the blonde, small guy commented.

"Ever heard about dudes going cannibal, dying, coming back to life? Crazy," the smallest of the prisoners, who was also darker toned similar to the biggest guy, spoke up. If they only knew.

"One guard looked out for us, locked us up in the cafeteria. Told us sit tight, threw me this piece, said he'd be right back," the guy at the front explained, connecting the dots for Rick and the rest.

"Yeah, and that was two-hundred and ninety-two days ago," another prisoner who looked similar to the biggest guy, except he had no hair, stated.

"Ninety-four according to my calcula-"

"Shut up!" The man holding the gun cut the blonde man off, making him look to the ground.

"We were thinking that the Army or the National Guard should be showing up any day now," one of the muscular men stated.

"There is no Army," Rick told them simply.

"What do you mean?"

"There's no government, no hospitals, no police. It's all gone," Rick informed, making Kloe purse her lips as she watched the men's faces turn into shock.

"For real?" The blonde man asked.

"Serious," Rick nodded.

"What about my moms?" The biggest guy questioned, looking down at the ground with sadness.

"My kids? My old lady?" The other muscular man stepped forward, pointing toward Rick. "Yo, you got a cell phone or something that we can call our families?"

Kloe stared down at the ground, feeling a strong wave of sympathy for the men that hadn't known all this time that their families were gone. "You just don't get it, do you?" Daryl grumbled.

Glenn, who noticed Kloe's sorrow, placed his hand on her shoulder and rubbed it gently. Rick, who also began to feel pity toward the prisoners, spoke up again. "No phones, no computers. As far as we can see, at least half the population has been wiped out. Probably more."

The man at the front slowly lowered his gun, the information hitting him and the rest of the prisoners like a ton of bricks. Silence filled the air as the prisoners stared into the air, trying to process the new information that the world had practically died.

"Ain't no way," the man at the front squinted his eyes, still unconvinced.

"See for yourself," Rick clenched his jaw, gesturing toward the outside. In an instant, the five prisoners scrambled their way outside with Daryl and T-Dog on their tails. Rick turned around to the couple who were a few meters behind him. "You can both head back in. We got it handled."

They both nodded in response as he swiftly chased the others. With that, they both went back to the cell and sat with the rest of the group.

...

Numerous towels later, they finally managed to stop Hershel's leg from bleeding. Maggie had a moment or two where she thought her father was going to pass away, but Kloe tried to change her mind, but it didn't work.

Now Maggie was talking to her younger sister, while everybody else waited for Rick. Carol, Isabelle, Zayn and Lori were watching Hershel, in case anything happened. Outside of the cell where Hershel was, Glenn and Kloe sat against the wall near the staircase.

Since everything and everyone was quiet, Kloe began to travel into her thoughts. Some things that Maggie had said earlier, set deep into her mind and began to think if she was right. There was a fifty-fifty chance that Hershel was going to survive, and that made Kloe anxious as hell.

She persevered, shaking the thoughts away, which she did. "It's been thirty minutes. What's taking them so long?" She muttered, catching Glenn's attention. Her eyes widened and she snapped her head over to her boyfriend. "What if that weird guy that kept aiming that stupid gun at us shot at T? Or Daryl? Or Rick?"

"Rick knows how to handle them," Glenn assured, placing his hand on her knee and rubbing it with his thumb. "They're fine. Trust me. Remember, we've seen Rick and his ways since we saved him at the tank."

"The tank," she remembered, getting the memory of that exact day. "Remember his nickname that he gave himself? Officer Friendly?"

"I heard my name?" Rick called out. The couple's heads whipped over to the metal bar door that Carl scrambled over to, grabbing the keys in his pocket as he unlocked the door. T-Dog and Rick held boxes and bags full of food.

Glenn and Kloe shared a look, small smiles on their faces as Glenn stood up, offering his hand to his girlfriend who gladly took it and stood up. "Food's here!" T-Dog yelled.

"What you got?" Carl questioned as he pulled the door wide open to allow the two men to step through.

"Canned beef, canned corn, canned cans," T-Dog rolled his eyes with a grin. Glenn and Kloe both walked over to the cell where Rick was headed too.

"Any change?" He asked his wife who stood in the doorway.

"Bleeding is under control and no fever," she nodded, but she instantly looked down at the ground as she began to tell him the bad news, "but his breath is labored and his pulse is way down, and he hasn't opened his eyes yet."

Rick nodded in understanding before turning his back to Glenn. "Take my cuffs and put them on him. I'm not taking any chances."

Glenn hesitantly obliged by slipping the handcuffs out of Rick's back pocket. He held them tight in his hand as Rick walked away, Lori following him after patting Glenn's arm.

He stepped inside the cell where Carol and Isabelle still were. Kloe followed suit, pressing her back against the wall at the end of Hershel's bed. Glenn cuffed Hershel's hand to the metal bar that was connected to the bed, Maggie walking in as he finished.

"What's going on?" She softly asked, not so fond of her father being cuffed.

"We had to, Maggie. Just to be safe," Kloe gently replied. Maggie sighed heavily, her eyes bright red and puffy from crying.

"You think maybe I could have a minute alone here?"

Kloe nodded, "of course."

...

Everyone stood in the cell where Hershel still hadn't woken up. Time was passing by extremely slowly, well, that's what it felt like. In reality, it was going fast, but it just felt exceedingly and exhaustingly slow. The only people who weren't in the cell were Rick, T-Dog, Daryl and Carl.

The men were teaching the prisoners how to kill walkers, while Carl was organizing the food that T-Dog and Rick brought back.

Everyone's attention was brought away from Hershel as a door squeaked open and was locked shut. Usually, they would've thought it was Rick and the others coming back, but it was coming from the opposite direction.

Glenn, who was closest to the door, peeped his head outside of it and noticed Carl walking toward them with a duffel bag. "I thought you were organizing the food," Glenn said, but Carl just smiled triumphantly.

"Even better," he replied as he neared the entrance to the cell. Glenn watched the young boy with confusion as he stepped inside the cell, dropping the duffel on the floor. "Check it out."

Maggie and Beth both leaned forward, revealing the inside of the bag. Kloe's eyes widened as she noticed all the bandages, rubbing alcohol etc. Exactly what Isabelle listed what they needed.

Isabelle's jaw dropped upon seeing the medical equipment as Carol gasped. The two pre-doctors leaned down, grabbing onto the first thing they saw. "Where did you get this?" Lori asked, curious and shocked on how her thirteen year old son managed to find medical supplies.

"From the infirmary," he answered as Maggie handed Carol bandages and Isabelle the rubbing alcohol and a cloth. Isabelle twisted the bottle open, pouring it onto the cloth and rubbing it over Hershel's wound with speed. "Wasn't much left, but I cleared it out."

Once Isabelle finished wiping down Hershel's wound, she gave the signal to Carol to bandage it up, who did. Lori stared at her son with wide eyes. "You went by yourself?"

"Yeah," he answered happily and proudly, making Maggie and Kloe snap their heads up to the young boy with even wider eyes than his mother.

"Are you crazy?" Lori questioned in a whisper, the shock in her voice was very much noticeable, as was everyone's faces.

"No big deal. I killed two walkers," Carl reasoned, perplexed why his mother was mad at him.

"You- Alright, do you see this? This was with the whole group."

"We needed supplies, so I got them," Carl reasoned, getting irritated. Kloe could easily tell where this was going.

"I appreciate that, but-"

"Then get off my back!" Carl spat in the harshest tone the group had ever heard him in.

"Carl!" Beth said, catching the boy's attention. "She's your mother. You can't talk to her like that." Carl sighed through his nose, glaring up at his mother.

"Listen, I think it's great that you wanna help-" Lori began, but cut herself off when her son ran out of the room. Kloe watched the woman look down with sadness, feeling pity for her.

There was silence for another fifteen minutes while they waited patiently for Hershel to wake up, but of course nothing happened.

"These bandages over the rubbing alcohol will help prevent infection," Carol stated, finishing up the touches of the bandage.

Glenn nodded, along with Zayn. "It's good," Glenn pursed his lips. "It's good that he taught you both this stuff."

Carol turned back around, sharing a glance with the teenager beside her. "He didn't teach us everything," she awkwardly flicked her ocean blue eyes across everyone in the room as Isabelle furrowed her brows with confusion. Carol turned back to face Glenn. "I need your help with something," she whispered.

"Now?" He questioned.

"Yeah, now."

"What is it?" Glenn continued asking, his crossed arms falling to his side.

"Not here," she whispered again, standing up and going beside the Korean. "It's important." Glenn darted his eyes between Lori, then Hershel, Maggie, Beth, Isabelle, Zayn and then his girlfriend Kloe.

"It's alright, Glenn. You can go. We've got it," Zayn said, nodding to his best friend.

"Are you sure? I don't-"

"We'll be fine," Beth assured as she took the seat beside Isabelle, who flashed her a small, warm smile.

Just as Glenn was about to speak again, his girlfriend beat him to it. "Glenn," she began, making him set his dark brown eyes on her, "we'll be fine. Carol said it's important."

...

Maggie sat with her father, staring at the ground while she waited for him to wake up. Isabelle was standing in the corner of the room, slowly shutting her eyes from the tiredness that had been thrown on her.

Although, the second she heard the wheeze in Hershel's breath come to a stop, her eyes snapped open. Maggie also noticed the breath of Hershel come to an end, making her frantically shake her father.

Beth, who was standing outside the cell with Carl, heard movement. She peeped inside, seeing Isabelle rush over to the elderly man while Maggie was shaking him with a scared expression. She hurried inside. "What's happening?"

Maggie then slowly stopped shaking him, straightening her back as she stared down at her father. Beth, who grew scared, leaned forward and began shaking him herself. "Do something! Somebody help! Somebody! Please help!"

Lori, Zayn and Kloe who were talking outside of the cell, heard Beth's loud screams, instantly running over to the cell. Lori sprinted in first, gently pushing the two teenagers out of the way as the Greene's began to cry.

Kloe froze in place, her hand settling on her mouth as her heart dropped into the pit of her stomach. Lori set the side of her head against Hershel's chest, attempting to listen for a heartbeat, but heard nothing but silence.

She paused for a moment, before pinching his nostrils and lifting his chin, doing mouth-to-mouth as she forced air into his lungs. She did it twice before placing both of her hands on his chest, pushing down over and over, attempting to restart his heart.

She leaned back in to push air through his mouth, but as soon as she did, everyone in the room jumped back when Hershel suddenly breathed and wrapped his arm around Lori's neck.

"No!" Maggie screamed, grabbing onto Lori's waist and pulling her with the help of Isabelle and Kloe. The three managed to pull the pregnant woman away as the elderly man gasped for air before going back to sleep, snoring.

All the women stood back, holding onto each other as they panted. While Carl and Zayn stood side by side. Zayn had his hands halfway in the air from the sudden jump scare, and Carl had his gun raised, pointed directly at Hershel.

Zayn glanced down at the young boy, his face immediately dropping as he let out a small yelp with surprise. "Carl Grimes, put that gun down before I take it so you'll never see it again." Carl slowly looked up at the tall man beside him, lowering his weapon.

"Better."

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words: 3763
19th july 2022
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BTW GUYS IM NOT RUSHING like im writing these the second after i publish the ones before and IT IS SO FRICKING HOT I AM NOT OKAY- UK heat waves suck ass.