WHITE FLAG

chapter twelve : little girl
{ season two - episode one }

THE THOUGHT OF a young girl roaming around the woods, struggling to find her way back to her mother, was all that was running through Kloe's mind. A twelve-year-old girl was by herself, dodging every walker that spotted her. There was also another thought; the mother. The mother of the girl had stained tears on her cheeks and her eyes were red and puffy from all the worry.

Kloe's legs swung back and forth while she sat on a pale yellow car's hood. She watched everybody run around, sorting things out; doing their chores. Shane had given her the chore of cooping out supplies from a section of cars, but she was speedy and finished it quickly.

"Why aren't we all out there looking?" Carol asked, stepping closer to an occupied Dale, "Why are we moving cars?" Even from a distance, Kloe could hear the worry and sadness in Carol's voice.

Dale lifted his chin and looked across at her, "We have to clear enough room so I can get the RV turned around as soon as it's running. Now that we have fuel, we can double back to a bypass that Glenn flagged up on the map."

The younger Schmidt glanced up, noticing everyone making their way towards the RV with supplies and whatnots. She quickly hopped off the car hood, her bow tightly in the palm of her hand, and made her way towards them too.

Shane appeared from one of the cars and looked at the two. "Going back's going to be easier than trying to get through this mess." Kloe's head subconsciously turned to the group again as they stumbled closer. Lori had a basket of supplies that she had found from the cars, her son directly next to her. A few meters behind, Glenn and Andrea walked by; Glenn had nothing, but Andrea had a basket full of supplies just like Lori did.

"We're not going anywhere till my daughter gets back," Carol calmly remarked. Kloe felt her heart shatter, all she wanted was to try and look for the girl. In her torn apart heart was a mix of anger and sorrow. She was angry that everyone in this group was thinking about leaving already, while Carol, Rick, Daryl and her thought otherwise.

"Hey, that goes without saying," Lori calmly rubbed the woman's shoulder with her hand, comfortingly nodding.

"Look, Rick and Daryl, they're on it, okay?" Shane reassured, his eyebrows weren't raised for once. And for the first time; he didn't look intimidating and instead looked calm. "Just a matter of time."

Just as Kloe was about to go back to sitting on the car hood, Glenn and Andrea stepped over. "Can't be soon enough for me," Andrea tossed over a filled up plastic water bottle to Glenn, who caught it with one hand and examined it. "I'm still freaked out from that herd that passed us by," she twisted the bottle cap and brought it to her dry lips, "or whatever you call it."

"Yeah, what was that?" Glenn asked barely above a whisper as Carol stepped away. "All of them just marching along like that?" his eyes lifted to Shane's for an answer.

"A herd," Shane repeated, glancing up at Andrea, "that sounds about right." There was a silent pause for a moment, the sound of only bugs flying by in the air. "We've seen it. It's like the night camp got attacked. Some wandering pack, only fewer." The memories flooded back into Kloe's mind - the death, the blood, the nightmares that were waiting to haunt us that very night. "Okay," Shane cleared his throat, "come on, people. We still got a lot to do. Kloe, I'll give you another section of cars to clear out, you're quick with doing these things. Let's stay on it. Let's go, come on."

...

It was about the fourth time Kloe checked the same cars, the section Shane gave her was too small. Although, she wanted to distract herself so she wasn't completely annoyed with it. She managed to fill a basket full of supplies from the cars; enough to last the group for at least a week or two.

"How many times have you checked these cars?" an unexpected voice asked. "I swear I've seen you check them over and over again," Glenn stood by the brunette girl's side, looking at the full basket.

"Four times," she huffed, tracing her fingers over the supplies, "I'm just trying to keep my mind distracted, but it's not working," she pursed her lips tightly, glancing up at Glenn who was already watching her.

"You worry too much, but it's reasonable. I know you, and I know that you would do anything to protect her," he sympathetically smiled, rubbing a hand on her now relieved shoulder. The edges of her lips tilted upwards as the two smiled at each other. "Did you find anything useful?" he asked, breaking the comfortable silence.

"Yeah, I guess," she nodded, glancing back down at all the products she had found. "Just some snacks, hand gel and, uh..." she reached down for her pocket, gripping onto something similar. She pulled out a small pocket knife, one that had a wooden handle and had a few words written across it. "Your patience is your power," she read out. She looked up at Glenn with a side smile, "It's really weird, but I like the flower on it."

She handed over the pocket knife into the boy's palm, who stared at every detail the wood had carved into it. "I like it, it's really nice," he smiled and passed back the knife. "Your patience is your power..." he repeated, "very motivational."

The brunette girl playfully hit the Korean's arm with the back of her hand as a laugh produced in her chest. She swiftly placed the knife back into her belt and grasped onto the full basket. She began to move closer to the frenzy of cars where Glenn had pointed, knowing his presence was behind her.

"Random question..." Glenn started, Kloe still continuing to walk as she looked over her shoulder to look at him, "but, uh, do you remember anything from the night at the CDC?" Kloe felt her teeth immediately dig into her cheek at the question.

"Not even gonna lie, not really," she answered honestly with a small laugh. "Let me guess, you remember?"

Unable to hold back a grin, he nodded his head, "I was drunk, you were drunk. Overall, it was kind of amusing."

"How so?" she questioned, the same grin that was forming on Glenn's lips was appearing on hers.

"You randomly started throwing sly flirts at me." Instantly, Kloe snorted and her eyes sealed shut with embarrassment. "You were saying things like, 'why did my brother never tell me how good you look?' Or something like that," he laughed, the same amused grin was still etched across his face. "Don't worry though, my drunk side threw them back too."

"Oh God," she cringed. "Don't ever let me drink wine again. I just go from being very stupid to embarrassing," she started to walk again, stepping over some things that were abandoned in the middle of the road.

There was that same comfortable silence. Kloe lifted her head up to the sky - the clouds were blocking the now setting sun, it was now evening. Absentmindedly, she stopped in her tracks while she observed the white puffy clouds. She watched as they moved slowly with the wind, blowing to the left. "I've noticed ever since I met you that you love to look at the clouds," Glenn commented, stopping by her side and gazing up to the sky. "You act like the sky helps you clear your mind or something."

A small smile levitated upwards as she continued to stare up, the cool breeze blowing against her dark raven hair, "Yeah." She lowered and rotated her head to the side, noticing Glenn's clear jawline, which caused small butterflies to flutter in her stomach. Reluctantly, she glanced back up to the sky, setting her eyes on the moving clouds.

"Did you have a good time, though?" Glenn suddenly asked, continuing to look at the clouds. A small smile grew on her lips from his warm, comforting tone.

"Yeah, I did," she honestly answered. She tilted her head towards the boy again, searching his dreamy dark brown eyes, "Did you?"

Glenn's eyes met hers as he motioned his head over to her, he had the same sheepish grin plastered across his face. He instantly nodded his head, "Yes. I enjoyed that night a lot, actually."

Unable to hold back the urge, the girl wrapped her arms around Glenn. She rested her chin against his shoulder and sealed her eyelids. Her heart melted a little as she felt his arms wrap tightly around her and leaned his own chin against her shoulder.

"You're nice to hug," she whispered, melting in his embrace.

...

The sun had gotten lower and lower and there still was no sign of Rick, Daryl and Sophia. Kloe's heart began to pound with the long wait. She stood beside Carol, who was staring into the woods, hoping that her daughter would return soon.

It had maybe been an hour since Glenn and Kloe looted an area of cars, it only took them around thirty minutes. There wasn't really much to take, half of the cars were practically filled with family photos and jewelry. Sometimes she wondered if some of these cars weren't here because of the sudden outbreak; but they were leaving for a different reason.

"It's late," Carol suddenly spoke, resulting in Kloe breaking out of her thoughts and turning her head toward the woman. Kloe noticed Andrea had walked over to them and sympathetically gazed into Carol's eyes, "Gonna be dark soon."

Andrea rubbed her hand against the woman's back, "They'll find her," she assured before spinning her head over to Dale with slight annoyance.

In the corner of Kloe's eyes, the elder Schmidt was having trouble lifting up a basket full of food. Without hesitation, she made her way over to him and began to help, "Here, let me help," she extended an arm to one end of the basket, which steadied the struggle.

"Thanks," he quickly smiled, lifting the basket up to place the items next to a forming pile that the others were making.

"Where's my gun?" Kloe's attention got brought to Andrea, who was looking deadly serious into the elderly man's eyes. "You have no right to take it."

Glenn immediately stepped away, not wanting to get involved. Kloe tried her best to not listen in, but it was the only sound that was producing on that highway. Instead, she made her way over to the others and helped them move all the gear and supplies.

"How long do you think these will last?" a young voice asked from behind the brunette young adult. She spun on her heel, spotting Carl. "Days? Weeks? Or months?" he had the same inquiry in his voice that she was always used to. He would always ask the older members of the group questions, and sometimes they hadn't gotten the answer.

"Maybe two or three weeks?" Kloe guessed, scanning her eyes over the scattered supplies. "The food will run out pretty quick since there's a lot of us. The water will for sure run out sooner than later, and everything else should last us a good while."

"Three weeks? I was thinking of four," Glenn suddenly spoke up, who had a red basket full of cardboard cereal boxes. "I lived in a house with four other people and one box of cereal would last at least a week; we have, uh, nine boxes. And may I add the rest of the food we have?"

Kloe pouted her lips, nodding in agreement. "What he said," her head quickly whipped over to Dale, Andrea and Shane. Andrea had the same annoyance in her features, Shane had a look of calmness and Dale had the look of guilt or some sort.

Kloe glanced over at Glenn, who was already looking in the same direction she was previously looking in. As Andrea began to walk away, he stepped over and it looked like he was watching her, but he saw something else. "Oh, God, they're back," he dropped the basket gently as Kloe's head turned to where she saw Rick and Daryl return, but no Sophia.

A lump formed in her throat as her stomach began to twist. Carol began to shake with worry. "You didn't find her?" her voice shook, holding back the tears.

"Her trail went cold," Rick climbed over the metal railing. Kloe ducked her head to the ground, trying her best not to release a tear. "We'll pick it up again at first light," he said, attempting to calm the poor mother down.

"You can't leave my daughter out there on her own to spend the night alone in the woods," she reasoned, soft whimpers escaping her chapped lips. Kloe quickly stepped over to the panicked woman and settled her hand onto her shoulder in a comforting way.

"Out in the dark's no good," the Dixon shook his head, his crossbow strapped across his shoulder. "We'd just be trippin' over ourselves. More people get lost."

"But she's twelve. She can't be out there on her own," the woman cried louder, her eyes setting onto Rick, "You didn't find anything?" Lori placed both of her hands onto Carol's back, knowing that she needed to know that all of the group are here for her and they'd be there no matter what.

"I know this is hard. But I'm asking you not to panic. We know she was out there."

"And we tracked her for a while," Daryl added.

The Grimes man shifted his eyes to the rest of the group, "We have to make an organized effort. Daryl knows the woods better than anybody. I've asked him to oversee this."

Wishing she hadn't, Carol glanced down at the blood on Daryl's jeans that had stains with a mixture of dirt and blood, "Is that... blood?" Daryl looked down at his pants and bit onto his bottom lip. Kloe's heart fell into the pit of her stomach as Carol began to breathe heavily with panic.

"We took down a walker," Rick nodded.

"Walker? Oh my God," she whispered, shutting her eyes firmly. Kloe couldn't tell if she was relieved or even more worried than she was before.

"There was no sign it was ever anywhere near Sophia," Rick comforted, kneeling down slightly so he was the same height as the woman.

"How can you know that?" Andrea queried, her voice filled with query. She stared deeply into the man's ocean blue eyes, searching for an answer.

The Grimes man parted his lips, staring into space. He hesitated for a moment, so he turned to Daryl, signaling him to answer for him. "We cut the son of the bitch open, made sure," Daryl admitted.

Carol steadied her breathing, slowly beginning to place herself down on the metal railing Rick had just climbed over. Lori sat down beside her and placed her arms onto the woman to try and comfort her more. Carol gazed up at Rick with not sadness, but slight anger, "How could you just leave her out there to begin with?" There was no answer. "How could you just leave her?"

"Those two walkers were on us," Rick reasoned as Shane stood by his side, rubbing his dark brown hair. "I- I had to draw them off. It was her best chance."

"Sounds like he didn't have a choice, Carol," Shane softly defended.

"How was she supposed to find her way back on her own? She's just a child," she cried, her voice shaking with tears, "she's just a child."

Rick knelt down onto his knees, resting his head in his hand as he searched for an answer, "It was my only option. The only choice I could make."

"I'm sure nobody doubts that," Shane defended again, pursing his lips into a straight line. There was silence for a short while, the only sound being the bugs flying around in the dead air.

Kloe rested her eyes onto the male that stood next to her, Zayn. Without realizing, he had been rubbing his thumb on her shoulder for support. He knew how much his sister cared for Sophia, and he knew how much this was hurting her. She knew she wouldn't be able to sleep that night, all she wanted to do at that moment was run and run in search of the little girl.

"My little girl got left in the woods," Carol whimpered, impotent to hold back the tears. She looked back and forth between the ground and everybody else. A part of Kloe wanted to sit next to her and let all of the tears out.

It wasn't long before Rick stood up and began walking off into a different direction, away from us all. Andrea sat down beside the Peletier woman, wrapping an arm around her for more comfort.

The younger Schmidt abruptly wiped away a tear that dripped down her cheek with the back of her hand. She stared at the ground and just hoped that Sophia would have found somewhere safe.

...

It was the next morning and everyone stood around a car where Rick rolled out a pile of knives and machetes. "Everybody take a weapon," he ordered, shifting his weight onto his other foot. He was wearing his usual sheriff clothes, but held his hat in his free hand.

Andrea's eyebrows quickly furrowed as she examined the pile. "These aren't the kind of weapons we need," she shook her head in disbelief and glanced up at Rick. "What about guns?" she placed a hand on her hip, her eyes setting on Shane.

"We've been over that," Shane spoke up. He was leaned up against the RV in the shade from the beaming sun. Kloe watched as Lori stepped forward, gripping onto a machete from the pile. "Daryl, Rick and I are carrying. We can't have people popping off rounds every time a tree rustles."

"It's not the trees I'm worried about," Andrea rolled her eyes, watching Glenn take out a machete pro.

"Say somebody fires at the wrong moment, a herd happens to be passing by," Shane raised his voice lightly, getting annoyed with Andrea's talk backs. "See, then it's game over for all of us. So you need to get over it." Andrea glared at the man, but reluctantly accepted by saying nothing more.

"The idea is to take the creek up about five miles, turn around and come back down the other side," Daryl explained, transferring his eyes across the group. "Chances are she'll be by the creek. It's her only landmark," he began to walk away, his hands tightly gripped onto his crossbow that was wrapped around his shoulder.

"Stay quiet and stay sharp," Rick added on. "Keep space between you but always stay within sight of each other."

Shane flipped the filled water bottle in his hand as he glanced up at everyone. "Everybody assemble your packs," he ordered.

Rick slowly turned around and walked over to Dale, who was seated on the steps of his RV. "Dale," the older man snapped up his eyes, "keep on those repairs. We've got to get this RV ready to move."

Unamused by the small conversation Rick and Dale were making, Kloe walked over to the pile of snacks and water bottles the group had formed the afternoon before. Glenn appeared by her side and extended his arm with the machete pro he had picked up. "Look how cool this is," he said in awe, like a little kid who had just finished building some sort of lego.

"You're lucky that I found this knife," she pulled out the knife that had the small flower print etched into it, "otherwise I would've taken that," she teased, finding it somewhat hard to hide a grin.

"And I wouldn't have allowed it," Glenn gleamed triumphantly, tossing the machete pro hand to hand. Glenn's proud smile soon turned into a look of worry as he looked into my eyes, "You look tired. Did you not get any sleep last night?"

"Nope," she shook her head, blinking back the tiredness. "My mind was just set on Sophia the entire night, and it didn't help that Dale snores super loud," she chuckled. The last few days since the CDC, Kloe had to sleep in the RV where around five others also slept. It was very cramped, she thought she would've preferred sleeping outside on the rock hard floor.

"How are you gonna walk through the woods all day if you didn't get any sleep?" he asked with concern. "It won't even be an hour and Zayn will be complaining that his feet hurt and he slept just fine last night."

"Eh," she shrugged. "I used to have insomnia when I was a teen. I'm sure I'll be fine," she assured, continuing to fill her backpack with snacks.

"What do you think is gonna happen? I'm gonna stick it in my mouth and pull the trigger the second you hand it to me?" Andrea's voice sounded through the air, causing Glenn and Kloe to set their attention onto her and Dale.

"I know you're angry at me. That much is clear," Dale stated in a low, calm voice, "But if I hadn't done what I did, you'd be dead now." The younger Schmidt swallowed thickly at where the conversation was going.

"Jenner gave us an option. I chose to stay," Andrea said quietly.

"You chose suicide," Dale corrected, Kloe wished she could've seen the look on his face, but she couldn't because his back was turned to her. She could only see Andrea.

"What's that to you? You barely know me," Andrea snapped, her eyebrows permanently stuck together.

"I know Amy's death devastated you-"

"Keep her out of this," Andrea told, cutting the older man off. She stared her ocean blue eyes into his dark brown ones. "This is not about Amy. This is about us. And if I decided that I had nothing left to live for, who the hell are you to tell me otherwise? To force my hand like that?" Tears sprung into her eyes and her face turned red from the upcoming tears.

"I saved your life," Dale confusedly stated.

"No, Dale. I saved yours. You forced that on me," Andrea corrected him. "I didn't want your blood on my hands and that is the only reason I left that building. What did you expect? What, I'd have some kind of epiphany? Some life-affirming catharsis?"

Dale shrugged, "Maybe just a little gratitude."

Andrea's eyes widened at the man's suggestion. "Gratitude?" her glassy eyes flickered between Dale's eyes, searching them. "I wanted to die my way, not torn apart by drooling freaks. That was my choice," her bottom lip began to quiver, which made Kloe want to run up to her and throw her arms around her, to tell her that she was there for her no matter what. "You took that away from me, Dale."

"But-" he shook his head.

"But you know better?" her lips tightened into a straight line. "All I wanted after my sister died was to get out of this endless horrific nightmare we live everyday. I wasn't hurting anyone else. You took my choice away, Dale. And you expect... gratitude?" a single tear left her left eye, but didn't run down, instead it stayed there on her cheek.

"I don't know what to say," Dale stated mindlessly.

"I'm not your little girl. I'm not your wife. And I am sure as hell not your problem. That's all there is to say," she walked away, taking the lead of the group as the rest of them followed suit.

Kloe threw her backpack over her shoulder and leant down to grab hold of her bow. She made sure she had the right amount of arrows. From all the scavenging the day before, she had more than enough to last.

She looked ahead, noticing Glenn had already left and began to follow the rest of the people. She peered over her shoulder, looking at the two men who decided to stay behind - Dale and T-Dog. T-Dog had gotten a pretty bad scratch from one of the cars, so he had a bandage on his arm.

The younger Schmidt sent a quick smile to the two men, "Stay safe."

Dale nodded, still a little taken back from the argument he had with Andrea, "Be careful, Klo."

"Always," she nodded, starting to jog over to the rest of the group.

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Words: 4091
- 10th January 2022

Hey everyone! How is 2022 going so far? I'm sorry this chapter took a while to release, I've been really busy and had a friend who had been round mine catch COVID, so my panicked self hasn't been doing well lately, but it's all good.

I hope you liked this chapter!!