Rick had given Chloe a fair warning about what had happened a few days earlier, and also advised her to keep extra bullets in her pockets from now on. Chloe agreed to it, and always made sure her rifle was loaded at all times, even when it wasn't necessary; she was lucky the situation hadn't gotten worse. Milton had warned his daughter, not to worry him like that again, or there would be consequences; which she did not want to know what they would be.
Chloe woke up one morning to find everyone outside; she walked out to the field, where Rick and Daryl were on watch. Daryl mentioned they had a few walkers near the playground, and one across the street. Rick said that they shouldn't keep their hopes up that there wouldn't be any more; they could come around at any time.
"I'd like to have one day where we don't have to see a single walker." Chloe stated.
"Well, I think it's going to be a long time before that happens." Rick replied.
"I tell you what, if I have to listen to Porter talk about his plans to save the word one more time, I swear I'm going to put an arrow in his ass." Daryl implied. "Last night, he was going on about undead dinosaurs."
"I still don't believe him." Chloe said. "But if he wants to save the world, he can. Okay, this is boring; there are a lot of things I'd rather be doing right now."
"Yeah, you're right." Rick sighed. "No use standing here if there aren't any walkers around. You and Daryl go on back; I'm gonna keep watch a bit longer."
Daryl and Chloe walked back to the parking lot. Chloe could tell the others were bored by the looks on their faces, and having to listen to Eugene's theories.
"It's like I said last night, whatever killed the dinosaurs may have caused this infection. I've been looking at fossil records."
"That information is about as useful as a loaded diaper." Chloe muttered to Daryl, who agreed with her, trying to stifle a laugh. "Hey, Porter, you might want to stop it before everyone falls asleep."
"I'm not saying that's what I believe happened." Eugene stated.
"Whatever." Chloe sighed. "You know what I think started this? The human race! We started this, and now we have to end it!"
"And how long do you think you'll last?" Abe asked. "How much longer until you get down to the last bullet, and you're surrounded by walkers? What are you going to do then?"
"I didn't ask for this!" Chloe raised her voice. "When this is over, I won't be able to go back home or back to my old life! When this ends, all the people who died during this outbreak will still be dead, and the ones who are undead will have to be killed."
"Chloe, you don't know that." Milton stated. "There could be a chance that they could be saved."
"Dad, don't start that again." Chloe said. "Oh, look we have a visitor. Hey, you undead piece of crap, come here!"
"Chloe, stop it." Andrea replied.
Chloe ignored Andrea, and stepped closer to the walker, with her knife ready.
"Come here; that's it. A little closer."
"Chloe Nora Mamet, stop it this instant." Milton warned.
Chloe stabbed the walker in the head and kicked it to the ground.
"That's what you do." Chloe replied "You can't cure these things; it would never work. Stupid things; I hate them, and I'm sick of them."
"We all are." Maggie implied. "But this is far from over."
"We'll still be a family when this is over." Glenn added.
Chloe turned away from the group; she was trying to compose herself, but couldn't. She kicked the corpse a couple of times, trying to calm herself down.
"I didn't ask for this to happen." She stated in a broken voice. "Those bastards just had to swarm out of nowhere! My mom got bit trying to give Gavin and me time to escape, but more of them came. I was going to let them have me, but no. My little brother had to let go of my hand, and he..." Chloe was unable to compose herself. "He was gone. And then Penny was shot right in front of me just a few days later. I should have taken that bullet for her."
Milton took his daughter into his arms, talking to her softly, reminding her that neither deaths were her fault. He refused to let go until she calmed down, even then she didn't want him to let go, she hugged him back.
"I love you." She whispered.
"I love you, too." he whispered back, he looked up to see Rick had come back, and had heard everything Chloe had said. Milton let Chloe go; it was time she was given a little closure. "The night after we left, after you and Penny had fallen asleep, Philip went back. He wanted to put them down if they had turned. I couldn't have done it and I didn't want to go back. I couldn't."
"Did they reanimate?" Chloe asked.
"No, Philip shot them before they even had the chance." Milton replied "He told me he buried them in the front yard. I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner. Every time I wanted to tell you, my heart would break a little."
"They're at peace." Chloe said. "I don't think I could go back. And even if I could, I don't even know if I'd want to."
"We don't have to." Milton replied. "We can go anywhere we want."
"Like New Orleans? Or Mount Rushmore?" Chloe asked. "Yellowstone?"
"Where ever you want to go." Milton replied with a smile. "And I will get you anything you want."
"A bacon jalapeno cheeseburger." Chloe said. "With a side of onion rings and a cherry limeade. And a hot fudge sundae."
"I'll see what I can do." Milton chuckled, making everyone laugh.
Chloe knew she couldn't go back to her old life; she didn't even want to leave the people she came to know as her family behind. Rick decided early on, that even after it was all over, they'd still be a family.