Bambi Listens To Cleo’s Explanation

Cleo then took a deep breath, before recollecting herself. "I'll tak about that later."

"But for now, I'm more interested in why an Omega, someone who is supposed to be powerless, has a Trait; a superpower, you could say," Cleo stared into Bambi's eyes. "Not to mention a Trait that is as valuable as something that could heal cancer."

Bambi was taken aback. "Wa-Wait. Cancer? Alex -Your daughter has cancer?" he asked, his voice laced with concern and fear. 

Then, it all clicked for him. He finally understood why Cleo had taken such a risk.

"That makes so much sense," Bambi said, still in shock. The pieces of the puzzle started to come together in Bambi's mind. He understood why Cleo had been so desperate to find him.

"You're not crazy."

"No, all that talk about you risking your daughter's life to prove a point is bullshit."

"Excuse me?" Cleo raised an eyebrow. 

"No, this isn't who you are," Bambi breathed out, holding his hair up his forehead. "Y-You're not a psycho. You weren't risking your daughter's life just so that you could be proven right."

"N-No, you needed to be sure that you were right, didn't you?" Bambi said. 

"I don't know what you're talking about," Cleo replied.

Bambi's head ached. "You had to be right since if you weren't, your daughter would have died right then and there."

"And, whatever you say to me, you would have burned the whole world down if that happened."

Cleo tried to chip in. "I-"

"I've seen that same look," Bambi gazed gently into Cleo's scarlet eyes and saw a hint of warmth inside them. "A mother's love. A father's concern."

Bambi's mind was reeling from all of the new information. "That's why you took such a risk. To save your daughter," Bambi repeated, his voice laced with understanding.

Cleo remained silent, a mix of emotions crossing her face. Bambi could tell that she was struggling with her own thoughts and feelings.

"You hoped that I had a Trait. You wished that I saved your daughter from cancer," Bambi continued, his voice filled with understanding.

Cleo averted her eyes for a split second. 

"Don't look away," Bambi slowly got up, looking straight into Cleo's deep, red eyes. "I'm right, aren't I?"

"That's why you brought me here," Bambi said. "After all, in this entire world, who else but me could have cured cancer?" 

Then, everything finally fell into place for Bambi. "That's why you were watching me all that time, as you've said."

"To save my daughter," Cleo confirmed, her gaze softening as she stared at Bambi. "Yes."

Bambi nodded, understanding now why he was constantly being monitored and tested. "And you were willing to do anything, even use me, just to ensure that your daughter would live."

"Yes," Cleo's expression was pained as she spoke. " . . .Fuck. The years must have gotten to me if someone who's as much of a dunce as you figured me out."

For now, Bambi didn't take offense to that. He was about to say something but Cleo motioned to a nearby chair with a serious look on her face.

"Take a seat."

"But I-"

"Take a seat."

Bambi furrowed his brow, wondering what she was about to say. He took a seat across from Cleo at a small wooden table.

Cleo took her own seat, before pressing her fingers together, something that she always did when she was about to speak about something serious. 

"What's wrong?" He asked, concern evident in his voice.

Cleo took a deep breath, and another, and one more before launching into her story. "We didn't know what to do."

"We didn't know where to go," Cleo said. "An Alpha? Yeah, that's what we were but we were as lost as everyone else when this first started."

"Well, we adapted earlier than anyone else, but that's beyond the point."

Cleo closed her eyes, before opening them again, her scarlet eyes still glowing. "As I've told you before, my daughter and I were branded Alpha when the meteor struck. We were made anew, with new flesh that could handle the burden of an Alpha's might, and bones that could easily withstand multiple shots from a .44 bullet."

"And, yet my daughter-" Cleo stopped, her voice nearly breaking. This was the first time Bambi had seen the mighty Cleo so defenseless and fragile. "Alex's cancer still followed her."

Bambi's eyes widened in realization. "I'm so sorry, Cleo."

Cleo took a deep breath before continuing with her effort to keep her daughter alive. She told him about the medicine she had scoured abandoned pharmacies for, but how it had never been enough to really help her daughter. And then, just when she was about to give up, she revealed the one glimmer of hope she had.

"That brat - Apollo should have been dead." Cleo growled out. "I cut a fucking gash across his stomach to the point his intestines should have spilled out."

"Now imagine my surprise when I saw him walking around as if he didn't have both his feet in the grave a few days ago," Cleo said, her voice filled with wonder. "And that's when it clicked. If someone could heal such a life-threatening injury in just a couple of days, then surely they could help my daughter."

"Surely, my daughter could still live."

Bambi listened intently as Cleo recounted her tireless search for the healer and her eventual discovery that the healer was an Omega. At this, Bambi's eyebrows shot up in surprise. 

"I knew it was a long shot," Cleo continued, "but I couldn't let this opportunity pass me by. So I searched, and searched, and searched until my eyes nearly bled."

Bambi's mind raced as Cleo's words sunk in. He didn't even notice Cleo in her search for him.

"Then, I found something."

"That brat, whenever he conquered another cove, the first thing he always did was lining up the Omegas before he took a good look at their face, and scent."

"Why would someone like him who had a harem of Omegas do something like that?" Cleo's eyes lit up with hope for a brief second, as if she could vividly still feel it. 

"An Omega."

"An Omega was the one that had healed him." Cleo chuckled briefly. It sounded exactly like a woman's laughter should.

"One search and the next, and what did I find?" Cleo said. "A little Omega hiding in an alleyway from a dozen Walkers he somehow pissed off, while healing a bite on his right ankle."

"A green glow," Cleo's scarlet eyes locked in on Bambi, before pointing at him with her long, single digit. 

"I found you."