CHAPTER TEN

"Recovery"

Alex narrowed his eyes as he saw the cluster of people walking towards them. The gaits of their walk—and the familiarity of some of their clothing—led him to believe that they were Sage and the others returning from their run. A problem was present, though: seven had left, and there weas twice as many returning.

"Dayana!" Alex yelled, glancing over his shoulder to the group seated together, conversing amongst themselves. The dark-skinned woman got to her feet, hands immediately going to the dual Berettas on her hips.

"What's up?"

"It looks like our guys are headed back . . . but they're not alone."

Ali clambered to her feet, a look of worry on her forlorn face. "Walkers?!" her accented voice cut into the air.

"No. They look alive."

"That's a relief," Elsa murmured, a soft smile coming to her weary face.

Alex waved towards the approaching group, and Sage waved back before shouting, "Alex! We found some more survivors!"

"So I see," Alex replied, a small smile at his lips. "Did you meet any undead friends?"

"Unfortunately, yes," Sage replied. "But we all escaped unscathed." The group got close enough now where Alex was able to observe them all. He nodded to the familiar faces before looking at the ones he didn't recognize. There was a dark-skinned man with a small girl, another younger man of Asian descent, and then another young man—or, quite possibly, a teenager—with three small children. He felt a pang in his heart at the realization that these three . . . or, rather, four kids appeared to be without parents.

He could only imagine the horrors that they must've seen.

"How does the city look? Looted? Or is there possibly a bit to scavenge still?"

"Not fully looted," Sage replied, "so there might be hope to find some supplies—or possibly even a safe place to hold out for a while."

The Asian guy let out a sarcastic chuckle. "I'd hold off on that hope, Sage. Atlanta is crawling with walkers." He gestured to the other man and the little girl. "We barely made it away from that horde. Trust me, that place is a living hell."

Dayana snorted. "And who the hell are you again?"

The young guy looked as if he was insulted. "Umm . . . Glenn? Glenn Rhee?" He shook his head, as if the whole exchange caught him off-guard. "Have y'all even been in a city or anything during all this?"

"No," Ali cut in before Dayana could get a word out. In her French-accented voice, she continued, "We've been living out in the woods since we escaped our respective homes. We were camped out when a horde came upon us . . . we . . . lost some people."

A dark silence fell over the group, and Glenn scratched his head, pushing his cap forward. "I . . . erm . . . I'm sorry for that. But trust me, the city is no better. Those things are crawling all over the place. That's how I came across Lee and Clementine—I was scouting when I got cut off from my group, and—"

"Wait a minute," Allie said, her brow furrowing as she grabbed Glenn's arm and spun him around to face her. His jaw dropped and his eyes widened, as if he was afraid she was about to punch him or something. "You've got a group in there?" Glenn nodded nervously, and Allie spat a curse. "Why didn't you tell us that?"

"Because, um . . . you guys never asked?" he offered, a slim smile coming to his lips. Allie groaned as she pressed a hand to her forehead, muttering under her breath as she walked off.

"How many do you have in your group?" Sage asked, his eyes bouncing from Allie to Glenn to Alex and just about everyone else right there in the huddle.

"Five others—well, no, I guess not. There's actually, well, quite a few of us, if I'm being honest."

"Like how many?" Dayana asked; her tone of voice showed she was clearly annoyed as she frowned at Glenn. Elsa grabbed her arm and whispered into her ear, trying to calm her down.

"Um . . . hold up, give me a second. There's Shane, and Lori, and Carl, and Jim, and—"

"For crying out loud, we don't need a rundown like it's Sunday Night Football," Sam groaned, crossing his arms gruffly. The others in the group all shot a few surprising looks to him—it was one of the few times he actually spoke up fairly loudly. He noticed the glares and returned them, almost daring someone to say something about it.

"Okay," was all Glenn said, as he eyed each member of the group and his lip started to quiver. Alex sighed—the guy was nervous.

"Look, we don't exactly need an exact number," Alex cut in, crossing his arms. "Would you say it's over two dozen?"

"Oh yeah," Glenn replied, nodding hurriedly.

Alex nodded back. "Good, good." He glanced to Dayana, shooting her look as if to say "We do it this way." She simply rolled her eyes as she turned and took a few steps away, lifting her eyes up to the sky above. "Well, I know you all have to be tired after the day out in the city. We can take a little time to calm down and relax before we decide our next move."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, 'take a little time to relax'? We can't do that, my friends are out there! They're waiting for me!" Glenn said, his voice raising ever so slightly.

"I get that, I get that," Alex said, reaching a hand out as if to calm Glenn. "And we're gonna get out there to help you get back to them, but you just need to give us some time." His eyes ventured to the other members of the group. "As you can see, we've got quite a few people here. We've gotta go over things amongst ourselves."

Glenn sucked in a sharp breath before nodding. "Yeah. Yeah, I see. I got you."

"Good." Alex turned and gestured towards the heart of their temporary camp. "Now, everyone take a seat. We've got a lot to talk about, and not a whole lot of time."

In no time, introductions were made to the newcomers. Lee and Clementine had settled in together, having been offered water bottles by Ali. Sage had taken a seat on a car hood, hands in the pockets of his flannel jacket. Annie at first had been clinging to his side, glad to have him back and constantly trying to tell him about her excursions at the campsite playing while he had been gone. Before too long, though, she had slowly gotten over her nervousness and approached Clementine, offering her a stuffed rabbit that she had lovingly named Mr. Bunny.

Lee had just gone over the story of how he had found Clementine at her home, after he stumbled across it after first discovering the presence of the undead walking among the living.

Now, it was Glenn's turn. "So, tell us, Glenn, what's your story?" Sage asked, crossing his arms. The group fell silent, glancing to him.

Glenn let out a dry laugh as he removed his cap and ruffled his hair before replacing his hat. "Not too much excitement there. I lived in the city; made a living delivering pizzas and stuff. It didn't pay much, but hey, it left me with a place to stay and enough to cover living expenses." He paused, then sighed. "When shit went down, I had made plans to go find my family. My parents came over from Korea and moved to Michigan. They live there with my sisters." He stopped again, his face falling grim. "At least . . . they did. I just hope that they're still alive and made it through all this." Sensing the sullenness that had overtaken the air around them, Glenn cleared his throat and continued.

"I was on my way out of the city when traffic jammed like you couldn't believe." He gestured to the cars and trucks all piled around on the highway. "As you can see, it was a mess. Things passed on peacefully for a time, I guess. I made a few friends and we mostly hung around together until a walker stumbled upon all of us here. Everything went crazy, people started getting bitten and those with weapons started attacking anything that moved, even the living." He sighed again. "The friends I made, we all jumped in what vehicles we could, grabbed what we could, and took off. We found a small patch of clear land near a lake. We've been making do there for a bit. It's pretty good; we occasionally go on runs for supplies in the city, and we have enough people where things are secure."

He stopped, glancing around to the faces all watching him, listening intently. He licked his lips in anticipation, as if he was unsure of whether or not his next words were appropriate or not. Apparently, he felt they were—or just didn't care. "You guys . . . probably could join us, if you wanted. I'd have to talk to them all, but they are pretty chill. Most of the time. They'd probably go for it, you just would have to help out. Earn your keep, so to speak."

"We wouldn't have it any other way," Brian said from his truck, holding onto Emily tightly. "So your people in the city—were you guys on a run?"

"You bet. We were out looking for the usual stuff—medicine, food, ammo, anything that really is worth spit." Glenn snorted. "Anything is better than nothing nowadays."

"You can say that again," Lee replied, holding up his water bottle in gratitude. "It's been so long before we had some nice, cool water to drink."

Alex nodded his affirmation before Ali piped up, speaking softly. "So . . . Kai, is it?" she asked, looking earnestly at the young man with disheveled hair. He looked surprised to even be noticed, and none too happy to be called upon. He gave her a quick nod, but offered nothing else. "What is your story? You and the kids?" Her eyes wandered down to the small girl with red curly hair. More accurately, she focused on the stump of her left arm, cut off at just above the elbow. Ali's heart flooded with sadness at the sight. How could a girl so young lose an arm? Though she knew that the answer probably shouldn't surprise her too much.

The world was nothing like it once was anymore.

Kai glanced nervously at the different members of the group, as if he was apprehensive to talking. Ali couldn't really blame him; the kid didn't look much older than Brennan or Elodie, and she knew how most teenagers weren't the biggest talkers. And when you're thrust into a world where the dead come to life and start eating the living, you probably lose a lot of your talkativeness.

"We . . . um . . . we've been on our own since this thing started," Kai began. His voice was heavily accented; Ali felt a soft smile come to her lips, though she tried her best to hide it. It reminded her a bit of herself, actually. "We had others but . . . they didn't make it." A lone tear pooled in Kai's left eye before it slowly ran down his cheek. He quickly raised a hand to his face, erasing any evidence of the tear having been there.

The other children weren't as quick, though; the little boy, his skin a light tan, sniffed a few times as he scratched at his eyes and the blonde, curly-haired girl blinked for a bit. The last girl, with the curly red hair, let the few tears trickle down her face before she almost instinctively moved her left arm before pausing and, sullenly, using her right arm to wipe her face.

"So, who are these three youngsters?" Brian asked, gesturing to the kids. The big bear of a man smiled, his eyes crinkling a bit. "We'd best get to know you all as well."

The three glanced to one another, then to Kai. He looked out the corner of his eye towards Brian before nodding, and the red-haired girl spoke first. She had a bit of an energy that was both abnormal for a small child, but especially one in the midst of an apocalypse who was missing an arm. "My name is Dahlia." She gestured to Kai with her right hand. "I'm Kai's sister."

The group nodded as Elsa, her voice soft and tender, wiped a half-formed tear from her own eye. "H-how did you lose your arm?"

Dahlia stiffened and her face went red, and Kai leaned forward, a hand on her shoulder. His face fell and tears began to well in his eyes. Elsa, realizing the sudden change, steepled her fingers together as her mouth fell open. "Oh no, I'm so sorry. I-I shouldn't have asked that. It's not my place to pry. I'm so, so sorry."

"No," Dahlia quickly replied, her frown quickly morphing into a smile for a split-second before her expression fell stern again. "It's okay. I—I was bitten by one of them whenever a mean man threw one of my friends into a group of them so he could escape." Her face fell grim and she stared off into space, lost in her thoughts. Gasps and sharp inhalations filled the group; Emily clasped a hand over her mouth as the others leaned forward intently, all their focus on this little girl and her tragic story. "He tried to do the same to me, but . . ." She paused, looking back to Kai and giving him a slight smile. She then took his hand with hers, looking to her feet. "Kai did what had to be done. So I wouldn't become one too."

Kai pulled her into a hug as she buried her head into his shoulder, beginning to cry. "We were going to look for our mother, but we've been too burdened by other things to truly begin a search." He gestured to the other children. "This is Evelyn," he said, pointing to the girl, "and this is Darrien," he added when gesturing to the boy. "I also have a dog named Raha, but she got separated in the city when the dead swarmed on us." His face took on a stern expression. "I need to get her back."

"Wait," Sage said, getting to his feet. "What kind of dog?"

Kai looked to him. "A black lab. She had some white on her chest and on her paws." He got to his feet as well, a look of worry on his face. "Why—did you see her?"

"No," Sage replied, shaking his head sorrowfully. "I did see a dog, though, with the stranger I saw while I was in that trap. It looked like a husky, though."

"Don't worry though, son," Brian said, clapping a friendly hand on Kai's shoulder. "We'll help you find Raha. I promise."

Glenn got this feet as well, stuffing his hands into his back jean pockets. "Finding a dog is nice and all," he said, "but my friends are out there too—and I can't make them wait any longer. We need to get into the city and find them—" he shot a quick glance to Kai "—and your dog, as soon as possible." He sighed deeply. "Those things can move fast when they cluster together, and they'll make whole sections of the city damn near impossible to get through."

"That's that then," Allie said, cracking her knuckles. "We'd best get ready to move."

Alex nodded. "Everyone, grab whatever you can carry and stuff it into our vehicles. We got some of these cars moved out of the way so we can maneuver into the city." He clapped his hands. "We've got places to be and people to find, so let's get to it." The group all got up and exchanged words with one another before splitting up into their groups to gather their supplies and load their vehicles.

Things were about to take a turn—for the better or the worse, no one knew.

Iago led the way into Atlanta, riding atop Rooster's back. The horse neighed as she trotted down the highway, maneuvering through the cars. Iago sighed as he threw a glance over his shoulder. The caravan of cars followed behind, going whichever way they could without getting stuck. Thankfully, there was enough room on the shoulder of the road for them to make it through—but Iago still had offered to lead the way, as riding on Rooster gave him the edge in mobility if an escape was necessary.

In a car, that would be much, much more difficult.

A soft groan from behind a car caused Iago to lurch suddenly in surprise. A walker clambered to its feet, its slack jaw hanging open as it groaned, lumbering towards the horseback rider. Rooster whinnied as she danced about and Iago hefted his machete from its sheath on his hip. The walker—a man with messed-up dark hair—sauntered towards Iago (if you could call its staggering walk a saunter). Before it could get too close, Iago swung his machete, cleaving the walker's head in two. It collapsed to the ground as the first car—Sage's—made it into the city.

"The roads look a lot clearer here," Sage said through his rolled-down window. Glenn was seated next to him, with Allie and Alex in the backseat. Annie was back in Brian's truck, riding with Emily, Caitlyn, Kai, and the other kids. He glanced to Glenn. "Where was your crew last time you saw them?"

"There's a shopping mall, down a couple blocks and to the right," Glenn said, pointing towards a street farther down the road. "My guys were in there, holding out until I returned from my scouting run." His face turned a bright shade of red. "They're, um . . . probably not very happy with me right now," he said with a nervous laugh.

"Well, we'd best head that way now," Sage said. He glanced to Iago. "Tell the others?"

"Yeah," the horseback-riding teen replied. He turned and gazed down another road, the one where the group had come from when they had found Kai and his group. "Kai's probably going to want to find his dog. You think we should split up? That way we can find both Glenn's people and the dog without wasting anymore time." He felt a chill run up his neck as he swiveled his head around. "I don't like this place. It makes me feel . . . weird. Like some real serious shit is about to go down."

"I know what you mean," Alex piped in from the backseat. "Go tell the others we'll split up. We'll head down to the shopping mall with Elodie, Ali, Brennan, Dayana, Elsa, and Sam. You can go with Brian and the rest to where Kai believes Raha is."

"Gotcha," Iago said with a nod. He led Rooster towards the other vehicles and, loud enough so everyone could hear, explained the plan. Once he was finished, Sage started Raisin up again and started driving down the street, Elodie following closely behind in her car with Brennan, Lee, and Clementine all inside, Dayana and Sam leading their bikes right after. Iago led the way down the side street, Brian pulling his truck behind the horse and her rider.

Sage guided his car down the road, keeping his eyes peeled for any movement. Nothing. Slowly, he glanced into the rearview mirror to see Brian's truck pull down the sideroad, following Iago closely. Allie noticed his watchful eye and said, "Worried about Annie?"

Taken a bit aback, Sage felt a worried smile come to his lips. "Don't know how I couldn't be. She's been with me all this time, but . . . I don't know. I guess I want her to be with the other kids, feel like she's got friends through this all. With all the adults with the guns and stuff—it just would make her feel like things aren't going to be normal." He sighed. "If that makes sense. I don't know if it's the blood rushing out of my head or what, but everything just is so clouded right now." He chuckled. "And I've got a killer headache."

"Don't we all," Alex replied with a laugh of his own.

"There!" Glenn quickly said, pointing towards a pretty tall building, its windows adorning the face of it. "That's the mall. My friends should be in there."

"Alright," Sage said with a smile. "I guess we'll just stop outside and go on in—"

As Sage pulled to the next intersection, he glanced to his left and froze mid-sentence. His mouth dropped completely as he saw the largest horde of walkers that he had seen up to this point in the entire apocalypse.

The entire street—it was packed to the brim with the undead. Men, women, even children were amongst their number, but they weren't converging on the arriving cars. Something on the street seemed to have their attention. Sage strained his eyes to see just what it was as the other passengers in his car let out gasps and curses alike. "Do you see what they're after?" Sage asked. "I can't see any—"

Before Sage could finished, a loud gunshot pierced the sky. Then another, and another, and then, most chilling of all, a horse let out an ear-piercing shriek. Sage's heart dropped as he pictured Iago and Rooster, getting surrounded and torn apart by walkers—but no, that'd be impossible. They could not have possibly gotten here so fast.

But still—if there was this many walkers here now, what was waiting back where they had faced walkers earlier? And it wasn't just Iago there.

So is Annie. Oh, dear God . . .

"We have to go back," Sage said, slamming on his brakes.

Glenn threw his hands up. "What? No! My friends are right there in that mall! We have to check and see—"

"To hell with that! Annie's back there, and so is everyone else! We have to warn them!"

"We don't have time!" Glenn yelled. "If we go back, we might be dead!"

"If we don't, then the others will be dead!"

"Guys—look," Allie said, interrupting their argument as she pointed towards the mass of walkers. It was tearing into the flesh of a tall horse, pulling it to the pavement and ripping skin and chunks of meat from the poor beast's body. It was flailing about, to no avail, before soon it stopped moving completely—save for the motions made by the walkers ripping it limb from limb, passing its innards about like a shared feast for all.

But the dying horse didn't hold their attention for long: rather, their focus was singularly placed upon a tall, lean man, ducking beneath a few walker's grasps as he swung a revolver in his hand, bashing one's skull in. He then whirled, firing a round into another's head as he dropped down to all fours, crawling beneath an abandoned tank. Walkers followed, then more shots fired—and then nothing except for the moans of the undead.

"I-I think they got him," Sage muttered in disbelief.

Glenn shook his head. "No. No, he opened a hatch on the underside and crawled in. I could see him."

Sage shook his head when another shot, this one muffled, sounded. It sounded as if it did, in fact, come from inside the tank.

"Think he offed himself?" Allie wondered—to herself or the others, they didn't know.

Sage shook his head, then turned to Glenn. "Look—you want your friends, that mall is right there. You go and get to it. I have to get back to the others though, help them or warn them, I don't really care. You just need to make your choice, right here and right now." His words were said sternly and with a stone face. Glenn slowly nodded.

"Yeah. Yeah, man, I got you." Slowly, his eyes searching Alex and Allie's faces, he opened the passenger door and got out. "You guys just . . . be careful, okay? Try and make it back. I'll try and convince the others to wait for you. Okay?"

A few moments of silence passed before Allie groaned. "Ah, shit." She opened the back door and climbed out, to Alex's surprise.

"Allie!" he called, but she slammed the door on him.

"I've gotta stay with him, make sure he gets to safety." She smiled to both Alex and Sage. "You guys take care of the others. We'll be fine." Then, with her focus on Alex: "I'll be fine, Alex."

He slowly nodded, realizing whatever he said wouldn't change her mind. "We'll be back. Just hold out for as long as you can." Allie nodded and then elbowed Glenn, gesturing as the two took off down the street, away from the horde. Alex turned to Sage and nodded. "Let's go get the others."

Sage nodded back as he turned the car around, driving away from the horde of walkers. As he did so, he rolled the window down and slowed as he passed the others, who had been stopped, waiting behind them in confusion. "What the hell's going on up there?" Dayana demanded.

"Horde of walkers," Sage explained. "Glenn and Allie went to find his people. We're going back to warn the others and make sure they get to safety."

Dayana nodded. "Alright then. Let's go."

Sage gunned Raisin's engine, speeding down the street. The others followed closely behind, flying down the road as if lives depended on it.

Truthfully, they all figured, all of their lives did.

A/N: New chapter! We're getting into the heart of the crossover with the TV show's events, so I hope you all are excited for that! And get prepared for the next chapter - it's about to go down. As always, thank you all for reading and I look forward to hearing your thoughts, and if you have any ideas, requests, or questions, feel free to reach out! Until next time.