CHAPTER ELEVEN

"Tankside Manner"

Something in the wind changed—Iago couldn't quite put his finger on what it was, but there was just a feeling that was different and wasn't there before.

He'd only ever felt it twice before. First was when his mother Rebecca and brothers, Paulo and Rey, were all bitten and infected. They didn't really know what was even going in, just that some viral infection was coursing through the States—possibly even the whole world—and that people were succumbing to it. They didn't know the dead would start walking again, not until a corpse lunged at his mother, sinking its teeth into her ankle and moving on to tear her open.

He, his brothers, and his father had all sprung into action, but they were too distracted by their mother's attacker to realize that more of the dead had arrived, not until they were upon Paulo and Rey, tearing them apart as well. Reynaldo—Iago's father—had to drag his only living son away from his brothers' bodies, telling them they were no more, and it was just the two of them.

The second time he felt that change in the wind was whenever Reynaldo was killed by the murderers who lied about their intentions. Before Iago killed them.

Iago grimaced as he glanced about nervously. If that feeling's track record was anything to go by, shit was about to go down. He held up a hand and Brian stopped his truck. He rolled down the window, leaning out. "Iago, what's up?" he called.

Iago turned Rooster around, trotting back to the truck. "Something feels off," he said. Brian clicked his tongue, a bit disbelieving, as he glanced around.

"It looks all clear to me."

"I know, I know, it's just—I can't explain it, but something just doesn't feel right." Iago continued surveying the streets. "I don't think we're alone out here."

Suddenly, soft pads sounded further down the street. Iago quickly slung his rifle from its resting position on his hip, cradling it in both hands as he brought the stock up to his shoulder. Before he even had time to focus in on a target, he paused and felt a smile tick at his lips. "Kai better get his ass out here. I think we found his dog."

Brian grinned and shouted, "Kai! I think we found Raha!"

Wasting no time, the door to the camper pulled behind the truck opened, and Kai appeared from the back, followed by Dahlia. The children had all been entrusted in Kai's care in the camper, while Emily and Nigel sat inside the truck cab with Brian.

"Raha!" Kai shouted, a smile of both joy and unbelief plastered on his face. It was the first time the others had seen such a big smile on the boy since he had joined the group, and Brian felt a smile come to his bearded face as Emily leaned her head on his arm.

Kai began to sprint towards the dog, and Raha likewise soared down the street towards him, her tongue dangling from her mouth. Kai felt tears at his eyes as he dropped to his knees, letting the dog pounce on him and bathe his face in licks. He ruffled the black lab's head as she licked his cheek and he laughed softly. Dahlia jogged behind him and threw herself into a bear hug as Raha licked her as well. "See, Kai," Dahlia said, sniffling away tears, "I told you we'd find her. Or she'd find us."

Kai nodded as Iago smiled at the reunion until he heard a groan from down the street. A walker crawled from behind an overturned taxi, dragging its entrails behind it. It looked to have been severed in two above the waist, and it clawed its way towards the three reunited survivors. Iago quickly snapped his rifle back up again, firing two quick rounds. Both shots dug into the crawler's skull and it slumped over, dead.

Brian jumped from the driver's seat, pulling his rifle with him. Dahlia jumped back as Kai shielded her and Raha turned around, beginning to snarl. "Get back to the camper," Iago ordered, his eyes flicking about the street. "Do it now."

Kai nodded as he took Dahlia's hand and ran back towards the camper, Raha following close behind. Iago nudged Rooster ahead, leaning to the side to peek around the street corner. . .

. . . and finding a group of nearly twenty walkers clambering towards him. "Shit!" Iago exclaimed, turning Rooster around. "Walkers! A whole group of 'em!"

Brian lowered his rifle and turned back, sprinting for the truck. Kai, Dahlia, and Raha all climbed into the camper and slammed the door shut as Brian put the truck in reverse, backing up down the road and turning around. Iago prodded Rooster behind the truck, turning to fire off several shots at the walkers as they turned the corner, taking down two of them. He then dropped the rifle, letting it hang from his back by its sling as he guided Rooster around the truck, just as Sage's car rounded the corner, Sam on his motorcycle behind him.

Iago waved them back as Dayana followed behind on her own bike, Elsa hugging her waist. "Go back, go back!" Iago yelled. "We've got walkers down here!"

"Same thing our way," Dayana spat, her brow furrowed.

Elodie slammed on her car's brakes behind the car and two bikes, and she rolled her window down. "What the hell are we doing, guys? We can't just sit here!"

Sam revved his rat bike's engine, nodding down the street heading the opposite way. "We can go this way, take the long way around to the shopping mall where we dropped Glenn and Allie off."

Iago nodded as Sage spoke up. "Where's Annie, is she okay?"

"Everyone's fine. We found Kai's dog," Iago replied. "We've just gotta get the hell out of here."

"Okay," Sage replied. "We do what Sam said. Go down this street, circle around, and try and enter the mall through another route that's not crawling with walkers."

He led the way, gunning Raisin's engine as the purple car spun around, zooming down the street. The two bikes followed as Elodie took off behind them, then Iago and Brian's truck brought up the rear. The convoy accelerated down the road, leaving the walkers behind.

For the time being.

Glenn yanked on the doors to the building, and to his dismay, they were locked. "What the hell? They locked me out!"

Allie groaned. "I'm sure they probably didn't do it intentionally." She looked him up and down and smirked. "No offense, but you don't exactly scream 'street-smart survivor.'"

Glenn glanced to her, his cheeks reddening. "Huh?"

"Forget it." Allie pointed towards a fire escape that was about five feet in the air. "We can climb up that fire escape, at least got out of their reach," she said, glancing over her shoulder towards the approaching horde.

"But how? I can't jump that high."

Allie chuckled. "Don't worry, I'll get the ladder down." She sprinted for the fire escape's upraised ladder, lunging for it and grasping the bottom rung with both hands. Pulling her legs up, she used all her body weight to bring the ladder down, catching herself on the ground with her feet. She turned and dusted her hands off to see Glenn, slack-jawed, staring at her in awe.

Allie motioned him towards the ladder. "Come on, hurry up. And close your mouth, you're liable to catch flies."

"Oh, yeah. Sure," Glenn said, shaking his head. Under his breath, he muttered, "What kind of crazy group have I fallen in with." He followed Allie as they both climbed the fire escape, and once they made it, Allie pulled the ladder up, out of the reach of the undead. She didn't know if those things could climb, but she wasn't about to take any chances.

"Now," Allie muttered, "we have to figure out what we're even going to try and do here."

Glenn pulled his bag from his back, dropping it between his legs as he unzipped it and rummaged around inside. "Aha!" he exclaimed, a boyish smile on his face as he pulled a walkie talkie out of it.

"Does that thing work?" Allie asked, a bit surprised at its presence.

"Sure does," he chuckled. He fiddled with a few knobs on it, then gestured towards the tank, walkers crawling all around it. "If I can get this thing on the same frequency as that tank's radio, I can contact that guy and try to talk to him and get him out of there."

Allie nodded as another smirk crossed her lips. "Your group inside here have one of those too?" she asked.

"Sure do," Glenn grinned. "T-Dog had it last time I was with them."

Allie just widened her eyes at him, her smile doing all the talking it needed to. At first, Glenn blinked in confusion. "Um . . . am I missing something here?"

Allie chuckled. "Yes, Glenn. You could've just contacted your people to let them know we were coming and they might have been able to have the door open for us."

Glenn's face fell. "Oh. Yeah. That's . . . that's a good idea."

Allie got to her feet, patting Glenn on the shoulder. "It's alright. Tuning it to that tank's frequency is a hell of an idea too."

Glenn smiled slightly again. "Thanks."

Allie nodded. "Let's just hope you can reach him."

"Cross your fingers," Glenn said as he clicked a switch on the walkie talkie. Then, into it, he said, "Hey, you." He paused, then with a grin, added, "Dumbass." No response. He frowned, then continued, "Hey, you in the tank. Cozy in there?"

There was still no answer. Glenn released the button. "Geez. The guy's either deaf or . . ." He paused. "Oh, shoot." He held the walkie up again. "Hey, you alive in there?"

Suddenly, static sounded from the other end and a voice cut through the air. "Hello, hello?"

Glenn let out a sigh of relief. "There you are. You had me wondering there for a second."

"Where are you?" the man responded instantly. "Outside? Can you see me now?"

Glenn nodded. "Yeah, yeah, I can see you. We're right across the street from you, on a fire escape."

"We?" The man had a thick southern accent; if Glenn had to guess, this guy was probably born and raised here in Georgia. "You're not alone?"

"No, I've actually got a sizeable group." Glenn shrugged his shoulders. "Well, I guess technically two sizeable groups, but still—"

Allie swatted his arm and Glenn frowned. "I'm getting off-topic, my bad—"

"Can you see a way for me to get to where you are? To get out of this tank?"

"Yeah, yeah—well, I mean, I can see a way, but it's covered in walkers."

The man cursed. "How many?"

Glenn snorted. "Too many to count. How much ammo do you have on you?"

"I-I had a bag of guns in the street that I dropped. Can I get to that?"

Glenn looked to the horde clambering over the horse's corpse and saw a duffel bag with rifle stocks jutting out of it—right in the middle of the pack of walkers. "Man, forget the bag, those things are all over it. How much do you have on you?"

"Hold on." A few moments of silence passed before the guy on the other end answered back. "Five magnum rounds and three nine-millimeter clips."

"Make 'em count," Glenn replied. He let his eyes wander down the street. "Those walkers look occupied with that horse you rode in on. If you move now, and head down the street the way you were headed, you'll come right to us. We can get these doors to this building open, and get you inside. Alright?"

"Yeah, yeah, alright. Hey—what's your name?" the guy asked.

Glenn paused, then glanced to Allie before answering, "I'm Glenn."

"Glenn. I'm Rick. Rick Grimes."

"Alright, Rick Grimes," Glenn replied, "just give me a second to contact my people on the inside and have them get these doors open. Then I'll let you know when we're ready."

"Alright."

Glenn let go of the walkie and sighed. "Oh boy. This is crazy."

"No kidding," Allie laughed. "Hey—what if your people in here don't answer? What if they're gone—or worse? Have you thought of that?"

Glenn shook his head. "No more than I have to." He readjusted the walkie's frequency until it was at the appropriate settings. "Here goes nothing." Clicking in the button, Glenn spoke, "T-Dog, can you hear me? This is Glenn."

For about ten seconds, there was silence, and they feared the worst. Then, all of a sudden, a deep voice cut through the deafening silence. "Glenn? Is that really you?"

"T-Dog!" Glenn let out, exasperated. "Man, am I glad to hear your voice!"

"Glenn, man, where the hell have you been? We thought you were a goner!"

In the background, a woman's voice was heard: "That's Glenn? Thank God."

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine . . . and I found people. A whole group."

"Are they on the up-and-up?" the man—T-Dog, Allie figured—replied.

"Yeah, they are. They helped me escape a group of those things that was after me. Me and Allie—that's a girl from the group—we're outside on a fire escape right now, but listen: there's a guy trapped inside of a tank out here. I've gotten ahold of him on the walkie, and he's going to make a break for it, I just need you guys to get the west side door open so we can get in there once he's with us. Can you do that?"

"Sure can," T-Dog replied. "We're headed there now. Once you get here, we'll have it open for you."

"Alright. Thanks, man."

"No problem. Just be safe, Glenn."

Glenn hung up the walkie, and glanced to Allie, flashing her a toothy grin. "Told you my people were good."

"Yeah," Allie said, nodding. "You certainly did." Though in the back of her mind, she couldn't help but wonder if they'd be as accepting once their groups collided.

Glenn reset the walkie to Rick's frequency in the tank before speaking. "Hey, Rick, you there? This is Glenn."

"Yeah, I read you."

"My people are ready at the door." Glenn scanned the area and saw two walkers bashing at the top hatch of the tank as the rest had seemed to become preoccupied with tearing apart Rick's steed. "You've got two walkers on the tank, and a few more in the street between you and us. If you take care of the ones on the tank, we can get the ones in the street and you book it straight for us. Sound like a plan?"

"Sounds like a plan."

"Alright," Glenn replied, nodding to Allie as she dropped down the fire escape ladder and started down. "Let's do this." Glenn shut off his walkie and pulled a machete from his pack as he followed his companion down into the street—and into the fray that awaited them.

A/N: New chapter! We get a bit more action as we find that Atlanta is anything but safe. Any ideas what will happen in the coming chapters? As I said, it's about to get messy, and a bit sad, so you might want to brace yourself for the next chapter. As always, I hope you guys enjoyed it, as I certainly have been thrilled with getting back into the thick of writing and reintroducing these characters - both the OCs and the iconic canon characters. Thank you all for your loyal and consistent support, and I cannot wait to read your thoughts! Until next time.