CHAPTER FOURTEEN
"Change of Plans, Change of Heart"
Iago kept his head down as he sat in his chair, kicked back with his feet propped on a table as he fixed his eyes upon Lee, who was sitting in his own chair about two dozen feet away, just a few feet away from Clementine as she sat with Kai and his group of children, petting Raha as the children got to know one another a little better.
"Whatcha doing?"
The words caught Iago off-guard, and he flinched slightly as he glanced to his right to see Andrea pulling up a chair next to him. Her full lips were curled to a slightly playful smile, as her eyes widened to enhance the effect. "Did I scare you?"
Iago snorted out a laugh. "Nah. I was just . . . zoned out. Thinking to myself."
"Oh really," Andrea said thoughtfully, arching an eyebrow. "What about?"
Iago rolled his eyes playfully. "Nosey, are we?"
"Hardly," Andrea chuckled, "just observant."
"Well," Iago replied, "in my book, those two go hand-in-hand together. But, if you must know, I was thinking about where I really go from here." Andrea leaned back in her own chair, crossing her arms across her chest as she propped a foot up on the bar beneath the table, then gave him a slight nod, prompting him to continue. "I was really on my own just over a day ago. I met this group when they were searching that pile-up on the highway. Hell," he continued, chuckling, "I met them with a gun drawn on them."
"Is that so?" Andrea asked with a quizzical smile. "You a good shot?"
"I don't like to brag," Iago retorted—definitely beginning to brag—"but yeah, I'm pretty good."
"Well, in that case, maybe you can give me some lessons," Andrea said, reaching to her waistband and lifting her shirt, withdrawing a semi-auto pistol from its resting place. "This was a gift from my dad," she explained, a solemn look coming over her face. "He gave it to me before my sister and I started on our road trip." Her eyes glazed over slightly as she shook her head. "I don't even know how he and my mother are—if they're even alive." She began to sniffle as Iago's expression slowly softened. Realizing that the conversation was taking a grim turn, Andrea laughed, saying, "I never really ever learned to shoot or anything."
Iago nodded. "I think I could help you a bit with that," he said with a reassuring smile. She returned it, mouthing a "thank you" to him as she slowly reached her hand out, placing it on his softly. Iago felt his cheeks redden ever so slightly as she got to her feet.
"I'd better go find Morales and figure out when we're actually getting out of this place."
"Sure thing," Iago replied. "And hey—Andrea . . ." She stopped and glanced to him, and Iago continued, "If you ever need to talk about your parents or . . . or anything, just let me know, okay?" She gave him a smile and a nod as he glanced to her gun. "And by the way—you need to turn the safety on that thing off for it to work."
Andrea glanced down at the gun, and then flicked her eyes up to Iago's as she let out an embarrassed laugh. "Y-yeah. Right. Thanks." She then slid the gun into her waistband as she walked away towards Morales.
Iago's smile slowly drifted away as he glanced back to Lee. The darker-skinned man was rather oblivious to Iago's watchful gaze, which, the nineteen-year-old figured, was not the best thing for a man who had been accused of murder to do.
In the back of his mind, Iago wondered if he had done the right thing in not letting anyone in the group know about Lee Everett's past and what he had been up to before the world fell into chaos. Sure, he had been a teacher at the University of Georgia, but he had been stripped of his teaching privileges for killing a state senator. The stories were a bit convoluted—Iago's cousin, who had been a student at UGA, said that Lee had claimed that it was a fight that ended poorly, not outright murder, but the facts were unproven and the case was still on, last Iago had heard.
Which didn't make him feel particularly safe staying with this man, but at the same time, he wasn't fully familiar with the case or the details of it—and therefore, he figured, it wouldn't be appropriate to bring this to the forefront just yet. But the moment Lee gives him signs of doubting that, he would not hesitate.
Movement to Iago's left caused him to not stir as he had done when Andrea had snuck up on him—no, because this new arrival was one he was quite familiar with. "Rooster," Iago said, his accented voice evolving into a laugh as the horse began to swipe her wet nose at his ear, "stop that!" His laugh subsided as he rubbed the horse's head gingerly, glancing around. "You're probably the first horse that's been inside this shopping mall. Maybe even the first ever in any shopping mall."
Rooster whinnied as Iago ruffled her mane, and he muttered to himself—and perhaps to her as well—"We're gonna be alright here, girl. I think we're gonna do just fine here."
Clementine quickly stuck her foot out, catching the soccer ball before it rolled into the area that the kids had decided were to be marked "out of bounds" for their game. Honestly, Clementine didn't know what the game really was—it definitely wasn't soccer, that was for sure. They didn't have any goals, so they had just set up the out of bounds area with chairs from unused tables and were kicking the ball back and forth so as to keep it from going out of bounds.
Clementine, Dahlia, Evelyn, and Darrien were all playing, as was Annie, although, at four years old, she wasn't particularly proficient at following the rules the other older children had tried to establish and mostly just wound up grabbing the ball and running with it. At first, Darrien had tried to tell her she couldn't play if she kept ruining their game, but when Annie started to cry, the boy had relented and let her join in—just making sure that he kept the ball away from her as best as he could.
"Clementine!" Darrien called. "Heads up!" He kicked the soccer ball and it bounced past Annie, who lunged for it and wound up landing on her stomach after she missed it. Clementine tried to deflect the ball with her foot, but it missed and rolled out of bounds towards the door. Clementine huffed as she moved towards it, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear as she grabbed the ball and trotted back to the game area.
"Hah!" Darrien triumphantly said with a fist pump. "Another point for me!"
"This scoring system stinks," Evelyn said glumly, her face not showing much excitement for the game—though, truth be told, she didn't really have much reason to be excited. Kai had taken her and the other children to her family's home to try and reunite her with her parents, but when they opened the door, they found both of them being devoured by a cluster of walkers. From the moment she had seen the mangled corpses of her mother and father, Evelyn had not been the same. Pessimism replaced all of her optimism, and when Kai promised to find her aunt and uncle, all Evelyn had said was, "They're dead too. They're all dead." Her mood had not improved much, and while it tended to hurt the attitudes of the other kids, they knew deep down that they didn't blame her for how she felt.
"Come on, Evie," Darrien said, beaming at the girl one year his senior. "I'll let you serve!"
Evelyn twisted her lip, obviously tired of the game, before she relented with a sigh. "Just for a little bit more."
Darrien grinned as he rolled the ball towards his friend, who caught it under her foot and she glanced over to Dahlia. "You okay, Dahlia?"
The eldest of the children gave a quick nod. "Yeah. I'm doin' alright." Which was a lie—there was no way you could lose an arm and be "alright," but no one pressed it because, well, they didn't want to. They didn't want to lose any of the sense of innocence that they felt in this moment, no matter how fleeting it was.
Evelyn nodded and then wound her foot back as Annie began to slowly saunter towards her, as if she was completely hidden from view. Evelyn eyed her before smiling and kicking the ball towards Dahlia. The red-haired girl caught the ball under one foot, passing it to the other as Annie frowned at the speed at which the ball was moving past her and turned towards Dahlia, who kicked it back towards Clementine.
Clementine ran to try and catch it, sliding and kicking it towards Darrien. The shaggy-haired boy was a bit surprised at the speed Clementine moved with as he had to run to get to it, and he ducked his head to bop it back towards Clementine. She jumped to try and reach it, but to no avail as it sailed over and bounced back towards the door, slamming into it as Darrien pumped both fists again.
"No fair! That's cheating," Dahlia said, frowning.
"No it isn't," Darrien replied. "You can use your head."
"Since when?"
"Since now."
"Darrien—" Evelyn said in a scolding tone as they continued to bicker.
Clementine stifled a laugh to herself as she ran to the door, reaching down to grab the ball . . .
. . . when it suddenly slammed back on its hinges, and Clementine shrank back, falling to her rear on the ground. She let out a shriek as the door banged again and again, and finally it pushed open. A walker snarled through the crack, held back by the chain that was keeping the door barred. Clementine let out a loud scream as she crawled back towards the group, whose faces had all fallen.
"Get the kids back!" Sage yelled, leaping over a table as he ran towards the play area as the kids all stared at the door that was being slammed over and over. He picked up Annie and held her tight, taking her away from the door and setting her down next to Elsa and Ali. "Stay here by them, okay, Annie? I'll be right back."
Annie nodded nervously as Ali wrapped her arms around the small girl and Elsa patted her arm, attempting to calm her down.
Sage ran back to the doors, where Alex, Allie, Morales, and Glenn had all run to reinforce it. Glenn stabbed his machete blade through the opening of the door, forcing the walkers away from it as Alex and Morales threw their weight into it, trying to force it closed. "I wonder what set them off," Alex muttered as Morales cast a sidelong glance towards the area where they had moved Brian's corpse.
"It might have been his blood," Morales murmured. "I don't know how those things work, but if they're anything like they used to be before they died, you know how us humans are drawn to the smell of what we love to eat. Fresh blood must smell like a sizzling steak to them."
"Maybe you could've found a better analogy," Sam shot back as he joined the group.
"I meant no offense. All that to say—I think we're in some trouble here."
"Agreed," Alex replied. He glanced around before saying, "Where's your ride out of here?"
Morales flicked a thumb towards a door with an exit sign over it. "Back there. It's a closed-in parking garage. We have a paneled truck and a car in there, loaded down with supplies."
Alex nodded. "Our vehicles are all out in that street over there," he said, gesturing towards the opposite door. "If you guys load up in your vehicles, we can probably get to ours and get out right behind you."
"Sounds like a plan." Morales glanced around, counting heads as he sighed. "Dixon and T-Dog are up top."
"I can go get them," Glenn offered, turning and sprinting for the stairwell.
"Alright," Rick said, stepping up to the gathering by the doors. "We're gonna have to make it fast if we want to get out of here in one piece. Who's taking what vehicles?"
"Dayana and I have bikes," Sam said calmly. "Elsa rides with her."
"And I have my car," Elodie said, crossing her arms as she inched closer.
"What about Brian's truck?" Allie cut in, before Brennan stepped forward.
"I can drive it," he said as all eyes fell on him. He glanced to them all before he continued, "No, really, I can. My dad let me drive it a bit after I got my license. It's no car, but I can make do with it."
The others nodded as Rick rested his hands on his hips. "I can go with you guys, give you some help to make it to your vehicles."
"We appreciate it," Sage replied.
Morales started gathering up some loose supplies around the area as the doors started to bang again. "We need to get this stuff all loaded up before the walkers crack that door open again. Come on, grab what you can!"
Several members of the group grabbed what they could and followed Morales towards the parking garage to load up the two vehicles in there. Rick drew the pistol he had claimed from the tank, checking to make sure the clip was inserted properly before he froze, realization hitting him.
Quickly, he turned and scanned the group until he found Iago, who was stroking Rooster's mane. He quickly strode over towards the young man, holding up a hand. "Hey—it's Iago, right?"
"Yeah," Iago said, hoisting his backpack strap over his shoulder. "What's up?"
Rick sighed as he ran a hand over his face. "Whenever I got jumped by that horde out in the street, I dropped my bag of guns beside the tank and I wasn't able to grab it. Do you think you could swing by and grab that on our way out?" Iago's eyes flashed and Rick held up his hands. "I know, I know, it's crazy out there, and if you feel it's too much, then you don't have to."
"What kind of guns are we talking about?"
"Probably a dozen handguns, five or six shotguns, a couple rifles—and loads of ammo for each one."
Iago grinned. "Yeah, man. I can get those guns."
"Are you sure?" Rick asked, his expression stern and cold.
"Absolutely."
Rick nodded, smiling to the long-haired young man. "Alright then. Sounds like a plan," he said as he turned and strode back to the group.
Once his back was turned, though, Iago's grin slowly faltered. "Man, what have I agreed to do?" he muttered aloud to himself as he shook his head, smoothing Rooster's mane again. "Looks like we've got a little mission to go on now, girl."
Glenn flung open the rooftop door as T-Dog clambered to his feet. "What's up, Glenn?" he asked.
"Yeah, Jackie Chan, what's up?" Merle cut in, although Glenn ignored him.
"We're about to go," Glenn said, hands on his hips. "Walkers started to crash through the doors down there, so we're getting everything loaded up to go."
Merle's cocky expression faltered as he frantically climbed to his feet. "Well then quick chit-chatting, you bastards, and get me outta these things!" he shouted, gesturing at the handcuffs.
T-Dog turned and glanced at Merle, and a shadow of a smile cast upon his lips as he pulled the keys from his pocket, tossing them up in the air for a few seconds. Merle, realizing the expression upon T-Dog's face, slowly held out his uncuffed hand. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, Dog, man, you ain't serious, righ'? Righ'?"
When T-Dog said nothing in response, Merle began to whimper a bit. "Hey, now, dude, I know things got a little crazy back there, but I was just off my rocker man, you gotta believe me!"
T-Dog stepped towards him. "Off your rocker? Man, you were unhinged! You would've beat me to a pulp if Rick hadn't stopped you!"
"Yeah, yeah, Officer Friendly," Merle continued. "I know, man, and look—I'll do what I can to make up for it. I'll cook you bacon and eggs every mornin', on my mama's good name!"
"You mean burn me some bacon and eggs."
"Hey, it's the thought that counts!" Merle's smile slowly fell again. "Please, man—I'm begging you. And you know I'm not a man to beg lightly."
T-Dog eyed him, sighing hard as he turned, looking over the rooftop.
"Please," Merle said, swallowing hard. He knew he was a mere choice away from being left for dead or having freedom.
T-Dog exhaled deeply before he turned around, roughly grabbing Merle's wrists, and forcing the key into the lock of the cuffs and letting them dangle from the pipe. Merle breathed free, rubbing his wrists gingerly as he glanced at T-Dog, giving the man a nod of gratitude. "Thanks, brother."
"Don't make me regret this," T-Dog said gruffly.
"Believe me," Merle replied, softly touching the place where Rick had hit him over the head with his revolver, "I ain't about to fuck around with Officer Friendly hanging around anytime soon."
Glenn shook his head as he turned, moving for the stairwell as T-Dog and Merle followed him closely behind.
Rick turned to the stairwell as T-Dog called his name, passing him his handcuffs and the keys. Rick took them and returned them to his belt as he eyed Merle cautiously. The tried-and-true redneck gave him a subtle nod before turning towards the parking garage. Morales brushed past him, stopping in the middle of the mall. "We're loaded up," he said, nodding to Glenn and T-Dog as they rushed towards the garage behind Merle. "We'll head out and wait in the street for you guys, but you've gotta make it quick. We'll swing by, give you some cover if you need it, but then we're off for our camp. You understand?"
"We understand," Sage said, checking his pistol. He'd always prefer using his bat, but with things at the point they were now, he knew he'd have to count on the pistol if he needed to turn to it. "We'll be right behind you."
Morales nodded. "Alright. Good luck, my friends. See you at the camp."
As he turned and jogged for the garage, Sage and Rick turned to the others. "Alright," Rick said, drawing his pistol. "Let's go."
The group ran for the door to the street where their vehicles had been left. Iago brought up the rear, riding on Rooster's back, as he drew his rifle and held it in his right hand. Sam and Lee stood by the door, flanked by Brennan, Elodie, Dayana, and Elsa—they were going to make a break for their vehicles and, as the drivers, get them started. Then, the next ones in the line—Emily, Ali, Nigel, Kai, Raha, and the kids—were going to get to their respective vehicles as Sage and Rick brough up the rear with Alex and Allie, fighting off any approaching walkers so the others could get in their vehicles and escape. Iago would then ride out last and go for the guns.
Lee held up his axe as Sam gripped his knife tightly, and they both looked back to Sage, who gave them a nod. "Now."
Sam pulled the chain loose and it fell to the ground as Lee pushed the door open, leading the way out into the street. Two walkers stood directly outside, and Lee swung with his axe, cleaving one's skull in half. As it dropped to the ground limp, Sam drove his knife into the other's head and waved to the others. "Go, go, go!"
Brennan ran out next, aiming at the walkers wandering by his father's truck and Elodie's car as he pulled the trigger of his pistol in rapid succession. It took more shots than necessary, but the walkers had at least fallen as Brennan ran by, grabbing Elodie's door and pulling it open for her. She gave him a nod of thanks as she slammed it shut behind her.
Dayana fired her dual Berettas at the walkers converging around the bikes as they crumpled over into heaps on the ground. She then holstered them as she threw her leg across the seat of her Harley and Elsa settled in behind her.
Kai ran towards the trailer of the truck, splitting a walker's head in two as Brennan pulled the trailer door open and the kids began to file in—Sahale, Clementine, Evelyn, Darrien, and Dahlia all made it inside, with Raha following close behind. Brennan turned around, his eyes searching for his mother and sister, until they rounded the back of the truck. Once they climbed inside, Emily turned to him, grabbing his face, and kissing him. "Sweetie—be safe," she said—no, demanded—and Brennan nodded as he closed the door to the trailer.
"Go on, get in!" Brennan shouted to Kai, who nodded and ran around the other side of the truck to get in the passenger side as Brennan rounded the corner to the driver's side . . .
. . . and walked right into an oncoming walker.
Brennan screamed as it threw an arm at him, grabbing his shoulder and snapping with its jaws. Brennan grabbed its shirt, forcing it back, before he thrust his pistol under its chin and squeezed the trigger. With a blast, its head splattered into a million bits as the now-nearly-headless corpse sank to the ground. Brennan froze, panting, before he grabbed the driver's door and threw it open, crawling inside.
Nigel glanced around in concern, his brow knit in worry. He turned to Ali and said, "Sahale—where did he go? Did you see him?"
Ali nodded. "Yes, Mr. McAdams—he's in the trailer. I saw him get in."
Nigel nodded, sighing deeply. "Okay . . . thank you." He eyed the trailer, the worry obviously written on his face, as Ali opened the backseat door of Elodie's car, guiding Nigel inside. As she closed the door, she turned to see a walker steadily approaching her, snarling. Her face fell into a state of shock as she reached to her belt, drawing a baton from it. With one swift swing, she truck the walker across the head and it slumped back, though not dead.
Ali raised the baton again as a shot rang out, and the walker fell over. Ali turned to see Rick, lowering his pistol, waving to the car. "Go on, get in!" Ali nodded and climbed into the passenger seat of the car as Rick turned around, firing off a few more shots.
He lowered his pistol as two vehicles rounded the corner—a large, white-panel van and a smaller sedan. T-Dog and Glenn leaned out of the windows of the sedan, firing their weapons at whatever walkers were approaching the group, and Morales shouted out of the window of the van, "Get in your car! You're clear!"
Sage ran for the driver's door of his purple car, throwing the door open and crawling inside. Allie climbed into the passenger seat as Rick, Alex, and Lee all filed into the back and Sam sprinted for his bike, revving its engine to life. Seeing everyone in their vehicles, Sage started Raisin and began to drive down the road, following behind Morales's group's vehicles. He checked the rearview mirror, a smile coming to his face as first Elodie's car, then the bikes, and lastly the truck and trailer pulling up the rear. Then, to cap it all off, Rooster bolted from the shopping mall door as Iago guided her the other direction, towards where the tank was.
"You think he'll get those guns?" Lee asked, looking out the window towards Iago.
"I do," Sage said, his eyes following Iago as he guided his steed down the street. "I've got faith that he will."
"Giddy-up!" Iago said, tearing around the corner towards where the tank was resting. At first, his face fell a bit—there were a ton of walkers, but thankfully there focuses were mostly on the sounds of the fighting and starting of engines. By the time they would realize a crazy teenager on horseback was coming straight for them, they'd likely not be able to react.
At least, that was what Iago was hoping.
Iago slung his rifle over his shoulder, drawing his machete and swiping it through a pair of walkers' heads as he scanned the area around the tank. His eyes settled on the bag of guns, and he smiled. "Almost too easy."
Rooster galloped towards the spot where the guns lay on the ground, and Iago leaned to the left out of his saddle, his hand reaching for the strap of the gun bag—
—then he felt the rush of air as he flew from Rooster's back, crashing into the hard pavement below. Iago let out a grunt in pain as he rolled on the ground, but he had no time to hurt. Rolling to his feet, Iago swung his machete, cleaving through one walker's head, then that of another and a few more until nearly ten bodies lay at his feet.
Iago whistled, and Rooster turned, circling around the converging mass of walkers. Iago huffed nervously as more walkers approached, and he swung at the nearest ones, constantly turning to make sure none grabbed him from behind. As Rooster drew closer, Iago reached for the gun bag—and as he did so, something else caught his eye. He smiled as he grabbed the brown deputy's hat, slamming it over his head as he grabbed the gun bag, hoisting it just as Rooster galloped by him. In one swift motion, he sheathed his machete, grabbing the reins around Rooster's mouth, then threw himself onto her back, holding on tightly as he prodded her forward with a few soft kicks from the stirrups, and the horse tore off back down the street.
At first, Iago breathed in deeply, each air filling his lungs like it was his first. Then, he felt a smile come to his lips when, at last, he let loose a short laugh, which then evolved into a much heartier, real laugh when he realized what he had just done. Iago shook his head as he kept a firm grip on both the gun bag and the hat on his head, laughing all the while. "I'm actually insane," he whispered to himself as Rooster galloped down the Atlanta streets, the convoy of vehicles in sight ahead of him. "I am a frickin' lunatic."
A/N: And here, everyone, is the conclusion to what is essentially the prologue of the SYOC! From here on out, we are in what I'd like to call Season 1 of our story. After all the action the group's been through thus far, you can expect a bit of a down chapter in terms of action with walkers - but it will nevertheless be a big chapter as we meet the rest of the survivors and get some pretty spectacular reunions. I hope you all have enjoyed the journey thus far, and, as always, I look forward to hearing your thoughts! Be sure to review and follow/favorite if you haven't already, as I love hearing what you guys have to say! Thank you all for the support - this is only just the beginning. Until next time.
