CHAPTER EIGHT

"Atlanta"

Morning came much too early, Sam decided almost immediately. Not that he was used to getting much sleep. He often stayed awake, even when it was not his turn to stand watch. He found it hard to entrust his lives in the hands of others, and no matter how reliable the others had proven themselves since he had met them, he still did not fully trust anyone besides himself.

Quite honestly, he had told himself, he didn't know if he ever would.

Sam dug through his backpack for a granola bar he had buried deep within whenever he heard a cawing sound from outside. The slightest of smiles came to his lips at the sound. While to anyone else it'd probably sound just like a pestering crow coming to bug them, he knew it as something else.

Grabbing the bar and stepping from his tent, Sam glanced around and whistled. The caw sounded again as a small, black shape swooped through the air towards him.

The crow landed on his shoulder, letting out a softer whistle as it nestled down. "You're probably the smartest crow on earth," Sam muttered softly. The crow dipped its head, as if it was taking the compliment to heart. Sam unwrapped the granola bar as the crow watched him intently. Before taking a bite, Sam broke off a piece of the granola and held it out. The crow snapped with its beak, snatching up the morsel and devouring it.

That was actually how Sam had met the bird he had affectionally come to just call "Crow." At the college he studied mechanics at, Sam was walking on campus one day, eating—go figure—a granola bar when a crow kept watching him peculiarly. It followed him around until he reluctantly gave it a piece of his snack, and it soon made that its daily pursuit.

Even after the apocalypse had broken out and Sam had begun to go on the move, Crow still somehow managed to find him and follow him wherever he went. At first, at the school, it had been a bit annoying, but now, Sam had come to enjoy the bird's company. More so than some humans, quite honestly.

Crow rarely stayed with him; he didn't really seem to care for any other human's presence besides Sam's, so he often would fly off and Sam would only see him late at night or early on mornings when he was alone. It was a peculiar thing, but he had come to appreciate the time the bird came to visit him more than anything else.

Rustling sounded in the leaves behind Sam and Crow squawked before flying off. Sam watched after him as he left before turning to see who was walking to him—it was Sage. As Sam ate the rest of his granola bar, he got to his feet. "We're about ready to enter the city now," Sage said, glancing to the vanishing shadow of the crow. "A friend of yours?" he inquired with a smile.

Sam shrugged. "I guess you could say that. I started feeding him at my college, and he somehow has kept up with me. I guess you could call it a miracle of sorts."

"A miracle indeed, if he's been able to survive all this." Sage chuckled. "Come on. We're about to decide on who's going to enter the city."

Sam nodded and followed Sage as he trekked towards the gathering of the other survivors. Everyone was out of their tents and vehicles, murmuring betwixt one another. Once Sage reached the group, he spoke up: "All right everyone, we're going to have to decide on who's going to be entering the city for our search. Our priorities are, of course, food, water, gasoline, ammunition, and medical supplies.

"Obviously, the kids are gonna have to stay behind. Alex has also volunteered to stay, both as a watchman and because of his injury. Emily, Ali, Nigel, Elsa, and Dayana will also stay. Everyone else will be going into the city for the search."

For a moment, Brennan let out a sigh before he suddenly froze, realizing his name had not been mentioned. "Wait—does that mean I'm going too?"

Brian nodded, grinning at his son. "Yes, son. I think you're ready for a bit more responsibility."

The words of affirmation seemed to lift a weight off of Brennan's shoulders. A smile of relief came to his face, mixed with it gratitude. He glanced to Elodie, who was watching him with an arched eyebrow and a smirk of her own. Brennan felt his face flush red as he turned his eyes back to Sage.

"Well, we can't waste much time. Let's get to work."

The seven survivors that made up the search team bid their farewells to their companions before entering Atlanta. It was a weighty task, entering a massive, foreboding city to find supplies without stumbling across any of the undead.

Some might call it a suicide mission. Iago refused to, simply because he wouldn't admit defeat.

Against the wishes of the others—especially Elodie—he had elected to bring Rooster along with him. He didn't want to leave her alone; that was another thing he'd ever refuse to do, at least in a scenario like this. Not only did he not want to abandon her to a group of strangers, but she was also a valued companion in a death-ridden city like Atlanta.

The group moved down the highway as it led into the city. The first block, on either side, was littered with both signs of good and bad fortune. The good: there were numerous storefronts of grocery stores, pharmacies, gun shops, and otherwise. The bad: corpses—and possibly those that had refused to die—were strewn across the pavement, the stench of rotted flesh feeling the nostrils of each of the survivors.

Faces screwed up in various contortions, the survivors tried their best to ignore the stench of the foul carcasses. Brennan stepped close, eyeing an unmoving female figure on the cement. Her throat had been ripped open, blood and other disgusting leakage spewing on the pavement beneath her. Judging by her size and face, he had to guess she wasn't much older than he was.

It took everything within him not to vomit as he turned his attention away.

Sage glanced to the shops before turning to Brian and Allie. "We'll need to split up to get the most searching done. Brian, you take Brennan, Elodie, and Iago to check out the gun shop for any weapons or ammo. Allie, Sam, and I will go to the grocery store then move into the pharmacy. If anything goes wrong—" He froze, unsure of what to say.

Brian nodded. "You'll know if anything goes wrong, trust me."

Sage nodded back. "All right. Be safe." He turned and strode towards the grocery store with Allie and Sam as Brian turned to the others.

"You heard the man. Let's check it out." He nodded towards the gun shop, its front window smashed from a rock or brick or something. He led the way, lowering his semiautomatic rifle to lead the way as he flicked on the flashlight mounted on the barrel.

Iago pulled his machete free, preferring to go in with a melee weapon in-hand over a firearm. It was quieter, but also more natural for him in such close quarters. Similarly, Elodie had her bat drawn, held tightly in both hands. While she had become a better aim with the rifle, she was certainly not about to be wielding it inside of a dark, dingy shop—that would spell nothing but disaster.

Brennan kept his pistol held tightly in both hands. He felt himself quivering a bit, the gun's weight still something he had to get used to. He wasn't quite sure how he'd react the moment he was faced by a walker; he hoped he'd be able to take quick aim and fire a shot that would instantly blow out the walker's brains, but what if it was an undead child? Could he just blow its brains out like that?

He wasn't quite sure, and he honestly did not want to find out.

"Keep your eyes peeled," Brian said. "For ammo, guns, and walkers."

The three teens all let their eyes wander, searching for any of the three. "Found something," Iago said almost immediately. He bent down and when he reappeared, he had a cardboard box in his hands. "Shotgun shells."

"Good find," Brian said. He glanced down and pulled a satchel from a hook on the counter. "Toss 'em in here. With any luck we might be able to find a shotgun here too."

Iago sat the box of shells inside the satchel, bending down to retrieve the other boxes that were down there, six to be exact. "Seven total," he remarked aloud as he began to deposit them all into the bag.

"You must have good eyesight to find that so quickly," Elodie said, her tone unmistakably flirty. Brennan's mouth fell to a scowl almost instantaneously. Elodie leaned against the counter as Iago got to his feet, his eyes locked with hers.

He let out a chuckle. "Must have." As a smirk of his own came to his face to match the one plastered on Elodie's, Brennan inhaled sharply.

"I think I found something," he said, grabbing up a small black box. He held it out to his dad, hoping he'd found something equally as impressive, if not better.

Neither was the case. Brian withheld a chuckle as he said, "Sorry son, that's just a pencil box."

"Oh." Brennan felt his face flush with embarrassment as he glanced to Elodie and Iago, stifling their laughter at his misfortune. He let out a huff as Brian's eyes flicked from him to the others.

"Brennan, come with me to help me check the back. Elodie, you and Iago can keep searching up here." Brian gestured to the back room with his head and Brennan sighed, rolling his eyes as he reluctantly followed his dad.

Once they entered the back room, Brian let out a sigh of his own. "Something getting to you, Brennan?"

"No," Brennan snapped back. "I'm good."

"It sure doesn't seem that way." He paused briefly before continuing. "Look, Brennan, I was your age once too, believe it or not. I know something about the way you feel right now." Before Brennan could cut in, Brian continued, "You feel like Elodie's only got eyes for Iago, right?"

Brennan slowly nodded. "Like I said, I was in the same boat once. A girl I liked seemed to not be at all interested in me. Instead, she went for the jocks, the cool guys, the ones who got anything they could want."

"Sounds like a pretty terrible girl."

Brian chuckled. "I don't think your mother would appreciate that."

Brennan's eyes widened. "You mean—Mom?"

"Uh huh."

"W-what changed?"

Brian shrugged. "A couple things. The biggest was my approach. I didn't mope around and feel sorry for myself. I did all that I could to show her my good qualities. She also did a bit of growing on her own, and realized what she wanted, and realized that it wasn't smart or particularly kind to play with the feelings of others."

He could tell Brennan was taking his words to heart. "What I'm trying to say, son, is that you can't let what Elodie does or think ruin your life. If she likes you for who you are, you'll know it. If she doesn't, well, then you have to move on."

Brennan nodded. "I got you, Dad."

Brian grinned to his son, patting his shoulder. "Atta boy." He nodded towards a counter. "Check that out. Might be some ammunition over there." Brennan nodded and stepped towards the counter to continue the search.

Sage, Allie, and Sam had been making good time in their search of the grocery store. Finding canned goods and bottled water, they gathered up the items they had found and piled it together near the store's door. "Surprisingly," Sage said, "we found a good bit. This should be enough to last us for a while."

As if she could wait no longer, Allie cut in. "We need to check out the pharmacy to find some medical supplies. Alex is gonna need some soon."

Sage glanced to Allie quickly, withholding the urge to smile. He had noticed there had been a bit of a change in Allie, and she was now showing the crux of it: she was worried about her brother. "Yeah. Yeah, that's what we're going to do next." He gestured back towards the street. "Come on, let's go."

As they made their way into the street, a sound caught Sage's attention. "Wait," he said quickly, holding a hand up. His eyes focused down the street, as the sound became clearer: voices.

"What is it?" Allie asked as Sam slowly removed his pistol from its holster, answering her.

"It's voices," he said. "Someone's coming."

"Get back," Sage said, gesturing to the others to reenter the grocery store. "We'll wait them out. They could be dangerous, but they could also not be. Just stay quiet."

Sage pressed up against the right side of the wall just inside the grocery store's entrance. Allie ducked down beside him, looking out the window as Sam stood opposite of Sage, watching out of the door with him. The three waited in silence, with bated breath, as the sound of footsteps and voices drew nearer.

"We've gotta stop somewhere," one voice, thick and gruff, said. "We can't keep running like this."

Another voice answered back. "We can't stop here—they'll get us for sure."

A third voice cut in, this one much softer and younger. Inside, Sage felt his heart break a little: it was a little girl. "Lee . . . I'm getting tired. I can't keep running."

Swallowing hard, Sage stepped towards the door, but Allie gripped his arm. "You can't—they'll give us away!"

Sage jerked his arm free. "We can't just leave them to be killed." With that, he stepped into the street and called, "Hey! Over here!"

As he stepped out, he caught a glimpse of the three figures that had been running. The first man, to whom the gruffer voice had belonged to, was a tall, dark-skinned man with short black hair and a matching beard, wearing jeans and a blue button-up shirt. Beside him was the little girl—she had olive skin, a baseball cap adorning her head. The third person was another man, this one several years younger and Korean, if Sage's gauge of nationality was correct.

The younger man's hand went for his hip, and he tore a pistol free from his pocket. He leveled it at Sage, his hands shaking as he said, "S-stay back! Don't make me shoot!"

Sage raised his hands as the other man stepped between Sage and his companion. "Cool it, Glenn," he said, glaring to his companion. The other man—Glenn—lowered his gun abashedly as both glanced to Sage. "My name's Lee. Lee Everett."

"Sage Belmont." A brief pause, then, "I don't mean any harm, we just heard you coming and I wanted to catch you before you got past." He thumbed towards the grocery store behind him. "Quick, in here. We can hide until the walkers get past."

Lee nodded before turning to Glenn, gesturing towards the store as he took the little girl—Clem—by the hand. The three joined Sage as they rushed into the grocery store, seating themselves next to Allie.

Sage took his spot next to Sam, huffing. Within moments, snarls and growls began to emanate from down the road, and then the sound of dragging feet as shadows began to appear, followed by silhouettes of walkers. Dozens of walkers.

Sam turned and glanced to Sage. "Hopefully Brian and the others stay put and don't come out."

Sage nodded. "Yeah. Hopefully so."

"Brian!"

The sound of Iago's voice brought Brian and Brennan from the back room of the store. "What'd you find?" Brian asked, but Iago shook his head.

"Nothing. Look." Brian followed his extended finger to see a horrid sight—a horde of walkers, staggering down the road.

"Oh no." Brian dropped to a knee by the door, eyeing the moving pack of zombies. "Any sight of Sage, Sam, or Allie?"

"Yes," Elodie cut in. She nodded across the street. "Three people—two guys and a little girl—came running up and Sage grabbed them, and they all went into the store again."

Brian, a bit befuddled by this revelation, glanced to the teens around him. "Be absolutely quiet and still. We cannot give away our position." They all nodded and fell into immediate silence, the only sounds given off being their muted breathing.

Brennan crept towards the window, reaching for a surface to press against when a sharp prick tore through his hand. He let out a gasp and a grunt before, all too late, he realized what he had done—he glanced down and saw a thin, crimson line running across his palm, glass shards from the broken window having torn open his flesh. As blood oozed, he glanced to the faces of his companions as he slapped his uninjured hand over his mouth, so as not to elicit any further noise.

But it was too late.

At first just one walker froze, but then so did another, and another, until about six had turned towards the gun shop. From just an outsider's perspective, you could not tell if they had heard Brennan's grunts of pain, could smell the stench of fresh blood, or if it was just some innate sense that was gifted to the undead to know where living, breathing morsels could be found, but regardless of the reasoning, the walkers knew that they were there.

Brian bit his lip before turning to the others. "To the back, there's another door. Now." The four began to move as Brian kept his eyes on the walkers outside. They began to snarl more angrily and ravenously. More and more joined the initial six as they began to march towards the gun shop as Brian turned and followed the others towards the back of the store.

Across the street, in the grocery store, Lee was the first to speak. "What the hell? Why are they going to that store?"

Sage inhaled sharply. "Our friends. There were four more of us that were searching the gun store. They must've noticed they were there."

Allie got to her feet, hand reaching for her gun. "We have to help them!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Glenn quickly interjected. "You mean shooting? That'll give us away!"

"You got any better ideas?" Allie snapped back.

"Hold on, Allie, he's right," Sage countered. "We can't just go guns-blazing, we've gotta do this smartly." Pausing, he thought briefly before making a decision: "I'll try and sneak past the walkers and get a block or so down the street. I'll try and draw them away and after me, and the rest of you can go find Brian and the others and regroup back with the others. Got it?"

Lee, Glenn, and Clem all looked to each other uncertainly as Allie nodded. "Got it." She glanced to the three newcomers, and said with a shrug, "I guess you three are stuck with us for a bit."

Lee nodded. "Yeah. I guess so."

Sage checked the gun on his hip. Although he'd prefer his bat over the pistol, he needed to be sure it was there and available for use. In a situation like this—where he very much could wind up in a life-or-death situation almost instantaneously—he'd need it close at hand and ready for immediate use.

"I'll meet up with you all once we get past these walkers," Sage said, grinning to them.

"Sage," Allie said, stepping towards him. He glanced to her, and she bit her lip nervously. "Please, just . . . be careful."

Sage only smiled back. "You don't have to tell me twice." Then, he walked out the door.

Iago was the first to exit the back of the gun shop. Almost immediately as he opened the door, a wretched snarl sounded to his right and he spun, slicing cleanly through a walker's skull with his machete. The top half of the walker's head slipped one direction as the body crumpled in another, collapsing to the ground as the others filed out behind Iago, guns raised.

He scanned the area around him, but no other walkers with visible in the alcove behind the shop. "It's all clear," he muttered, motioning forward. The group of four began to move away from the store, heads on a swivel.

"What's our plan? Where are we going?" Elodie asked as the group continued to move.

"We've gotta meet up with the others before we head back to camp," Brian said. "We'll circle around and hopefully catch them—without walkers around, of course."

Elodie opened her mouth to respond before a loud whistling sounded from deeper in the city, almost as if a firework had been launched off into the sky. The four turned their heads toward the sound, watching as a small, fiery projectile tore through the air before it curved and fell back down.

"What was that?" Brennan asked.

Iago was the one to answer. "That was a flare," he said, glancing to Brian, as if he was waiting for him to say something.

Brian turned to Iago, then glanced at Brennan and Elodie. "It could be someone in need of help."

"But what about Sage, Allie, and Sam?" Brennan asked.

"There's that horde of walkers between them and us," Brian said. "They'll probably have circled around the back of their store too. We can hope that they may have seen the flare too and went that direction."

The others all nodded as Brian gripped his rifle tightly. "Come on. Let's move."

Sage jogged down the street quietly. So far, so good; the walkers were still bent on either filing down the street or on entering the gun store where the others had been located. He threw a glance over his shoulder to see if any had caught sight of him, but such wasn't the case. Maybe he'd be able to—

Suddenly, a sharp whistle sounded as an equally sharp pain pricked Sage's ankle. A tight pinch swelled around his lower leg as he glanced down, seeing a thin, wiry rope latched into his ankle. Just as quickly, the rope snapped into the air, and Sage was thrown upside down, suspended in midair. He let out a cry of pain; it was his right leg that had been caught in the makeshift trap, the very same leg that had been injured and had surgery years before.

The pain was coursing through his leg, and he let out a sharp grunt, fighting to elicit any further cries of pain. He glanced back to the walkers; thankfully, the pack had continued walking. Well, most of the pack anyways.

One walker had turned around and had its gaze fixed on him. It let out a nasty snarl before it began its march—directly towards him.

A/N: Hello everyone! It's been a while since the last update, because I had been on vacation for a bit, but now I'm back to writing! As promised, we have finally been introduced to our first canon characters and have gotten a few teases towards our last remaining OCs, whom we shall meet in the next few chapters. Thank you all for reading, and I hope you enjoyed the new chapter! Until next time.