The Government holds scientific research all the time. No one ever knows about it because when a volunteer is brought in they are to sign a waiver of secrecy. If they were to tell a single soul, their lives would end suddenly. But what about that day science tries something that will not be able to be hidden. That will be the beginning of the end of the world. Those thoughts ran through the mind of Doctor Lyle Hart as he walked the halls of the small military hospital. Eight people had been brought in two at a time to test a virus the Government's science team had put together. It was a virus that would kill you but some how bring you back with ten times your natural strength. The liquid working throughout ones body as they laid dead on the table.

They knew people would react differently to the virus but wanted to make sure it was good enough to start using in their military personnel. Which meant it had to work in at least 7 out of eight. The first two that were brought in, it worked on one but the other never woke up. The first person who did awake had exactly what they had wanted. He was ten times stronger, faster and couldn't be killed unless there was a direct hit to the heart with something pure silver. And of course, being beheaded. There needed to be failsafes just in case something went wrong. The next four they brought in, the virus worked the same way which meant, with these last two, if both went okay it would be accepted.

And that hat was what Doctor Hart was doing now. Checking on his patient, Rick Grimes. He had given the volunteer the virus an hour ago, which meant he should be alive and well now. Maybe not awake but the heart monitors would tell him if the man was alive or not. Doctor Hart went in his room and smiled as he heard the heart monitor beeping. The test only needed to succeed on one more person who happened to be down the hall being checked by Doctor Tyra Jackson. Doctor Hart checked Rick's vitals and wrote a few notes down in his notepad. Checking off everything that made him happy to check off.

But in Doctor Jackson's room, her patient Negan, was a little different. There was no heart beat. No signs of life and Doctor Jackson sighed. This would have been a second fail. Which meant, they couldn't use the virus on their military personnel. Doctor Jackson took out her radio and called it in. "We got a cold one." She said through the radio and someone replied with, "Be down in a couple minutes."

Doctor Jackson pocketed her radio harshly and sighed yet again. They were one more away from actually getting this! Doctor Jackson went to remove the IV's and heart monitor from Negan before everyone else got down there. But as she leaned down to do so, she swore she heard Negan take in a small breath. She quickly looked to the heart monitor and saw no signs of life so decided it was just her imagination. But before Doctor Jackson could straighten herself up again, a strong hand clamped around her throats and she could barely breathe. It took a moment to realize that the hand that clamped tightly to her throat was Negan's. But how? His heart wasn't beating, he had no signs of life whatsoever!

Negan's eyes darted open, a yellow tinge to their colour. And then he smiled. His teeth had grown. He had fangs that could bare in to flesh and bone. Doctor Jackson struggled to get away but the more she did, the tighter his grasp had become. "I'm free." Negan said, simply.

Negan moved his hand from her throat in a quick movement, tearing flesh and muscle. Blood squirted from her throat like a broken faucet and she fell to the ground, lifeless. Negan removed the IV and heart monitor as he jumped up from the bed just as other doctors had run inside. They took a quick glance to the dead Doctor on the floor and then one towards Negan. "Food delivered straight to your room. I like this hospital." Negan said with a grin.

The other doctors began to run from him but Negan had caught them all one by one. Feeding and killing them all. Down in Rick's room, Doctor Hart stood, hearing the noise. He glanced out the window from inside the room and saw doctors and staff fleeing for their lives. The alarm began to sound throughout the hospital and Doctor Hart ran back over to Rick's bed. "Wake up, Rick." He pleaded with the man who was still unconscious. "Come on, Rick!" Doctor Hart exclaimed before hearing a smash in the room.

Doctor Hart quickly looked up to the window that had now been smashed in and then to the floor where a man had now laid dead. Or seemingly so. Doctor Hart quickly took Rick off the heart monitor and IV's before escaping out the door only wanting to get home safely, and hoping that Rick Grimes, Sheriff, husband and father of one, would wake and some how save the world.

But Rick Grimes just laid there, dreaming. Dreaming of his beautiful wife, Lori and his twelve year old son, Carl. Carl thought the world of his father and wanted to some day be just like his father. Carl also thought the world of his Godfather, ad Sheriff's Deputy, Shane's Walsh. A man Rick knew he could trust to take care of his son and wife should anything happen to him. And through his dreams he could hear the screams and massacre that happened around him. Hear his name called by the Doctor but in his dreams it had been Shane. And then he heard nothing but the quiet. And it was the quiet that began to wake him.

Rick slowly opened his eyes and looked around. He saw the smashed window in his room and he knew that something wasn't right here. "Doctor Hart." Rick called out, his voice barely audible because of thirst. When there was no reply, Rick turned to his side and fell out of bed. Down to the floor and beside a thin line of blood. His eyes followed the trail to an even bigger pool of blood, but no body. Rick slowly got to his feet, using the bed as a crutch to do so. He walked over to the closet, ripped it open and took out his clothing and boots. Once he had gotten those on, he rushed to the bathroom and turned on the tap, letting it run cold before sticking his head under and letting the water fall in to his mouth.

Once Rick had quenched his thirst, he walked back out and slowly opened his door to creep out in to the hall. Bodies were on the floor, blood smeared the walls. Rick had no idea what had happened but to take out a whole hospital, it must have been something big. Rick walked along the halls, trying to piece together what had happened when he came across an office with the door ajar. Rick pushed it all the way open and inside on the floor, behind a desk, he saw an arm laying there. Someone else dead? But then he heard the person cough and the hand twitch so Rick ran over behind the desk and got down beside the person. He gently flipped him on to his back and then realized it was Doctor Hart. "Doctor Hart." Rick said, his voice panicked, "What the hell happened?!"

Doctor Hart looked up at Rick before grabbing his hand. "207-7. It's a file in the file cabinet. The key is in the top drawer of my desk." Doctor Hart said.

Rick had no idea what it would do with what happened, but he got to his feet and opened up the first drawer of the desk. When he retrieved the key, Rick went over to the filing cabinet and opened it up. Quickly searching for file 207-7. When he finally found it, Rick rushed back to Doctor Hart and sat down beside him, handing him the file but Doctor Hart shook his head, and pushed the file back towards Rick. "Eight people have been given the virus. One dead, one went terribly wrong. Six, can right this wrong. Inside, you'll find the names of the other five that you need to find. Find them, and put a stop to this demon!" Doctor Hart demanded before closing his eyes.

Rick opened up the file and quickly looked through the pages before looking back towards the Doctor. "How do I find them?" Rick asked but realized the Doctor was already dead.

Rick sighed and stood up. Just what was he dealing with? How did this all go wrong? Rick walked out the door, file in hand when suddenly he was pushed from behind, hard. Rick flew across the hall, and hard in to the wall, dropping the file and then falling to the ground. He was then quickly picked up and turned around, pinned to the wall behind him. Rick was now face to face with the Doctor who just died in front of his eyes. Fangs glistening and his eyes with a yellowish tint. He held Rick by the collar of his shirt with a growl. "This world belongs to Negan now." He spoke as he began getting closer to Rick.

Doctor Hart was ready to rip in to flesh, to drink Rick's blood and all Rick could do was stand there in shock. Because of the virus he couldn't be killed, right? Maybe not, but he could be turned and if he turned he would be as cold blooded and ruthless as Negan. And just before that could come to pass, Rick heard the blast of a gun shot, and the Doctor turn to ash at his feet. Rick looked up at his saviour, and saw a man who stood at about 5'10 with blonde hair and blue eyes. He had a pistol in his hand in which he holstered and then walked over to Rick, bending down to grab the file along his way. The man opened it up and looked inside beforehand looking towards Rick. "Why you got a file with all the names of the test subjects?" The man asked him.

Rick motioned towards the pile of ash on the ground and shook his head. "Doctor Hart told me to find the other five. To put a stop to this. Even though I'm not even sure as to what /this/ is." Rick explained.

The man quickly closed the file and handed it back to Rick, who took it. "You're one of the six successes?" He asked and Rick nodded his head. The man extended his hand to him with a dimpled grin, "Name's Jace Carter. Test subject 3004. Another success."

Rick took Jace's hand firmly in his and shook it. "So Jace, can you tell me what the hell is going on here?" Rick asked before taking his hand back.

Jace nodded his head as he began to lead Rick down the hall. "I can explain everything, we can find out who we need to find, and then travel to Atlanta where there is supposedly help and a safe place." Jace said.

"How far has this spread?" Rick asked.

"Why don't we get out of here first, and I'll explain everything." Jace said and Rick nodded his head in agreement.

THE BITING DEAD

Rick and Jace walked along the streets. They were on their way to Rick's house to see if his wife and son were still there and Rick had hoped for the best. As they walked, they talked. "So you have a wife and son, huh?" Jace asked and Rick simply nodded his head.

"Yeah," he replied before looking towards the blonde, "But you haven't told me a thing about you. What's your story?"

"Well, my mom had me at the tender age of 16 but my dad? He ran off not wanting the responsibility at such a young age. So my mom did it all herself for years until she met this man. Ed. Everything seemed fine and when I was 18 I shipped off, joining he Marines. Four years later, mom gets pregnant and I left because I didn't trust Ed with my mom or little sister. Got a job as security in an AT&T building. Had a girlfriend but she cheated. So didn't last long. No kids. My sister Sophia comes over a lot though. I take of her. Mom came over when things got really bad with Ed. So many times I wanted to kill him. So many times mom begged me not to. One of these days, I'm gonna find my family. I'm gonna embrace my mom and sister, and I'm gonna beat the holy living hell outta Ed." Jace explained and Rick listened to each and every word.

Rick felt bad for Jace, Sophia and his mother but the ending caught his attention and to lighten the mood a bit, Rick just smirked. "You do realize that you're talking to a Sheriff, right?" He asked.

Jace just chuckled as he continued walking. "Law don't mean nothing anymore." He said.

Rick wasn't totally sure what that meant but began to understand as this was actually the first time he had realized that all the streets and houses were clear of people. Finally, they had reached their destination and Rick walked inside frantically. Jace short behind. "Lori!" Rick called out as he searched the home, "Carl!" Rick began to worry suddenly, and he could feel his blood pressure suddenly rising. "Lori! Carl!" He called out again, twice as loud before collapsing to his knees and crying.

Jace looked around the place and noticed pictures taken from the walls, cupboards opened and food missing. Jace then got down beside Rick and put an arm around him before picking him up off of the ground. "There is a good chance they are already in Atlanta. So we just need to get there." Jace said as Rick viciously wiped at his eyes, "We can rest up tonight and go first thing in the morning."

Rick shook his head before going towards the door. "No." He said. "We go now."

Jace grabbed Rick's arm and Rick glared hard at him. "We can't go yet. We need to collect food, a car, gas, more guns and silver bullets. Anything pure silver. Holy water, crosses, bibles."

"Holy water? Crosses? Bibles?" Rick asked confused, as Jace removed his hand from his arm.

"These things hate anything religion." Jace explained, "it won't kill them, but it will keep them away from us."

Rick gave a small huff. What happened while he was out? How long was he out? How would they find the other four they needed? All questions he would have to ask Jace during the night of rest. But it couldn't happen here. Rick would only be up all night trying to figure out if his family was okay. If Shane got them to safety. So the two were out the door and on their way to find another place to stay.