Chapter 1 – Days Gone Bye

Gunshots rang out into the open air. Wild shrieks of defiance erupted from ten yards away. Earsplitting sirens echoed through the empty, abandoned roads of Kentucky. A cloudless, sunny, beautiful day… spent trying to capture a man who would rather die than be hauled back into a jail cell. The life of a police officer. Complete and utter luxury.

"This is not good," Officer Shane Walsh said into the ear of his partner, Deputy Rick Smith, jolting him from his thoughts of home.

After the largely built, dark-haired man realized he had Rick's attention, he continued. "I don't think he's from around here."

Rick wiped out his revolver and squatted down even further as he and his partner huddled behind their police cruiser.

"I think that's a safe bet," Replied the Deputy, exhaling slowly. "When they opened that prison in Grant County, I didn't think we'd be getting their runoff!"

Hysterical cries erupted from behind the vehicle once more. "I ain't goin' back! I'll die first!" Shells clambered against the asphalt. The convict was reloading.

The Deputy mentally cursed, but his short-fueled temper pushed his favorite cuss word out into the public earshot. "Dammit!" Not bothering to excuse himself of cover his chapped lips in horror, he sustained, "Our backup is probably more than ten miles away! We're sitting ducks behind this car…"

Rick thought for a moment, then holstered his gun slowly and carefully, wary not to remove his figure tips from the handle as he moved toward the front of the cruiser. "Cover me," He whispered back to his teammate. "I'm gonna try and make it to that ditch so we can surround him."

Shane dipped his head, determination twisting onto his face.

That was it. There was no turning back now. Rick dashed for the incline in the ground just beside the road while Shane aimed his weapon at the escaped convict.

Panicked, the prisoner shot wildly in all directions.

Unfortunately, one lucky shot zipped directly through Shane's right hand. And as blood splattered across the windshield, the officer's gun was knocked to the asphalt, leaving Rick unprotected and vulnerable. "Rick!"

But it was too late. The convict had taken his aim. A thunderous booming echoed across the desert, seemingly louder than the rest. The small piece a lead blazed through Rick's upper chest and left him twitching in the dehydrated soil, unconscious… if not, dead.

That was it. There was no turning back now.

…

Rick awoke with a quick gasp for air, completely unaware of his surroundings. But the vital oxygen needed to live simply disobeyed orders and caught in his throat, resulting in a violent coughing fit and a horrifying discovery. Forcing himself to sit up in the bed he was practically constricted in, Rick blinked over and over, but his disturbing surroundings would not go away.

Because this wasn't a dream.

This was real.

The first thing he noticed were the white-washed walls and flooring. Not a very appealing residence, to say the least.

Next he noticed the pale gown draped over the top of his aching body, and the IV in the back of his hand. Then the breathing tube fit uncomfortably into his nose.

Lastly was the silence of the room enclosing him. Not chatter, heart monitors, of even the soft but tense ticking of a clock.

Speaking of time... the Deputy looked to the timepiece on the wall ahead of him.

According to the motionless hands, it was 2:17.

Rick then glanced out the window.

The dawning sun drenched the minor city in fiery light.

The clock was incorrect… incorrect in too many troubling ways.

Bewildered, he ripped the breathing tube from his face and the IV from his hand. Swinging his legs over the edge of the bed, he grasped onto the IV stand for support, not that it helped much.

In fact, as soon as he took two steps on the cold tile surface, Rick's unsteady feet gave out and he crashed to the floor, the IV stand tumbling down next to him. His first resort was to call for a nurse, which he did.

"Nurse!"

Only silence came from hallways outside the door.

He clicked a button that he assumed was the key for recruiting assistance.

None came.

So he sat against the bed, self-pity drenching onto him. He found himself remembering everything. But somehow he also remembered nothing. For three entire minutes, Rick listened to the rapid beat of his heart and his ragged breaths.

Suddenly, a loud static kind of sound erupted from the dresser beside him. Taking a determined breath, he opened it up to find the keys to his police cruiser, his badge, a walkie-talkie, a snow-white t-shirt, his worn sneakers, and a navy blue pair of jeans.

…

After changing, Rick crept out into the hallway, using the wall as a crutch. "Hello?" He called out desperately. "Hello, anybody?"

Like a few minutes beforehand, there was no response.

And that is when he realized that nothing was as it seemed. The hallways, no matter how many he inspected, were all littered in strewn papers, motionless insects, and ominous pools of blood splattered across the floor. There was also the occasional wheelchair, which was either on its side, or shoved against a bloodstained wall. It was sort of disturbing.

"What the hell?" He exclaimed as he walked passed an empty desk and black computer screens, with phones still blaring the "service disconnected "tone. Some of the larger processors were even found shattered on the tile surface. "Did everyone just decide to take a break at the same time?" Despite this thought, he knew something was off. Something felt… wrong. After all, Rick was a police officer. He knew a crime scene when he saw one.

Soon enough, he came across and elevator that seemed unoccupied. That being clarified, he didn't hesitate to use it.

Rick chose the second floor, wincing each and every time the elevator trembled or tilted. So when it came to a jolting stop on the second floor, he was all too ready to bust out of there, especially when his ears caught the highly disturbing ding! Of the elevator, which sounded sharper and distorted. But, as luck would have it, something else decided to block his path: a human body.

The rotted figure crashed to the ground in front of Rick, scaring the daylight out of him.

Stomach torn apart.

Skin shriveling away.

Eyes dull and lifeless.

The Deputy screamed noisily, not so much as in shock, but in concern… for himself, anyway.

"Help!" He took a leap out of the elevator, heart fluttering rapidly. "Somebody help!"

He could say he was surprised when there was no answer to his desperate pleas.

The next time he called out for help, the words spilled out in a raspy whisper as his heart caught in his throat. "Anybody?"

Taking off in distress once more, he came across the hospital cafeteria, which he found to be boarded up. And on the corridor: four ominous words painted in black letters only saying:

DON'T OPEN, DEAD INSIDE

Hello, my lovely walkers! I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Mine was... unusual. But whatever! Who cares about my life? I'm finally getting this story up, so I hope you all like it, especially the people who were upset over my giving away Edge of Tomorrow. But I like this one way better, so I hope you guys do too!

Anyway, I'm am very sorry about the whole thing with Home for the Holidays. I am trying to get it up this weekend, and I will explain the complications then.

Welp, I've gotta go make dinner and grieve over that fact that the Walking Dead is over until February. ;_;

Buh-bye!

-HKM

P.S.: If you just can't wait for the next chapter of this story (because who knows when the next one will come out?!) and you want to get at least a general idea of what happens next, then you can PM me about it and I give you the link to follow so you can read the Walking Dead comics for free! After all, this story is mainly based off the comics, with some show stuff in there every once and a while! Anyways, hope you enjoy them!

(BTW, I recommend issues 83-87. Great, great issues!)