AUTHORS NOTE: Hey, this is my walking dead story and I hope you like it as it says in the summary it's slightly an A/U and it's a Rick/OC because he's my favourite, R&R and let me know what you think, this is my first fic and I hope you enjoy it.

~ April

-PROLOGUE-

"Runnin' low on gas" The brunette said from the passanger side to the man in the police uniform, who nodded in response and stopped the police car. The two got out and walked past overturned cars, towards the gas station. There was vehicles, corpses, children's toys and abandoned campsites littering the ground.

The brunette stopped and frowned, she'd noticed the handmade sign that read "NO GAS" and she turned back to the man in the police uniform, who grabbed her arm and pulled her towards him, the tow of them pressed to a car, her made a motion with his hand for her to keep quiet. She nodded and chewed the inside of her lip.

He moved, looking under the car and the brunette did the same, seeing small feet with a pair of slippers and what looked to be a young girl picking up her teddy bear. The man moved from behind the car and the brunette, on instinct followed him, staying just behind him on alert.

He called out to the little girl, who stopped "Don't be afraid" He said reassuringly.

But both he and the brunette gaped as she turned to face them, it appeared that THEY should be the ones afraid because her lips and cheek were missing, exposing raw muscle and flesh, the small girl started towards them, growling. The man raised his gun as the brunette turned away, as the small girl got closer and he pulled the trigger, shooting her in the head...

-PRE-APOCALYPSE-

Two men, Rick Grimes and Shane Walsh sat in the police cruiser, eating burgers and fries, joking about how different women were to men.

"I spoke to Lori today" Shane said looking over to his friend "She said you both had another argument"

"We're not even married or together anymore, haven't been for two years and she's still picking fights, she said to me this morning when I was picking Carl up to take him to school, she told me I didn't care about my family which was what caused the end of our marrige" Rick said somberly "The difference between men and women? I would never, not even now that we're not together, say something that cruel to her, especially not in front of Carl"

Shane stared at him and frowned, Lori was being awful harsh on him but what made him feel guilty was that he'd been seeing her for a while now and didn't know how to tell his best friend.

An APB came through, alerting the two officers about a high speed persuit in progress, two men were armed and dangerous, in the car being chased. The two officers dumped the food and rushed off to the scene.

As they got there they put down spike strips and waited. Two other officers who were there as back up joked around about being on a reality cop show. Rick however was not amused at all.

"Stay focused" He said "Worry about having a round in your gun chamber and havin the safety off" He said.

"It would be kind'a cool gettin' on one of them shows" Shane mused from beside his friend.

The car with the two men in it sped towards them, two more cop cars chasing behind it. It went over the spike strips and shredded the tires and causing it to lose control and flip over and over until it stopped on the grass.

"Holy shit" Shane murmered watching the scene un-fold, his gun cocked. Rick quickly glanced at him before moving forward.

He carefully approched the car, the first man emerged from it panting heavily.

"DROP YOUR GUN!" Rick barked at him.

But then man raised it and amied it at Rick and shot him in the chest and he fell back as Shane killed the man with the gun. As yet another man emerged from the car with a rifil, but one of the other officers shot him.

"I'm alright!" Rick called, he was just winded witht he force of the hit to his chest. Thankfully he'd been wearing his kevlar vest and Shane ran over to him quickly, helping him up.

"Let's keep this to ourselves, Carl and Lori can't know about this is...Ever" Rick began.

Neither of the two men noticed the third man crawling out of the car from the backseat. The man fired, hitting Rick's side, where the vest didn't protect him, Rick fell to the ground, blood pooling from the wound.

"RICK!" Shane called killing the third man with one shot "He's been hit!"

He leaned down to Rick's level who was trying hard to keep his eyes open, the pain being to much to handle but the blood loss was slowly making him drift off.

"You stay with me!" Shane said to him "Ok" He gripped onto Rick's shoulders and began ripping the shirt off. But Rick's eyes eventually closed, the last thing he heard was Shane barking orders at one of the officers to call an ambulance.

Shane was in the hospital by Rick's bedside delivering flowers to him. He was talking to him trying to see if he could get Rick to respond in anyway and even though Rick could get quick glances of his friend and then the room and at the clock his eyes shut again.

Rick woke up, coughing and mumbling about his spoon collection, blinking. His throat was dry, he was sweaty, un shaven and dehydrated. "Shane?" he asked his voice groggy.

He noticed the flowers had dried out and died and the beeps of the machines had stopped and he glanced at the clock. It was a completely different time than when he'd seen when he'd saw Shane. He moved from the bed, weakly pulling himself and fell to the ground when he'd tried to stand.

"Nurse!" He called "Help!"

But nobody came, what was going on? He managed to stand he he stumbled into the bathroom, turning the tap on and guzzling down the water and then moved, heading out the door. He stumbled into the gurney that blocked his way out and shoved it aside and continued with what he was doing.

The hallway was dark, disheveled and the lights flickering and wires were hanging from the ceiling. He went into the nurse's station and tried the phone, but it was dead. He found a set of matches and struck one, looking for anything else that could possibly help him to find something worth taking.

A flickering light caught his attention and through the doorway he could see the decomposing body of what looked to be a nurse with half of her body missing. He couldn't believe it and he backed up, confused and scared, not knowing what was going on. As he stumbled down the hall slowly, blood covered the walls and bullet holes pierced the plastering.

A double door leading to a room had been chained shut and there was large writing across it in black paint "DON'T OPEN/DEAD INSIDE". Rick then noticed a hand come through it, the fingernails dirty and broken, and it fiddled with the chain and the padlock. Rick stumbled backwards absolutley terrified.

He moved towards the elevator and tried it but it didn't work, so he exited through a dark stairwell and began choking and gagging because it smelled of rotting flesh. Lighting matches he lumbered down the stairwell until he found a burnt out exit sign. The door opened and Rick squinted in the sunlight.

But when his eyes finally ajusted to it he saw all the hundred of decayed, rancid bodies that were covered in sheets and layed in rows and piles. He left the hospital and managed to stumble up a hill. Ther was a military helicoptor, snadbags and other signs of a cordon but everything was abandoned which confused him to no end.

He wondered down the road, spotting an overturned bycicle in a park. He reached it and noticed the body of a decyaing woman, only the top half of her was still there turned and reahced for him moaning in hunger. Rick fell to the ground, trying to comprehend the situation and the scene in front of him.

But he stood quickly again and picked up the bike, and cycled away from the disturbing scene. Finally he reached his house, the door left lying wide open. "LORI!" He called going up the porch steps "CARL?!"

He went in, finding most of the stuff missing and his ex wife and his son gone. He fell to the floor and sobbed out their names and questioned himself. Was this really happening or was it all a dream? He stood up and went outside and sat on the steps.

He turned his head, seeing a man stumbled down the road towards him, slowly he lifted his hand to wave to get the man's attention. But before he knew it...the side of his face had been hit and he fell back.

"Carl, I found you" He whispered.

"Daddy! I got this sumbitch!" The boy cried "I'm gonna smack him dead!"

Then a man appeared and Rick heard a gun shot and then the man was in Rick's face.

"What's that bandage for?!" HE demanded "You tell me or I WILL kill you"

But Rick didn't answer because he passed out..