Walking Dead Online

After a five-week break—which was supposed to be three weeks but stupid email issues and my OCD made it longer, sorry—I am finally back and God I have been waiting to write this one. I really wanted to write a Big Four AU fanfiction using the world of The Walking Dead but for the end game it wouldn't have been very useful. Well I also wanted to write a Sword Art Online AU but for the life of me couldn't figure out what game to put them in. Well with the World Seed, The Walking Dead being such a popular book/show and the helpful suggestion of Nesthellshert, the idea came to me to put the two together and so the idea of Walking Dead Online was born. As you can guess this is the second story to my nine-part story collection that will lead up to a Hetalia series and an original fanfiction story featuring an OC group of characters. And thanks to Nesthellshert for the support, edit and extremely helpful suggestions that saved me from a writer's version of a mental break down. I don't own anything. The Big Four belongs to Disney, Dreamworks and their rightful owners. Sword Art Online belongs to the wonderfully talented Reki Kouwihara, thank you for creating such an amazing story. The Walking Dead is the creation of the amazing yet spiteful Robert Kirkman—I say this out of love, but you have a nasty habit of destroying my heart, rebuilding it just so you can destroy it again making me hate and love you, you damn genius bastard. Anyway enjoy.

Skull on the Wall

They had been waiting for this, now it was finally time. In just a few minutes the launch would, well launch and he would be back in the world which he craved so much. Though it was twisted and demented and would make lesser men weep, it was a world he had seen on the screen so many times and he felt beyond happy when he finally got to be in it. He blinked as the video he was watching on his phone was suddenly interrupted by a message from his twin sister. A smile crawled across his face enjoying any form of contact with her. Their parents were divorced and for whatever reason they agreed that his mom would take the girls and his dad would take him. So, he didn't get to see his twin sister Elsa or their younger sister Anna. However, the twins managed to meet up, though it was all virtual.

Snow Queen-

Just a few more minutes.

He smiled and quickly shot another text back to her.

Jack Frost-

Yup, we probably want to get ready. Did Anna say if she wanted to come with us or not?

Snow Queen-

You know she hates zombies, er sorry, walkers. Plus, she isn't into the whole virtual gaming thing. Sorry. I'll see you in game.

Jack Frost-

See you in game.

He smiled making sure the game was in the console, then setting himself up on his bed. Once he was comfortable he put the Moon-Halo—the Western/American counter-part of the Japanese Amusphere—around his head, dropping the visor over his eyes before starting it up and settling back on the bed. The Halo hummed as it started up just waiting for his go ahead. He could barely contain his excitement as he spoke to it.

"Link start." He called.

A rainbow of colors passed by his eyes as the calibrations okayed letting him log in.

In just a few more seconds, Jack would be in the post-apocalyptic world originally created by Robert Kirkman, The Walking Dead. A couple of months ago a game developer got started creating a VRMMO of this world. He and Elsa got to beta test it after the beta was put out. It was thanks to the World Seed—which was the result of the SAO and ALO incident—that this game was even possible. So, it was thanks to the kid that defeated the games, Kirigya Kazuto, also known as the gaming pro Kirito. Thanks to everything he did, the risk of the SAO incident was practically an impossibility. So he had no fears of going into this game where you could play even after turning into a walker, that was one of the cool things about the game. The best part was that he was living in the same world as Rick Grimes, and Daryl Dixon and experience some of the same things they did. It was any fanboys dream.

Finally, the login step was completed and he could begin the game. But something was off. In the beta, you woke up like Rick did in a hospital, and right when you left it you were no longer safe and the zombies would attack. But he wasn't in a hospital. From what he could tell, he was standing in what looked like the CDC from the first season of the show. It looked like the room with the huge screen, the one that Jenner trapped the group in, intent on killing them. He wasn't alone either. There were thousands of other players stuffed in there, which is when he noticed the room was more than ten times the size it was in the show.

"Is this a new part of the game? It wasn't in the beta." He wondered, looking around for his sister's avatar.

They were twins IRL so they decided that in the game they would be too. Unlike most twins, they didn't mind looking like one another. In game, they didn't have their normal white platinum blonde hair and blue eyes, but rather brown hair and eyes. And instead of their usual slim lithe figures they had more muscle and were a bit taller. Looking down at himself he noticed he was still using his old avatar, Elsa was probably doing the same thing so finding her shouldn't be hard even in a crowd like this.

"This could be the new tutorial." He thought still scanning the room.

"Big brother!"

Turning a full one-eighty he saw a female version of his own avatar pushing her way through the crowd to get to him.

"Snow Queen." He called back using her handle.

"What's going on?" she asked finally reaching his side. "Is it the tutorial? I mean it is the first day of launch. They could have changed it from the beta."

"Maybe." Jack mumbled.

"Jack-Frost?" she worried using his handle. "What's wrong?"

"Something about this doesn't feel right."

"… Yeah your right." She looked around seeing that most people were super exited talking happily amongst each other. But there were a few that she could see that had the same worried look on their faces as her and her brother. "The other beta testers don't like this either."

"Hey, the TVs turning on." Someone called.

Looking up to the wall where the massive wide screen that was now full of static. The twins grew closer, Jack wrapping a protective arm around Elsa's shoulders.

"Big brother…" she whimpered.

He wished he could tell her it was going to be okay, that this was all just a game and nothing bad would happen. But he was getting worried too, he could feel the cold chill of fear creep up his spine. He wondered for just the smallest moment if this is how Kirito felt when Akihiko Kayaba told them their fate in SAO. Telling himself that he was freaking out over nothing and that there was no possible way for that incident to happen again, he could calm himself down enough to focus.

The static faded and the screen went black. For a moment, everything was quiet. He began to worry that maybe that the tutorial message was glitching. Then a pure white skull jumped on screen making everyone flinch. There wasn't anything special about the skull. It was just white, whith hollow eyes and nose, and the eerie skeletal smile all skulls have. Yet it was intimidating either way.

"Welcome everyone, to the world of The Walking Dead Online."

They all gaped as the skull spoke in a booming voice that sent vibrations through Jack's chest.

"I know that all of you are a bit confused by the setting I've chosen. Especially those of you who read the books rather than watched the show. But I can assure you, this is how the game was meant to be. Be sure that I will explain everything you need to know to survive this world."

"What does he mean by that?" Elsa hissed to her brother. "To survive?"

"I don't know." Jack gritted.

Suddenly he came to the realization that he has heard this voice before. He had heard it in interviews and on podcasts. It was the creator of TWDO, the millionaire engineer who developed this game, most VRMMO games in America, and for the Moon-Halo.

"Let me first start by introducing myself, I am Pitch Black, the creator of Walking Dead Online, the world which Robert Kirkman created and we all crave. I bid you all welcome."

"Is he serious?" someone cried.

The whole room was in an uproar now, making the twins pull even closer together in their unease.

"What did you mean by surviving this game?" someone else shouted.

"I'm sure that you all remember the SAO and ALO incident…" Pitch murmured letting the sentence trail off so it could sink in.

"Oh my god!" Elsa gasped covering her mouth with trembling hands.

"No way!" someone else cried.

"Elsa, stay close." Jack hissed as everyone began to panic.

"How could this happen?" she whimpered.

"I'm sure that that explained everything. But in case not, let me make it painfully clear. If you die in the game, the Moon-Halo will fry your brain and you will die for real. All the rules that applied in the beta apply now. if you lose a limb then you permanently lost it in game. Hunger and thirst can and will kill you, so will drowning, and falling. The only way to escape is to end this game. Find the clues in the hospitals, labs, and colleges. Coordinates and notes that will lead you to the lab which the scientist is hiding in then he will lead you to the military base where he will input the codes and release an antivirus and eradicate the walkers. This is the only way in which you will escape. That is all you need to know. I wish you luck, survive and win players."

With that the screen shut down going white, and leaving the room silent.

That lasted all but three seconds before people started freaking out. Some would cry how this wasn't real, or how this couldn't be happening. Then the first person became static and glitched out. This brought on an even stronger bout of panic.

"What's happening?" Jack gasped.

"JACK!"

He turned back to his sister who was now glitching out.

"ELSA!" he screamed trying to pull her closer.

"JACK!" she cried tears streaming down her face.

"I'LL FIND YOU!" he promised, his arms passed through her body. "JUST STAY ALIVE AND I'LL FIND YOU!"

All she could do was sob as he too began to glitch right before she disappeared with a whimper. He watched her go gritting his teeth, then looked at his own hands as they became static. Muttering one last curse Pitch's way, he watched as others began to glitch out. Then the room began to get fuzzy as the glitch got worse. Within seconds everything was zapped away and he was thrown into black nothingness.

The last thing on his mind, as his consciousness faded, was finding his sister and ending this horrible nightmare.

That was a really short chapter, but the next one will be twice as long. This was a lot of fun to write. Already I am in love with this story and this world. I love the Walking Dead both the books and the show—Daryl and Carol are my OTP and Jesus is my spirit animal… that is so weird to say er write. And the whole concept of Sword Art Online is just, well terrifying but the idea of the VRMMOs is just the greatest thing since the art of storytelling was developed. If this game ever becomes a thing—of course without the threat of death IRL—I would kiss reality goodbye. No one would ever see me again at least not until I cleared the game or until I realized that I need to be more social… for all of three seconds. Geeze that makes me sound like more of a shut in than I really am. Anyway let me know what you think. And remember, fanfiction authors need love too.