Those who are wondering why chapter 1 looks different, I went back and simply tweaked the spacing to make it easier to read and I will be going on to the other chapters and doing the same thing. Also some very minor changes to some words to make it flow slightly better. Anyway if this is your first time reading this enjoy, if you're coming back to read this again for the heck of it you enjoy as well.

Prologue

I could hear the sounds coming from the other room, the screams…the agony coming from the person that I was supposed to protect no matter what. "Please God let him live" I started praying. More screams for help. I twisted with the ropes trying desperately to break free with all my might "don't let my mistake kill him" I whimpered. I could feel blood pouring from where the rope rubbed the skin raw but I didn't care I had to do something but as the men brought the boy back into the room my heart sank.

"Now let's try this again" the fat one said coming over to me

Chapter 1 "I fought the Law"

I woke up to the sound of my alarm going off on my watch I turned it off and laid back in my sleeping bag and stared at the familiar roof of my tent. The tent was a small two person affair with the interior being a dark red color while the outside was dark green.

I took a few minutes and looked over to my bag and equipment. The Bag was a big black patrol pack that contained some spare nine millimeter rounds, a poncho and a small portable stove and also a few MREs however those were starting to dwindle. I got out of the sleeping bag and got dressed in my dark blue jeans, and hiking boots, above the waist I wore a white undershirt and grey button up and a brown leather jacket.

My Beretta that was in a black drop leg holster was standard Air Force issue with a fifteen round mag which was fully loaded, my collapsible baton was a little beat up but it would hold up for a little while longer.

My body was holding up pretty well for the apocalypse and I still maintained my four pack and somewhat large muscles, my short hair was now long and scraggly and my beard was coming along nicely. I packed up my sleeping bag and tent and picked up the beat up leather case that held my Security Police shield and Air Force ID and put it in my pocket, I then picked up my .300 bolt action rifle and put on my Civil Air patrol ball cap and started my walk to wherever.

I bet you are wondering why I still kept that badge, the simple answer was that I still believed that one day that the world was going to back to the way it was before and also part of it was pride. Ever since I was a kid I wanted to be a cop and when I was seventeen I enlisted in the military and became one, then two years and x amount of deployments later the world went to shit and I wasn't ready to give up yet.

I continued to walk along and not think of anything and then I heard the screams. I crouched and listened intently to the woods, birds chirping the sound of an animal scampering through the leaves and then the screams again coming at eleven o clock, without thinking I got up and ran towards the sounds.

I stopped at a clearing where a small one story farm house stood, the screams came again and they were definitely coming from the house, I made my way up to the building and set my bag down in some bushes and looked through a window. Inside was a boy about thirteen shirtless strapped to a table and being interrogated (water boarded) by a man wearing old dirty BDUs but he himself had a clean cut appearance.

"What the fuck" I whispered to myself "this shit doesn't happen here.". I got down from the window I realized that my bolt action rifle wasn't going to do much good so I took out my pistol, and left my rifle in the same bush as my bag I approached the door and opened it with a small creek and stepped in.

The house smelt musty and damp as I stepped in through the door and into the interior. Looking around the house appeared untouched, and if it wasn't for the fine layer of dust everywhere I would say someone was living there. I listened for any sounds, there were none except from the boy and I made my way to the room that as far as I could tell they were in and put my ear to the door.

I heard a man with a gravelly voice ask "so Carl…how many of the governor's people or people in general do you have in the prison?"

I heard silence for a few moments before "I…don't… Know" a young voice responded obviously tired and probably had been enduring this for hours.

I didn't know about the governor at the time and what he had tried to accomplish with the group before I showed up but I could already tell if this was happening I really didn't want to know the guy anyway. I readied myself at the door and kicked it in with all my might with my pistol at the ready and pointed it at the only man in the room "DON'T FUCKING MOVE" I shouted as I quickly scanned the room for any possible threats (there were none) I continued to point my gun at the man who acted as though I had brought coffee and doughnuts, his smile never left and his eyes were lit up with amusement.

"Ok take it easy" the man said putting up his hands. "What the fuck is going on here?" I asked him.

The man responded "I think we got off on the wrong foot, my name is"

"SHUT UP" I shouted and the man did. The boy on the table looked at me with pleading eyes and for a moment I remembered something that I wanted to forget. I looked around the room at all the torture equipment and let's just say that the waterboarding was the better treatment that the kid had gotten.

"Who are you and what are you doing with this kid?" I stated.

"I was simply just trying to find out why the boy's group killed so many of our own innocent people" I looked at the boy who was shaking from fear and probably the cold as well.

I looked back at the man "Bullshit, if that was the reason why we're interrogating him about numbers at the prison, you should know how many people he took…right?"

The man realized what side I was on and had anger in his eyes now he pulled a gun and I shot him three times in the chest and he went down. He was coughing on his blood as I went up and put a round in his head and then he stopped. I really should have put a suppressor on my pistol because my ears were ringing and hurting like hell after I fired the shots inside the enclosed space but I would worry about that later.

I went over to the kid who had been through hell and then some and undid the straps; I picked up the kid and got him out of the room and outside. The sunlight revealed the burn marks and cuts and the obvious broken arm among other things.

"God damn kid" I said the boy just looked up at me as I looked him over "what's your name man" I asked "Car…" I gave him a bottle of water and he sipped it slowly, I heard the man call him Carl inside so I took a shot "ok, Carl, where is your family?" I asked.

"The prison" Carl said talking slightly better than before.

There were a few jails in the area but only one Prison as far as I knew and it was only a few miles away, I got a dark red sweatshirt out of my bag and put it on the teen and said "Carl I need you to hold on very tight, do you understand" he nodded

"Ok" I said as I put my bag on the front of me, Carl on my back and picked up my rifle and started the journey.

Every single muscle in my body was burning as I approached the prison from the wrong side so the long journey became longer as I went around the compound ; the dead were coming every which way as I slung my rifle and took out my pistol and shot them in the head as I ran.

"OPEN THE GATE" I yelled as I ran, banging my pistol along the fence line. My passenger had lost his grip and gone unconscious a few minutes before so I handcuffed him and looped his arms over me so he wouldn't fall again

I made it to the front gate where a man with long black hair and beard was running towards me with both concern and anger, I collapsed onto the ground getting Carl off my back and laid there as a small group of people that I didn't see before gathered around and took Carl and flipped me over and handcuffed my hands and blindfolded me, that's when I blacked out.

I awoke a few hours later happy that the ringing that was in my ears from earlier had subsided, but I was upset to discover that I was still handcuffed but this time to a chair but no blind fold, the room I was in was small and dark with the only light coming from a small bulb from above, the only furniture being the chair a table and another chair, just as how an interrogation room would be set up at a police station. I heard movement and a door opened with the man from the gate stepping in and coming over to where I was. He looked me over and sat down in a chair across from me and after a few minutes stated "So you were a military cop" he asked with interest.

"Who's asking", the man said nothing "my name isn't important, what is important that you answer these questions so I know that I…we can trust you…understand?"

I nodded "so I have to earn your trust even after I saved Carl" the man nodded his blue eyes boring into me, "Ok" I said as the man asked "so you were an Air Force cop"

"That's right" I said nodding the man opened up my badge case and stared at it for a moment "AMN James Law?"

"A1C James Law" I said correcting him "and yes I know about the irony of my name" the man had a brief glint of a smile and then it went right back to being serious "well A1C Law, we and especially me are very appreciative of what you did for my son" I remained silent as the man continued "and we would like someone like you to stay with our group, it is the least we could do"

I nodded agreeing. "But before we do that I need to ask you some questions" "do you want to join our group" I nodded "good, now first question is: how many walkers have you killed?" I thought the number over again in my head before settling on a number and stated "about fifty". The man nodded his head "How many people have you killed?"

"Before or after" the man looked at me with a hint of concern before saying "both"

"in war I killed four people, after all this…about six" the man said nothing obviously waiting for more, "the first two were my parents…they wanted to die together" the man nodded understandingly "the next two were someone who hurt me and a person that I cared a lot for"

"the next one was the person I cared very much for…he wasn't going to make it" I paused for a moment thinking about the time were my world crashed completely around me, I answered the last one quickly "and the last person that I killed was the person that was torturing Carl" the man said nothing hanging on to every word and then walked over and undid my handcuffs

"Welcome to our community my names Rick Grimes I was a sheriff" Rick said extending his hand "pleasure to meet you Rick" I said taking his hand, "name's James Law I was a military cop"

Hope you enjoyed the chapter please let me know if you did and what you thought.