I DO NOT OWN THE WALKING DEAD. ALL RIGHTS BELONG TO FRANK DARABONT AND AMC. THIS STORY WILL FOLLOW THE SHOW RELATIVELY CLOSELY. I WOULD ALSO LIKE TO GIVE A SHOUTOUT TO MY BETA FOR THIS STORY: RED-CASE CRAZE. PLEASE CHECK OUT THEIR STORIES. THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS HOMOPHOBIC SLURS, READER DISCRETION IS ADVISED.

FACE CLAIM

CHARLIE GRANT-GATEN MATARAZZO

ALAN HAYES-CALEB MCLAUGHLIN

OFFICER JAKE ARTHUR-MATT JONES

HERB "MR. GRASS" CLEVELAND- EZRA MILLER

King County, Georgia. February 8, 2010.

Charles "Charlie" Grant hated riding in the bus. The rust bucket had absolutely no air conditioning to speak off, so all of the passengers on it were forced to swelter like pigs in the Georgia heat. Sitting next to him was his best friend, Alan Hayes; both boys were wearing the same boring, baggy grey jumpsuits and had their wrists cuffed to prevent any escapes, as did all the boys in the bus. Near the front of the bus sat the man in charge, Officer Jake Arthur and he was dressed in his usual get-up: officer fatigues with a sheriff's hat and a pair of bitching shades. Throughout the ride, Officer Arthur kept playing with the bull whip that he was always using to keep the boys in line.

"How much longer do we gotta stay in this heat man?" Charlie asked, agitated as he ran his fingers through his curly hair, feeling the sweat clog under his fingernails.

"One of the boys said that Sky Vaults is going to be another ten miles." Alan replied as he wiped the sweat off of his black skinned head.

The boys in the bus were all former occupants of the King County juvenile detention center, for one reason or another, and they were now being transported to the Sky Vaults Juvenile Detention center on the other side of the county. As the boys tried to distract themselves from the extreme heat, Charlie could hear Jake Arthur talking to the bus driver. Normally, he was not a chatty man, but today? Well, he couldn't keep his trap shut today.

"Hey Jake, you hear about that new virus on the news?" The bus driver inquired, a small frown appearing on his brow, shaking his head at the traffic.

"What about it?" Arthur asked as he wiped some sweat off of his forehead, the rim of his hat must have been soaked.

"The news is saying that it's killing people and doing weird shit to their corpses." The bus driver replied, shrugging as if it was just an old wives tale.

"That is a load of horse shit." Arthur spat as he stroked his bull whip the way he would stroke a beloved child, softly...lovingly…freak of a man.

"Holy shit," the driver exclaimed loudly, as he began to swerve the bus in different directions, trying to keep the wheels on the asphalt and not in the air. No one could really see what was in the road causing the driver to turn the bus back and forth, but eventually, the driver overplayed his hand and the bus fell onto its side and began to careen down the street like a hockey puck in Canada.

"Charlie, hold onto the seat!" Alan yelled and while the boys did their best, considering how their hands were still uncomfortably cuffed, it was much easier said than done. When the bus finally skidded to a halt, it was still on its side with the main door still facing up. The bus driver was slumped in his chair; whether he was dead or only knocked out was indeterminable. Jake broke open the door with his nightstick before turning to the boys, eyes narrowed and breathing heavily.

"All right you ass bandits, climb up and out of the door, every one of ya'll!" Officer Arthur demanded as he pulled out the boys one by one and pushed them up, out of the door and into the street. As Charlie and Alan were shoved out, they saw that the town seemed to be in a state of chaos. There were crowds of people shoving each other, running and screaming and once everyone had exited the overturned vehicle, the officer cracked his whip to get their attention.

"Listen up, you little faggots, seeing as how the bus is currently out of commission and the driver is either comatose or dead, we're gonna be walking the rest of the way!" Arthur exclaimed as the boys groaned in disbelief.

"But that's easily ten miles away dawg!" One juvenile shouted before stomping his foot as the others began cussing and complaining. Jake cracked his whip again with a look of pure rage on his face, turning the color of a birthing hippo as he looked around at the lot of us.

"You will walk where you are commanded!" He hissed as he held his whip at the ready. One of the juveniles stepped forward and Charlie and Alan recognized him as Herb Cleveland AKA Mr. Grass; he'd been caught with a kilo of marijuana in his car…and was the local snitch.

"Kiss our asses pig, we ain't walking for shit!" He exclaimed before Officer Arthur cruelly lashed him across the front with the bull whip. Before he could realize what was happening, Charlie picked up a rock and threw it at the officer. It made a sickening smack as Jake Arthur fell to the ground, bleeding from the head. Everyone was stunned at the sight.

"What the Hell did you do?" One of the juveniles asked, dumbfounded as he moved towards Charlie only to be blocked by Alan, who had a face on that told others not to mess with him.

"Hey, back off dude!" Alan exclaimed as he stepped in to defend his friend.

"He only did what the rest of us wanted to do every single day that we toiled under that bastard's cruel whip." Mr. Grass insisted as he whistled to get everyone's attention, he grabbed the keys from Arthur's body and unchained all of the prisoners.

"We are free!" He announced firmly as the boys gained looks of relief and fear. "Everyone, break off and go your own way; to Atlanta if your homes are there, if not, well...I could not give less of a shit!" The group promptly split up and everyone ran off in different directions, except Charlie and Alan, who stayed frozen on the road, together.

"What do we do now?" Charlie asked slowly as he and Alan took in their situation and tried to get what bearings they could.

"We're going home." Alan declared with a look of determination his face.

WHAT WILL BECOME OF CHARLIE AND ALAN NOW THAT THEY ARE ON THEIR OWN? REVIEWS NEEDED AND APPRECIATED.