A/N: Hello and welcome to my Walking Dead story. I enjoy the focus on characters in this show and I also wondered what would happen if things had been different from the very start. In this version, Rick is not shot and not in a coma when the walkers appear. Other, small things have changed. I have also decided to explore other characters who were not in the original seasons, but showed up later, like Negan. I will also include several 'highlight' chapters that focus on pivotal moments in the lives of minor characters, like Lizzie and Mika, Tyreese and Sasha, Morgan and Duane, and Phillip Blake (the Governor).

Of course, many of these characters will begin the story in different places, trying to find their way and protect the people they love, but they will collide eventually. I try to write characters as true to the source material as possible.

I hope you enjoy this story and if you like it, please leave a review. If you want to suggest future canonical changes, or request certain events happen as they did in the show/comics, or you want to suggest a 'highlight' moment that you think should be featured, then feel free to leave that in a review as well. I can't always give everyone what they want, but I want to try to give people their favorite moments as well.

I have rated this story T for violence and language. If you watch the Walking Dead, you should be okay to read this story.

Jenthewarrior.

XxX

Chapter 1.

World on Fire.

"The emergency broadcast system for the state of Georgia has been activated. This is not a test."

It was nearing midnight and the highway was at a standstill. Rick Grimes sat with his hands on the wheel, looking down a dark line of vehicles.

"Proceed to the nearest refugee center in a calm and organized fashion. If you are unable to leave your home, stay indoors, turn off all lights, and stay quiet."

He was still in his police uniform, bloodstained across the waist, a pistol resting in his lap.

"Help is on the way."

Rick watched the road, aware of the silence, uncomfortable with the darkness. Some people had left their cars and started walking, shadows passing through the remaining headlights, and as the night wore on, one engine after another cut off. Slowly, slowly, the highway quieted, until the only sounds were whispers, people breathing, and that broadcast echoing through the cars.

He had been hoping the message would change for hours, give them more instructions. But the only thing that changed from daylight to dark was the list of counties at the end, the list of refugee centers. It got shorter and shorter with no explanation.

While the last list was winding down, Lori spoke from the back seat, "Rick… Cobb and Cherokee…?" Her voice was high, strained, and there was a look in her eyes like a wild animal looking for a way out. Her parents lived in Cherokee, and her cousins in Cobb.

Rick turned and took her hand. She had their son wrapped under her arm.

"Maybe they're full up, huh?"

She wanted to believe him. He could tell. But she didn't. She squeezed his hand and looked away, taking a halting breath, "Yeah. Maybe."

Shane returned and leaned in through Rick's window. His eyes were as dark as anything at this hour. "Nobody up there knows a damn thing – bunch of stories about UFOs and terrorist attacks. I'm gonna head back the other way, see what I can see. You wanna come?"

"You go. I think we'll hang around here."

Shane tipped his hat and disappeared again.

A few seconds dragged past, and then Lori said, "We could use a little fresh air."

Carl added, "I have to pee."

Rick was reluctant to leave the car, and that discontent only grew as they walked around to the trunk. It was still so quiet, despite how many people were around. Rick scanned the gathered faces, the cars, both sides of the road, looking for any signs of danger. He was as tense as he had ever been, sitting right on the edge of panic.

He took Carl by the hand and led him down into the woods, staying close while he did his business. He tried his phone again, just to have something to do with his hands.

"Still nothing?" Carl asked.

"Nothing," Rick responded. Even the lines at the police department had been down most of the day, forcing them to use radios to communicate that morning.

Carl took his hand, pointing, "Do you see those people?"

He saw them. It was a large group hovering on the other side of the patch of trees, illuminated by something. "I see 'em. Probably trying to see what's the hold up, just like us."

"Should we go over there? Maybe they know something. Maybe they have a phone."

Rick would usually walk confidently into a crowd of strangers, but now he hesitated. It was something in the air, something in his heart. He had witnessed brutal stuff back home – neighbors falling ill, dying, and getting up to walk again. He had seen the walkers, as Shane called them, bite into the neck of one of his closest friends, shredding him like a wild animal.

So, he drew his son closer, and murmured, "Not just now," as they headed back to the road.

Lori was chatting with the family from the car beside theirs. She wrapped her arms around Carl the moment he was close enough, like she was afraid he was just going to disappear into the darkness. Rick felt the same way. He hovered near them while she made the introductions.

"Rick, this is Carol, Ed, and Sophia."

Ed was a heavy man with a bulldog face, his wife was rather thin, with short grayish hair, and their daughter was all knees and elbows, appearing pale and frightened.

Rick nodded his greeting, "Pleasure."

Ed was chewing tobacco, "You got any idea what this is all about? People been talkin' 'bout some crazy shit out here."

He knew what those people might be saying. He had heard it all, thought it all, himself. And though he had had the day to come to terms with it, he still couldn't properly put it into words. "No more than you, probably. Some kind of virus, makin' people sick, makin' 'em crazy. Seen a few casualties myself."

Carol was looking down at the dry bloodstain across his waist. "Did you see…?" She reminded him of a mouse, afraid to make too much noise.

"What was that?" Rick prompted gently.

"We came by way of Alamance," she went on quietly, "Lori said you were from King County… my parents live there. Bobby and Sara Wilson. I was just wondering if you maybe knew of them, or if you knew anything…"

"We evacuated this morning," he said. "But the whole county was under order to take the highway to Atlanta, so I'm sure they're on the road somewhere."

Carol smiled in a way that showed she couldn't believe him. "Is it bad out there?"

He glanced at his son, who was focused intently on him, and then said, "I'm sure they got the warning on the radio, same as us, and locked up the house. Lots of people did."

Ed grunted, exiting the conversation without so much as a goodbye. He strolled around their car and started toying with the radio, grumbling something unintelligible.

Carol smiled apologetically. "Sorry."

"No problem. None at all."

Shane made his way back up the line of cars, shaking his head as he made it to them. "Seems like traffic goes back more than a mile." He nodded to Carol and Sophia. "Ladies."

"We can't stay here all night," Lori said, clutching Carl a little tighter.

"We have some food, if you guys are hungry," Carol offered.

Something thumped inside the car, and Carol flinched. She cleared her throat. "Sorry. I mean, we might have run out. I should check. Sophia, baby, stay here."

Carl was watching the little girl. He held out his hand. "I'm Carl."

Sophia looked doubtfully at him.

"Leave her be," Rick chided. "You're welcome to sit here with Lori and Carl as long as you want," he said to the girl, who must have been around Carl's age.

It seemed that the night went on forever. Rick and Shane tried to get their phones working, but they had as much luck as all the other people around them. Rick tried to modify the radio to pick up other local stations, but it stubbornly kept on with the broadcast. Every half hour or so, it was updated, and more counties were taken off the list.

And then, at two in the morning, the broadcast stopped.

Rick was talking to Shane in the front while the kids colored in the trunk, and Carol and Lori were talking with some people from the surrounding vehicles. Everyone became aware of the silence at once. Rick fiddled with the dial, trying to get it to come back.

He felt his heart beating in his throat.

"I don't like that," Shane commented.

"What happened? Why'd it stop?" Lori leaned into his window.

"Maybe the tower shut down, to preserve energy or something," Shane offered.

"Maybe," Rick agreed.

He rested his finger on the dial.

And then he saw movement on the road. He and Shane stepped out to watch a mother and father lead four kids down the divider, their legs illuminated by the few headlights that were still on.

Shane tried to call out to them, to warn them to get back to their vehicle, but the father only glanced back at them and kept going. Shane cursed to himself. "Not safe out there. For all he knows, he could be leading his family into more danger. Stupid."

Carl appeared behind Rick, putting a small hand on his back, "I'm hungry."

It was strange. It was the first time in his life that Rick could not just go get his son some food. It suddenly occurred to him that they were trapped out here, with miles of highway either way, and dark woods on the borders. In their haste to leave home they had hardly packed anything, expecting to be at some shelter by now. He had his first thought that they might have to leave their car.

Lori seemed to be thinking the same thing. She was looking at him with this sudden, frightened expression. She drew Carl back and put her arm around his chest.

"I was thinking about the albums… I'm sorry, baby, I didn't even think…"

Rick crouched down and took his son's hands, "Me and Shane are gonna go on through the woods, see if we can get any news. You all just stay put here. If I find anything to eat, I'll bring it back for you kids. Sophia still back there?"

Her head popped up over the back seat. She had been listening from the trunk.

"Candy," Carl specified. "If you find any vegetables, just leave them there."

"Right. Right. Of course." Rick smiled, ruffling his son's hair, and then stood to talk to Lori. "Take out a picture – your favorite one, the one you wanna keep the most – and put it in your pocket. We might have to leave all this behind."

She nodded, though that frightened look grew to terror. "Not in the middle of the night, right?"

"Might have to be. Keep him close."

Lori clutched their son. "Stay safe."

"You too. I'll be back as soon as I can."

Rick and Shane ventured into the woods together. Shane was scratching his head. He waited until they were out of earshot of the highway to speak, "Emergency broadcast cutting off in the middle like that… cars back for miles… people walking up the road… It all spells trouble."

"Yeah, I got that, too."

"You know, I seen natural disasters and stuff on the news, people evacuating. Terrorist attacks and burning buildings and all that. But this feels different. I mean, what're we supposed to do? Locked up in this mess?"

It was a short walk, not even ten minutes. Rick came out on the side of another road and found a good view down the hill – into the city. Atlanta towered in the distance.

It was a city in shadow. Where there would usually be businesses, hotels, and tall towers lit up against the night sky, there were only dark blurs, and darker blurs. Where the roads would usually be illuminated by headlights, like so many lines with bright dots marching along them, there was only blackness. If he had not known there was a city there, Rick might have missed it.

"Never seen it that dark," Shane breathed.

"Must be some kind of blackout. I bet that's why the broadcast stopped."

Shane whispered, "You been quiet all day. What do you think this is?" Others had gathered to view the city, spurred from their cars by the end of the broadcast, murmuring amongst themselves. "Seems like more than a virus. Seems like more than what we saw back home."

Rick said nothing. It might have been exactly what they saw back home, on a larger scale. It was not a terrorist attack, or a natural disaster, or anything they had seen before. It was people falling ill, people dying, and then people getting up and walking around after death. It was a sickness, making them turn on their friends and loved ones. And this place had more people than back home.

He hated the thought, so he tried again for the brighter side. "Maybe it was just a blackout. You know they got an army of police out there… first responders… fire departments."

Shane was silent, his arms crossed tightly, frowning down at the city.

"We should ask around, see what everybody knows."

Suddenly the silence was broken.

Helicopters came thrashing overhead. Rick and Shane ducked as the wind threatened to bowl them over. Rick hit his knees, and the crowd on the hilltop let out a collective gasp.

He sat there, watching, as the helicopters flew high over the city and dropped dozens of little black specs over the streets. As they hit the ground, so many seeds nestling into a massive field, they detonated. Fire rose like a great curtain, blinding them, illuminating the night. It boomed and crackled, a firework show, waves of sound and heat washing over the audience, along with the sick smell of smoke.

Rick had never seen anything like it.

Never.

It made him sick to his stomach, made his heart stutter and gallop. He thought of all the people down there, all the lives that had just been snuffed out. He wanted to speak but fumbled over his words and just rambled like a madman.

Atlanta was no more.

How could anyone survive that?

Shane took his hat off and held it to his chest, breathing, "Jesus…" His eyes shone in the new light, glistening with tears. Rick put his hand on him and felt him trembling.

But his mind came back, and the fog cleared. People on the hilltop were screaming and someone was tumbling downward into the grass. Atlanta burned and gave them light, gave them shadows, showed them an invasion of lurking and lunging.

And that sound, that terrible groaning sound.

"Run!" He vaulted to his feet, grabbing Shane. He screamed so loud that his voice broke. "Run! Back to the road!"

Everyone scattered. People tripped over branches, over leaves, over each other. Bones crunched, and blood sprayed, a sick orange paint in the firelight. Rick saw it in snippets, in cuts, running with a single-minded purpose. Shane was hot on his heels, shouting something.

A woman screamed her last, bloodcurdling scream and Rick skidded to a stop.

Shane crashed into him, shoved him – hard – and yelled, "We have to go! GO!"

It was murder, but he kept running.

Someone tripped in front of them and Rick tumbled over him, doing a flip into a log. He was only on the ground for a moment before Shane was on him, pulling him up, shouting now in a voice that kept breaking. Rick tried to look back, to reach out for the person he had fallen over, but the woods were too dark, and Shane was still dragging him onward.

Finally, the trees broke onto the highway.

Engines were revving, headlights were blaring, and cars were slamming into one another with sickening crunches in a desperate attempt to break free of the gridlock. Smoke rose, and fires sparked to life. Someone hit the divider and flipped onto the other side, crushing a fleeing family.

Rick made it to their car.

One of those things – a walker – was clawing at the glass and groaning. Rick responded viscerally to the sight, banging on the window on the other side and shouting, "Lori! Lori!"

He had a moment, in his own head, to whisper, Please, please, please…

And then she was there. The door flew open and she shoved Carl into his arms. He dragged her out after, clutching her for a split second with their son between them.

He had never felt wilder, more animal-like, than he did in that moment. He herded his family behind him and drew his gun, pointing it at the monster limping around their car. It was coming for them, coming to bite into them like that deputy at the station. It already had fresh blood on its face – already had a victim under its belt.

"Stay back!" Rick warned, shooting the attacker first in the chest, and then in the shoulder. It staggered but walked on. He shot again, at the legs, but it barely noticed his efforts. His son was screaming, clinging to his waist, and Lori had an iron grip on his shoulder.

Rick aimed for its head, his finger on the trigger, "Final warning! Stop!"

He fired, hitting it square in the forehead. Its skull exploded backward, and it hit the pavement with a sickening crunch, completely and utterly still. Rick was trembling from head to toe as he holstered his weapon. He could not pry Carl off of his back, so he just twisted and embraced them that way, holding on too tight, trying to hold himself together.

"Are you okay? Are you hurt? Did he touch you? Did he touch you?"

Carl was talking, screaming, crying, and Lori tried to answer but her voice was drowned out in the chaos. She ended up shaking her head furiously.

Shane was loud enough to be heard. He appeared behind them, one hand each on Rick and Lori. "We have to get off the highway! We're sitting ducks out here! They're everywhere!"

Rick finally ripped his son off of him, freeing himself. He turned Carl into his mother and shouted, "You do not let him go! You hold onto him! Hold onto him!" And then he turned and searched desperately for some safe place.

He saw fires burning, people running, walkers lurching across headlight beams.

"There!" Shane pointed to the other end of the highway, across four lanes of chaos, where another dark forest awaited them. "Away from the city! Away from the cars!"

"It's too far!" Lori cried.

"Dad! Sophia!" Carl screamed.

His son was pinching his arm, near to drawing blood. Rick turned to their neighbor car, where two walkers were pawing at the windows and the family was screaming inside.

Rick could not run, like he had in the woods.

"You go!" he said to Shane, "You take them! I'll get them out!"

"No!" Lori shouted, reaching out for Rick. He dodged the touch, and Shane practically had to drag her away. She was shouting all the way to the divider. "Rick! Rick!"

Rick drew his gun again. Her shouting had attracted the walkers from the car, and now they noticed him standing there. One of them had a broken leg, and it dragged it along the asphalt, like it felt no pain. Rick led them in a circle around the car, trying to find any other solution than the one he had discovered before. These are people, he told himself. Sick people. People.

But there was no other way. He could not stop them, he could not detain them, and more would certainly be on the way. His family was out there somewhere and there was no time for a peaceful solution. It was time for action.

Rick aimed for the head, taking them both down in quick succession.

He banged on the doors, "Come on! Get out! Come on!"

Ed was out first, wielding a bloody baseball bat. He had been the one to break that leg. His eyes were wild and bloodshot. He was off instantly, sprinting toward the woods, before his family had left the car. Rick helped Carol out, but he had to peel the terrified little girl from her seat. She clutched a doll and sobbed loudly in his arms.

Carol searched around frantically, "Where did he go? Ed! Ed!"

"Shh," Rick snapped, bundling Sophia against him and grabbing her mother by the hand. "Come with me. Come with me."

His heart raced as they made their run. He dodged between cars, stopping sometimes, breathless, to let the walkers amble past. He turned a blind eye to screaming people, people who were desperate for help, locked in their vehicles. He set his mind on a single path again and followed it.

In the woods, the noises and lights were dimmed. He set the girl down and she locked around her mother. Carol was looking back at the cars, the firelight reflected in her glassy eyes. "Oh, Ed," she murmured. Her eyes turned to him at last, shocked and afraid. "Where do we go?"

"Come with me," he said again, taking her hand.

He wove through the trees, keeping as quiet as he could, and kept hissing their names.

"Shane? Lori! Carl!"

Minutes passed, and the only sounds were the leaves rustling underfoot. Sometimes they heard other feet rustling around, but there was no response to his calls. He kept his gun out.

It took ten minutes before a response came from a patch of trees.

"Rick?"

Rick followed his voice, tripping over a few roots before he discovered them hiding behind a hefty oak tree. Lori was on him immediately. He hugged her like he had not seen her in five years, not just a few minutes. Carol was whispering to Shane, "Did you see Ed come by here?"

"I did. Couldn't miss him," Shane said. "We'll find him, don't worry."

Rick peeled Lori off of him, "I have to go back. Those people need help."

"We need you," Lori insisted.

"Don't leave!" Carl whined.

Rick felt his heart split in two. It was his duty, his calling in life, to protect others. But if he left his family here, there was no telling what might happen to them. He had to shut out the screaming, shut down that side of himself, and run.

So, they ran.

Shane took the front, and Rick followed at the back. Both had their guns drawn. Rick did his best to keep everyone in line, but they kept crashing into other fleeing groups. Somehow, they picked up a few extra members, until there were eight of them running together instead of six. Shane kept them moving, kept crisscrossing through the woods, until the forest became quiet again.

He stopped in a clearing dominated by a large boulder, and everyone doubled over to try and catch their breath. Lori and Carol clung to their children. Rick and Shane held their guns ready, slowly circling the clearing, staring into the woods. For now, the only light came from the dim moon above, and the cellphones they pointed fearfully at the trees.

"Jesus," Shane said. "Jesus… Jesus…"

Rick made a note of the new faces that had appeared. Ed was not among them. He holstered his gun for a moment and approached the trembling people, his hand out. "I'm Rick."

"Jacqui," a woman said, shaking his hand.

"Dale," a man responded. "You got another one of those guns?"

"Sorry, just this one."

"You didn't happen to see two young women out there on the highway, did you? I was traveling with two girls, blonde, blue eyes." Dale looked around hopefully, and then seemed sort of dejected. "We got separated when all this started."

Rick had no comforting words for him. "Everybody okay? Is anybody injured?"

He got some nods, some muted stares. Carol drifted toward him.

"I have to find Ed," she said again.

Something rustled in the woods.

Rick and Shane directed the group into a huddle, and they waited at the front, guns ready. Rick's heart was beating at a hundred miles an hour, sweat rolling down his face.

But it was just a boy. He stumbled out of the trees, tripped on a root, and fell face-first at their feet, gasping for air. He put his hands up when he saw the guns. "Don't shoot! Please! I'm sorry!"

Rick looked at Shane and holstered his gun.

Shane asked, "You runnin' from something?"

"W-What?" the boy stammered.

"Is something chasing you?" Shane clarified, his gun still raised toward the trees.

"N-No," the boy answered. "Just running. Just running."

Rick helped him up. "Easy. Just breathe."

He began talking, stammering, words gushing out of him, "I-I-I-I was on the road, and there was just… just… just no warning." He cupped his face, doubling over his middle. "What is going on? What is going on?"

For a few long minutes, the only sound was the boy saying that to himself over and over. Rick heard nothing else from the woods, save the screaming in the distance. He let the kid have a moment to breathe, and then got hands on his shoulders, making him stand upright again. He was shaking, dark eyes darting all around.

"Hey, hey, easy," Rick said, holding him steady. "My name is Rick, and this is Shane."

"G-G-Glenn."

"You just stay here with us for now, Glenn." Rick faced the group again, now full of new faces. He kept his voice low, a calm whisper that did not betray how afraid he was. "If we all just stay together, and stay calm, we can try to stay safe through the night, okay? But that only works if everyone is cooperating. So, I need everybody to take a breath."

Several people took his advice literally, and the rest just stared at him, waiting.

"Okay." Rick looked to his partner. "Shane and I are both police officers. We have guns. Shane is gonna be at the front, and I'll be at the back. We're gonna walk in a line, in pairs. Follow the people in front of you as closely as you can."

"Where are we going?" Carol asked sheepishly.

"Not far, but we have to find someplace safe. We're too exposed out here, too close to the highway." He hated that terrified look in her eyes. "I'm gonna do my best to find your husband. You can hold me to that."

She nodded, looking down sharply, tears piling over her cheeks.

"If you see a walker, just holler," Shane added.

"W-Walker?" Glenn asked.

"You shoot 'em, they just keep comin'," Shane clarified.

It began that way, in a forest on the far side of the highway, a little group marching two-by-two into the night. Rick never let his guard down, never put his gun away. He let the images of Atlanta burning fuel his mind. Whatever came in the morning, he was ready.