The Walking Dead: The Many Faces of the Apocalypse

Episode 1 – "A New Day" – Chapter 2; Exercises in Trust


A/N: Hey guys! It's TheNightClub. I know I said in the last chapter that it would probably take 1-2 weeks for the next chapter, BUT… I then realized that other than combining both the opening to Comic and the Game into one chapter, I hadn't really done too much to change the story, but the chapter had already gotten pretty long so I decided to end it. Just more or less treat it as an introduction to my writing style and see if you'd enjoy seeing more of the story written in said style.

I said in the author's note in my last chapter that this was where I was gonna introduce my first major change to the story, and I'm sticking too that. I won't spoil it now so you're gonna have to just see what happens.

Also, since I am basing much of the story off the original content, I may skip some content in order to shorten chapters. If you want to see the full events and how they play out, make sure you read the original comic or play the original game. I'd highly recommend this as much of the dialogue and some actions from the game are determined by the game, so if you want you can play the original game and see what decision you would make.

Reviews (this is where I reply to reviews):

Jason Chandler: Thanks for the review! And as I've said before, the first major change in the story will be this chapter.

Worker72: I have read that story (including the latest chapter) and have to admit my story was partly inspired by that story. However JohnLocke's story follows an AU where Lee made it to prison, whilst mine won't include that but will bring the group together in another way. Still, I can see why you recommended for me to read it.

Anyway, on with the story, and I hope you enjoy Chapter 2… of The Many Faces of the Apocalypse.


Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters in this story. They are all from either from Robert Kirkman's "The Walking Dead" comic series, or the Telltale Games and Skybound Entertainment video game by the same name. Please support the original creators and source material.

As Vince sat in the bus taking him, and the other 4 inmates present to prison, Vince wished he could be anywhere else right now.

Vince was sitting in the middle of two other criminals, each of them with ankle chains linking all of them to each other, and the floor. They all wore the same orange prisoner outfit, and had handcuffs around their wrists.

The man in front of him – a person named Danny – was convicted of sexual assault. He appeared to be of Hispanic descent, and had short cut, brown hair with hints of grayness speckled throughout, leading Vince to believe he was quite a bit older than he was. He had a goatee lining mouth and jaw, the same colour of his hair. Danny claimed he was falsely accused, and to be honest, Vince couldn't really tell, he seemed like an alright guy, and tone suggests that even if had done it, he at least regretted it. He talked briefly about his girlfriend, and how much he missed her, leading the kinder part of Vince's brain to pity him, so he told him to call her when they got there, and he seemed to perk up after hearing that.

The man sitting behind him was a different story. He was named Justin, and had black hair cut in a similar style to Danny's, as well as a (mostly) clean shaven face, with a small amount of stubble. He said he was convicted of organizing and running a pyramid scheme, and supposedly faked a breakdown in court to get less time, which Danny was impressed by. Vince himself didn't know if he would've done it. Contrasting to Danny, Justin didn't regret one second of it, and voiced his annoyance of the whole thing.

"How much did you make off with, anyway?" Vince inquired, wanting to hear his answer.

"Enough." Justin replied.

"So, like, couple hundred-k?" Danny asked.

"Little over a hundred. Million."

"Goddamn, boy!" Danny said, surprised by Justin's answer. "When we get outta here, you, me, and Vince, we gotta go into business, know what I'm saying?"

During this conversation, Vince briefly looked around the prison bus. There were for other passengers on board; two prisoners, and two guards. The prisoners were seated a few seats ahead on the opposite row of the bus and were named Jerry and Marcus. Both were African American, and Jerry was skinny while Marcus was more muscled. He didn't know what either of arrested for, but they appeared to be in a heated argument about something.

The two prison guards sat out front, Vince didn't know what their names where. One was an older African American man – who was driving the bus – while the other was Caucasian. Both were just waiting out front whilst the bus was stuck in traffic, waiting for the time where they could move.

"You know, I don't actually know a thing about you, Vince." Justin said, turning to him. "Maybe he's a priest."

"Yeah, "Father Vincent."" Danny theorized.

"I bet he touched a kid."

"Two kids. You touch a couple kids, Vince?"

"I helped my little brother." Was all Vince said. He wasn't technically lying, but he didn't know if he trusts the two next to him. In truth, he killed a man who was apparently extorting his little brother out of money. His little brother was already struggling through financial hardships, and the asshole taking money from him wasn't helping. Vince, having enough, decided to take matters into his own hands, and murdered the man in cold blood.

"They send you to prison for that, now?" Justin asked.

"He was in trouble. I had to… help him out."

"I knew it was something stupid."

"You regret it, man?" Danny asked, ignoring Justin. "If you're saying what I think you are, I got respect for you, man. But that's a hard thing to carry, you know?"

Vince replied, "I don't regret it at all. Sometimes, you gotta do the hard thing." This was 100% true. Vince did not regret helping his brother, and definitely didn't regret killing some asshole loan shark.

"Yeah, I know what you mean, man." Justin replied.

"How'd they get you?" Danny inquired.

"Ditched the gun in a drain." Vince answered, facepalming inwardly.

"And?" Justin asked.

"I guess it was clogged up with leaves, Street cleaner found it the next damn day." Vince replied.

Danny chuckled a little. "You gotta be kiddin' me. Man, you're bad luck, Vince. "Bad Luck Vince." Ha! That's not bad. What do you think, Justin?"

But before Justin could answer, Jerry and Marcus' argument came to a head, when Marcus leaned forward and began strangling Jerry with his handcuffs.

"Oh shit!" Vince yelled, shocked.

"Oh man!" Justin exclaimed, similarly.

"Jesus Christ!" Danny shouted.

The African American guard turned around and asked, "What the hell is going on back there?"

The other guard stood up before trying to get Marcus to stop.

Danny also stood up and yelled to the guard, "Hey, get in there, man!"

"Sit down, goddamn it!" The guard continued to yell to Marcus.

"What you got? What you got now? That's right, you got nothing, motherfucker." Marcus boasted as he continued to choke Jerry.

"Hey, let him go, man!" Vince exclaimed.

"Crabtree, you put that goddamn fool down." The driver said, addressing Marcus.

"Damn it, Crabtree, don't make me come back there, now." The other guard stated.

Further arguments and shouting ensued, with Danny even trying to get to the fighting prisoners, to no avail. Eventually the driver shouted to the other guard to go back and sort the fight out, and the guard opened the gate separating the driver's area from the seats before aiming his shotgun at Marcus.

"Okay, asshole, let him go." The guard said, his grip slightly shaking.

"GET IN BETWEEN 'EM, GODDAMN IT! He's gonna kill that boy!" The driver shouted.

"Crabtree, LAST WARNING."

"What are you waiting for?"

"DON'T JUST STAND THERE- "Vince began to say, before the guard's shotgun goes off, obliterating Marcus' head with the blast. The convict's body slumps down, with his cuffs still around Jerry's neck.

"WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT?" The driver said from out front.

"Fuck…" Danny said while sitting down.

"Jesus… what happened?" Justin asked of no one.

The driver began shouting from out front, until Danny noticed that Jerry was still alive, telling the guard holding to shotgun to get Marcus' handcuffs of his neck. The guard did so, before checking his pulse to seemingly nothing.

"What the hell was that?" Justin asked.

"He-he made a move on me! I-I-I don't know!" The guard nervously replied.

"He made a move? Or you don't know? Which one?"

"I-I don't know!"

"You don't know? Jesus."

"This is crazy. Nobody had to die." Vince said.

"THIS is what happens when you give guns to ASSHOLES." Justin exclaimed.

The guard continued to check the body, before the guard up front began using his radio to call the station and report what happened, causing the guard back by the seats to panic.

"Don't. Don't call it in yet. Just… Just wait, okay?! Just gimme a damn minute!" The guard shouted.

"You killed that guy! You gotta deal with it." Vince retorted, thinking of his own predicament as a prime example.

This seemed to anger the guard, as he walked back to the remaining prisoners and began arguing with them. As the argument continued to heat up, the prisoners could her screaming from outside. Vince, Justin and Danny looked out the windows, and saw three women, one of which being eaten by what looked like moving corpses, while the other two ran. Vince couldn't believe what he was seeing, but his attention was quickly turned away when Danny began talking with the guard again.

"Hey, you gotta get us the hell out of here, man." He said to the guard.

"We're not going anywhere." The guard retorted.

"Fuck THAT, get this bus movin'! Hey, DRIVER! LET'S GO, MAN!"

"I said we're staying right here! We're safe inside the bus! Nothing's gonna-"

But he never go to finish, as all of a sudden Jerry stood back up and took a large chunk out of the guard's neck.

"Holy shit!" Danny exclaimed.

The guard stumbled while grabbing his neck, before falling down dead next to the prisoners.

"Jesus! Oh, my god…" Justin exclaimed before turning to the guard out front. "Hey… HEY, you need to call someone! You hear me?! We need to-"

But then the guard sprinted from the bus, leaving the remaining three passengers for dead.

"Did he just bail on us?" Justin questioned.

"Oh, Jesus. What the hell, man?!" Danny shouted.

"Back up, back up!"

"Fuck, fuck, fuck!"

All three prisoners backed up to the windows to get away from Jerry, the man they thought was dead not even a few minutes ago. 'What the hell is going on!' Vince thought to himself.

"He can't reach us." Justin said.

"You sure about that?!" Danny retorted.

"That ankle's gonna give." Vince pointed out.

"Shit" Justin exclaimed. "What are we doing, guys?"

"Come on! We've gotta do something!" Danny yelled.

"I'm trying to think."

"You better think fast, man!"

"Then shut up for a second!"

"Find a weapon!" Vince yelled.

"What kind of weapon?" Danny asked, looking at Vince.

Justin immediately thought of an idea, "Where's the guard's gun?"

"Yeah! Yeah, the GUN, good thinkin', Justin! Where the fuck is it?"

"I think he fell on it. It's underneath him."

"Aw, fuck me."

At once, all three prisoners turned the guard over, allowing Vince to grab the gun. Danny jumped to the side to avoid it's range as Vince fired at Jerry's head, seemingly killing him. As the undead prisoner fell to the ground, Justin began to vomit on the floor.

"Oh! Watch it, man!" Danny exclaimed.

"Sorry. Sorry." Justin said, getting his bearings.

"Man. I can't believe this shit. Can you believe this shit, man?" Danny said.

"No." Vince replied.

"We gotta find some way to get outta here."

This prompted all three prisoners to search for a way out, Vince checked the guard's body, and while he did find keys for the handcuffs, he couldn't find anything for the ankle cuffs, meaning that they were stuck there.

"Well, shit, if the keys aren't on HIM, then where the hell are they?" Danny said.

"He must have left them up front." Justin replied.

While they were talking, a man walked in and crouched over the front of the bus.

"Maybe we finally caught a break. HEY, BUDDY!" Danny called out to the person out front.

"Danny don't- "Vince tried to say, but it was too late.

The turned around to reveal a decaying face, with pure white eyes with no pupils, hand several junks of flesh missing from his face. He looked like he was dead, and yet he was still moving. 'What is happening?!' Vince thought. Before long more walking corpses entered to bus and started banging on the gate.

"That's not gonna hold." Justin said, shaking his head.

"Vince. Fire the fucking gun!"

Vince pointed his shotgun at one of the "people" outside the gate and fired into its chest. While it did fall, it got back up right after.

"I think you just pissed them off." Justin said.

"Yeah. Yeah, save the shells…" Danny suggested. "How the hell are we gonna get out of here?"

"There's gotta be a way! Can't we just shoot off the chains?!" Just asked.

"No way. Wouldn't cut through." Vince stated.

"What about the cuff! If we shoot one of those off, the chain'll slip right out!" Danny said.

"Are you fucking insane? What do you think is gonna happen if you fire a shotgun that close to someone's foot?!" Justin shouted at Danny.

"Well, what do you think's gonna happen if we don't get the fuck outta here?! Vince, gimme the gun, we gotta do this!" Danny said, before reaching towards the gun in Vince's hands.

Vince backs away as he points his shotgun at both Danny and Justin. "Back off!" He shouted.

Vince looked back and forth between the two prisoners, not wanting to have to decide but knowing he didn't have much time left. Vince guessed that it wouldn't take long for the dead ones to get to them, so, with a heavy heart, he made his choice.

"I'm sorry, man." Vince said, as he pointed the shotgun at Danny's foot, and fired.

Danny instantly cried out in pain, but the cuff wasn't completely broken yet, so Vince shot again, breaking the cuff enough so he and Justin could slide the chain out, but also severing Danny's foot from his leg.

"You fuckers, don't…don't, you motherfuckers…" Danny choked out through the pain, tears welling in his eyes.

"Come on! Let's go!" Justin yelled as he and Vince ran towards the back door of the bus. As they climbed out, they luckily saw no undead people around, giving them plenty of time to run. Before sprinting off, Vince looked back towards Danny to see the man desperately trying to claw towards the door. Vince bowed his head, in shame, regret, and many other emotions flowing through his body. He then ran after Justin, leaving the footless man for death.

'He'll be fine.' Vince reasoned in his head, trying to convince himself more than anything.

But he knew, deep down, that he killed another man today, and that it would loom on him for the rest of his life.


Shel ran as fast as she could, almost dragging her sister – Becca – along with her. Had this been any normal day, Becca would've flipped out and insisted that she walked on her own, but after was just happened, it was hard to imagine Becca being back to normal for a while.

Not even an hour ago, Shel and her sister had to watch their friend Annie, someone who was almost like a third sister to them, get torn apart in front of them by monsters. Monsters that looked like moving corpses. The trio had briefly hopped out of their car to see what was holding up the traffic, only to be greeted by a group of what looked like people shambling towards them. When these people got close enough, they dragged Annie away from them, and began ripping into her like a Christmas present. The only thing Shel could think to was… run. She had to keep Becca safe, and that sadly meant she had to leave her best friend from the past 10 years to die.

The sisters eventually reached a deserted looking neighborhood, houses lining either side of the road, many looking as if the owners left in a hurry. While running, Becca tripped over a loose stone, and almost took Shel with her.

"Becca!" Shel called out to her sister, before grabbing her hand and trying to help her up. "Becca. Are you okay?"

The teenage girl appeared to be in shock, her eyes looking of in the distance, thousand-yard stare adorning them. Shel could understand why, after the traumatic experience she just witnessed. Shel would've felt the same way if her mind wasn't so dead set on keeping Becca safe.

Shel looked her sister over, checking for injuries. There was a branch caught in her long brown hair, and her yellow jacket had a small tear on the end of her sleeve, showing a small mark of red contrasting her Caucasian skin underneath. But other than that, Becca appeared to have no injuries.

Wanting to find a safe place as soon as possible, Shel picked Becca up bridal style and carried her over to the nearest house with an open door. Once she got inside, she carefully placed Becca on a couch before closing the door. As she shut the door, she heard sounds of crying from another room, sounds she recognized as Becca.

Shel returned to the lounge area to see Becca with her arms folded and knees tucked into her chest, crying into her forearms. Shel walked over and wrapped an arm around Becca, in an effort to comfort her. Several minutes passed of the two sisters sitting there, until Shel spoke to Becca.

"Hey Becs. Are you okay?" Shel asked, already knowing the answer.

Becca responded through sobs, "Annie… she just… died…"

"I know Becs, I know." Shel replied with, tears beginning to well in her eyes too, "I'm here for you Becca, but we need to stay strong. We need to survive. For Annie."

Becca looked at Shel before agreeing. "For Annie." She said, beginning to calm down, if only a little bit.

Seeing that Becca was beginning to compose herself; Shel went into the kitchen to look for any food. She sadly found very little, only a couple of energy bars in the pantry. Shel felt bad stealing from this house, but right now Becca needed it, so she couldn't worry about the homeowners.

As Shel returned to her grieving sister, she heard the front door open. She quickly grabbed a nearby kitchen knife before standing in front of the door, waiting for the intruders (well, technically her and Becca were intruders too, but that didn't matter now).

Two mean entered, one tall with Caucasian skin and black hair, while the other was shorter, and had brown hair and an Asian complexion. Both wore the same orange jumpsuit and had leather shackles around their legs. It was clear from there appearance that these two very prisoners. Shel noticed that the shorter man was holding a shotgun, and she felt a twinge of fear, causing her gripping the knife to shake.

The taller man saw her and put his hands up in an act of surrender. "Woah hold on. We don't mean any trouble; we're just looking for help." The man said. The other man kept his hands on the shotgun, hoping he wouldn't have to use it.

"Who are you?" Shel asked.

"I'm Justin, this is Vince." The man said, indicating to his friend as he did so. "Who are you?"

"Shel." She sharply responded.

"Can we come inside? We don't mean any harm." Justin said, silently trying to convince his partner to put the gun away. Vince obliged; happy he wouldn't have to shoot this woman.

"Why should I? You two are very clearly criminals, how can I trust you?"

"Well we haven't shot you for one." Justin smugly retorted, causing both Shel and Vince to glare at him.

"Seriously dude?" Vince inquired to Justin.

"What? It's true." He responded back.

Had it been under different circumstances, Shel may have laughed at their banter, but now was not a time for jokes. Seeing no reason to not temporarily trust them – surprising even herself, considering they were criminals – Shel put down the knife and walked back inside, the two convicts following her.

Shel went to check back on Becca, giving her one of the energy bars. Becca looked past her sister to see the two prisoners enter the room, causing her to try and back away in fear. Justin tried to give the teenager a kind smile, but that only caused her to feel more afraid, causing the man to stop.

"Who's she?" Vince asked Shel.

"Becca, my sister." Shel replied dryly. She glanced at her sister before saying, "She's been through a lot."

"Haven't we all?" Vince replied.

'You don't even know the half of it.' Shel thought as she looked at the floor, remembering what just happened to Annie.

"Look I'm gonna cut to the chase." Justin said, entering the conversation. "Do you have any idead what's going on out there?"

" No." Shel responded.

Justin sighed before continuing, "Same. Those… monsters or whatever they were walked on our bus and tried to kill us. Hell, one of the prisoners turned into one after being strangled to death and took a chunk out of the guard's neck."

Shel was unsettled at this. That those monsters were once people. She had hoped they were just… monsters. Beings created from nightmares. And yet, Justin just proved that they were once alive.

Shel then realized; Annie would probably become one of them. If people became monsters, then Annie would probably turn into one soon. Shel shivered at the thought of it.

"Listen, I know you probably don't trust us, but I think we should stick together. It's be much safer and- "Justin began saying.

"What?!" Becca shouted, finally speaking up.

She shared the same thought.

"I know!" Justin shouted. "I know we're criminals, and you have no reason to believe us, but we promise not to hurt you. With those things outside, we need to stick together to survive. I'm sorry, but it's the logical choice."

Shel realized he had a point, but she had to know one thing first.

"What we're you arrested for?" Shel asked, causing both prisoners' eyes to widen. "If you're gonna be staying with us, I'd like to know why you're wearing those cuffs."

Justin hesitated before answering. "I ran a pyramid scheme. Things went bad and I got caught. That's it, I swear."

Shel looked at Vince, expecting and answer.

"I helped my brother. Nothing more, nothing less." Vince stated, his tone leaving no room for debate.

Shel thought over her decision before answering. "All right. I'll trust you for now. But if I see something I don't like, me and my sister are leaving. I still don't trust you two."

Justin let out a relieved breath before moving towards a set of stairs going to the second floor. "I'm gonna go look for a change of clothes for me and Vince here. Get outta these jumpsuits, you know."

Vince stayed downstairs, and silence remained between the three people.

Eventually Vince started talking, "So, what happened to you guys, if you don't mind my asking."

Shel – deciding there was no reason to hide it – opened up to Vince. "We were in the traffic jam on the highway, me, Becca, and my friend Annie. We got out of the car and got jumped by a couple of monsters. They just, began devouring Annie, and I got my sister out of there as fast as possible."

Becca's grip on her legs tightened a bit as Shel talked, but other than the she just looked at Vince, warily.

"That's… horrible." Vince replied, a seemingly honest look of sadness on his face. "I was on a bus going to prison. Me and Justin were with three other prisoners. When one of the prisoners turned, he attacked and killed a guard, and the other just left us for dead." Shel notice a hint of bitterness in his voice after that last part. "We eventually got out of our chains, but we had to leave another prisoner on the bus so we could escape. I don't think he made it."

Shel could sense the regret and guilt in his voice. To her, it seemed like this Vince person was a good guy, and maybe he could be trusted. But she still had to keep her guard up, as she didn't even know what crime he committed.

"I know, I'm one of the last people you'll want to hear this from, but… I'll stick with you guys and protect you if you'll let me. I don't want to see anyone else get killed by those things."

Shel didn't know how to answer that, but she could see Becca getting more comfortable around the stranger. Shel knew she was far from fine, but she seemed to be coming out of her shell, and that was good.

"What was his name?" Becca asked Vince.

"Huh?" Vince replied, a little surprised.

"The prisoner you had to leave behind, what was his name?" Becca repeated, seemingly wanting to get to know Vince a little more.

"Danny. His name was Danny." Vince said looking at the floor in shame. "He was… a good man. I think." That last part carried a tone of uncertainty.

The trio sat there in silence, waiting for Justin to come down with new clothes for him and Vince, and then they'd decide what to do next.


A/N: Boy howdy this chapter got longer than I expected. As you can see, there was the first major change in this chapter (at least, I don't think anything like this event happened in the original story), with Vince and Justin meeting Shel and Becca. If you're wondering what changes this may have on the story, well, once again, you'll have to wait and see. But this will not be the only change made to this story.

If you're wondering how I'm structuring this story in terms of POV, I'll explain it here. This story is obviously gonna be told from the perspective of multiple characters, and aside from a view possible examples, the story will only be told from the POV of characters who were protagonist of there own stories, even for just a short time (Rick, Lee, Clementine, Carl, the 400 days survivors, etc.) Starting next chapter I will indicate when the perspective shifts between characters, but for now I just wanted to introduce the four main protagonists for a while.

Again, I'm sorry this got so long (seriously, just over 4000 words without the author's notes), but I wanted to include that second scene as I did say last chapter that this was meant to have the first major change to the story. I you want, you can leave a review telling me whether you prefer a longer chapter like this, or if you'd want the next chapters to be much shorter. I'm fine either way tbh.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and keep a lookout for the next one. I'd try and predict when it'd come out, but as you can tell from this chapter, I probably won't follow it. Have a good one and I'll see all y'all in the next chapter.