Enjoy

Chapter 1: A New Beginning

A police cruiser drove along a highway just exiting Atlanta, Georgia. Inside sat an older officer who looked at the road lazily while just behind him sat Lee Everett, convicted murderer. The officer let out a deep exhale and rubbed his eye before sitting up straight in his seat. He peered up and readjusted his rearview mirror so he could see Lee's face. "So, I reckon you didn't do it then." He said lightheartedly. He waited for a few seconds and could only see Lee hanging his head in silence, "No, definitely not." The officer said with a small nod,

Lee looked up and let out a small scoff, "Why do you say that?" He asked dryly,

"Well it's just at this point I usually get the I didn't do it speech." The officer said with a smirk,

Lee turned his head and watched the countryside fly by for a moment. Finally he rolled his jaw slowly and said, "Well not from me, I know what I did."

The officer raised an eyebrow before looking back to the road, "Interesting, you know in all my years I think you are the first one to ever admit it. I suppose there ain't no reason to lie in your case. Everyone was following your case, me included." Lee continued to look out the window silently before the officer continued, "Though for me it was more about you being a Macon boy."

Lee looked back over to the officer, his face now softened, "You're from Magcon then?"

"Born and raised." The officer replied with a smile,

"What did you think?" Lee asked in response,

"Well I can't rightly say, I can only say this. If you are man enough to own up to what you did then you can't be all wrong. Maybe you…" The officer started to say then paused thinking how to phrase this, "Maybe you just married the wrong woman." He finally said,

Lee looked up at him filling a mixture of emotions before finally thinking to himself, "Maybe she married the wrong guy." Lee sat back and let the silence linger between the two of them before it was broken by the radio going off. Lee looked up and said, "Any of that seem important to you?"

"All of it." The officer replied firmly, "But that box never shuts up, listen too much and you'll just go mad." The officer paused and let out a little chuckle, "Hey you want to hear a story?"

"Sure, why not." Lee replied with a shrug,

"So I was driving this man one time and he, he was the worst. He was a big old man hiding behind a pair of old folk glasses and he was just going on and on about how it wasn't him. Cry and snotting all over, right where you're sitting!" The officer exclaimed in almost disgust,

"He did it though, right?" Lee asked in a bit of surprise,

"They caught the fucker red handed! The boys saw him cutting his wife up as they kicked open the door, he sits in my car yelling bloody murder that it wasn't him...think he believed it himself." The officer grumbled out.

"Some people." Lee said shaking his head,

"Just goes to show, people go up and mad when they think their life's over." The officer added. The officer looked back towards Lee and said, "Oh I got another good one for ya! This one not as depressing-"

Lee's eyes went wide as he saw a person shambling across the street slowly, "LOOK OUT!" He shouted out in fear.

"SHIT!" The officer exclaimed as he cut the wheel right and was able to go around the person. The car swerved along the highway lanes before it finally came to back under his control. "Jesus H. Christ." The officer said while taking deep breaths,

"What the fuck was he doing just walking on the highway?" Lee said taking some deep breaths of his own,

"No earthly idea, maybe looking to get himself killed. Wouldn't be the first time someone tried that." The officer said adjusting himself and clutching the wheel,

"God damn." Lee said shaking his head and letting it lean back against the headrest,

"Hope you don't mind but think I'm gonna just pay attention to the road til we get to the prison." The officer said not taking his eyes off the road,

"Works for me man." Lee replied as he shut his eyes. Minutes past and soon Lee dozed off taking about a twenty minute nap. Suddenly he awoke when the car bounced over a speed bump, he looked around confused and quickly realized where he was as he saw the three layer fences pass the car. "Looks like this is my home now." Lee mumbled out,

"That it is." The officer said with a nod as he shut the car off and got out of the cruiser. He walked over to Lee's door and pulled him out leading him into the prison, "Well looks like this is goodbye, but I'll leave you with this. You toe the line and do your time, you'll come out just fine. And don't let this place get the best of you, cause you're better than that." He gave him a pat on the back as a prison guard took him and lead him deeper into the prison.

Over the next few hours Lee went through processing, his personal affects were taken away and in return he received an orange jumpsuit and a simple pair of shoes. As soon as he was dressed he was taken into C-Block when he was shoved into a small cell. He looked around his room and noticed that the bottom bunk was already taken, and quite lived in. He knelt down and picked up a book that laid on the floor.

"You touch any of my stuff?" A deep voice said from behind him, Lee jumped a bit and quickly turned around. An old scruffy man stood in front of staring him down hardly. He took a few steps forward making Lee back up, "Now you tell me the truth, I'll know if you're lying." He said while looking him in the eye,

"Just the book." Lee said while he handed it to him,

The man took the book and turned his head scanning his bed, "Well I suppose it no worse for wear." He finally said before looking back to him, "Names Chuck, Charles if you're fancy."

"Lee." He quickly replied as he Chuck continued to stare at him intently, "Gotta admit, you're creeping me out."

Chuck let out a toothy smile and said, "Train folk will do that too ya, not that you could really tell. Jumpsuit hides it pretty good." He said as he pushed past him, Just then a buzzer went off and the cell doors rolled closed with a large click signalling them locking. "So, looks like you're my new room mate."

"Yeah, looks like it." Lee said rubbing the back of his head, "What are you in for?"

"Stealing." Chuck said as he laid down on his bunk, "Alcohol primarily, add that I was living on a train put that all together and that got me a two year stretch." Chuck said plainly before shutting his eyes, "Can't say it's all bad, alway had a hot meal and a place to lay my head. Only thing I miss is the wind blowing through my hair as that big locomotive rolled down the tracks" Chuck said with a bit of a smile almost imagining the moment, after a second he looked back to Lee, "What about you?"

Lee paused looking at the man and finally chose to just give him the short version, "Murder."

"You do it?" Chuck asked with a raised eyebrow,

"Yeah." Lee said with a sullen voice,

"Well guess you're in the right place." Chuck replied then shut his eyes again. Lee let out a short sigh agreeing with the statement then he walked over and pulled himself onto the top bunk. Suddenly he heard Chuck speak from below him, "Hey, you want some candy?"

Lee's face twisted in some confusion, "You. Have candy?" He said in disbelief,

A few hours past as Lee and Chuck talked about their lives and before long they were ready to sleep. Lee liked the old man, he was odd for sure but he had a carefree way that Lee found almost relieving. Chuck on the other hand already felt that his roommate was a good enough guy, nothing had really set off any alarms. By the end of the week the two of them had already become good friends and really only talked to each other, their was only one other man that they conversed with was a large man named Axel.

As the days ticked on Lee would hear off questionable things on the television. He could never get a clear understanding but he was sure some sort of martial law was in effect for Atlanta. He would also hear conflicting reports on a disease outbreak or a new drug causing users to act violently and eat human flesh. Finally on the night of Lee's eighth day a loud alarm shot out across the prison. Lee shot awake and Chuck slowly got out of his bed and headed to the cell door peering out.

Just as Lee put his jumpsuit on the cell door rolled open, he jumped down off his bed and looked over to Chuck, "Hey what the hell is going on out there?"

Chuck was silent for a moment before cryptically saying, "Hell has reached out door friend."

Chuck took a step out of the cell and Lee quickly followed. The pair stood in shock as the prison alarm blared loudly. All around them bodies laid, some shot other torn apart. Nearby some people were digging into bodies eating their organs eagerly. Suddenly a prison guard stumbled towards them, his eyes were milky white and his intestines hung from his stomach. "What in the hell?!" Lee said jumping back,

"He ain't breathing." Chuck said in some shock as he watched the body lumber at him,

"What are you talking about, he has to be." Lee replied just as the guard grabbed onto his shirt. Lee held onto its shoulders while it snapped it's jaw at him wildly. "What the fuck! Get off of me!"

Chuck ran over and pulled the guard off of Lee tossing it into the cell door. He reached his hand out and pulled the guards revolver from his holster then pushed it into their cell. Lee ran over and quickly closed the door locking it inside, "Son we gotta get outta here or we're gonna die, simple as that." Before Lee could reply a deep groan filled their ears, they turned and saw a prisoner with his arm ripped off and six bullet holes in it's chest stumbling towards him. Chuck raised his revolver and took a shot hitting him in the shoulder. Lee and Chuck stood stunned as the walker didn't even seem to notice.

Lee walked forward and kicked the man to the ground, Chuck wasted no time and ran forward, he aimed the revolver to it's head and pulled the trigger sending a round into it's skull. The man finally stopped moving and seemed to officially died, "Guess that works." Lee said as he looked over to Chuck,

"HEY! THIS WAY COME ON!" A voice called from the cell block doors. Chuck and Lee looked over and saw Axel waving them over to him. Lee and Chuck sprinted past the feeding men and met up at the door. Axel let out a grin, "Good to see ya alive."

"Axel, what the fuck is going on?!" Lee exclaimed,

"No clue, these guys said if we follow them they'll let us out, you follow me? Sounds better than just staying here." Axel replied as the three of them ran along with three other prisoners and two guards. Minutes past as the group ran down the hallways of the prison, finally the guards stopped and turned around.

"You get this door open, hand me that revolver. We'll cover you." One of the guards said to Chuck. Chuck nodded and handed the revolver over, the other's quickly opened the doors but stopped in confusion as they saw only the cafeteria,

"What the-" One of the prisoners began to say only for the guards to turn around aiming their guns up,

"Get in there! Now!" One of the guards boomed out,

"Guys what the fuck?! We can get outta here together!" Lee exclaimed,

"We ain't letting prisoners out, you'll stay in here until this is under control! Now move!" The guard shouted back as he cocked the revolver. The prisoners slowly back into the room and the second guard slammed the doors shut.

They heard a soft click of handcuffs locking them inside. The group stood looking at one another each either angry or fearful as they could hear gunshots and yells coming from around the prison. "Sonofabitch." Lee grumbled out.

Okay so here's the deal, I always loved the idea of this story but whenever I looked back on it I couldn't get past the early chapters. In honest they were pretty bad, they glossed over a lot and didn't have much depth or character growth. So the plan is to rewrite and maybe even change some parts including deaths so it's almost a retelling. Anyway hope you liked this first chapter and if you liked the first version of this story I can promise you'll love this one too.