Days Gone Bye

Part One
Police officer Rick Grimes and his partner Shane are involved in a shoot-out with an escaped convict on an open highway in Cynthiana, Kentucky. Rick darts out from behind his car to take cover in a nearby ditch, but the convict manages to fire a shot into Rick's shoulder with his shotgun.

Rick awakens at Harrison Memorial Hospital. He's not sure how much time has passed, but he knows that it has been a while judging by his healed injuries. He gets to his feet, but his muscles are too atrophied to walk properly. He calls for the nurse, but no one responds. Rick steadies himself and manages to hobble out into the corridor. The entire building is deserted. He goes to the elevator and is shocked to find the remains of a zombie caught between the doors. He then goes to the cafeteria, but when he unbars the double-doors, he finds an entire horde of zombies trapped inside. They rush to get out and one of them grabs a hold of Rick. They grapple with one another until they both tumble down a flight of steps. The impact snaps the zombie's neck.

He manages to flee the building and begins walking down the highway (after procuring a proper change of clothes). He comes upon the crippled zombie of a female bicyclist lying in the weeds off the side of the road. The creature sees him, but is unable to do anything. Rick takes her bicycle and rides off.

He makes it back to his home, but finds that the house is empty. There is no sign of his wife and child. He walks around the back when suddenly a young boy comes up from behind him and batters him across the back of the head with a shovel. Rick awakens moments later inside the neighbor's house. The boy's father introduces himself as Morgan Jones and apologizes for his son Duane's actions. He tells him Duane mistook Rick for a zombie. Morgan tries to bring Rick up to speed about everything that has happened, but there is little to tell. Rick begins to realize that the entire country, perhaps even the whole world, has now become overrun with zombies. Morgan tells him that he heard rumors of their being protective shelters in major cities. Rick decides that he must go to Atlanta. His wife's family lives there and he is confident that they must have gone there during the zombie outbreak.

The next day, Rick drives Morgan over to the police station where they stock up on supplies and ammunition. He lends Morgan one of the spare police cruisers and takes another for himself. As they leave, they spot a zombie behind a chained-link fence. Rick goes to shoot it, but Morgan discourages him, telling him that the thing is trapped and that he would be wise to ration out his ammunition.

The two say their goodbyes and Rick leaves for Atlanta. Along the way, he stops by the roadside where he had seen the crippled zombie in the weeds. Despite Morgan's advice about conserving bullets, Rick decides to put the monster out of its misery.

Notes & Trivia

 * Issues from this storyline have also been reprinted in the following collections:
 * The Walking Dead, Book One
 * The Walking Dead Omnibus, Volume 1
 * ''The Walking Dead Compendium, Volume 1
 * The Walking Dead, Volume 1: Days Gone Bye