Author's Note (this will answer a lot of questions you may have):

Firstly, this story is pre-written so I'll be posting a chapter every weekday at noon-ish my time and it will lead up into season 3 of the show which starts on Oct 14th. Then I'll write a sequel after that seasons done.

This story takes pieces from the TV show and comic, but ultimately it is a Daryl Dixon story, so it should gravitate more towards the show. In the original Walking Dead, they had never heard of 'zombies' or 'walkers', but I have it set up where it's more like our universe and we have zombie movies and such.

Hmm... anything else... I'll give you guys a general warning of language, violence, and adult situations. Other than that, The Walking Dead does not belong to me, nor any of Robert Kirkman, Frank Darabont, or Glen Mazzara's canon characters.

Enjoy and R&R :)

Footsteps of the Damned

Chapter 1 - Cliché

Zombies had been a pretty popular theme in the past, along with vampires that sparkled, but it was only a matter of time before that fad died out. No one, however, had actually expected the trend to be anything close to reality- well, aside from myself, in a sense. I had always loved watching zombie movies and playing video games about them, but while others just passed it off as fiction, I saw the possibility of it. Ever since I could remember, we've always had colds and viruses that would evolve and get stronger- deadlier. I knew it was only a matter of time.

Even before the initial outbreak, a few of my friends and I decided to make a zombie survival plan. We planned out transportation, a hold out, weapons, and a place to move to if the going got tough. Needless to say though, the plan was lacking experience in the whole fighting zombies aspect and the plan flopped. I never had the chance to meet up with my friends, so maybe they made it fine without me, but by the looks of things... I doubted it.

As far as I was aware, everyone I knew was dead, eaten or turned, and that thought made me sick. I had always seen a zombie apocalypse as a joke, something to add some excitement to a rather boring life, but now that it had become reality, I wished I had never tread on those thoughts. I was now alone in a world full of flesh hungry monsters, constantly having to look over my shoulder at all time in fear. If not for my dog, I was sure I would have gone insane by now.

My three-year old Bernese, Thor, was all I had left now. My friends had always told me it wasn't a good idea to keep a dog during the apocalypse and that he was as good as dead if there ever was one, but I couldn't leave him on his own. There was no way he'd survive by himself and I couldn't bear the thought of being without him. Of course, I had to take into consideration the extra food and water needed, and the chance of him biting a zombie or ingesting infected flesh, but it was worth it for me to have him around.

I rolled over on my makeshift bed, sleep not coming easy, as expected. Thor and I had been living in my van, traveling wherever the roads lead us. The reclined front seat of my van provided a bed and the van itself provided shelter and protection. It was nothing compared to the soft bed I had at home, or the warm house I was used to, but I had to make due. Though, I doubted it was what I was sleeping on that kept me up almost every night. Being in my van, I knew I was safe from the random roaming zombies, so that wasn't the issue. It was the scenes that would play in my mind that would keep me up time after time. Every time I closed my eyes, I'd see the people I've witnessed being eaten- being torn limb from limb. It was a sight I would never get used to and would forever haunt my dreams.

Thor didn't seem to have an issue with sleep though. I envied how simple minded animals were, not a care in the world past the present. If he was hungry, he begged for food, tired, he slept for a few hours, or if he had to relieve himself, he did. It was a simple life, yet I yearned for it.

I sighed and grabbed my crossbow before stepping out of the vehicle. Of course, even the slightest sound woke Thor and he was at my side in a few seconds. I couldn't help but smile.

"You could have just slept," I chuckled, keeping my eyes on the tree line.

I had picked a fairly open area to camp out for the night, so if any roamers were to follow us out here, we'd have time to react before they got too close.

I patted Thor's head before crawling onto the roof of the van to lay down. He whimpered for a moment or two, but quieted down. It stayed like that for a while, my gaze drifting off towards the stars. My new reality felt like a bad dream- one where death was the only ending.

Thor's growling pulled me from my thoughts and I sat up quickly, aiming my crossbow sights in the direction he was turned towards.

"Come on out..."

It took a second or two before the animated corpse stumbled into the clearing. I let it get a bit closer before shooting an arrow at it's head, its approach instantly ceasing. I stayed there a while longer, a few more walkers making their way past the tree line. Each received an arrow just like the first. It was quiet after that, but their appearance definitely didn't help my sleeping situation.

"Guess that's all of them," I mumbled, laying back down.

I wasn't sure if I should trust that there were only a few of them around. Unfortunately, they tended to follow one another, so when there's one, there's a high chance that there's more on their way.

The sun made it's appearance a while later, after I woke from my fatigued educed sleep.

Jumping off the van, I took out one of my kukris and made my way across the clearing to the corpses that I had impaled with arrows. I was glad I had chosen a crossbow as a weapon. Not only was it practically silent, but the ammo was reusable.

Pulling the arrows from each of their foreheads, I wiped them on the zombies' shirts before heading back to the van. I quickly grabbed a granola bar for myself and some food for Thor before hopping into the front seat. Thor was quick to follow suit, parking himself in the passenger's side.

It was just like any other day, we'd camp out for the night, then travel during the day for as long as we could. I didn't have a destination in mind, just following the road. If I got lucky, I'd find survivors at some point, but it didn't seem likely.

I'd been traveling like this for a few weeks now. Along the way, I'd stop off at gas stations or stores and collect as many supplies as I could, but there were never any survivors. I haven't even seen anyone since day four of the apocalypse.

I had kept hopeful for the first while, but my pessimistic side wasn't easy to keep hidden. The world had gone to shit and I wasn't going to lie to myself about it.

Thor growled lowly at the zombies we passed, but I knew they couldn't cause us any harm. They would just continue shambling along or attempt to follow us, but sooner or later they'd give up. There's sometimes the odd few that would start off close enough to where we camped, but it was only a few at a time.

"Easy, boy," I cooed, doing my best to avoid hitting any of them.

I've seen a few people attempt to plough through the living corpses, but none turned out too well for the vehicles- or the people inside if the car stopped running.

After a few hours, I pulled off to the side of the road to stretch my legs and maybe attempt to hunt for some food. Of course, attempt was the correct word when hunting for me, especially in a zombie apocalypse. It was already hard enough to find an animal without the constant threat of a zombie hunting you.

I stepped out of the van and strapped on my kukris along with a pouch for arrows. Thor was at my side once more as I made my way into the forested area. He was either very helpful with hunting, being able to find animals much quicker than I would, or he'd scare off anything in the area.

It was quiet though, not one zombie lurking around or even a trace of one, just an empty forest. I sighed and paused for a moment to listen for any movement in the area. Other than Thor and myself, I couldn't hear anything.

I wasn't sure whether that was a bad thing or not. The fact that there weren't any zombies around meant that someone would have led them away or killed them. At the same time, it also meant no fresh food for me, seeing as they had scared the animals away too.

I waited a second longer before deciding to go deeper into the forest before circling back to the van. All was going smoothly, until I heard a click and a sharp pain engulfed my ankle, forcing my legs to buckle from under me. I couldn't help the clipped scream of pain that escaped my lips, full well knowing what a loud noise could call upon.

"Mother fu-" I cut myself off with a groan and sat up slowly, the trees circling around my vision.

Once I saw my leg caught between the clamps of an animal trap and the blood that was seeping profusely though the wound, I felt my stomach retch and my vision faded for a moment.

"C-crap..."

I reached down for the clamp and attempted to pull it apart, but I wasn't having much luck with it. When I managed to pry it open a centimetre or two, I lost my grip and it closed on my leg once more.

I didn't remember much after that, just darkness. I guess that was it for me...

Footnote:

The end. Wow, that was a fast story. :P

All kidding aside, I know I didn't really say what she looks like and all that, so I'm going to draw up a picture probably within the week.

Let me know what you think so far, and be ready for another chap tomorrow :)