The First Shot

--- The world is quiet when Rick Grimes wakes up. Too quiet.

Fresh out of the hospital and searching for answers, he follows an empty road to an abandoned

gas station. Cars sit lifeless, doors open, belongings scattered—frozen moments of a world

that never came back. Then he sees her. A little girl in a white nightgown,

barefoot and alone. For a second, Rick feels relief. A survivor. He calls out softly,

trying not to scare her. She turns. Her eyes are empty. Her skin is gray.

Her movements are slow and wrong. This isn’t a child anymore. In that moment,

Rick understands the truth—the dead walk, and the living must change to survive.