What Lies Ahead | Rick Grimes

Chapter 1: Welcome To King County

Hayley took in a deep breath as she stood in the middle of the newly renovated bakery. It was small a long display case was to the left along with the till, on the right there were a couple tables for customers that wanted to stay in and eat. She had been working on it for the past month traveling to and from Atlanta twice a week to keep an eye on its progress, however now it was finally finished and Hayley had finally moved to Kings County. Along with her 12 year old son Will.

Hayley decided to move to King county a year ago after her divorce, it had always been a dream of hers to open a bakery and that dream had finally come true. Moving to a small town had always been something she wanted to do but her ex-husband had refused, he didn't like the idea even now but she couldn't give a damn what he thought he was lucky that he got to see Will at all even if it was only every other weekend.

"Mom! I finished the sign" a voice called from the small office in back before the pounding of feet could be heard. Hayley smiled as she saw her son running towards her a piece of paper clutched tightly in his hands.

"Go put it on the door then and hopefully I'll be able to get some help around here" Hayley had spent most of the day baking with help from her son who had his mothers flare for it. Even with her sons offered help she still needed another baker and someone to help behind the counter.

"Alright buddy did you clear everything up back there?" Hayley asked as she grabbed her keys and back from the counter.

"Yes mom and I made sure everything was turned off now can we please go home" Will whined causing Hayley to laugh as she ushered him outside and into the car.

They arrived at the small two story house in less than ten minutes. Will ran in the house and headed straight to the kitchen getting everything ready for their pizza night. Hayley looked around the small yet cosy house and smiled she hadn't felt this happy in years, a fresh start was just what she needed after the way her husband had treated her.

Her husband used to be a nice man, they had gotten married straight after college and had Will shortly after. Hayley believed they were the perfect family that was until he fell in with the wrong crowd. The changes were miner at first staying out a bit later than usual drinking a bit more, but one drink turned into two then three. He'd come home smelling of booze or not come home at all. She wanted to believe that he would get better, become better for their son but that never happened. She remembered the day she packed up and left taking Will with her. Hayley had gotten a call from Will's school saying he hadn't been picked up and when she got home she had found her husband in bed with another woman, she had yelled and screamed at him all with Will watching from the doorway unseen by the two adults in the room. The next few minutes went by in a blur she remembered the pain in her cheek from where he'd hit her, her son standing up for her and her ex-husband shouting at Will. She'd left that night with no regrets.

As Hayley walked into the kitchen she smiled at her son who was happily assembling his pizza, yeah she definitely had no regrets.

Rick sighed as he walked into the locker room at the station, he'd been called in around lunch to help with a case. Rick loved his job but sometimes he couldn't help but hate it especially when it cut into his time with Carl.

Rick and Lori had filed for divorce two years ago, he didn't want to at first afraid of what it would do to Carl but after talking about it as a family they decided it was the best decision. The two adults were constantly arguing about anything and everything and if he was being brutally honest they had lost the spark that they once had.

Despite everything Rick and Lori were still friends and whenever he wasn't working he would spent time with Carl who had adjusted well to his parents being apart. But right now Rick was heading back to his two bedroom apartment alone. Sighing sadly Rick pulled a clean shirt on before closing his locker.