A\N: So this is another experimental fic. I'm a huge fan of zombie apocalypses, but this is the first time I (try to) write an angsty genre like this one.

What you'll read is the prologue, and I'd first like to know if you're interested in the fic. I'm not good with summaries (I promise I'll work on that one...), so the prologue will hopefully stir up your curiosity!

Another important information: This is a crossover!
It contains characters and storylines from the Batman universe as well as from the video game universe of The Walking Dead. A weird combination, you think? I guess that's what happens when you want your favorite characters (and OTPs) to interact with each other. :D

Sometimes I think that being alone isn't that bad.
That it can help you calm down after a bad situation happened. That it can just be more relaxing than when people are around. That you simply don't need anybody, or better said; you don't want to need them.

At least I used to think that.

Back in my days I also thought that I was better off without anybody. I wanted to be my own man, become independent and handle things my way. I wanted to distance myself from the people I loved; at least for a while. At least until I would sort things out a little bit.

Sometimes I thought that it was necessary to push people away at times. It would keep you sane when you needed some alone time. It would keep you independent.

I was thinking that a lot just a while ago.

Just a short while ago, before the whole world went to hell.

xXx

Nobody knew what had happened or how it had happened. Everything had been normal back then.
It had started with reports of people having gotten incredibly sick. Doctors thought that there might be a new viral disease that infected a huge amount of people in such a short time span. The disease caused a high fever that rose immediately, but just wouldn't go down.
Those people would cough up blood eventually, they would get incredibly skinny and less responsive the more time passed. The sick ones filled the hospitals in no time and what reached publicity next made that whole story all the more suspicious:
The infected happened to show one or even more bite marks on their bodies. They reported about a gone insane person biting them out of nowhere and not wanting to let go, so they just ran once they got the person off them.
No further information would reach the folk, until the first sickened person died in the hospital not even 24 hours after the whole incident. Family members were invited to say their goodbyes, and once they did, it happened.

The son presumed dead had grabbed his father and bitten him. He had gotten up and gone insane, so the only survivor in the room reported, and he had become… murderous.
Of course that had created a mass hysteria. People were afraid, started to lock themselves up in their houses. Shortly after, every sick person in the hospital that had died came back and created a mess. And then there had to happen what was obvious: everyone who couldn't escape got bitten and ended up dying and coming back…

The situation in the states had gotten worse, young people soon established the word "zombie" for what the sick had become.

In that time, Bruce had been trying to figure out what was going on, but neither could he really find that out. We had been safe in the Manor; Bruce, Alfred, Tim, Damian and me. But what was happening outside couldn't be ignored. I had gone on patrol no matter what everyone said; Damian and Tim had joined me after a while.
It wasn't that bad back then, but seeing some of those… people on the streets already had been horrible. They looked like monsters…

The more time passed, the worse it got. The dead were flooding the streets, the political system had started to break down and the Special Forces were reaching their limits too. They had camps for the citizens, but some of them had been overrun or were too full to help other people out. People had been begging for entrance, for protection, for food, but their screams would be unheard.

Not only was the outside world breaking down, but our family too.

Bruce had gone insane. He had been doing research all day and night; he had been hell-bent on finding the cause of all this, and he had even done that on… humans. Well, the living dead ones, but they were still human…
He had gotten crazy about this and one day he had come up with the idea to search for a "better infected" to be running final tests with.

He never came back.

I remember how I thought that being alone isn't that bad seven months ago.

I never regretted a thing more in my life.

xXx