Alexandria Safe-Zone

The Alexandria Safe Zone is a location in the Image Comics series The Walking Dead, as well as a location in the AMC television series of the same name.

Comic book series

In The Walking Dead comic book series, The Alexandria Safe-Zone, or just Alexandria, is a few blocks of cleared streets in Alexandria, Virginia, AbOUT six miles from Washington, D.C. When Rick Grimes' survivor group arrived, Douglas Monroe stated that the community had existed for less than a year. To date, this is the longest lasting location the survivors have lived in, with a lifespan of almost three years. In the war against Negan, Alexandria suffered considerable damage and was overrun and temporarily abandoned. After the war's end, the survivors came back to Alexandria and started to rebuild it. Two years after the war, Alexandria was completely rebuilt and has been vastly improved, with the addition of new houses, crops and orchards.

Television Series

In The Walking Dead television series, The Alexandria Safe-Zone appears in the fifth season and is led by Deanna Monroe (a female adaptation and counterpart of the comic book series' Douglas Monroe). The Safe-Zone was created after refugees were directed there during the initial outbreak. Rick Grimes and his group find this safe haven after they encounter Aaron, whose job is to recruit new residents, in order to make Alexandria stronger. At first, Rick's group is apprehensive upon arrival due to the many horrific things they have witnessed during their long sojourn outside The Safe-Zone's walls. After some time, however, the group appears to sink in and feel more comfortable in this new environment, with the exception of Daryl Dixon and Sasha, who are struggling after the recent losses of Beth Greene, Tyreese, and Bob. Rick and his group think that settling into this place will make them weak, and that the Alexandrians are already weak and do not know what they are doing. Rick plans to change this. He says, "If they can't make it, then we'll just take this place".

Rick, Daryl, and Carol devise A Plan to get weapons from the armory and slip out with the others, unbeknownst to the rest of the group, who are feeling comfortable in Alexandria. The three take advantage of the naivete of Alexandria's people to the extent of the dangers surrounding them, and use this to sneak out their weapons. After finalizing a plan, the three behave as normal residents. Eventually, Rick gets into a fight with an abusive surgeon named Pete Anderson after finding out he has abused his wife, Jessie, and ends up pointing a .38 Colt Detective Special revolver at some of the Alexandrians. Rick is thrown in jail, for a "cooling-off" period, and Pete is forced to live separately from his family. The people of Alexandria hold a forum to decide what to do with Rick, with Deanna leaning toward banishment, but after Pete shows up and murders Deanna's husband, during Pete's attempt to assassinate Rick, Deanna orders Rick to execute Pete and decides Rick should stay. Rick's group ends up staying and more closely integrating with Alexandria and its residents.

In the sixth season, Rick is now the co-leader of Alexandria alongside Deanna and starts to take precautions to keep the community safe. Alexandria is soon attacked by "The Wolves", leaving many of its residents dead or emotionally harmed, but makes some of its residents stronger, learning that "If you don't fight, you die." This is closely followed by a herd that is led to the walls of Alexandria on a mission to get the herd away that had gone wrong. Inside, the residents are panicked, but Rick assures them that the walls will stay up. However, after a while, the church tower falls down due to damage inflicted on it during the Wolves' attack and crashes through the wall, letting walkers swarm in. Rick and the group along with Deanna, Jessie, and her family seek refuge in the houses, but are forced to leave after they too are overrun. Deanna was bit when the walkers came through, and stays behind. Rather than committing [...], she opts to use her remaining bullets to take out several walkers, giving the others a better chance at escaping. They attempt to leave Alexandria through camouflaging themselves in walker guts.