A group of survivors on the outside launch an attack on zombies in a prison where Rick and his group believed they were safe, and the full-scale battle that ensues results in a high body count.

Trapped in a town surrounded by madmen, Rick must find a way out or die trying. Meanwhile, back at the prison, the rest of the survivors come to grips with the fact Rick may be dead, and a major turning point in the series is reached.

"In a world ruled by the dead, we are forced to finally start living"--P. [4] of cover.

Out on their own, danger lurking around every corner, our ragged band of survivors tries to live long enough to reach Washington D.C. Continuing the long-running saga, Robert Kirkman continues to take us to places we've never been.

"After being betrayed by members of his own community, Rick Grimes charts a new course and marshals his forces against the Whisperers." --

"Imagine a world overrun by big business and "fake news" via the social media machine . . . In The Grand Abyss Hotel, neoliberalism has become a state religion while the citizens quietly and then not-so-quietly rebel, giving way to violence on the streets and sowing chaos. A masked vigilante takes on the role of hero to battle politicians, the erosion of democracy, and social media. After the fires burn low and the dust settles, social order returns....

Rick is on edge despite the fact that life in the community is as near to normal as the group can ever hope it to be, and some fear that his anxiety will be the group's downfall.

"The world we knew is gone. The world of commerce and frivolous necessity has been replaced by a world of survival and responsibility. An epidemic of apocalyptic proportions has swept the globe, causing the dead to rise and feed on the living. In a matter of months society has crumbled, no government, no grocery stores, no mail delivery, no cable TV. In a world ruled by the dead, we are forced to finally start living."--P. [4] of cover.

The events of the previous volume, "No Way Out," have affected everyone in the community, and not everyone has survived to pick up the pieces. Rick and the survivors must now try to pick themselves up and carry in the wake of disaster... and by doing so, they find hope.

Rick and his group of survivors discover that life within the community they have found in Washington, DC, is not as safe as they hoped, with their new friends not exactly who they appear to be, and danger hiding within the walls.