Alexandria Safe-Zone (Comic Series)

The Alexandria Safe-Zone 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. Currently, this is the longest lasting location the survivors have lived in.

Background Information
A man named Alexander Davidson began to build the wall, and later invited his good friend Douglas Monroe to be his co-leader in the society. However, sometime after the wall was built, Davidson began to abuse his power by taking advantage of some of the women in Alexandria and assigning others to dangerous jobs that he himself refused to do. This forced Douglas to do something that he dreaded; he burned a zombie to double as Davidson's body and then banished Davidson to the outside world, which he considers as good as killing him.

After this setback, things in Alexandria seemed to be going smoothly. This peace is temporarily shaken by the arrival of Rick's group to the Safe-Zone. Due to the combined attacks of both Pete Anderson and the D.C. scavengers, Douglas realizes he can't lead the community as well as he thought. He then resigns his commission and subsequently puts Rick in charge, feeling that Rick would be a far better leader than himself.

The Herd
Due to the noise of the firefight with the D.C. scavenger group a massive herd of walkers is drawn towards the Safe-Zone. The walls of Alexandria are surrounded by walkers, the group notices that Andrea is still in the tower. An expedition party is mounted to search for her, however the plan backfires and the party becomes separated from the rest of the group.

The walkers eventually break down the walls killing many residents, including Bruce and Tobin. Rick and Morgan try to get to safety but Morgan is bitten on the arm, he tells Rick to leave him and get to safety. However seconds later Morgan changes his mind and says he wants to live, Michonne comes to his aid and slices his arm off with her katana. She and Rick rush him to the clinic where he collapses.

Rick rushes back to his house where he is greeted by Carl, Jessie Anderson and her son Ron. After she and Rick make out they devise a plan to escape. They cover themselves in walker guts and make a run for it, however Ron is grabbed and starts to be devoured. Jessie rushes to his aid but also ends up being swarmed and starts getting eaten, she attempts to get Carl's help and grabs his hand. However she won't let go and Rick is forced to cut her hand off. Douglas soon comes to their aid and starts shooting wildly at the walkers, he is bitten and a stray bullet hits Carl in the eye, destroying the right side of his face.

Douglas is swarmed and devoured when Carl collapses. Rick picks him up and sprints for the clinic. He makes it and tells Denise to help him, she tells him that she will do everything in her power. Rick heads outside and makes a stand alongside Michonne. They are both fighting the walkers alone until Abraham and Holly see them and decide to assist. Eventually the whole community joins the fight and together they successfully repel The Herd.

Aftermath
After the zombie herd is defeated, things begin to go back to normal until the Nicholas attempts to take the Safe-Zone away from Rick, who he perceives as a threat to their lives and the community. Rick is able to defuse the situation and calm Nicholas down.

The community is later approached by an outsider named Paul Monroe, who wishes to establish a trade route between the Safe-Zone and several other communities around the area. For some reason, the community still does not grow food even though it would be much easier than scavenging all the time. Paul later reveals that he also brought them to the community of the Hilltop for help against The Saviors.

The War against The Saviors
"You can't have a war without... casualties."

- Rick Grimes

Rick Grimes and Paul Monroe, with the help of Ezekiel, devise a plan by using all three of their communities to fight off The Saviors. Rick lies to his colony to make it seem as if they are following orders to give Negan whatever he wants. When Negan comes to the colony unannounced, Rick sees it as an opportunity to end this once and for all. He tries killing Negan, unaware that he has backup hidden. They are then saved by an army of survivors from The Kingdom, including Ezekiel and Shiva.

The armies from Kingdom, Hilltop and Alexandria itself spend the night preparing for war. The following morning Rick gathers a meeting, revising their battle plan, and leaves with the survivors, leaving Carl in charge of the safe-zone, along with Andrea, who is still badly injured from the skirmish the day before.

Town Layout
The area runs on an isolated power grid and was put together by the government in case of a major disaster. The power grid does not work the way it was intended, however, as half of the houses do not have hot water and there is not enough power to run the lights all of the time.

The zone originally contained two streets of houses, a meeting house, an armory/storehouse, and infirmary, and was expanded by Abraham and Tobin's crew to include more houses, a general store, and a church.

There are under 40 residents of the Safe Zone before Rick Grimes' group arrived, and with their inclusion there are "over sixty" residents.

Rick mentions to Negan the population of the Safe-Zone is now 48-49 residents. Rick also stated that they have up to 20 houses. Issue 103

Trivia

 * This is so far the longest running refuge of the Comic Series, being used as refuge by Rick's group since issue 70.
 * Robert Kirkman confirmed in Issue 116's Letter Hacks that more of Alexandria Safe-Zone residents will be introduced in the future, including one of the Construction Crew guards.