Atlanta, Georgia

Atlanta is the capital city of the state of Georgia. The Metro-Atlanta area's population was over 5.5 million people before the outbreak occurred.

As the undead rose, the government and military advised people to seek the larger cities for protection, yet were unable to handle the dire situation. The army failed to hold the infected back, resulting in the majority of its population reanimating as undead. Military checkpoints were overrun, and vehicles were burned or abandoned. People attempted to flee the city using the freeways and highways, however, they became gridlocked; leaving the vehicle occupants vulnerable to the 'Walking Dead'. The Center for Disease Control building is also based in Atlanta and was attempting to discover a cure for the outbreak. When the cities became overrun and the military turned infected, the military called in bombers for napalm bombings, but they were 0% efficent. However, most of the city remains intact, as just the streets of infected were targeted (which explains why when Rick Grimes entered the city, he saw several burned vehicles). With the cities overrun with the undead, it left the outskirts relatively safe until slowly the walkers began heading out to more rural areas.

In The Walking Dead Video Game, the main character Lee Everett is handcuffed in the back of a police car driving away from Atlanta to the West Central Prison in Georgia. Though not seen in game since the introduction, several references are made about Atlanta by Lee informing other survivors that Atlanta is not safe, as well as FEMA informing the state of the city via radio and emergency broadcasting. FEMA also declares the city a Level 9 Catastrophe since the start of the apocalypse, meaning that the city is completely overrun by walkers and is now lost. Near the end of the first episode of the game, wishes to leave the group of survivors and head for Atlanta to find his family and friends in hope that they are still alive.

Highway

 * For full article, please see Interstate 85

One of the main highways leading to and from the city of Atlanta was Interstate 85. People attempting to flee the city jammed the outbound lanes of the highway, and with the highway blocked, people became more easily infected. Rick Grimes uses this stretch of highway (the inbound side) to enter the city by horse. Other survivors seem to use this highway a lot, as Glenn was seen driving a stolen car down this highway as a distraction to the walkers while Rick moved to save all the other survivors at the department store. The highway was also seen in What Lies Ahead in Season 2 where all of the survivors left Atlanta by driving down this highway.

In the Walking Dead Video Game, Lee Everett is handcuffed in the back of a police car driving away from Atlanta to the West Central Prison in Georgia after being convicted of killing a US Senator over an affair with his wife.

Main Street
Upon navigating the lifeless streets, Rick encounters a crowd of zombies, forcing him to flee. Unfortunately, he is knocked off his horse and seeks refuge in a tank as his horse is eaten alive by dozens of zombies. (Days Gone Bye) While avoiding the walkers, Rick drops his Bag of guns on the street in order to survive, and later Glenn is seen sneaking on this street to get Rick's hat and the bag of guns back.

Department Store
Rick is contacted by Glenn via radio, who gives him instructions on how to escape his position stuck inside the army tank. Rick makes it to the location Glenn tells him to go to and the pair flee from the zombies up a ladder to the rooftops. From there, they make their way to a department store where other survivors are holed up. T-Dog and Morales emerge from the store to clear nearby zombies so Rick and Glenn can enter. Inside are the other survivors, Jacqui and, while Merle Dixon is on the store roof, keeping guard. Due to the shooting by Rick and Merle's carelessness of shooting walkers for fun, the walkers have begun surrounding the store, trapping the survivors. At first, they attempt escaping underground, but the passage is blocked. Rick has another idea and drags the corpse of Wayne Dunlap inside the store before cutting open the body and smearing him and Glenn in the guts, allowing them to walk through the horde of zombies and steal two vehicles before returning to the store for the other survivors The group exit the city while Dixon is left behind, having been handcuffed to a pipe on the roof for turning against his fellow members, with the handcuff key lost. (Guts) Merle, having been left behind, began to become delirious, but snaps out of it and starts trying to grab a nearby hacksaw. Rick, Glenn, T-Dog, and Daryl later return to the department store and head to the rooftop only to discover Merle has amputated his hand and escaped. (Tell It to the Frogs) The group follow a trail of blood that leads them to discover that Merle had cauterized his stump and escaped through a smashed window. After planning on how to retrieve a bag of guns from the nearby street, the group leave the department store. (Vatos)

Nursing Home

 * For full article, please see the Atlanta Nursing Home

When Rick, Glenn, T-Dog, and Daryl Dixon head back to Atlanta in order to release Merle from the handcuffed roof and retrieve the bag of guns left on the street, they come across other survivors that had been using a nursing home as a refuge base. The nursing home is filled with several dozen seniors who were abandoned by its caring staff, except for two people. Those two workers, members of the Vatos gang, recruit fellow gang members to assist with caring for the seniors of the home, transforming the home into a well-defended complex. The men are armed with various weapons and watch over the home, including a warehouse/garage that connects to the home, where cars are being worked upon. Other survivors included some women, caring as nurses for the senior citizens. (Vatos)

Center for Disease Control

 * For the full article, please see the CDC

It is a main building within Atlanta that the survivors attempt to reach in Episode 5 of Season 1, "Wildfire", in an attempt to discover assistance and aid from the government.

Deaths

 * Siggard's Family Horse - Grabbed and devoured while helping Rick get into Atlanta.
 * Wayne Dunlap - Unknown how infected, Killed by either Morales or T-Dog.
 * Millions of people - All killed while trying to get into and out of an overrun Atlanta.

Trivia

 * There are a few members of The Walking Dead TV Series cast and crew that were actually born in Atlanta.
 * Chandler Riggs, who plays Carl Grimes, is from Atlanta, Georgia.
 * Scott Wilson, who plays Hershel Greene, is from Atlanta, Georgia.
 * James Allen McCune, who plays Jimmy, is from Atlanta, Georgia.
 * Roger Jackson, who voices Charles in The Walking Dead Video Game, is from Atlanta, Georgia.
 * Locations for Rick's house, Morgan's house, and the park where the "Bicycle Girl" is first spotted and later killed are all within a quarter mile of each other in Atlanta's historic Grant Park neighborhood. In fact, Rick's house is directly across the street from the Zoo Atlanta. One of its buildings can be seen as Rick leaves his house.
 * A helicopter is seen flying through the Atlanta skies in the episodes, "Days Gone Bye" and "Beside the Dying Fire", however, it is unknown who or what organization is flying it. In Season 3, it is hinted toward that the helicopter was flown by the National Guard, notably by Lieutenant Welles.
 * The city is mentioned several times in The Walking Dead Video Game and is only seen at the very beginning of the game.

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