Dredd himself took the Long Walk after nursing long term doubts regarding the ethics of the entire Mega City Judge system. These were brought to a head after he received a posthumous letter from William Wenders, a child who had been killed as an indirect result of the Judges' suppression of a pro-democracy march. Whilst roaming the Cursed Earth, however, Dredd encountered the Sisters of Death and returned to Mega City One along with Chief Judge McGruder (who had also taken the Long Walk in an earlier story) in order to confront the Dark Judges. Dredd and McGruder were the first judges ever to return to the city after taking the Long Walk. These events are recounted in the Judge Dredd stories A Letter to Judge Dredd, Tale of the Dead man, The Dead Man and Necropolis.