Season 1 Rewritten​

Main Cast:
Andrew Lincoln as Rick Grimes
Jon Bernthal as Shane Walsh
Sarah Wayne Callies as Lori Grimes
Deborah Ann Woll as Andrea
Jeffrey DeMunn as Dale Horvath
Steven Yeun as Glenn Rhee
Chandler Riggs as Carl Grimes

Ep 1x01 "Days Gone Bye":
On a deserted highway, Sheriff's Deputy Rick Grimes drives his police cruiser past overturned cars until he finds a blockade. He takes a gas can out of the trunk and walks past the remains of abandoned cars with corpses inside towards a gas station, where a handmade sign hanging reads "NO GAS". While searching around, Rick catches a glimpse of the slippered feet of a little girl on the other side of a car and decides to call her with some fear. The little girl turns and shows that her lower lip and half of her right cheek have been torn off and is dripping blood. She starts moving slowly towards him growling, and a disillusioned Rick draws his colt python and shoots her in the head.

Several days ago, Rick and his partner and best friend, Shane Walsh, eat hamburgers inside their police cruiser and joke about the first time they met in high school. When the conversation turns to Rick's wife, Lori, he becomes somber and explains to his friend that Lori accused him that morning of not caring about his family in front of their son, Carl, and believes that is a matter of time before she files for a divorce. Suddenly, a radio signal informs them about a high-speed pursuit in progress and they drive away. When they arrive at the scene, Rick and Shane lay down a spike strip on the road and meet up with their fellow officers. Shortly after, the car starts approaching, pursued by more cruisers, and speeds over the spike strip, shredding the tires and rolling over down a field.

Rick carefully approaches the wrecked car when two men emerge from the vehicle and start shooting, with one of them hitting him in the bulletproof vest. The other officers manage to shot the criminals and Shane runs over to check on his friend. Rick gets up and tells him to never tell Lori what happened. Unnoticed by everyone, a third criminal emerges from the car and shoots Rick in the side. He falls to the ground bleeding as Shane kills the man before rushing to Rick's aid, begging him to stay awake. Following this, Shane delivers flowers to Rick in the hospital and talks to him, but Rick isn't fully conscious.

Some unknown time later, Rick wakes up in his hospital room, sweaty and unshaven, and responds to Shane, only to discover he is alone. He notices that the flowers have wilted, the beeping of the machines has stopped and the clock isn't working. After calling a nurse for help and getting no response, Rick tries to open the door and notices a gurney blocking the entrance. He pushes it aside and walks down the dark and disheveled hallway towards the nurse's station to try the phone, but the line it's dead.

Continuing further down the hallway, the walls are covered with blood and numerous bullet holes. The double door of the cafeteria has been locked with a chain and has a disturbing message that reads: "DON'T OPEN/DEAD INSIDE." Several pale and dirty fingers start to reach through the cracks, moaning and groaning. Rick flees scared and exits through a door outside the hospital into the loading bay, where there are hundreds of corpses around the place, some wrapped in sheets while others are mutilated. He leaves the hospital and stumbles up a hill where a military helicopter has been crashed and abandoned.

Rick wanders down the street and manages to spot an abandoned bicycle in a park. As he reaches for it, the badly decayed and legless body of a mutilated woman turns and tries to reach for him, pathetically moaning of hunger. Startled, Rick falls but regains himself a moment later, mounts the bike, and hastily rides away. He arrives at his home only to find the front door open and the house completely deserted. Helpless and confused, Rick cries on the floor while shouting the names of Lori and Carl.

Outside, Rick questions if he's dreaming when suddenly a young boy hits him in the back of the head with a shovel. Disoriented over the hit, he whispers Carl's name as the boy yells at his father that he found one of the undead. The boy's father, Morgan Jones, is surprised that his son found a living person and aggressively asks Rick about the bandage he was wearing. Before he can answer, Rick passes out.

That night, Rick wakes up tied to a bed while the young boy, Duane, stands guard with a baseball bat. Having changed his bandages, Morgan asks if he was bitten, but Rick remains confused and says that he was only shot as far as he knows. After checking his forehead to confirm that he doesn't have a fever, Morgan apologizes to Rick for having acted with hostility before and invites him to join them for dinner. Rick looks around the house and tries to open a window before Morgan stops him and says that there were several walkers all over the block.

While the trio has dinner, Morgan tells Rick everything about the apocalypse and warns him that he should not let himself be bitten by the infected because the bites kill and turn a person into one of the undead. He also explains that the only way to take them down is to destroy their brains. After dinner, Rick talks to Morgan about his son and reveals that he was a police officer who was shot in the line of duty. When a car alarm goes off outside, the trio turns off the lights. Through the covered windows and boarded up doors, Rick and Morgan look out at the street, which is full of walkers attracted by the noise. When they spot a woman wearing a nightgown, a sorrowful Morgan confesses to Rick that it was his wife, whom he wasn't able to put down.

The next morning, Rick tells Morgan that he believed his family was still alive because he found the empty clothes drawers and also the family photographs had disappeared. Duane suggests to Rick that his family was probably in the safe-zone of Atlanta, and then Morgan explains that the early broadcasts said that there was a shelter for survivors, as well as some rumors that the CDC was working on a possible cure. Rick, Morgan and Duane head to the police station, where they enjoy a hot shower thanks to a separate propane heating system. As they dress, Morgan tells Rick that his family was headed to Atlanta too but never made it because his wife got bit and died.

Shortly after, Rick packs a duffel bag with guns and changes into his uniform. He also hands Morgan a rifle and some ammunition for his protection. After loading the weapons, Morgan assures Rick that they would follow him in a few days since he needed to teach Duane how to shoot. Rick gives Morgan a walkie-talkie and instructs him to turn it on every day at dawn to make contact. They are interrupted by a walker on the other side of the fence, and Morgan stops Rick from shooting it since he might need the bullets later. Rick and Morgan say farewell to each other with the promise of reuniting one day.

Upon returning home, Morgan climbs into the attic with the rifle that Rick gave him. He looks at old family photos and starts shooting at the walkers roaming the streets while searching for his wife to finally put her down, but when he has her in his sight, he is still unable to do it and breaks down in tears. Meanwhile, Rick returns to the park where he found the half-torso walker and, after apologizing for what had happened to her, shots her in the head to put her out of her misery.

En route to Atlanta, Rick sends out a broadcast through the radio. In a camp on the outskirts of the city, a group of survivors receives the weak transmission and a young woman named Amy tries to warn him not to go to Atlanta but fails to do so in time. Shane, Lori, and Cal are among the survivors, but they don't recognize Rick's voice due to the poor reception. Lori thinks they should put up signs on the highway warning people not to approach the city and volunteers to do it herself if necessary, but Dale, an old man with a fisherman hat, and Shane oppose the idea arguing that it was too dangerous. Enraged, she walks off to her tent. Shane follows her inside and tells her that she can't risk her life because Carl needs her since he had lost too much already. Lori relents and they kiss passionately.

After running out of gas, Rick heads out on foot with a gas can and the duffel bag full of guns, but not before making sure to grab his family photo and putting it in his jacket pocket. He arrives at an abandoned farmhouse where he discovers a family that had committed suicide. While trying to locate the keys of the pick-up truck parked in their driveway, Rick finds a horse on their property and rides the rest of the way to Atlanta with the bag of guns slung across his shoulder.

When Rick finally arrives in Atlanta, he finds the city devastated and deserted with hundreds of cars burned out on the other side of the freeway. As he trots the streets and finds an overrun military blockade, Rick catches the reflection of a helicopter passing by through a skyscraper and tries to follow it but unknowingly leads himself into a massive horde of walkers. He fails to escape and falls to the ground as the walkers start to devour the horse.

While the walkers are distracted, Rick crawls under an abandoned tank, although he has nowhere to escape as he is completely surrounded. He shoots several walkers but the situation becomes unsustainable so he points his gun to his head and asks his family for forgiveness. Looking up before pulling the trigger, Rick sees an open hatch and crawls inside before the walkers can get to him.

Believing the thank to be safe, Rick takes a breath for a few seconds until he is forced to shot an undead soldier inside. Dazed and disoriented over the echo of the gunshot, he lifts his head out of the top hatch to stop the ringing in his ears and spots the bag of guns that he dropped, but quickly seals himself back inside when some walkers notice him. Unsure of what to do next and thinking that everything was lost, a voice on the tank radio asks if he was comfortable in there.

Guest Starring:
Lennie James as Morgan Jones
Emma Bell as Amy

Co-Stars:
Adrian Kali Turner as Duane Jones
Keisha Tillis as Jenny Jones

 

Ep 1x02 "Guts":
In the survivor camp, Amy gives Lori some mushrooms she collected from the forest. She asks how to tell if these are poisonous and Lori replies that she only knew one way. Lori goes to the forest and feels unnerved by the silence. Suddenly, Shane takes her by surprise from behind and playfully throws her to the ground asking how much time they had. Lori replies that enough, and as they begin to undress, they notice Rick's wedding ring on a locket around her neck. She takes it off and lays it carefully on the grass. They then proceed to have sex.

Locked inside the tank in Atlanta, Rick talks on the radio with the person who contacted him and asks for help. The voice replies that Rick was surrounded by walkers and advises him to make a run for it while they were distracted eating the horse. Rick takes a gun and a grenade from the dead soldier and then opens the hatch. He jumps out of the tank and runs down a sidewalk into an alley, shooting walkers along the way, where he meets the young man who had been talking to him on the radio and follows him up a ladder into the roof for safety.

While catching their breath, the young man congratulates Rick for his reflexes and introduces himself as Glenn. After thanking him for saving his life, Rick wonders why he did that. Glenn says he hopes someone would do the same for him one day. They climb down to an alley that is mostly free of walkers due to a bus blockade and wait as a man named Allen emerges from a building and beats down some of the walkers.

When they enter the store, a woman named Andrea points a gun at Rick's face, furious at his recklessness. Allen calms her down and informs Rick that his gunshots have attracted numerous walkers from all over the city to their location. From outside, a crowd of walkers slams themselves against the door and the glass begins to crack. Rick explains that he was trying to follow a helicopter, but nobody believes him. A woman named Donna tries to radio someone but gets no signal. Suddenly, everyone hears gunshots coming from the rooftop.

On the roof, the group finds the redneck Merle Dixon firing at walkers in the street with a rifle. Donna scolds him for attracting more walkers, but Merle says he refuses to accept orders from a black person. Allen comes to his wife's defense and this triggers a fight between the two. Rick tries to intervene but is knocked out aside. Merle throws Allen to the ground and presses a gun to his head, proclaiming himself the new leader. Once again, Rick intervenes, hits Merle with the butt of the rifle and handcuffs him to a pipe. In a threatening tone, he reminds Merle that things were different now and that if they wanted to survive they would need to work together. Merle challenges that he wouldn't shoot him because he's a cop, but Rick answers that he was just a man looking for his wife and son.

Allen thanks Rick for his help and tells him that there was never a refugee center and that they are part of a larger group of survivors staying in a camp outside the city, but they haven't been able to contact them on the radio. Rick says that they were on their own now and suggests trying to escape through the sewers. Donna, who formerly worked in a zoning office, mentions that the old building they were on might have a flood tunnel that would provide access to the sewers. Most of the group heads down to the basement where Glenn concocts a plan.

While standing guard on the front doors, Andrea apologizes to Rick for the way she behaved earlier, explaining that she acted that way because her sister is the only family she has left. Rick gets a bit teary and replies that he understood that people did crazy things when they were afraid. Meanwhile, Glenn and Allen travel through the sewer until they reach a grated barrier. They begin to think of ways to cut through it but decided to return when they see a walker eating a rat on the other side.

In the store, Andrea looks at a necklace with a mermaid pendant and mentions that her sister loved fictional creatures. Rick encourages her to take it, insisting that shoplifting rules don't apply anymore, and while Andrea pockets the necklace, the walkers break through the exterior glass doors and begin pounding on the interior set. Glenn and Allen arrive at that moment to report that sewers were not an option either.

Back on the roof, Rick spots a van parked in a construction site a few blocks away and assumes that the keys should be nearby. He proposes to use the vehicle to escape and asks if anyone had any idea how to move past the walkers. The group explains that the undead attack when they see, smell, or listen to someone. Rick latches onto the concept of scent and Andrea quickly concludes that they don't smell dead, and that is why the walkers can differentiate between themselves and the living.

Wearing gloves and waterproof jackets, Rick and Allen drag a dead walker from the alley into the store. After paying tribute to the walker's lost humanity under Donna's insistence, Rick begins hacking the dead body to pieces with an axe. He and Glenn then smear its guts on themselves and prepare to go outside. Before leaving, Rick tosses Allen the key to Merle's handcuffs and tells everyone to be ready when they return. After passing under the bus blocking the alley, Rick and Glenn begin to walk among the walkers on the street unnoticed.

At the camp, Amy frets over the whereabouts of her companions and sister. Dale, who is working on his RV with the help of a somber man named Jim, receives Donna's garbled transmission informing everyone that the group was trapped in a store in Atlanta surrounded by hundreds of walkers. Although Amy wants to go rescue them immediately, Shane insists they won't do that because it was too dangerous and risky. Amy becomes furious at his decision and storms off.

Back in Atlanta, Rick and Glenn keep making their way through the crowd of walkers until rain clouds begin to form in the sky. A downpour falls heavily and cleans the guts' smell off them. With their living smell exposed, Rick and Glenn fight against the walkers and run towards the construction site, where they jump over the gate blocking their access. Once Glenn finds the keys, the duo speeds away in the van.

Seeing that several walkers are blocking the entrance of the department store, Rick smashes the window of a sports car, which causes the alarm to blare, and gives it to Glenn to drive it away to serve as a distraction. While the group rushes from the rooftop, Allen cannot bring himself to leave Merle behind after hearing him beg and runs with the key in hand to set him free. By accident, he slips on the rain-soaked roof and drops the handcuff key down a drain. Allen apologizes and leaves, but not before blocking the entrance with chains. Merle is abandoned and curses loudly in a rage as the walkers finally break the main set of doors of the store and enter.

Outside the back entrance of the store, with the walkers lured away by Glenn's car alarm, Rick pulls the van up and the group quickly climbs inside. Allen confesses that he dropped the keys and left Merle trapped on the roof. While escaping from the city, Andrea asks about Glenn. The sports car suddenly surpasses them at full speed with Glenn screaming full of happiness.

Guest Starring:
Michael Rooker as Merle Dixon
David Harbour as Allen
Emma Bell as Amy
Andrew Rothenberg as Jim

Co-Stars:
Jeryl Prescott Sales as Donna

 

Ep 1x03 "Tell It to the Frogs":
In the roof of the store, a handcuffed and delirious Merle mutters to himself about a violent incident from his past where he punched a black sergeant in the army. When some walkers start to fiddle through the padlocked door, he becomes hysterical until he spots a hacksaw from the overturned toolbox. Taking off his belt, Merle repeatedly tosses the buckle end to try to grab the hacksaw lying just out of reach.

On the road, Rick is driving to the camp while Donna advises him not to feel bad about having abandoned Merle since no one is going to miss him, except perhaps for his younger brother, Daryl. At the camp, Lori gives Carl a haircut while Shane promises to teach him how to hunt frogs later that day. The trio shares a moment but their tranquility is interrupted by the sound of Glenn's sports car alarm approaching. Jim disconnects the alarm while Shane chastises Glenn for drawing attention to their location.

The van arrives at the camp. Andrea and Amy tearfully reunite as everyone watch the happy reunion. Glenn says a "new guy" helped them escape the city and Allen adds that he's a police officer like Shane. Rick emerges from the van and recognizes Carl and Lori. The family runs towards each other and tearfully embraces in a hug as the rest of the group watches the scene astonished, especially a speechless Shane.

That night around a campfire, Rick describes the disorientation he felt waking up in the hospital. Lori explains she was told Rick would be evacuated to Atlanta but it never happened and then Carl adds that his mother had told him that he had died. Rick replies that she had every reason to believe that and then thanks Shane for saving his family. Lori exchanges a guilty glance with Shane.

Nearby, Ed Peletier stokes his family's fire with a fresh log. Shane intervenes and asks him to remove the log so that they cannot be seen from a distance. Ed reluctantly obeys and orders his meek wife Carol to pull the log from the fire. Shane then bids Carol and her daughter Sophia good night as Ed glares unpleasantly. Dale asks the group what they will tell Daryl about his brother while Andrea reasons that Merle was out of control. Rick volunteers to deliver the news, as does Allen, still filled with guilt for dropping the key. He tells the group that he locked the stairwell door before escaping and therefore Merle was still alive.

Later in their tent, Rick says goodnight to Carl and then crawls into bed with Lori. They reflect on their past mistakes and are grateful for the second chance that life was giving them. Lori returns him his wedding ring she had been keeping in her locket and they make love discretely. Outside, a melancholic Shane stands guard on top of the RV and stares at Rick and Lori's tent with anger in his eyes.

The next morning, Rick wakes up to find a fresh pair of new clothes laid out for him. Outside, he finds Carol ironing his freshly laundered uniform and thanks her for her kindness. Nearby, Glenn laments as Dale and Jim strip down the sports car for essential parts. Rick comforts him by saying that maybe they could steal another car one day. Shortly after, he tells Lori he plans to return to Atlanta for Merle and she gets shocked. Before she can say anything, they are interrupted by screams.

After finding the kids unharmed, Rick, Shane, Glenn, Jim, and Allen run to a clearing where they find a walker eating a deer that has some crossbow bolts sticking out of it. They beat the walker until Dale arrives and decapitates it with an axe. A man with a sleeveless top, Daryl, emerges from the woods and laments that the walker has eaten the deer he had been hunting. When the walker's head starts growling, Daryl fires his crossbow into its skull and then heads to the camp in search of Merle.

Shane tells Daryl that Merle failed to return, but Rick confesses that they left him handcuffed on the roof of a building in Atlanta. Daryl pulls out his knife but Rick is able to disarm him and Shane locks him in a chokehold. Allen cuts in and adds that he chained the door to the roof shut so he was probably still alive. Rick informs him that he had already planned to go back to Atlanta. Shane questions his decision to risk his life for Merle but Rick reminds him that he was left like an animal caught in a trap.

Rick recruits Glenn and Allen volunteers as well. Shane tells Rick that he is putting them all in danger because they need everybody to protect the camp in case more walkers show up but Rick replies that they need more guns, which he'd be able to retrieve from the bag he dropped in the streets. Lori still isn't convinced but Rick confesses that he also needed to retrieve his walkie-talkie from the bag so he can warn the man who saved his life away from the city. Lori eventually understands his reasoning and kisses her husband goodbye, which makes Shane leave the scene quietly. Once the rescue group departs from the camp, Lori goes to her tent and drops some tears in silence. Carl enters and assures his mother that if everything that happened to his father until that moment did not kill him, it is because nothing can do it anymore.

The rescue group arrives at a train track in Atlanta and continue their mission on foot. In the quarry lake, Andrea, Amy, Carol, and Donna do laundry and discuss the division of labor. Near them, Shane and Carl try to hunt frogs with a net and a bucket while playing around splashing the water. In Atlanta, Rick and the others open a gap in a metal fence and enter the city. They decide to look for Merle first for being closer and then they would recover the weapons.

While washing the clothes, the women begin to miss the luxuries of modern life. Amy misses texting, Donna misses hot showers, and what Andrea misses the most is her vibrator. Carol mischievously admits that she does too and her confession causes them to laugh. Ed, who watched them from afar, reprimands them for making a lot of noise and orders them to focus on their work.

Lori arrives at the lake and orders Carl to return to the camp. She warns Shane to stay away from her family, still full of guilt for their romance, but he wants to explain how things happened. Lori snaps and says that he could tell it to the frogs, and Shane asks if she thinks he is not happy for Rick's return. She replies that he shouldn't be since he told her that her husband had died and storms off as Shane looks down in frustration. In Atlanta, the group moves stealthily through the store. Rick notices a walker missing half its face roaming around and gives a signal so Daryl kills it with his crossbow before they can continue moving.

Meanwhile, Ed continues to loom over the women doing laundry. Andrea finally confronts him and Ed threatens to knock her and then demands Carol to leave with him. A strong discussion takes place between the women and Ed ends up slapping Carol hard across the face laughing. Shane, still fuming from his confrontation moments ago with Lori, throws Ed to the ground and begins to punch him aggressively. The women look in despair and Carol cries asking him to stop. Shane warns Ed that if he hurt his wife, daughter, or any other member of the camp again, he won't stop next time. He then kicks Ed hard in the chest twice and leaves as a crying Carol runs to help her husband.

In Atlanta, Rick, Daryl, Glenn, and Allen cut through the chains on the stairwell with the bolt-cutters and emerge onto the roof where they find on the ground the hacksaw beside Merle's severed hand as well as the bloodied handcuffs hanging from the pipe above. Daryl screams in desperation as the others look on helplessly.

Guest Starring:
Norman Reedus as Daryl Dixon
Michael Rooker as Merle Dixon
David Harbour as Allen
Emma Bell as Amy
Andrew Rothenberg as Jim

Co-Stars:
Melissa McBride as Carol Peletier
Adam Minarovich as Ed Peletier
Jeryl Prescott Sales as Donna
Madison Lintz as Sophia Peletier

 

Ep 1x04 "Amigos":
Andrea and Amy are sitting in a canoe on the quarry lake fishing. They talk about how their father taught them different fishing knots based on Andrea's need to catch the fish, and Amy's need to throw them back in the water. Both feel nostalgic when they realize that their entire family was possibly dead and that now they only counted on each other. In the distance, Dale is keeping watch on top of his RV when suddenly he notices Jim furiously digging holes in a nearby field above the camp.

On the rooftop in Atlanta, an enraged Daryl points his crossbow at Allen but eventually relents when Rick aims his revolver at him and threatens to shoot. Daryl puts his crossbow down and asks Glenn for a do-rag in which he proceeds to fold up Merle's severed hand and place it in one of the backpacks. They notice a trail of blood heading towards the door and decide to follow it to find Merle.

Back at the camp, Dale approaches to talk to Jim, who refuses to answer why he was digging the holes. Meanwhile, Amy and Andrea present the group with their large lines of fish they obtained. Carl asks them to teach him how to fish like that while Lori remains impressed by the sisters' efforts. Dale interrupts the excitement to express concern over Jim and points him in the nearby still digging.

In the store, Daryl shoots a walker with his crossbow and notes that his brother managed to kill two other walkers in the room. The trail of blood leads them to a kitchen, where they find Sterno cans burning next to a piece of iron crusted with skin. They speculate that Merle had cauterized his stump and had escaped from the building through the window. Rick apologizes to Daryl and agrees to help him search the streets for his brother. Allen replies they need to retrieve the bag of guns first.

At the camp, the group approaches Jim to find out what was happening, but he continues without explaining why he was digging. Lori tells him that he was scaring the kids. Jim says that they should be scared because they were all going to die soon. Shane is forced to take action and tackles him to the ground. Subdued, Jim cries over the death of his wife and children, revealing that the only reason he managed to escape alive was because the walkers were busy eating his family.

In an abandoned office in Atlanta, Glenn outlines a plan to retrieve the bag of guns on an old whiteboard. Daryl will cover his back from the alley behind the store, while Rick and Allen will cover him from another alley two blocks away. Daryl asks him his profession before the outbreak and Glenn answers that he delivered pizzas, which impresses both Rick and Daryl.

Glenn carries out his plan and runs to the tank. In the alley, a teenager named Luis sneaks up on Daryl from behind. Daryl quickly turns and points his crossbow at him, so Luis begins to scream in Spanish. Glenn picks up the bag of guns and Rick's hat in time and heads back to where Daryl was. Upon hearing the screams, Rick and Allen run towards the alley to find out what was happening. Daryl is jumped by two other men, Hector and Guillermo, who also attack Glenn when he arrives at the alley. Daryl manages to shoot an arrow into Hector's butt, causing him to drop the bag while yelling in pain. The bandits instead kidnap Glenn and drive away, leaving Luis and the bag of guns behind.

At the camp, Shane has tied up Jim to a tree and is offering him some water. Jim apologizes for scaring the children before and reveals that he had been digging the holes because he no longer believed they would be saved. Shane concludes that he possibly only suffered from heatstroke and promises to release him once he feels better. When everyone leaves, Jim ominously tells Lori not to let Carl out of her sight no matter what since her son wasn't ready yet.

Back inside the abandoned office building, Rick and the others are confused about what just happened and then they decide to hatch a plan to rescue Glenn. Although Luis initially refuses to collaborate with them, Daryl persuades him by scaring him with Merle's severed hand. Shortly after, a tied-up Luis leads Rick, Daryl, and Allen to the outside of an abandoned library where the leader of the bandits, Morales, emerges. Rick proposes a simple hostage exchange, but Morales demands that he also wants the bag of guns and gives them two options: either next time they return with the bag of guns or they return armed and ready to fight.

The group retreats to a nearby office, where Daryl argues that the guns are more valuable than Glenn, but Rick insists he owes him his life and tells Daryl and Allen to head back to the campsite. They refuse to let him go alone and decide to follow him. Carrying the guns on his back, Rick arrives at the library and demands one last time for Glenn to be released.

A little kid shuffles into the middle of the standoff and asks his uncle Hector for help with Abuela. He notices Rick's uniform and begs him not to take his uncle away. Rick tells him that Hector is helping them find a missing person. The kid reveals to know where Glenn is and leads Rick inside the library, where a woman named Miranda and Glenn are gathered around an old woman on a sofa. Hector helps his mother with an inhaler. In private, Rick berates Morales for having almost started a meaningless war, but the Latino says he was only trying to protect his family and explains that they needed the guns because they are trying to travel to Birmingham to reunite with more relatives. Rick identifies himself with his story and then decides to share half of the guns with them.

Walking back to the van, Glenn jokes that Rick only returned back to Atlanta for his hat. They discover that someone had taken the van and Rick blames Merle directly. Daryl predicts that he could possibly exact revenge at the camp and they take off running for the hills.

Back at the camp, Andrea searches through the RV looking for wrapping paper. She reveals to Dale that her sister's birthday was the next day, showing him the mermaid necklace she took from the store in Atlanta, and he assures her that he'll find something. Outside, the group is preparing for a fish cookout while Carl walks to the tree with Shane, who frees Jim and invites him to the fish fry.

In the Peletier family tent, Ed, with his bruised and swollen face, broods in his bed and angrily rejects Carol's invitation to join the group at dinner. He grabs Sophia by the arm while licking his lips and tells her to keep him company that night, which prompts a bewildered Carol to forcefully take her daughter away from him and leave the tent.

Sitting around the campfire, Donna asks Dale why he still wears his watch every day. Dale replies that it is important to keep track of time, paraphrasing a Faulkner parable about a father giving his son a watch: "the mausoleum of all hope and desire." Not understanding what he meant, Amy calls him weird and then gets up to go the RV to use the bathroom. Meanwhile, Ed hears rustling outside his tent and when he unzips it, he finds a female walker who topples on him, biting his neck as more walkers swarm inside the tent devouring him.

Amy emerges from the RV, complaining that they're out of toilet paper, as a walker approaches from behind the door and bites her arm. Her screams sents the campsite into panic as walkers attack from all directions, grabbing and devouring people. Shane orders Lori to get Carl into the RV as he fires his shotgun. Jim and Donna shoot some of the walkers while Dale helps defend a scared Carol and Sophia. Back at the RV, Amy screams in pain as a large chunk of her neck is bit by the same walker who bit her arm. Jim launches into a rage and jumps on the walker attacking Amy. Tearfully, Andrea runs to help her sister but there is not much she can do as Amy is dying from blood loss.

Rick, Glenn, Daryl, and Allen arrive and shoot at the remaining walkers. The survivors begin to catch their breath as Rick reunites with his scared family and calms them down. Allen and Donna hug and kiss as well. With her last strength, Amy touches Andrea's face and dies. Sobbing, Andrea screams her sister's name as the group looks upon the carnage in shock.

Guest Starring:
Norman Reedus as Daryl Dixon
David Harbour as Allen
Emma Bell as Amy
Andrew Rothenberg as Jim
Juan Pareja as Morales

Co-Stars:
Melissa McBride as Carol Peletier
Adam Minarovich as Ed Peletier
Jeryl Prescott Sales as Donna
Madison Lintz as Sophia Peletier
Noel Gugliemi as Hector Morales
Neil Brown Jr. as Guillermo Morales
Anthony Guajardo as Luis Morales
Viviana Chavez-Vega as Miranda Morales
Noah Lomax as Ramiro Morales
Gina Morelli as Abuela Morales

 

Ep 1x05 "Decisions":
The morning after the massacre, Rick tries to reach Morgan on the walkie-talkie. He tells his friend that he managed to find his family in a camp with other survivors and also warns that the city was not what they thought and that it belonged to the undead now. At the campsite, Andrea cradles Amy's body in silence. Lori attempts to convince her to let them take Amy's body. Andrea wipes the tears off her face and says she wants more time with her sister and when the time would come, she wouldn't hesitate to put her down.

Continuing with the cleanup, Allen and Daryl drag the body of a dead camper toward the fire, but Glenn yells that they were not burning their own but burying them. Frustrated from the heat, Daryl accuses the group of reaping what they sow for leaving his brother for dead. As Donna and Jim pile up bodies, she notices fresh blood on his shirt. Although he tries to convince her it was not his, a terrified Donna quickly announces to everyone that a walker had bitten him. Daryl and Allen force Jim to lift his shirt and discover a bite wound on his abdomen.

The group discusses what to do with Jim. Daryl wastes no time in offering to stick a pickaxe in his skull, but Rick thinks the CDC, roughly 25 miles away, could help him. Shane believes the army base Fort Benning, located 100 miles in the opposite direction, is a better option. Irritated over the apparent change of topic, Daryl heads toward Jim with his pickaxe, but Rick points his revolver at him and reminds him that they don't kill the living. Jim is then moved inside the RV for his safety.

Dale sits next to Andrea to give his condolences and tells her that he lost his wife after a hard battle with cancer a year ago. He reveals that when his wife died he was upset for a long time and that from that day until now the sisters have been the first people he truly cared about. Andrea takes out the mermaid necklace that was meant for Amy and puts it around her sister's neck, confessing that she felt a lot of guilt for missing many of her birthdays even though she always tried to keep her promises.

Nearby, Daryl continues to pierce the skulls of the corpses. He raises the axe over Ed's head, but Carol stops him and tells him that he was her husband, therefore she should take over. Sobbing, she picks up the axe and swings it down on Ed's skull repeatedly, taking out years of abuse in this final act to ensure he'd never reanimate. Daryl observes the scene in silence out of respect.

On the ground, Amy opens her gray eyes and moans softly as she tries to reach Andrea. From a distance, the group stands with their guns prepared to intervene. Andrea apologizes for not being there for her and shoots her sister in the head at the last moment. Shortly after, Rick and Shane dig some graves near the camp. While they work, Shane complains to Rick for not having been during the attack and blames him for the deaths. Rick counters that without the guns that he brought with him, the losses could have been much worse.

The survivors stage a funeral. While everybody leaves, Andrea is still crying over Amy's grave. After the ceremony, Carl asks his father if they were safe now and Rick promises that he will never leave them again. Privately, Rick asks Lori if she also blames him for not being in the camp during the attack and asks her to support his decision to head for the CDC. While she doesn't blame him like Shane does, she doesn't know if she could follow him to the CDC on blind faith. Lori asks him to tell her something with certainty and Rick replies that he loved her.

Heading into the RV, Rick assures a feverish Jim that they're going to get him help, but Jim is delirious and starts to rave nonsense. Outside, Shane asks Lori to convince Rick that the CDC was a bad decision, cautioning her about choosing her marriage over peoples' safety. She tells him that the people around her could decide without having to involve her marriage as Rick suddenly emerges from the RV. Annoyed by Shane's comment, Lori immediately supports her husband's plan.

Rick, Shane, and Dale depart to sweep the forest for walkers. Alone, Shane tries to convince Rick to change his mind but Rick insists that he was going to do what was best for his family and inadvertently adds that Shane did not understand because he did not have his own. This offends Shane, who snaps and reminds Rick that he kept Carl and Lori safe as if they were his own. Rick tries to apologize but they're interrupted by a sound in the bush and separate to investigate.

As they each scan with their guns raised, Shane aims his shotgun at Rick for a few seconds from a distance but eventually lowers the gun. He notices Dale looking at him in dismay. Shane shrugs it off, musing that they need to get reflective vests for the woods. Back at the camp, Shane announces that they should follow Rick's plan and that they would leave for the CDC in the morning. At dawn, Rick tries to reach Morgan to make him aware of what they were going to do but gets no response. He adds that they will leave a map taped to a red car with their route drawn out for him to follow. After the group packs everything in different vehicles, they leave the campsite in a caravan.

On their way to the CDC, the RV's radiator hose bursts. While Shane and Allen drive ahead to find replacement parts, Rick checks on Jim, who is in agony and pleads to be left there. Rick refuses to do that and then Jim insists that he just wanted to die in peace and reunite with his family. Listening to Jim's pleas, Rick decides to consult with the others and Dale suggests respecting his wishes. Lori agrees as well and the group carries Jim to a nearby tree on the side of the road. Donna gives him a kiss in the check and Dale thanks him for fighting for them while the others tearfully say goodbye one by one. The group drives away as Jim is left behind to die peacefully.

Elsewhere, a video monitor is turned on. A scruffy man, Dr. Jenner, speaks into the camera and mentions that it has been 194 days since Code Wildfire was declared and 63 days since the disease abruptly went global. Dressed in a biohazard suit, he enters a laboratory and opens a tissue sample labeled TS-19. While reaching for a beaker, he accidentally knocks a corrosive liquid onto the sample. An alarm goes off and Jenner quickly goes to the decontamination chamber as his entire laboratory is engulfed in flames due to an automatic safety protocol.

Afterwards, a drunken Jenner speaks into the monitor and regrets that all the TS-19 samples are gone, whispering that there is no hope in the world. Outside, Rick's caravan approaches the CDC, where hundreds of bodies lay dead on the ground. The group sneaks up on the building, which is completely locked. The proximity alarm alerts Jenner and he looks at the group in amazement through the cameras.

Several walkers take notice of the group and begin to surround them. Jenner starts to debate wherever or not to open the doors and some tears roll down his eyes. Despair seizes the survivors and a panicking Shane suggests heading to Fort Benning but Andrea stresses that they will not make it as they are almost out of fuel. Rick notices the movement of the security camera and begs whoever was inside to let them pass. Shane tries to force him to leave when suddenly the doors open and a light illuminates everyone completely.

Guest Starring:
Norman Reedus as Daryl Dixon
David Harbour as Allen
Emma Bell as Amy (Corpse/Zombified)
Andrew Rothenberg as Jim
Noah Emmerich as Edwin Jenner

Co-Stars:
Melissa McBride as Carol Peletier
Jeryl Prescott Sales as Donna
Madison Lintz as Sophia Peletier

 

Ep 1x06 "Hope":
In the early days of the outbreak, Shane visits Rick at the hospital, where soldiers are evacuating employees and executing the infected. He tries to lift his comatose partner from the bed but hesitates due to all the tubes and wires attached to the machines keeping him alive. The power goes out and Rick's monitor turns off. Fearing the worst, Shane puts his ear to Rick's chest but is unable to hear anything because of the noise. Desperate, he reluctantly leaves Rick in the room, blocking the door with a gurney before he flees amidst the chaos.

In the present, Rick and the group enter the CDC lobby. Armed with a rifle, Dr. Jenner meets them at the door and is suspicious of the newcomers but allows them to stay in exchange for a blood test. Rick accepts and they follow him into the subterranean control center where Carol confesses to being a little claustrophobic. Looking around, Rick questions the absence of other doctors and Jenner replies that he was the only one left. One by one, the survivors undergo the blood test.

The group then feasts in the CDC cafeteria, joyfully drinking wine and liquor from the fully stocked kitchen, beyond happy about having found a safe place. Rick offers a toast to Jenner, who calmly raises his glass. Shane isn't interested in celebrating and asks what happened to the other scientists. Jenner reveals that most of them fled or committed suicide after being unable to face reality and that he stayed because he hoped to do some good. After dinner, the scientist shows the group the facilities around the building, directing the children to the recreation room and telling everyone not to waste electricity.

The survivors are thrilled to luxuriate in hot showers, all except for Shane, who angrily drinks from a bottle of liquor while showering. Dale overhears Andrea throwing up and finds her in tears, convinced that everything is lost. He cheers her up by telling her they had a chance to start again, and Andrea remarks she's afraid of not being strong enough. Dale assures her that she is and they end up hugging.

In their own room, Donna tells Allen their newfound safe haven has lifted her hopes and she believes they can probably start a new life there surrounded by their friends. Allen kisses her and they have sex. Completely drunk, Rick stumbles into the control room, where Jenner is working and thanks him again for his hospitality. He confesses that he never told the others what he really thought, but that he was sure they would die out there because they were running out of options. With a somber tone, Jenner assures him that everything would be fine now.

Meanwhile, Lori finds Carl, Sophia, and Carol hanging out in the rec room. Carol takes the children to bed while Lori decides to stay behind checking the library. Shane looms in the doorway, with a bottle of whiskey in hand, and tells Lori that he is going to say some things to her and she will have to listen. Lori tries to leave but he closes the door. Shane insists that he didn't lie to her about Rick and that he truly believed that he had died when he left him in the hospital. Drunk and desperate, he forces himself on her trying to kiss her, causing Lori to scratch his face and neck. Horrified by his own behavior, Shane leaves as Lori breaks down in tears.

The next morning, Rick shuffles into the cafeteria and Lori gives him some aspirin for his hangover. Shane also arrives and Glenn notices his scratches. He justifies himself by saying that he scratched himself in his sleep, to which Rick replies that he had never seen him do something like this before. Shane tells him that it was definitely not himself and looks at Lori with embarrassment.

When Jenner arrives, he takes the group to the control center and shows them the brain scan of test subject 19, someone who was infected and allowed the process of reanimation to be recorded. The tape shows the virus attacking the brain, which turns dark. Jenner fast-forwards to the second event: the resurrection of test subject 19. He explains that the virus only restarts the brain stem, therefore the human part never returned, and admits that he doesn't know what the disease is or if other countries have been affected.

Dale interrupts the stunning silence to ask Jenner about the clock on the wall that was counting down. Jenner replies that when it reaches zero, the power generators that were in the basement will run out of fuel. Rick, Shane, Allen, and Glenn head to check the generators, while upstairs the air conditioning stops working. In his office, Jenner stares at a photograph of a woman and asks her to understand that he did the best he could in the time he had and that he hopes she is proud of him.

With the building shutting itself down, the panicked survivors confront Jenner, who explains that the building is shutting down on its own and that in thirty minutes the building would decontaminate. The group tries to escape, but they are locked inside the control center. Jenner tells them that it is useless to try to fight what was going to happen because the main doors on the top floor were automatically locked down. He explains that when the clock gets to zero a decontamination protocol will be initiated that will set the air on fire and destroy the building. That was the way the CDC had to prevent diseases from going abroad if the security was ever compromised.

Trying to convince them to accept their fate, Jenner states that the death would be instant and painless, and then brings up what Rick said the night before that it was only a matter of time for all his loved ones to die. As despair grips the survivors, Daryl and Shane futilely attempt to break through the door with axes and guns. Rick demands to know why Jenner stayed if he believed there was no hope for the world. Jenner admits that he had made a promise to his wife, test subject 19, about keep going as long as possible, and confesses that she had been the most valuable scientist of the CDC. Lori tells him that they deserved the opportunity to keep going as long as possible.

Jenner finally agrees to open the doors of the control center but remains adamant that they will not be able to exit through the main doors on the top floor. Rick says that he was grateful for the second chance he was allowing them to have, but Jenner counters that the day will come when he won't be. He pulls Rick close and whispers something into his ear. Rick is left stumped for a few seconds but soon recovers as the others scream him to hurry as the time was running out.

In the CDC lobby, the group finds the doors locked as Jenner had told them and they helplessly try to break the windows. Carol insistently searches for something in her bag and then hands Rick something she found in his pants pocket the first day he arrived at camp: the hand grenade. Everyone takes cover and Rick detonates the grenade, destroying one of the tempered glass windows. In the basement, Jenner spends the last ten seconds looking at the photo of his wife and whispers to himself that he hopes the group finds their so desire hope.

As the survivors run to their cars while taking down nearby walkers, Donna falls to the ground on top of her ankle. Allen yells at the others to keep going as he carries her. The counter goes to zero and the CDC explodes completely. Allen and Donna can't arrive at the RV in time and take shelter behind some military sandbags as the building explodes. The rest of the group watches stunned from the safety of their vehicles. When the explosion ceases, a walker that had appeared to be dead jumps out from behind the sandbag and bites Donna in the face. Allen starts to yell and this gets the attention of several incoming walkers as Donna is devoured.

From their vehicles, everyone hears the screams and watches the scene in shock. Rick tells Allen they need to leave plus there was nothing he could do. Allen comes to his senses and is pulled by Shane inside the RV. Once they are inside the vehicle, Rick starts the engine and leads the caravan away from the flaming ruins into an uncertain destination.

Guest Starring:
Norman Reedus as Daryl Dixon
David Harbour as Allen
Noah Emmerich as Edwin Jenner

Co-Stars:
Melissa McBride as Carol Peletier
Jeryl Prescott Sales as Donna
Madison Lintz as Sophia Peletier