account information:independent and authentic portrayal of an original character, heavily based and inspired by graphic novels and television series of ‘the walking dead’, with some mentions from ‘law and order svu’. character can be written into ‘the last of us’ verse — video game and television series included, though it’s primarily involved in ‘the walking dead’ verse. selective, single verse and single shipped. ships with chemistry. literate and descriptive. pre and post apocalyptic storylines included. account contains mature and triggering content. character storylines are season 2 to season 10 based — with no time jumps. alternate universe and canon based. for your own safety, minors do not interact. this character has experienced sexual assault, physical, mental and sexual abuse, self harm, suicidal thoughts and tendencies; alongside other triggering content. this account is a safe space for everybody — writer will block any types of discriminatory and criminal behaviour, from anybody, or if anyone is associated with it.

writer information:writer goes by asterism or aster, for short. 27 years old. june — gemini. white. jewish. transgender. non-binary. genderfluid. he/him pronouns — no feminine terms please. more active on discord, message for discord username. autistic and adhd. chronically ill and disabled. creates all layouts, gifs and character gifs. experienced writer with over 15 years experience.

additional information:will not follow lewd centric accounts. will not follow minor writers, as account includes mature and triggering content. will hardblock anyone who supports and defends pro-shipping. will hardblock anyone who reposts or uses any type of ai. will hardblock if you support donald trump, charlie kirk, nigel farage etc. will hardblock if you disagree with ‘free palestine’.

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CHILDHOOD:avery is the long lost daughter of hershel and josephine greene and the twin sister of maggie rhee. when avery was born, with maggie, hershel’s alcoholism became severe where he couldn’t look after two kids, let alone one so he suggested to josephine to give one up for adoption. avery being the daughter put up for adoption, she was swiftly put in foster care and eventually found a permanent family. at aged 5, avery was very bright and always following her adopted father around, always watching the television, desiring to be a sports reporter one day and when the age approached, she attended college and university. at aged 15, her adopted parents and sister had been killed in a car crash, leaving her alone and remaining in college.

CAREER:having attended college, former student, with the name of connor williams, later became her short term boyfriend. a couple of months together, he began to show signs of controlling and physical abusive behaviour. a few weeks after, she found out she was pregnant, but when announcing this to him, he abused her and caused avery to have an early miscarriage; heartbroken, told by doctors that she could no longer have children of her own, she was driven to depression from her miscarriage, leading her to drop out of university, then applied for reporter jobs, locally, but were short stints, due to the workplace harassing her, so she left on her own accord. now that was until she approached the job of a reporter for sen, in new york, and was working there for 5 years, leading her to having an adultery affair with her co-worker, jason hollis, until one moment of her life caused a traumatic experience, that lives with her forever.

TRAUMATIC EXPERIENCE:after a long day’s travel, on a road trip, avery returns home as rick purcell, her cameraman, assists to take her bags upstairs. as she enters her apartment room, she states how tired she is to purcell but he turns aggressive in denial of rejection and forcefully kisses her, she pushes him away and demands her tiredness, stating she was to have a shower. as he backed away, avery turned to the bathroom, seeing the door close. finished in the bathroom, showered and finished, she steps out to find him in her bedroom. startled, she politely demands that he should leave, but then he forcefully shoves her on the bed and rapes her. frozen and in shock of this, avery was anguished and after six weeks, he began stalking her. in denial, she returned, continuing to work with him, until he began stalking her, so she requested a restraining order against him. from that moment, her traumatic experience was now to be told in front of a grand jury.

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THE TRAUMATIC EXPERIENCE.SPORTS AND EVENTS NETWORK, 1273 6TH AVENUE — FRIDAY AUGUST 17TH:avery jordan and rick purcell are seen, live on air, during a news segment, as avery interviews andy copeland after he throws the perfect game for chicago. whilst avery is interviewing copeland, he begins getting hands on, causing avery to feel uncomfortable but professionally brushes him off, causing the crew to make avery report to co-anchor, jason hollis. disappointed about the short interview, rick then sighs and lowers the camera, whilst avery shuts of the microphone, dropping her head in shame.WAVERLY DINER, 385 6TH AVENUE — FRIDAY AUGUST 17TH:avery meets with detective olivia benson, of manhattan special victims unit, to discuss about how she was sexually assaulted by a co-worker, at her home, around a month before, but was too busy to report it straight away. avery then discussed how she was unable to attend the local precinct because she didn't want to be attracting attention from fans. their conversation is cut short as avery is then recognised by fans, who want to take a picture with her and detective benson hands avery her card so they can talk later. later, after working out at the gym, when avery returns to her apartment, she sees an envelope outside of her door which includes photographs of her meeting with detective benson and of her having sex with her co-anchor, jason hollis; the photos have the words “watching you” written on them which frightens her.NEW YORK POLICE DEPARTMENT, 16TH PRECINCT, 223 6TH AVENUE — SATURDAY AUGUST 18TH:the night before, avery revealed that she was being stalked by her assailant, also known as rick purcell, and now she attended the sixteenth precinct, hidden with a cap and sunglasses, ready to request a restraining order against rick. now seated, avery talks to detective nick amaro and detective benson about the photos and says that her cameraman, rick purcell is stalking her and that he raped her a month ago after dropping her off at her apartment. now feeling regretful and ashamed of opening up about her rape, avery was about to leave until detective amaro questioned if rick wore a condom, in which she answers no, then adding how she went to see a doctor and was checked for sexually transmitted diseased whilst detective benson and detective amaro point out that the doctor’s report will be helpful in building a case against purcell.SPORTS AND EVENT NETWORK, 1723 6TH AVENUE — SATURDAY 18TH AUGUST:when detective odafin tutuola and detective amanda rollins question rick purcell, he claims the sex was consensual and avery is probably worried because a network anchor she is seeing might have found out.AVERY JORDAN'S APARTMENT, 777 6TH AVENUE — SATURDAY 18TH AUGUST:avery reveals that she had an affair with a co-anchor named jason hollis who is married and doesn’t want it made public. while detective amaro questions who the other male is, as the labs found results of two different semen samples, avery approaches her cabinet and pulls out the envelope that rick had sent out, with the pictures; avery then stated how detective amaro would recognize him.JASON HOLLIS’ KIDS ANNUAL BENEFIT, MIDTOWN LANES, 693 8TH AVENUE — SATURDAY AUGUST 18TH:when detective amanda rollins and detective tutuola question jason, they both question him if he noticed any strange behaviour from rick, then admitting that he received an anonymous email, with a video of both jason and avery having sex in a hotel room, stating that rick is blackmailing him, and that he’s worried about their affair becoming public.ADA RAFAEL BARBA'S OFFICE, 530 WEST 116TH STREET, SUITE 6C — SATURDAY 18TH AUGUST:assistant district attorney rafael barba had called detective benson, detective rollins and avery over to his office, ada barba now reveals the video that was emailed to jason, shown from a hidden camera from the hotel room. disgusted about the level of stalking rick had gone to, she said she didn’t want to press charges but wanted copies destroyed. as detective benson persuaded her to press charges, by specifying how people like him won’t stop until they are stopped, she agreed. ada barba questioned if the video was recorded before the rape, which she admitted it was, until he then recited that he could get a stalking charge, on top of the rape charge, to make the case stronger. ada barba then admitted that she wouldn’t get the full protection from the rape protection programme, causing avery to break down with anxiety and worry.SPORTS AND EVENT NETWORK, 1723 6TH AVENUE — SATURDAY 18TH AUGUST:as rick and the crew of the sports and event network are preparing equipment into the company van, detective amaro and detective tutuola arrive to arrest rick, reading out his rights whilst rick states how he and avery see each other every day, confused as to why she pressed charges.AVERY JORDAN'S APARTMENT, 777 6TH AVENUE — SATURDAY 18TH AUGUST:detective benson now visits avery to update her on rick’s arrest, saying the judge denied bail, so he would be spending his time in jail until the trial. weakened by the news, she collapsed onto her chair, until detective benson questioned if she was okay, to which she replies on how she has been feeling weak for a few weeks but put it down to the stress. detective benson asks if she took a pregnancy test, to which she answers and says ‘no’, only due to the fact that she can’t get pregnant, which was caused by connor’s abuse. whilst detective benson sits besides her, she continues to question her on her sudden illness, asking when the last time that her and jason had sex; stating how jason had a vasectomy, detective benson then admits how the rape was eight weeks ago and that things can change. speechless about detective benson’s revelations, she shook her head and said how she couldn't be pregnant with rick’s baby, putting her hand to her mouth to prevent sickness.

THE RAPE TRIAL.NEW YORK COUNTY SUPREME COURT, 60 CENTRE STREET — TUESDAY FEBRUARY 12TH:several months later, avery, now in the final stages of her pregnancy, is seen walking up the courthouse stairs with detective benson and ada barba. in court, detective benson, detective amaro, detective rollins and detective tutuola all testify to what they discovered about rick purcell during the investigation. ada barba tells detective rollins and detective tutuola to convince jason to testify in court.SPORTS AND EVENTS NETWORK, 1273 AVENUE OF THE AMERICAS — TUESDAY FEBRUARY 12TH:while detective tutuola and detective rollins questions why jason won't testify for avery, jason then admits how he and his wife still haven't forgiven him for their affair. persuading jason, amanda then confesses how she gambled against him, back in the day, and then questioned why he wouldn't step up for avery; jason then said how he wanted things back to normal, to which then detective tutuola bluntly replies that it's too late for that and that if they don't call him to testify, the courts will. at first, jason hollis is reluctant, but eventually agrees to.NEW YORK COUNTY SUPREME COURT, 60 CENTRE STREET — WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 13TH:the next day in court as ada barba is questioning jason on the stand, about why jason ended the relationship with avery, then revealing it was to do with rick's blackmailing, jason then confessed how he wasn't proud of the affair, and how his wife and avery deserve better. rick keeps interrupting and continuously asks judge elena barth if he can approach. judge elena barth calls for a recess and calls the counsellors into her chambers.NEW YORK COUNTY SUPREME COURT, ELENA BARTH'S OFFICE, 60 CENTRE STREET — WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 13TH:while in judge barth’s chambers, rick tells her that his lawyer is not doing a good job of defending him and wants to defend himself, which judge barth accepts rick to do.NEW YORK COUNTY SUPREME COURT, MAIN HALL, 60 CENTRE STREET — WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 13TH:as avery and detective benson stroll through the hall of the supreme court, avery asks what's going on, to then detective benson questions how rick is representing himself and how the judge allowed it; causing the news to upset avery, ada barba and then assured her that when rick would question her, he would make objections so that rick wouldn't upset avery.NEW YORK COUNTY SUPREME COURT, 60 CENTRE STREET — WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 13TH:as rick cross examines jason, he makes it sound as if avery only slept with jason because it helped her career, to which jason denies after completing jason's cross examination, rick then questions detective benson on the stand, he asks why avery decided to keep her baby of the person who sexually assaulted her and asks her if she has ever seen anything like this in her career detective benson replies that it has been known to happen.NEW YORK COUNTY SUPREME COURT, 60 CENTRE STREET — WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 13TH:as ada barba questions avery on the stand, he asks her why she decided to keep the babies. avery states that she was told by doctors that she couldn’t get pregnant and when she found out about her pregnancy, she wanted to terminate it, but eventually realized that the babies were a part of her. whilst ada barba finished questioning avery, rick approached her, causing avery to ask the judge for a break due to her feeling queasy, followed by judge barth calling it a day for court as rick admits that he needed time to talk to his new witness, expert congressman fritz showalter.NEW YORK COUNTY SUPREME COURT, 60 CENTRE STREET — WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 13TH:as ada barba, detective benson and avery exit the court, avery then questions if rick would ever call her to the stand, to then ada barba said that rick just wants avery to lose sleep as to when he will call her to stand, avery worried, detective benson then assured her that the more the jury see of rick, the more they'd dislike him, both detective benson and avery separated from ada barba. now approaching detective tutuola and detective rollins, ada barba told them that congressman fritz showalter was rick's next witness, as showalter was an obstetrician who started a campaign against abortion of rape victims, claiming that it was destruction of evidence. ada barba tells them to dig up some information on him before the next hearing.NEW YORK COUNTY SUPREME COURT, 60 CENTRE STREET — THURSDAY FEBRUARY 14TH:as rick questions congressman showalter, showalter admits that the female anatomy shuts down during stress, and that if a woman came to him claiming she'd been rape, congressman showalter confessed that she'd be lying to herself and her family, and that you can't lie to him nor the lord. as ada barba interrogates congressman showalter, ada barba is able to discredit him, all thanks to the information that detective rollins and detective tutuola found on him.NEW YORK COUNTY SUPREME COURT, 60 CENTRE STREET — THURSDAY FEBRUARY 14TH:rick now questions avery on the stand, stating how difficult this cross examination is due to their duration of knowing one another. when avery is questioned by rick on the stand, his questioning unsettles her. as she continues to be upset by his questioning, he asks why she didn't report it straight away and that if somebody was raped, they would hate their assailant, which avery replies she does hate him. adding more unsettling questions, rick then declares that she is carrying his child and tells avery that she wanted to get pregnant and that he gave her the baby she always wanted.NEW YORK COUNTY SUPREME COURT, 60 CENTRE STREET — FRIDAY FEBRUARY 15TH:whilst avery and the squad are waiting in the court room office, the jury then calls them in, and then results in finding rick guilty of stalking, but not guilty of rape. speechless and breathless, avery stands up and exits the court room, to which leads ada barba to follow the jurors and questions their decision; the lead juror admitted that everybody agreed on the legitimate rape argument except for one juror who wasn’t ready to give in, so they all cut a deal and decided to settle only for the stalking charge. while an upset avery is sitting outside the courtroom on a bench, her water breaks and detective benson takes her to the hospital.NEW YORK PRESBYTERIAN LOWER MANHATTAN HOSPITAL, 170 WILLIAM STREET — FRIDAY FEBRUARY 17TH:whilst detective benson takes avery to the hospital, it is later revealed that avery loses one child during labour, due to stillbirth. thereafter, detective benson visits avery at the hospital, avery has given birth to a baby boy named theo. moments after avery talks about she was afraid of seeing her children and being reminded of her rape, but states how she didn't, a doctor walks in and gives avery court documents, revealing that rick purcell is suing her for custody of theo.

THE CUSTODY TRIAL.AVERY JORDAN'S APARTMENT, 777 6TH AVENUE — MONDAY FEBRUARY 20TH:several days after her suicidal attempt, counsellor rita calhoun and detective benson visited her, alongside with her midwife and her doctor; checking that avery was okay, counsellor calhoun was updating her about the custody trial, informing her that the trial will begin in two weeks time, comforting her and allowing avery to update counsellor calhoun on theo's check ups.NEW YORK COUNTY FAMILY COURT, 60 LAFAYETTE STREET — WEDNESDAY MARCH 6TH:rick questions avery on her mental state, as rick claims that avery is incapable of looking after her son. agitated by his questioning, avery snaps and specifies that rick should stop acting like she is the crazy and he is the sane one, confessing that he ruined her life. avery is then revealed to be suffering with chronic depression, post natal depression, suicidal tendencies, post traumatic stress disorder, anxiety and paranoia. as counsellor calhoun now approaches avery, she questions if theo has been to his check up, avery admits that theo is eating and sleeping well; that theo is healthy, despite the trauma that they have both been through. counsellor calhoun also questions why avery doesn't want rick involved, to which she asserts that she doesn't want him around her son and that the only intimate contact that she ever had with this man was when he violently forced himself on her.NEW YORK COUNTY FAMILY COURT, 60 LAFAYETTE STREET — WEDNESDAY MARCH 6TH:while counsellor calhoun cross examines rick, it was then stated how he was stalking her for over a year, before the pregnancy and before the rape, then she asks him why he never just sent flowers, to which he replied that she's the mother of his son and that he wanted to express how much he loved her.NEW YORK COUNTY FAMILY COURT, 60 LAFAYETTE STREET — THURSDAY MARCH 7TH:during the court hearing, judge ruth linden awards avery full custody, due to rick's comprehensible actions towards avery, but as rick is willing to pay child support, judge linden reluctantly awards rick supervised visitation rights once a week. the revelations caused avery to collapse into detective benson's arm, as they then exited the court room. counsellor calhoun discloses how this wasn't the result she wanted either, to which avery snaps emotionally, as she grabs theo off of the babysitter. detective benson, with detective amaro and captain donald cragen besides her, assures and comforts avery by divulging that it's the law. avery, emotionally, asks when it ends and does she have to live with the man who raped her, in her life forever, until detective amaro settled and asserted that rick would be strictly supervised; interrupted by rick, he attempts to approach avery with theo and then narrates how he will see theo on saturday, to which avery cries, holding theo, and looks away from rick, before dropping her head in tears.AVERY JORDAN'S APARTMENT, 777 6TH AVENUE — SATURDAY MARCH 9TH:as the day approached, for rick's supervised visitation with theo, avery rushed around the apartment and began packing her and theo's belongings. interrupted by the knocking of the front door, avery glanced at detective benson and counsellor calhoun, who were both trying to persuade avery that what she was currently doing was a crime and that she could be arrested. adamant that this was her only choice, detective benson then assured that one day theo would understand this situation and that keeping an eye on rick wouldn't help her case, so her last resort would to leave the country with theo, untraceable from rick. until then both detective benson and counsellor calhoun admitted that they could both get avery above beyond extradition, safe away from rick.NEW YORK POLICE DEPARTMENT, 16TH PRECINCT, 223 6TH AVENUE — SATURDAY MARCH 9TH:detective benson returned to the precinct, with detective amaro and captain cragen about avery's whereabouts, to which that she lied and stated that counsellor calhoun wanted alone time with her client and that detective benson left when counsellor calhoun arrived. captain cragen realised that detective benson was lying and went to tell rick that the police department were doing everything to locate avery and theo. as captain cragen entered the interview room, with detective tutuola, to tell him about avery, detective amaro questioned detective benson, to which detective benson replied that she and counsellor calhoun organised a private plane to take avery to atlanta, to escape rick.

THE STALKING.HYATT HOUSE ATLANTA, 431 MARIETTA STREET NW — SUNDAY MARCH 10TH:avery arrived at her new accommodation, after flying from manhattan to atlanta to escape purcell, with theo in a baby carrier seat. after unpacking her suitcases, and bags,and placed theo to bed, she went to take a shower but when she finished, she recieved a text message from an unknown number, stating that this person knew ‘where she is hiding’. this caused a scare for avery, so she rushed to dress herself, grab theo and race to the police station.ATLANTA POLICE DEPARTMENT, 104 TRINITY AVENUE SW — SUNDAY MARCH 10TH:now arriving at the police station, she called out for a police officer and was introduced to officer rick grimes, as he opened a new case, but for stalking and began questioning avery about purcell’s past crimes, but as that crime was in manhattan, the case couldn’t go any further but officer grimes offered to have a police car stationed outside the hotel, at all times, for her and theo’s safety, whilst also offering her his police card number.HYATT HOUSE ATLANTA, 431 MARIETTA STREET NW — MONDAY MARCH 11TH:housebound, due to the terror she was feeling from purcell’s text message, avery couldn’t even do anything, she fell into a deep depression, and officer grimes began to show up at avery’s hotel room to show comfort and reassurance. as officer grimes knocked on the door, this caused theo to cry, avery then stated she wanted to be left alone but officer grimes announced that it was him and that he wanted to talk. entering the hotel room, officer grimes asked if anything else has come through, via text, to which avery nodded, confessing that there was around plenty of messages per hour. as officer grimes felt sympathy to avery, he then decided to take matters in his own hands and contact manhattan police and discuss this case.NEW YORK POLICE DEPARTMENT, 16TH PRECINCT, 223 6TH AVENUE — WEDNESDAY MARCH 13TH:avery, theo and officer grimes flew a plane to manhattan, new york, to discuss with detective benson about purcell’s continued and prolonged stalking and threatening behaviour. with avery in the room, they asked for the evidence, and detective benson called ada rafael barba to the precinct to talk to avery about prosecuting purcell again, but hopefully not making it go to trial, for her and theo’s best interest.RICK PURCELL’S APARTMENT, 25 W 81ST STREET — WEDNESDAY MARCH 13TH:ada rafael barba, officer grimes, detective tutuola and detective benson encountered purcell’s home and arrested him, charging him with first degree stalking.NEW YORK POLICE DEPARTMENT, 16TH PRECINCT, 223 6TH AVENUE — WEDNESDAY MARCH 13TH:officer grimes and detective benson called avery and theo into captain cragen’s office, as detective amaro and detective rollins interrogated purcell, with officer grimes showing empathy and understanding towards avery’s demeanor. as the detectives continued to interrogate purcell, whilst he denied all charges, avery began panicking about another trial. collapsing to the floor, she hyperventilated and questioned if this is the best choice for her. ada barba exited the room and called counsellor calhoun to come to the precinct, and also called a warrant to look into purcell’s technology devices.THE DOMINICK, 246 SPRING STREET — THURSDAY MARCH 14TH:officer grimes booked an apartment room for himself, but offered it to avery and theo, so that they could be safe. in dire need of sanctuary, frightened of purcell, she accepted his offer but slept in a separate part of the hotel room. rick began asking about theo, just to take her mind off of the recent events from purcell, and she then questioned why he cared so much about the case and if he had ever showed much interest in a case than he did her own. he shook his head and opened up about losing his wife, at a young age, and leaving him a single father. she then opened up about the trauma purcell put her through, and tried to explain why she acts and speaks the way she does, although he was all understanding through it all.THE DOMINICK, 246 SPRING STREET — FRIDAY MARCH 15TH:being awoken at the news channel, avery and officer grimes were both absolutely gobsmacked about what was being told. an unknown virus had spread around some parts of manhattan, with no other cases known anywhere else. rushing to get herself and theo ready, officer grimes advised her to travel back to atlanta and stay safe.

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THE APOCALYPSE.THE ENCOUNTER WITH HER LONG LOST TWIN:now near the countryside, rick and avery needed shelter for themselves and her theo, and approached a farmhouse, rushing to the door and knocking on it, calling for some help as theo fussed in the carrier. awaiting a response, avery then encountered a woman who looked the exact same as her. unbeknownst to having a twin sister, avery froze and kept her vision on her twin sister. as maggie lets rick, avery and theo in the house, avery is then introduced to her family; undiscovered about the status of her mom, and unknown cousins, step siblings and more. as both avery and maggie develop a close sibling relationship, avery names maggie and beth as theo's godparents.THE FARM:avery, rick, carl and theo were already accommodated at the farm, for a few weeks before the unexpected shooting of carl, accidental from otis as rick and carl were scouting for wildlife for food, with otis scouting the area the opposite direction of the two. drawn in by the random gunshot, the farm baited new survivors to join. shane, daryl, glenn, theodore, lori, carol and others joined the farm. shocked by the encounter with the farm, rick recognised shane as his former officer and greeted him to the greene family. and rick recognised lori as his childhood sweetheart, but is currently a few months pregnant with judith, shane’s unborn child. with rick and lori reconciling, due to their co-parenting of carl, shane told lori rick had died, but in fact he was in manhattan, leading avery’s new law case. rick and avery are slowly beginning to feel a mutual connection, but both are terrified of what will happen, due to their own personal reasons. as shane and his new survivor friends housed at the farm, they all soon contributed to keeping the farmhouse safe. as carl was on the mend, hershel wanted to kick the rick, carl and the group but both avery and maggie debated against his choices, until shane walsh began to cause commotion, by unloading the walkers that were kept in the barn, unbeknownst to avery's knowledge. as rick tried to ask avery if she could talk to hershel, hershel then decided to let the group stay, just away from the farmhouse. after the shock from the reveal of the family members decomposing in the barn, beth fell into a deep and dark depression, causing her to attempt suicide, but resulted in self harm. forming a bond with beth, and maggie, avery then named both of her sisters as godmothers for theo, as she felt like they deserved the title. as shane and rick began to have their difficulties, it was then known that shane had lured rick out to the woods to kill him, but soon became overrun by walkers. as avery was beginning to panic over rick’s whereabouts, carl, now recovered, ran after them and then at the blink of an eye, the farm was overran by a horde of walkers. avery and theo were safely out of the overrun farmland area, with the held of theodore douglas, also known as t-dog. thankful for their safety, avery wondered where rick, hershel and maggie were; until t-dog suggested they were all to meet at the highway, where rick and the group were once located to, before they approached the farm.THE PRISON:set a month after the killing of shane walsh and onslaught of the greene family farm, rick has seemingly been forgiven by the group, and has earned their trust. rick and the group stumble upon an abandoned house, kill all of the walkers inside, and decide to stay there for a while to eat and rest. eventually another group of walkers approaches the house, causing the group to move on. while rick goes hunting with daryl, they both stumble upon the prison. rick realizes it’s the perfect long-term location, to keep avery, carl and theo safe, because there would be plenty of food, guns, and medicine. rick shuts the main gate of the prison, while the rest of the group distract and kill the walkers surrounding the main building. avery pleads with rick to let them stay at the prison for a few days. that night, hershel asks beth to sing “the parting glass”, and along with maggie, she does. the next day, rick and the rest of the group clear out the remaining walkers blocking the entrance to the prison. the group now has a secure cell block. the group finds riot gear, flash grenades, and other useful equipment. rick, maggie, glenn, hershel, t-dog, and daryl look for the cafeteria and infirmary, only to be ambushed by a group of walkers. glenn and maggie are split from the group, but hershel insists on going back for his daughter. hershel finds maggie, but is bitten in the lower right calf by a stray walker. the group takes hershel inside the cafeteria area and rick, acting quickly, amputates the lower portion of hershel’s right leg to keep the infection from spreading. five men in prison garb then appear, and daryl aims his crossbow at them. picking up from the last episode, hershel is rushed back to cell block c and are followed by prisoners axel, tomas, big tiny, oscar and andrew. a standoff occurs between the prisoners, t-dog, and daryl, with rick intervening. rick tells the prisoners about how the world has been completely overrun by walkers (as the convicts had no knowledge of outside conditions). because tomas wants to claim the prison for his own. rick cuts a deal with him to help them secure a separate cell block in exchange for half of their food. while rick and the others go to work on the project, carol, maggie, beth, carl, and glenn stay in the cell block and try to save hershel. the man stops breathing at one point, but carol saves him. clearing a cell block for the prisoners, big tiny is scratched by a walker and then killed by tomas while the group is discussing what to do. while the prison yard is ambushed with a small herd of walkers, maggie, carl and lori hide, the stress causing lori to contract. lori safely gives birth to judith. carl is now excited to be a big brother to judith. rick decides to let axel and oscar live, due to the fact that they didn’t appear to be involved in tomas’ plot to kill him. the group returns to cell block c. rick holds hershel’s hand as he awakens, and thanks carol for saving hershel’s life. he meets up with avery outside, he then tries to minimize the significance of the gesture, saying the whole group is grateful for saving hershel. glenn and maggie make their way to town. michonne sees them from behind a car, and watches as they gather supplies. merle then sneaks up, and glenn and maggie raise their guns toward him. merle recognizes glenn and asks about daryl, learning that he’s alive. after a scuffle, merle holds maggie hostage and orders glenn to drive the three of them back to woodbury. michonne takes the abandoned supplies and heads to the prison. as she is outside the gate, she is spotted by rick. michonne stands outside the prison fence, surrounded by unnoticing walkers (as she has smeared herself with walker guts) and holding baby formula in a basket. after michonne finally attracts the walkers’ attention, rick rescues her and brings her into the prison. she is questioned by rick, and threatened by daryl. michonne tells the group of how two of their own were taken by the man who shot her. she offers to get rick inside woodbury to rescue glenn and maggie. tyreese, his younger sister sasha, and their fellow survivors ben, allen, and donna, fight their way through a walker herd in the forest. donna gets bitten, but remains with the group as they take refuge in the back side of the prison. they are found by carl, who leads them into the prison common room, avery then sees carl bring the survivors inside and insists that donna be killed since she was bitten on the arm. the survivors regroup in the cell block following the governor’s assault. rick and glenn want to stay and face the governor; avery, maggie and hershel thinks they should flee. merle tells them the governor won’t stop until they are all dead. as rick surveys the walker-infested prison yard, carl expresses his opinion to his father that he should stop being the leader. rick tells avery and hershel about the governor’s offer. avery and hershel try to dissuade rick from giving up michonne, but he insists it’s their best shot at saving lives. merle warns that the governor won’t kill michonne; just torture her. rick finds cable to bind her but decides to not turn her over. the governor’s army arrives at the prison that apparently has been abandoned. when they reach the “tombs”, the smoke grenades go off and the army is chased away by gunfire. karen, the survivor of the massacre, is found by rick and the group and they head to woodbury where they convince tyreese to let them in. they find milton dead and andrea bitten. after a talk, she asks rick to let her kill herself before she turns. rick agrees and michonne stays with her to the end. rick brings the rest of woodbury to live in the prison.a few weeks time has passed at the prison. rick has stepped down from being the sole leader to do some farming, while a few of his friends form a council to run things. more people have joined the community and it thrives. meanwhile, rick is checking the traps when he encounters clara. she asks if he is with a group, and begs him to take in her and her husband. rick tells her that if they answer three questions to his satisfaction, he will. when they reach her camp, she tries to kill him, to feed her zombified husband. when she fails, she stabs herself. ricks ask her his three questions as she dies. when rick returns to avery, she questions him about their run, as they are now officially a couple. he tells her about clara and they talk about the day, while rick is singing a lullaby to theo. after a walker attack in the prison, the group discovers that some of the members of the community have died and become walkers, but were not bitten. it becomes clear that there is an illness spreading, originally coming from sick pigs that rick had been attempting to save. avery comforts rick and assures him that none of this is his fault and that they will get through this. the group decides to kill the pigs, while also using them to lead the walkers away from the fences. rick also destroys the pigpen, and throws his shirt into a fire pit to kill off the germs. coming back into their cell room, avery is feeling more domesticated towards him and cuddles him as theo sleeps. tyreese is in a rage over karen’s horrid demise. he demands that rick find out who did it and bring the killer to him. rick tries to calm him down, but it erupts into a brawl. rick brutally beats tyreese’s face, and daryl pulls him off the man before things get any worse. as rick searches for the murderer, he saves carol from walkers while she is fixing the water hose. as she walks away, rick tells carol that he’s noticed how far she’d go to protect the group of survivors. he then asks her if she killed karen and david. after a moment, carol nods and confesses. rick goes back to his cell room, and asks avery for her opinion on carol’s abrupt decision to kill karen and david, to which she attempts to make rick understand that carol isn’t a cold blooded killer and did it for the best of the group. rick and carol go on a run, as they continue to discuss her actions at the prison. they then encounter two survivors named sam and ana. after being asked rick’s standard questions, the young couple offer their services to find food. after searching the neighborhood for supplies, carol and rick find the body of ana. sam is nowhere in sight. as they prepare to leave town, rick exiles carol from the prison. he feels that he can’t trust her, but also wants to protect her from the eventual wrath of tyreese. having kidnapped hershel and michonne as bargaining chips, philip intends to force rick out without killing anyone. he ignores the suggestion that both groups could live together at the prison. arriving at the prison, philip begins a standoff. despite negotiations from the respective groups, philip loses his patience and instigates a battle by killing hershel. avery witnesses this, being beside maggie and beth, and are all distraught. he has revealed his true colors to his group, many of whom are shocked by his actions. the battle rages on, lori and judith attempt to escape the prison cell blocks, but the gunfire kills lori, with her collapsing and crushing judith, unintentionally causing her daughter’s death. with the fences falling before a tank that philip got when he joined the new group. many guard towers and prison walls are destroyed, as the survivors fights back as best they can. many survivors who are too young or weak to fight, including a recuperating glenn, are rushed onto a bus in order to escape. others get separated, and have to try to fight past an overflow of walkers. rick and philip get into a brutal hand-to-hand battle. philip gets the upper hand, but before he can finish rick he is stabbed by michonne. as rick and michonne prepare to leave, a heartbroken lily appears and shoots philip in the head. she is then surrounded by walkers and devoured. rick gets separated from avery but finds carl, before leaving the ruins of the prison. avery, having managed to escape with maggie, bob and sasha, is with theo and all are on the same road to reuniting with their loved ones.

ON THE RUN:rick and carl walk on the road, and find a house to fortify while they recuperate. rick eventually slips into unconsciousness. carl continues to be angry over the loss of the prison and avery and theo being ‘dead’. he blames his dad for not killing the governor when he had the chance. carl eventually realises he can’t survive alone, as he can't bring himself to kill his dad when he thinks he’s become a walker. rick fortunately turns out to be alive and well. the next day, michonne finds them, much to rick’s delight. maggie, avery, bob, and sasha are in the woods by a quarry. maggie is determined to find glenn, despite the reluctance of the others, avery joins in so she can reunite with rick and carl. they come across the bus from the prison where they discover everyone dead and reanimated. glenn is not among the walkers. maggie sits and cries in relief, avery follows and reassures her sister. rick, carl, and michonne continue to live in a house in a small town. the latter two go on a supply-run, while rick stays behind. later, rick hides when a group of hostile strangers arrives at the house. he evades the group at every turn, until he encounters one in the bathroom and is forced to kill him. he escapes the house, and sees michonne and carl approaching. he sprints towards them and directs them away from the house, as the other group finds their fellow member reanimated. the three also find a sign that leads to terminus. after escaping walkers, which were drawn by theo’s cries; avery, maggie, sasha, and bob decide they need to find a better place to set up camp. they come across signs for terminus. they decide to go there, thinking their loved ones might be in the settlement. avery, maggie and sasha are at odds over whether it’s possible glenn and rick are still alive. this leads to maggie going on her own. she leave messages for glenn to go to terminus. sasha finds maggie and, after fighting off walkers, sasha decides that they should go to terminus. abraham, glenn, tara, rosita and eugene are walking down the railroad tracks, where glenn finds maggie’s message. he and tara separate from abraham’s group, hoping to find maggie. they reach a tunnel where tara becomes trapped. they are rescued by maggie, bob, and sasha. they then meet up with abraham and his crew, who were nearby because eugene had convinced them to turn back and wait for them. the merged group enters terminus with ease, and observes the tranquility of the area. a woman named mary welcomes them and offers them something to eat. rick, carl, and michonne are camping out in the woods, when joe and his crew find them and prepare to exact their revenge. daryl tried to stop them, but only succeeds in getting beaten up. as one of the members attempts to rape carl, rick snaps and attacks joe. he eventually bite through his jugular, killing him. after this shocking turn, the other members of the claimers are killed by the survivors. eventually, rick and his friends make it to terminus. they slowly discover that all is not as it seems, as they see supplies and keepsakes that belonged to their friends. after causing a shootout, the group attempts to flee, but is herded into a cattle car. there they find glenn, maggie, and the others. reuniting with rick and carl, avery hugs them both as rick takes theo and kisses his head. but despite their predicament, rick is sure they’ll get out of it. whilst in the cart, daryl tells maggie, avery and rick about beth’s kidnapping status. full of worry, they are more determined to get out and find beth.after being captured and corralled, rick, daryl, glenn and bob are brought to a human slaughterhouse. terminus residents begin bludgeoning and slitting the throats of other captives, one of whom is sam. while rick is attempting to stall their spokesman gareth, an explosion occurs outside. carol has set off a rocket, and she helps the group break out. as rick, daryl, and glenn escape they kill many of the cannibals, destroying the compound, and rescue the rest of the group. despite rick’s desire for revenge, the other survivors persuade him to just leave the enemy to their fate. carol reunites with the group, and she leads them to tyreese and as the group moves on, rick fixes a terminus sign to warn potential victims away from the station. avery, rick, theo and carl all stay close as they are afraid of losing each other. as the group continues on its journey, they come across the preacher gabriel stokes, who they have to rescue from walkers. the preacher is cooperative, and takes the group to his church. still, rick can't help but wonder if the man is hiding something. abraham finds a bus that can be used to transport eugene to washington d.c. after gabriel mentions a nearby food bank, rick plans a supply run. bob, sasha, and a reluctant gabriel go with rick. rick’s suspicion of gabriel is heightened when he sees the man cower in a corner after being exposed to seemingly familiar faces. the group makes the cannibals believe that the church is unguarded. after gareth’s people are trapped, gareth falls to his knees and begs to be let go. the survivors slaughters the remaining terminus residents. bob is put down and buried. abraham and his group leave, but not before giving rick and avery a map and encouraging him to join them when he can. rick, tyreese, sasha, noah, and daryl make it to atlanta and prepare a plan to capture two officers and exchange them for beth and carol. this way, in theory no one has to die. as lamson continues his escape attempt, rick runs him down with a patrol car. seeing that lamson is seriously wounded, and no longer a hostage viable for trading for beth. rick kills him. the group discusses their options with the other two hostages (shepherd, as well as another guard who was captured while trying to free her). shepherd convinces rick that a hostage trade will still be possible. as shepherd explains it, dawn will try to talk tough, but will secretly want to compromise. as maggie, glenn, abraham, rosita, tara and eugene return to the church, michonne tells both avery and maggie that beth is alive and that rick is there to get her back. as they then begin to travel to grady memorial hospital to reunite with their sister. in a standoff, rick and his group trade the two guards for beth and a still-recovering carol. they do both one-for-one swaps successfully, and it appears that the confrontation will be able to end peacefully. unfortunately, when dawn demands that noah be returned to the hospital as well, beth realizes that the woman is too dangerous to leave in power. beth the woman, but only manages to wound her. dawn fires out of sheer reflex, instantly killing beth. daryl retaliates immediately, killing dawn. shepherd, now the most forceful personality among the guards, orders her colleagues to stand down. she offers to let the group stay at the hospital, but they decline, leaving with noah. now entering the empty area at grady memorial hospital, avery, maggie walk out and prepare themselves to see beth but to their disappointment and despair. daryl walks out and carries beth’s deceased body out; both avery and maggie collapse to the floor, screaming out in grief and melancholy as they both just stare at their sister’s carcass. the group has traveled to richmond, virginia, where they hope to find noah’s family alive. unfortunately, they instead find everyone dead. the neighborhood is in ruins. as noah and tyreese search a house, tyreese gets bitten on the arm and noah has to go get help. as tyreese lies on the floor, he hallucinates visions of beth, lizzie, mika, a terminus resident, bob, and the governor. they discuss with tyreese the positives and negatives of dying, as opposed to continuing to do what he's had to in order to survive. the group arrives and amputates tyreese’s arm, but it is too late. he dies of blood loss. the group buries him, before setting off again. the group continues to search for another place in which to settle down. they are despondent, and dealing with grief, ptsd, hunger, and thirst. avery and maggie fall into a deep depression, after beth’s death, alongside sasha grieving over tyreese and daryl fulfilled with guilt over beth. they come across bottles of water on the road, ones that were supposedly left specifically for them. they are suspicious of the offer, though, and refuse to take the water. they soon find a barn to shelter themselves from an approaching storm. as they rest, they are soon awakened by the sound of walkers trying to break in. each group member eventually lends a hand to help keep the barn door shut. the next morning, maggie, avery and sasha sit on a downed tree, as they watch a sunrise and converse. their talk is interrupted by a man named aaron, who asks to meet the man in charge. he then surprises them by referring specifically to rick. avery, maggie and sasha bring aaron back to the barn. rick immediately distrusts the man, and refuses to listen to his talk of a community that is safe and thriving. the group, while wary of aaron, think they should check it out. glenn, michonne, and some others decide to find aaron’s car and partner, hoping to prove his story is true, and afraid that rick will kill him. despite some evidence supporting aaron’s claims, rick is still not fully convinced of aaron’s intentions, despite how much avery has tried to persuade him that aaron is trustworthy., however, aaron helps the group map out a route to the community. he also finds his boyfriend eric, whom the group saved from walkers. rick, finally willing to believe aaron, decides to go with the pair to the community, the name of which aaron finally reveals: alexandria. after a difficult journey, during which a horde of walkers must be dispatched, the group arrives at their destination. as they stand outside the city’s heavily reinforced gates, the hope of the group is renewed.ALEXANDRIAN SAFE ZONE:the group are introduced to alexandria’s leader deanna monroe one by one. in their “auditions”, each shares memories, or sometimes lie to her, concerning life outside the city’s walls. as rick and avery settle into alexandria, avery is taken aback by a familiar face – rick purcell. surprised and anxious, rick tells her to hide in the house, with carl looking after her, as he then tells deanna about purcell, not revealing too much for avery’s safety. purcell continues to stroll around alexandria, attempting to find avery, as he “heard rumours” about her being back, but every chance he gets, rick supports avery and threatens purcell. but as purcell continues to ignore rick’s threats, purcell breaks into the house and tries to kidnap theo but deanna, maggie, abraham and rick follow in while maggie rushes to comfort a scared, frightened and depressed avery, triggered by purcell’s presence. as purcell gets locked in the isolated room of alexandria, he escapes and finds michonne’s katana on the wall, and accidentally kills reg, deanna’s husband, whilst attempting to kill rick. deanna then demands, with no hesitation, rick to kill purcell. with avery walking in, on the last moment, she cried, covering theo and hugging rick, collapsing with relief but still extremely triggered and traumatised by purcell’s past events. some of the group get jobs within the community: carol becomes a cook, rick and michonne are town constables, with avery being deanna’s second hand and glenn and tara join the supply runners. glenn is disturbed to see how inadequate and naive the other runners are when it comes to walkers. at his new house, rick then decides to just relax with avery and theo, with carl asleep in the next room. gabriel is suffering an erosion of faith, and in his confused anguish, he warns deanna that the survivors cannot be trusted. he insists that they will think of themselves and let her people die, if it suits their purpose. avery overhears the conversation, and decides to tell rick about it. after a few exchanges with jessie and pete, rick and avery’s suspicions that pete is abusing jessie and the boys, are true as avery sees the same warning signs. her advice to rick is that in the end, he will be forced to kill pete. tobin encourages rick to not give up on the community, because the rest of his group hasn’t. rick and maggie see glenn’s balloon signal, having their hope restored. just then, however, the steeple from the church collapses on the perimeter wall. rick scrambles to get everyone inside as the walkers pour in. he barricades himself, avery, carl, theo, michonne, deanna, and gabriel in the anderson house. while there, deanna discovers that she has been bitten. despite successfully defending the anderson house, rick and michonne realize they need to leave and head for the armoury. a dying deanna makes rick promise to look after her people and her son. covered in walker guts, rick and the group make their way out of the house into the herd leaving deanna with a gun inside the house. walkers swarm the streets. rick leads the andersons, carl, and michonne through the herd, unnoticed by the walkers. unfortunately, sam eventually panics, drawing attention to himself. he is killed, and jessie, refusing to let hold of his arm, is also eaten alive. ron, in anger, tries to shoot rick, but michonne stabs him. however, as ron dies, a wild shot from his gun blows carl’s eye out. after carl is taken to the infirmary, rick goes on a walker killing spree. seeing him struggle, the community slowly joins in to assist. although outnumbered, the group gets sudden and dramatic backup from daryl’s group, which has just returned. daryl uses the fuel truck and the rpg to create a gigantic wall of fire which attracts the attention of most of the remaining walkers and causes them to walk to their fiery doom. the next morning, the melee is over, and the survivors sit in stunned silence. inside denise’s office, rick talks to carl, who is still unconscious. rick explains that he now understands that the alexandrians can survive, and that deanna’s vision can come true. just then, carl’s grip tightens on rick’s hand, signaling that he may be all right. rick and daryl go on a supply run where they find a truck with a large store of supplies. on the way back home, they run into paul rovia. rick and daryl catch up with jesus, and leave him tied up as they leave in the truck. soon, though, daryl realizes that somehow jesus had escaped and is now hanging onto the top of the truck. as the truck slams to a stop, jesus is thrown off, and daryl and rick fight with him. unfortunately, while the struggle is going on the truck rolls backwards into a nearby pond. the truck sinks to the bottom. jesus, who was knocked unconscious immediately after saving daryl from an approaching walker, is taken back to alexandria for questioning. denise checks his head wound, after which he is locked in a storage room to keep him from again escaping. rick returns home and tells avery about jesus and the supply run, and the two have intimacy for the first time.

ALL OUT WAR:once the group arrives at hilltop, they meet the leader gregory, who comes off as arrogant and selfish. as maggie and gregory discuss trade options, a group from the community returns. one of them stabs gregory, saying that he has no choice because his brother is being held hostage. rick kills him. jesus explains that the hilltop residents are under the thumb of negan, the leader of a group called the saviors. the saviors are brutal killers, who extort everyone they run across. hilltop is expected to “share” 50% of all supplies they find or grow, or else negan will order people to be killed.Holding a town meeting, rick explains the situation with the saviors and his plan to kill them in order to trade with the hilltop. some like morgan are opposed to the idea while some are for it. after making a plan, jesus accompanies rick’s team to infiltrate a satellite station where they are located. they they trick the guard into opening the gates and letting the captured hilltop people out before killing. once inside, they systematically kill saviors in their sleep so as to not arouse an alarm. however, a savior discovers them and manages to pull the alarm, alerting the compound to the attack. guns are blazing but the group manages to win. by morning, heath and tara go on a supply run and the group prepare to leave. a surviving savior fails to flee on daryl’s stolen bike and a voice on a walkie tells them that they have maggie and carol hostage. rick and the group arrive to find that carol and maggie have already saved themselves. he goes on to question primo, asking him if the as-of-yet unseen negan was in the satellite compound or the slaughterhouse. primo lies and states that he is negan. seeing that the man will not cooperate, rick immediately kills him. carol is shocked by rick’s actions, realizing that she’s not the only one who has become quick to turn to violence.two different supply runs take place on the same day. daryl, rosita, and denise go to a pharmacy denise had spotted on an earlier journey. she feels that there may be important medicines there. meanwhile, eugene and abraham go to an abandoned factory, where eugene has found the equipment needed to make bullets. denise is killed by a crossbow bolt through the head. dwight and a group of saviors step forward, revealing that they have taken eugene hostage. the group demands that daryl and rosita take them back to alexandria, so the community can hand supplies and people over to negan. as daryl is trying to work out an escape strategy, eugene helps out by attacking dwight, biting his genitals, through dwight’s pants. abraham leaps forward from the bushes, firing on the saviors with an automatic rifle. daryl and rosita join in the fight. they are unable to finish off the group, however, as eugene suffered a gunshot wound in the melee. they take his unconscious body and return to alexandria. while on the run, carol encounters a group of saviors. when she warns them to leave, they mock and threaten her. she kills them in self-defense, and is injured in the process. as she leaves her disabled vehicle and heads cross country, a surviving savior pursues her, seeking revenge. after tobin informs rick that carol has left alexandria, rick, leaving avery and theo at alexandria, takes morgan to go in search of her. after finding the carnage she left behind, they follow a trail of blood. eventually it leads them to a barn, where they encounter a man who is fighting a small herd of walkers. rick, believing it may have been one of the men carol fought, prepares to fire upon him. morgan knocks rick’s rifle barrel down, giving the unknown man a chance to escape. back at alexandria, maggie asks for enid and avery’s assistance in getting a haircut. as they finish, maggie suddenly doubles over in severe abdominal pain. she is horrified, thinking that she might be about to have a miscarriage. rosita, glenn and michonne arrive at the spot where dwight killed denise. they find daryl’s motorcycle hidden underneath some branches, confirming rosita’s hunch that daryl came back to kill dwight. they later catch up to daryl in the woods. glenn tries to stop daryl from going after dwight, but daryl refuses to stand down. after they split up, glenn, michonne, and rosita are captured by saviors. as daryl attempts to rescue his friends, dwight sneaks up and shoots him. rick, avery and theo travels to the hilltop to get medical assistance for maggie. he is accompanied by abraham, eugene, carl, sasha, and aaron. they are stopped by the negan’s right hand, named simon, who orders them to hand their things over. rick refuses. every road they go to afterward is blocked by the hostile group, until finally the saviors surround them in a wooded area. the group is lined up, along with daryl, who survived the gunshot wound from dwight. They are then introduced to negan. he tells them that as a lesson, one of them will have to be punished. as the group kneel, in front of negan and the saviors, simon and dwight take theo from avery’s hands and negan walks out of a vehicle. he chooses a victim at random. he swings his weapon of choice, a baseball bat wrapped in barbed wire, which he has dubbed “lucille”. as rick looks on in horror, a member of his group, as of yet unrevealed, is brutally killed.rick is in shock, as he has seen abraham and glenn brutally beaten to death at the hands of negan, the charismatic and psychotic leader of the saviors. feeling that he still hasn’t gotten through to rick yet, negan has taken him for a drive in the vehicle, with avery traumatised by negan’s mannerisms and murders of glenn and abraham; also in shock over the loss of her son, who has been kidnapped by the saviors. in a heavy fog, negan forces rick to go get his axe, which involves rick fighting through a crowd of walkers. while laying on top of the vehicle, rick somberly thinks about his group as negan taunts him. after retrieving the axe from the herd, rick is driven back to his group, which is still being held hostage by a large group of saviors. rick is given the choice of either chopping off his son's arm or watching his group get shot to death. breaking down, rick begs for negan to stop and only kill him. negan begins counting down, and just before rick has to cut off the arm, negan stops him. rick agrees, completely broken. as negan sees how much rick cares for avery, he captures her and is taken in a van as the saviors leave. as the group reels from the experience, sasha volunteers to take maggie to the hilltop while the rest return to alexandria.avery is being held in a cell at the savior compound. she has nothing to eat but dog food sandwiches, and is subjected to psychological torture through music and taunts of her son’s whereabouts. dwight is in charge of avery’s captivity. while dwight’s living conditions are considerably better, it soon becomes clear that in his own way he is as much a prisoner as avery. negan delights in reminding dwight that he took his ex-wife, who married negan partly to save dwight’s life after their attempted escape, but also because negan’s wives (there are several) live in relative luxury. after avery attempts to find theo, and escape, she is about to be beaten, then interrupted by negan, who explains that there is a request for avery to become his “wife” so that she can still be with her son. dwight then tortures avery further by putting up on her cell wall a photo of glenn’s nearly unrecognizable remains. she breaks down, sobbing wildly. negan and his crew arrive early for their first “offering” from alexandria. rick reluctantly lets them in, despite the confusion of the residents, until he sees that negan bought avery with him to taunt rick. entering alexandria, the saviors take furniture, medical supplies and miscellaneous items. the residents even lose their guns, after carl tries to shoot a savior. negan agrees to let the community keep all of their food, for the present. all but one gun is confiscated, and olivia, the inventory keeper, is threatened with death if the missing gun isn’t found. what no one knows is that spencer, who holds a grudge against rick, has the weapon hidden in his home. after the savior’s, negan and avery leave, rick confides in daryl. his reasoning for living under the savior’s rule is to keep carl and avery safe. rosita has stolen a gun from the body of a savior. she now asks eugene to make her a bullet. sasha has managed to get maggie to the hilltop, where she is being treated by dr. harlan carson. gregory is angry that her group not only failed to kill the saviors, but potentially made things worse. that night, the front gate has been opened, fires are blazing, and music blares from a car, attracting walkers. maggie and sasha rally the hilltop to help put a stop to it. the next day, simon arrives with the saviors. he tells the hilltop people that he arranged the small walker invasion as a lesson/punishment for the group. simon also lets gregory know he is now in charge of the sector, having gained the position due to the massacre at the satellite outpost. a cowardly gregory attempts to hand over maggie and sasha. he leads the saviors to a closet where he expects to find the women. instead, the closet holds nothing but a case of scotch that he had set aside for himself. simon sees the scotch as a gesture of good will, and takes it with him when he leaves. jesus then explains to gregory in no uncertain terms that maggie and sasha are welcome to stay, whether he likes it or not. carl separates from jesus to go straight to the sanctuary, where he fails to kill negan head on. impressed by carl’s ingenuity, negan shows him around the sanctuary, carl reuniting with avery. carl at first refuses to go with the man, but complies after negan threatens to chop off avery’s arm and killing theo. carl watches negan give a speech, is introduced to negan’s wives, and watches the public branding of a soldier who slept with one of the wives. in negan’s apartment; he orders carl to sit across from him and remove his eye bandage. humiliated, carl starts crying. negan apologizes for hurting his feelings. eventually, carl regains his courage, and taunts negan for being unable to kill him, rick, or avery.. negan then takes carl back to alexandria and negan tours rick and avery’s home, awaiting for rick to come back from a supply run with aaron. as negan is alexandria,, avery attempts to find theo and escape but hears footsteps outside her cell. someone unknown slips a note under the door, which reads “go now” is written on the front, and a key is taped to the back. avery, with theo, makes her escape, thanks to the key that was slipped under her cell door. she finds new clothes, has her first real food in weeks, and steals rick’s service revolver back. avery, unwillingly kills a guard in self defense, although the essentially harmless man is begging for him to simply walk away. avery, who is having an anxiety attack, then sees jesus, who has been hiding in the compound all this time. the three head for the hilltop. back at alexandria, negan has just murdered spencer, so rosita steps out of the horrified crowd and takes a shot at negan. unfortunately, the bullet instead hits lucille, negan’s bat. rosita defiantly refuses to say who made the bullet, which leads to olivia’s death. eugene, terrified that anyone else might die, confesses to making the bullet. he is taken by the saviors. rick arrives at the scene and, partly thanks to words from michonne, regains his will to fight. he meets maggie, telling her that he’s ready to fight, and then jesus introduces avery and theo to them, at the hilltop, and they reunite, now preparing for battle.

gabriel packs a car with supplies to hide from the saviors, only to be kidnapped by a dark figure. meanwhile, rick, avery, maggie, sasha, carl, michonne, tara, rosita, daryl and jesus meet with gregory at the hilltop. he refuses to help them in the fight against the saviors. jesus takes the group to the kingdom, where they attempt to convince ezekiel to aid in the fight. morgan tells the group that carol’s okay, but keeps his promise to not to tell anyone where she is. the next day, although ezekiel refuses to join the fight, he shows sympathy for rick’s cause by offering avery sanctuary. on the road back to alexandria, the group encounters a booby trap strung across the highway, consisting of a long trip wire attached to large amounts of dynamite. the trap is apparently set up to wipe out a large group, whether walker or human. rick and his crew defuse and dismantle the rig, as a large herd of walkers approaches. they then take most of the dynamite for later use, while using the wire, strung between two vehicles, to mow down over half of the walker herd. once back in alexandria, rick is confronted by simon, who comes in search of the escaped avery. knowing that she is hidden safely away at the kingdom, rick readily pretends to cooperate with the search. during this process, rick and simon are both surprised to see that the community pantry is now almost completely empty. after simon’s exit, rick follows a clue left behind by gabriel, who wanted the group to know where he had headed with the supplies. the group doesn’t find gabriel, but as they follow his trail, they are suddenly encountered by a large group of heavily armed women. although the group is once again in danger, rick smiles. he can see that if these supposed enemies can be turned, they will be a great aid to the war effort against the saviors. avery is having trouble dealing with the fact that ezekiel has chosen to step back and remain neutral in the upcoming conflict with the saviors, and travels back to alexandria, with ezekiel taking her and theo there. meanwhile, the survivors are surrounded by the scavengers, who have gabriel hostage. rick attempts to convince the group to help fight against the saviors. jadis, the scavenger leader, tests rick by having him go up against a walker that has been “weaponized” by protruding iron spikes. rick wins the fight, and jadis is convinced that rick is serious about the fight. she agrees to help as long as they get guns, one-third of the saviors’ supplies, and a portion of the goods that gabriel had moved from the alexandria pantry. as dwight is being punished for letting avery escape, eugene is brought to the sanctuary. dwight figures out that sherry let avery out and then fled. after dr. emmett carson makes an unkind comment about sherry, dwight frames the man for helping avery. negan forces a (false) confession out of carson, before throwing him into the furnace. at the hilltop, a group of saviors arrives, wanting dr. harlan carson (as a replacement for his brother emmett carson, who was recently executed). avery and daryl hide in a cellar during the visit. before the saviors leave, their expedition leader simon talks to gregory, who discusses his concerns that others might not be as cooperative as he. tara has told rick about the community and arsenal at oceanside. he now is leading a group of alexandrians there, in hopes of getting the residents’ support against the saviors. if not their support, however, rick still intends to take their weapons. after nightfall, rosita and sasha cut through the fence at the sanctuary, then kill one of the guards on patrol. they urge eugene to come with them, but he refuses, saying that he didn’t ask for their help. after he heads inside, sasha works her way inside the fence. before rosita can follow, though, sasha uses a lock to close the opening behind her. she tells rosita that alexandria still need her, then runs inside the nearest building. sobbing in frustration, rosita flees. she then stops, as she notices a dark figure watching her. at the sanctuary, sasha is in a cell, having been captured after sneaking into the compound to kill negan. eventually eugene returns to her cell, having decided to help her. he brings the poison pills that he had previously made at the request of negan’s wives. eugene doesn’t want sasha to die, but he can see that she has already decided her fate. as the survivors returns to alexandria, rosita has returned from her aborted attack on the saviors. when her friends ask her if sasha is okay, she simply shakes her head sadly, unable to provide any information. she does have something to show them, however. In the holding cell that morgan had built there is a new prisoner. it is dwight, who tells rick that he wants to help in the fight against negan. In a dark, enclosed coffin, sasha is taken to alexandria as a hostage to be used for bargaining purposes. While listening to music, she takes eugene’s poison pills, and peacefully dies during the journey. dwight offers to be an “inside man” to help take negan down. he reveals that negan is coming to alexandria. rick and his group bring in the Scavengers, and prepare for the saviors’ arrival by planting explosives in trucks near the community's front gate. the saviors arrive, and the survivors is shocked to see eugene acting as their spokesperson. rick gives the okay to set off the bombs, only to discover that the scavengers have betrayed them, secretly disarming the devices. jadis then holds a gun on rick, as negan arrives and reveals sasha’s coffin. thinking that sasha is still alive inside, negan offers to let her live if the survivors surrenders and disarms themselves. as he opens the coffin sasha, now a walker, lunges at him. the alexandrians take advantage of the confusion, firing on the saviors. while the battle rages around them, jadis shoots rick in the side, then forces him to march back to negan, whose people saved him from sasha. michonne, who had attempted to stop jadis, is now fighting for her life against a female savior. negan has carl and rick lined up, and threatens to use lucille to end both of their lives. rick will not be cowed again, however, and tells negan that as he once said before, someday he will kill him. negan is unimpressed, and prepares to kill carl. just then, however, ezekiel’s tiger leaps in, killing a nearby guard. negan flees, as fighters from both the kingdom and the hilltop arrive to save the alexandrians. negan escapes during the battle, as does jadis. their people regroup back at the sanctuary, as negan plans his next move. back at alexandria, rick finds michonne, who was severely beaten before killing her opponent. as michonne lies in bed, healing from her injuries, maggie speaks to a combined group of residents from alexandria, the hilltop, and the kingdom. she says that the journey has been long, but they have become a family, and this is just the beginning.residents of alexandria, hilltop and the kingdom prepare for battle. carl is at odds with his father, after he scares off a survivor in need of food. carl believes they can’t be suspicious of everyone they come across, but rick insists that the man could have been a spy for the saviors. the group systematically takes out savior lookouts, the regular location of which dwight had provided in a note he secretly supplied to daryl. meanwhile, ezekiel’s group clears out a larger outpost. as the survivors arrive at the sanctuary, driving a convoy of vehicles that have been armored with sheet metal, negan steps out with his lieutenants. rick tells the men -- dwight, simon, gavin, regina, and eugene -- that he will spare their lives if they surrender and abandon negan. none of them accept the offer. gregory is brought out by negan, and the man gives a speech in which he claims that the hilltop stands firmly with the saviors. jesus scoffs at the man’s claims, insisting that the hilltop now stands with maggie. rick tires of the back-and-forth debate, and opens fire on negan, who flees inside the sanctuary’s main building. then the main plan is put into effect. daryl drives along on his motorcycle, setting off a set of explosives, while gabriel positions a vehicle, with a much larger charge, by the front gate. the bomb goes off, taking down the gate and allowing a group of recently-herded walkers to begin flooding onto the grounds of the sanctuary. amidst the chaos, gabriel sees gregory surrounded by walkers. he attempts to save the man, but gregory takes advantage of his generosity to steal a car and flee. gabriel, looking for a place in which to hide from the horde of walkers, manages to get inside a nearby trailer. he is then shocked to discover that negan has also taken refuge inside the trailer. the two of them are now trapped inside, as hundreds of walkers swarm outside. at a savior outpost in an abandoned insurance office building, one of rick’s groups of combined militia attacks. they slowly cut down the number of saviors, then watch as the dead turn and finish off the rest. during the attack aaron’s boyfriend eric is severely wounded. aaron rushes him away from the scene, as the man continues to bleed out. rick, daryl, and others enter the building from another direction. they go from room to room, searching for the weapons armory. on one of the upper floors rick has to kill one of the saviors, then is filled with self-loathing when he realizes that the man had been guarding a baby. he is then caught unprepared, as another man steps out and holds him at gunpoint. it turns out that this savior is morales, who daryl hasn’t seen since the earliest days of the outbreak. morales tells daryl that he’s called more saviors on his walkie, and they’ll soon be arriving. meanwhile, at the satellite outpost that was once cleared out by the survivors, another battle takes place. morgan, tara, jesus, and others attempt to remove any resistance. morgan and tara want to kill any saviors they find. jesus, however, insists that they should capture anyone who is willing to surrender. although angered by this approach, tara resists the impulse to kill the saviors who are gathered. in the end morgan also relents, although this is put to the test when he sees that one of the survivors is jared, the savior who killed young benjamin from the kingdom. ezekiel and his troops travel through the woods on the way to a savior outpost. they kill several groups of enemies along the way, and sustain no casualties. after they arrive, carol helps to sweep the compound, leaving no apparent threats. suddenly, though, heavy gunfire comes from the main building, cutting down the kingdom’s soldiers. meanwhile at the office building outpost, daryl is held at gunpoint by morales. the two men converse, discussing how their lives have changed and criticizing each other’s choices. as daryl tries to get through to the man, rick sneaks in behind him and kills him with a crossbow bolt to the head. suddenly, the savior reinforcements morales called arrive, attacking the building in force. elsewhere, the combined hilltop and alexandrian forces are escorting about thirty captured and shackled saviors who had surrendered after the battle at the satellite outpost. morgan and jesus argue, as morgan still believes that all of the saviors should be killed. this eventually leads to a fight, after which morgan leaves the group. jesus proceeds with his plan to take the prisoners to the hilltop. gregory, having stolen gabriel’s vehicle and fled from the savior sanctuary, returns to the hilltop, where he is questioned by maggie as he stands outside the locked front gates. the man, ever a politician, insists that he had not met negan in secret, but instead had acted purely in the interests of the hilltop community. even though maggie knows that he is lying, she eventually allows him to enter. just afterward, jesus arrives with his prisoners. as planned, he talks maggie into allowing the saviors to live. they are to be locked up in several trailers at the edge of the community. the survivors manages to defeat the savior reinforcements, and he takes the baby girl he’d found and gives it to aaron, who is grieving after his boyfriend eric succumbed to his gunshot wound. aaron promises to return the child to the hilltop. rick and daryl then question a surrendering savior, who tells them that the guns they are seeking have been moved to gavin’s compound. daryl shoots the man anyway, much to rick’s shock. carl returns to the woods, in search of the man he met at the gas station. he finds the mysterious stranger, and gives him food and water. he learns that the man’s name is siddiq. carl tells siddiq about his community, and asks him rick’s three screening questions. feeling that siddiq will be a suitable new citizen for alexandria, he begins to lead him back to the settlement. on the way, they come across a small group of walkers feeding on a dead elk. after a slight struggle, they kill all of the walkers, and continue toward alexandria. in alexandria, the saviors arrive and attack. carl leads a good number of citizens to an escape through the sewer line, those citizens being avery, theo and then tries to reason with negan. avery reluctantly tries to stay with carl, but he tells her to go for rick. he asks the man to kill him, but let everyone else go. negan is impressed by carl’s request. he asks carl if he wants to die. carl says no, but he will if it will save the lives of others. negan is momentarily shocked into inaction. as additional saviors head for alexandria to back up the attack, they are ambushed by daryl, rosita, tara, and others. most of the saviors are killed, but a few escape. that includes the lieutenant laura, who realizes that dwight was involved in the attack. before she can kill him, however, she is forced to flee. as daryl and the others close around dwight, he is able to convince them that he sincerely wanted to help. they allow him come with them to alexandria. as negan thinks about what carl has said, the rescue convoy, led by a garbage truck, crashes through his guard vehicles. negan flies into a rage, and orders his soldiers to begin firing explosive projectiles into alexandria. as the city bursts into flames, daryl and the others rush through, attempting to fight off the attackers. rick also arrives, and immediately attempts to find avery and carl. rick is ambushed by negan, and after a brutal hand-to-hand fight barely escapes with his life. he traces carl down to the sewers, where the boy had helped others find an escape route from the community. unfortunately, rick also learns another horrible truth: carl has been bitten by a walker. in the sewers, rick, avery and the others are in shock, seeing how close carl is to death. the boy firmly tells the group that the saviors had nothing to do with it; it just happened as he was helping siddiq. he says goodbye to his family and friends. the saviors above ground, thinking that there are no more survivors in alexandria, finally head out. the survivors heads for the surface, as rick and avery remain behind to tend to carl. back at alexandria, rick and avery help carl to reach a burnt-out church. as they try to make his final moments comfortable, carl tells them that they have to find a way to make peace. carl tells rick that he can again be the man he used to be. carl thanks his father for making him the man he grew up to be, whilst telling avery that he loves her and his ‘brother’, theo so much. avery says, while bawling her eyes out, that she’ll tell theo all about carl. he then shoots himself in the head. rick and avery bury him. avery and rick distance themselves from one another, due to the loss of carl. and rick drives avery to the hilltop, to be with maggie but she refuses to talk to anybody, as avery and rick continue to mourn carl, but as rick makes his way out of alexandria, he asks michonne to join him. they drive to the junkyard to help jadis, as her people are now going to be targeted for trying help rick. when rick and michonne arrive, they find that all are dead, with only jadis surviving. simon, negan’s second-in-command, killed everyone, going against negan’s explicit orders. rick goes through a collection of letters carl wrote in the time leading up to his death. one of them is specifically addressed to negan.

rick calls negan on a walkie-talkie, and tells the man of carl’s letter, and of his death. rick says that although carl asked for peace between their groups, it is now too late for that. rick vows to kill negan. negan says that it will never happen, and furthermore blames rick for carl’s death, saying that in the end rick was a failure as a leader and as a father. daryl is furious when he discovers that dwight has left the group, but he quickly gets past it, and continues to lead the group to the hilltop. there, they meet up with maggie, carol, enid, and others. everyone at the hilltop now learns of carl’s death. maggie encounters georgie, an unusual survivor who offers "the key to the future" in exchange for phonograph records. enid, still bitter over carl’s death, recommends simply killing georgie and and taking what she has. michonne insists that it is time that the hilltop begin to again gain friends. in the end, maggie agrees to the trade. she is given a set of plans for windmills, aqueducts, and other engineering feats that will be invaluable for helping the hilltop to thrive. georgie says that someday she will return and want more payment for what she has given, although that day may not come for a long time. as rick and negan play a game of cat and mouse in the abandoned building, negan offers rick a deal to end the fighting. rick refuses, mentioning how the scavengers were wiped out after they had made a deal with him. negan is surprised, and now realizes that simon went out of his way to violate his direct orders. after a scuffle, negan manages to escape rick. he is soon captured, however, by an angry jadis. that night, simon leads the saviors to the hilltop. maggie has her people prepared. she first tries to bargain using the lives of the saviors, but simon writes them off as “damaged goods”. a battle then breaks out between the two groups. simon’s group eventually flees, but only after leaving many of rick and maggie’s group injured. as the next day turns into night, wounded citizens begin to die and then rise as walkers. because none of the victims, including carol’s old boyfriend tobin, had been bitten by walkers themselves, the group realizes that the weapons the saviors used must have bee coated in walker blood. many have been infected. meanwhile at the hilltop, rick is obsessing on several tasks, in spite of avery’s warning that he needs to deal with his emotions regarding carl’s death. after getting intel from alden, rick heads toward a nearby abandoned tavern, where he believes the recently escaped saviors may be hiding out. morgan joins him along the way. as they near their destination, however, they are attacked and knocked unconscious. as rick wakes up in the tavern, tied up beside morgan, he discovers jared arguing with the other saviors. the men can't agree on what to do with rick and morgan. jared knows that bringing rick back to negan alive will score him major points, but he also knows that rick is dangerous. rick enters the discussion, quickly convincing many of the saviors (though not jared) that the wisest course of action would be to return to the hilltop, where they could eventually join the community. before the matter can be settled, a herd of walkers invades the tavern. the saviors (mostly) ask for rick and morgan’s assistance, which they give. as the walkers are wiped out, however, rick and morgan begin killing the saviors, in spite of their earlier promises to set differences aside. as jared then attacks morgan, he is trapped by the man, and is devoured by a couple of walkers. as rick gets cleaned up after the day’s events, he apologizes to avery for his earlier distant behavior. she tells him no apology is necessary, and that she loves him. rick and avery then reads carl’s letter to to them both, which she had earlier offered to share with him. as rick, maggie, and ezekiel’s combined forces make their way to the meeting spot, negan calls out on a bullhorn, announcing that he has arranged an ambush. he then reveals a massive army. as his people open fire, however, their weapons malfunction. their guns explode in their hands, thanks to eugene and gabriel’s tampering. seeing this opening, rick’s army charges. most of the saviors quickly surrender, but rick and negan continue their fight. although negan at first has the upper hand, rick tricks him into letting his guard down. at that point rick slashes his throat. thinking about carl’s last wish, and how negan had insisted that carl was wrong, rick orders siddiq to save negan. maggie violently objects, as her people hold her back. rick orders the surviving saviors to return to their home, and proclaims that negan’s rule, and way of life, is over. from this day forward all of the communities must work together to fight the walkers, the true threat to a normal existence. post-war moments reveal rick’s militia delivering supplies to the sanctuary to help them rebuild. daryl spares dwight, on the condition that he finds sherry and never return. maggie, not pleased with rick’s decision to spare negan, conspires with jesus and daryl. morgan invites jadis to move to alexandria. he, however, plan to stay at the junkyard, as he now feels that he is too unstable to be around the rest of the hilltop community. negan recovers in the infirmary, where rick and avery inform him that he will rot in a cell for the rest of his life.while on a supply run for the communities, one of maggie’s people is killed by a walker. the parents of the teen victim, earl and tammy rose, are furious that he died for nothing, as half of what they got goes to the saviors. gregory seizes an opportunity to use the father to kill maggie and take over but fails. rick and avery arrives, and he and maggie conflict over how to handle the saviors. she refuses to help them while rick tries to assist them, with avery talking with rick about how maggie is in the right with how he kept negan alive. despite daryl stepping down as leader and the group still yearning for negan’s leadership, that night, maggie hangs gregory publicly with the intent to not let it happen again. the communities attempt to rebuild a bridge for better and faster passage to each other. saviors who are on the construction crew begin to go missing and tension begins to grow. things hit a boiling point when aaron loses his arm in an accident due to justin, a savior causing trouble, failing to sound an alarm. justin is removed off the project but is abducted by an unknown group while on his way to the sanctuary. meanwhile, michonne tries to convince maggie to help the sanctuary, but maggie still refuses. after talking with earl, who is imprisoned for his crime, she is enlightened to help the crippling community. rick talks to negan about the bridge’s progress but the former savior leader continues to taunt rick over his decisions and that his vision for the future is going to fail. after justin is discovered to be a walker, the saviors, led by jed, are ready to leave the project and demand guns to protect themselves, but rick refuses. after jed tries to hold him and carol hostage, rick has no choice but to send them away. as the group tries to find out who is killing off the saviors, daryl and maggie figure out it was oceanside, killing only the saviors who killed their men. they claim they were inspired by maggie to do it and that rick’s rules aren’t the only rules. deciding that she gave it enough time to try rick’s rules, avery and maggie enacts a plan to assassinate negan. after being warned of maggie and avery’s plan, rick tries to stop them, but daryl drives him off and the two end up falling into a deep pit. they argue over the morality of the situation, with rick believing negan will become a martyr for the saviors, while daryl disagrees stating that it’s time to let it go. they escape and realise a herd is on route to the bridge. they go in separate directions to divert the herd with rick being thrown off his horse onto a concrete slab, impaling his torso with rebar and knocking him unconscious. maggie and avery arrives in alexandria to kill negan, despite michonne trying to convince them otherwise. upon seeing negan’s state of being, they both relent declaring that he is already worse than dead. as she leaves, there is word of trouble at the bridge. rick wakes up and frees himself to get to the bridge while hallucinating shane, hershel, and sasha along the way. he makes it to the bridge but realizes the group’s efforts to fight them will be in vain. he sacrifices himself by blowing up the bridge much to the sadness of the group. after searching for where rick’s ‘body’ could be, avery, maggie and daryl see him on the riverbed and take him back to alexandria to seek medical attention, with maggie soon leaving to work with georgie, taking hershel with her, not letting anybody know of her location.the alexandrians rescues a woman named magna and her group from a horde of walkers. they bring magna’s group to their home. a hardened rick is reluctant to let them stay and during a council meeting, she points out magna’s prison tattoo to make everyone distrustful of her group. after talking with theo and a visit from magna in their home, rick and avery decides to take her group to the hilltop where she’s sure they will be safe. rick and avery lead magna’s group towards the hilltop but is still distrustful of them. she learns from siddiq that maggie is no longer at the hilltop and that her people still keep in contact with them. after stopping at magna’s former camp, they continue their journey. while jesus and aaron are out and about, they come across an injured and fatigued rosita who informs them of eugene’s whereabouts. magna’s group is ultimately accepted into hilltop, but they are told by tara that they must “earn their keep”. michonne and siddiq learn from rosita of what she and Eugene saw and how the rescue party is not prepared for it. daryl, jesus, and aaron find eugene, who reveals that he heard walkers whispering to each other, suggesting that they are evolving. The whispering herd pursues the group and corners them in a cemetery. they are soon joined by michonne, magna, and yumiko who provide their escape. however, while holding off the walkers, jesus is stabbed by a “walker” through the chest. after fending off the herd, the group discovers that the whispering walkers are indeed people wearing walker skins. the whisperers suddenly surround the group. after his cell gate is accidentally left unlocked, negan escapes from confinement. the group manages to escape the cemetery, and they capture a young whisperer, lydia, on their way back to hilltop. while the community mourns jesus’ passing, rick, now back at the hilltop with avery, interrogates lydia on her group but don't get anywhere, and michonne’s group heads back to alexandria. seeing henry is getting close to lydia, daryl listens in on their conversations to get answers. after escaping, negan leaves alexandria and returns to the ruined sanctuary trying to build a new start there but decides it’s not worth it and returns to alexandria where his cell is. meanwhile alden and luke, one of magna’s people, are lured into a trap by the whisperers led by alpha. lydia finally opens up about her past where she reveals that her mother and father were with a group for over a month and the group was soon overwhelmed and her father was killed in the attempt to fight them. rick, however, sees the cracks in her story and finds bruises on her arm which were obviously caused by abuse. after talking to henry some more, she remembers that her mother killed her good-natured father and forced her to remember things differently. she reveals her mother leads the group which is bigger than they thought. the next day, alpha shows up at hilltop to demand lydia’s release. meanwhile, hilltop’s confrontation with alpha heightens when she offers to trade alden and luke for lydia. the whisperers even abandon a baby after it can’t be silenced whom the hilltoppers rescue. knowing alpha won't let up, rick is forced to give up lydia despite henry's wishes. after returning to her mother, alpha slaps her and demands that she call her “alpha” like the others. later that night, henry goes after lydia, causing daryl and connie, a deaf survivor, to follow him. as the fair opens, alpha infiltrates the fair and observes the lives of the people. she encounters lydia who renounces her mother and tells her to leave before anyone finds her. rick and avery meets with the leaders of all the communities and alexandria agrees to give lydia asylum. they sign a charter that was drafted six weeks ago as a protection pact should the whisperers attack any one of them. rick, daryl, and others lead a search party for other fair-goers only to be surrounded by whisperers. alpha shows rick a large herd of walkers she’s ready to use if they cross her borders again. the group leaves and find that alpha marked her borders with ten pikes with severed heads of members of the community which include enid, tara, and henry. siddiq gives a eulogy as he was with them when it happened. as lydia and rick visit the border, snow begins to fall.at oceanside, the coalition trains to fight in case the whisperers return. they are alerted when an alexandrian resident discovers a whisperer mask, and radios alexandria. while michonne tells them to simply stay on alert, gabriel decides to go on lock-down after negan advises him to do so. meanwhile, michonne and aaron lead a scouting mission and debate on how to best proceed, when they discover more evidence of whisperer activity. back on the beach, daryl welcomes carol from months on at the sea and the two have a heart-to-heart conversation. when a soviet satellite crash-lands in the nearby woods, the survivors are forced to cross into whisperer territory in order to put out the fire. later, daryl and carol investigate the location of the whisperers’ herd. while the herd is now gone, alpha emerges from the trees and stares down carol. the group in alexandria defends the community against constant waves of walkers, leading the survivors to suspect that alpha is sending the walkers. negan earns aaron’s trust after saving him from walkers riddled with hogweed. gamma arrives in alexandria and tells the group to meet alpha at the border, where alpha demands more land as punishment for crossing into her territory; carol tries to kill alpha after she boasts about henry’s death, but rick and daryl stop her. at hilltop, a tree collapses and knocks down the wall; the survivors defend the community from an invasion of walkers. as it is believed that the tree was knocked over by the whisperers, lydia is attacked by a group of alexandrians; negan saves her, accidentally killing one of the attackers in the process. the council is conflicted on what to do with negan, but negan goes missing, putting the community on high alert. a depressed ezekiel nearly attempts suicide, but michonne intervenes. michonne, luke, and others travel to oceanside to help the community with walkers. while searching for alpha’s horde alongside rick, daryl, aaron, magna, connie, kelly, and jerry, carol spots and chases after alpha; the group follows behind, where they are lured into a cave, surrounded by alpha’s horde. the group navigates through the cave, fending off walkers and whisperers as they search for an exit; kelly finds a crate full of faulty dynamite, which carol recklessly detonates in hopes of destroying the horde. rick, daryl, carol, aaron, jerry, and kelly eventually escape, but connie and magna are trapped inside the cave after the exit collapses from the dynamite blast. alpha becomes skeptical of gamma’s loyalty after negan suggests that she might be a spy for alexandria, leading alpha to send beta to track her down. rick spots alpha and attacks her; the two brawl and both wind up critically wounded. rick is rescued by lydia, but alpha is left behind. beta invades alexandria through a secret tunnel created by dante, killing several alexandrians in the process. upon finding gamma, beta is attacked by rosita, but he overpowers her; gamma offers to leave with beta in order to save rosita’s life, but beta flees after being outnumbered, with alpha recovering from her injuries.

beta invades alexandria through a secret tunnel created by dante, killing several alexandrians in the process. upon finding gamma, beta is attacked by rosita, but he overpowers her; gamma offers to leave with beta in order to save rosita’s life, but beta flees after being outnumbered,with alpha recovering from her injuries. alpha and the whisperers plan to attack hilltop with the horde, forcing the community to start planning for battle; that night, negan works with the whisperers to lead the horde to hilltop; the group fights back, but the whisperers begin to burn the community using flammable tree sap. as hilltop burns to the ground, the survivors scatter into groups in search of safety. while fighting walkers that breached in, carol sees that magna escaped from the cave by blending in with the horde, but connie’s fate remains unknown. while luring walkers away from alden and kelly, gamma is found and killed by beta. while escaping the herde and burning hilltop, avery and theo, reunite with earl, and find the residential children and lead them to safety. after getting the children to safety, earl succumbs to a walker bite and is put down by avery, who is now traumatised by the near death experience. negan lures alpha to a cabin after falsely claiming that lydia is inside; he kills alpha by slitting her throat and severing her head. negan is then approached by carol, revealing that the two were working together to kill alpha. negan struggles to convince rick that he killed alpha; a group of whisperers ambush the duo and appoint negan as the new “alpha”, but negan kills them in an effort to prove his loyalty to rick. beta, hearing voices in his head, leads the horde of walkers he has gathered to alexandria to find it empty. alden and aaron, hiding in the windmill, report on the movements to the rest of alexandrians who have sheltered in a nearby hospital. with rick and avery, along with theo, reunited, they locate themselves to a nearby hospital area. beta and the horde head towards the hospital. with the hospital surrounded, rick and other survivors sneak through the horde and lead it away using a wagon and loud music; beatrice is killed on the way. several whisperers make it into the hospital where gabriel remains behind to allow the others to escape. maggie and a masked survivor rescue gabriel, having received carol’s letters and then saving alden and aaron. the whisperers destroy the makeshift sound system, forcing rick’s group to infiltrate the horde and kill the whisperers one by one. after a fight with negan, beta is wounded by rick and consumed by the walkers. lydia and carol lead the horde over a cliff. returned home, maggie discovers that negan has been released and carol explains she released him and that he was the one who killed alpha. maggie then learns that the hilltop had been burned and destroyed from an attack by the whisperers. maggie, rick and the others seek refuge for the night and later return to maggie’s group’s safe haven to find two of their members dead and maggie’s son hershel missing. cole, a member of maggie’s group, explains who the reapers are and that they destroyed their home. while searching for hershel, maggie and the others are attacked by a reaper who ends up killing three members of maggie’s group. maggie and rick manage to find the attacker and subdue him, but he commits suicide with a grenade before they can interrogate him. soon after, maggie finds hershel is safe. the group then returns to alexandria, where the walls are being repaired that the whisperers destroyed, with avery reuniting with her sister and nephew. with increasing tensions between avery and maggie, towards negan, carol decides to banish negan to leah’s cabin for his safety.. . .and the story is yet to finish!

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THE OUTBREAK.PROLOGUE:on this night, a sudden outbreak of a very severe brain infection originating from an unknown fungus rapidly spreads throughout the United States. avery, rick and her son, theo, are already on the run after a raid of their previous homes, unbeknownst that another type of apocalypse was wiping out the world. they attempt to flee the area. in texas, joel lost his 12 year old daughter on the day of outbreak.SUMMER:approaching a quarantine zone in boston, avery and rick encounter two smugglers, named joel and tess. begging for formula, for her son, joel and tess help them out and they soon become good friends. after coming back from a deal with another client, Tess explains to Joel that she was jumped on the way back from the deal by two men, who had the intention to kill her. The group then set out to look for a local arms dealer named Robert, who had stolen guns from them. When they find him, he confesses that he had sold the guns because he owed them to the Fireflies. Angered by this revelation, Tess, rick and joel hold robert down and tess shoots Robert twice in the head, and the two decide to look for the Fireflies and explain what happened to retrieve their merchandise. Shortly after, they encounter Marlene, the head of the Fireflies, and she tells them that she will part with the guns and double the payment if they agree to smuggle something out of the city for her.At the safehouse that Marlene takes them to, it is revealed that they will be smuggling a young teenage girl by the name of Ellie. joel and avery escort ellie to their own safehouse while waiting for tess and rick, who followed marlene for confirmation about their payment. tess and rick return, the group set off for the drop-off point that other Fireflies will be waiting at to receive Ellie, at the Capitol building. Before they get far, however, two patrolling military members ambush them and they are subject to a scan for CBI (Cordyceps brain infection) and they call for backup. Tess, joel, rick, avery and baby theo pass the CBI scan just fine, but before they get a look at Ellie's scan reading, Ellie panics, and she stabs the soldier with her switchblade. Going into combat, both Joel and Tess immediately kill both of them. It is then revealed that Ellie is infected, but Ellie claims that her bite is three weeks old, which is a unique condition as everyone turns within two days of being exposed to the fungus. Although still skeptical, the three escape together as backup arrives, and flee underground as soldiers pursue them.Once the soldiers lose track of them, Ellie explains that Marlene believes what happened to her may be the key to finding a cure. Joel and rick are reluctant, but Tess and avery believe there may be some truth to what she is saying, and urges them to consider finishing the drop off. the group fight their way through numerous infected to the Capitol building, only to find that the Fireflies that were supposed to meet them are slaughtered. Joel declares they tried and failed, and proposes they return home, but Tess reveals that she had been bitten on the way to the building. Tess begs Joel to bring Ellie to Tommy, as he used to be part of Marlene's group and may have an idea of how to bring her to the Fireflies. Tess stays behind alone to cover them against the approaching soldiers, as Joel, rick and avery reluctantly flee with Ellie.Once they are in a safe spot and away from any infected, Joel tells Ellie to never bring Tess up and to keep their histories to themselves. He also tells her to do what he says, when he says it. And Joel makes Ellie repeat it, and she does. The subject is then over. Joel tells his initial idea, which is to visit an acquaintance that owes him a favor and procure a working car from him, which would make their trip to Tommy's a lot easier and quicker.They acquire the ride, but is it cut short as they are ambushed and attacked by a group of hunters in Pittsburgh, forcing them to abandon the pick-up truck and escape on foot. Within the hunter's city, they meet a pair of brothers named Sam and Henry who are also trying to escape, and they agree to work together. In a confrontation with more hunters, Sam and Henry abandon Ellie and Joel and the two are once again, alone.[8]As they leave the city, the hunters continue to pursue them in the Humvee, chasing Joel and Ellie to the edge of a broken bridge. Ellie proposes that they jump off to escape. Joel doesn't want to because Ellie will drown because she can't swim. Ellie ignores him and jumps off, and angrily, Joel follows her. Once in the strong current, Joel latches onto Ellie but before they could do anything, Joel is knocked unconscious by his head slamming into a boulder in the water. He then is woken up by Ellie on the shore of a beach, where they are reunited with Sam and Henry. Angered, Joel shoves Sam down to the ground and points a gun at him, threatening to shoot him because they chose to abandon Ellie and Joel. Henry then explains himself why they had to leave (for Sam's safety), and also says that they found Joel and Ellie in the water. Ellie says that they would've drowned if it wasn't for them. He puts the gun down and they all continue their journey to the radio tower. Soon, they find an entrance to a sewer, and navigate through it to reach a suburban neighborhood. Up in the suburbs, they are attacked by another group of hunters, including a sniper. Joel manages to take them out, but the noise from the fight attracts hordes of infected, causing the group to flee from the suburbs.