Wildfire - Recap

Rick is on the two-way, reaching out to Morgan. He tells him he found
his wife and son, if you can believe it; they're alive. He wanted him to
know that, and there's something else he needs to know. Atlanta isn't
what they thought. It's not what they were promised. Do NOT enter the
city. It belongs to the dead, now. He tells Morgan that they're camped a
few miles northwest, up by a big, abandoned rock quarry. It can be seen
on a map. Rick hopes Morgan will join them, but be careful. Last night,
Walkers came out of the woods, and they lost people. Morgan should take
care of himself, and his boy. Rick will call again tomorrow, at dawn.

Lori finds Andrea mourning Amy. She won't let them take the body. Lori
promises they all cared about her too, and they'll be as gentle as they
can. The men work on destroying the Walkers that were taken down. Rick
walks up to Dale, Lori, and Shane to ask about Andrea. She still won't
move, nor will she speak to them. She's been there all night. Shane
notes that they can't just leave Amy like that. "We need to deal with
it, same as the others." Rick approaches her to explain, but when he
says her name, she pulls a pistol on him. He apologizes over and over
as he backs slowly away from her.

Daryl is exasperated by Rick's refusal to act against Amy. Andrea is a
ticking time bomb, and they all know it. Daryl says Rick should take
the shot from where he stands. He knows he can do it, as Daryl can
shoot a turkey between the eyes at this distance. Lori says they should
leave her be.

Daryl tells Jim to come work, and starts dragging a body, with Morales,
to be burned. Glenn becomes upset, because that's one of their people.
Their people don't get burned. Their people get buried. They
understand, and move the body to the proper place. Daryl has a little
tantrum, telling anybody in earshot that you reap what you sow, you left
my brother for dead, you all had this coming, etc.

Jacqui notices that Jim is bleeding. He begs her not to tell anyone
else, but she announces that a Walker got him. Daryl aims his shovel
like a weapon and orders Jim to show it to them. He picks up a shovel
and waves everyone away. T-Dog grabs Jim from behind, revealing a bite
mark below his heart. Jim just keeps repeating "I'm okay".

Daryl says they should put a pickax through Jim's skull and be done with
it, and the dead girl as well. Dale thought he'd never see the day, but
he thinks he agrees with Daryl. Rick thinks they are walking a fine
line, but Daryl disagrees. When it comes to walkers, they die. That's
it. Rick thinks the CDC must still be in existence. If they are,
they're working on a cure. Shane thinks if they do exist, they would be
at Fort Benning. Lori exclaims that that is 100 miles in the opposite
direction. Daryl tells them to all take some aspirin and figure out
what they need to do. He starts running towards Jim with the pickax in
the air. Rick aims his pistol at Daryl's head and says we do not kill
the living. Daryl finds that ironic, coming from a man who just put a
gun to his head. Rick grabs Jim to take him somewhere safe.

Dale approaches Andrea. He tells Amy he has come to pay his respects.
Andrea responds to someone for the first time since Amy's death, when
Dale asks if he ever told her how he lost his wife. She asks it was
cancer, and he says yes. He couldn't let her go. He dragged her to all
the doctors, they ran all the tests. After everything she was ready to
go. But he was angry. Dale felt cheated. Andrea and Amy were the
first people he cared about since his wife's passing. Andrea takes a
small piece of paper out, and Dale notes that it's Amy's birthday.
Andrea recalls how Amy's birthday was always a week-long affair, and
somehow she always managed to miss it. She would say she'd make it
home, and she always really meant to, but she never made it past that
phone call when Amy would be all excited about her birthday. Dale says
things are hard enough for her without adding guilt into the mix. Andrea
gets out a necklace and places it around Amy's neck.

Daryl is doing pickax duty on the Walkers. Carol walks up and offers to
take the next one. It's Ed, her husband. It would only take one hit,
but she hits him over and over; five times all told. Andrea hears
something and puts her head to Amy's mouth. Amy speaks to her, and her
body starts twitching. She's a Walker. Andrea says her name, and tells
Amy she's sorry for never being there. She always thought there'd be
more time. Amy gets caught up in the hunger. Everybody sees what's
happening. Andrea tells her sister she loves her, and blows her brains out.

Rick can tell Shane has something weighing on his mind, so he tells him
to spit it out. Shane does so. If Rick hadn't left, taking half the
camp's manpower with him, they wouldn't be in this predicament. Rick
counters that if he hadn't come back with the guns, they probably all be
dead. Daryl arrives in a pickup truck. He thinks it's a big mistake,
them not burying the bodies. It's what they agreed they do, right?
Those were the rules. Rick says there are no rules. Lori thinks that's
the problem. They need time to mourn, and they need to bury their dead.
It's what people do.

Jim's talking to himself, having flashbacks of the attack on his family.
Andrea puts her baby sister's body in the ground. Dale helps her back
out. Carl asks if they're safe now that they're together again. Rick
promises he will never leave them again, not for anything. He asks Carl
to step aside so he can discuss a few things with Lori. Once Carl is
gone, he asks her if she blames him for not being there. She can't agree
with him, or Shane. That's the best she can do right now. He asks her
about the CDC. She says they're all terrified. He tells Lori he loves
her. That's all he's got. She loves him too. They hug.

Rick goes to see Jim, Carol is nursing him. He asks for more water, and
Carol takes Lori with her to get some. Rick tells Jim that God willing,
he'd like to get him some help. Jim is coughing up blood. He starts
hallucinating, and asks Rick to watch the boat. Rick says he will.

Shane asks Lori to talk some sense into Rick. The CDC thing is a
mistake. Lori thinks Rick should trust his gut. They can't stay here.

Rick and Shane go on a sweep and argue some more about the CDC trip.
Rick says he's doing what is best for his family, and suggests that
Shane wouldn't do the same thing. Shane gets ticked off, because he
cared for Rick's family like his own. Rick says that he can never, ever
repay that debt. They hear a twig snap, and both their rifles go up.
Rick heads in the direction of the noise to investigate. Shane follows
him, and it looks as though he intends to shoot Rick. He can't. But Dale
saw that he almost did. He blows it off by telling Dale they're going to
have to start wearing reflective vests. He calls Rick back in.

When they get back to camp, Shane announces to everyone that he trusts
Rick's instincts, and they are going to go to the CDC. They'll leave
first thing in the morning.

Rick makes his daily radio call to Morgan, letting him know that he's
left a note and a map behind for him. It's taped to a red car, so he can
follow them. He hopes Moran is right about the place.

Jim sits up, he's in horrible shape. Shane announces the CB's are going
to be on channel 40. If you have a problem, honk. The Morales family
says they're going to head for Birmingham, they have kin there. They
give Morales a weapon so he can defend himself. His wife thanks them
all, and hugs everyone goodbye. The convoy heads out. Jacqui continues
to care for Jim. He's in a lot of pain. Dale's hose blows. He's out of
duct tape, so he can't repair it. Daryl thinks he sees a gas station.
Jacqui tells them that Jim is in real bad shape. Rick checks on him, and
Jim asks to be left behind. It hurts, every time they hit a bump it's
like his bones are made of glass. He wants to be left here so he can be
with his family. He knows that he is coherent at this moment. He knows
what he's asking. It's on him. His decision. Not Rick's failure.

Rick shares Jim's feelings with the group, and they decide to honor his
wishes. They leave him at the base of a tree. Shane asks him if he's
sure and he says yes. The breeze feels nice. Jacqui says her goodbyes,
ending with a kiss. Rick checks again to see if Jim wants this, and he
says yes. He's okay. Daryl is the last to go. Jim sits and waits for his
family reunion.

A video transmission from Dr. Jenner indicates that it's been 194 days
since Wildfire was declared, and 63 since the disease went global. He's
not sleeping well as he can't seem to keep regular hours. Living
underground doesn't help. Jenner is working in his lab, wearing a hazmat
suit. He dozes off while he waits for an alarm to indicate it's time for
the next step. He develops some kind of smoking material, which he
touches. It eats through his glove which in turn sets off an evacuation
alarm. Jenner puts his finger into the smoking goo. This eats away at
his glove, which sets off an alarm and forces Jenner to evacuate.

While he's being decontaminated, the automated system destroys his
materials. He is left with nothing on which to perform his research. He
does his daily video transmission to announce that the DS-19 samples are
gone. The tragedy of this loss cannot be overstated. None of the other
samples they've gathered even came close. He starts to question why he's
still recording, since there's probably nobody left out there. He ends
the transmission and stands up, announcing his intention to blow his
brains out in the morning. But tonight, he's getting wasted.

The convoy arrives and finds dead bodies everywhere. They head for the
door, coughing and covering their faces. They try to stay together, and
keep moving. Dr. Jenner gets computer notification that he has company.
The sun is going down, and the zombies are coming up. Shane suggests
they head for Ft. Benning. Everybody's getting hysterical, and Rick
notices that the camera moved. Shane tries to convince him there's
nobody in there, but he won't buy it. Rick starts yelling at Jenner,
while Jenner whispers from inside "Please go away." Moments later, the
dock door opens.


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