As they head back to Alexandria, Sasha, Daryl and Abraham are held up by a small band of Saviors. The leader is there to collect for Negan. While one of the thugs takes Daryl to the back of the fuel truck to ransack it, the leader messes with Abraham and Sasha, threatening to shoot them for asking who Negan is. He puts his guns down (guns he stole from our trio) but then changes his mind and raises them again. Before he can get a shot off, an explosion of fire wipes this band of Saviors off the map. Daryl reveals himself to his friends with a rocket launcher on his shoulder, a minor knife wound to the back, and a dead Savior at the rear of the truck.
Back in Alexandria, havoc still reigns. Let’s start with Rick. He is leading a crew that consists of Jessie, Sam, Ron, Carl (with Judith hidden under his poncho), Gabriel, and Michonne. All are camouflaged with zombie goo, and they slowly maneuver through the horde. Rick pulls everyone aside to devise a new plan: they need to get to the quarry, where they have vehicles, then drive back to pick up the rest of the community. Gabriel offers to watch Judith, fearing that the baby won’t keep quiet all the way out to the quarry. He is proud; like he finally found a purpose. Carl hands her over, and Jessie wants Sam to go with him. Sam begs, pleads, insists that he can keep going. Jessie relents and allows Sam to continue with them.
Night falls, and Rick’s team is still moving methodically through the horde. Sam starts to think about what Carol told him, about the monsters who will come for him. He sees a child zombie and loses it. He drops Rick’s hand and starts whimpering. The group begs him to calm down and move along, but he is frozen. The whimpering lures the zombies, and they start devouring the kid. Jessie screams, still clutching Sam’s hand even as he is wrested away from her. This just brings out more zombies, and Jessie is eaten, too. Rick nearly loses it but Carl snaps him out of it: Jessie is still holding his hand, and he is afraid the zombies will lay into him next. Rick chops off Jessie’s hand, and in the process, a gun falls to the ground. Ron sees this as his chance to finish what he started in the last episode, and levels the gun off at Carl. Michonne doesn’t hesitate – she impales Ron with her sword. Unfortunately, as Ron slips to the ground, we see that he got one shot off – one that went straight through Carl’s eye. With no time to waste, Rick scoops Carl off the ground and runs through the horde, Michonne cutting a path in front of them.
The wolf still has Denise held hostage. She is terrified as they hide behind a low wall, waiting for a break in the zombies so they can run to the wall. The wolf seems to be fond of Denise, insisting he wants her with him, telling her that things are safer outside than they are within these walls. Denise believes he changed; he wasn’t born like this. The wolf wants to change Denise, too. The herd begins to thin a bit as the zombies move towards the sounds of a gun and a scream, so the wolf pushes Denise forward and they make their move. He uses Denise as a shield, but then steps up and kills one who stands in their way. A zombie tries to attack Denise, and the wolf saves her, but in doing so, another zombie takes a chomp out of his arm. Denise doesn’t hesitate: “You get me to the infirmary, I will save your life.” They run to a house, where Denise takes a moment to tie a tourniquet around the wolf’s arm. They just have to get across the alley, and they take off.
In another house, Tara, Rosita, Carol, and Eugene have hunkered down. Morgan wakes from his fight with Carol and asks about Denise. Carol points out that the wolf Morgan refused to kill took her. Carol goes upstairs and Morgan eventually follows, trying to make amends. Carol points out that he saved the wolf for himself, not for them. “I should have killed you,” she grumbles, but Morgan points out that she can’t. From her perch on the second floor balcony, Carol sees Denise and the wolf running. She doesn’t hesitate; she shoots the wolf and urges Denise to continue.
Denise makes it safely to the infirmary, just ahead of Rick, Michonne and Carl. Seeing them coming, she barks instructions to Spencer, Aaron, and Heath, who all jump into action. Once Carl is being worked on, the world shuts down around Rick. But only for a moment. Then he takes out his axe, opens the door, and strolls outside. Deep in it, Rick starts hacking at everything he can. Michonne, who is helping Denise with stitches, gets antsy; she wants to get out there to help. As soon as Denise dismisses her, she kisses Carl on the forehead and joins in the fray. Spencer, Heath, and Aaron join in as well.
Around Alexandria, people see Rick and his crew making a stand and they rush out to join him. Gabriel gives Judith over to another woman, then picks up a machete. “We’ve been praying that god will save our town. Our prayers have been answered because god has given us the courage to save it ourselves.” Carol decides she is going, too, and Tara, Morgan, and Rosita join her. Eugene goes too, even though Rosita insists he doesn’t have to. “No one gets to clock out today.” Morgan faces the wolf, now a zombie, and apologizes before bashing his skull in. Olivia and a few other Alexandria extras join the fray, too.
Glenn and Enid have made it safely into the church. They start searching the place, hoping that someone stashed some weapons in there. Enid is distracted by what Glenn said to her, how you can lose people even after they are gone. He explains that those who they loved – parents, friends, family – make you who you are. If you change, then you lose a little piece of them. This seems to snap Enid out of her pity party. She helps Glenn find a gun and ammo, and insists that she is going with him to save Maggie.
Glenn sends Enid to rescue Maggie while he lures the zombies away from the guard tower, which threatens to give way any second. The zombies are slow to react to Glenn’s shouting and gunfire, but Enid makes it up to Maggie. Maggie is scared because the zombies are closing in on Glenn fast. Her gun is empty and she can’t make enough noise to lure them away. Glenn is backed up against the wall – but suddenly machine gun fire mows down the horde. Sasha and Abraham are atop the wall with an impressive display of firepower. “Hey buddy, can you get the gate?” Abraham calls down to Glenn once the coast is clear.
Maggie and Enid escape their precarious perch by climbing atop the fuel truck. Glenn gets into the cabin with Daryl, who doesn’t want to lead them away; he wants to group them together.
Glenn and the others join Team Rick in hacking, slashing, stabbing, and smashing the hordes of zombies while Daryl empties fuel into the lake. A safe distance away, Daryl fires the rocket launcher into the fuel, setting the lake on fire. The zombies are immediately drawn to the fire, and head towards it. Into it. It is hideously beautiful, watching the zombies burn.
Morning dawns, gray and somber. The streets are filled with hundreds of corpses. The survivors are exhausted, maybe a bit in shock, but for the most part are fine. Michonne clutches baby Judith close.
Rick sits with Carl, talking to his son. He admits he was wrong, that the Alexandrians couldn’t learn. But today, he saw what they can do if they work together, and he wants to rebuild the walls, expand the walls, bring to life everything Deanna talked about. “When I was out there… when it was over… when I knew we had this place again, I had this feeling,” he tells his unconscious son, “that I haven’t felt since before I woke up in that hospital. I want to show you that new world, Carl. I want to make it a reality for you.” Carl responds by tightening his fingers around his father’s hand.
Watch a preview for next week’s episode, titled “The Next World,” using the player below.
