Sam Talks of the Dead: Chapter 7

With the growing threat of war, who knows what will happen in the seventh chapter of the Walking Dead?!???! Oh wait…I do. And now I’m going to tell you about it.

Flashback to Lori and Shane on the outskirts of Atlanta, making love in a random field. Lori is daydreaming about this incident whilst resting her head in Rick’s lap. She still hasn’t admitted her mistake to him, and the baby she carries could potentially be Shane’s. Rick asks Lori about how the pregnancy’s going, and ponders the logistics of housing a baby in the prison. Carol has a chat with Alice about how she’s settling into the infirmary at the prison and Otis tries to make amends with Patrice but it doesn’t go well.

The wedding takes place in the cafeteria, it’s a pretty small affair. Herschel reads some scripture and everyone comes to see the happy couple make their relationship official. It appears that Michonne is not doing so well following the escape from Woodbury, and while Glenn and Maggie enjoy their wedding night in prison, she has a mental breakdown and cries all over Tyrese. A couple of teams get together the next day and play some basketball in the gym while Rick and the other men discuss what should be done to prepare for a potential prison invasion. They make plans to search for the national guard station nearby. Michonne, Glenn, Maggie, Tyrese, Axel, and Andrea make up the weapons retrieval party.

After the group leaves everyone starts to settle in for the night inside the prison walls. Lori tells Rick that she wants to talk to him about Shane. Clearly her actions weigh heavily on her conscience and she wants to come clean…but he won’t let her. He can’t bear to hear her say the words, so she simply tells Rick she loves him, and that she is sorry. Life goes on at the prison as usual. Lori gets her baby checked out by Alice, and Herschel continues to work on his garden. Tyrese and his group manage to find a sign pointing them in the direction of the National Guard Station. They find a treasure trove of ammunition and weaponry, then decide that they should blow up everything they can’t take so that the folks at Woodbury cannot use it against them.

They rig a large explosion and begin their trek back to the prison. They stop off at a supermarket to get some supplies, but they are ambushed by a few members of Woodbury. Glenn gets shot, but thankfully was wearing some of the armor they found at the prison and only suffers some bruising. They pack up in the van and continue on their way back. Little do they know that Lori was in labor.

Rick gets Lori to the infirmary and Alice gets ready to deliver the baby. She asks Dale to go to the generator and get it up and running for the rest of the night so she’s sure they’ll have light for the rest of the night. Billy and Dale head to the generator room to get it up and running when they realize that they’re quickly running out of fuel. They kill a few walkers, and head out to the parking lot to get some gas from the cars. While Billy tries to get some gas from a car, a zombie bites Dale, and Billy runs away back towards the prison. Soon after Andrea and the rest of the national guard group return and see Billy running back into the prison. He tells them what happened to Dale and they get him before heading to the infirmary.

Lori has her baby, and it’s a girl. Shortly thereafter the rest of the gang runs in carrying Dale and shoves him on a bed for Alice to take care of. She cuts off his leg above where it was bitten (because that worked out so well before), and Dale passes out. Lori decides to name the baby Judith.

Andrea and Dale have a few moments together. Andrea is frustrated with him for trying to play hero, but she’s really just scared that she almost lost him. He seems fine for the time being but who knows how long that will last. Carl meets his baby sister, and all seems well around the prison cell. Carol and Lori talk about how happy they are that Carl and Sophia get along so well and plan to have breakfast together, though Carol seems to be acting a bit strangely.

In preparation for the impending invasion, everyone is happily using up their new found stock of ammunition for target practice. Dale tries to adjust to getting around on crutches, but he seems concerned that Andrea might be cheating on him with Tyrese. After shooting practice a rather large groups goes out to thin the herd of zombies around the prison, and Andrea asks Alice for some unknown favor. Rick discovers that Alice has a zombie tied up just outside the prison doors to study. He means to kill it, but Alice stops him. He allows her to keep it, if she’ll movie it further from the doors.

Carol continues to act strangely and forces herself onto Billy, who doesn’t protest. Dale continues to think that Andrea is losing interest in him when she plays a game of basketball with Tyrese. Carol then has a total breakdown and goes outside to have a little chat with the zombie Alice has tied up outside the prison. She allows the zombie to bite her, turns, and it killed by Andrea. The group mourns the loss collectively, and Sophia does nothing by stare for a long time.

After Carol’s death the group tries to adjust again. Glenn and Maggie talk about having a baby, and Michonne and Tyrese continue their somewhat awkward all sex and no real emotional attachment style relationship. Dale tells Andrea that she can sleep with Tyrese if she wants to and he won’t be upset, to which she reassures Dale that she and Tyrese are just friends and that she has no desire to sleep with him.

As everyone tries to calm themselves and does some gardening, suddenly the sound of heavy machinery is heard outside the gates of the prison. A handful of large SUV’s and trucks, accompanied by a military tank approach the prison led by a one armed, one eyes flying purple…sorry…the Governor.

This chapter is full of happenings. It is good that the group is taking preparation for an invasion from Woodbury so seriously, but unfortunately they get sidetracked by Carol’s death and loose focus. This is understandable, but still a problem. TV Walking Dead fans will realize that, Lori is still alive after having her baby! Who would’ve thought? There was a fair amount of relationship building in this chapter, as if to solidify in our minds who belongs with who and where everyone’s loyalties lie.

The other large bomb that gets dropped in chapter 7 is of course the appearance of the Governor. I truly had hoped that he was dead after his encounter with Michonne, but clearly that is not the case. If only she would’ve broken some of his bones he would’ve been out of commission longer and they would’ve had more time to prepare…hindsight’s 20/20.

The next chapter promises to be action packed, and potentially game changing as it is the last chapter in compendium 1 and the end of this story arch. Stay tuned, and thanks for reading!

-SM

Like to read my thoughts? Well take a break! Sit back and listen to me, JimmyTR, and AlanahSees talk about Time Travel instead! –> http://www.thatruled.com/all-things-meta-2-what-are-the-social-moral-implications-of-time-travel/