A massive horde of walkers was swarming toward the farm. Rick was leading Carl back to the farm when Carl asked why he had shot Shane. Rick was about to explain in detail, but a dense, endless stream of walkers suddenly appeared not far behind them.
Shocked, Rick quickly took Carl to the farm’s warehouse for shelter. The other group members had already noticed the hordes of walkers approaching and armed themselves with various guns, getting ready to fight their way out.
Rick and Carl fled into the warehouse, only to be trapped by walkers at the door. Following Rick’s instructions, Carl climbed up to the second floor via a wooden ladder. Rick then opened the warehouse door to lure the walkers inside—there were piles of hay stacked inside the warehouse. He set the hay on fire, climbed up to the second floor to join Carl, and together they watched as the walkers were engulfed in flames.
More and more walkers poured into the farm from all directions. The group split into several cars and fled the farm. Hershel had lost contact with the others and was fighting the walkers alone. A walker stumbled toward him from behind, but Hershel was so focused on shooting the walkers in front that he didn’t notice. Just as the walker behind was about to bite him, Rick appeared just in time, shot the walker dead, and rescued Hershel.
By dawn, Glenn and Maggie were speeding down the highway in a car. Maggie was anxious because she had lost contact with her family, and Glenn comforted her with a look of concern.
After fighting their way through the chaos, the group finally reunited. Rick revealed a shocking secret to everyone: all living people turn into walkers the moment they die. This meant every living human had already been infected with the walker virus—anyone who died would reanimate as a walker.
The group was stunned by Rick’s words. Dr. Jenner, the late scientist from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), had told Rick the secret of the living being infected, but Rick had kept it from the group. The others immediately voiced their objections to Rick hiding such a crucial secret.
Lori, however, understood Rick’s motives—he had hidden the truth because he didn’t want to plunge everyone into despair. Rick then told Lori about the process of shooting Shane, and Lori struggled to accept that Rick had killed his lifelong friend.
As night fell, the group gathered around a campfire. Rick told everyone that he had shot Shane, explaining that Shane had always been aggressive and impulsive, and he had been forced to kill Shane in self-defense. With the farm lost, they needed to find a new safe haven. Rick warned the group: if they chose to follow him, they must obey his orders without question.