“Wildfire” opens with Rick attempting to reach Morgan, the man who helped him in the pilot, on the radio. He tells him to avoid the city. It belongs to the dead now.
Andrea still hasn’t left her sister’s side after the vicious walker attack on the camp from the previous night. Lori insists that they’ll be as gentle as they can, but they have to dispose of Amy as they did to the others: by destroying the brain and adding them to the human bonfire. Rick approaches Andrea, but Andrea tells him to back off by pointing a gun in his face.
The campers discuss what to do with not only Amy, but the rest of the dead. Glenn insists that the attackers are burned and the campers are buried in the holes that Jim had conveniently dug a day prior.
Jacqui notices that Jim is wounded. He insists that it was only a scratch, but also insists that he not show anyone his wound.
Daryl wants to kill Jim before he turns, but Rick has a feeling that the CDC is still operating. Shane says that he’d much rather find a military base. Both options are in opposite directions of each other.
Dale pays his respects to Amy. Andrea still hasn’t moved. Dale tells Andrea about how his wife died. She passed away from cancer. He tells her how after every chemo session, ever doctor visit and every surgery, she was ready. Dale was left angry at the universe. He tells Andrea that since his wife’s passing, she and her sister are among the first people he’s actually cared for.
Carol, Ed’s wife, volunteers to destroy her dead husband’s brain. She smashes it to pieces, really. To mush. Carol really wanted and needed to do that.
Amy begins to stir. Her arms twitch and her eyes pop open. She tries to grab and bite Andrea, but she isn’t at full zombie strength yet. Andrea says her final goodbyes, puts a gun to Amy’s temple and pulls the trigger.
Shane and Rick continue to dig the holes that Jim had started the previous day. They discuss whether or not Rick should have even left. Shane believes that the attack wouldn’t have been as bad if Rick’s group had stayed. Rick disagrees, saying the attack would’ve been much worse had he not brought back the bag of guns.
Jim’s condition begins to turn sour. He has visions of walkers as his skin pales.
After Amy’s burial, Rick promises Carl that he’ll never leave them again. He asks Lori what she thinks about the camp’s next move, and she has reservations about both.
As Rick checks on Jim, Shane asks Lori to “talk some sense” into her husband. Lori suspects that Shane is still trying to weasel his way back into his pre-Rick position.
Rick and Shane go for a walk and make sure the area around the camp is secure. Rick makes a comment about how Lori and Carl are not Shane’s family and, as expected, Shane takes offense. The two hear a noise and Rick goes to check it out. Shane sees movement and lines up his sights, only to realize it’s Rick. Shane takes a moment, gun pointed a the oblivious Rick, and thinks about squeezing the trigger. He decides against it and finds Dale standing next to him. The three head back to camp, but Dale is very suspicious of Shane.
Back at camp, Shane addresses the group. He announces their plan to leave for the CDC in the morning.
Rick attempts to reach Morgan once more. He says that by the time he reaches the quarry, the group will already be gone.
Shane goes over last minute details with the rest of the camp. Morales announces that he’s decided to head the opposite direction with his family. He’s given a gun and a half-full (not half-empty) box of bullets and the camp share their tear-filled goodbyes with the Morales family.
Not long after hitting the road, Dale’s RV breaks down. T-Dog and Shane scout ahead for supplies. Inside the RV, Jim’s condition worsens rapidly. In an increasingly rare moment of clarity, he tells Rick to leave him behind. He wants to be with his family again.
Shane and Rick carry Jim to a shady spot and the group have their second tear-filled goodbye of the day. As the convoy leaves, Jim quietly passes away.
A scientist working on “Project Wildfire” appears on a video diary discussing his progress, or lack thereof, toward a cure. We cut to him in a an underground lab, working on a cure. The scientist accidentally spills a corrosive liquid, causing him to quickly rush to the decontamination chamber. Once the lab sensors see that he’s out, the lab is purged in a small explosion. He’s lost all samples.
The scientist discusses the events in his next video log. He also discusses his plans to get drunk, and then to blow his brains out the following day. There is no one else in the entire building with him.
The survivors reach a barricade around the CDC building. They approach the building on foot, tiptoeing around corpses and trying their damnedest not to puke from the stench.
They reach the entrance, which is barricaded shut. It is now dusk, and the group begins to panic. They shouldn’t be this close to the city, especially after dark.
The scientist sees the survivors on camera. Some urge Rick to leave with them but he refuses, pounding on the door. Just as he’s about to give up hope, the camera moves. Shane tells him that the camera is just automated and that they should all leave. The ruckus is attracting walkers. The scientist decides to open the doors, which comes as a surprise to the group. Well, probably not to Rick.
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