Original air date: September 5, 2021
Daryl finds himself being stalked by one of the Reapers and becomes separated from Dog. Soon after, he finds Dog sitting comfortably next to a masked female reaper who reveals herself to be Daryl’s old girlfriend, Leah. Daryl is imprisoned by the group and tortured for information. Leah convinces him to tell the group’s leader Pope something to appease him, and Daryl obliges with minimal information. Pope’s thugs lock Daryl and Leah in a burning building as a test. Daryl and Leah manage to escape and Pope ensures Daryl is welcomed into the group. Daryl appears uncomfortable with the arrangement, having witnessed the unhinged leaders treatment of members of his group.
* * *
I said break it up. There’s enough food for everyone.
One week.
We just took in two new communities.
We have no crops, no back stock.
I know one more place
Meridian.
The place I lived before this.
♪
Run!
Aah!
[Grunts]
[Grunting]
Go! Go!
Duncan: Run!
[Screaming]
♪
[Whistles] Dog! [Dog barks]
♪
[crickets chirping]
♪
[Dog panting]
♪
[Clattering]
♪
[Dog panting]
♪
[Dog barking]
♪
[Grunting]
[Barking continues]
♪
Gah!
[Dog growling]
♪
[Dog whines]
No! No!
[Dog whimpers]
♪
[Birds chirping]
♪
[Dog barks]
♪
[Dog barks]
♪
[Dog whimpering]
Let him go.
♪
I said let him go.
♪
I never thought I’d see you again.
♪
Yeah, I thought the same.
♪
What’re you doing out here?
♪
You alone?
You see anybody with me?
I saw you out on the road with the others.
♪
Who are they?
♪
You one of them?
Crossed a small group on the road. No. I ain’t one of them. I travel light, like always.
♪
We’re gonna go. Come on, boy. Come on.
Well, that’s funny.
What’s funny?
I always thought he liked you better.
Look, I don’t know who you’re fighting, but I am not part of it. We’re going. Come on!
♪
♪
[Breathing heavily]
♪
♪
[Breathing heavily]
♪
[Door creaks]
[Breathing heavily]
♪
Let’s see if you’re right.
[Grunts]
[Breathing heavily]
[Door creaks]
♪
♪
I came back for you. I looked everywhere for you. I’m sorry you ended up with these people.
These people are my family. They never stopped looking for me. When they found me, I came home.
♪
How about your family, Daryl? The ones you told me about? That who was out on the road?
My family picked the wrong fight with the wrong people a long time ago.
♪
It’s like I told you, I’m alone.
♪
♪
You’re filthy.
♪
[Water splashing]
♪
♪
[Muffled grunting]
♪
♪
[Daryl coughing]
♪
Up.
[Coughing]
Again! The others. Are they still out there? Hmm? Are they close?
[Coughing]
I don’t know.
Who’s the leader? Is it the woman?
[Coughs]
I ain’t one of them.
Bullshit.
♪
[Daryl gagging, coughing]
Enough.
Shaw?
I said stop. I’ll handle him.
He’ll crack. I just need a little more time.
I’ve given you enough time already.
[Water dripping]
I said up!
[Coughing]
♪
I need you to cooperate.
I told you everything.
You told us nothing.
[Panting]
Talk.
The one we answer to won’t be so nice.
I traded with them. They gave me some food. I hauled some gear. I knew them less than a week.
♪
Unh-unh.
Go ahead, kill me if you want. I got nothing else to say.
♪
♪
[Door opens]
♪
♪
Carver: Should’ve never brought him back.
I know what I’m doing.
Yeah, you keep saying that.
♪
♪
[Door closes]
[Footsteps]
[Man coughs, groans]
Daryl? Is that you? The others? Are they okay?
I don’t know where your friends are. I don’t care, neither.
But I…
But nothing. Just ’cause we shared a bag of grain does not make me give a shit about you. Understand? Whatever beef you have with these people, I want no part of it. You hear me? You need to shut up and leave me alone. Got it?
I got it, yeah. I was right about you. Shoulda let you starve. Asshole. [Coughs]
[Door opens]
[Footsteps approach]
I ain’t telling you bastards a thing.
Get up. Get up!
[Grunts]
[Footsteps depart]
[Grunting] Let me go!
[Door closes]
[Rats squeaking]
[Door opens]
[Footsteps approach]
Just as stubborn as ever.
Is that what you think this is? Hmm? Me being stubborn?
Fine. Hard-headed. You need to tell me the truth.
I’ve never lied to you. Never, Leah. I’m not gonna start now.
Let’s try this again. What do you know about those people?
I don’t know shit. I’d help you if I could. You know I would. Just give me Dog, let me go, you’ll never see me again.
Is that what you want?
[Door opens]
[Footsteps approach]
[Body thuds]
What is it?
Found Bossie.
And Turner?
♪
[Door opens]
[Sobbing in distance]
♪
♪
[Sobbing continues]
♪
♪
Bossie: I tried. I couldn’t save him. I tried.
Pope: It’s okay, son. You did the right thing. You brought him home.
♪
Mancea: Lord, we release our brother Turner to you. Please, hold him close.
[Speaking in tongues]
♪
♪
In your name, oh Lord, amen.
Amen.
♪
♪
God is here.
♪
He’s angry.
♪
I’m angry.
♪
Do you feel that? Hmm?
♪
Go make them feel our wrath.
♪
♪
[Rat squeaking]
[Door opens]
What happened?
One of my brothers is dead.
♪
Michael Turner was his name. We fought all over the world together. Pope brought him in after our last tour, when he started his company.
I thought you were soldiers.
We were. Then we went private.
You didn’t tell me you were a merc.
Mm, does it matter? I mean, it’s the same damn job. [Chuckles] Except we could actually pay our bills.
[Sighs]
Michael was like me, you know? He didn’t have a family. He was the little brother I never had. You know, the little brother I always wanted.
♪
And he’s dead.
♪
You know, we lost a lot of people… here, and it’s been hard. [Sighs] Not like this. This is the first time I’ve lost someone close to me in a long time.
♪
Well… except maybe for you.
♪
You didn’t lose me. I came back and you were gone.
♪
You left me. I asked you what you wanted. You left.
♪
I got scared.
Of what?
♪
Letting go.
♪
♪
It doesn’t matter. It wouldn’t have worked anyway. Couldn’t have been happy. Not in a world like this.
♪
Is that you talking or your family?
♪
Like you’ve never done things? Killed people. I know the things you’ve done. You have no right to judge, not at all. This is me, Daryl. The good and the bad. All of it. It always has been.
I don’t believe you.
Well, I can’t help with that. But I can help you save yourself. Because despite everything, I still care about you, and I don’t want anything bad to happen to you.
♪
So, you need to tell me something. Anything. ‘Cause if you can’t, I can’t control my commander or what he will do next. He’s angry about Turner, and he wants someone to pay.
♪
There’s a woman. She’s the leader.
♪
They were speaking in code ’cause I was an outsider. There was a tall, skinny guy. Never shuts up.
♪
And a priest who carries a shotgun.
That’s their leadership?
Yeah. But they have the numbers. And one of their soldiers slipped up, and he was gonna go meet three dozen of their fighters. That’s way more than the 15 you got here.
[Chuckles] Well, you’ve been doing your work down here, huh?
♪
[Coughs]
[Groaning]
♪
I’m gonna get you out of here so you can be more comfortable.
♪
When do I meet him? This Pope?
Soon.
[Door opens]
[Crickets chirping]
[Knife scraping]
Well, you were right. He was hard to break. He told me there are a lot more out there than we thought. More than twice the force we have in here. I think he’ll be good here. And we need the manpower, with Turner gone and Nicholls and Montanio still missing.
[Knife scraping]
Say something. You know I hate it when you do this.
Do what?
Freeze me out.
Not everything is about you, Leah.
I never said it was.
Oh, no? ‘Cause here we are. Losing a day of tracking our enemy ’cause you you had to go on a fishing expedition with an old boyfriend.
[Sighs] So, go on, then. Tell me. You find what you’re looking for?
I told you he would be useful, and I was right. He’s a lot like us. Pain doesn’t scare him, death doesn’t scare him. Carver saw it. Come on, you see it.
I just see a guy who wants to get in your pants.
Fine. Fine.
Who couldn’t stop gazing at somebody he loved.
I never said he loved me.
Oh. You could’ve ended him out there today, and you didn’t. Why?
At one point, he meant something to me, yeah. I’ve been open about that. But it ended the day you found me and I chose this family, and I have never once regretted that decision, and I don’t want you to, either. Do you?
I believe in you. [Sighs] More than the others.
I know.
You think we can trust him?
Yeah.
Good. Now, let me see for myself.
♪
You got something to say?
Bossie: Come on, man. Don’t be shy. You’re about to meet the man.
Yeah, save that coy shit for your girlfriend.
Aww, Shaw ain’t nobody’s girlfriend.
I’m betting she wears the pants with homeboy here. Isn’t that right?
You don’t know shit about shit, Carver. Knock it off.
♪
I guess I’ll just show my dumb ass out, then.
♪
[Door opens]
♪
Pope is on his way.
Anything you wanna tell me about this guy before I meet him?
Just follow my lead.
[Doorknob rattles]
[Liquid splashing, bucket rattles]
♪
Hey!
♪
[Electricity crackles, lighter clicks]
♪
[Grunts]
♪
Aah! [Chair clatters]
Here! Take it! Take it!
[Coughing]
♪
Aah!
Aah!
Here! Here!
♪
♪
♪
Daryl: Come on.
♪
[Grunts]
♪
[Both coughing]
♪
♪
♪
[Wood creaking]
♪
♪
Forged by fire.
♪
Ordained by God.
♪
Welcome him!
All: Fortitudo Saludis!
♪
Pope: You believe in God?
No. No, I don’t. Not anymore.
Guess I just believe in me now.
Hmm. Well, that’s a mistake.
Why’s that?
‘Cause you’re not Him.
I passed your little test, didn’t I? Whatever you want to call it.
Oh, and you think that’s the end of it?
[Sighs] What else do you want from me?
I want… I want you to understand. Sit down. We all met in the Valley of Death. That’s what we call it, anyway. Hills of Afghanistan. We fought for our country, carried our fallen brothers off the field. Carried so many, we lost count after a while. Politicians. They wrote the checks. We weren’t anything to them. Just props. Props for their next campaign. See, they they talked about God. They didn’t know God. They never saw His face. It’s not like we did. We saw God everywhere. He was in the blood and the horror and death. He was there, telling us where to go.
♪
Didn’t have much else to hold on to in those days but Him.
♪
And each other.
♪
You smoke?
[Lighter clicks]
♪
That war damn near ruined all of us for good. Came home and my guys had permanent injuries. They couldn’t sleep. They couldn’t find real jobs.
♪
So… people called us mercenaries. We did all the ugly, dirty work nobody else wanted to do. Got paid for it, too. Handsomely. The real dirty work started after the Fall.
♪
Never been in a war like that. Never seen that kind of chaos, and I had seen everything.
♪
But this… Oh, the things we did. All that death, day after day after day… After a while, I started to feel like you.
♪
Wondering– Wondering where God was.
♪
Until He showed His face again. See, politicians they had one last war to get behind. This time, coming for us. The bombs came thick and fast. It did not stop. We lost some of our own, had to run through the fire to save them. Found this little church at the edge of town, and we holed up there as everything. and I mean everything burned around us. When the fires finally died down, I looked at my people… I could not believe it. Not a trace of blood. No burn marks. Not even a scratch. And that’s when I knew.
♪
We were the Chosen Ones. These men– These men upon whose bodies the fire had no power.
♪
God chose you tonight.
♪
I mean, you you came out of that fire alive and whole. And look at you now, sitting right here. Are you hurt? Hmm? Any burns? A scratch?
♪
I’ve been through worse before.
♪
Are. You. Hungry?
♪
[Indistinct conversations]
You were right. About this one.
Of course I was.
Give him some, Bossie. Don’t be greedy. He’s family now.
You know what he did, don’t you? He walked 10 miles with his dead brother on his back. 10 miles. The strength that took… You have any idea how grateful we are? Turner will have a proper burial.
Just did what any one of us would’ve done.
Mm. These still hurt? Hmm? You need anything? I just have one question.
S-Sure.
Something’s been bothering me. Your wounds… are on your back.
Pope, it’s been a rough day.
Just getting clarity, Shaw.
♪
Where were you when Turner was being attacked?
I-I was right there, just like I told you.
Uh-huh. Facing the enemy?
Yeah.
Leah: He’s been through enough.
♪
Human nature is to run when you are scared. You know what that’s like, right?
♪
It takes divine strength to face your fear head-on. Risk everything for someone else. We all saw what you did. Getting Shaw out of the fire first, and you felt it, huh? How far he would go just to keep you safe. Today, God baptized you in that fire. Made you one of us. You see… there’s one thing I forgot to tell you. Never turn your back on your brother.
♪
God doesn’t only use fire as His baptism.
♪
It’s also His wrath.
♪
Aah!
[Screaming]
♪
♪
We are the Chosen Ones! We run into the battle. We run into the fire.
♪
Always.
♪
♪
