Denise Cloyd (Comic Series)

"I'm Doctor Denise Cloyd, I'm a surgeon...you were shot, Carl. I've been working to... make you better."

- Dr. Denise Cloyd to Carl.

Denise Cloyd is a character first encountered in Issue 71 of Image Comics' The Walking Dead and is a resident living in the Alexandria Safe-Zone, and one of three doctors of the community.

Location Unknown
Almost nothing is known about Denise's life before or as the outbreak began, but it is known that she was a general practitioner before. It is unknown how or when Denise arrived at the Alexandria Safe-Zone, or if she lived in or near there before the outbreak.

Alexandria Safe-Zone
Denise is a young, red-headed doctor whose appearance is distinguished by her glasses, and her significance as one of three doctors of the community. She is also the only one of the three who is a surgeon. Little else is known about her background or her personality; unlike other Alexandria Safe-Zone members, it has not been stated how long she had been in the community before Rick's group's arrival.

After a "runner" named Scott is injured after missing a jump and falling off a rooftop, his partner Heathbrings him back to the safe zone with Rick and Aaron's help and brings him to Denise's clinic. As Scott dies over the next couple weeks Denise cares for him. She asks Heath to get powerful antibiotics and other medical supplies. She develops a friendship with Heath as she cares for Scott and begins to sleep with him shortly after Scott dies.

Denise cares for a scout named Eric and helps to patch him up after he is stabbed by a unnamed woman when she tried to steal his horse. She is next seen watching Rick as he addresses the crowd about the increasing amount of walkers surrounding Alexandria.

Alexandria Safe-Zone Chaos
Once the walkers around the Zone become a problem Heath decides to leave the community to look for supplies with Glenn, Spencer and Andrea. Denise isn't happy about it but she doesn't stop him but instead gives him a hug goodbye before he leaves. After Heath leaves a wall begins to break causing walkers to flood Alexandria. Denise is asked to help Morgan Jones who had been bitten after the wall broke while protecting Rick. Denise, Rick, Michonne, Maggie Greene, Carl, Sophia, and Jessie Anderson and Ron Anderson to take refuge inside Rick's house as the walkers wander outside. After Morgan dies due to loss of blood Rick decides to take the group and leave.Denise watches in horror as he drags a walker into the house and begins to chop it up in order to mask their stench to allow them to escape. Denise decides she is going to try to run to her infirmary instead of leaving and Michonne follows her as backup. Soon after she arrives at her office, Rick knocks on her door. Denise opens it and finds Rick holding a severely injured Carl in his arms begging her for help. She begins to frantically work on Carl as Rick holds off the walkers outside.

Alexandria Safe-Zone Aftermath
After Denise successfully saves Carl's life, Rick sits by his son's bedside for a full day. Denise, concerned for his health asks him to eat something. Rick instead tells her about Jessie Anderson's death at his hands. Denise is horrified for a moment and even begins to cry, but turns and tells Rick that she won't tell anyone about Jessie's fate. A few days later, she attends the funeral for those lost in the invasion and stands next to Heath while crying. She continues to nurse Carl and finally kicks Rick out of her office in favor of his own health. Once Carl wakes up from his coma Denise begins to try to treat his amnesia with Andrea and Rick helping her. A few weeks later a disgruntled resident named Nicholas begins to rebel against Rick as the safe zone's new leader. Denise joins the crowd behind Nicholas, but it is unknown weather or not she agrees with him. After Rick arrives and talks Nicholas down she takes Rick back to her infirmary to take Carl home. Over the next couple weeks Denise continues to check on Carl and make lists of medical supplies for Heath to get.

Meeting the Hilltop
Denise is one of the first Rick tells when he captures a stranger lurking outside the community. Rick tells her to prep her infirmary in case of a attack by the stranger's group. While Rick leaves on a scouting mission of the city Denise is tasked to take care of Carl while he's away. While changing his bandages Carl asks her who the stranger is, causing her to stammer and tell him that his father wouldn't want him to know. Carl pretends to leave but talks to the stranger when Cloyd turns her back.

Conflict With The Saviors
Denise is the first person to discover Spencer Monroe's corpse, after Negan had gutted him. Horrified and scared, she then ran to Heath crying as he arrives back at the safe-zone with Rick and the others and informs them of Negan's deed. Denise takes shelter as Rick, Heath, Holly and Nicholas are captured by Negan after a failed assassination attempt. She stays hidden until after Negan leaves and begins to patch Rick and Andrea up and inspects their injuries. Once the war begins Denise is seen sitting next to Heath in Father Gabriel's church listening to Rick's speech.

In Issue 119, during a confrontation with The Saviors, Negan presented a deal to Rick and the group. Negan offered to return of Holly, whose face was covered by a bag. When Denise took the bag off of her head, it was revealed that Holly was a zombie, but before she had a chance to react, she was posibly bitten on the arm.

Rick Grimes
Rick and Denise appear to have a stable relationship. It can be assumed that it has improved when Carl got shot in the face and she successfully patched him up. Rick breaks slightly with Denise when he tells her about Jessie and Ron's deaths, that he had cut Jessie's hand off because she was getting eaten and slowing them down. Denise then agrees not to tell anyone. Rick and Denise relationship then becomes slightly strained after Denise points a gun at a Savior after they took more medicine than they agreed to, Rick calmed Denise down and after the Saviors left Denise and Rick got into an argument, which Heath tried to defuse causing Rick to start shouting at her, telling her if she would rather try her chances out there then fine, no one will stop her.

Carl Grimes
Carl and Denise have not interacted much. While they did not often socialize with each other, they began to talk more after Carl was shot in the face by Douglas Monroe. After Denise healed him, they've seen to be talking often in order to jog his memory back.

Heath
Denise's relationship with Heath grew stronger as she was caring for Scott. In Issue 79, after Eric is stabbed and Rick brings him to Denise for treatment, she and Heath answer the door in their underwear, implying that the two had been having sexual relations. In later issues, they are seen talking a lot and also seen in bed together. When Denise sees Spencer's corpse she runs immediately to Heath for comforting showing her trust in him.

Scott
Scott was Denise's patient when Rick Grimes' group arrived. Denise and Scott are not seen talking much but presumably did as she worked on his infected leg. Scott's time in her clinic caused her relationship to bloom with Scott's best friend Heath

Appearances
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Volume 20: All Out War - Part One

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Trivia

 * Denise is the only known living doctor in the Alexandria Safe-Zone. The other known doctor was Pete Anderson, but he was killed. The name and status of the third doctor is currently unknown.