The Walking Dead: Omnibus Three

The Walking Dead: Omnibus Three is the third hardcover collection book of The Walking Dead that includes issues 49-72, otherwise Volume 9: Here We Remain through Volume 12: Life Among Them.

Volume 9: Here We Remain
Michonne returns to the ruins of The Prison, and upon finding Tyreese's undead decapitated head drives her sword through it. She investigates the wreckage of the RV, but finds nothing except footprints leading away from the battle, which she follows. Around 3 to 4 days later, Rick and Carl are seen in a forest looking for some shelter for the night until they come across a small, deserted town. They investigate a nearby store, but are attacked by a zombie. Rick tries to drive his axe through its head, but is unable to penetrate its skull. Carl shoots the zombie after Rick lures it outside, and Rick asks Carl for his gun to dispose of another zombie. They hide in a nearby house and Rick takes a huge dose of antibiotics for the bullet wound in his stomach. Carl finds Rick unconscious, his eyes glazed over.

After defeating three zombies who were banging on the door of the house all by himself, one of which attacked him from behind, Carl decides that he no longer needs his dad to survive. He blames his father for failing to protect Lori and Judith, as well as the rest of their previous party. Rick momentarily wakes up and pleads with Carl to stay indoors. Carl agrees and holds Rick's head, taking back what he said about not needing his father's protection.

Rick eventually gets better after many days staying in the house. Just as they plan on leaving, Rick hears a telephone ringing and answers it and talks to a woman who is apparently with a bigger group. After speaking with her, they decide to stay. While hunting, the two encounter an unknown survivor. Before Carl can even get close, the man is torn apart by a mass of zombies. After walking away, they find an open car filled with lots of supplies which apparently belonged to the unknown survivor. Carl realizes that he was setting himself up to die, like Carol. Rick gets a call on the phone of the house they are staying in. Rick begins to talk to the voice and converse about their ordeals. Eventually, he asks for the woman's name and she answers Lori. Rick then forcefully unplugs the phone but can still hear Lori speaking on the line. This causes him to realize that the phone calls were all in his head and that he is trying to console his massive sense of guilt by " talking" to his wife. Eventually, he "hangs up" although he takes the phone with him in his backpack when they depart later that day.

Continuing their journey, Rick tries to teach as much as he can to Carl, to help him be able to stay alive even if Rick should be killed. When Rick leaves Carl alone, in order to forage for some gas, a zombie attacks the child, who's saved by Michonne. Michonne rejoins the group, revealing that a still unknown survivor from the prison escaped. Michonne was following the tracks to find out if he/she was one of them, or one of the attackers. The next morning they are reunited with Glenn and Maggie Greene, who are riding on horseback. Maggie learns that her father and brother are dead.

Rick, Carl, and Michonne return to the Greene Family Farm where Dale, Andrea, Ben, Billy, Sophia, Glenn and Maggie have been staying. Carl and Sophia are reunited, where Carl learns that Sophia has repressed her memories of her mother and now thinks that Glenn and Maggie are her real parents. After Rick talks to Carl about Sophia's way to process things that have happened he talks with Dale about the possibility of staying at the farm permanently. Dale comments on how the farm wouldn't be a target and how it is no longer the dead he is afraid of anymore. Rick starts to cry, thinking that Dale did the smart thing by leaving and that they would've been fine if they had left too. Dale attempts to console Rick by saying that he has made many good decisions to keep them all alive and offers to talk to him about losing his wife. Later, Michonne reveals to Rick that she's been "talking" to her dead boyfriend. Rick shows Michonne his phone and explains that every time he picks up the phone's receiver, he talks to Lori. Rick and Michonne agree to keep each other's "craziness" a secret.

The next morning, the survivors are woken by a gunshot. Outside, Andrea points her rifle at three new arrivals; Sgt. Abraham Ford, Rosita Espinosa and Dr. Eugene Porter. Andrea does not trust the survivors at all and immediately gets off on the wrong foot with Abraham.

Ford explains that they are on a mission to Washington D.C. and have come to the farm for supplies for the long journey. Eugene, a scientist, reveals he knows exactly what caused the creation of the zombie plague, yet reveals little as he deems the details classified. After a discussion of their current situation and an attack on the farm by zombies, the group decides to travel along with the visitors on their way to Washington. Rick decides that he is through making the decisions and does not trust himself anymore. As they are preparing their convoy (Rick's car, Abraham's army truck, and Glenn and Maggie on horseback), Rick pulls Carl aside and talks with him about staying with the group and warns him to never let his guard down, ever. With this in mind, Rick and Carl enter their car with Michonne and the convoy departs the farm.

Volume 10: What We Become
The survivors travel and set up camp along their way to Washington D.C. but Rick still feels guilty for the decision that lead to many deaths, but is primarily tormented by the death of his wife, Lori, and daughter, Judith. He has a long talk with "Lori" on his phone about his dream where he is almost unable to stop Carl from dying. Meanwhile, Maggie Greene is going through depression due to the loss of her entire family, and Glenn is unable to comfort her. The group scavenges a small town for supplies and discovers a zombie that is too weak to attempt to eat anyone. The group ponders if the zombies can be malnourished or even starve to death.

The group sets up camp again, and Maggie leaves to use the restroom. After a while, Glenn sets off to find her and discovers that she is hanging from a tree with a rope tied around her neck.

Glenn screams for help and Abraham cuts her down, only to find that she is not breathing. Glenn wants to do CPR, but Abraham puts a gun to her head and says that she is dead and they have to shoot her or she will come back as a zombie. The group argues and just as Abraham is about to pull the trigger, Rick puts a gun to Abraham's head and says that if he shoots Maggie, he will kill him. Just then, Maggie gasps for air, revealing that she was alive. The group goes back to camp, and Maggie does not want to talk to anyone, even her husband, about what she tried to do. Rick is watching over the camp that night until Abraham comes to relieve him and tells Rick that if he ever points a gun at him again, he will kill him. Rick replies that if Abraham ever does something that requires Rick to put the gun to his head, he won't hesitate to shoot.

The next morning, Rick is attacked by a zombie but does not have a weapon and is unable to defend himself, but can see Abraham pointing a gun in his direction. Rick screams for Abraham to shoot, but Abraham just watches. Finally, he shoots the zombie and saves Rick's life. Abraham walks away from the group, and Rosita finds him shaking and crying. Abraham tells her he was pointing the gun at Rick before he even saw the zombie. He pleads with Rosita to not let him kill again. Rosita assures him that the people he killed in the past left him no choice and it was not his fault.

The group stops at a gas station and tries to decide the best route to get to Washington D.C. and whether they should take the interstate. Rick tells Abraham that he wants to take the interstate to his hometown to get extra supplies from the police station and to check on "old friends." Abraham agrees, and the group decides to wait while they go. Rick, his son Carl, and Abraham set off, with Michonne stating that if they are not back in three days, she will set off to find them. On the first night of their trip, they are surprised at knife point by three bandits who want to take their supplies. Rick tries to fight them off, but he is overpowered and beaten. The bandits then say they are going to rape Carl because Rick tried to fight. Rick bites the neck of the bandit holding him back, killing him. This causes the bandit holding a gun to Abraham to get distracted and Abraham shoots him in the head. The third bandit tries to run away, but Rick chases him down and brutally kills him.

The next morning, Abraham tells Rick that no one is the same after doing something like that. Abraham tells Rick that at the beginning of the outbreak, he and a group of friends banded together. During this time, after successfully securing a grocery store, Abraham went out to search for more weapons. While he was gone, his friends raped his wife and daughter while they made his son watch. In a fit of rage, he killed the men who did it. After that, his wife and children were scared of him and decided to run away. After a day of searching, Abraham caught up with them, but they eaten alive or zombified and he had to kill them. Rick reveals to Abraham how he killed Dexter and Martinez at the prison to protect his wife and son. Carl talks about how he killed Shane when Shane threatened Rick.

At long last, Rick, Abraham, and Carl reach Rick's hometown. There they find an unstable Morgan and Morgan's undead son who is chained to the floor. Unwilling to kill his own son, Morgan remained with Duane and killed anyone who came to their house to feed him. After seeing this, Rick has a short discussion with Morgan and hands him a gun, explaining to him that he must kill Duane and move on. A gunshot is heard and Morgan leaves the house with Rick and his party. It is revealed that Morgan fired a gunshot and freed Duane instead of killing him. Morgan, Rick, Carl, and Abraham go to the police station to get the guns. After spending a sleepless night out in the open, they are driving along when they come upon a herd of about a thousand zombies. Rick drives as fast as he can to plow through them, but hits an abandoned car. They escape on foot and are pursued by zombies. Rick and the others escape the herd by tricking them into thinking they've occupied a house, they do this by searching around the house for electrical appliances that would make a large noise. This plan fails and they are pursued by the herd back to the gas station. In a state of panic, they declare that they must immediately leave and get back on the road. Dale is reluctant, because he's found an isolated farm house and wants to settle down and feels that Rick is continually putting the group into serious danger. Andrea convinces Dale to leave.

Volume 11: Fear The Hunters
The story begins with the survivors finding a van with mattresses in the back. The van still works, and Andrea is extremely excited and calls dibs on sleeping in the van that night. While on watch, Rick receives a "call" from his wife, who tells him that they should speak about Carl, but he puts the phone down immediately.

The following morning, the twins are nowhere to be seen. Andrea heads into the forest to find them, and stumbles upon the body of Billy, who has been killed by Ben. However, Ben says they shouldn't worry because he didn't destroy the brain and that Billy will come back. Andrea is completely shocked and doesn't say anything. She embraces Ben after he hugs her. The group attempts to decide what they should do with Ben. Abraham suggests that they need to kill Ben as they can't help him or keep him locked up. Andrea storms off angrily, and Dale says that they should be ashamed of themselves. Rick agrees with Abraham, not seeing another option, but no one is willing to kill him. All of a sudden, a priest, Fr. Gabriel Stokes, approaches the group while they are discussing what to do with Ben. The group immediately believes that Gabriel is working for someone who wants to harm them, but Gabriel continues to say that he has been alone in his church since the beginning of the outbreak. He offers the group temporary sanctuary inside if they can offer him food.

In the night, Carl sneaks out of the tent, opens the van, and fatally shoots Ben. He sneaks back to the tent without anyone noticing, except for Morgan, who keeps it to himself. The group buries Ben and Billy the next morning. The group loads up and departs for Gabriel's church, unaware that there are people watching them from the woods who decide to follow them. Carl gets into trouble after calling Dale a cry baby for mourning them even though they were never really his kids. He runs off before he is suddenly attacked by zombies emerging from the woods. After all the zombies are killed, they hear Dale screaming for help. He tells the group that a zombie only managed to rip his shirt. Carl tells Rick later that Dale is weak and they would be better off without him in the group. When Andrea goes into the woods to pee, she suddenly sees figures watching her and screams for help, though the group dismisses it as an animal. While everyone else is sleeping, Dale wanders off into the woods to die as he was actually bitten, but didn't tell anybody. In the woods, Dale is knocked unconscious by someone and carried away by two men. In the morning, Andrea goes into a panic and the group begins to search the woods. A zombie surprises Abraham but falls to the ground and isn't able to stand up. Eugene notes that the zombie is interesting because of his lack of strength. They decide to spend the night after arriving at Gabriel's church. Andrea goes outside for some air, and once again has a premonition that somebody is watching her. Rick interrogates Gabriel, claiming that his story is completely false. Gabriel confesses how he survived by locking his friends and congregation outside of the church to avoid dying of starvation, and believes that God sent the group to him so that he could be punished. In a neighborhood, Dale wakes up to find his leg being eaten by the group that captured him.

The leader, Chris, explains that they are surviving by killing other survivors and eating them. Dale begins laughing hysterically, and reveals to them that he was bitten. The hunters force themselves to throw up after exclaiming that the meat is tainted. Andrea confesses to Rick how much she regrets not telling Dale how she truly felt about him. The next morning, outside the church, the survivors find Dale, thrown onto the ground, unconscious. They go out to get him, but when going back, Glenn is shot through his leg by a hunter. They manage to get inside and treat Dale and Glenn. When Dale wakes up, he describes where he was held to the group. They later begin searching close residential areas (guided by Gabriel), and eventually stumble upon The Hunters. Originally, only Rick confronts them, unarmed. They begin talking, and one of them begins explaining why they are doing what they're doing. They believe it is the only way they will survive, as they are terrible hunters. They then confess that they also ate the children that were with them. When they decide to kill Rick, Ricks mimics a pistol with his hand, and Andrea shoots from a bush, injuring one of the hunter's ears, and shoots Chris's finger off. They then spend the night killing and torturing the hunters as Gabriel looks on in horror. The survivors return to the church the next morning, feeling extreme remorse for what they did. A dying Dale thanks Rick for keeping the group alive this long, and for giving him the time he had with Andrea and the twins. That night, Dale dies in his sleep and is shot by a remorseful Andrea.

After they bury Dale's body in the church graveyard, Rick begins talking with whom he believes to be Abraham about the horrible things they did. It turns out, however, to be Carl, who then tearfully confesses to shooting Ben.

Volume 12: Life Among Them
Upon searching for food with Carl, Rick discovers a town overrun by zombies and the two are forced to turn around. Carl and Rick have a heart-to-heart talk about why Carl killed Ben and what they both must do to protect each other. Carl says that Ben was his friend but he was a threat to everyone and he pointed out that Rick knew it yet none were going to make the move.

After regrouping with the others, Rick wants to test out the long range walkie talkie, because he is convinced they are very close to Washington DC. Eugene is reluctant to do this, claiming that the radio is "very delicate" and that he does not want to "use up the battery power". After a small fight over the device it is dropped on the ground revealing that there is no battery inside. Eugene admits that there were never any batteries inside. Furious, Abraham attacks Eugene in a rage, screaming about how people have died to bring Eugene to Washington because he thought he was important. Eugene defends himself by admitting that he has no positive qualities besides that he is a good liar and extremely intelligent. He begins to cry and apologizes to the group.

After cooling off, Abraham and Rick talk about what to do now when suddenly another survivor comes to the group. The man is very calm and polite to them both, introducing himself as Aaron and says that he was just listening in on their conversation to see if they were hostile or not before approaching. Rick does not trust the newcomer and knocks him down and ties him up.

Later, when the group has deemed Aaron safe enough and are heading towards his safe haven, they meet Eric. Upon his introduction, the group moves closer towards Alexandria, but find a flare going off in the sky. Abraham, Rick, and Aaron take the van down to help out the supply runners, Heath and Scott.

Scott has broken his leg by jumping building to building, and zombies are slowly swarming the area. As Rick and Aaron help, Heath puts Scott in the van, a party of Alexandrian survivors drive in and shoot most of the surrounding zombies. The group reaches the Safe-Zone and enter the gates. Aaron introduces Rick to Douglas, who interviews him and makes him town constable. Douglas also informs Rick that weapons are not allowed in the Safe-Zone and confiscates his group's weapons. Rick later tells Glenn to get the guns back from the Safe-Zone's armory.

A party is later held at the community to introduce Rick's group to the residents of the Safe-Zone. Michonne gets angry at the superficial concerns of the residents and shouts, "Worried? THIS IS WHAT YOU WORRY ABOUT?" at Barbara and leaves the party early.

Deaths

 * Tyreese (Zombified)
 * Unnamed Survivor
 * Unnamed Woodbury Survivor
 * Duane Jones
 * Bandits
 * Dale
 * Ben
 * Billy
 * Chris
 * Theresa
 * Albert
 * David
 * Greg
 * Charlie

Trivia

 * The Omnibus also includes artwork of the characters and issue covers.