What Lies Ahead

"" is the first episode of Season 2 of the TV series on AMC. It was originally aired with a 90 minute premiere on AMC on October 16, 2011 at 9/8c.

Synopsis
After narrowly escaping from the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta, Rick Grimes and the rest of the group decide to leave Atlanta for good as it firmly belongs to the Walkers and they should try Shane's idea of finding refuge at Fort Benning. Before leaving Rick tries to contact Morgan about the city urging him to stay away for his and his son’s safety. Rick tells the non-responsive walkie-talkie about his fears for the rest of the group, what happened at the CDC, and how hard he is trying not to lose faith. While preparing for the journey, Shane stares longingly at Rick's family. The group abandons some of the vehicles in their convoy leaving just the RV, Carol's cherokee and Daryl's motorcycle. The trip brings back fond memories for the Grimes family of a trip to the Grand Canyon when Carl was a baby (having not actually reached the Grand Canyon because Carl was desperately sick) while the other survivors busily clean their weapons in Dale’s RV. The lightness of the situation ends when the survivors run into a swarm of derelict vehicles, impeding their route. The situation worsens when Dale's radiator hose breaks down again, forcing them to stop altogether.

The group decides to scavenge what they can from the "graveyard" of cars. Dale, Rick and Andrea stay near the RV while Lori, Carol, Carl, and Sophia look through the cars. They find a delivery van with several canisters of fresh water still inside. Daryl and T-Dog siphon gas while Glenn and Shane search for replacement parts, a mass collection of walkers passes through the wreckage forcing the survivors to hide under the cars. T-Dog is wounded while hiding and is rescued by Daryl while Andrea fights off a Walker that strayed into the RV. They are almost safe when a straggler finds Sophia hiding beneath a car. She flees down a ditch into the nearby woods and is pursued by Rick, who quickly dispatches the Walkers after telling Sophia to hide and then head back to the highway, but Sophia has vanished by the time he returns.

While Rick and Daryl search through the forest for Sophia, Shane and Glenn try to keep the peace in the group and keep them occupies with jobs at the abandoned cars like getting the road cleared and fixing the RV. Carol argues that they should all be looking for her daughter, and Lori assures her that they wouldn’t leave her behind. As this is happening Carl finds a collection of knives and shows them to Shane, who dismisses him without thought. Shane reveals to Lori he’s going to go out on his own as soon as he has the chance. During this Andrea ask Dale for her gun, but Dale refuses out of fear for Andrea’s safety and is supported by Shane. Rick and Daryl continue the search when they find a walker. They kill it and cut open its stomach to make sure it didn't eat Sophia. Rick and Daryl return to the group and tell the group they’ll continue in the morning because they can't look around in the dark.

The next morning Rick arms the group and Andrea, again, demands her gun back only to have the request dismissed by the others out of fear she’ll use it to kill herself. Andrea confronts Dale and angrily tells him that he took away her only chance to die peacefully and that he robbed her of her choice by staying with her, and finishes by telling him that he should just leave her alone. The survivors leave Dale and T-Dog behind and search the forest again. Tired and worn from their search, they are overjoyed when they hear the sound of church bells with hope that Sophia is setting them off. They search the area and find a small church, but it is overrun by walkers and has no trace of Sophia, and the bell tolls are automated. Andrea overhears Lori and Shane talking about his plans to run and Andrea asks to go with him while Rick and Carol pray in the church, though Rick has little to no faith in God left. As the others return to the RV, Carl, Rick and Shane stay behind to watch for Sophia. Lori talks with the rest of the group to stop blaming Rick and that she is sick of them mistrusting her family. While they are searching the nearby forest they come across a deer. Carl, clearly mesmerized, slowly approaches it and then is suddenly shot.

Uncredited

 * Jeremy Ambler as Walker http://www.jeremyambler.com / http://www.facebook.com/jaa2009
 * Scottie Knollin as Walker
 * J.T. Seidler as Walker

Trivia

 * This is the first episode where Norman Reedus (Daryl Dixon) is credited along with the main cast.

Video
Season 2 Episode 1 Promo