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Walking Dead Wiki
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Walking Dead Wiki


The Battle at Terminus is a major battle that took place during Season 5 of AMC's The Walking Dead.

Battle[]

Rick and the rest of their group are imprisoned in a train car. They quietly build weapons using scraps stripped from their clothes and the car's interior. Their captors release tear gas into the car, catching them off guard. Rick, Daryl, Glenn and Bob are brought to a human slaughterhouse, where Terminus residents begin bludgeoning and slitting other captives' throats in a disturbingly neat and precise manner, allowing the blood from their slit throats to ooze into a trough, presumably draining them of their blood before preparing them to be eaten. The first to be slaughtered is Sam – the young man Rick and Carol met on a supply run before Carol's exile. Before Glenn can be killed, Gareth interrupts to interrogate Rick about the bag he stashed in the woods. At first Rick refuses to comply, but after Gareth threatens to stab Bob in the eye, Rick admits it's filled with weapons, including rifles, handguns, a compound bow and a machete. Of the latter, he tells Gareth, "That's what I'm gonna use to kill you."

The butchers behind Glenn prepare to kill him again but, before Glenn is hit with the baseball bat, gunshots are heard outside, followed by a massive explosion. Earlier that day: Carol and Tyreese make their way towards Terminus, carrying Judith. They hear gunfire erupt and watch a herd of walkers flock toward the noise. They arrive at a cabin where Martin, a Terminus resident, is setting up fireworks to deter walkers away from Terminus. Carol and Tyreese hear him mention members of the group on his walkie-talkie and hold him at gunpoint. Carol takes Martin's explosives and sets off toward Terminus, slathering herself in guts from a walker to disguise herself. Tyreese, meanwhile, keeps watch on Martin in the cabin. Martin tries to convince Tyreese to take his car and leave with Judith.

At the perimeter fence, Carol sees Gareth's men drag Rick, Daryl, Glenn and Bob to the slaughterhouse. She fires at a propane tank within Terminus, then launches one of Martin's fireworks toward the breach, setting off a massive explosion. Walkers begin to swarm into the building and begin killing its residents. In the slaughterhouse, Rick quietly cuts his handcuffs (fashioned out of rope) with a wooden stick that he hid in his sock. He frees himself and fights his way out with Daryl, Glenn and Bob. Mary sees walkers flooding through a hole in the fence and runs inside to the memorial room. Carol, disguised as a walker, infiltrates Terminus with the herd.

Maggie, Carl, Michonne, Sasha and Abraham's crew anxiously wait in the train car as they hear the commotion outside. Chaos reigns as walkers feast on Terminus residents. Carol takes advantage of the confusion and shoots down Terminus snipers. As Rick, Daryl, Glenn and Bob leave the slaughterhouse, they see human body parts suspended from meat hooks. Rick tells his group that if they come upon any other Terminus residents, they should kill them without hesitation. They hear someone screaming and banging from a storage unit. En route to rescuing the other survivors, Glenn insists on opening another train car to free the captives inside. But when they do, a deranged man runs out screaming wildly before a walker attacks him.

Carol discovers a room filled with items pilfered from Terminus victims. She retrieves Rick's watch – which he had given Sam -- and Daryl's crossbow. Rick's group ambushes a team of Terminus residents and takes their weapons. Carol discovers the Terminus shrine. Mary confronts her and they struggle. As Carol gains the upper hand, Mary explains that Terminus used to be a real sanctuary until a group of marauders raped and killed her people. The lesson, Mary explains, is "You're the butcher or you're the cattle." Carol, unconvinced, shoots her in the leg and leaves her to be devoured by walkers.

Back at the cabin, Tyreese becomes distracted by approaching walkers. Martin gets a hold of Judith and threatens to kill her unless Tyreese steps outside. Tyreese complies, and Martin listens to his shouts as the walkers attack. Martin then goes to check if Tyreese is still alive; Tyreese bursts through the door and pummels Martin. Outside, the ground is littered with walkers that Tyreese has killed with his bare hands.

Back in the train car, Eugene reveals that before the fall, he helped engineer harmful diseases to fight other harmful diseases. He says his team devised a system that could kill all humans on the planet — and that same system might be able to kill off the walkers. Rick's crew rescues the rest of the group from the train car. Newly reunited, they fight their way out of Terminus. Rick leads the group to the weapons cache in the woods. He insists they go back to kill the remaining Terminus residents, but the others disagree. "The fences are down," Maggie reasons. "They'll run or die." Carol appears. Daryl runs up to Carol and hugs her tightly, both of them share tears of joy seeing each other being alive and well. "Did you do that?" Rick asks, embracing her as well and thanking her for saving them.

Carol leads everyone to the cabin, where Tyreese awaits with Judith. Rick and Carl sprint over and joyfully reunite with the baby, while Sasha embraces her brother. As the group rests, Tyreese tells Carol that he killed Martin. Rick decides that they will get as far away from Terminus as possible. Abraham intends to tell Rick about their mission but not yet. The group follows the railroad tracks until they happen upon a Terminus sign. Rick crosses out most of the text and modifies it to read, "No sanctuary."

Casualties[]

Terminus[]

Terminus Captives[]

Result[]

  • Terminus is burned and destroyed.
  • Gareth and the other remaining residents are forced out and begin stalking the survivors.

Trivia[]

  • Carol uses the trick of slathering oneself in walker guts to blend in with a herd from "Guts". Her efforts are far more successful with the guts effects not being washed off by rain. The trick continues to work even after she wounds Mary and draws the attention of walkers to her.
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