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Chlorine. (...) Massive amounts can be produced with very little effort, very little expensive resources. The gas - it chemically bonds itself to the moisture inside the body, triggering severe bronchial spasms. Your lungs overproduce fluid, causing you to choke, until essentially, you drown from the inside out.
―Dr. Leo Bennett explaining the gas' effects.[src]

Chlorine Gas is a chemical weapon used by the Civic Republic Military. It was created by Drs. Lyla Belshaw and Samuel Abbott.

Overview[]

Chlorine gas has a yellow-green color to it. A variant, created by Dr. Lyla Belshaw, has a darker green color to it - created from experimenting on using an intra-cerebral injection of algae-derived chemical extracts. Her variant showed promise in delaying the time between death and reanimation.

According to Dr. Leo Bennett, massive amounts of the gas can be produced with very little effort and expensive resources, and it works by chemically bonding itself to the moisture inside the body, triggering severe bronchial spasms. This results in the victim's lungs overproducing fluid, causing them to choke and essentially drown from the inside out.

While Michonne and Nat are able to survive by quickly covering their faces and getting out of the cloud of poison gas, the damage that it does to them "burned out" Michonne and Nat's lungs and throat. Even with the help of oxygen tanks, it takes the two a year to recover enough to move from the abandoned mall where they had taken cover and a long time to regain any of their strength during their recovery.

The amount of gas stored at Civic Republic Cull Facility 1 had a minimum safe distance of at least 3 miles and released a large mushroom cloud upon its detonation. However, chlorine gas breaks up fast. Rick and Michonne were able to shield themselves from the gas' effects by initially covering themselves with a wet flag and then, as the gas began to break up, moving around with wet cloths over their mouths until the couple could get their hands on gas masks.

Pre-Apocalypse[]

Chlorine gas was used as a chemical weapon in World War I, first by Germany, and then by both sides of the war. It was later replaced by the more deadly phosgene and mustard gas.

As a kid, Nat read about chlorine gas and dreamed about dropping it on the football team.

Post-Apocalypse[]

World Beyond[]

Ten years after the outbreak, the Civic Republic Military decides to wipe out the other members of the Alliance of the Three. Drs. Lyla Belshaw and Samuel Abbott develop a variant of chlorine gas as part of their experiments which will kill the targets, but also, hopefully, help to inhibit the reanimation process due to what they have added to the mixture. Using the gas, the CRM wipes out both Omaha and the Campus Colony in just a matter of a couple of days, covering it up by luring a massive herd to both locations. Jadis later reveals that the CRM had used the information gathered by Huck in her two year observe and report mission to carry out the attack. The information reveals to the CRM that the population would be gathered in the plazas and parks to celebrate Monument Day, rendering them vulnerable to a single chemical strike with the gas.

While investigating the CRM's connection to the genocide, Huck discovers copies of coded transmissions in her mother's safe that Dr. Leo Bennett decodes to be discussing a large-scale chemical attack on the two communities. With the help of Huck, Felix Carlucci breaks into the cold storage unit in the Civic Republic Research Facility where he steals a vial of the gas' variant and discovers a large number of canisters containing even more of the gas. Testing the contents of the vial, Leo discovers the gas' nature and the Endlings realize the truth about what happened to the Campus Colony and Omaha. Lyla later reveals the truth about her involvement in exchange for the vial's return.

At the time of the investigation into the gas, Lyla uses her newest variant on Barca, killing him and stopping his reanimation for nearly eight hours. However, while Lyla sees this as an achievement, Jadis points out that it's not unheard of for reanimation to take that long.

After Huck complies with her orders to use the zombified Barca to kill Lyla, Jadis reveals to her that the CRM intends to use their store of the gas for a third attack, one aimed at wiping out Portland and the 87,000 survivors there. Huck passes this information along to the other Endlings through Percy and informs her husband Dennis Graham of the CRM's actions, successfully seeking out his help to stop them.

Leo later provides evidence of the CRM's genocide to the other research scientists who agree to abandon the CRM with Leo, his family and their friends. The Endlings begin putting into motion a plan that will not only allow everyone to escape the research facility, but that will destroy the CRM's store of chlorine gas which is going to be used to wipe out Portland soon, leaving the group no way to warn them in time.

After engineering an escape for the scientists, Hope and Felix attempt to blow up the gas with C4 only to discover that Jadis has anticipated this and has secretly moved the gas elsewhere. Jadis later contacts Major General Beale and convinces him to move up the gas attack on Portland. While the Endlings are left despondent over their failure to destroy the gas, they are contacted by Huck asking if they still have the C4 as she has inadvertently stumbled across the gas' new hiding place: the North Pads of Civic Republic Cull Facility 1.

The Endlings fight their way back to the culling facility where they provide Huck with the C4. Huck then orders the others to get as far away as possible as the minimum safe distance for the gas is at least 3 miles. However, the radio jamming that Jadis has ordered put into effect in the area also blocks the remote detonator, so Huck sends Dennis and Silas to retrieve equipment to create a timer from Dennis' secret weapons' cache a few miles away. Having learned that the C4 used earlier by the Endlings had come from the culling facility, Jadis rushes there with several guards in order to protect the gas. After a fight with Huck, Jadis mortally wounds the other woman, but Huck reveals that she has already secretly wired up her father's watch as a makeshift detonator. Jadis and her men flee in their helicopter just before the C4 detonates, destroying the chlorine gas in a massive chemical explosion. Due to Huck sending them away beforehand, Dennis and Silas survive while Indira and Asha provide Hope, Iris and Elton, who had not yet gotten far enough away, with gas masks.

The Ones Who Live[]

Following the destruction of the gas by the Endlings, the CRM created more within months, echoing Leo's statement that massive amounts of the gas can be created quickly and with very few expensive resources. In addition, despite Dr. Lyla Belshaw's death, the CRM appears to have successfully recreated her variant of the gas which gives the gas a green color.

A CRM helicopter bombs Nat's Group with chlorine gas, quickly killing most of the members who reanimate. Michonne, Aiden, Bailey, Nat and a few others manage to take cover in Havenshed Mall, but dozens of people die in the gas attack and Aiden succumbs shortly thereafter and reanimates, killing a sleeping Bailey while the other five who had made it to safety succumb as well. Although Michonne and Nat survive, their lungs and throats are "burned out" by the gas and they take a year to recover in the mall, using oxygen tanks recovered from a nearby medical plaza to help them breathe. After a lengthy recovery, both eventually regain their strength and are able to continue with their journey.

The gas attack continues to haunt Michonne afterwards, particularly as she witnessed the cruelty of the CRM and her year-long recovery cost Michonne a year with her kids.

As a part of the Echelon Briefing, Major General Beale reveals to Rick Grimes the truth about the destruction of Omaha and the Campus Colony along with the fact that the CRM intends to use the chlorine gas to wipe out Portland the next day. A horrified Michonne learns from a briefing for the Frontliners that the CRM intends to evacuate selected children from the city before gassing it to kill everyone else. Once Portland is destroyed, Beale intends to use it to declare martial law over the Civic Republic and then lead the CRM in a campaign to wipe out other survivors and communities in order to scavenge their resources to ensure the Civic Republic's survival.

After learning the truth, Rick kills Beale and he and Michonne decide to destroy the gas to prevent its use. Taking inspiration from Nat, Rick and Michonne rig a crateful of grenades to the cannisters of chlorine gas with a zombified Beale and a Frontliner acting as makeshift fuses. The makeshift bomb detonates in a huge explosion, releasing the gas and consuming the Frontliners and the CRM Force Command who were gathering on the tarmac in front of the tent containing the arsenal for a briefing on the CRM's plans. Any CRM soldier who survives the explosion falls victim to the chlorine gas while Rick and Michonne shelter under a wet flag, waiting for the gas to break up, before getting their hands on gas masks and escaping.

Afterwards, Rick and Michonne expose the CRM's atrocities to the Civic Republic Council, including their use of chlorine gas to wipe out other survivors.

Killed Victims[]

The following is a list of victims killed with chlorine gas:

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