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This article is about the Novel Series character. For other pages with the same name, see: Cooper

There’s a Hammacher Schlemmer store in the Moreland Mall on the north side of this very town. Now, I realize the place is overrun with the dead, but with the right battalion of hearty souls, we could very easily procure enough of these crank-wound radios to keep the entire network of survivor towns wired and connected for the duration.
―Cooper pitching the idea of interconnectedness among survivor towns[src]

Cooper Steeves is a character and former antagonist first encountered in The Walking Dead: Search and Destroy. He is described as a "gangly, knob-kneed man in the fedora and khaki shorts." He wears a "Colt Single Action Army .45 holstered on a Sam Browne belt around his waist and a coil of climbing rope on the opposite hip." He is part of the Moreland survivors.

Pre-Apocalypse[]

Atlanta, Georgia[]

Not much is known about Cooper's life before or as the outbreak began except he ran a construction firm that designed more than a dozen of the biggest skyscrapers in Atlanta. An achievement of which he is very proud. In 1979, when OPEC upped the oil prices, Iran shut down their fields, and Cooper's company had to completely write off three buildings on Peachtree and left their foundations standing like dinosaurs in the tar pits.

Post-Apocalypse[]

Moreland, Georgia[]

At some point after the outbreak began, Cooper joined a small group of survivors living in Moreland. About five years into the apocalypse, Moreland makes contact and forms an alliance with a number of small villages surrounding Atlanta. Such as Woodbury and Haralson.

One day, Cooper introduces the idea of interconnectedness among the survivor towns. He sends a courier to each community requesting the presence of their leaders. The next morning, Cooper gathers Lilly Caul, Ashley Duart and the others in the police station lobby for an impromptu presentation. He stands before a whiteboard at the front of the room and struts around in his bomber jacket and fedora, wielding his dry-erase marker as if it were a medieval mace. He points to the Crank-Wound Rechargeable CB Radio Base with Three Portable Walkie-Talkies on page 133 of the Hammacher Schlemmer catalog and proposes that the towns come together to clear out the dead and acquire one from the Mall on the other end of Moreland. The plan is a success and each community in the network becomes connected via radio. At some point, the communities work together to reconnect a railway between all their settlements and the city.

Beau Bryce's Militia from the Atlanta Medical Center show up at Moreland looking for children and survivors to kidnap as test subjects for their research into a cure. Cooper has to beg Daniels to explain why they'd take the risks killing anybody who gets in their way with the barrel of a gun to his face. Several survivors from Moreland are kidnapped and Cooper informs the militia of the other settlements in the survivor towns either out of necessity, believing in the cause or cowardice.

Search and Destroy[]

While having lunch on the railroad, Lilly discusses taking a break during fall when Cooper intrudes on the conversation and asks why nobody knows what their fuel situation is. He informs Lilly that he just came back from the depot in Senoia and they still haven't found any fuel. He goes on to say that he's seen too many projects fail because of fuel issues and without fuel they're just cleaning up metal rails that go nowhere. As Cooper goes on, Jinx chimes in and tells him to give it a rest. Cooper backs up out of fear from the woman and tells her she's out of line. Lilly informs him that they're making progress on cooking up more biodiesel, with the one engine in Woodbury they've already converted. Aside from that, they've got the horse-drawn flatcars and a few handcars for transportation until they can get more engines running. Cooper sighs and leaves.

When they reach Highway 85, some of the team splits off from the group to return to their communities to the north and east. Bell, Cooper, and others turn westward and vanish into the haze of the dying afternoon.

After Woodbury is raided by Beau Bryce's Militia, Lilly, Tommy, Norma, Miles and Jinx are rescued by Ash while in pursuit of the kidnappers and taken back to Haralson. Ash has failed to make contact with any other community from here to College Park and now Moreland and Heronville have stopped answering. It's not like Cooper to not answer the radio which raises more concern.

Lilly and Tommy successfully find and rescue the children from the Atlanta Medical Center but find them selves in a stand off with Bryce. Lilly takes the head doctor, Raymond Nalls hostage and sees Cooper hiding unarmed in the corner of the nurses station and looking incredibly guilty. Nalls informs Lilly that Cooper has done nothing more than help the militia find worthy subjects with a minimum of collateral damage to act as test subjects for their research into a cure. After the tensions die down, Cooper tries explaining himself to Lilly but she doesn't give him any chance to speak. He guiltily hangs around Bryce fidgeting like a child who's been sent to the principle's office.

Almost six months later, the Atlanta Medical Center is attacked by Tommy and the Sixteenth Street IKEA group. Unaware of who the attackers are, Cooper tries to save some of the captured survivors from Moreland like Haddie Kenworth and Joel. The building becomes overrun with walkers so Cooper steals some car keys from a zombified Daniels' pocket in the control group room. He then fights his way down to the motor pool in the sublevels and finds the vehicle the keys correspond to. He almost makes it inside the Humvee when Bryce catches and shoots him three times in the back, with one bullet catching his lung. Cooper manages to start the truck and barely escape with his life. Shortly after, he runs into a now awake Lilly Caul and Dr. Nalls who are surrounded by walkers outside. He pulls up and saves them, explaining to Lilly what happened inside as they find a way out of downtown Atlanta through Grant Park. Cooper almost passes out several times during the drive and bites the inside of his cheek to stay conscious. He's aware he's going to die and uses the time to tell Lilly why he always thought she was dangerous: because she gives people hope, and never gives up. He then passes out on the wheel, sending the Humvee out of control and hurdling down a side street at 30 miles per hour. The truck crashes and the engine dies, the commotion attracts a swarm of walkers to the survivors. Cooper quietly mutters his last words before dying. Lilly almost involuntarily raises her knife and stabs Cooper in the head just above his ear to prevent reanimation.

Death[]

Killed By

While Cooper is climbing into a Humvee to escape the Medical Center, Bryce finds and shoots him three times in the back with one bullet catching his lung. Cooper escapes and slowly succumbs to internal bleeding.

Lilly stabs him in the head to prevent reanimation.

Killed Victims[]

This list shows the victims Cooper has killed:

Appearances[]

Novel Series[]

Search and Destroy[]

Novels 1 2 3 4 5
Rise of the Governor
The Road to Woodbury
The Fall of the Governor
Descent
Invasion
Search and Destroy
Return to Woodbury
Appears Voice is heard
👁 Appears with no lines Appears in a flashback
Appears as a walker 🖼 Appears in a photograph/video
Appears as a corpse Appears in a hallucination/dream

Trivia[]

  • It's implied Cooper has diabetes.

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