‘18 Miles Out’ with a discussion of the future on the Walking Dead

The beginning of ’18 Miles Out’ starts with chaos and a glimpse of the future showing a bloody Shane running from Walkers. He makes his way to a school bus and tries to close the door as more and more Walkers try to get in. Then the title sequence starts.

This episode appears to be a few days or maybe a week or two after Triggerfinger. Rick and Shane are on their drive out of town, as they look for a place to dump Randal, the young shooter who is now in the back of their trunk waiting to be released somewhere. Rick drives out on the road the talk to Shane about Otis, Lori, and their brief romance when Rick was still looking for them in Atlanta. He tries to lay out the guidelines if they are to continue a friendship, and thanks Shane for keeping them safe, and Shane say that they kept him alive during the chaos. He also apologizes for leaving Rick in the hospital, and explained how the soldiers there were killing everyone, not just the Walkers. After this conversation, Rick checks on Randal, who is in the trunk bound, gagged, blind-folded, and has earphones on blasting music so he can’t see or hear anything regarding the farm’s location in case he catches up with his group.

After discussing ideas on how to survive in the long run, Rick continues to drive as Shane looks out the window and spots a lone walker walking through a field. They arrive to a town and Rick wants to scavenge up some items so Randal has a fair chance to be on his own.


Back on the farm, Maggie's sister is being delivered food by Lori when she comments on Lori's pregnancy, stating that this world with Walkers isn't a good environment to live in anymore. After not eating anything on the plate she was given, the younger Greene daughter takes a knife from the plate when Lori leaves the room. After returning the plate to the kitchen, Lori notices the knife is gone and goes up to take it back, while also looking for Maggie or Hershel so they can talk to the girl.

She finds Maggie and leads her to confront her sister, then she goes back downstairs and her and Andrea have an interesting conversation about the gender roles and responsibilities around the farm. Lori is upset with Andrea that she doesn't clean or do laundry, where Andrea argues that she is better at keeping watch and protecting the farm. She then tells Lori that she has it better than any other woman because her core family is still intact, whereas everyone else has lost a good amount of people. Andrea then tells her it must be nice to have a "Husband, son, baby on the way and boyfriend" – referring to her time with Shane. They also argue that Maggie's sister should choose herself if she wants to live in this world or not.

When Maggie tires a bit, Andrea relieves her and talks to the younger sister, telling her she should choose on her own. Andrea leaves the room, and Maggie and Lori find the bathroom door locked, with the girl inside with broken glass. Crying and bleeding, but alive, the girl decides to live. Maggie looks for Andrea and is furious – telling her she's no longer allowed inside the house.

After scoping out the area, Rick and Shane drop Randal on the road and begin to walk away. Randal begins pleading to go with them, and says he went to school with Maggie. This alerts both men and they go back to him, and now are conflicted since he may know where the farm is now. Shane wants to ease this problem and tries to shoot him, but is stopped by Rick. Shane says Rick can't protect them, and this ignites the fight we've been waiting for.

After duking it out for a few minutes, Shane throws a wrench at Rick, which hits a window of a building – which contains all the Walkers from the start of the show. They both manage to run from them, and even Randal is able to kill one despite being tied up. Randal meets up with Rick to help, and they both leave while Shane is still trapped, but quickly return to save him.

Important note I noticed about this episode: There were two Walkers they were sheriffs that Rick and Shane kill. Rick wanted to focus on using knifes so ammo could be spared, and after killing them, Shane notices that they weren't bit. They realize that scratches can turn you too. After leaving from that intense moment with the walkers, Shane spots the lone walker once again. What does that mean?