Season 1

Complete listed story — includes the ending

S1E1 · Days Gone Bye

Sheriff's Deputy Rick Grimes is shot on duty and enters a coma, awakening to a post-apocalyptic world. He meets survivor Morgan Jones and his son Duane, who explain the pandemic that changed people into undead monsters they call "walkers." Morgan's wife, Jenny, was bitten and resurrected but Morgan let her go. Rick cleans out the firearms cage at the police station and sets out with a gun bag. He gifts Morgan a rifle to put down Jenny, but Morgan can't gather the strength. Rick departs for a safezone in Atlanta to find his wife Lori and son Carl, unaware that they are safe with his partner and best friend Shane. Rick finds Atlanta filled with walkers and gets trapped inside a tank. Alone and losing hope, Rick hears a voice on the radio.

S1E2 · Guts

Shane leads a camp outside Atlanta and, believing Rick to be dead, has entered a relationship with Lori. Meanwhile, Rick is rescued by Glenn, the man on the radio. Rick meets Glenn's entrapped group, including Andrea, Merle, and T-Dog. When Merle jeopardizes the group's safety, Rick restrains him and masterminds an escape. He and Glenn pose as walkers, safely wade through the horde in the street, and return to rescue the group. In the chaos, Merle and the gun bag are abandoned.

S1E3 · Tell It to the Frogs

Trapped on the rooftop, Merle begins losing his sanity. Rick and the others arrive at Shane's camp, where he reunites with Lori and Carl and meets the other survivors, including Dale, Jim, and Carol. Lori warns Shane to avoid her and Carl, believing that he lied about Rick's death to take his place. Angry, Shane brutally beats Ed, Carol's abusive husband. Rick feels guilty and leads Glenn and Merle's younger brother Daryl back to Atlanta on a rescue mission. They discover a bloody saw and Merle's severed hand.

S1E4 · Vatos

Inspired by a forgotten dream, Jim digs dozens of graves. In Atlanta, Daryl finds evidence that Merle cauterized his wound and fled. Meanwhile, Glenn is captured by a Latino gang. After a shootout nearly ensues, Rick learns that the gang is protecting seniors in a nursing home and gifts them several weapons. Jim reveals that walkers ate his family. That night, walkers attack the camp. Rick, Daryl, and Glenn return and kill them, but are too late to prevent losses, including Andrea 's sister Amy. Jim remembers his dream.

S1E5 · Wildfire

After burying their dead, Shane blames Rick for leaving the camp vulnerable to attack. Jim reveals that he was bitten, spreading panic within the group. Rick proposes moving to the CDC, hopeful of a cure, but Shane is opposed. While they debate privately in the woods, Shane considers shooting Rick, but thinks better of it and conforms to Rick's plan. They leave Jim, who wants to join his family as a walker, and arrive at the CDC. Rick pleads for help and the door opens.

S1E6 · TS-19

In a flashback, Shane genuinely attempts to rescue Rick from the hospital but mistakenly presumes him dead and flees. In the present, Shane gets drunk and tries to explain this to Lori, but sexually assaults her when she resists. The group enters the CDC and meet Dr. Edwin Jenner, the only scientist left. Jenner reveals the brain scan of an infected patient, dubbed TS-19, showing the disease to be incurable. Jenner locks the group inside and reveals that the building will self-detonate. After losing his wife, the subject of the brain scan, Jenner nihilistically believes that suicide is best. Rick learns a secret from Jenner and persuades him to let them escape. Andrea and Jacqui stay behind but Dale convinces Andrea to leave with him. Jenner and Jacqui await a painless death while Rick leads the group on.