Episode 1 of *The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon* Season 3 opens with Daryl and Carol emerging in London after traversing the Chunnel. The city lies eerily silent—no people, no walkers in sight. Daryl, weary from the endless cycle of flight and combat, admits he’s tired of merely surviving. Carol, equally drained, confesses her longing to return home. Amid the desolation, she discovers a can of hotdogs but insists on saving it for a moment worth celebrating.
Their first encounter with a horde erupts in a narrow Westminster alley, the thunderous footsteps of the undead echoing off the stone. They barely escape by ducking into a lavish, abandoned apartment, where they remain trapped for two harrowing days. Supplies dwindle, and Carol grows somber, convinced the lone can of hotdogs might mark their final meal.
A flicker of hope appears—a glass mirror reflecting sunlight in a coded pattern. They dismiss it as coincidence until Julian Chamberlain materializes, food in hand. The last Englishman alive, he’s survived by scavenging rooftop to rooftop, his chatter bubbling with enthusiasm after years of isolation. He owns a boat but lacks the crew to sail it. Desperate, Carol and Daryl convince him to set course for America, Carol lying with practiced ease: “We’re sailors.”
At dawn, Julian devises a daring plan: using Big Ben’s chimes to lure walkers away, creating a path to the docks. Momentary doubt flickers across his face, but Daryl claps him on the shoulder. “You’ll do great,” he vows.
The scene shifts to the open ocean. Daryl’s mind wanders to his past, to Laurent, and he prays the boy survived. Carol, her grief for her daughter’s death now softened, finds solace in the unknown ahead. Even Julian reflects, realizing he’d spent years preparing for the apocalypse only to let life slip away unlived—a regret he vows not to carry to his grave.
The horizon stretches endless, their fates adrift on the tides of hope and redemption.
Tragedy strikes as a ferocious storm descends upon them, and in the chaos, Julian sustains a grievous blow to the head. Despite Daryl and Carol's frantic efforts to help, fate deals a cruel hand. They soon find themselves shipwrecked, cast adrift upon the treacherous waters off the Spanish coast. Julian, once their companion, has now succumbed to the walker plague, and Daryl, with a heavy heart, is forced to end his undead friend's existence.
Meanwhile, Carol battles a raging fever, her wound festering and infected. Seeking refuge from the elements, the battered duo takes shelter on a desolate beach. But their respite is short-lived, as a band of ruthless riders descends upon their meager haven, pillaging their boat and leaving them with nothing but the scant provisions they carry.
Desperation gnaws at their bellies, driving them to venture into the dense woods in search of sustenance. There, they stumble upon a labyrinth of traps, cunningly laid to ensnare the undead. Establishing a makeshift base near a babbling river, they attempt to regroup. Carol, weakened by her concussion, hovers on the brink of unconsciousness. To keep her tethered to the world of the living, Daryl weaves tales of Isabelle, of how she had once pulled him from the depths of despair when he had all but given up. Together, they forge a pact, vowing never to succumb to the darkness that threatens to consume them.
As dawn breaks the following morning, Daryl sets out to hunt, his senses alert for any sign of danger. But when he returns to their base, his heart sinks—Carol is nowhere to be found.
