Major spoilers for The Walking Dead season 8 mid-season finale, “How It’s Gotta Be.”

After stepping up to protect Alexandria from an explosive attack by a retaliatory Negan and the Saviors, a wounded and feverish Carl has reconnected with Rick, Michonne and the other survivors in the sewers beneath a devastated Alexandria.

Rick sees Siddiq — the man he scared off with warning shots in 8×01 — in the corner of the sewer.

“I brought him here,” Carl says. “That’s when it happened.”

Carl lifts his shirt, revealing a bite on his mid-section. They all know what this means: Carl is going to die.

During the Savior’s raid on Alexandria, the idyllic suburban community became a battlefield. Carl narrowly evaded the Saviors’ grenades and the resulting explosions, eventually posting up on a porch.

An exhausted Carl winced in pain, from injuries sustained during the Savior’s siege as well as a bite we now know he incurred while lending a hand to lone survivor Siddiq.

Carl bonded with Siddiq over shared sentiments of their deceased mothers. Siddiq has put down more than 200 walkers as a means to honor his mother, who believed doing so would “free their souls.”

The pair of experienced walker killers teamed up to put down a pack of walkers feasting on a felled beast — only to be surprised and overwhelmed by more walkers that emerged from the woods.

As Carl struggled with a walker gnawing at his face — eventually shooting it in the head — another walker went for a bite of Carl’s midsection.

Though all appeared well at the time, the mid-season finale revealed Carl was bit in 8×06, “The King, The Widow, and Rick.”

“If you care, you do something. You don’t just hope. It takes more than that,” Carl says in 8×08, a flashback to the earliest moments of the season 8 opener, “Mercy,” that saw the one-eyed teen come across and show goodwill to Siddiq. “There’s gotta be something after the fight’s over.”

“Not for everyone,” Rick says. He wants Negan dead.

“What about for you?” Carl asks. “You’re gonna live, dad,” Carl says, adding there needs to be “something more than just killing other people.”

“Finding someway forward, that’s harder,” Carl says. “That’s something more. That’s how it’s gotta be.”

Carl’s words will be etched into Rick Grimes‘ memory forever — they’re among the last the father and son will ever exchange.

Carl Grimes is going to die. That’s how it’s gotta be.

The Walking Dead returns with its season 8 mid-season premiere in February.

The Walking DeadSunday at 9PM EST on AMC

The Walking DeadSunday at 9PM EST on AMC

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