10 Scariest Episodes Of The Walking Dead (So Far)
2. A (Season 4, Episode 16)
The second half of The Walking Dead's fourth season sees the Survivors scattered following The Governor's final attack on the prison. During this time, Carol and Tyreese have had to deal with a psychopathic child, Daryl has bonded with and then lost Beth, and Rick has spent a long time recovering from his personal defeat at the hands of The Governor.
As Rick, Michonne and Carl make their way to Terminus, hoping to reunite with anyone else who survived the prison attack, they are ambushed by The Claimers, a group Rick briefly encountered earlier in the season.
Wanting retribution for the death of one of their own, Claimer leader Joe threatens to assault Carl and Michonne before killing them all, and has his new companion Daryl beaten for intervening.
In one of the show's most iconic and grisly moments, Rick breaks free from Joe's grasp and tears out his throat with his teeth. He, Michonne and Daryl then kill the rest of the group, undoubtedly scarring Carl more than he already was.
It's a horrible and terrifying series of events, perfectly capturing the extent people will go to survive and protect their own, and is made even more traumatising when they're captured by the cannibalistic Terminus gang at the episode's end.
On the plus side, this is the first episode where Rick calls Daryl his "brother," so it's not all bad...