The Walking Dead Season 4: 7 Huge Contrivances That Led To Great Scenes

6. Late-Night Buffet (4.2, "Infected")

After coming down with an illness and dying, young Patrick reanimates and finds his way to the cell block where half of the other survivors are peacefully sleeping. As is the wont of Walkers, Patrick immediately begins attacking people in their cells, going for the exposed throat for an easy (and silent) kill. By the time that the sun rises and somebody actually notices the undead adolescent ravaging the cell block, Zombie Patrick has created a few more like himself. Screams echo through the prison, and panic spreads in the block as everybody tries to escape. Fortunately, the cavalry races in to save the day, with Daryl shooting his crossbow backwards to rescue a little boy and Glenn showing some serious machete skills. The scene is frantic and exhilarating and a necessary reminder that nowhere is ever completely safe in the zombie apocalypse. Of course, this particular place really ought to have been a little safer. The entire point of the prison was that the bars protected the inhabitants from outside threats, but only the sleepwalker had bothered to even shut the door of his cell. The others just hung bolts of cloth and shower curtains. Even if they didn't want to risk ending up locked in a cell without a key, they could have at least shut the individual doors. There's also the fact that no one was bothering to keep watch inside of the prison at night. Glenn and Maggie were evidently in charge of watching the perimeter fences, but the cell blocks were woefully unsupervised. Not only was there the possibility that any person could take ill and die at any time, as Patrick did, but the former Woodbury residents now living in the prison were largely those who had been too old to join in the Governor's attack in Season 3. Even with the safety of the walls and fences, there were always natural causes that could easily carry off the older folks in the night.