WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for The Walking Dead: World Beyond, Episode 2, "The Blaze of Gory," which aired Sunday on AMC.
In its premiere episode, The Walking Dead: World Beyond introduces viewers to its four main teenaged characters: Hope, Iris, Elton and Silas. Over the course of the episode, Hope and Iris discover that their father, Leo, may be in danger. Just why isn't clear, but he's been living in New York state and working with the Civic Republic Military, who proved themselves very dangerous in the premiere. As a result of the messages they receive from him, Hope and Iris leave the Campus Colony for New York to find Leo, with Elton and Silas tagging along. The second episode of the series, "The Blaze of Gory," sees them out in the real world, and the struggle is definitely real.
At the end of the premiere, Iris looked ready to put down a zombie. However, at the start of "The Blaze of Gory," she struggles immensely, and the group is forced to incapacitate the undead threat by pushing it into a drainage area. Later, they again struggle to take down two zombies, one of which is filled with bees. Over the course of the episode, they're nearly killed several times, only managing to escape by the skin of their teeth, and are unable to put their zombie attackers down. This leads to them opting to follow the advice they got in self-defense class and avoid the undead entirely.
Soon, they spot a massive fire on the horizon, which they call the "Blaze of Gory." Generally assumed to be the product of a huge tire fire, the Blaze of Gory lures zombies in the surrounding area to it, helping keep the Campus Colony safe from the undead. Elton proposes that they go through the Blaze of Gory, since going around would take too much time and likely result in them getting caught by Felix and Huck, who are in pursuit. Once through, they'll be able to get to an airfield that Iris believes is fenced in and thus free from zombies.
Initially, their plan goes well, but once they get deeper into the Blaze of Gory, they realize it's much larger than they thought, and there are zombies in the airfield, meaning it's not clear. As night starts, Elton proposes that someone use a tornado siren to lure zombies to them, thus allowing others to pass freely. While he knows that it's risky, he believes that person can get through fine. However, Iris refuses to potentially sacrifice someone. As the episode concludes, Hope opts to head off on her own, presumably to activate the siren, while Elton, Iris and Silas are asleep.
Hope has something of a death wish as a result of the trauma she suffered on the "Night the Sky Fell" when she watched Elton's mother kill her own mother and then shot her in retaliation. It's pretty unlikely Hope is going to die this soon into the series, and the fact she's been leaving clues for Felix and Huck to follow means World Beyond has a pretty easy way to save the teenagers when things go wrong. Still, there's a good chance whatever happens in World Beyond's third episode is going to really test the four teenagers and teach them that, eventually, they're going to have to adjust to what the apocalypse is really like.
Created by Scott Gimple, Robert Kirkman and Matt Negrete, The Walking Dead: World Beyond stars Aliyah Royale, Alexa Mansour, Annet Mahendru, Nicolas Cantu, Hal Cumpston and Nico Tortorella. The series debuts Oct. 4 at 10 p.m. ET on AMC.