- "What Lies Ahead"
Shane was still envious of Rick and Lori's relationship, and was still willing to go to extreme measures to protect Lori. Rick assumed the post of leader of the group. They decided to take Shane's idea to leave Atlanta and head to Fort Benning, 125 miles away from the city. During the travel, Shane was teaching Andrea how to clean her gun when the group was forced to stop as the highway was blocked with several parked and crashed vehicles. Dale, who was driving the RV, decided to try to find a way through, but the radiator was blown, forcing them to stop. They decided to scavenge supplies from the vehicles so that they could find something to fix the RV. A herd of more than thirty walkers approached their location, forcing everyone to hide under the cars as the herd passes by. Sophia was suddenly attacked by two walkers and ran into the forest, with Rick going after her. Shane and the rest stayed put until Rick returned a few minutes later. He asks if Sophia is back, but nobody had seen her: Sophia was lost in the woods.
As Shane, Rick, Daryl and Glenn investigated the last place where Sophia was seen, Daryl was able to find her trail. Rick ordered Shane and Glenn to get back to the highway and distract the group with simple tasks, like moving the cars out of the way so that the RV could pass. While doing so, Carl approached Shane, showing that he found a Gerber Gear inside one of the cars, Shane angrily told Carl to take it to Dale. Lori approached, telling Shane not to be rude with Carl because of what happened between them. Shane revealed that he had decided to split away from the group at the first chance he gets. Rick and Daryl returned as the night falls. They decided that they would continue the search for Sophia by the morning, taking more people with them. The following day, Shane accompanied the group as they continued to track Sophia deeper into the woods. They found a tent in the middle of the forest, but no signs of Sophia anywhere near it. A bell began to ring nearby. The group decided to follow the sound, and they soon found a church. Yet again, no signs of Sophia. The sound of the bell was actually on a timer.
While Rick and the others were praying inside the church, Lori tried to convince Shane not to leave the group. Andrea overheard the conversation and told Shane that if he left, he needed to take her with him. Shane stayed with Rick and Carl to continue the search a little longer as the others went back to the highway. The three find a deer and Rick tells Carl to go touch it. As Carl approached it, they all heard a loud gun shot, and saw a bullet going through the deer and hitting Carl's chest.
- "Bloodletting"
Rick ran with a unconscious Carl in his arms. Shane dragged Otis (the man who accidentally shot Carl) along as they reached the Greene family farm to get Carl medical help. While Hershel Greene and his daughters attended to Carl's wound, Shane comforted Rick over his distraught. They learned that Hershel needed medical supplies so that he could remove the bullet fragments and close the bleeding, or Carl would soon die from blood loss. Rick volunteered to find the necessary supplies, but was replaced by Shane, who told Rick that he needs to stay put for Carl. Otis also volunteered to go with Shane, trying to redeem himself to Rick and Carl. The two got in Otis' truck and departed. As the night fell, Otis and Shane found the FEMA shelter in the entrance of a local high school overrun with walkers. They created a distraction to retrieve supplies from a nearby trailer, but are discovered by the walkers as they exit, and were forced to seek refuge inside the high school as walkers storm their location.
- "Save the Last One"
Shane and Otis sprinted through the hallways with numerous walkers in hot pursuit, and were forced to seek refuge on top of a set of retracted bleachers in the gymnasium. With not enough ammo to deal with the walkers outright, Otis devised an escape plan, saying that he would run back into the halls to attract the walkers while Shane made his way out through a small window. When Shane called Otis crazy, Otis told him that he is just trying to do what's right for Carl. The two split up. Shane ended up spraining his ankle when he dropped from the window of the gymnasium.
Outside and limping, Shane grew desperate as walkers begin to corner him, but got help from Otis, who managed to survive the halls full of walkers, despite Shane objections and telling Otis to leave him behind to save Carl. They ran back to the truck. With Shane limping and Otis exhausted, Shane noticed that they were not going to make it, as the walkers were closing in on them. Flashing forward, a solemn Shane returned to the farm just in time with the medical supplies and without Otis. He mentioned that Otis acted heroically, letting the walkers get him so that Shane could escape alive. Everyone praises him, including Lori. Hershel was able to save Carl's life thanks to the medical supplies.
Inside the house, Shane watched as Hershel and Rick comforted Patricia over the loss of her husband, Otis. Shane checked in on Carl, as Lori told him not to leave the group. Maggie Greene approached Shane, giving him clean clothes, saying that they were Otis'. In the bathroom, Shane stands naked in front of a mirror, he sees a bloody cut on his scalp, evidence of some kind of struggle. Staring in the mirror, Shane flashed back to the moment when he and Otis were running for their lives.
Shane noticed that the walkers would eventually overtake them both, which effectively would doom Carl's fate. He stops running and shoots Otis with his last bullet to cover his escape. As Otis drops to the pavement, a brutal fight ensues as Shane tries to strip Otis of his weapons and supplies. During the struggle, Otis managed to rip off some of Shane's hair, explaining the cut on his scalp. Walkers close in and Shane limps away as Otis screams in terror and pain while the walkers rip him apart. Back to the present, Shane shaves his head to disguise the evidence of his betrayal and struggle with Otis. He stares darkly at his reflection in the bathroom mirror.
- "Cherokee Rose"
Shane soon finds himself in an awkward position when he is asked to speak on behalf of Otis at his funeral, as he was the last one to see him alive. With Patricia's sorrowful, tear-filled eyes fixated on him, Shane conjures up a heroic tale of Otis saying "We gotta save the boy," and intentionally putting himself in harm's way for the greater good. Shane's tale, of course, contrasts with the fact that Otis had not willingly given himself up, but instead was betrayed and left for dead. The group is allowed to stay in the farm as Carl heals from the gunshot and they still need to find the missing Sophia. Later, Shane participates in the operation to retrieve a walker from the bottom of a well, which goes awry when the walker disintegrates under its own weight, contaminating the well. Shane is also seen continuing tutoring Andrea on firearms, as the two start to form a bond.
- "Chupacabra"
The survivors continue the search for Sophia, and Shane participates despite his still-ailing ankle and internal conflicts. While him and Rick search through the forest, he begins to display signs of his deteriorating moral values to fellow survivors when he disagrees with Rick about continuing the search for Sophia, arguing that Rick lacks the ability to make the right decisions when those decisions are also difficult. After returning from the search, Shane opens a similar discussion with Lori, but receives little support as Lori is in support of her husband, saying that she and Carl are not his problem, nor his 'excuse.'
Later on, Andrea spots a walker approaching the farm, everyone is alerted and prepared to go kill it, when in fact they discover it was Daryl, covered in mud and blood after an accident with Hershel's horse. Andrea didn't notice it was him though, and shoots him anyway, grazing Daryl with a bullet. Rick and Shane helps Daryl back to the house and get him medical attention from Hershel. Daryl reveals that he found Sophia's doll by the river, giving Rick even more hope of finding Sophia, but Shane tells Lori that he believes that Rick is going to get someone killed with this search. Shane and the others are later seen at the awkward dinner at Hershel's house. The Atlanta group and Hershel's family don't seem to be forming a good relationship with each other.
- "Secrets"
Shane gets Hershel's permission to do some gun practice with the group and some members of the Greene Family. Carl approaches Shane and asks him to teach him how to shoot too. At first Lori is opposed but Rick convinces her to let Shane teach Carl. At the training, most of the group does fairly well, and Andrea seems to excel. Shane gives her some private tutoring after the rest of the group head back to the farmhouse. Shane is an expert instructor, but while trying to distract Andrea as part of the lesson, he mentions Amy's death and upsets her. They make up as part of an agreement that Shane is to take Andrea with him on a mission to investigate a lead on Sophia, she accepts and they go on to search some houses in a small neighborhood called Wiltshire Estates.
The lead is a dead end, but turns out to be an opportunity for Shane to administer one final shooting lesson - a live exercise with walkers. Andrea struggles to find a groove at first, but transforms her fear into sheer determination, and the pair of them make the heads of all nearby walkers splatter their crimson contents onto the pavement. Exhilarated, Andrea makes a move on Shane on the ride back and the two have sex in the car. Back at camp, the secret of Shane and Lori is revealed to Rick, though it is not clear at this point if Shane or Rick is the father of Lori's baby. On returning, Dale notices the strange behavior of Andrea as she talks to Shane. Feeling worried for Andrea, Dale confronts Shane by saying "I know the kind of man you are." He furthermore tells Shane to leave the group for good, bringing up the suspicious nature of Otis' death, as well as Shane's attempted "assassination" of Rick that Dale witnessed back in the Atlanta camp. This results in Shane threatening Dale's life.
- "Pretty Much Dead Already"
During breakfast, Shane and the group finds out from Glenn that there are walkers locked in the barn. Rick is concerned about their safety, he wants to talk to Hershel about this, but Shane suggests that they open the barn and kill every single walker. After calming everyone down, Rick convinces the group to wait for him to negotiate with Hershel. Shane insists having a guard watching the barn at all times until Rick can find a diplomatic solution, but his patience for diplomacy is quickly depleted. After a failed attempt to convince Hershel to let them stay, Rick and Shane argue at the barn and Shane has lost almost all confidence in Rick's decision-making abilities. Rick tells Shane that simply leaving the farm isn't an option, and that Lori is pregnant.
After Rick leaves, Shane confronts Lori saying that he is the father of the baby, but she says that the baby will never be his, even if it is his biologically. Shane tells her that only he can protect her and Carl because Rick isn't cut out for this world, he blames Rick for the death of Amy, Jim and many others back at the Atlanta Camp while Rick was risking his life trying to save a drug dealer. Shane walks away and is stopped by Carl. Carl tells him that they have to go after Sophia and that they have to stay at the farm. Shane agrees, but tells Carl they may have to fight for it. Lori calls to Carl to get him away from Shane. Immediately, Shane goes to the RV to get the bag of guns, only to find them missing, Glenn tells Shane that Dale asked him to get some water, but when he came back, Dale wasn't there anymore. Shane deduces that Dale is responsible for the disappearance of the guns, he tracks Dale down into the forest and finds him hiding the bag under a tree. Shane once again threatens Dale's life, ordering him to give the bag of guns back, Dale asks if Shane is going to do to him the same thing he did to Otis, Shane says that they don't need that, since Dale is "pretty much dead already". Dale tells Shane that he belongs to this world as it is and gives him the bag.
Shane returns to the farm with weapons and begins rallying the troops in opposition of Hershel's harboring walkers. In the distance, Hershel and Rick are returning with two captured walkers. The sight is enough to send the already seething Shane over the edge. To Hershel's horror, Shane repeatedly shoots one of the captured walkers to illustrate that it is not human. Spurred by Rick, Shane finishes the walker off with a bullet in the head point-blank. He then says that if they want to survive, they have to 'fight for it,' and furiously opens the barn doors. Rick can't do anything about it, since he is holding another walker. Shane and the other survivors massacre the walkers as they file out of the barn, Shane also shoots down the walker Rick is holding. As the Greene Family watches in horror, a last walker leaves the barn, and it's the reanimated Sophia. Everyone is shocked and saddened, including Shane himself. Rick realizes what has to be done, so he gets his gun, points it at Sophia's head and pulls the trigger.
- "Nebraska"
As the Greene Family and friends walk back to the house, Shane accuses Hershel of knowing about Sophia's whereabouts, but Hershel denies knowing that she was in the barn, speculating that Otis had put her there before he died, and angrily orders the Survivors to leave the farm. Rick ridicules Shane for his actions, but Shane mocks Rick's failed diplomacy with Hershel, and criticizes his decision to continue the search for Sophia. Tensions worsen between Shane and Dale as Shane asks what Dale does to protect the camp but Dale doesn't reply, then Shane mocks Dale, saying that next time he needs a radiator hose he will go to him. Everyone, except Carol, attends to the funeral of Sophia, Annette Greene and Shawn Greene. Shane is washing up at a water pump when Carol emerges from the forest, muddy and scratched. Shane cleans her cuts and apologizes for what happened to Sophia. He also states that if he knew Sophia was in there he would have never opened it and he was only thinking about the safety of his fellow survivors. After Beth Greene goes into shock. The group discovers that Hershel is gone and finding his flask in his bedroom, Maggie suggests that he is at a local bar in town. Rick and Glenn decide to look for him. Shane once again criticizes Rick's action with Lori, saying that they are wasting time going after Hershel. As the night falls, Shane and T-Dog burn down the corpses of the walkers from the barn.
- "Triggerfinger"
While having dinner at the house, the group finds out that Lori is missing. Daryl tells the group that she must've gone to look for Rick herself at the town, in which Shane immediately goes to find Lori. He arrives at a crash site, and all he finds is two walkers Lori had killed. He eventually drives further on and finds Lori still heading into town despite her accident. Shane lies to Lori and says that Rick has already returned to get her to return to the farm. When they return, Lori finds out that Shane lied. She confronts him but he defends himself to the group, saying he was only protecting the baby, revealing to everyone, including Carl, that Lori is pregnant. After Lori is patched up, Shane has a calm conversation with her, saying that what they had before Rick came back was real, and that he knows that the baby is his. The group also starts to notice that Shane is becoming severely unhinged.
By the morning, Rick still hadn't returned. Shane, Andrea, and Daryl are preparing to go search for them when they arrive back at the farm, bringing a captive, Randall. The group argues on what to do with Randall. Rick says they will fix him up and than drop him off to defend himself, but Shane thinks that he will tell his group where the farm is and this will start a war. Hershel reminds Shane that it is his farm and while he is there he needs to keep his mouth shut. Outside, Shane and Andrea discuss what the group should do about Randall. Shane tells her that they are the only people that notice how Rick and Hershel's actions are going to get the whole group killed, and they can't stand there watching and let this happen.
- "18 Miles Out"
One week after the events of the previous episode, Rick and Shane drive down a country road. Rick stops the car short of their destination — 18 miles away from the farm — to confront Shane: Rick knows what happened with Otis, and he knows about Shane's affair with Lori. Rick then confides in Shane that when he first figured out about Shane's affair with Lori that he was extremely angry with Shane and wanted to break Shane's jaw and let him "Choke on his teeth". Rick asks Shane if he believes Rick is unable to keep his family safe. "You can't just be the good guy and expect to live," Shane replies, "That is my wife, that is my son, that is my unborn child," Rick says. He would do anything for them. Rick opens the SUV to check on Randall, who's bound, gagged and blindfolded in the trunk.
Back on the road, Rick makes plans for the coming winter, explaining that they have to conserve ammunition and stockpile food. Shane listens passively, staring out the window at a lone walker ambling through a field. Rick drives past the 18-mile mark, looking to leave Randall somewhere he'll have a chance. He pulls up to a public works station surrounded by a fence. A walker in a police uniform approaches. Shane draws his gun but Rick stops him. Rick cuts his finger and wipes blood on the fence. When the walker presses his face against it, Rick stabs it in the head. "Gun's quick, easy," Rick says, "but there are other ways to do this." A second walker in uniform approaches, and Shane follows suit.
After checking if the place is secure, Rick siphons gas as Shane examines the policeman's bodies, noticing they haven't been bitten. Rick points to scratches that likely caused their transformation. Shane and Rick drag Randall to the pavement. Rick drops a knife on the ground as he and Shane walk away, Randall begs them not to abandon him, trying to explain he's a normal guy. "I went to school with Maggie for God's sake!" he screams. Shane and Rick freeze. "He knows where the farm is," Shane speculates, drawing his gun. Rick tackles Shane as he pulls the trigger, forcing Shane to miss Randall. Rick argues he needs time to think about what to do. Shane counters that Randall could lead his people to the farm and accuses Rick of putting Lori and Carl in danger by sparing him. "I don't think you can keep them safe," Shane concludes. The two best friends begin brawling. Shane topples a motorcycle onto Rick, briefly trapping him. He goes to Randall and aims his gun, but Rick tackles Shane before he can fire. Rick and Shane tussle and then Rick punches Shane several times in the face, beating him into submission. Rick yells at Shane telling him that he won't make any decisions for the group anymore. Frustrated, Shane grabs a wrench and hurls it at Rick. Rick dodges the wrench but it goes through a building window which causes dozens of walkers to begin pouring out through the broken window. Rick hides under a corpse as Shane flees the onslaught.
Without his gun that he lost while fighting Rick, Shane barricades himself in a school bus against the walkers. As Shane looks through the window, he notices Rick and Randall abandoning him, leaving him for the dead. Shane decides to use Rick's strategy from earlier, he cuts his hand and wipes the blood on the side of the door, as walkers press their faces against the blood, Shane stabs them in the head.
He eventually loses his knife, losing ground to the walkers, when the SUV bursts through a nearby gate. As Randall drives, Rick leans out the window telling Shane to run to the back of the bus as he shoots the walkers. Shane does so and dives into the SUV, the three finally escape the public station. Back on the road, Shane and Rick restrain Randall and toss him in the trunk once again. Alone, Rick admits he'll likely kill Randall — but he's still going to think it over. "That is my wife, that is my son, that is my child," Rick repeats. "You wanna be with us, you gotta follow my lead." Rick returns Shane's gun to him. "It's time for you to come back," Rick says. While driving back to the farm, Shane watches as the same walker seen previously is still ambling through a field.
- "Judge, Jury, Executioner"
Daryl reports to the rest of the group that Randall's group is well armed and in large number. Rick declares Randall a threat, and that he must be killed. From inside the slaughter shed, Randall overhears Shane approaching with Carl. Carl is curious about the prisoner, but Shane insists he let the grown-ups handle it. Shane asks Andrea, who's standing guard outside, if she would stop him if he were to try to shoot Randall. She insists she would. Shane shares his suspicion that Rick won't be able to go through with the execution. "Every time we have a problem around here," he says, "who do you think is behind it?". Meanwhile, Carl watches Randall from the rafters of the slaughter shed. Randall notices him. "I didn't do nothin", Randall tells Carl, begging to be set free. Carl slowly starts walking toward Randall, but is halted when Shane enters. Shane shoves a gun in Randall's face and drags Carl out of the shed. "Quit trying to get yourself killed," Shane scolds. Later on, Dale approaches Shane and tries to convince him to spare Randall. Shane gives Dale credit for the effort, and says that if Dale convinces the others, he'll go along with it. "But I'm telling you now," Shane warns Dale that he is wrong.
By the sunset, the group is united inside the house to decide if killing Randall is their final decision. Shane says he believes they need to kill him, but he won't have a problem if they decide to let him live. However, only Dale and Andrea are against the idea of executing Randall. A disgusted Dale says that the group is broken and leaves the house. As the night falls, Rick, Shane and Daryl bring Randall to the barn and put him on his knees. Rick asks if he has any final words. Randall cries, begging for his life. As Rick raises his gun, Carl enters the barn. "Do it, Dad," he says. Shocked, Rick lowers his gun and orders that Randall be taken away. Shane storms out of the barn. While reuniting at the camp, the group hears screams coming from the field and everybody runs to investigate what it is. Daryl gets to the scene first, where a walker is on top of Dale, tearing into his stomach. Daryl stabs the walker in the head, then shouts for help. Dale's intestines are spilling out of his body. He goes into shock. When Hershel arrives, Rick asks for him to save Dale, but he reports that Dale can't be saved. Shane encourages Rick to shoot Dale and put him out of his misery, but Rick can't go through with it, so Daryl is the one that shoots Dale out of mercy.
- "Better Angels"
Shane attends Dale's funeral. He later goes into the fields with Daryl, Andrea and T-Dog as they viciously beat walkers to death. Rick then later tells Shane to watch over everyone at the farm while he and Daryl leave to cut Randall loose. Shane doesn't fully agree with Ricks plan of letting Randall go. Rick then tells Shane, "This is what's happening. Swallow it." Rick, not fully trusting Shane, tells Andrea to watch over (babysit) Shane. Later, while loading lumber, Shane is visited by Carl. He gives Shane Daryl's gun confessing that he took it. He also tells Shane that Dale's death was his fault. He saw the walker that killed him stuck in the mud. He stated that he could have killed it. Instead he threw rocks at it until it got free and attacked him. Shane tells Carl not to worry about it.
While building a lookout spot, Shane is approached by Lori. She thanks him for everything he did for her and Carl since the start of the outbreak, but he needs to understand that they will never be together again. Infuriated by this, Shane approaches Rick and tells him he needs to talk to Carl instead of worrying about Randall. While Rick talks to his son, Shane approaches Randall in the shed. He leads Randall out into the woods, and behind a tree where he snaps his neck. Shane hits his face against a tree to make it look as if a struggle ensued between he and Randall. He runs back to the group and says Randall got the jump on him and is now free. Daryl, Glenn, Rick and Shane leave to hunt for him at nightfall.
While in the woods, Rick and Daryl notice that Shane is strangely agitated. Shane insists that they need to split into teams and search through the forest for Randall. Rick and Shane end up splitting from Daryl and Glenn. Rick soon realizes that it's Shane's plan to shoot and kill him. Rick turns around and tells Shane that nobody will believe him if he goes back to the farm without him and without Randall. Shane explains that he killed Randall earlier and had everything planned to fool the rest of the group into believing that Randall actually killed Rick. He tells Rick he is a better father than he is and that him returning only messed things up. He also boasts that he is better because Rick isn't fighting for his family. Shane orders Rick to raise his gun so they can end this once for all.
Rick refuses to defend himself, telling Shane that he's going have to kill an unarmed man. Rick makes it seem as though he's handing Shane his weapon, once his gun is in Shane's hand, Rick pulls out his knife and stabs Shane in his heart, "This is on you, not me! You did this to us, not me!" Rick screams. Shane then dies in his arms. As Rick tries to cope with what just happened, Carl appears, shocked to see Shane dead. He aims his gun at what is first assumed to be Rick, but is actually a now zombified Shane. Carl pulls the trigger, killing the reanimated Shane. Rick looks back confused. The shot alerts a nearby large herd of walkers. Rick and Carl bend over to check the corpse of Shane while not noticing the wave of zombies approaching in the horizon.
