Life in a zombie apocalypse is unpredictable, as The Walking Dead mid-season 5 premiere reminded us on Sunday night.

Just one episode after Rick and the group lost Beth, an unfortunate accident left Tyreese having visions of deceased friends and foes before joining them in the afterlife.

Unlike Beth’s quick death, Tyreese’s demise was stretched out for roughly half of The Walking Dead’s mid-season premiere, undoubtedly leaving viewers hoping that he’d be able to pull through.

The episode begins with Rick and company setting up a new path for the group. Immediately following clips of what viewers assumed to be a funeral for Beth, Rick and Noah discuss heading up north to the latter’s old community in Richmond, Virginia where they can live safely for as long as they want. Rick warns that it’s a long trip, but if it works out, they won’t have to travel again for a while. If it doesn’t work out? They’ll “keep moving,” as Sasha suggests (in a bit of foreshadowing about the struggles that lie ahead for her).

We jump ahead several hours to Noah, Rick, Glenn, Tyreese, and Michonne arriving at Shirewilt Estates (interestingly, its name is very similar to “Wiltshire Estates,” where Andrea and Shane went to search for Sophia in season 2), but to Noah’s disappointment, the compound has been deserted. Homes have been burned and dead bodies lay scattered across the area. His family is no longer here.

Tyreese comforts Noah as the others search for supplies in Shirewilt, but a pep talk from Tyreese leads Noah to make a run for his old house. They cautiously enter the home and come across one of his family members whose body lies still. As Noah says farewell to this person (perhaps his mother), Tyreese heads to the bedrooms where he finds one dead walker laid out on a bed and hears a younger walker through another door.

As Tyreese looks at a couple of photos of the family, the young walker suddenly bites him in the arm. Noah kills his zombie brother, and then bolts outside to seek help.

While losing blood, Tyreese begins to hallucinate. Strongly. Martin, who threatened to kill Judith earlier in season 5, is the first to appear in the room with Tyreese and taunts him. As if that weren’t bad enough, Bob, The Governor (!), Beth, Lizzie, and Mika all appear in front of him. While this is happening, a report on the radio talks about supposed attacks across the country.

This scene was remarkable thanks largely to the cameos and what each of the characters had to say to Tyreese. It was the first time since season 4 that we’ve seen The Governor and the little girls.

Tyreese snaps out of the hallucination when a second walker begins to attack him. With no choices left, Tyreese lets the walker eat from the same spot he was already bitten, essentially making his own death certain.

Meanwhile, Rick, Michonne, and Glenn have no clue what’s going on in the house. They’re busy debating the possibility of making a home out of Shirewilt, and one of the leading reasons to not stick around is the fact that it’s been recently torn apart. Michonne suggests they go to Washington D.C. after all — in part because it’s only 100 miles away.

The idea, which Rick seems to approve of, is disrupted by cries for help from Noah. When the group catches up to Tyreese, they find him in terrible shape and continuing to hallucinate. The characters in his visions are telling him to cross to the other side. “You don’t have to be a part of it,” Beth tells him about living on earth. “It’s only to earn a keep,” The Governor says before guilt tripping him about letting his loved one go.

Rick and the group axe his arm off to prevent the infection from spreading, but they have nothing with which to wrap the upper part of his arm. They struggle to get him back to the car. Let this be a lesson for Rick: In the future, don’t park the car so far away from your destination!

They begin to drive, and Tyreese’s visions return again. “It’s better now,” Lizzie and Mika say of the afterlife. Bob and Beth have agreeable smiles on their faces as he stares into the sun.

Tyreese dies after realizing there’s a better life on the other side. The humans say goodbye, and viewers learn that the body which was buried at the start of the episode wasn’t Beth’s. Tyreese’s cap is placed on the top of the cross.

It’s the second episode in a row in which a sister loses a family member.

Not even one of the toughest men on The Walking Dead could stop himself from letting his guard down. For Tyreese, it came at a moment when he was thinking about family and reflecting on Noah’s history.

What did you think of ‘The Walking Dead’ killing Tyreese?

Based on the conversation between Rick, Glenn, and Michonne at Shirewilt, it looks like the new plan may be to head to Washington D.C. Will they stick with that plan despite losing Tyreese?