The Walking Dead Theory: The Lost Children Of Meridian

The Walking Dead seems to be done with The Reapers, which may be a good thing because they may be even worse than we thought.

As I watched this past Sunday’s episode of The Walking Dead, taking my notes for this week’s installment of Things To Note, I noticed something when Daryl was fighting Austin: It was in a classroom.

The classroom setting isn’t anything terribly new, but the details of the classroom were. The chalk on the blackboard was fresh, the paper chain hanging from the ceiling was bright and intact.

My point? These things suggest that the room was being used as a classroom. If the Wardens hadn’t used this room recently, the chalk would have faded, and the paper chain’s color would have dulled if the paper itself hadn’t rotted away. The only kid I remember Maggie and the Wardens bringing to Alexandria was Hershel, and I can’t imagine the Wardens using that much space as a school for one kid. So, where are the rest of the children?

The Walking Dead Theory: The Reapers slaughtered the children of Meridian.

I think this one is pretty straightforward, don’t you? Suppose Maggie and the Wardens used that room in Meridian as a classroom for kids other than Hershel. In that case, either directly or indirectly, the actions of the Reapers led to the deaths of all the other children in the community—pure, simple, brutal.

I suppose it shouldn’t surprise me, considering the level of brutality we saw from the Reapers throughout the final part of season ten and all of season eleven thus far. Viewers saw Montaino killing Gus, Ainsley, and Maya in cold blood, trying to get Maggie. The Reapers are also responsible for burning Billy and Jen to death. We saw Pope burning Bossie alive and trying to burn Leah and Daryl alive. The hanging of the Wardens upside-down like slabs of beef, Pope willing to kill his own men with rockets to get Maggie, and Carver taunting Elijah over killing his teenage sister.  But, I never figured the Reapers for being the kind of people who would slaughter children; in hindsight, I should have.

Why, though? Had they all gotten so callous that they thought nothing of killing children? Had they convinced themselves that it was something they needed to do? Or had Pope and Mancea’s religious fervor morphed into full-blown fanaticism, and they deemed the killings something God wanted them to do?

Or maybe, I’m wrong. Maybe, it was all Carver. Outside of Pope, the one member of the Reapers I could definitely see massacring a bunch of kids and not giving a damn is Carver.

Look at how he handled killing Josephine: First, he shrugged off the whole idea, showing just how little he cared. Then later, after being momentarily released by Maggie, he made a point of taunting Elijah, as if he got a kick out of the idea of having killed her, like a serial killer taunting the police for not catching him.

With this being his resume, it wouldn’t surprise me in the least if it were revealed that Carver was the one who slaughtered the kids, even if it was something Pope didn’t think he needed to do.

But, what do you guys think? Do you believe that the Wardens had children at Meridian other than Hershel? And, if so, what do you think happened to them? Do you think that the Reapers killed them? If so, why? Do you think it was Carver? I’m curious! And, if you enjoyed this and want to learn how to stay alive in a zombie apocalypse, why not pick up a copy of my book, The Rules: A Guide To Surviving The Zombie Apocalypse!  You can also get it at Amazon here, on iTunes here!