History
On the Road[]
Tyreese, along with his daughter Julie and her boyfriend Chris, had been living together before and after the dead began to rise. The trio soon ran out of food. Starving and freezing, Tyreese, armed only with a hammer he found in an abandoned truck,[1] led them in search of sustenance. They stumbled upon Rick and his fellow survivors as they were clearing the roadway. In the darkness, Rick almost mistook them for walkers. Mercifully, Rick provided food for Tyreese's trio, and took an instant liking to their him.
Tyreese accepted Rick's invitation to join his party, and the new group member quickly contributed to their survival by helping to remove obstacles from their path, gathering wood, and genuinely lifting the spirits of the downtrodden survivors. Carol was the most openly welcoming, complimenting Tyreese for his more attractive qualities. It didn't take long for the couple to develop a romantic relationship.
Wanting only the best for her daughter, Tyreese kept constant watch on Julie and Chris, being somewhat overprotective over them. But with good reason. When they were escaping from the swarm of zombies at the Wiltshire Estates, Tyreese found them having an intimate moment, completely unaware of what was happening outside. In the end, they managed to escape at the last moment.[2]
Life at the Prison[]
After locating an abandoned prison, Tyreese and Rick secured the area, clearing the grounds of the remaining walkers. The group had hopes of making the prison their permanent shelter. When Rick was unable to be the leader of the group, Tyreese took his place in his absence. But he was unaware of what his daughter was planning on his back: carrying out a suicide pact with Chris. One night, Tyreese woke up at the sound of a gunshot, and when he ran to the source of the noise, he was horrified to find Julie's naked corpse, and Chris holding the gun from the other side of the room. Apparently, Julie's gun jammed and she was unable to do her part of shooting Chris. Tyreese rushed to his daughter's aid, but could do nothing but cradle her dead body in his arms. When she turned undead, Tyreese struggled with his emotions, pleading for a chance to somehow resurrect Julie's humanity by reasoning with her. Chris shot Julie again, permanently terminating her, and Tyreese turned his full fury upon Chris, strangling him to death. Even after Chris reanimated, Tyreese took his time to kill him again, slower, even enjoying it. The following morning, Tyreese burned their bodies in the yard as promised. Rick was unnerved by his eerily calm demeanor.
Shortly after, Tyreese gathered Andrea, Billy, and Glenn to clear out a zombie-infested gymnasium. The foursome entered fully armed blasting as much zombies as they could, until Tyreese rampaged into the thick of the horde armed only by his hammer and got surrounded. Forcing retreat, his companions bolted through the doors and locked them, leaving him for dead. Some time later, Rick investigated the gym and found Tyreese, alive, reclining quietly in a corner, surrounded by the zombies he single-handedly killed with his hammer.
The event seemed to give Tyreese some clarity. He grew more intimate with Carol, confided his feelings to Rick, and intervened as the voice of reason when the leader was burdened with the pressure. Tyreese's life radically changed once more with Michonne's arrival. She recalled him from his playing days with the Falcons, and the pair struck up an immediate kinship over football and weightlifting. In one occasion, Michonne surprised him when he was alone at the gym and offered oral sex. Unbeknownst to both of them, Carol was watching tearfully through the door's window.
That same evening, Carol tried pleasing him in the same manner, but Tyreese stopped her. Sobbing, Carol demanded him to pick his things in the morning and move to another cell. When Carol slitted her wrists to escape from her depression, Rick held Tyreese accountable for her attempted suicide. The two men beat each other bloody, hurling punches and accusations, until Rick passed out and careened over a railing and Tyreese sprained his foot when he jumped down to help him. Battered, fatigued, and unable to inflict further damage, the two stopped fighting.