Carl McKenzie

> *"I'm the good doctor. Unless you get on my bad side. Then you should be **afraid**. [...] Oh, you think I'm joking? **Try me**. You won't even see it coming..."*
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> -- Carl interrogates Marcus Aurora
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**Carl McKenzie** is a main character and a survivor of the outbreak in *The Walking Dead by EDStudios*. A young man forced to study by his father to the point of mental illness, Carl soon enrolled as a medical intern at a local hospital, displaying skills in surgery and general practice beyond the ability of some of the junior doctors. When the outbreak hit, he ended up at Sanctuary and was part of the crew that made it to Hometown. He would go on to become the resident doctor at Greencole and eventually the leader of the Medical Union of the Commonwealth of New Graystone. A genius in the truest form, Carl's skills in surgery and medicine are well valued by the group; although he is not the best in combat, as shown on several occasions, he can defend himself and his patients if need be.

Despite his intelligence and the respect he has earned from those around him, Carl has struggled with drink and drugs throughout his life, stemming from the lives that have slipped away from his fingers.

## Overview

### Personality

Carl is aloof, eccentric, and highly intelligent. He displays typical symptoms of Asperges Syndrome: poor social skills, peculiar habits of speech, and difficulty in reading body language. He enjoys reading books and he is shown to be highly interested in video games. He very rarely smiles and speaks in a long-winded, pedantic, flat and clinical fashion.

Compared to others with his condition, Carl has excellent body coordination, having hands that remain still no matter the level of pressure on his shoulders. His skills in surgery are second to none; he is even able to perform surgery on himself, once even in the middle of a battle and with no anaesthetic or proper medical equipment, using only his knife, a pair of scissors, a bottle of brandy and some fishing wire. He is also shown to be extraordinarily devoted and endurable, such as when he continued working on a cure for the sepsis outbreak in Greencole despite having contracted the disease himself.

Despite the respect he gains from his group due to his medical knowledge and surgery skills, Carl has been heavily affected by the apocalypse, often turning to drink and drugs to help solve his personal problems. Carl's personal issues, drug abuse and Asperges have all combined to make him a nervous and jittery. As a result, he often has problems with his self-confidence; this often causes friction between him and his girlfriend Jane, who he often believes is just "settling" with him because she can't get anyone better and doesn't truly want to be with him. This has often caused him to become incredibly cynical.

Carl has also been shown to have a brutal streak, perhaps on par with even Drew and Edwards. This has been shown on several occasions and he has no qualm with killing if need be. The most notable example is when he held nothing back against several members of Liam Hull's String Gang when they threatened a comatose Jane, bludgeoning them all with a monkey wrench; when he strangled a member of the Fear with a shoelace; pushing a soldier of the Government in a vat of acid; and killing another by stabbing him in the eye with the metal temple of his glasses.

After the Battle of Archangel, Carl, overwhelmed by the influx of people to the new medical centres in the State of New Graystone, became overcome with anxiety and nearly slipped back to the bottle and needle. To fight off the urge, Carl left for the west to work in the Commonwealth of New Buckingham to distract himself and fight off his addictions. He is brought back to the State in order to deduce the identity and motive of the killer targetting workers. Carl once more demonstrates his remarkable deduction and is willing to stay behind at the Capital, secretly happy that he is back in the heat of the medical world.

Many years later, as the conflict with the Government intensifies, Carl begins to show talent as an interrogator, due to his intricate knowledge of the human body, its stresses and how much it can take; his darker side is highlighted further when he interrogates Marcus Aurora, using all of the above skills to draw information out of him.

In his elderly years, Carl has become riddled with dementia, slipping in and out of awareness before descending into moments of unresponsiveness. When Dominic informs him of Edwards' death, Carl suddenly awakens and asks Dominic to give him his gun, refusing to keep on living when his intelligence is being wasted and the "fog won't clear". Carl subsequently put an end to his own misery, bringing an end to one of the most special and greatest minds in the history of the apocalypse.

## Pre-Apocalypse

Not much is known about Carl's life before the outbreak, other than his father was an academic who forced his son to study medical texts from a young age to the point that Carl developed strong insomnia. This worsened his already poor social skills to the point he felt completely detached from other people. He developed a blunt personality, pushing away anyone who tried to communicate with him. However, as Carl learned more about neuroscience he forced himself to partake in social interaction to keep his mental health stable. He found a friend in a kid in the City called George Gareth, one of the few kids who understood Carl's weaknesses in social interaction. It was through George that Carl became friendly with Drew Stanton and Harold Carter.

## Post-Apocalypse

### Season 22

After the Battle of Archangel, Carl has a change of heart and decides to head west to work on ships out in the Pacific Ocean.

#### 'Set You Straight'

Carl comes in from one of the supply ships.

## Death

### Killed by:

* Dementia *(indirectly caused)*
* Dominic Edwards *(caused)*
* Himself *(suicide)*

Over the years, Carl began to develop dementia and drifted off into moments of unresponsiveness. When Dominic informs him of Edwards' death, Carl suddenly awakens and cries, unable to "clear away the fog". Refusing to live in a world without his friend, he asks Dominic to fetch his gun from the drawer, which Dominic accepts. Dominic leaves the room as Carl shoots himself in the head.

## Killed Victims

* Michelle *(zombified)*
* Jane Rhodes *(out of mercy)*
* Unnamed newborn *(caused)*
* 3 unnamed members of the String Gang
* 1 unnamed member of the Fear *(alive)*
* 5 unnamed members of the Government *(2 caused, 3 direct)*
* Numerous counts of zombies

## Relationships

### Jane Rhodes

> *"I don't want to lose you. I can't lose you..."*
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> **-- Carl to a comatose Jane, minutes before he turns off her life support to protect her from the invading String Gang**
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Carl and Jane had a loving, if not strained, relationship. Carl saved her life in the field at a great risk of his own, and Jane made clear her gratitude. After the group's victory over the String Gang, Jane and Carl enter a relationship, but they barely talk and Carl is afraid that it will end and often accidentally drives it towards such a situation.

However, after the two-year time skip between *Season 5* and *Season 6,* their relationship is shown to have vastly improved, with Carl now only taking cannabis on rare occasions and being much more open with her. After he performs surgery on himself in the heat of battle, his confidence improves which fascinates Jane. In addition, this event significantly helps to strengthen his social skills.

When Jane is rendered comatose after the attack on Greencole by the Church, Carl reverts back to his old self in his numerous attempts to pull her from her coma. When members of the Gang find her body and start disrespecting her and calling her a traitor, Carl kills several of them to defend her honour. He is faced with no other option but to switch off her life support to save her from a worse fate. He mourns her for a significant length of time.

### Harry Edwards

> *"If I'm perfectly honest, Carl...you're my best friend. [...] No, Drew is more like a brother. I haven't really seen him since Dominic was born. That just leaves you...you're my best friend,"*
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> -- **Edwards reunites with Carl**
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Edwards and Carl have a close bond, with Edwards even proclaiming him as his best friend, as he considers Drew more as a brother than a friend

## Trivia

* It was confirmed that Carl is on the Autism Spectrum, specifically Asperges Syndrome.
	+ This makes him the second character confirmed to have the condition, the others being Edwards, John, Henry and Mycroft.
* He is the only character shown to be capable of self-surgery.
* Carl's treasured item is a white lab coat he has worn since the exodus from Sanctuary.
* He is the first character shown to be using drugs recreationally and the first shown to have an addiction.
	+ Carl has relapsed a total of nine times.
	+ The other characters shown to have an addiction are Edwards (alcohol and smoking), Gracie (pills) and Thomas Granger (cocaine).