In The Walking Dead, series protagonist Rick Grimes did his best to keep those he cared about alive to see another day, with his efforts during the zombie apocalypse being an integral part of the effort to rebuild society. Unfortunately, by the end of Rick’s story, there was one person he couldn’t protect in person — his brother Jeffrey Grimes, but what exactly was the reason Rick didn’t reunite with Jeffrey in The Walking Dead’s comic universe?

The younger brother of Rick, Jeffrey was traveling abroad in Barcelona, Spain when the undead plague began. Shortly after arriving, Jeffrey received word that his brother had been shot and had fallen into a coma — a moment shown in The Walking Dead’s very first issue — prompting Jeffrey to try and leave the country.

Unable to do so thanks to quarantine protocols, the story of The Walking Dead: The Alien follows Jeffrey during the initial stages of the zombie apocalypse, and eventually reveals the tragically simple reason why Jeffrey and Rick never saw each other again: Jeffrey dies early on.

Jeffrey Grimes Died Early During the Outbreak While on a Trip Overseas

The Walking Dead: The Alien – 2016 (Brian K. Vaughn and Marcos Martin)

In this one-shot tale that follows Jeffrey’s attempts to escape Spain and the zombie horde now infesting it, Jeffrey befriends Claudia, a survivor who tells Jeff she can get them to the United States. First needing to get to a boat, then eventually, a private airplane, Jeff and Claudia, against all odds, make it to their nautical mode of transportation. But during a scuffle with the boat’s now deceased captain, Jeffrey saves Claudia’s life, getting bit in the process. And since it was still early in the apocalypse, that’s about as far as Jeff made it.

This is the only The Walking Dead issue that series creator Robert Kirkman did not write himself.

It’s hard to say had he survived this final zombie encounter if Jeffrey would have eventually found Rick, but considering that Jeffrey was halfway around the world when the zombie outbreak hit — with all forms of communication and travel either destroyed or suspended — and their reunion was a highly unlikely one from the start. Furthermore, being a zombie tale concerning itself with realism, the idea that Jeff would make it back from Barcelona to Atlanta and then find Rick before his brother moved on to the many places he would travel to during the apocalypse, makes no sense whatsoever.

Rick Finding Jeffrey Post-Zombie Apocalypse Was Never a Realistic Goal

Since Jeffrey ends up turning into a zombie before he can give Claudia any extra details about Rick and his whereabouts in the States, Jeffrey’s final heartfelt message to his brother would never make it to Rick, leaving Rick clueless about the fate that befell his kid brother. The Walking Dead rarely pulled its punches when it came to putting its characters through the wringer, with Rick and Jeffrey Grimes’ post-apocalyptic reunion being a scenario that was never in the cards, making it a wishful happy ending that was never destined to come to pass.