Fear the Walking Dead 406 recap: Just in Case

This week’s episode of Fear the Walking Dead introduces even more strife at the Stadium. Here’s your recap of “Just In Case.”

We start out this week in the present. Infected have been locked up in freezers at a mini mart and there’s a man trying to take what’s left. He’s clearing out mirrors and lightbulbs, and even hinges. There’s a bell over the door, too. He loads it all up and starts to put it into a van when he gets stopped by John. John says he knows who he is. He’s a Vulture. John promises he can draw faster and challenges the man to turn around and talk to him. He turns, and Morgan watches as John holds up a flag with a number on it. The other man says nothing, considering his options. Morgan warns him not to be stupid, but he is stupid and tries to draw his gun but John fires and shoots off his finger. They want answers.

Credits: Stormy day, with a van rolling along in the distance.

The SWAT van continues along the road. Alicia checks out the gun system and asks Althea if she rigged it all herself. Al isn’t keen on answering her questions. She stops the van and says they aren’t using her van for their war. She is behind the camera. Strand asks if she could sit by and watch, and it wouldn’t be the first time. A ride for the story. That’s the deal. Luciana says she can ask anything.

John searches his man’s pockets and finds a map. He asks about Naomi but the man doesn’t know anything. Morgan tells him to let the man go, and he backs off. Morgan warns the man to tell his people to stay away from their next destination because people are on their way to kill them. (Way to spoil the plan, Morgan!) John gives Morgan his guns after the man scurries off. “Just in case,” he adds. He only wants to know that she didn’t suffer.

BEFORE

Naomi pulls shrapnel from Alicia’s arm. She says she found canned hams on her search, but they split them 48 ways and there isn’t much left. Madison arrives and says they have to go back out again.

Strand asks where they’re heading next, but Nick and Luciana wanted to know where he got the truck of food. Cole is there listening as Strand lies about the food. He walks away and Strand follows, and Cole says he’s glad he’s not wasting his time chasing after him. He doesn’t trust him. When Cole walks away, Madison walks up. She found some liquor and wants to share it with him.

Up on the view deck they watch as the Vultures listen to “Flight of the Valkyries” and hang out. They don’t give up. Then we get a backstory about how Madison rescued Strand and took him to her cave with Alicia. Nick was there, and eventually he went and found Luciana. She rescued him, she says, because she likes to drink with him.

They hear shouting and find Naomi trying to run again. She says she wasn’t leaving again but she was trying to go to a place she once was, where she might find seeds and food. Everyone runs up and she says that it might be too dangerous. Strand and Madison want to go, so they leave Alicia, Luciana and Nick behind.

Naomi drives along in the night. Madison and Strand are quiet. Strand has his rock. Up ahead is a sign for a motel, so they decide to stop for the night. The park the car and go into the motel to clear it out. Most of the rooms have been picked over. They head to the office and find Infected inside. They clear them out. They also find dead bodies and a couple of guns from whatever happened before they arrived, long ago. Madison realizes they killed each other over some cans of beans. Strand arrives with a handful of snacks.

Later, Madison tells Strand to take the jalapenos. They laugh about being in New Mexico, and Madison reveals that they came from Los Angeles by way of Mexico. Strand wants to know more about where she came from. Naomi reveals she had been at a FEMA shelter. She says no one would look at it and want to go inside. Then she reveals that she was running away again, but she would have left the map behind. Strand calls her a coward and demands the keys. She points out that she didn’t leave, and she didn’t have to tell them what she was doing. Madison agrees that telling them counts for something. They go off to sleep.

The next day Madison wakes up and finds Naomi gone.

We see Naomi in a car that she hot wired. She’s driving along until she reaches the FEMA shelter. She has her backpack and her gun. The doors are locked from the outside and the room is filled with Infected on the inside. She taps the glass and they congregate at the window.

Madison and Strand get into the car and plan to go after Naomi. Strand doesn’t think she’s worth the effort but Madison says everyone is. He reveals that the car was his “contingency plan” which is proof that people don’t change. She asks if he wants her to say she should have let him drown, but she isn’t him even though he would have done it himself.

Naomi sneaks around inside the shelter. She finds abandoned cribs and play areas for kids, but the building is empty save for Infected. She spots childrens’ items that trigger her emotions, but she presses on. Eventually she finds a locker and upon opening it (she has the combination to the lock) she finds weapons and a notebook. Inside the notebook there are notes on medical procedures and plants. There are also keys.  She goes back through the building, and the Infected are still pressed to the glass. She spots more dead bodies on her way out, but she also sees artwork from a child and it makes her cry out. She drops the flashlight and that captures the attention of the Infected, She runs, but then she finds herself surrounded. It looks like Naomi knows some of these Infected, and she can’t shoot them. She ends up climbing some scaffolding to safety, but now she’s surrounded. “I’m so sorry,” she says to the undead around her.

By the time Strand and Madison show up, she is surrounded. She gives them the keys to a truck on the loading dock with all the supplies they need. She says Strand was right. Strand says that he thinks he can get her, so Madison covers him while he works. He ties a rope to that she can climb across the Infected, and Strand tells her that she can do it. She starts out across the rope and he loses his grip, but he recovers. Madison struggles to keep the undead away and she goes to help him hold the rope. Naomi keeps going until she gets across, and then together they run out. He locks things back up and outside Naomi says that they were good people she thought “we” could be safe with. She reveals she had a daughter. Rose. Her father died at the start and she vowed to protect her in this place. A woman at the camp taught JIC (Just In Case) classes to help prepare. Naomi says that Rose caught a cold that got worse so Naomi when to get antibiotics. It took her three days where she didn’t eat or drink, but she got the medicine. Madison says this wasn’t her fault. But it turns out that Rose died and was the one who triggered the whole place falling part. Madison says she didn’t have to come back but Naomi says it had to be her. She was responsible for these deaths.

Outside, Infected Ellen is in the truck. She prepped it Just In Case. Madison distracts her while Naomi kills her. Strand tells Naomi that she did what she had to do because, like him, life keeps you going. Madison taught him that they can start over. He reveals a plant sprouting in the truck and says they can all start over.

Alicia, Luciana and Nick go out to meet with Mel. Mel asks if there is a problem, and Alicia wants them to listen. She tells them to move so Madison can get through. Nick suspects that they’re running low on food, too. Mel whistles to his people and tells them to pack it all up. They won’t be rotting away any time soon, so they’re leaving. Mel goes up to the truck’s window and tells Madison to be careful, because they never see the bad stuff until it happens.

Ennis goes to the El Camino and gets in. Everyone starts to drive away.

Inside the Stadium, water is pumped back in and the group rejoices that they have enough. Finally. Madison looks at the keys, which read “JIC.”

Cole tells Strand that he didn’t think they would pull it off. He blames Madison for knowing who he is. He also says that he told Cole of his plans prematurely. Strand goes after Madison, who says they won today and they should leave it there.

Madison looks out over the parking lot and Alicia comes up to see her. Madison tells her to pack the Land Rover with supplies and park it by the back gate, quietly. Just in case.

NOW

Alicia spots a van heading their way. She announces that there is one van coming. Luciana and Strand are getting ready and they wonder where the rest of them are. John and Morgan get out of the van and call out. Strand, Alicia and Luciana charge them with their guns drawn. They force them on their knees. Al won’t call them off. She’s there filming. Strand looks up and sees the Vultures approaching. Mel jumps out with his people and they’re armed. Mel thanks Morgan for the head’s up. He tells Alicia he’s sorry about her brother, but she’s not sorry about his. Morgan gets in the middle and tries to stop things.

There’s a call on the radio asking where everyone is. Another car pulls up. The Land Rover. Out steps Naomi. John calls to her and they lock eyes. “No,” Alicia says. She shoots John and he falls to the ground in Naomi’s arms.

Next: Walker Stalker Con Nashville: Interview with Kevin Zegers

Fear the Walking Dead will not air over Memorial Day weekend and will return on June 3.