Fear the Walking Dead 505 recap: The End of Everything

The next day Soldier prepares for the ascent up the cliff. There’s a dead climber who has become a hanging walker on the cliff. Soldier says they have to trust each other because they’re connected and one falls, they both fall. The trick is avoiding Hanging Walker while not falling, and the only way up leads right next to him.

Soldier barks orders at Al, telling her that she needs to come closer in order to make it up the final bit. The face of the wall is steep and unforgiving, but Al starts the move while Soldier moves up. Suddenly Soldier loses her grip and falls, dangling from the line. Al is right beside Hanging Walker and she comes up with a plan, asking Soldier for slack while she attempts to reach Hanging Walker’s line. She manages to kill him and connect to his line after making a huge leap of faith, giving them the secure anchor they need to reach the summit. “You fall, I fall,” she says.

At the top, Soldier reveals that her partner was her friend and she had to kill him. They were on a supply run, something they have done time and again, when the breach in protocol occurred. She mentions the nuclear plant that is ten miles away, and despite their planning her partner Beckett was afraid he would end up like the Nuclear Walkers, and in the end he did. She reveals that she took his key to the cabin he always talked about, where you could see for miles and miles. She tossed the key over the cliff.

Al asks why she didn’t let him walk away, but Soldier reveals that walking away is not an option. They exchanged fire because her friend had to die. The truth is a threat to operational security, and Al knows that eventually she will need to be killed for the same reason, once she has the tape.