For Abraham and Sasha, the pursuit ends in a car crash and they shoot and kill their attackers. They take refuge in a building and leave a trail of clues for their expert tracker friend Daryl to find them. While they wait, Abraham finds a rocket launcher and, thanks to Sasha, transforms into a man capable of seeing hope in the new world (and hit on her).

Daryl, meanwhile, winds up losing his tail by cutting through the forest. After stashing his bike, Daryl crosses paths with three new strangers — an unnamed man (played by Austin Amelio) and two women who, acting out of fear, knock the surviving Dixon brother out after saying “We earned what we took” and confessing that they no longer feel the need to “kneel.” Daryl later insists that he’s not who the trio thinks he is and breaks free — taking their bag — after they look for someone named Patty in a gated area that has since been overtaken by the undead.

Back on his own, Daryl discovers that their bag contained insulin and opts to help his former captors. Shortly after they’re reunited, another group — this one led by a guy named Wade and lacking the bloody “W” of the killer Wolves — appears in a bid to bring the unnamed trio back to the camp from which they fled. Daryl helps the trio hide from Wade — who cuts off his cohort Cam’s (Matt Lowe) arm after he’s bitten without even flinching.

After ditching Wade (Darin Cooper) and company, Tina (Liz E. Morgan), the diabetic, later dies when they find a burned down house and when one of the bodies returns to live and bites her in the neck. Daryl then attempts to recruit the surviving duo — whose character names and actors are not mentioned in the closing credits in what may be the first nod to Negan and his group of Saviors.

Daryl questions how many walkers they’ve killed and learns that they’ve yet to take the life of any humans — and that they came from a camp where people trade anything and everything in exchange for safety. After Daryl recovers his motorcycle and plans to bring them back to Alexandria, the guy pulls a gun on him and they take off with his bike and crossbow.

As the episode concludes, Daryl — who finds a big rig hidden in the forest — picks up Abraham and Sasha as they begin to drive back to Alexandria and hear someone calling for help on his walkie.

The Hollywood Reporter caught up with Reedus to discuss the episode and preview the final two episodes of 2015.

Whose voice yelled “Help!” on the walkie at the end of the episode? Was that Glenn — or Nicholas?

It’s not Glenn — but it’s somebody at Alexandria.

A lot of this season is about transformation. Daryl tries to bring these two back to Alexandria — and then they effectively carjack him. How will this change his approach to recruiting?

He’s a little less optimistic. That was the first time he did that on his own — and he trusted these people, who were digging a grave for their blonde friend. Daryl sees that they’re broken, too. He knows they’re not bad people but they’ve just been pushed to this limit and you have to look after yourself if you’re alone in this world. He makes his first big call and they screwed him over. It really had to do with that character — he thinks he can trust this guy and girl and Daryl lets them in. The whole time we were filming that, I kept thinking that Daryl let everyone down — including Rick — and he took it personally. You’ll see later on in other storylines that that really bites him on the ass.

One of Wade’s companions is bit in the arm and without missing a beat, asks for and has his arm chopped off — and Wade makes fun of him before going back to take his watch and toss his limb to the side like it’s trash.

That’s the reality — they’ve been around long enough to know that you have to cut that thing off real quick before it spreads and it may still spread. I remember when we cut Hershel’s (Scott Wilson) leg off and that was a wing and a prayer; we didn’t know it’d actually work. The same has happened to them: they’ve clearly done that before.

Daryl has lost his trademark motorcycle and crossbow. What lengths will he go to in order to get them back? He has said as much when the guy says, “I’m sorry,” and Daryl adds, “You will be.” 

That had a double meaning. That’s Daryl saying, “I’m going to get you and you’ve pissed me off to the point of no return.” It’s Daryl thinking that if this is your game plan — to steal motorcycles and keep running — you’re just going to keep running. You can only survive in numbers in this world and if that’s your plan, you’ll get caught and will run out of gas and can’t haphazardly steal everybody’s stuff; you’ll never get very far. It had that meaning and it also had the, “I’m going to beat the shit out of you when I find you” [meaning]. No one takes Daryl’s motorcycle and crossbow! C’mon!

There’s a glimmer of hope with a flirtation between Abraham and Sasha; Rick and Jessie have kissed; Maggie is pregnant … . Given where Daryl is now and what he may return to at Alexandria, does he have hope of finding love?

I don’t think it’s the first thing on his mind; but yeah, I think it’s possible and I think he might have already found it and hasn’t realized it. I think maybe he’ll find something else, who knows. It could be one of those things; but there’s definitely hope, especially with who he is now vs. who he was before. He’s turning into someone who would allow that.

He’s become such a leader at Alexandria. Will Daryl still want to be a recruiter going forward or does he want a more active role in guarding their camp?

I don’t think Daryl has ever been type of guy who wants to stay within the walls of anywhere. There was a storyline happening at the beginning of the season where Daryl wanted to go out and Rick said, “I don’t want anybody going out.” Then Daryl disagreed with him and it turned to Rick saying Daryl was right, that we should go get people. And then it bites Daryl on the ass. He’s definitely not overly excited about doing that any longer. But he will probably get to a point where it depends on who you meet; it’s all individual judgment calls. I don’t know that he made a bad judgment call in inviting those two to Alexandria; they were probably hanging on a thread whether they were worthy or not worthy and, because of fear, they made that decision to take his stuff and run and get a jump on him. It’s not like they were bad people and they did that. They were good people and were doing what ever they have to do in order to survive.

Daryl, Sasha and Abraham are heading back to Alexandria — but half this massive walker herd has already arrived there. What might their return to the community look like?

It’s going to look like the end of the world — again. They don’t know; they just heard a horn and a “help!” They know that there’s a large group of walkers that are behind them and it’s a race to find out who that they love is still alive. They don’t know; it could be Wolves No. 2 or it could be a herd, they have no clue. So when they get there, their jaws drop.

Who is the biggest threat to Daryl, Abraham and Sasha right now: the group that Wade belongs to, the Wolves or the walkers?

All three — and they’re all happening right now.

This season has been relentless in the threats to every part of our splintered group; the threats are just everywhere.

You ain’t seen nothing yet. There are no slow episodes left; it’s 100 miles an hour from here on in.

Structurally, this whole season is taking place effectively over one or two days but so much has happened to everyone. Have we seen the end of stand-alone episodes and will the final two episodes of 2015 be moving forward chronologically?

It’s still a chronological story but from here on out it’s 100 percent chronological. If you’re pulling throttle on a motorcycle and you hear it revving up and it gets to the loudest engine noise you can possibly make, we don’t stop there for the rest of the season to the point where the bike is shaking beneath your legs and you think it will just explode. It’s insane from here on in.

Glenn’s fate has not yet been revealed. Several fans are trying to prove that a guy of Glenn’s size can physically hide under a dumpster. What do you think about that theory?

(Laughing) I saw what I saw [in the episode]! You can make theories this way or that way but what ever you see is right. So what ever your take on that is, you saw what you saw and you’re reacting to what you saw. I had the same feeling that everyone else had when they saw it and I was in the episode — I was pissed! I was mad at AMC and mad at everybody — but that’s the point. He’s such a beloved character and I’m rooting for him, too. But I saw what I saw.

How deadly will the final two episodes of this half-season be, including the midseason finale?

There’s a lot of shit coming down. I’m completely blown away by the caliber of what we’re doing right now. I left set [the other night shooting the season finale] at 7 a.m. and talked to Andy on the phone for the entire drive. We’re overly excited; it’s so good. When we first started this and people said, “It’s a zombie show,” it’s not a zombie show right now. We have zombies but it’s totally not a zombie show and everyone will know it. I’m really excited about this episode; it really starts the barometer of skyrocketing straight up into space. It’s a full-throttle show from here on out and this kicks it off. It’s full speed ahead from here.

Beyond The Walking Dead, AMC just ordered your motorcycle docuseries. Will we see anyone from The Walking Dead universe participate? How would you describe the show?

It’s like what Anthony Bourdain does with travel and food. That show was mostly about food when you first saw it and it morphed into him meeting people and having life experiences with them and hearing their stories — with food as the common denominator. And that’s where we’re starting with our show. We’re going to have cool guests, go to cool places and it’s going to be a fun ride. It’s not just for motorcycle enthusiasts; it’s also for people interested in travel and seeing things they wouldn’t normally see. We’re going to try to make it as though they’re on that journey with us. We have really cool places that we’re mapping out right now with cool guests. I’m really excited for it; it’s going to be very fun.

THR

Daryl Dixon had been missing in action the past two weeks of The Walking Dead, but the crossbow-wielding, motorcycle-riding fan favorite was back this Sunday in a big way…even if he did lose his crossbow and motorcycle in the process. Daryl was forced into hiding by some mysterious gunmen, only to discover an even more mysterious burned-out section of the woods.

And then things got even worse. Daryl was taken captive by a trio on the run who had mistaken him as a foe. He managed to escape, only to later return the insulin he found in a duffel bag. Once again proving that no good deed goes unpunished in this world, Daryl’s invitation to the strangers to join him in Alexandria was met with them stealing both his bike and his weapon. Bummer.

We spoke to star Norman Reedus to get his take on the big episode. What made Daryl return the insulin yet insist on a trade? What about that Daryl-Carol Easter egg on one of the zombies? And whose voice was — and wasn’t — that we heard on the walkie-talkie? Reedus spills intel on all that and more.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: So with the exception of the flashback scenes in the premiere, pretty much everything you had shot this season leading into this week had been on the bike. That must have been heaven for you!
NORMAN REEDUS: It’s pretty fun. I’m not mad when I have to film on the motorcycle, that’s for sure.

How much of that chase scene that starts this week’s episode did they let you do and when did they bring in the stunt driver?
I did all of it except for the laying down of the bike. They wouldn’t let me lay down the bike, but otherwise — all of it. And some of those aerial shots that we did that you saw prior — I was probably doing, like, 80 [MPH]. Don’t tell [executive producer] Tom Luse! But I was doing about 80. It was kind of fun.

Let’s get into what happens after you take the bike into the woods. What was it like filming with all the skeletons and dead bodies in that burned out, marsh-like area?
That was really surreal. We actually took a large chunk of forest and either burned part of it or burned it and painted it. It gave it this really surreal feeling. It almost looked black and white, even while we were filming it. It added something. Also, I learned something in that episode that may or may not happen later with the burning of the woods. [Showrunner Scott M. Gimple] is really good at never wasting any sort of screen time, so everything that happens in an episode will play again in one form or another. He’s got things mapped out so far in advance that every little thing comes back to into play.

We saw him do that last season with the “Wolves Not Far” graffiti in episode 509, and also the items that Morgan puts on the altar.
And I gotta tell you, the stuff we’re shooting now — we’re so excited. We wrapped for the day at 7 this morning and Andy and I were on the phone the whole way back to our houses and just overly excited and tripping out over the quality of the stuff we’re doing right now. And this episode 6 really kicks it off. It starts an avalanche that just gets bigger and bigger and bigger. There are parts of six and especially how six ends and the storyline in six that really, really helps us push that rock right over the cliff, and it’s full-throttle from here on out.

That’s saying something considering how strong the season has been so far.
At one point when this show first started, people thought of it as a zombie show, but it’s soooo not a zombie show. We have zombies and we’re not afraid to show zombies. Zombies are a big part of this show, but it’s reached a whole other plateau right now. The quality of what we’re filming right now is just mind-blowing.

So you told me this summer that there would be a Greg Nicotero zombie in this episode that would hark back to a Daryl & Carol moment. So was that a Cherokee rose I saw on the back of that mossy walker that you shot down?
You caught it! It was, yeah! That was kind of a nice little Easter egg for me and Carol.

So Daryl escapes from the group that has taken him prisoner and sees the insulin in the duffel bag. Why does he go back to return it?
Because I don’t think those people were bad people. They were good people, but they are doing what they have to do to survive. He’s noticing that one of them is sweating and fainting and passing out, and he knows what that is. And that insulin, when he sees that, it completely registers with him what is going on. And they’re trying to survive. There was a storyline where I first made the motorcycle and I was like, “Let’s go out. Let’s find people.” And Rick was like, “I don’t want anyone finding anybody anymore.” And Daryl goes, “I think you’re wrong.” And then it switched to Rick saying, “Let’s go find people.”

And that was kind of the first big mission like that for Daryl, where he went to strangers and invited them back to the safety of their camp. And I don’t think he made a bad decision. We’re burying the little blond girl, and I can see that these aren’t bad people — they’re just in this circumstance where they have to do bad things. And he invites them to come with him and he thinks he’s making the right judgment call, and it comes back to bite him on the ass.

When they drive off and they say “I’m sorry” on his bike and Daryl says “You’re gonna be” — that has double meaning. It’s saying: If this is the way you do things, you’re not going to make it very far because there’s safety in numbers. But also, it’s like, now I’m going to shoot your face off when I find you. It’s not that they’re bad people — they’re just doing bad things to try to survive, as everybody does now.