'Fear the Walking Dead': What Happened on the Latest Episode

— -- (SPOILERS AHEAD)

Sunday night's episode begins with Nick swimming naked in the water, towing his clothes behind him. He scrambles into a jetty survivor camp that's been abandoned.

Aboard the Abigail, Travis and Maddie decide what to do about Strand after he let Alex and the wounded teen drift away in the previous episode. Eventually, Maddie convinces him to trust him because Strand hasn't lied yet.

Ofelia and Chris seem to take a liking to each other, bonding over relationships. Out of nowhere, three people on board a raft emerge from the darkness with calls for help; one of them is a pregnant and bleeding. Chris, who had been armed while keeping watch, hesitates firing long enough for the newcomers to bluff their way on board.

The commotion wakes up Strand, who fetches his machine gun only to find Daniel has already taken the magazine from the weapon's hiding space.

Things go south fast. Alicia recognizes the voice as Jack, the man she'd been flirting with over the radio. The woman whose pregnancy Maddie assumes was in distress suddenly smashes Maddie's head into a mirror. Another boarder, Reed, pulls a shotgun, and in short order Travis, Chris, Daniel, Alicia, and Ofelia, are bound.

Strand jumps into the newcomers' boat and tries to row away, only to have Reed fire at it, putting rounds into the inflatable, leaving him at either the mercy of the gunshots or the cold water.

In short order, we see he's survived; he fishes his satellite phone out, and desperately tries to dry it as the punctured boat sinks around him.

A flashback shows Strand in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, where he drinks and bonds with a self-described "parasite" businessman. Strand explains he invested in New Orleans before the storm, and lost everything. His drinking partner, a man named Thomas Abigail, explains he's there to invest when the city's property is at its least valuable. Eventually, Strand drinks him under the table, and when he helps Abigail to his room, he relieves him of his credit cards.

In the present, Strand has taken the Abigail's keys overboard with him, so Travis bargains at Reed's gunpoint to hotwire the boat. Meanwhile, Jack takes Alicia to find the radio and informs her they're waiting for Connor, who gave the pirates their orders.

Nick, meanwhile shambles along on dry land, searching for a scribbled-down address.

Back in flashback, Strand is relaxing in a cushy hotel room, courtesy of his unwilling benefactor. Abigail and his associate Luis come calling, informing Strand they're aware that he went on a shopping spree. Strand tells them he used the cash to purchase credit card debt in an attempt to regain his fortune. However, Abigail isn't going to call the cops: seeing potential in the ruthless man, he makes Strand work for him.

In the present, Strand loses the sat phone, which slips under the waves.

On board the Abigail, the hostages plot an escape. Daniel works his restraints while Maddie works to distract the pregnant captor. Below deck, Travis "sleeves" a tool to use as a weapon as Reed forces him to work in the engine room.

Elsewhere, Alicia bonds with Jack, offering to go away with him to protect her family. He unties her and she hugs him.

On dry land, blood-covered Nick reaches the mysterious address, only to have Luis -- the guy from the flashback -- pull a gun on him. He lowers it when Nick convinces him that Strand sent him, and the pair make for a stowed Zodiac to get back to the Abigail.

On the yacht, Maddie keeps psyching out the pregnant woman about the fate of her baby until the young woman loses her temper. She slaps Alicia, only to be distracted by Travis and Reed. During the distraction, Travis shows Daniel his secret weapon, and smoothly stows it for the hostages' use.

In flashback, we learn more about Strand's relationship with Abigail; they're relaxing in his Mexican oasis -- the one to which Strand was apparently heading on Abigail's eponymous yacht.

Travis gets the boat started just in time for the mysterious Connor to appear, flanked by an armed redheaded woman and another armed man. Connor orders Travis and Alicia hooded and taken to back shore with him.

Moments later, the Zodiac on which Nick and Luis are cruising approaches Abigail -- with Nick able to see via binoculars that pirates have taken the yacht.

The bad guys' female sentry spots them approaching and raises a rifle, but Luis fires first, drilling her in the head. He fires again, killing Connor's other henchman.

On the Abigail, the hostages turn the tables: Daniel snatches a weapon from one captor, and Maddie stabs the cocky Reed from behind with the weapon Travis hid.

Luis and Nick reach the boat and he convinces them to find Strand; Luis says that's the only way they'll get to Mexico.

"Fear the Walking Dead" returns next Sunday, May 8, on AMC.