Alicia Clark Faces Uncertain Future on Fear the Walking Dead

Warning: this story contains spoilers for Sunday's Fear the Walking Dead, "Padre." As civil war brews between Alicia Clark (Alycia Debnam-Carey) and Victor Strand (Colman Domingo) on Fear the Walking Dead Season 7, Alicia is fighting a bigger battle. The midseason finale, "Padre," reveals Alicia lost an arm to a walker's bite — and she might not have amputated in time to stop the spreading infection. Believing she's slowly succumbing to the walker's bite even 90 days later, a feverish Alicia wages war in what could be her last stand: take Strand's Tower before she turns. 

"What Alicia's grappling with is something that's unique in the universe, in the sense that we've seen people get bit and sadly succumb to the bites. We've seen people get bit and chop off a limb and survive and be okay," co-showrunner Ian Goldberg said on Talking Dead. "But Alicia's in this strange limbo where she survived — it's a while later now and she's still going — but she's sick, she's still getting fevers, and she's not certain why or what's wrong with her. It's sort of like a chronic condition that she's dealing with now."

Forced to sever her arm when she's bit by a walker in the tunnels beneath the bunker where she's trapped with Teddy's (John Glover) followers, Will (Gus Halper) says the fever could be sepsis or tetanus. In Alicia's swollen red eyes, the bite is a death sentence.

"She's uncertain about what it is that she's got. It could just be sepsis, as Will says to her in the episode, or some other infection," Goldberg said. "I think what's most interesting is she has this Sword of Damocles hanging over her now where her fevers could get her at any moment, or she might come out the other side of it. It makes her live with this ticking clock and pushes her in this way she's never been pushed before." 

RELATED: What Fear's Midseason Shocker Means for Alicia Clark

Another shock to the system: Alicia's bite happens just before Fear producers confirmed Madison Clark (Kim Dickens) survived her own apparent death at the hands (and teeth) of walkers and will return in the explosive back half of Season 7. 

"Now I can say we will be seeing the return of Kim Dickens as Madison Clark. That's pretty exciting," Goldberg said of the second half of the season. "We also have what was promised at the end of 708 – which is this impending civil war between Alicia and Morgan and Strand for control of The Tower – and how all the battle lines will be drawn accordingly on both sides. So lots of exciting stuff [in Season 7B]."

Fear the Walking Dead Season 7 returns April 17 on AMC. Follow the author @CameronBonomolo on Twitter and ComicBook's @NewsOfTheDead for TWD Universe coverage all season long.