Madison Clark/Season 1/The Dog

## Summary

This article contains details of the events during the episode "The Dog" which were directly contributed to or witnessed by Madison Clark.

## Plot Details

At the Clark home Madison is getting some Oxycontin pills out for Nick. Alicia is looking out at the street through the blinds; she is scared and asking her mother what Mr Dawson "did to the Cruz's?" Madison puts her off. She gives the pills to Nick and he crushes them before taking them, saying that he knows best. He wants to know how many she's got and what will happen when they're gone. Madison isn't very sympathetic and tells him when they're gone he can "howl at the moon".

Madison distracts her almost grown children with a game of Monopoly. Alicia tries a token "Really?" but Nick sits straight up. As soon as Madison says she wants to play as "The Top Hat", Alicia claims "The Car" and Nick "The Shoe". Alicia says that "Dad was always The Shoe", and Maddy replies that Daddy wouldn't mind. This is the first time we've heard them mention him. They go quiet for a moment but then fall into an established routine of gently squabbling over who gets to play with which piece and Nick saying he's going to wipe the floor with them.

The Clarks are relaxed and laughing as they play, Nick wins something and gloats a bit, Madison says that she's crushing them - etc. The mood is broken when they hear something like a gunshot but the game continues after a few moments. Madison takes her move, then Alicia asks how long they are going to wait for Travis? Madison replies that they can go to sleep soon but Alicia says that she can't sleep while she's waiting for someone to come home, that she's having a major case of deja-vu right now. Nick and Madison avoid answering her.

Nick asks again what they will do if Travis doesn't return. As he says that it's been 6 hours the power goes out. Madison, determinedly normal, insists on the rule of "loser puts the game away" and makes Alicia go and do it. Nick presses harder once Alicia is out of the room, Maddy tells him that Travis will be back, to be with his family here, Nick replies that maybe Travis has already gone to be with his family.

Alicia interrupts them to say that it's happening again and they look out at the street. Whatever "it" is, it's not visible when they look outside. Nick says that the need to get away from the windows and tries to convince his mother that they "need to tell 'licia what's out there" - but Madison refuses. A noise at the patio window makes them jump and, when Nick looks, it's a dog asking to come in. Nick appears to know the dog, (it looks like the dog that was with the Cruz family in the episode "So Close, Yet So Far") Nick lets it in, the dog is covered with blood that's not his; it barks at the front door. Looking out they can see an Infected Peter Dawson shambling his way across the road, he appears to be coming from the Cruz home opposite. You can still see the remains of the bouncy castle and balloons behind him.

Nick gets decisive and is off to get the gun, a shotgun, from the Tran home over the fence at the bottom of the garden. They all go out the back, leaving the patio door open and the dog still inside, barking at the closed front door. They climb the fence at the back into the Tran's back garden. The garden is a complicated covered maze, Japanese water and wind ornaments can be heard as they follow Nick through the maze to the back door. He knows where the key is (under the mat) and they go in, calling for Susan and Patrick as they do. The house is empty, dark and silent. The lights flicker back on and Madison and Nick search for the weapon. Alicia looks at the pictures on the wall while Nick finds it and the shells.

They hear the dog barking again and, looking out of the window, Alicia sees someone go into the Clark home through the open patio doors. They hear the dog, aggressive at first but then whimpering and silent. Travis chooses this moment to arrive back and they rush to warn him. Travis goes into the dark house, calling for Maddy. Liza and Chris follow him in. Maddy races through the maze to get to him before Travis encounters Peter. Travis goes in the lounge and sees Peter Dawson eating what is left of the dog. He tells Liza and Chris to get out and infected Peter hears them, gets up and walks towards them. Travis talks to him and tries to fend him off but falls backwards. Infected Peter is on him at once and Travis has to fight to keep him away.

Maddy, Nick and Alicia are climbing the fence back from the Tran's garden. Madison takes the weapon and Nick asks Alicia where the shells are, she goes back for them. He says to leave it but Alicia is already on her way back into the house. Inside, Travis manages to get out from under Infected Peter but, unsurprisingly to us, Peter keeps on coming.

Madison comes in with the shotgun and shouts a Travis, telling him to get out of the way. Travis continues to fight Peter, telling Madison to put the gun down. Madison hesitates, Daniel doesn't. He takes the weapon from her and shoots Infected Peter in the face from about 2 metres. Peter keeps on coming, his face a ruin. Daniel steps up close to Peter and fires again with his last shell at point blank range blowing away half of Peter's head and, finally, putting him down. Travis and Madison are speechless with shock, Liza is watching from the back of the room and is just as shocked. Daniel hands the shotgun back to Maddy and Chris goes outside to vomit. Travis looks at Madison numbly and asks "What did you do?"

Alicia screams outside and attracts Madison's attention inside the house. Madison runs out back giving the (now empty) shotgun to Nick as she goes. Alicia has made it 1/2 way across the fence but the infected woman is trying to pull her back. Chris wants to help Alicia, he gets to her and helps pull her all the way over the fence but Alicia kicks him in the face in her panic and making his nose bleed. There's some shouting and pushing while they sort themselves out. Chris isn't happy that Alicia didn't realise he was saving her and goes inside. They look at the Infected woman through a gap in the fence and recognise her as their neighbour and friend Susan Tran. Infected Susan growls as she reaches through a gap in the fence trying to get at them.

Madison says that she's sick, but Nick says that she's not sick, she's dead. Alicia immediately thinks of Matt, her boyfriend, and panics. Madison comforts her as Travis turns to Nick and asks him why wold he say that? (It's not clear whether Travis means "Why would you say that in front of your sister?" or "What the hell do you mean by that?" but the first seems more likely)

Madison wants to leave right now, Travis thinks the morning is the right time. They argue about what to do for the best, Travis persuades her, just, that waiting until light will be safer than setting out in the dark. She tells him to "take care of Peter", to remove his body and the dog's, in other words.

Madison is looking out of the window and we can hear the wind ornaments from the Tran's garden. Travis asks her where the pills have come from, she tells him they're from the school but doesn't tell him about having to kill Arty. She tells him that she's kept enough to get Nick to the desert and given the rest to that woman. "Griselda", Travis says. He calls Madison a "smart girl" and says he's sorry for having to bring them back but that he had to, because they'd taken them in, and sorry for what Daniel did to Peter. He looks deeply shocked when Madison says "He had to."

Later Liza is getting a glass of water from the kitchen and sees Madison still looking out of the window at the back garden. It looks as if she's drinking something a lot stronger than water. She reaches out to Maddy, saying that they need to suport each other for the sake of the children. Madison breaks in and says that she needs something from Liza. She talks about Susan Tran, whose infected and reanimated body is still pushing dumbly at the fence outside. She tells Liza that Susan used to care for her children while she went to work and looked after her when her husband died. Liza says that she sounds like a good friend. Maddy nods and agrees. Then she says that if ever she, Madison, ends up like that she needs Liza to "take care of it", not to let Travis do it. Liza looks at her and, finally, gives the tiniest of nods before walking away. Maddy stays there, looking out of the window at what used to be her friend growling and pushing at the fence, over and over.

In the house Daniel is telling Chris about the shotgun and its ammunition, showing him how to load it. Daniel is smiling as he teaches Chris, Madison is there and gives Daniel coffee while he talks, she approves of Chris learning this. Travis is not at all pleased when he comes in and send Chris away. "The more the boy knows the safer he'll be", Travis talks to Madison "You know how I feel about guns" but Daniel answers him anyway "The gun doesn't care how you feel about it." Daniel cuts him off.

Madison says that the car is packed, that she has one more thing to do. She takes a hammer and goes out to the back garden where the body of her friend Susan is still trying to get through the fence. She feels that she should Put Down the body of her friend but can't bring herself to do it. Travis comes out and persuades her that she shouldn't, that it's not her call. He takes the hammer from her.

They finish loading the cars, Nick wants more pills and she gives him two. He finds out that Griselda has the rest and complains that Griselda's a stranger.

Alicia finally comes out of the house and the two families pull off the drive. Two Chinook helicopters are thudding around overhead. They drive through the housing estate and Maddy sees Susan's husband arriving home. She calls out to him but he can't hear her over the noise of the Chinooks and she goes after him. We see Patrick going through the house and hear him calling for his wife. He enters the back garden, where we know Susan is, and goes towards the maze, seeing her inside. He sees how bad she looks and holds out his arms for her, not understanding the danger. Maddy comes around the corner shouting to him and infected Susan reaches for Patrick her husband as her head explodes from a round shot by a National Guardsman. The garden fills with shouting soldiers.

Susan's body is taken away in a body bag as Travis and Madison are questioned about who lives in the house. The Guardsman, a young woman, takes the names Travis gives her. Madison goes around the back again, and speaks to two very jumpy Guardsmen whose first reaction on seeing her is to point weapons in her direction. She asks where Patrick is. She's told he was covered in the blood from an Infected person and the soldier asks if anyone else was infected. She says "No". He sees Peter's grave with the shovel still next to it and asks what it is. She lies without blinking and tells him that their dog died.

He and Madison watch as they load another body into a truck and paint FEMA marks on the houses.