‘Walking Dead’ Season 5 Spoilers: Who Are The Hunters? Shocking Twist To Episode 2 [RECAP]

Season 5 of “The Walking Dead” continued on Sunday, Oct. 19, with episode 2, “Strangers.” After the events at Terminus in the premiere, it seemed like Rick’s (Andrew Lincoln) group would catch a break – but the episode 2 ending delivered a shocking and vomit-inducing twist.

Episode 2 wrapped up a lot of loose ends. Rick confronted Tara (Alanna Masterson) about being a part of the Governor’s (David Morrissey) army and welcomed her into the group with open arms – or a fist bump. Tyreese (Chad L. Coleman) stood by Carol’s (Melissa McBride) side and promised that he’d help the group forgive her, but asked her not to tell anyone about what happened to Lizzie (Brighton Sharbino) and Mika (Kyla Kenedy). Rick apologized to Carol for exiling her and asked to join her on the road. Meanwhile, Carol asked Daryl (Norman Reedus) to not ask any questions about what happened because she just needed to forget.

Abraham Ford (Michael Cudlitz) wanted to get back on the road towards Washington after getting out of the train car, but the plan got derailed when the group heard screams for help. Rick didn’t want to aid the person in need, but Carl (Chandler Riggs) convinced his dad and the rest of the group to run towards the screams. The group found a priest on top of a rock with a handful of walkers surrounding him. After saving him from getting bit, the priest was able to introduce himself as Father Gabriel (Seth Gilliam).

Father Gabriel explained that he had a church nearby, but Rick gave him the three question quiz before they would even discuss following him back.

“How many walkers have you killed?” Rick asked. “None,” Father Gabriel replied.

“How many people have you killed?” Rick concluded. “None,” Father Gabriel said again.

When Rick asked why, the priest simply said that it was because the lord abhors violence. Rick then asked his final question, “What have you done? We’ve all done something.”

“I am a sinner,” Father Gabriel admitted. “I sin almost every day. But those sins I confess them to god. Not strangers.”

Despite feeling uneasy about the new survivor, Rick and the others followed Father Gabriel back to his church. Upon inspecting the church they discovered that Father Gabriel was left alone and spent his time rewriting Bible versus. Abraham Ford was happy to find a bus outside – that didn’t work – but unfortunately no food was left inside the building. Father Gabriel explained that the church had held a food drive right before everything went down hill and he was able to survive off of that. However the supplies eventually ran out and he was forced to raid the local buildings – but there was one place he wasn’t able to access due to walkers, the local food bank.

Abraham Ford wanted to get back on the road towards Washington. But Rick told him that they needed to get supplies before doing anything. With Father Gabriel forcefully at their side, the survivors separated to gather supplies from the food bank.

Unfortunately the food bank wasn’t just overrun with walkers – the food was trapped in a flooded basement with the walkers. The group had to get into the water in order to kill the walkers and get the supplies, but Father Gabriel panicked while they were down there. Rick was able to save him, but the priest was shaken up after laying eyes on a woman he knew prior to the apocalypse.

Once the walkers were dead, everyone started gathering supplies. However not all the walkers were dead. While reaching for a box, Bob (Lawrence Gilliard Jr.) was attacked by a skeletal walker. He managed to kill it – but something seemed off afterwards.

Rick, Father Gabriel and the others returned to the church with boxes and boxes of canned goods. Before they could feast, Carl wanted to show his dad something troubling – knife marks on the boarded up church windows.

It appeared as if someone had previously tried to get in. But the real eye opener in the situation was the message carved next to it: “You’ll burn for this.”

That night everyone celebrated their new batch of supplies and Abraham Ford took that opportunity to give a toast. He congratulated the group on being survivors, but then turned the tables on them, asking if a survivor is all they wanted to be. Eugene (Josh McDermitt), who supposedly has government knowledge about the zombie apocalypse, chimed in and explained that they would have “food, fuel, refuge” and a “restart” in Washington D.C. But to completely sell the group, Abraham Ford brought up baby Judith.

“Save the world for that little one,” he said, pointing to Rick’s baby. “Save it for yourselves. Save it for the people out there who have nothing left to do but survive.”

That was all Rick needed to hear. “If she’s in, I’m in,” he told Abraham. “We’re in.”

The group broke out in cheers, but a couple of people were missing. Feeling left out from the group, Carol snuck out to an abandoned car she and Daryl found earlier in the episode. After installing a battery she found in the trunk, Carol was going to leave – but Daryl followed her out.

“What are you doing?” he asked her. And she admitted that she didn’t know. But they didn’t have time to discuss because a car with a cross in the back window sped by the pair. Recognizing the car as the one that kidnapped Beth in Season 4, Daryl broke the taillights to the vehicle Carol had just started and told her to get in.

Meanwhile, Bob left the church after giving Sasha (Sonequa Martin-Green) a couple of kisses. Walking into the woods, Bob began to cry. But before “Walking Dead” viewers knew it he was knocked unconscious by a man in a hood. Behind him was a tree with a symbol carved into, similar to the one that Morgan spotted in the Season 5 premiere.

Bob came to with Gareth (Andrew J. West) standing over him. The former Terminus leader told him that he had good news – Bob wasn’t dead … yet. However he also revealed who they really were – “The Hunters.”

“I want to explain myself a little,” he told a confused Bob. “We didn’t want to hurt you … before. We didn’t want to pull you away from your group or scare you. These weren’t things we wanted to do. They’re things we got to do. You and your people took away our home… now we’re out here like everybody else, trying to survive. And in order to do that we have to hunt.”

Stomachs began to turn for those “Walking Dead” fans familiar with Robert Kirkman’s comic series.

“It didn’t start that way -- Eating people,” Gareth continued. “We evolved. We had to. Now we devolved into hunters. I told you. I said it, can’t go back, Bob. I just hope you understand that nothing happening to you now is personal … We would have done this to anybody. We will. But at the end of the day no matter how much we hate all this ugly business, a man’s gotta eat.”

It was then that the camera’s cut out to show Bob’s full body … and his missing leg. “The Walking Dead” Season 5 episode 2 concluded with Gareth and the rest of his group, “The Hunters,” chowing down on Bob’s flesh that had been roasting over a fire.

“If it makes you feel any better you taste much better than we thought you would,” Gareth told him before the episode ended.