Recap: Day of the Dead Episode 9 turns everyone into a detective — and a suspect

Something smells fishy in this week's Day of the Dead, and it's not the human tartar strewn all over the town. Even in the midst of the wave of death that's washed over Mawinhaken, there's still room for some foul play — particularly on the part of Cleargenix, and shenanigans stink to high heaven.

On top of that, when bodies start to mysteriously and inexplicably pile up at Paymart, it ensnares the survivors in a game of whodunit that's got them even more suspicious of each other than of the zombies.

This apocalypse thing… it's tearing everyone apart!

**SPOILER WARNING! Spoilers ahead for Day of the Dead Season 1, Episode 9, "Death Comes to Paymart."

Last we saw the intrepid bunch that had ventured into Mawinhaken, they had been picked up by a team of black ops in an armored vehicle. Well, they're still there, Cam (Keenan Tracey), Lauren (Natalie Malaika), Jai (Dejan Loyola), and Paula (Miranda Frigon), only they're wedged in between Trent (Trezzo Mahoro) (surprise! he's alive) and some paramilitary agent — you know, the quiet, machine-gun-toting type. They're not sure where they're headed, but these black-clad guys came to save them, right?

Meanwhile, Paymart is a flurry with activity. The sister of that hiker-turned-zombie-turned-corpse is wracked with grief, and she takes it out on Herb (Garry Chalk), who neglected to try to save her life. Minutes later the lights go out at Paymart, and when Captain Pike (Marci T. House) sleuths around to find the cause, she finds Herb, dead on the floor.

Now, we the audience know that Herb suffered a fatal wound to his belly after getting in a scuffle with a zombie. But Captain Pike doesn't know this, and her detective instincts have her pointing the finger at sister of hiker-turned-zombie-turned-corpse. She has the suspect detained, handcuffed in a locked closet until they can better ascertain the situation. But Amy (Kristy Dawn Dinsmore), whose conscience and sense of reasoning have not been compromised by her father's death, protests: She doesn't think this woman killed her father.

No matter, Captain Pike isn't taking any more chances. Not after the senseless deaths of those two state troopers. No way.

Meanwhile, the armored vehicle has arrived at its destination: the same Cleargenix black site where Dr. Logan (Lucia Walters) was conducting Frankensteinian experiments on a turned McDermott (Mike Dopud). Coincidence? Not when you realize that these paramilitary agents are in the employ of Cleargenix, and under direct orders of Rhodes (Kevin O'Grady). Then it all makes a lot of sense.

Except for Cam, Jai, Lauren, Luke (Daniel Doheny), Trent, and Paula, who know nothing of this, and who the Cleargenix goons have locked into one of the rooms at the facility. Suddenly their trust in these guys starts to fade, especially after Cam finds his dad's wedding ring on the ground.

That's when the place starts filling up with a mysterious gas, and any confidence the prisoners had in their abductors evaporates. On Rhodes's orders, the Cleargenix paramilitary officers have begun pumping exhaust fumes into the locked room, part of the foreman's devious (and misguided) plot to annihilate the zombie threat in Mawinhaken before it can spread beyond the city limits.

Back at Paymart, Amy finds Pops Parker dead in one of the back aisles. The hiker has managed to escape from her handcuffs and the storeroom she was locked in. Captain Pike ultimately tracks the escapee down, throws her back in the storeroom, recuffs her, and begins to interrogate her on the death of Pops. The hiker denies everything, but her claims to innocence don't seem to be getting through to Pike. The captain pulls her gun on the prisoner, ready to carry out some extrajudicial "justice."

But something comes over Pike, and she's unable to pull the trigger. Could it be that she's returning to her senses? She lets the woman live, and together they return to the fray, to hunt down the real perpetrators — the zombies.

Back at the blacksite, the prisoners have started to drop like lead balloons from the carbon monoxide poisoning. In a last-ditch effort, the valiant Jai crawls through a vent, hoping it leads to the outside. It does, and he's able to break through the grate, letting in clean air. Unfortunately, the heroic deed proves to be his last, and he dies just after saving his comrades.

Meanwhile, Blackwood (Morgan Holmstrom) has shown up at the black site, killed a guard, and broken into the building. While the others are slowly regaining consciousness, Blackwood busts down the locked door, and frees the rest of the team.

When they find Jai's body, it puts to rest once and for all the hope they had in the Cleargenix personnel were out to help them. They are not their friends.