I agree its a poor cliffhanger. Why "Dad?" isn't the last line of the episode is baffling to me. And the show really does have too many characters. Breaking them up into smaller groups only makes things worse, because as you said the audience may not see characters for weeks.

I think this also explains what happened to Tobin (they guy Tara and Rosita help up at the beginning of the episode but who isn't with them in the garage). I'm willing to bet there is a missing scene where Tara and Rosita drop Tobin off with Aaron, Spencer, and Heath before going back to hep Eugene, because it seemed…

Being bit on an extremity means you can chop it off to save yourself. If the writers want a character to die from a bit it has to be on the torso.

Series regulars are paid for every episode regardless of whether they appear or not. It's part of the contract. Not having a regular appear in an episode does not save the show any money. More like wastes it, really, since they get paid anyway.