The Girl with All the Gifts

Parks convenes a meeting, but Melanie is not present. Parks informs Justineau that she has left but promised to return. Justineau is troubled that Melanie didn’t tell her about it. Parks proposes restoring the power and driving Rosie the rest of the way to Beacon. Since they don’t know how long it will take to fix the generator, however, they need to find food immediately. Gallagher and Justineau are assigned to scavenging duty, but before she goes, she asks Parks about Melanie. He reluctantly tells her that Melanie had to get away from the group because the e-blocker wasn’t covering their scent anymore, and she didn’t want to attack anyone. She plans to look for her own food and eat as much as she can to lessen the hunger response when she’s near the others. Parks admits he has begun to trust Melanie, and Justineau feels a twinge of jealousy, as if Parks’s faith threatens her special bond with Melanie. 

On a food run with Justineau, Gallagher desperately wants to hide his fear not only of hungries but also of returning to Beacon and his abusive family. They search main streets, but the shops were looted long ago. Then they move on to houses, having no luck until they come to a shop with a locked, attached garage. They pry open the garage door and crawl inside. They find some food, but it’s mostly snacks, which may be perishable. After a quick taste-test, they load up as much of the edible food as they can carry and head back to Rosie. 

Inside the lab, Caldwell prepares the brain samples from the singing hungry and the spore pod she slipped into her pocket for study. The lack of power limits her. Suddenly, she is aware of Parks standing behind her, sidearm drawn. Parks has noticed her failing health, but Caldwell assures him that she is not infected with the pathogen, but rather with blood poisoning: “I’m not turning into a hungry, Sergeant. I’m only dying” (288). She has, however, made a terrifying discovery. The spore pods contain millions of pathogenic spores each, and when airborne they can transmit the pathogen through the respiratory system. Sooner or later, she predicts, the infection rate among humans will be 100%.

Justineau and Gallagher return with the food, but Melanie is still out there. Justineau worries she won’t find her way back, but Parks refuses to signal their location for fear of alerting junkers or hungries. Justineau considers the moral consequences of leaving Melanie out in the wild, but Parks thinks only about the practicalities—no e-blocker and not enough food to wait out a prolonged siege. Justineau, however, is adamant. She opens the door and fires the flare gun that she’s hidden in her jeans. The flare lights up the night sky, a beacon for Melanie but also for every hungry in the area. 

After eating a feral cat, Melanie explores the neighborhood. Before she returns to Rosie, she needs to feel her hunger is completely under control. She enters a large building marked Arts Depot and ascends to the second floor after hearing a squealing sound—potential food, she thinks. The room is deserted. She climbs another staircase and finds herself in a vast, unlit room. She is feeling her way around when she hears noises again: running and laughing, the sounds of children playing. As her eyes adjust to the darkness, she sees she is in the balcony of a theater. Looking down at the stage, she doesn’t see children playing but something else. After a time, she leaves the theater and exits the building. Standing in the pouring rain, Melanie begins to weep.

After an uneventful night, Melanie returns. Justineau is eager to greet her, but Parks insists he should be the first. Melanie also wants him to clean, cuff, and muzzle her before she sees her teacher. Justineau reluctantly concedes and retreats to the lab. Moments later, Parks and Melanie appear. Melanie has an announcement: They are not alone. There are others out here.