Dry

Henry wants to plan an escape. However, he knows that he’s still better off with the group than alone.

Kelton realizes that they’re all severely dehydrated. He thinks, “We could go maybe six or seven more hours without water now. Then we fall into a coma. Then we die. Simple as that” (330). In addition, he worries that he’ll be wrong about the reservoir having water.

Garrett wonders where his parents are. He’s scared and thirsty.

Alyssa tries not to think about water. She attempts to distract herself, but her thoughts keep returning to water. Henry tries to talk her around, but Alyssa doesn’t fall for his manipulations. Suddenly Jacqui stops the car, and they smell smoke and hear music nearby.

Kelton is paranoid about people nearby. He volunteers to see who they are and finds two men in a camper who have water. He thinks that they’re the other kind of preppers—not those like his family but those who revel in chaos and destruction. Alyssa approaches and wants to get water from the men, but Kelton convinces her that they shouldn’t. Back at the car, he convinces Jacqui to drive away. Before they can leave, however, Garrett faints and they realize that Henry has escaped with the keys.

Henry took his opportunity to escape and goes to the men with the camper. He begins negotiating with them for water.

Kelton leaves to look for Henry, while Jacqui tries to hotwire the truck. The men appear, however, and Alyssa can now tell how dangerous they are. The men say that Henry sold them the truck keys for some water, and now they want the kids to leave. In addition, they start looking at Alyssa threateningly, as if they’re interested in her. When Jacqui tries to grab their gun, they grab her instead. The men offer to share water with Alyssa if she’s nice to them, but she knows that they’re implying something worse. One man tries to grab Alyssa, but Garrett jumps out with a burst of energy and bites him. The man then shoots at Garrett.

Jacqui can see that the man is going to shoot at Garrett but is unable to stop him. However, after the gun goes off, Jacqui realizes that the man has been shot, not Garrett. Kelton shot him. Before the other man can do anything, Kelton shoots him too. Alyssa screams at first, thinking Garrett is dead, but she’s relieved to discover that he’s okay. Jacqui expects Kelton to break down, but he remains cool-headed. Kelton, Alyssa, Garrett, and Jacqui finally unite in their determination to do what’s necessary. Kelton takes the man’s gun and offers his own to Jacqui, but she refuses. Instead, Alyssa takes it.

Alyssa focuses her energy on getting to the men’s water. Garrett struggles to move after his burst of energy and seems close to death, so she carries him to the camper.

Killing people felt simpler to Kelton than he expected it to. However, when they reach the camper, they see that a fire engulfs the cooler.

Inside the camper, Alyssa finds a weakened old woman. The woman seems scared and not dangerous, so Alyssa offers to help, but the woman refuses. Alyssa lunges for the woman’s cup of water. When she can’t reach it, she slaps the old woman and takes the water to save Garrett. Alyssa tells the old woman to leave if she wants to live. Alyssa then leaves herself, thinking, “Sometimes it’s the monsters who survive. And now I am the monster” (351).

Jacqui’s hands are now burned from trying to rescue the cooler from the fire. Kelton tries to grab the cooler with a branch, but the flames boil the water and engulf the cooler. Jacqui sees Alyssa run with the cup of water toward Garrett. She debates taking the water but decides not to. She thinks to herself, “Even though I’ve seen everyone around me lose their humanity today, I realize that in this moment, I have finally found mine” (352).

At first, Alyssa thinks that she didn’t get the water to Garrett in time. However, he manages to wake up and drink it. Since no hope is left to save the old woman from the fire, the kids head back to the truck.

Kelton must drive because of Jacqui’s injured hands, even though he has only a permit. He begins to feel the effects of smoke inhalation, and they start skidding down a hill, eventually crashing into a tree. They’re now a mile from the reservoir, and they struggle to walk. Kelton has a sudden burst of energy.

Alyssa thinks that they’re all close to death, like water-zombies now. In addition, she can see fire ahead, and they’re unsure how close they are to the reservoir. The fire’s too thick, though, and Kelton suggests that they walk around it. Jacqui thinks she sees water ahead, so she wants to go through. She runs into the flames.

Jacqui is determined to reach the water on the other side of the fire, but once inside the tunnel of flames, she trips. Now the heat is getting to her, and she feels the call of the void again. Faced with actual death, the call scares her, and she runs on, despite the pain.

Alyssa, Kelton, and Garrett try to run around the fire. Kelton falls behind and says he wants to rest, but Alyssa keeps him going. He becomes delirious as Alyssa helps him. When they reach the top of the hill, Alyssa realizes that the fire’s still between them and the reservoir. Kelton then drops, unconscious. Alyssa thinks that they’re going to die and, knowing how terrible death by fire is, she thinks she’ll need to use the gun to kill all of them. Garrett begs Alyssa to do it, and she resolves to be strong enough.

A water bomber (a plane that fights wildfires) scoops water up from the reservoir. As the pilot flies over the forest, he thinks about how many people without water he must fly over to carry his water to where he’s ordered. However, he suddenly sees a girl sprinting through the fire toward the reservoir. He also sees a group of kids stuck at the top of the cliff, and he decides to save them.

Before Alyssa can pull the trigger, she suddenly hears the hiss of fires being extinguished. Water pools in indentations in the rock they’re on, and Alyssa drinks. She then gets water to Kelton, resorting to bringing it to him in her mouth. When Kelton chokes and wakes up to the water, Alyssa brings him more. She sees the plane fly back to the reservoir to get more water.