The others move to a wider clearing to camp for the night. Mary approaches Jed, who stays behind. Bereft and grief-stricken, Jed reveals that Beth wanted to remain in the village, but he insisted that she come with him; that was when Gabrielle attacked. Mary tries to console him.

The next morning, in the sweltering heat, Cass announces that they should return to the village since they will die without water and supplies. She tries to convince Jacob to go with her but the boy resists. She then tries to get Harry to go with her, reminding him of how nice it was when Travis was ill and it was only the two of them together. Mary attempts to tell them that the paths are arranged in some order based on the symbols on the metal tags. She insists that they need to figure out the code, but she does not reveal the fact that Gabrielle communicated one of the codes in the Cathedral. Cass scoffs that Mary just wants to find her ocean and opines that they might be the last people alive on Earth. Travis wonders aloud if she is right.

They camp early, and Mary seeks solitude further down the path. As she sits to reflect, no Unconsecrated appear, but soon Travis approaches and sits with her. They cannot deny their passion for one another, but when Mary turns to face him, Travis fingers the Binding rope on her wrist again and then leaves. Mary spots Gabrielle, who is now is injured and weak. Mary reflects that Gabrielle will weaken until her body falls to pieces, as is the way with Unconsecrated. This thought makes her sad. She returns to the group and insists that Harry cut the remaining Binding cord from her wrist.

They wander on, consuming dew for water. Ten days after the village attack, they come to a square clearing with a gate on each side. One has the code that Gabrielle communicated to Mary, XIV, and as Mary runs down this path with the others following behind her, she sees a village ahead.

This village is larger than theirs, sporting a street of shops. Harry and Jed head into a weapons shop. There are also well-built platforms with small houses, bridges, and pulley systems in the trees. Jacob hopes to find food, and Cass follows him as he drifts away. Mary and Travis are investigating the area when hordes of Unconsecrated suddenly begin surging from the buildings. The others run for safety in the trees, but Travis cannot climb, so he starts for the fenced path. However, Mary knows that they will never be able to reenter this village if they leave now, so she sends Argos sniffing for a safe house. The dog herds them to a strong, three-story brick home at the end of a street.

Once safely inside, Mary secures the first-floor windows and the door with wooden bars, then goes upstairs. In one bedroom, she finds an Unconsecrated infant in a crib. She swaddles it and holds it, reflecting on her past dreams of having children with Travis. Now, Travis grows fearful as he witnesses Mary’s attempts to comfort the undead infant. She opens the window and lets the baby drop two floors down, giving it to the writhing masses of undead below. Travis asks for a story about the ocean, but Mary admits that the ocean might not exist.

Mary and Travis fall easily into the mundane patterns of living together. He checks the fortifications against the undead, and she prepares food. The house has a stocked pantry of canned and dried food and grain, and there is a brick courtyard with a garden. Mary finds trunks, more food, and weapons stored in an attic space, which is accessible by a ladder at the end of the second-floor hall. The attic leads to an open porch. Mary sees that a bridge once connected the porch to the platforms and tree houses, but a tree fell and destroyed the bridge. She can see Harry and the others moving about but cannot hear them over the moans of the undead below. She realizes that the house shows no sign that the former occupants of this village practiced religion.

Mary almost asks Travis why he never came for her, but she decides not to. One day, she opens the attic trunks and finds clothing that must have belonged to the woman who lived there. Mary tries on some pieces of clothing. Suddenly consumed by emotion upon discovering who the woman was and what happened to her, Mary pokes a spear down into the mass of Unconsecrated pushing at the shutters. Travis worriedly demands to know what she is doing, and Mary posits that maybe the woman who lived in the house escaped like Gabrielle. She wants to know about the woman so that she can feel that someone in her own village someday might one day know something about her. Travis asks her if he is not enough for her, and Mary is worried that he may not be.

Mary starts spending more time alone on the third-story porch. As the hot summer days go by, she waits for rain and watches the others living contentedly in the tree house. She notices Harry touching Cass’s waist and taking care of Jacob. Mary and Travis wonder how they can escape the house and the village and move on in their journey. Mary begins to feel especially restless after she finds a book of photos, one of which features a young girl in her mother’s embrace at the ocean. The image makes her want to acknowledge the lost people’s stories by discovering a more fulfilling life for herself.

On the porch one day, Mary sees that Harry has shot an arrow with a message: “Contact, finally” (215). Mary shares the note with Travis, unthinkingly referring to Harry as her “betrothed”; this verbal slip creates a strange moment of awkwardness between them. They try to recover their equanimity by sharing an embrace and a kiss, but Mary still feels lost, lonely, and burdened. She pulls away, wondering why spending time with Travis is not enough of a life for her. She goes to collect arrows and paper so that she and Travis can reply to Harry. Mary writes enough to fill many pages with her story and with all the things she never said to Harry, Jed, Cass, her parents, and the future. However, instead of sending the notes to Harry and the others, she attaches the notes to arrows and shoots 20 Unconsecrated with them. Only the last note goes to Harry; it is a simple question about how they are doing and if they are thinking of leaving.

Travis tells Mary that the wooden shutters are about to give way. He says that he hears a different sound as the undead push on it, and he pointedly mentions that can tell the difference because he is always listening to the movements of the undead when Mary is up in the attic or on the porch. Feeling guilty, Mary says she has been trying to find a way to escape. She tries to convince Travis to continue the journey with her to the end of the Forest and the ocean, the way they said they wanted, but he admits that he only said those things because he wanted to make her happy. He explains that although he always wondered what lay beyond the Forest, he was prepared to commit to a peaceful life in the village; in fact, he broke his leg falling from the tower in a last climb up high to say goodbye to those dreams. Then, he began to love Mary more deeply when she cared for him at the Cathedral.

Mary finally asks Travis why he never came for her, and he explains that Harry had been in love with Mary for a long time. As the undead try harder to break through, Mary and Travis discuss whether any outsiders might know about them. Mary admits that although she wanted to seek freedom like she thought Gabrielle had done, she now realizes that Gabrielle was simply fleeing a breach, just like she has. Mary admits that she does not know if she would have run, given the chance, or if she would have simply waited in the village for Travis. Suddenly, the Unconsecrated break through the weakened shutters, forcing Mary, Travis, and Argos to rush upstairs.

Mary carries Argos up to the attic, then lowers a double-edged ax to Travis. Then she jumps down to the second-floor hallway and wades into the undead, swinging the weapon and giving Travis time to negotiate the ladder. The Unconsecrated attack her when she falls and scratches her legs deeply. Argos jumps down from the attic to save her. Mary pushes Travis the rest of the way up, then grabs Argos by the scruff of his neck and manages to climb up with him. They close the trapdoor and secure it. Travis asks desperately if Mary was bitten, but at first, she does not know. Travis says that he loves her, and Mary weeps in exhaustion.

Mary and Travis start tearing and tying the clothing in the trunks, planning to make a thin, lightweight rope. They will then tie one end to an arrow and the other to the braided, heavy rope that dangles from the porch. When they shoot the arrow, Harry will be able to pull up the braided rope and secure it, bridging the divide.

When Mary digs for more clothing in the trunks, she finds old newspapers that reveal headlines explaining how the undead infection moved across the country and then the world. She sees a picture of New York City for the first time and is shocked by the skyscrapers. She tries to show Travis, but he is consumed with the rope task, and the newspaper soon crumbles in Mary’s hand. She also finds a tiny book and a postcard of New York City, which she keeps. Travis fires the arrow, and he and Harry tie off the braided rope securely.