The Troop

Max and Newt search for Shelley and the spark plugs. Eventually, they smell the scent associated with the worms and know Shelley is close. They find the entrance to the dark cave he is hiding in.

Shelley can hear the boys coming and plans to eat them. Max and Newt see the spark plugs in a puddle and grab them. Shelley emerges, and they attack each other. Shelley tries to strangle Newt, but his stomach ruptures, and worms crawl out. Max and Newt flee, leaving behind the spark plugs and their flashlight.

The interviewer asks Brewer why he didn’t contact the boy scouts to alert them of the situation, even if he wasn’t going to rescue them. Brewer argues that the truth would only have increased their fear and “hysteria.” The interviewer implies that withholding the truth had the same effect.

Brewer claims he never heard of Dr. Edgerton before the night he had to quarantine off Falstaff Island, after Tom Padgett’s escape from Edgerton’s lab. The interviewer points out that a military board that Brewer sits on gave Edgerton a grant. Brewer claims he doesn’t attend meetings or read the minutes and didn’t know about this.

The interviewer asks Brewer if he knows a locksmith named Claude Lafleur, and Brewer denies it. However, the interviewer has already discovered that Lafleur was stationed at the same Navy base with Brewer, and his daughter babysat Brewer’s children. The day before Tom Padgett escaped from Edgerton’s lab, Brewer granted Lafleur four days of administrative leave from the Navy base. Later, authorities found Lafleur’s fingerprints on the back door of Edgerton’s lab. Lafleur is now in custody. At this point, Brewer stops answering questions, but the interviewer accuses Brewer and the military of releasing Tom Padgett and sending him to the island in order to conduct an experiment about how the virus spreads and affects a group, using unknowing children as human test subjects.

Max and Newt emerge from Shelley’s cave, with Newt (but not Max) covered in worms. They return to camp so Newt can wash the worms off in the ocean. After, Newt looks defeated and declares he’s hungry. They go to sleep. Newt wakes in the night and eats the laxative mushrooms, which cause him to vomit up worms. Max keeps coming closer and Newt lashes out, saying he’ll catch the worms. Max says he doesn’t even care anymore, but Newt calls him stupid and says he should care. This reaction hurts Max and ends the conversation.

In the morning, a black helicopter flies over the boys, close enough so that Max can see the pilot’s face. The boys cry out and wave their arms for help, but the pilot ignores them and flies off. This infuriates Max. Newt remains calm, wondering who created the worms and for what purpose, since they’re clearly not “natural.” Max wonders if Kent is dead after all—maybe he swam the three miles back home. Newt thinks this feat wouldn’t be possible, but agrees with Max to make him feel better. Max thinks to himself that maybe if Kent swam home, he could convince the adults to come rescue him and Newt. He still believes “anything is possible” (327).

Max returns to Shelley’s cave to retrieve the spark plugs. Before, he thought maybe they could build a raft or escape another way, but now he feels like they need to leave immediately so that Newt can potentially get medical help before the worms kill him. Newt asked him not to risk returning to the cave, so Max waited until Newt fell asleep. He doesn’t have a flashlight anymore, but he brings a road flare.

There are now a lot of sea creatures inside the cave, and Shelley’s body has moved, suggesting the cave leads to the ocean somehow. There are also tens of thousands of worms around. He locates the spark plugs and starts moving back to exit the cave. The worms come after him, and he burns them with the flare. He escapes the cave, apparently without infection.

Max returns with the spark plugs, reattaches them to the boat, and fills the gas tank. He tells Newt to get his stuff so they can leave. Newt says Max should leave alone because the military might not let Newt back in, since he’s infected. If they see Max with Newt, they might assume Max is infected too and not let him back in either. Max says he might be sick too, but the adults at home can probably cure them both. Newt again tells Max not to be stupid. Finally, the boys agree to leave together and sit at opposite ends of the boat.

Max gets the boat started, and the boys leave. It’s dark out. Max drives while Newt describes a dream he had earlier that day. Newt and his mother were on a trip when a large fight broke out between a crowd of people. Newt felt like violence was “in the air” (341), and when his mother put her hand on Newt’s shoulder, he pushed her away because he was afraid he’d hurt her.

By the time Newt finishes telling about the dream, the boys are approaching North Point. There are boats and people on the shore, but no one speaks to them. A searchlight clicks on. Max calls out that they need help, but that they’re okay. Nobody answers. Newt laughs in a strange way, then says he’s okay, too, except he’s hungry. Immediately, Newt is shot in the head and falls into the ocean. A gun is pointed at Max’s head next.

Lance Corporal Frank Ellis is the one who shot Newt because he said the word “hungry.” The interviewer calls this “paranoid” behavior and argues that a healthy person would be hungry after several days with no food. Ellis says the officers were also given a list of “trigger words,” including “hunger.” If someone who had been on the island said one of those words, they were allowed to open fire. He points out that Newt really was infected, which was discovered after he died. However, he also claims he is haunted by his actions.

Several months pass, and the journalist from GQ interviews Max, who is now 15 years old and living in a clinic that’s isolated from civilization. Doctors have already performed extensive tests to determine whether he has the worms, and although they found nothing of concern, they require Max to remain in the clinic, where he can only speak to visitors using a phone, with glass windows separating them. He only wears paper clothes, which are burned after one use.

The journalist wonders why Newton was killed, but not Max. After the FIB’s interviews with Brewer, they determined the military may have kept Max alive because they wanted to study him, rather than for some other, more moral reason.

Max claims he can’t remember everything that happened on Falstaff Island. What Max does want to share is his memories of each person who died. Scoutmaster Tim was a special adult because he treated the scouts like adults, not kids. Ephraim was Max’s friend and always stood up for him. He compares Kent to Superman, and he is still surprised he didn’t swim back home. Newt was the strongest and smartest of all and would have been the world’s best father. Max isn’t terribly sad that Shelley is gone, even though he worries this is not a kind thing to say.

The journalist asks for more information, but all Max will discuss is how difficult it was to kill the turtle. It wouldn’t die right away, holding on to life just like the boys themselves. Part of Max wishes things would just give up and make it easier on themselves, but another part of him thinks it’s admirable when things fight to survive even against the odds, and that this is part of being “human” or any type of living creature. The staff notices Max has become upset and tells the journalist it’s time to leave. The journalist concludes that it’s touching how the boys stuck together throughout their trials and tribulations, whereas adults probably would have turned on each other.

A girl named Trudy Dennison from the boys’ school sends a message to Alex Markson, the fake online persona that Newt created using his deceased cousin’s photographs combined with his own words. Trudy noticed that Alex hasn’t been posting anything lately and wonders if he is okay given the events that have been going on recently.

Sometime after Max’s GQ interview and after additional medical tests, he is released from the clinic and allowed to go live with his parents again. However, his former school won’t let him return to classes, so he has to complete his studies remotely. His friends from the Scouts are gone now, and although his other “friends” remain alive, nobody treats him the same way anymore. Most people avoid him. Some people bully him. His mother no longer kisses him goodnight on the lips, only the cheek. Max is lonely, misses his friends, and feels like nobody understands what happened on the island or who he is. The only people who would understand are gone. Max now sees the same therapist that Newt and Ephraim used to see, but the therapist doesn’t understand either and wears a face mask during their sessions, which makes Max angry. Max doesn’t like going to crowded places because people treat him poorly now, acting as if he’s contaminated even though he’s been tested extensively to prove he’s not. Therefore, he spends a lot of time outside, near the beach or in the woods, alone.

Max takes his uncle’s boat and drives it to Falstaff Island. The whole place looks burned and blackened from the military’s efforts to eradicate all life forms on the island. The place is “empty” and “desolate,” like how Max feels. Max then starts to feel incredibly hungry.