Summary

17. For Joy and the other patients, the routines of life in the Hospital become flatter in the aftermath of the twins’ deaths, particularly after searchers bring back Christopher’s body. The pilgrim (Rick) who found him and Sam (the first body) joins the other patients on Joy’s floor, and tells them stories from the outside – how there is a chatroom that discusses rumors about the Hospital, how he hitchhiked across America from Oregon because he knew he belonged in the Hospital with other survivors, and about how he learned the various rules of traveling on the road. Joy listens with interest to his stories, particularly to the rules of the road. At the same time, her longings for her mother increase; she repeatedly listens to the buzzing coming from the hole in the wall of the twins’ room; and agrees to...