Summary

Chapter 13 takes place on Assateague in 2143, among the primitive new society that developed from the wreckage of the Shore’s previous civilization. A typhoon destroyed the causeway between Assateague and Chincoteague, which has kept Assateague safe from the infected as well as from hostile survivors. Most modern technology has been lost, speech has been corrupted into a distinctive broad dialect, and babies are frequently born with crippling genetic mutations.

The narrator, Simian, was born with a fully functional brain, but numerous physical handicaps that leave one side of his body “shriveled” and prevent him from doing heavy manual labor (419). His community consequently refers to him as a “Halfman.”

After Simian’s parents died, his younger brother Wol — who is able-bodied — inherited their plot of land, and both brothers continued to live there together. Simian worried that he would become an unwelcome burden once Wol...