Summary

In Chapter 4, Candace and the eight other survivors begin driving west towards Chicago. They camp at night and occasionally stop to scavenge—or “stalk” (58)—houses and other buildings for supplies. Bob consistently enforces a pre-stalk ritual that is similar to a pre-meal grace prayer. One day, they scavenge a house. The family living there has been infected by the fever, and they repeatedly go through the motions of eating dinner. Candace thinks of her mother, who died of Alzheimer’s disease and who loved skincare products. During the stalk, they find another member of the family—a young girl—in another one of the rooms. Bob shoots and kills the family members, as he views doing so to be a mercy. Bob orders Candace to shoot and kill the young girl, and Candace does so with extreme reluctance.

The narrative shifts to Candace’s...