The people at Camp Ashpit were traumatized and uncertain of the future. Cassie felt suffocated at the camp and spent as much time outside as possible. A 13-year-old nicknamed Crisco tried to befriend Cassie, but she rebuffed him in part because he implied wanting something out of her—and because he had a habit of digging through the ash pit of burned victims (of the third wave) to find treasures to barter with.

The people at camp saw the first of many drones on Cassie’s sixth day there. While some ran, Cassie and her family stayed; her father slipped her a weapon from the camp’s cache. They spent a tense night in the main building, but nothing happened.

The people at camp spotted a drone the next day. Crisco tried to give Cassie a gift, but she balked at it because it belonged to a dead person. Cassie’s father and Hutchfield argued over the drone’s meaning; Hutchfield did not think they were in danger.