30) Kelton

Alyssa is still upset with Kelton and won’t speak to him. Meanwhile, Kelton is angry at Henry for turning her against him. He is suspicious of Henry’s motives but can’t act on his doubts, as he has fallen out of favor with Alyssa.

The group leaves Charity’s commune at dawn and heads straight into the Angeles National Forest. Acrid smoke from the surrounding forest fires gives them headaches. Finally, they reach the McCrackens’ bug-out. The cabin’s sloped walls are mirrored, camouflaging it from strangers. Kelton unlocks the door and welcomes them in.

31) Jacqui

The group finds the inside of the bug-out in disarray, with empty food cans, clothes, and boxes strewn everywhere. Jacqui points out that someone had obviously broken in. This confuses Kelton, as there are no signs of forced entry. When he enters the bedroom and finds comic books on the floor, he realizes that Brady had stayed inside the bug-out for months and depleted its stores of food and water.

32) Alyssa

Kelton rummages around looking for water but finds nothing. The five of them go outside to retrieve the box of Agua Viva. Jacqui asks Henry for the truck’s keys and uses it to slash open the box. She is horrified to discover that the box contains hundreds of brochures instead of bottled water. After the initial shock, Alyssa realizes that Henry knew the contents of the box all along and tricked them. Garrett then tells her that Henry has disappeared.

33) Henry

Henry regrets not having left and taken the truck with him the second he realized there was no water in the McCrackens’ bug-out. While scrambling away from the group, he thinks of returning to Charity’s commune and making himself an invaluable member. Suddenly, he feels something–or someone–tackle him forcefully to the ground.

34) Kelton

Kelton easily tracks Henry down and pins him to the ground. He detains Henry with a chokehold and would have killed him had Alyssa not called him off. Jacqui points her gun at Henry’s forehead. Alyssa reasons that killing Henry won’t accomplish anything, but Garrett encourages Jacqui to shoot. Enraged, Jacqui fires a bullet into the air and storms off. Henry starts to apologize, but Alyssa silences him, threatening to kill him herself.

35) Alyssa

Alyssa feels no sympathy for Henry, but she cannot in good conscience let him die of thirst in the woods. They bind Henry’s hands and try to come up with a plan of action. Alyssa wants to go back to Charity and explain their situation. However, Kelton argues that Charity’s encampment is too far and that they should instead go to the San Gabriel Reservoir, which is about twenty miles closer. Jacqui returns Kelton’s gun to him, saying that she doesn’t feel comfortable with it anymore.

36) Kelton

As the group prepares to leave, Kelton goes into the bedroom once more and starts picking up Brady’s comic books. Alyssa finds him and gives him words of comfort. Kelton takes the opportunity to apologize for spying on her back in eighth grade. After Alyssa makes him explain what he saw with his drone, she slaps him forcefully. She then gently kisses his stinging cheek. Kelton is left confused but relieved that Alyssa has at least partially forgiven him.

Analysis

The focus of part 4 is the disappointing state of the bug-out and the group’s subsequent uncovering of Henry’s deception. The box of Agua Viva brochures, which Henry had expected to be his Schrödinger’s cat, is opened and all his lies revealed. He had hoped that there would be water at the bug-out,...