The Eleventh Plague

Stephen wakes up alone, but Violet has left a note inviting him outside to join the feast. He decides to eat his rations but realizes his supplies are outside. He tries to sneak outside, but Jackson and two friends—Derrick and Martin—see him. They invite him to eat and spend time with them, but Stephen is cold to them. Eventually, however, the offer of venison and potatoes overwhelms Stephen, and he accepts, wolfing the food down mannerlessly. Derrick mentions that he’d do anything for someone who shot Will, which startles Stephen, and Martin asks if he wants to come to school, which startles him more.

Near the center of their settlement, Marcus gives thanks for the year and their survival but is pushed out of the way by Caleb, who steps forward and offers a solemn, threatening prayer to God. The entire town begins to sing the American national anthem. However, the singing is interrupted by a large group of teens fighting one girl, who is at the center of the group—Jennifer Green, who goes by Jenny Tan. Jenny is Chinese American and discriminated against by most people except Marcus and Violet, her adoptive parents. Marcus interrupts the fight, but Jenny runs off into the wilderness.

Back at the Greens’ house, Jackson explains that Jenny is his adoptive sister; his parents found her beaten up and bloody and took her in. She chose the last name Tan for herself. Stephen falls asleep listening to his father’s faint heartbeat, overwhelmed by the feeling of being alone.

Stephen wakes up early and inspects the house, finding discarded items and pocketing them. He examines Violet’s medical supplies, which are extensive and priceless. When the Greens wake up, he reluctantly tells them his name and convinces Marcus to let him help with the harvest as payment for their care. He sees groups of teens and children heading to school but dislikes how loud and rowdy they are.

The adults in the town are harvesting carrots and onions. Marcus explains that Will has been accusing random people of being spies for a nearby settlement, Fort Leonard, which is rumored to have sent spies to observe Settler’s Landing recently. Sam explains that Settler’s Landing was once a gated, wealthy community with a golf course but that all its residents except the Henry family—Will and Caleb’s family—died in the plague. The golf course has been repurposed into farmland, but the Henrys still believe they own the land.

At lunchtime, Stephen explores the area around the high school. He meets Jenny, who is drawing. He marvels as she draws and teases him; he has only ever heard Chinese people described as evil for their role in the Collapse and the plague. She leaves when the children leave school, giving Stephen her drawing: a beautiful landscape of the school with a lone horse standing in front of empty desks. Stephen struggles to understand it but decides he must work instead of contemplating art.

After everyone has gone to sleep, Stephen gets up silently in the middle of the night and leaves Settler’s Landing. He goes for about an hour into the woods until he finds a distinctive, lightning-struck tree. He buries the invaluable medicines and medical tools under this tree, feeling guilty about robbing the settlement but convinced he must do so to ensure his survival after he and his father leave.

Stephen reminisces about how despite his grandfather’s misgivings, his mother taught him to read using a few books and a dictionary. He cries but soon comforts himself and heads back to town, unsure what to do until his father recovers.

The next morning, Stephen asks about school, and Violet gathers supplies for him and convinces him to go with Jackson. As he explores the Greens’ house before leaving for school, he finds shelves full of books, which fill him with jealousy, and Jenny’s room, which is a disaster. He finds a hole in the wall covered in blood from her fist and feels a kinship with her.

Stephen feels uncomfortable at school, as the other children laugh at his worn-out clothing and Will confronts him and bullies him. Jackson defends Stephen, and when the teacher eventually arrives, he orders Will to his seat. The teacher, Mr. Tuttle, asks what Stephen knows, and the children laugh at Stephen’s ignorance of the Pledge of Allegiance. Before class can begin, Jenny arrives; it is the first time she has attended school in weeks. She puts her bare feet on the desk and acts disrespectful, and Stephen cannot concentrate on a pop quiz due to her presence. After the quiz, she passes a note to Stephen that tells him that she saw what he buried in the woods the night before.

Distressed by the note, Stephen storms out of school. Will confronts him again, but Stephen grabs him and slams him into the wall, only stopping when Mr. Tuttle intervenes. Will insists that Stephen was threatening him with a knife, but Mr. Tuttle dismisses him and talks to Stephen alone. Mr. Tuttle tells him not to bring his knife to school again or risk punishment. Stephen leaves. Jackson, Derrick, and Martin follow, insisting he join their baseball game, but Stephen grows angrier as Derrick continues to pester him and eventually pushes Derrick onto the ground.

Back at the Greens’ house, Stephen contemplates punching a window just to feel something and collapses by his father’s body, distraught. Violet arrives and questions why he isn’t playing baseball—“America’s sport”—and Stephen protests the futility of pretending America and peace still exist. Violet reminds him that trying to do good even for a day is better than not trying anything at all. Stephen watches two children play outside, unsure what to think.

Stephen skips school the next day and unsuccessfully searches for Jenny. Afterward, he goes to watch the baseball game, where Jackson—to his surprise—makes polite conversation with him about books. As Stephen is about to leave, a boy gets hit in the leg. Derrick convinces Stephen to replace him, telling all the others that Stephen’s father was a pro baseball player before the Collapse. Stephen gets one home run and plays extremely unsuccessfully otherwise, but he reluctantly bonds with the other teens.

After the game, a girl named Carrie convinces all the other teens to go to the quarry, their local hangout spot. There, they all exchange homemade alcohol and swap stories with Stephen about how they ended up in the Landing. Stephen notices signs of trauma and scars from past encounters and wonders if his family could have made their way here earlier if they’d made different choices. Derrick cannonballs into the quarry water, disturbing the peace of the party, and everyone heads home. Jackson eventually shares that he witnessed a brutal massacre in his camp before the Green family found the Landing and safety, and the two boys bond over always feeling afraid. For the first time, Stephen allows himself to hope that the peace can last.

Violet gives Stephen a bath, new clothes, and a haircut; he struggles to leave his filthy clothes behind even though he knows he would do so easily if he were in the wilderness. She reassures him that he looks good and then tells him there has been no change in his father’s condition.

Stephen goes to school; Derrick is struggling with a hangover and the other teens welcome Stephen. As they gather for baseball, Stephen sees Jenny sitting on the hill drawing again. Jackson mutters that he wishes Jenny would just leave before she gets them thrown out and tells a story about a family that got voted out in the middle of winter, to their almost certain demise.

Stephen tries to confront Jenny about the note. She plays coy at first but then admits that she’s trying to figure out what use he can be to her. She asks if he’s been to the West Coast, and he tells her no. She also taunts him for being afraid of Chinese people. Before they can talk further, Will and his friends approach, and all the teens get into a fight. One of the boys nearly punches Stephen in the face, but Jenny saves him. Before they can escape from the fight, Mr. Tuttle approaches and sends Jenny and Stephen to detention. Will threatens them as they leave, and Stephen sees Jackson’s disappointment and feels a rush of guilt.