Summary

In Chapter 60, Mary Katherine is haunted by Mrs. Keizer’s accusations that there is something about her that is dirty and wrong. She sneaks out of the house at night and drives to a pharmacy to purchase a pregnancy test.

Chapter 61 returns to Kate Reese’s perspective at the hospital, where she continues to wait for a diagnosis for Christopher. The child psychiatrist informs her that Christopher spent the last hour refusing to talk to her because “the hissing lady is listening”, confirming the doctor’s suspicions of psychosis (354). The psychiatrist gives her a prescription to stop Christopher’s delusional episodes.

When she emerges with Christopher, the emergency room has filled beyond capacity and there are lines of people out the door.

At the supermarket, the shelves are bare; everyone in town has been stocking up in the face of the bizarre chaos...