Part V: Strange News Summary and Analysis

A train filled with members of the military leaves from Houston headed towards Galveston. Colonel William Sterett is a writer from the Dallas News and is headed to the area to see what kind of damage has occurred in Galveston. The passengers are telling each other the rumored stories of what has happened in Galveston, but as the train pulls in, the car becomes completely silent. What they have imagined is nothing compared to the reality in Galveston.

The generals find a lifeboat and fill it with supplies and start rowing towards the bay. Sterett stays behind and walks the bay shore, surrounded on all sides by dead animals and people, scattered debris and trash. Sterett and 100 other passengers, many of them former Galveston residents, climb aboard a schooner and head towards Galveston. The scent...