Summary

Cassie sees a small figure dart across the parking lot in Chapter 12, and after confirming Teacup is gone, Zombie sends Poundcake to retrieve her. With one side of the hotel left blind, the remaining children gather in one room where Zombie mocks Cassie's concerns for his injuries. Talking about the plague and the people they have killed, Zombie ponders why the aliens did not kill the humans thousands of years ago, before their population grew, and Cassie recounts how Evan told her that they were divided over whether to kill them. Admitting that he worshipped Vosch at first, Zombie notes that Vosch's attempts to fill him with hate failed, and instead, he was filled with hope. Cassie believes Vosch wanted to teach Zombie the hopelessness of hope, and she suggests that they drew the extermination out because it "isn't...