Part 3, Into the Fire: Chapters 39-44 Summary

Maddy and Az. David and Tally go up to the home occupied by David's parents, Maddy and Az. Tally searches the house and finds it burned, but no evidence that Maddy and Az have been killed. David goes inside and finds a knife that tells him his father did not leave on his own. David takes Tally to a hiding place where they load up on supplies and prepare to go after Maddy, Az, and other citizens of the Smoke.

David and Tally leave at dawn the following day following a different path than the one Tally took in arriving at the Smoke. As they travel, David tells Tally how the Rusties died out when someone invented a bacteria that ate up all the oil in the world.

They travel through a desert...