The Host

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of graphic violence.

The car runs out of gas, so Wanderer reluctantly abandons it. Wanderer walks through the heat and looks for a marker to guide their way. She finishes the last granola bar, and when night falls, she reluctantly lies on the ground. When she wakes the next morning, Wanderer realizes—alarmed—that she has drunk more than half the water. However, Wanderer manages to find the marker, and Melanie shows her the next one, urging Wanderer on.

They find a small dirt road that Melanie is wary of taking, but Wanderer insists. Then they spot a house in the distance. Wanderer is sure no soul would live so far from society, and Melanie is certain a human would have been found by souls. Wanderer enters; the home is empty, but she finds newspapers with violent headlines and attempts to point out to Melanie that the souls brought peace. Then Wanderer finds some food and water, which helps as she continues hiking.

Wanderer is on day five of the hike. She drank the last of the water the previous evening and realizes that they have gone astray when she sees a distant mesa: “Every step we’d walked had been in the wrong direction.