The Passage

Sara is riding in a truck with a badly burned man named Sancho. She is no longer angry at Peter for leaving, but Michael is furious. She remembers that it was Michael who found their parents after they hanged themselves.

They slow for a repair. Hollis and Sara sit with Sancho since Greer can’t spare anyone. Withers, another wounded man, wakes from a dream of a woman breathing smoke. Michael sees Alicia running. She says, “The Many” (692) are going to the mountain in front of them.

Theo wakes from a dream about the baby. He loves the night sky. He often wonders about the Conroys, the people in the photos who lived here. When he investigates a sound in the barn, a dog runs out. Theo names him Conroy. Mausami feeds and bathes Conroy, but he isn’t malnourished. Theo feels as if he’s received a new life and sees the house as a blessing. However, he remembers closing the barn door, which makes him wonder how Conroy got in. In the barn, he finds an opened can of meat and footprints.

Lacey explains that a doctor saved her after Carter bit her, but when he bit her, she thought “God bless and keep you” (698), and he’d let her go. A weeping man found her and carried her to safety. The doctor was Jonas Lear, and he created the beacon. They built the house in the clearing together. He only left her once, to forage. They loved each other as he aged. Finally, he dug his own grave and was dead by the next morning. He’s been gone for 54 years.

Lacey gives Amy her old knapsack, which still holds the SASSY shirt and Peter Rabbit. She tells Amy she left the car back then to be here for her now. Amy says that the Many keep asking her, “Who am I?” (703). Lacey says they’re waiting for Amy. She gives Peter a file to teach him about the world’s creation.

Alicia leads her group, following footprints left by Amy and Peter.

Peter reads the records of the 12 subjects. Amy’s photo is the first picture he sees of someone he knows. Unfortunately, learning the truth solves nothing. Lacey says that long life is lonely, and that Amy’s still human. She misses Lear and would love to be missed similarly. She tells Peter the biblical Noah story. One day, someone may disbelieve their story like he disbelieves Bible stories. She says Amy is the Ark. Lacey then says Babcock is coming and it’s time for Peter to see the passage.

Lacey takes them into the mountain, into an area called Level Five, where she opens a metal box containing 11 vials of green liquid and one empty one. The empty slot is to be made from Amy’s blood.

A viral attacks Michael, who has arrived nearby with his group. Michael stabs the viral, who has also arrived with a group that includes Babcock. Michael sees Amy and Peter approaching. Amy apologizes to the viral and shoots it. Peter grabs the vials. Lacey sets the timers, takes them outside, and then locks them out. Sealed inside, she tells Babcock to join her.

Alicia’s group fights at the house outside of Level Five, where she has arrived with her group, and a viral bites her.

Lacey runs into a tunnel and wills Babcock to follow her as time runs out and Level Five explodes. For the Editors - this happens often where it's hard to tell where Michael (or any of the characters) were before, exactly who is in which group, etc.)

After the explosion, Amy leads the group outside, where virals surround them. Amy thinks their individual human names and gets them to lie in the snow as the sun rises. She tells Peter to save Alicia. He injects her with half a vial from Level Five, then the other half later. As they wait, Hollis worries about radiation from the bomb. When Alicia doesn’t improve, Greer gives Peter a blade. Peter apologizes and brings the knife down.

Theo helps Mausami give birth to a boy, whom they name Caleb. Conroy is gone. Outside, Theo finds him. When Mausami screams, he finds her in the Volvo with Caleb. Something throws Theo to the ground. He tells Mausami to look away and says he loves her.

Michael rigs a Sno-Cat, and they leave the mountain after 112 days. Alicia has recovered and she now possesses incredible speed and strength. She had stopped Peter from stabbing her at the last moment. They call her the “New Thing.”

Babcock’s virals are dead, but there are more. Michael compares the Twelve to queen bees, and their virals to drones. Amy believes they remember their human identities before death, and Greer feels sorry for them. Peter remembers that Noah had a family. He returns to the home where he finds Peter and Mausami in bed with Caleb.

Peter buries Conroy. They don’t know how they survived. Theo thinks the footprint’s owner saved them. They find Galen’s viral corpse in the barn. After his burial, Mausami says Galen was brave and good. Theo has a broken leg and cracked ribs. Theo admires Peter’s courage and faith and tells him he was always better suited to their father’s life than he is. Theo wants only peace, calm, and family. Theo believes a ghost saved them.

Amy has never seen a baby. As they recover, Alicia hunts frequently. Peter is nervous about the remaining 10 vials. He wants to drink one as a test. After agreeing, they tie him down in preparation, but now the box is empty. They find Amy dumping the vials into the fire while holding Caleb. She says she couldn’t let Peter become like her. Soon, they begin walking toward California.

Back at the bunker, Michael discovers that someone either fixed the batteries or purposefully turned the lights off. The Colony is empty, but they find the bodies of Gloria and Auntie. Gloria hanged herself. Auntie died in a chair outside, probably under the stars. Peter says it’s time for war.

Amy feels Wolgast’s presence and hears him say her name. He appears and they embrace. She tells him to remember, and he rises into the air, mixing with the light.

Sara, now pregnant, writes of her journey with Hollis, Theo, Mausami, and Caleb to New Mexico. Each morning, there are more viral tracks around their Humvee. She writes that the virals follow them during the day, in the shade of the treetops. She thinks they want Caleb and wishes they’d stayed at the farmstead. They survive the night and a patrol led by Lieutenant Eustace picks them up. Sara writes this entry from a mess tent at the Roswell garrison, which is led by a grim man named Crukshank.

Sara is happy. Then, she writes that she hears shots and goes outside to look. The document head states that it was “Recovered at Roswell Site (“Roswell Massacre”) (760).