The 5th Wave

Zombie puts his plan to save Nugget in action by knocking out an orderly and taking his clothes. The first thing he does is remove the new tracker that has been placed in his neck, an action fueled by Flintstone’s death. At the same time, Cassie is navigating the ventilation system to find Sammy, taking a brief detour to arm herself. It is clear that Zombie and Cassie are on a collision course, but the outcome of their meeting cannot be predicted at this point, especially when Zombie vows to kill anyone who comes between him and Nugget. This foreshadows a dangerous—albeit ironic—encounter for Cassie, once again increasing the novel’s tension. Before the Arrival, Cassie was presumably never on Ben’s radar. Now, they are brought together by their respective promises to Nugget.

The base is on lockdown, and both Cassie and Zombie see bombs being set up. The explosions are Vosch’s attempts to destroy the surface buildings in order to move their operations elsewhere—to prevent their secret from becoming widespread among humans. This also adds to the novel’s tension because it makes Cassie, Zombie, and Nugget’s escape more precarious.

Cassie has spent the entire novel struggling with her promise to find Sammy. She finally arrives at the base, and he spots her first. She offers Sammy his teddy bear, the item that has become a symbol of their parting promise, but he only wants his sister. Sammy’s reaction proves that he never stopped believing in Cassie, and that the teddy bear was simply a soft expression of familial love—not a hard promise. Even without the bear, Sammy would have been relieved to see his remaining family.