Summary
The book opens with a tone of caution. The protagonist of the story, Ann Burden, sees someone coming into her homeland, Burden Valley. It has been a year since the war ended, and also a year since her family – her parents and her brother, Joseph – disappeared. When her father and Joseph initially went out to the town to survey what had happened, they saw dead bodies everywhere. She switches back to the present and sees smoke getting closer to her house, but she cannot see exactly what is going on even with her binoculars. She sees someone stopping at the intersection of a highway near her house.
She notes the importance of writing, and that she was wrong about being the only person left in the world: after the initial trip to the next town over, Ogdentown, her parents (and her brother, who despite their parents' wishes, slipped into the trunk) went south with the Kleins, the couple who owned the general store in her town. Her family never came back – and even the Amish that were in the next town over were all dead. When she looks beyond her town, Ann sees that all the trees are dead, and there is never a sign of anything moving. She doesn’t go out there.
Ann’s morning routine consists of letting the chickens out of the chicken yard, and catching them later. She also releases the two cows and calf through the pasture gate. There is good grass in the far fields down the road from her house and water in the pond. She also frequents a cave near her home, from where she can see most of the valley, her house and barn, the roof of the Kleins’ store, and the old church. She can also see the road as it comes into her hometown – centered around Burden Hill – and almost to where it disappears.
Ann tries her best to keep track of time with her watch and alarm clock. It is spring, and she is excited that her birthday is coming up on June 15. She notes the stranger’s slow movement, and finally sees him on May 23. He is wearing a greenish, synthetic suit. It covers his head, and there is a mask for his eyes. His slow movement is due to him pulling a wagon, a thing about the size of a big, heavy trunk mounted on two bicycle wheels. It is covered with the same green plastic as his suit. He stops every few minutes to rest, and has a hard time pulling it up Burden Hill.
It is May 24, and night has arrived. The stranger has entered Ann’s property, where he has set up a green tent. He built a fire with Ann’s wood. Earlier in the day, he explored the area surrounding her house, and acted as if the life present in the valley might be a mirage. He pulled a tree branch, tore off leaves, and examined them closely. He removed two machines, radiation counters, to measure the radioactivity in the air. Then he took off his mask and shouted. As he makes his way back to the house, he shouts out to the valley and asks if there is anyone there. Ann does not respond. In the morning, he wakes up and shoots one of Ann’s chickens and eats it. He examines the cows, the church, the store, and takes a bath in one of the streams near Ann’s home, Burden Creek. There are two streams, one of which has been contaminated, Burden Creek, and the other, a little upstream, has wildlife and clean water. The stranger decides to take a bath in Burden Creek.
The next day, Faro – the dog of Ann’s adopted sibling, David – comes back after running away many months ago. He is in bad health, but the stranger feeds him. Afterwards, to Ann’s horror, he begins wagging his tail – a gesture that means he has found her tracks. Faro runs away from the stranger into the bushes, and fortunately for Ann the stranger cannot see where the dog went. A few minutes later, Faro shows up at the cave. After the dog leaves the cave, she goes back to the entrance of the cave and looks down at the house. She sees that the man has cut his beard and hair short, and thinks he looks quite handsome. On Sundays, Ann usually attends church, but this particular Sunday she forgets all of that. The man eats breakfast quickly, explores the length of the valley, and takes a look beyond. Ann follows the man, staying on her high woods path. He does not wear the plastic suit, and as he is walking down the main road, heading south toward the far end of the valley, he sees and realizes that there were two streams – and that Burden Creek did not form the pond at the end of valley. About halfway back to the house, he stops, sits down in the middle of the road, and seems to be very sick. He stays there for a few minutes, then gets up and walks on. He does this a few more times, and the crawls back into his tent. He does not come out for a few days.
It is May 27, and Ann is still at the cave, watching the house carefully. When Faro does not have anything to eat, he comes to Ann, who feeds him. She waits for the man to do something; he does not. The next day, she is back in her house. The main is still in the tent, asleep, sick, and not moving much. He barely knows she is there. The previous evening, she went into the tent with her gun, and touched the man’s hand, and he said “Edward.” He was delirious and had a high fever. Before he collapsed, he opened a bottle of water and some pills, but spilled them over. She got the man water and made him soup. Ann set the alarm clock to wake her every two hours so that she could periodically check up on the man. The next day, she gives him breakfast. He begins to talk and berates himself for being so stupid as to take a dip in the creek without measuring its radioactivity. He asks Ann to measure it for him, and after she tells him her findings, he concludes that he has radiation poisoning.
Analysis
These first few chapters focus intensely on Ann’s personality: her cautionary behavior, her resourcefulness, her resilience, and even her kindness. We immediately see the psychological effects that living alone and through a war have had on her. Ann is incredibly mature for her age, and is also quite courageous for going into the tent. She consistently demonstrates her willingness to confront unknown situations with a calm, calculated confidence that allows her to analyze and evaluate situations and take action accordingly.
We see this maturity come out in the beginning when she very patiently observes the man in the green suit from her vantage point in the woods: she is neither very scared nor incredibly joyful about the arrival of another human being. On the other hand, her hesitation can also be seen as problematic. When the stranger steps into the water that Ann knows is harmful, she does not intervene.
It is precisely this lack of action that results in the cascade of actions that follow, in which Ann begins to care for Mr. Loomis. As we see later in the story, Mr. Loomis’ sickness and Ann’s nursing him back to health take an emotional toll on Ann. Though Ann does not initially realize it, the caution she takes actually results in a disastrous situation later on.
We also see the foundations of the role that Faro plays later on in the book. He finds his way to Ann in her hiding spot in the cave, and Ann feeds him. But because he can so easily find her, the stranger uses Faro for very intentional and detrimental (at least to Ann) purposes later on.
The reader might also notice the fact that the stranger said “Edward.” The name is thick with references to the stranger’s past, what he did to get to the valley, and the kind of person he is. Though it is difficult for Ann and even the reader to tell that these are warning signs for what is to come, what is clear is that the stranger has a past that demands attention. The past of the stranger, as we will see, is quite important in shaping and informing Ann’s decisions later on in the book.
