The Girl with All the Gifts

The group’s search of the second floor turns up a wealth of canned goods—some edible—and a functioning gas stove. While Gallagher cooks and Justineau sets the table, Caldwell redresses the wounds on her hands. Melanie, still handcuffed and muzzled, sits in the children’s playroom, her ankle chain tethered to a radiator. Justineau brings her food and feeds her through an opening in the muzzle. She then finds clothes about Melanie’s size: colorful jeans, a festive shirt, and sparkly sneakers. Melanie, however, has only worn the simple slip-on uniform of her Hotel Echo days, and she doesn’t know how to dress herself. Justineau agrees to help her in the morning, but Melanie insists both Parks and Gallagher need to be present: “One to untie me, the other to point the gun at me. That’s how many it takes” (204).

Melanie and Justineau discuss the day’s events—the attacks and the shootings—and Melanie wants to reassure her teacher that she’s not terribly upset about the hungries being shot. While Justineau vows to protect Melanie from the others, Melanie wonders how anyone can protect her from herself.