How It All Goes Down
Thursday, April 7
- Though Zala and Niedermann think she's dead, Salander is still alive! She digs her way out of the grave, using the cigarette case from Mimmi.
- Near a woodshed, Salander rests near a chopping block. She hears Zala's footsteps.
- Blomkvist is in a rental car now, trying to find the farmhouse.
- Salander manages to lift the axe from the chopping block and axe Zala in the face.
- Niedermann wakes from his sleep when he hears Zala scream.
- Zala falls into the open shed. Salander goes for his pocket and finds his gun.
- Zala is screaming. He and Salander both look like something from a horror movie.
- Niedermann thinks Salander must be a zombie, since he buried her corpse himself.
- She shoots at him with Zala's gun. She misses; he runs.
- She locks Zala in the shed.
- She makes it to the farmhouse and drinks water. Suddenly, she feels intense pain in her head.
- Salander has a hole in the head. She thinks she'll die. Just before she passes out, she begs for Mimmi's forgiveness.
- Niedermann is on the road. He sees a car coming and flags it down, hoping to get a ride.
- Blomkvist stops his car in front of Niedermann. He recognizes him.
- Blomkvist pulls the gun he took from Salander's on Niedermann, makes Niedermann lie down, and then ties him up with his belt and makes him get in a ditch. Then Blomkvist finds Zala's farmhouse.
- He finds Zala in the woodshed and leaves him there. He finds Salander passed out on the floor in the farmhouse. He's afraid she's dead.
- But she opens her eyes for just a moment and says his name. He calls an ambulance.
- (And the story is continued in The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest.)