- Cassie's debating when to travel: by day or by night. Drones are harder to spot at night.
- The drones came into play at the end of the 3rd Wave. One time, one crashed near a refugee camp where Cassie was before. It was unmanned.
- Cassie decides to travel by day. She's worried about wild animals, too, and daylight is better for those.
- Cassie wonders if she needs to shoot other people on sight. She decides she'll try to take cover instead of confronting anyone on the road.
- As she walks, Cassie notices how quiet it's been lately. So much silence.
- Cassie remembers the 1st Wave. It was 11:00 a.m. and she was at school. Suddenly all the lights went out. And the cell phones.
- Everyone's freaking out. They assume the lights out has something to do with the Others. As they wait for an announcement, they watch a plane fall from the sky and crash.
- No one's making the connection between the lights, the cell phones, and the plane crashing. Yet.
- All the kids head to the gymnasium. They're waiting for their parents to show up. Cars aren't working, by the way.
- Cassie sits with Lizbeth, her bestie. Lizbeth's crying. Other kids are doing the same, and some are praying.
- Lizbeth regrets not having ever had sex. She also thinks that Cassie should have sex with Ben Parish immediately.
- Cassie disagrees. In fact, that was the last time she ever saw old Ben Parish. She assumes he's dead.
- She remembers how she and Ben rode the same bus in middle school. Their mothers both had babies around the same time, and they talked about it once. Cassie always wanted to ask Ben if he remembered that conversation.
- Sounds like Ben was a perfect person—gorgeous, kind, and smart.
- After an hour or so, Cassie's dad shows up at the gym to take her home. He tells Cassie no cars are working. They're walking home.
- Actually, everything that used batteries or electricity has died. Her father explains that it was an electromagnetic pulse. Hey, this guy seems smart.
- Cassie's dad told her that everything was going to be okay. Well, we know he was wrong about that.