The 5th Wave

Ben is treated for the virus by Dr. Pam at the base hospital. He grows worse at first, but by the sixth day, he improves.

Ben is taken to a hangar where he is examined by Dr. Pam. She injects a small silver-gray pellet into the back of his neck. She then hooks him up to a computer that runs a program she calls Wonderland. When the program starts, Ben finds himself reliving certain moments in his life—including the night he ran from his family home after it was invaded by intruders. His father is immediately killed. Ben takes his sister, Sissy, upstairs—but is pulled back. Sissy is ripped away from him and presumably killed; Ben’s mother is also presumably killed. The man tries to hit Ben with his father’s hammer, but he manages to dodge it. He runs away until he reaches the camp—Camp Haven—outside the Wright-Patterson Airforce base.

Ben is upset by what he saw through the Wonderland program. Dr. Pam tells him that the Others are inside humans, and that the Wonderland program is one way to see which humans they’re in. She says this is how the Others managed the attack on Wright-Patterson: They had Others inside key personnel. She asks Ben if he’d like to see one.

Dr. Pam takes Ben to another patient hooked up to the Wonderland program—his tent mate Chris. She tells Ben that Chris has an Other inside of him and shows him a button that will kill him. She gives Ben the opportunity to push it. Dr. Pam shows him his sister’s locket and tells him this is how to stop the invasion. Ben pushes the button.

Ben continues to recuperate in the Cooperation wing. As he does, he considers everything he’s learned about the Others. He receives a visit from the commanding officer, Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vosch, who plays on his love for his sister to convince him that he needs to fight to keep the Others from killing the remaining survivors.

The sniper—Silencer—who shot Cassie sits and waits for her to come out from under the car. He has followed her for a long time, sneaking up to her tent at night to read her diary; he knows everything about her. The part of him that remains human is impressed by Cassie. This part didn’t shoot her the first chance he had, and he wonders why. The Other inside of him that woke four years ago simply wants to do his job and do it well; his job is to finish what the first three waves started. When Cassie finally comes out from under the car, she turns toward his hiding place and yells, “Here I am! Come and get me, you son of a bitch!” (151).

A blizzard arrives and lasts two days. Cassie waits it out in another abandoned car before continuing her walk to Wright-Patterson. Unfortunately, she has developed an infection in her gunshot wound and becomes stuck in a snow drift. As she waits to die, she has an imaginary conversation with Sammy’s teddy bear, apologizing for not being able to rescue Sammy.

Cassie wakes in a bed, an IV dripping into her arm. She is aware of a bandage around her lower thigh and knee but is uncertain whether or not her calf and feet are still attached. She finds herself in a strange nightgown without any underwear, coming to the conclusion that someone undressed and bathed her. Cassie is mortified when she realizes her savior is a handsome 18-year-old boy. He says he found her thanks to buzzards flying over her location. He brought her back to his family farmhouse—specifically his youngest sister’s bedroom. Cassie tells him everything that happened at Camp Ashpit. The boy doesn’t seem to believe that the soldiers were Others in disguise.

The boy, Evan Walker, brings broth. He suggests the soldiers are humans who switched sides, but when Cassie argues, he makes other suggestions—including a theory that the soldiers are clones the Others made before their arrival. Cassie tells him about Sammy and why she is headed to Wright-Patterson. She becomes emotional, and Evan comforts her.

Evan leaves each night, telling Cassie he is hunting. During the day, he brings her good food he’s cooked himself, including a homemade hamburger. Once Cassie’s feeling stronger, she insists on taking a bath. Evan puts a chair in the bathtub and waits outside the door to help. Cassie finds his attention both endearing and a little odd.

Evan tells Cassie that he remains at the farmhouse because his parents died early in the invasion, so he stayed to care for his siblings—but each of them died during the third wave, his youngest sister having died two months ago. He also plans to go to Wright-Patterson or Fort Knox to find survivors but wants to wait until spring to do so.

Cassie continues to heal, eventually venturing outside and walking with a crutch that Evan made for her. Evan returns her gun and shows her how to hold it properly so she can aim better. Whenever they talk, he refrains from talking about his family. When Cassie tells him that she still plans to get to Wright-Patterson as soon as possible, he tells her that he wants to go with her. She argues against it, partly because she believes Evan thinks Sammy is dead, and partly because she realizes if things were different, he wouldn’t even bother with her. Evan tells her that she doesn’t have the skills to rescue Sammy; he also thinks she killed the wounded soldier with the crucifix because Sammy trusted the soldier who put him on the bus. Cassie realizes that he read her diary and is mortified. Evan recounts her comparing herself to a cockroach in her diary and says she is wrong. He says she is more like the mayfly, whose lifespan is only a day long. Then, he kisses her and tells her that she saved him.