Read Along: The Waste, one month later

'I'm fallin. Fallin. Fallin.'

Stuck in a wasteland, Saba's mental state experiences rapid deterioration and the group doesn't know how to save their strongest link.

'Another day in this nowhere.'

Saba, Lugh, Emmi and Tommo are heading for the Big Water, but after heading out with limited directions, they've found themselves somewhat lost. They have been advised to travel straight across the land known as The Waste. Saba mentions the 'deathwater' and 'Wrecker plague pits' found in these parts - all hinting towards previous humanity pollution and disease. The group is slowed down by an injury in Lugh's horse, Buck.

'It's a line of twisters.'

Freak weather is seen to occur in this part of the land. Saba spots a springer riding in front of the tornadoes and uses Nero to help hunt it down. But before she can take it down, Saba is hit with a wave of anxiety as she remembers having to shoot down Epona in the same way. As she faints, she is pounced on by a pack of wolfdogs. Nero tries to protect her but more effective is the loner wolfdog that's come from nowhere. It's Tracker, Mercy's wolfdog, even though Crosscreek is 'weeks away'. It seems odd to Saba that Tracker is so far from home and in such a bad state - matted fur and skinny. Has something happened to Mercy?

'What happens to you changes you.'

It begins to dawn on both the reader and Saba that relations in the group are changing, namely between the twins - Saba and Lugh. Lugh now experiences moments of deep anger and rashness and it's not what Saba is used to. She wonders what he could possibly have experienced at Freedom Fields to have changed so much. Despite Lugh's insistence that Jack will let Saba down she continues to believe in him, claiming 'he'll make everythin alright'. Lugh is harsh on Emmi too, who misses her brother just as much as Saba does. But Lugh has become somewhat of an idol for Tommo who is now alone without any kind of father figure.

'People's on the move West.'

More and more wagon trains are passing the group's camp - all of them full of the sick and old and possibly dying. And all of them heading away, towards the west. Tommo and Emmi yearn for the west and indulge in Lugh's stories of it. One might call to mind the story Lennie begs George for in Of Mice and Men. Especially when Emmi asks him to 'say about the rabbits'. Moira Young might here be emphasising the childlike innocence that Lennie had still remains in Emmi and Tommo both. They, whilst trying to act as mature as Saba and Lugh, are not quite there yet. 

'It's DeMalo.'

Saba continues to be plagued by nightmares of Epona's death, but one night it morphs into DeMalo. She wakes with the uncanny feeling that 'DeMalo's here'. But more pressing is the presence that Saba believes she feels - that of Epona creeping through the woods around her. With her is Tracker. Saba is, essentially, spooked and vows 'no more killin' as she breaks the bow that killed her friend in two. But it was seemingly all a hallucination as Emmi arrives on the scene and has apparently not seen the two visitors. 

'We're on the move again. Jest like that.'

Lugh has been angered by the news that Saba has broken her bow and is clearly much more affected by recent events than she initially let on. It's scary for the reader to witness this breakdown of Saba's mentality - she is convinced that 'somebody or somethin' is following her. But perhaps this is more sane than first appearance - is Saba experiencing some kind of premonition of the 'heaviness' that lies ahead? The group begin to head away from camp now that Lugh's horse is recovered, but Saba is still jumpy. She claism that 'Epona has been ridin with' her for days, as have other shades of lost women. She dreams of Jack too, who appears to her 'trapped in the darkness'. Then we have anothe rlikeness to a literary great - this ime the guilt of Lady Macbeth. Saba itches to 'git it off - this blood on [her] hands'. Except it's a subversion of the classic - where Lady M was inextricably guilty, Saba suffers for little reason. 

'You see the dead, Saba. You talk to the dead.'

The group finally confronts Saba as one when they see how raw she's scrubbed her hands. Their concern is heightened with every word she says. The familiar red hot overtakes her as her defense mechanism kicks in and she gets into a physical fight with Lugh. He promises her that 'whatever's broke [he] can fix it'. It's a touching moment of sibling strength. 

'It's Tracker. He's here.'

Suddenly, along the road. the wolfdog returns - this time for all to see. He turns the group away from the westward trail they were following intentionally. He leads them to an encampment by a small river where tents of people are pitched. But what resides there is yet to be revealed...