The End We Start From

At the hospital, R has a panic attack when he sees the crowd, and the doctors initially assume that he needs help instead of Z. The narrator reflects on the strange contrast between the individual emergency of one person and one family compared to the apocalyptic trauma impacting the United Kingdom. The scale is confusing, and the narrator reflects, “I am unsure […] if they do this anymore. If a baby is still something. It is. They react” (41). Although the hospital agrees to treat Z, they will only admit him as a patient for one night, and only one parent can stay. R is relieved when the narrator stays.

They resume their drive through Scotland. As the weather gets colder, the narrator and R argue because she believes they will be safer in a camp with warm beds and medical resources. R reluctantly agrees to go, and while the protagonist and her baby adjust well to life in the camp, R does not. He leaves, claiming that he will only be gone for a week and is going to look for another, safer place to live. The narrator wonders if he will ever come back.