Z For Zachariah

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of death.

Ann Burden sees smoke in the distance for the third day in a row—a column rising into the sky, appearing each afternoon, and then disappearing at night. She estimates that it started about 15 miles away, at Claypole Ridge, but it is closer each time it appears.

She knows that everyone beyond Claypole Ridge—in Ogdentown—is dead. Her father; her brother, Joseph; and her cousin David went out to Ogdentown after the war to see if they could find anyone. They searched homes, but all they found were bodies, and they rang the church bells and waited, but no one ever came.

The next day, the smoke has moved even closer, just over the ridge where the road crosses the state highway. Ann prays that “he” (she decides to call the person “he” even though she’s not sure) will decide to follow the highway, but she knows that if he looks toward her, he will see the only living foliage in the entire area.

Ann first got the notebook that she is now writing in a few months ago. It allows her to keep better track of things like when she planted her garden, and it gives her someone to talk to.