The End of All Things
- Todd's thoughts are a rainy, bloody, frightened haze. He tells himself to run… and then blacks out.
- He wakes up to Manchee licking his face. Everything slowly starts coming back to him, and then he realizes that he has a knife in his back.
- But there is good news (if it can be called that): The knife has gone through the rucksack on this back and through his mother's book, which has stopped it from going straight through his body. Thanks, Ma.
- Mind over matter, Todd is able to slowly wrench the knife from his back. It takes a couple more minutes for him to put his thoughts together and he feels that Aaron must have done this—left him alive—on purpose.
- His mind and Noise start "running" all of these images, including pictures from his childhood, and a song that Ben used to sing.
- Todd resolves to find Viola.
- He crawls over to Viola's bag so that he can bandage himself up. It takes forever, but he manages it, and once the bandage starts to work, he stands up. He can't imagine how he can find Viola feeling like this.
- Dreading it, he pulls the knife out of the book and sees his blood mixed with Spackle blood. Luckily, at least the book is still intact.
- He looks at the knife and shudders. He doesn't want to touch it, but he cleans it off, while avoiding the sight of the Spackle body in the background.
- He starts to move in one direction but Manchee barks toward a different direction, saying that he can smell Viola. Todd has to trust him, and off they go.