"It’s easy to fool your mom when she’s not allowed to look at you."
Tom is experimental and he does not always follow the rules that his mother, Malorie, has set out to ensure that they survive. He refused to wear a hood when going out to fetch water.
"The man is trying to destroy the peace and security of Camp Yadin."
Malorie is skeptical of the man from the census center. The man had brought a list of the people that survived the onslaught by the creatures. Malorie is skeptical of the man because he offered her hope that her parents were alive, and that the world was slowly getting back to its feet.
"You might do all you can to avoid the new world, but it’s going to come knocking, in some form or another, soon enough."
Ron Handy was cautioning Malorie against being blind to the new world and new developments such as the train in Michigan. Malorie had lived with their two children for 17 years without contact from outside of their home, Camp Yadin.
"The physical rush following this decision steals her breath."
Malorie has decided to take the train and find her parents since they had been listed as survivors on the census. She is afraid of the effort that it will take to get to them since she and her two children will have to walk blindfolded for thirty miles to reach the train.
"And it’s important for us thinkers to keep doing what we do best. Waiting for that inevitable death. At peace. And alone."
Ron has given up hope of the world returning to how it had been before the creatures came. He is a hermit who awaits his death and does not want to buy into the hope of a safe world.
