Chapter 30

On the fifth night, the tet camps at a ruined trolley stop. Alice treats Jack’s amputated pinky with antibiotic pills and a soothing plasum, warning of infection. Jack admits he is a suspect in America-side and struggles with fading memories of the Talisman and the carousel horse, Silver Lady. He sleeps and dreams of Speedy, who hints Silver Lady has a Twinner.

Before dawn Jack relieves George, who confesses a sense of ka-shume—the breaking of their ka-tet—which Jack tries to downplay. On day six they drive a narrowing valley in sweltering heat, frequently spraying the Doom Box crates as their hum intensifies. Jack and Mary notice the crates swelling and the voices within seeming like secret speech.

Storm clouds build as they reach a tunnel. Jack orders George and Alice off the gunwagons and into cabs. Inside, their headlights awaken thousands of fat black spiders that drop, bite, and sting. They burst into daylight, frantically brushing themselves off as the light kills the spiders. Alice identifies them as king spiders whose many bites cause fever; everyone is stung and swelling but can still drive.

They push to higher ground under trees as hail turns to torrential rain and stop. Feverish and aching, they clear dead spiders from the trucks. Later, Jack shows Ry the swelling crate and delays opening it with him watching. When the rain eases, Jack and Mary open both crates to prevent them splitting; each Doom Box has become a pulsing gray, fetid, living blob. The emanations intensify: Mary hears the voice of TV host David Hartman needling her past shame; Jack hears pleas about his dying mother, which he recognizes as manipulative noise.

They secure the trucks, share scant food, and try to rest amid fever and pain. Jack, drifting in and out of memories and dreams of The Blob and redheaded attackers, is jolted awake when Alice appears at his window with alarming news: George may be dying.