Stella

Stella sees some unlit packets that may explode at any minute. While Stella wants to run as fast as she can to Cloe, she knows she needs to trust herself and use her nose. Stella realizes that everyone makes mistakes and that her mistake does not need to define her. She has done a lot of good work, and finding Cloe is the most important work she will ever do. There are flames and smoke everywhere, but she eventually picks up the smell of cookies and vinegar. The firecrackers explode, and the fire closes in on Nando and Stella. Stella sees a downed tree and knows that Cloe is on the other side of it. She finds Cloe unresponsive on the ground.

Cloe’s hair looks like Connie’s did the day Connie died. Stella feels hope, however, because while Cloe’s “chemical smell is overwhelming. […] It is not the smell of the shell of a human” (119). Nando and Stella try to drag Cloe to safety, but they have difficulty getting her far and the fire is catching up to them. Suddenly Cloe starts to move. Stella barks for a while, then she hears the working dogs bark back.