last section

The food lasts for a while until, once again, they're starving. The Man gets really sick and feverish. The Boy spots a house off in the distance it seems to be another big discovery. They stay there for a while and then decide to leave.

All along, our heroes have been traveling south and east. The Man thinks if they can just reach the sea, they'll be all right. It's no small feat, since they have to cross the mountains. When they do get to the sea, it's a big disappointment. However, The Man spies a wrecked ship a few hundred yards out. It's full of food and useful stuff, like a flare gun and batteries. once again they have pleanty to eat for a while.

Then their luck turns bad again. The Boy gets sick. The Man is beside himself trying to keep The Boy alive. He recovers, in the mean time someone tries to run off with their cart and supplies. They have to chase the thief down. They get their food back, but it's a big scare, and The Boy isn't too happy with how The Man treats the thief.

They head farther south through a coastal city, and more bad luck strikes. As they are walking through, The Man is shot with in arrow from the window of what they thought was an abandoned building.

They travel inland. Finally, in a pine forest, The Man can't go any farther. We're not sure if he dies from the arrow wound or the respiratory illness he's had all along, but he dies with The Boy beside him. Much of the book has been leading up to this event, and The Man's interactions with The Boy can be seen as an attempt to prepare The Boy to live in the world on his own.

Almost immediately, though, another family appears on the road, and they take in The Boy. This is a little surprising, because nowhere else in the novel do our heroes meet any good, upstanding travelers. The novel ends on a note of hope: perhaps these small enclaves of compassionate people can survive and eventually rebuild a tolerable world.