Monument 14

The next morning, the students awake to a broadcast giving more details about the chemical leak, which produces different effects based on a person’s bloodtype. Those with type A, like Niko, develop blisters and prolonged exposure can lead to organ failure. Those with type AB, like Brayden, will suffer “paranoid delusions and possible hallucinations” (72). Type B, like Alex and Jake, may not be affected at all, but may suffer reproductive issues later on. Those with type O, like Dean, will become “deranged and violent” (72). All of these chemicals are supposed to disperse in three to six months. The government is trying to deactivate the blackout cloud containing all the chemicals.

The students argue in the Media Department about what to do. Niko wants to clean and take stock of what’s in the store, Alex wants to grow plants to improve the air, and Astrid wants to talk about getting out. They hypothesize about the fates of their parents. Dean reflects on his parents and notes, “Where our dad was brilliant and angsty, our mom was grounded and optimistic” (78). His father is an engineer and land surveyor, and his mother has ambitions to be a novelist, but instead she takes care of the kids and works retail. 

Brayden teases Dean for sitting by himself, writing, and tears his journal away. Brayden reads a page and says, “this stuff is dark” (82). Jake tells Brayden to leave Dean alone.

Astrid take the younger children to the bathroom, as they “had gone crazy” (83). Niko explains that the chemicals are now coming in through the water. As a result, the children scream and attack each other, and Astrid holds Batiste up against the wall by the throat. Niko and Jake remove Astrid, and she runs off. Niko gives Batiste CPR and revives him. Dean also becomes affected by the chemicals, and he bites Brayden, though he does not remember doing so. He wakes tied up on a beanbag. After Alex unties him, Dean comforts Batiste, who is lying quiet and motionless after being attacked by Astrid.

Dean gets freezer foods and cooks them in the Pizza Shack for dinner. He brings some food to Josie, who sits by herself. He tries to engage her in conversation, but she remains silent.

Due to the water contamination, no one can use the bathroom. The children wear pullups at night, and the next day they construct latrines in the baby-stroller aisle. 

On the third morning, Dean wakes up to make breakfast. He and Batiste acquire kitchen appliances from the aisles and set them up in the Pizza Shack kitchen. Since Astrid is still missing, Dean wraps a plate for her and writes her a note. Alex estimates that the 7,000-person population of Monument has been reduced to 2,200 as the type-O’s are “killing and marauding through our town” (95).

Though this was supposed to be the day to clean the entire store, Dean finds everyone in the Media Department, “kind of binging” (97). Jake and Brayden play air hockey while the younger children eat candy and play with toys. Dean and Alex gather everyone for a “monopoly marathon” and create a game space (98).

Niko cooks pizza for dinner. Jake, Brayden, and Sahalia are drunk after mixing alcohol into slushies. Niko insists that they make a plan, but Jake urges him to relax. Brayden makes fun of Niko for being a Boy Scout, and Niko headbutts him in the side. A fight erupts among Niko, Brayden, Jake, and Dean. Josie sounds an air horn to end the fight: “she was totally in command” (104). She says that tomorrow there will be a ceremony to honor the dead and an election for leader.

Josie gains the trust and obedience of the younger children. They all clean up their dinner after seeing her example and follow her to the Children’s Clothing section, where she gives them all new pajamas. They follow her to the Media Department “in a single file line,” where she sets them up with air mattresses (105). There, she tells, “an outrageous, preposterous, totally absurdist fairy tale” about Mrs. Wooly coming back to rescue all the children and returning them safely home to their parents (106).

Dean’s body aches from the fight. Josie approaches him and requests that he write something for the ceremony tomorrow because, “it needs to feel like it’s coming from everybody” (108). The older students get air mattresses and fall asleep.