Dry: Part 4 Summary & Analysis

As Henry drives the truck away from the freeway, Kelton thinks through all the ways he could hurt Henry. He’s pretty sure Henry is genuinely dangerous, but given that Alyssa trusts Henry more than Kelton right now, Kelton can’t do anything about that. Kelton thinks back to leaving Charity—she hugged him, and he didn’t really want to let go. He isn’t certain why Alyssa didn’t stay, especially given how angry she is. They decided to put the ÁguaViva in the back of the truck and open it later, so Charity wouldn’t confiscate the water. But now, Henry refuses to stop for water. They drive through the smoky haze, listening to the emergency radio broadcasts. There are big fires to their east, blocking people’s way to the lakes, and fresh water at the beach. Alyssa shushes Henry when he suggests they go to the beach.

Finally, Henry drives out of the aqueduct and follows a winding road that leads into the forest. Garrett complains of a headache as they drive, and Kelton ruminates on Alyssa. Really, her anger shouldn’t matter now when their survival is more important, but Kelton feels awful. Jacqui spots their turnoff, and Kelton then guides Henry the rest of the way to the bug-out. They get out, and Kelton leads everyone a bit further. Alyssa is the first to notice the A-frame covered in mirrors, which makes it nearly impossible to spot. Kelton finds the hidden key and unlocks the door.

Jacqui is desperate to get inside the bug-out and drink. But when Kelton flings the door open, the interior is a mess. Kelton is shocked and ventures deeper into the bug-out, taking in the dirty silverware and empty cereal boxes. Then, Kelton finds an unmade bed covered in comic books and loses his composure. He opens the cabinets, which are empty. Then he disappears down a trapdoor and throws up empty plastic jugs. Brady, he moans, must’ve been living here.

Alyssa tells herself this will be fine—they have the ÁguaViva, after all. Kelton continues to dig through the empty jugs until Jacqui tells him to come back to the truck. There, Jacqui pulls out the ÁguaViva box and asks Henry for the keys so she can slit the tape. He grudgingly hands them over—and when Jacqui opens it up enough, she dumps the box over, revealing the brochures. Thinking back to Henry’s desire to get away from the emergency center yesterday before the soldier opened the box, Alyssa realizes Henry has known the whole time that there was no water. And now, Henry is missing.

Henry never thought the bug-out wouldn’t pan out, so he doesn’t have a plan except to run. He hoped they’d never even get to the point of opening the box. But now, he’s stuck running through the woods. He’s going to head back to Charity, but then, Kelton tackles him. Kelton pins Henry and pinches his windpipe. He could kill Henry in 30 seconds, but before he can, Alyssa tells him to stop. Jacqui and Garrett catch up, and Jacqui points the gun at Henry. To everyone’s shock, Garrett tells Jacqui to shoot: Henry tricked them, so he deserves it. Instead, Jacqui shoots into the air and walks away. Alyssa tells Garrett to follow Jacqui, clearly wondering if this has “broken” Garrett. Henry explains that they wouldn’t have taken him if he didn’t have the ÁguaViva. Alyssa snarls at him to be quiet and come with them.

Alyssa can’t shake the thought that Henry might have killed them with his lie. Had they known the ÁguaViva box was empty, she still might’ve agreed to bring him, but they could’ve made a backup plan. Jacqui insists on binding Henry’s hands when they all reconvene at the bug-out to decide what to do next. They consider returning to Charity, but Kelton pulls out a map and points to the San Gabriel Reservoir about 10 miles away, which is full of water to use to fight wildfires. Nobody wants to go, but they agree anyway. Alyssa finds enough bags for all of them so they can take some supplies with them. To her surprise, Jacqui gives Kelton his gun back—she doesn’t want to be responsible for it anymore.

Kelton can’t help himself. He takes in the sour smell of Brady’s bed, which he’ll never smell again, and gathers the comic books. He realizes Alyssa is watching and puts the comics down, embarrassed. He insists that Brady was a “screw-up” to use everything up here and then “get himself killed,” and then he rambles about where he’ll go from here. Alyssa tells him he can’t stress about that now, but Kelton feels naked with her watching him. He apologizes, even though he knows it isn’t enough. But privately, he knows why he spied on her: his parents keep him “like a fish in a bowl,” and that messes with a person. She asks him what he saw, and he describes watching her practice a lip-synch routine in front of the mirror. Alyssa asks Kelton to stand in front of her—and she slaps him. Then, she kisses his cheek.