Tomorrow, When the War Began: Chapter 10 Summary & Analysis

As Ellie and Homer head out to look for Robyn and Lee, Ellie is looking forward to spending time alone with this new Homer, whoever he is. While they were camping, Ellie was growing interested in Lee, but a day of separation has her looking at Homer. Ellie laughs to herself. They are in the middle of a war, and she is thinking about boys. As they get closer to town, Homer grows serious, and by the time they near Robyn’s house, Ellie is tense. They check the hill but see no sign of Lee or Robyn, so they decide to go to Robyn’s house.

At the top of the hill, nothing much has changed in town. The Showground is still lit up, and the hospital looks operational, too. Outside Robyn’s house, Homer swears he sees movement inside. Ellie worries they are about to be ambushed, but they have to find out if Lee and Robyn are in the house. They creep to the door, and Ellie opens it, the door screeching with every inch. She feels sick to her stomach and can hear Homer behind her. A scraping sound comes from the next room, like furniture sliding on the floor. Ellie drops down, crawling across the carpet, and Homer does the same. 

Ellie and Homer crawl behind a chair, just as they hear the sound of a rifle being cocked back. Ellie’s minds springs into action. The soldiers from last night had automatic weapons, she recalls, but the rifle sound now is clearly a single-shot. Ellie remembers that Robyn’s dad hunts with a single-shot rifle and decides to take a chance. “Robyn!” Ellie yells from behind the chair. “Ellie,” Robyn says and faints.

Ellie and Homer splash water on Robyn’s face until she wakes up. They immediately ask about Lee. Robyn tells them that Lee has been shot. He’s okay, but the wound is big and takes up most of his calf. Lee is hiding at his parent’s restaurant, but they can’t get there now. The town is crawling with soldiers. Lee’s parents were nowhere to be found when they got there, and the apartment upstairs was trashed. Lee isn’t taking it well, Robyn adds.

While Robyn and Lee were sneaking around town before Lee was shot, they found Mr. Clement, the local dentist, hiding inside an insurance agency with his family. He wasn’t too happy that they noticed him. He had been watching them and hoped they wouldn’t find him. Mr. Clement didn’t feel like talking, but he still told them a few things. Everyone is being held at the Showground, he said, and there are two kinds of soldiers: professionals and conscripts. The professionals are efficient and, surprisingly, not cruel. However, the conscripts are another story and can get pretty mean.

Robyn says there aren’t enough soldiers to search house to house, and they avoid trouble when possible. If they suspect trouble in a house, they blow it up instead of risking a shoot-out. Robyn and Lee were running when they suddenly heard gunshots. They didn’t know where the shots were coming from, but they knew the bullets were meant for them. Robyn ran into a building, not realizing that Lee had been shot, until he came limping behind her.

Robyn glosses over the story, but this is Ellie’s favorite part and exactly why it is important that they write down their story, Ellie says. Robyn was a total hero. She broke a window and carried Lee out on her back, kind of like those mothers who can lift cars when their kids are in danger. She carried Lee all the way to the restaurant, and then she went and forced Mr. Clement to come and help. Mr. Clement cleaned the wound and stitched it up. He even left needles, antibiotics, and pain killers and showed Robyn how to inject Lee. Ellie can’t believe it. Robyn hates needles.

The bad news is that Lee can’t really walk, and the stiches won’t come out for a week—Mr. Clement taught Robyn how to take out stitches, too. They decide they need some kind of vehicle and begin to brainstorm. They list off anything they can fit Lee into: shopping cars, strollers, and wheelbarrows, and then someone suggests a forklift truck. Ellie suggests a bulldozer, and Robyn reminds them of the big shovel trucks at the city depot. Homer takes charge immediately. Ellie can drive, he says, and they will wait with Lee and put him in the shovel. Robyn looks at Homer in disbelief and asks if he has been taking drugs. Ellie suggests they hide a second car down by the cemetery and they immediately get moving.