Z for Zachariah
Robert C. O'Brien
 Ann Burden's diary begins on Monday, May 20. After living alone for a year and believing herself the last survivor of a nuclear war, Ann fears that a stranger approaching her valley might be a killer or enslave her. She hides in a cave to judge his character first from a distance, not revealing herself even to warn him against bathing in a dead stream. However, when he then sickens, Ann’s fear of being alone forever moves her to help him. The stranger is John R. Loomis, a chemist with Cornell University who helped a Nobel-winning professor design radiation-proof plastic and a prototype “safe-suit.” After three months in an underground lab near Ithaca, New York, he spent seven months searching unsuccessfully for other survivors. Then he headed west, finding Burden Valley after walking through dead lands for ten weeks. During the first stage of Loomis's illness, Ann enjoys his company and feels optimistic about their future. He tells Ann how to pump gas manually and begins plans for a hydroelectric generator. Soon, Ann hopes for a church wedding in the spring; and, while plowing on June 2, she recites Edna St. Vincent Millay’s poem "Epitaph for the Race of Man," happy they can keep humanity from dying. She wishes she had warned Loomis about the poisoned stream. As Loomis’s condition worsens, he has disturbing nightmares about shooting a coworker, Edward, who tried to take the safe-suit to find his family. Though aware Loomis may have acted in self-defense and intended to find other survivors, Ann thinks his journey west suggests selfish motives. After nearly dying, Loomis speaks again on June 8 and says Ann’s companionship saved him. But during his recovery over the next two weeks, Ann worries when he plans for their future in the valley and sometimes scolds her—for neglecting farm work and wanting to use the safe-suit to get books. When he says on June 19 that they must start a colony together, Ann is uneasy despite her similar hopes earlier. By June 23, Ann thinks of Loomis as a murderer and fears that his horrible experiences have damaged his mind. She then becomes very nervous when, after she asks if he ever married, Loomis grabs her hand and demands to know her intentions. She feels sure he is trying to control her possessively, just as he “controlled” her farm work, the suit, and Edward. In the next few days, Ann sees more disturbing signs in Loomis's behavior, such as when she reads aloud Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice but he doesn’t seem to listen. On the night of June 27–28, Ann thinks her fears are validated when Loomis tries to get in bed with her while she lies quiet, assuming he believes she is asleep. Ann flees and, after getting store supplies, returns to her cave hideout. Over the next few days, seeing Loomis sometimes use her family’s dog, Faro, to practice tracking her, Ann feels she is in “a game of move-countermove” that only Loomis wants to play and only he can win. Worrying also about neglected farm work, on July 1 Ann talks to Loomis to suggest a “compromise” of sharing the valley and farm work while living separate lives. Loomis does not understand why Ann won’t return to her house, but he accepts her demands because he has no choice. He only hopes she will change her mind and “act more like an adult.” For about ten days, Ann thinks her system of living separately is working. Though it is inconvenient and she worries about spending winter in the cave, she assumes there is nothing else she can do. She wishes Loomis had never come to the valley. Around July 10, Loomis denies Ann access to the tractor and the store, warning her that she must forgo many conveniences if she continues her “stupidity” of staying away. Ann guesses he is trying to force her to return or he has a “compulsion for taking charge of things” as part of long-term planning. Deciding for the first time to talk with him to learn his intentions, Ann realizes she might be causing his behavior by denying companionship, and she thinks it sensible to offer to talk sometimes. However, when she goes to the house, Loomis tries to wound her by shooting from a window. He then tracks Ann to her cave, where he burns all her belongings and takes one of her guns. Ann is forced to hide in the wilderness nursing a bullet-grazed ankle, which becomes infected. Over the next several days, she develops a fever and begins dreaming of another valley where children are waiting for a teacher. Believing her dreams are true and Loomis is insane, Ann plans to steal the safe-suit and leave the valley. This will also be her revenge for the burning of her favorite book. For a couple of weeks, Loomis focuses on farm work and preparations for winter while Ann lives miserably, scrounging for food. One day, he tries to lure Ann to the store to attempt again to wound and incapacitate her; but Ann tricks him in turn, leading him into a trap she planned for killing Faro. After Ann fires a warning shot, Loomis is surprised she still has a gun and flees, releasing Faro. The dog then swims across Burden Creek to reach Ann and dies the next day of radiation sickness. In planning to kill Faro, Ann feels she is “as much a murderer as Mr. Loomis.” Believing Loomis has forced her into action, on August 7 Ann takes the offensive by leaving a message that she will talk about returning if he meets her unarmed. When he surprisingly leaves his gun to meet her in good faith, Ann steals his safe-suit and cart. While carrying out her plan, she remembers sadly her hopes they would save humanity together. Ann then waits on Burden Hill for a last meeting with Loomis, who arrives on the tractor enraged, ignores a warning shot, and threatens to kill her if she doesn’t return the suit. However, when Ann accuses him of killing Edward the same way, revealing what he said during his sickness, Loomis suddenly becomes dispirited and passive. When Ann declares she has no choice because of refusing to be his prisoner, Loomis replies in fright and bewilderment, “It’s wrong,” and begs her not to leave him there alone. Finally, in admittedly childish manner, Ann blames Loomis because he never thanked her for nursing him. As she walks away expecting to be shot in the back, Loomis calls out that he once saw birds circling to the west. She then keeps walking for most of the night until, exhausted, she lies down without setting up the protective tent. The story ends uncertainly. Awaking late the next morning, Ann continues west beside a dead stream, hoping to see green on the horizon.