How High We Go in the Dark

This chapter is written in email format, addressed to the members of a neighborhood. Dan Paul invites the community to his house for a barbeque. He suggests that people can make it a potluck or just come if they’re feeling overwhelmed in the world. He volunteers to accompany anyone feeling overwhelmed on errands, recalling his own feelings after waking up.

Dan introduces himself to the neighbors by reminding them of his wife and daughter and reflecting that he used to be an introvert. After the death of his loved ones, he’s feeling lonely. He was one of the comatose plague victims held in a Boeing hangar for care, but by the time he awoke, his wife and daughter had already died. He pretends that they’re still alive some mornings, walking through their old family routines, but by night he becomes wrought with grief. He travels around the community and reflects on how it has changed.

Two months after the first plague victims were cured, he works by answering social media messages to the dead. He meets Dennis from Chapter 5, “Elegy Hotel,” who now works as Dan’s supervisor. Dan apologizes if he’s oversharing, but he wants to emphasize the transformation he has undergone since waking up.