Essay Questions

Why did Austin and his friends decide to climb up the roof of the Ealing Mall?

Austin Szerba and Robbie Brees are smoking and skating behind the Ealing Mall, which is where Austin has a part time job working for Shannon’s father. When a group of the opposing school comes and beats up Austin and Robbie bloody, their shoes and skateboards end up on the top of the roof. After they pick up Shann, they head to the top of the roof to get back their belongings where they notice weirs objects and decide to explore.

Which type of internal battle is going on inside Austin’s head?

Austin is Shannon Collins boyfriend, and he loves and cares for her a lot. At the same time, he has unwelcome sexual fantasies about his best friend, Robbie, which he doesn’t understand or know where comes from. He also doesn’t realize that Robbie has similar fantasies about Austin. These feelings are never acted upon, though it is revealed towards the ending of the book that Austin and Shannon have a son called Arek together, and that they continue living their lives together in the silo.

Why doesn’t the mantises attack Robbie?

Grant Wallace is the leader of the group of boys that bullies Austin and Robbie. After beating the pair bloody, he activates the plague through Robbie’s blood, which makes Robbie and his blood the antidote and cure to the plague. Nevertheless, they realize this to late to make any difference on the world, and the man-eating, sex-wanting, giant, prying mantises take over the world and Austin, Robbie, and Shann are all forced to evacuate into the silo.