Cockroach (Simile)
"It's like a cockroach working up a plan to defeat the shoe on its way down to crush it." (1)
This simile demonstrates how Cassie views the position of the humans in comparison to the Others. She speculates how the Others see them, and is rather despondent about their situation.
Mechanical Spiders (Simile)
"or they march across the countryside in huge machines that look like mechanical spiders." (1)
This is another simile of Cassie's. She is now imagining what people expected the aliens to look like when they invaded. She then details how the Others actually invaded.
Tar (Simile)
"The blood glittered darkly, black as tar in the semidarkness." (10)
Cassie describes the blood of the Crucifix soldier using this simile. This illustrates how she perceives him and her setting.
A Cloud (Simile)
"His question follows me into the kitchen. It hangs over my head like a cloud while I slap some cured meat onto some flat bread Evan must have baked in his outdoor oven like the Eagle Scout he is." (173)
Evan's question hung over Cassie's head like a cloud because she couldn't stop thinking about it, even though she wanted to. It illustrates the influence that Evan has over her.
A Silvery Freckle (Metaphor)
"Over his shoulder, I saw a tiny gray dot, a silvery freckle on the unblemished skin of the sky." (71)
The dot/frackle is a drone coming towards Camp Ashpit. This metaphor gives the reader the same sense of foreboding that Cassie and her father must have felt upon seeing it.
