The father shoots him dead and they flee the marauder's companions, abandoning most of their possessions. They attempt to evade a group of marauders traveling along the road but one of the marauders discovers them and seizes the boy. The father has tried to teach the boy to use the gun on himself if necessary, to avoid falling into the hands of cannibals. The pair have a revolver, but only two rounds. He assures his son that they are 'good guys' who are 'carrying the fire'. Realizing they cannot survive the winter in more northern latitudes, the father takes the boy south along interstate highways towards the sea, carrying their meager possessions in their knapsacks and a supermarket cart. The boy's mother, pregnant with him at the time of the disaster, committed suicide some time before. A father and his young son journey on foot across the post-apocalyptic ash-covered United States some years after an extinction event.
