Tomorrow, When the War Began: Chapter 20 Summary & Analysis

The local fuel distributorship is just six blocks away, and Ellie and Fiona find it easily enough, but they are nervous and keep bickering. Ellie wonders what they will be like when the action really starts. In all honesty, she is kind of nervous having to work with Fiona. Ellie is scared, but Fi is really scared, and at least Ellie is used to working outdoors around trucks. Fi is used to ballet lessons. Sure, Fi is better than she was, Ellie admits, and she respects Fi for it, but Ellie is still apprehensive. 

It is quiet at the distributor, so Ellie and Fiona stop to rest and call Homer and Lee on the walkie-talkie. Fiona tells Homer that they have made it, and there is plenty of what they need. Homer says they are set on their end, too. Fiona says goodbye, but she tells Homer that she loves him first. Homer is silent for a minute, and then he tells Fiona that he loves her, too.

Ellie and Fiona slide between the gates that block the parking lot of the fuel distributorship and make their way to the front office. They can see the keys hanging on a pegboard behind the desk. Ellie hands Fiona a rock. She smiles and rifles it through the window. Ellie reaches in, unlocks the door, and opens it. The keys are clearly labeled, so they grab a handful and head to the parking lot. They select an old truck, that way the moon won’t shine off new chrome and paint. They climb to the tanker and check it out. It is nearly full of fuel.

Ellie and Fiona get into the truck, and Ellie starts it up. No brakes, she says. They will have to find a different one. They try several others, but Ellie can’t get any of the breaks to work. She says they will just have to take the first one and risk it. They climb in and Ellie starts the engine again. She pulls out of the parking spot and suddenly realizes the truck has air brakes and she needed to wait for some pressure to build up. She is irritated with her mistake and drives in the direction of the gates. She breaks through on the second try and coasts down the street, toward the bridge.

Fiona suggests that she walk ahead and wave Ellie through the intersections, just in case patrols are coming from the other direction. She asks Ellie if she really thinks they can pull this off, and Ellie says she does, or at least she hopes they can. Fiona waves her through the first intersection, and then she turns around and frantically mouths the word: “Patrol.” Ellie parks the truck in the street and gets out. She quickly climbs a tree, and Fiona follows. Ellie thinks about her dad and how he said that people hardly ever look up. The patrol marches by and never once looks up. They walk right by the petrol tanker, presumably thinking that it has been parked there since the invasion.

Fiona and Ellie wait to make sure there is enough distance between them and the patrol unit, and then they call Homer and Lee. They have been held up, the girls say, but they are back on track now. Fiona waves Ellie through two more intersections, and Ellie turns off the engine, intending to coast the rest of the way. Suddenly, she realizes her mistake; she doesn’t have brakes now. Ellie tires to start the truck again, but it stalls. She tries again, and when the engine catches, she jerks the wheel and nearly jackknifes. She turns the engine off again, this time pulling the emergency break to stop, and wonders why she didn’t do that in the first place.

Fiona jumps in the truck and asks what happened, and Ellie answers that she just “failed [her] driving test.” They call Homer and Lee on the walkie-talkie again and make the last of their plans. Then, Fiona and Ellie climb to the top of the tanker, loosen the caps on the tanks. They drench a length of rope in the gasoline, leaving only one end dry. They tie the rope to the top of the tanker and wait.