Chase (Character)

## Chase Woods

A comparison of Chase from the start of the apocalypse (top left) to the end (middle).

## Physical description

### Height

5'10

Chase is the **main protagonist** of **Chase** and part of the **main five teenagers**.

Chase was born on **December 6th, in 2004**. He has lived in **New Dove** for his whole life, from birth till present day. In the time the book is set, **Chase is 16**.

He is described as an **ordinary boy**, being **fairly intelligent** but not too social or sporty. Chase appears to have **light blonde hair**, **blue eyes**, and wears a **green hoodie**. This green hoodie later changes to blue.

## pre-apocalypse

**Before the apocalypse**, we get a short glimpse of what Chase's ordinary life is like. He leaves home at **7:45**, to be in time for school at **8:00**.

Chase gets to school and is immediately ridiculed by Bryant, getting bullied before Chase attempts to stand up to him. This ends up with Bryant shutting him down and trying to act like the 'nice guy' before leaving without doing anything else.

Luna walks over a few minutes later and chats to Chase, inviting him round to her house later that day. It's clear that Luna has feelings for Chase, but there is no indication as to whether Chase returns the same feelings. We also learn that Luna and Chase met at an abandoned pool 3 years ago, and have been friends since.

Chase heads off to Biology, ready to complete his end of year test. Suddenly, an bombing alert shows up on the screen and the students are told to hide under their desks. A few minutes later, everything goes black, and the post-apocalypse begins.

## post-apocalypse

Chase awakes on Day Four, being the latest character to be relieved of his blackout. He first heads to a nearby pharmacy, before heading out into the nearby forest. He finds Bryant there, holding a penknife covered in blood. Bryant warns him of his eye, which he had not noticed. Chase quickly bandages it up before walking off with Bryant.

On Day Five, Chase continues his hike with Bryant. They come across a treehouse on their way to a nearby cell tower, and Bryant convinces Chase to go in with him and raid it. Chase reluctantly agrees, and follows Bryant into the camp.

They are promptly caught out and proceed to run away, before Bryant shouts out to Chase and tells him to split up. Before Chase can reply, he is gone.

Eleven hours later, on Day Six, Chase is alone with nothing but a fire and his phone. He notices that he is close enough to the cell tower to call Luna, and dials her up. She accepts, and spreads the word that she is heading for Tennor, a city that might have salvation. Chase likes the idea, and tells her yes, just before confessing that he had potentially robbed Luna's camp accidentally. Luna forgives him and reminds him of Tennor.

## trivia

* The name 'Chase' comes from Jacob's alternate birth name.
* Chase is heavily based off the author, having the same birthdate (alternate year), similar facial features and hair.
* The surname 'Woods' comes from a forest that the author lived nearby, called Cannock Chase. Woods is a reference to the fact that it was a forest.
* Originally, there was never going to be a biology test in the pre-apocalypse. Instead, there was going to be a frog dissection, which included Chase removing the frog's left eye - foreshadowing his later optical loss. This was removed as it didn't fit well in the book.
* Chase is the latest character to wake up after the bombings.
* In the book, Chase loses his left eye. However, in all illustrations of him, he is seen wearing an eyepatch over his right eye.
* In the last illustrated version of Chase, he is seen wearing tribal paint parks on his face. This references to Luna and Eliza's early tribe near the start of the book, which most of the main characters adopt at the end.