After examining Kane’s reaction to his parents’ deaths in Killing time, Land of the dead turns to Dylan.
Dylan is inclined to brood, which contrasts with Kane’s attempts to be positive and move on. The interaction between them at the beginning of this chapter leads Kane to question his newfound energy to be head of the family; but he opts to persevere with pizza.
Dylan then decides he needs to do something – to get out of the house before his brother comes back and rams pizza down his throat. His dark nature sends him off to see his deceased brother (after contemplating seeing his deceased parents). This sets him up for his second encounter with Wilfred.
We don’t know exactly how Wilfred knows Dylan will be there. Is he following him? Doubtful. Magic? Possibly. There’s a connection between them, stemming from the calling spell Wilfred hints at in Chapter 2 (“You came”), so that’s a likely explanation.
We also get to hear Wilfred has accomplices – his driver in this case (which is probably Kenny Snyder, who appears later).
As I mentioned in an earlier note, I started off having Wilfred try to trick Dylan, including by acting like a harmless old man. But it was much more interesting (and fun to write!) to let him be himself and tell the truth. It’s part of his grand narcissism.
This raises the question of why a grieving seventeen-year-old would go off with a manic grumpy rude weirdo? This is reconciled over coming chapters. It’s where the book’s screenplay origins come into play. In screenplays there’s a call to action that’s initially rejected. This is symbolized by Dylan tearing up Wilfred’s business card. But the wind blows the pieces back at him. Is the universe trying to tell us something?
Dean Raven 