Keith and Todd are using drugs at a kegger party by the lake. Keith compliments the quality of the marijuana Todd has shared with him and asks to be introduced to Todd’s dealer so that he can buy his own supply. Dee rejoins them and shares what he learned while waiting at the keg line: Chris went swimming with Rick Ames, revealing that she has the Bug. Keith is in denial about the news, confused about why Chris would show the illness off. Dee asserts that multiple people saw the gash on her back. 

Keith reassures his friends that he is not upset and walks off to urinate in the woods. Internally, Keith remains in denial that Chris would ever have sex with someone who had the Bug. He is embarrassed about his crush on Chris, even though he knows he has no claim on her, given how little they really know of each other. He expresses regret for ever having told his friends about his crush. While in the woods, Keith observes Chris nearby, dressing back up after her swim with Rick. Keith watches her take off her wet underwear and feels perverted for doing so. Just as she finishes dressing up, Chris steps on a piece of glass and falls back. Keith is initially conflicted about going to her but ultimately decides to help. As he picks the glass out of Chris’s wound, Keith registers that she isn’t uncomfortable with him. He once again experiences something waking up inside himself just by looking at the dark hole of her wound. Keith tears a piece of his shirt off to compress the wound.

Chris worries that Keith will get cold with his shirt off. Keith shrugs it off, citing the warm weather. Chris suggests that this is also the reason she impulsively went swimming. They speculate that someone must have gotten drunk in the woods and smashed a bottle where Chris was standing. Chris thanks Keith for his help, telling him that he was sweet to do so. Keith is comforted by her smile but realizes he still has some of her blood on his fingers. Keith feels marked by the blood, which he takes as a sign that Chris will belong to him someday.

Later that weekend, Keith joins Todd on a visit to Todd’s drug dealer. On the road, Todd instructs Keith to let him handle the negotiation. However, Keith is too distracted by romantic fantasies of Chris to focus on what Todd is saying. Keith continues to reckon with the knowledge that Chris has the Bug and that this is the reason she has frequently been absent from school recently. He also acknowledges that she is likely not interested in him and was simply being polite to him at school.

Todd and Keith arrive at the house of the dealer, Burt, where they are greeted by an angry dog’s barking. One of Burt’s friends leads them to the living room, where Burt, who resembles Todd, is using drugs with his friends. Burt shows the supply of marijuana he is offering them, a strain called Michoacan Lotus Blossom. Todd buys one bag and accepts Burt’s offer to sample the product. Keith uses the drug as well but experiences a high that makes him want to be in the woods with Chris again. As he imagines Chris lying down naked on the grass and looking at him, Keith acknowledges that he always wants to be elsewhere but can never escape from where he is. He gets up to look for a drink. Burt and his friends ask him to bring several beers so that they don’t have to keep going to the kitchen.

Keith navigates the shadowed house and is drawn to a bright doorway. When he looks inside, he sees a woman who is wearing a sleeveless shirt and no pants. The woman has a tail and is startled by Keith’s presence. Keith registers the minute details of the woman’s physical appearance, which causes him to become transfixed on her vulva. The woman covers it, causing Keith to feel embarrassed for intruding on her. The woman reassures him and covers up her body with a towel. Keith is charmed. The woman offers him beer and a sandwich.

Keith deeply enjoys the beer the woman gives him. The woman promises to make Keith the world’s best sandwich. Keith politely declines the sandwich, but the woman insists that he should try it. Keith obliges her and compliments the sandwich. She offers to make him another one and invites him to her room, assuring him that Burt and the others can look after themselves. Keith becomes suspicious of the woman’s friendliness. As he follows her to her room, Keith sees the outline of the woman’s tail under the towel and feels aroused. Before they enter the room, the woman braces Keith for what he is about to see.

The woman’s room is filled with sculptures and drawings that she made. The artwork depicts various monsters, like demons, large caterpillars, alligator people, and people with spikes coming out of their faces. Keith is impressed. The woman puts electronic music on and continues eating her sandwich. She acknowledges that she is also high, which reassures Keith. She observes that Keith is “off center” and offers to let him smoke hash from her new pipe. As Keith’s high intensifies, he stares deeper into the drawings, which make him feel like the woman is sure of herself. Keith has an intense internal reaction while looking at a drawing of a man bound to a tree in the woods. The feeling reminds him of the sadness he felt in the woods. Keith tries to articulate the feeling to the woman, but the woman senses that Keith is disturbed about something else. Keith admits that it has to do with a girl. The woman reassures him by inviting him to lie down with her. She promises not to hurt him and urges him to relax and let go of his feelings.

Keith lies down and tries to focus on the fantasy of Chris in the grass and the sadness it causes him to feel. He is distracted by the sensation of the woman pressing down on him on the bed. Keith senses that the woman knows something he doesn’t. She asks him if he saw and was attracted to her tail. Keith sheepishly admits that he did. Burt walks in on them to tell them that Todd is looking for Keith. Keith thanks the woman for showing him her work, but the woman is silent while Burt is present. When Burt leaves, the woman reminds Keith that he can stay if he wants. Keith declines.

The residents of the camp in the woods share food over a campfire. One of the residents, Dave, regrets not having any bread to eat. Another resident suggests that he should learn to steal some. This prompts the other residents to share what kind of food they wish they could have. The discussion stops when they hear someone approaching. It is Rob.

Rob explains that Lisa kicked him out. He claims that something is wrong with Lisa, which the others accept since they know that Lisa is still “trying to pass” by hiding her hands in bandages (123). When the camp residents ask him how things are with his second mouth, Rob loses his temper and evades the question. The residents reassure him of their support, but Rob is skeptical, given how cautious they looked when he arrived. They then admit that one of the residents, Lana, disappeared recently. Following this incident, another resident, Roy, discovered a severed arm in the woods, though the larger group doubted his claim. In any case, they suspect this is related to the bone-and-string sculptures that have been appearing in the woods.

Unbeknownst to the group, someone is watching them from afar, armed with a pipe. It is the same person who was watching Keith and his friends at the end of Chapter 2.

Chris is smoking a cigarette in a bathroom stall at her high school. She reflects on the difference between herself and the other girls at school and her desire to run away before her parents learn about her illness. The news of her illness has already spread around the school, causing her schoolmates to stigmatize her on sight. Chris considers herself a monster, even if her mutation isn’t immediately visible.

Rob approaches Chris and invites her to talk. They skip class and go to the park. He explains his perspective of the evening they had sex and assures her he would have never gone through with it if he had realized that she didn’t know about his illness. Chris has nothing to say. It rains, so they run up the hillside for shelter. The effort breaks the tension between them. Chris then recounts the evening from her perspective but withholds the discovery of the gash on her back. 

A flashback reveals that Chris only learned the truth after the swimming incident, as she had assumed that the partygoers were merely scandalized by her decision to strip down to her underwear. Chris stayed overnight with Marci, who disparaged two people who had the Bug when she saw them at a restaurant. Chris observed that the people with the illness were eating from the restaurant's garbage. Chris confessed everything that had happened to Marci and got drunk on wine. She experienced fragmentary visions of walking on the beach, seeing reflections in the waves, and sinking into the darkness of the water. In the darkness, she saw dull shapes, including a snake. She woke up in Marci’s bedroom and saw her skin hanging off her wounded foot. She then tore off the skin whole, which didn’t hurt.

Recalling these memories leaves Chris cold. Rob offers to warm her in his embrace. They start kissing, which comforts Chris. When asked, Rob explains that he needed time to reckon with his guilt over giving her the Bug. Chris forgives him, assuring him that they can do things right from now on. Chris asks if she can look at Rob’s second mouth. Rob agrees but fears scaring her away. Chris reassures him by kissing his second mouth. Rob enjoys it, but the sensation is so intense that he asks to stop. They agree to sit together in the woods longer, wishing they could stay there forever.