Lena and Julian move through a vast network of dark, rat-infested underground tunnels, sometimes along old railway tracks and sometimes through foul-smelling, water-filled passages that suggest they are near a city. Time becomes difficult to track in the unchanging darkness, and Julian supports the increasingly exhausted Lena as they continue. After hours of walking, they reach a section where ceiling grates reveal the night sky, but the grates are bolted shut from outside. Lena collapses on a raised platform, and Julian offers to keep watch. When she shivers from cold, he lies beside her and puts his arm around her for warmth, acknowledging both his worry about deliria and his need for warmth.

Julian asks if Lena wants to know how his brother died. He explains that his brother was headstrong and rebellious, and their parents considered an early cure. Seven years ago, at age 11, Julian attended a major DFA rally in New York that was stormed by protesters, leading to a violent clash. A guard struck down a masked protester who approached Thomas Fineman, and when the mask came off, Thomas recognized his older son by a distinctive birthmark. Despite the boy’s shattered knee, Thomas refused medical care and locked him in the basement as punishment. The family ate dinner while listening to his cries. The crying eventually stopped; officially, the death was attributed to a blood clot. Julian reveals he became the perfect son afterward, believing in the DFA’s promise of order as the only alternative to chaos. He committed to this path even after learning the cure would likely kill him, trusting that if he followed the rules, things would turn out all right. His mother told him the cure would make him stop thinking about his brother, but Lena observes that being forgotten is when someone is truly gone.

Julian admits he no longer understands what he believes and confesses he is scared; Lena agrees. He says that he feels less scared with her, and Lena drifts into deep sleep as rain falls through the grates.

The group spends hours digging a grave for Blue in the frozen ground by a river. They must remove her jacket before burial because they cannot spare the clothing. As they prepare to cover her body, Raven becomes hysterical, insisting Blue will be cold. She removes her own sweater, climbs into the grave, and wraps it around Blue. Lu gently tells Raven the snow will keep Blue warm. Raven emerges and stops Bram from covering the body, insisting they leave Blue uncovered for the coming snow. As they break camp, snow begins falling. The group walks in silence all day through the driving ice. Lena imagines the snow falling more gently on Blue, covering her like a blanket until spring.

Lena wakes to find Julian washing himself in rain falling through the grates. She is transfixed by the sight of his bare back and shoulders, and is struck by how he resembles Alex, thinking he looks beautiful. When she clears her throat, he dresses awkwardly. Lena asks to wash too, and Julian leaves to give her privacy. She stands in the icy rain, finding it exhilarating and purifying. As she dresses, Julian returns unexpectedly and sees her topless. He says he has “never been able to look before” (244) and comments on her small waist. The moment reminds Lena of Alex.

Julian notices the cut on Lena’s neck and insists on cleaning and bandaging it, an act that also reminds her of Alex tending her wounds. The act makes Lena wonder if this is how intimacy develops between people. Feeling conflicted, she reminds Julian they are on different sides. He replies that he no longer knows which side he is on.

They hear shouting from the tunnels—the Scavengers have found them. Lena recognizes the voice of “Albino” (248), one of the Scavengers, and regrets storing the handgun in the backpack. They flee deeper into the darkness, descending through a narrow tunnel and down a metal ladder, but Julian stumbles in a puddle, giving away their position. As flashlight beams close in, Lena is filled with rage and attacks blindly. A chaotic fight erupts in the dark. Lena is choked and loses her knife. As she begins to lose consciousness, she sees torches and feels the grip on her neck release.

She falls to her knees amid a swarm of hundreds of rats. Newcomers with torches are fighting the Scavengers. Two gunshots ring out, and one of the Scavengers’ hair catches fires. When the chaos clears, two strange figures holding torches stand over Lena and Julian: a giant man with a blind eye who is clutching his side as though wounded, and a hunched person with greasy hair who has bound Julian’s hands. The Scavengers are gone. When Lena pleads for release, the giant man threatens her with his torch and orders her to walk. Julian signals they have no choice. Lena walks into the darkness, a swarm of rats moving ahead of them and their captors following behind.

The group approaches the third encampment near Hartford, Connecticut, anxious because if supplies are not there, Tack and Hunter are likely dead. The cold is relentless, and the group is hungry, tired, and demoralized. Even Raven’s strength appears diminished. When they reach the designated location, they find no sign of Tack, Hunter, or supplies, and no gouges in the trees, fabric markers, or other signs used to signal the encampment’s location. Raven lets out a short cry of pain. Sarah collapses in despair. Lena insists they must be in the wrong place, but Bram, another group member, confirms this is correct. Raven tells Lena to be quiet so she can think. Lena, growing increasingly desperate, insists they need to find Tack, who has their food.

Suddenly they hear a twig snap. The group freezes. Lena sees something she thought was a log twitch in the distance. Scavengers emerge from camouflaged positions all around them, shaking off cloaks and furs. The group scatters in panic, screaming and running in all directions. Lena understands that being separated and panicked makes them easier to kill.