Confronted with an impassable wall, Caldwell climbs back into the mobile lab. She dons protective gear, takes a bone saw from the laboratory, secures the child’s flailing arm, and cuts off his head. Discarding the headless body by the side of the road, she seals the door and sets to work on the new tissue samples. 

Melanie, Parks, and Justineau catch up with the stalled lab sitting idly before a 40-foot barricade. As they approach, they find the headless and mangled body of the hungry child lying in the road. Caldwell watches them from the window but refuses to let them in, fearing they will try to stop her work. Justineau examines the barrier and finds it’s composed of millions of translucent tendrils interwoven into a massive fungal drift. Melanie runs her hand through it, but Justineau pulls her away. Parks, meanwhile, suggests that Melanie look for a way around the barricade while he and Justineau search for shelter for the night. 

Melanie suspects Caldwell has cut the boy’s head off, and she is angry. She feels a kinship with the children. The only difference between her and them, she reasons, is the influence of Miss Justineau.