Luke entered the forest and quickly lost sight of the Institute. Counting steps to stay oriented, he tried to compensate for drifting right and moved carefully through old-growth pines, startled at one point by a grunting animal. He fell over a downed tree, adding new cuts to his already bleeding back and the freshly severed earlobe, but pressed on, reminding himself of Kalisha Benson’s earlier encouragement to keep a straight line.

After overshooting his estimated mile in the dark, Luke finally spotted a distant yellow-orange light that matched Maureen’s description and approached the staff village concealed by a barbed-wire-topped chainlink fence and motion-activated lights. He surveyed identical small houses, a central store-like building with gas pumps, and many parked cars, deducing staff lived there between shifts.

Following Maureen’s plan, he moved along the fence-line at the forest’s edge and found a scarf marker near a corner turn. He took the scarf and located a screened old logging track beyond blueberry bushes, pausing to eat berries. The track was easy to follow even at night, descending toward the sound of water. Exhausted and in pain, he resisted sitting to avoid sleep as dawn approached.

Hearing running water, he descended a steep, cleared slope to the Dennison River, reaching a rocky bank and finding the promised rowboat hidden beneath a tarp and tied to a stump. Unable to undo the knot quickly, he cut the tether with his paring knife, reopening his palms, and barely prevented the boat from drifting away. He clambered in under the tarp, shed it overboard, and found a single oar lying inside.

Luke oriented the boat downstream, paddled to midriver, and rested, noticing the faded name “S.S. Pokey” on the aft seat. An electric train horn and headlight through the trees confirmed his escape was real and that a rail line paralleled the river toward Dennison River Bend. Floating south under the stars, he reflected on his mutilated ear, his freedom, and swore he would die before being taken back to the Institute.