Seeing fear in Fen shocks Dominic into recognizing how badly he has failed to protect his daughter. Regretting that he did not kill Hank when he had the chance, Dominic goes to the communications tower and finds the satellite and radio equipment smashed and cut apart. Dominic realizes Hank destroyed the comms so no one could call for help before he finished ruining the seed bank or tried again to kill Fen. When Dominic tells Fen, Fen focuses on the practical terror of it: they are trapped on the island with Hank for two more months, and Fen does not fully trust Dominic's promise to keep her safe.

Dominic then goes to the hospital, where Raff, Alex, Tom, and Naija initially fear he has come to attack Hank again. Dominic explains that the radios are dead and that, once Hank recovers enough to move, the group will need to stop him from escaping. He frames the situation plainly for them: Hank is unstable, has already targeted Fen, wants to destroy the seeds, and no authorities can be called. With eight weeks until the next ship, the group must decide how to manage a dangerous man they cannot remove from the island.

Hank soon proves Dominic right by repeatedly getting out of the hospital and going to the vault to throw seed packets into the ocean. Reasoning with Hank does nothing, and only after the third escape do the others accept that confinement is necessary. Orly reveals a secure storage room Hank once showed him. Although the group argues about whether locking Hank there is cruel and dangerous, Dominic is resolved as soon as Fen shows relief at the idea. They establish a strict care plan: Hank will be fed, cleaned, checked on, given books and company, and kept as comfortable as possible. Under Naija's insistence, the arrangement is not meant as revenge, but Hank will not be released before the ship arrives.

Then the chapter jumps forward through the island's decline. Naija and Tom die first, then Alex. Dominic and his children are left digging graves while still keeping Hank alive in captivity, barely surviving their grief and isolation. In the middle of that strain, a woman washes ashore, arriving with the intention of finding Hank and setting him free.