Lukas lies in wait inside IT’s conference room with a rifle he barely knows how to use. He is unnerved by the smashed glass, the smell of gunpowder, and the armed preparations around him, while Bernard directs the defense, Sims watches the room, and Peter Billings stands at the security gate. The long delay makes the threat feel unreal, even as Lukas senses that whatever is coming will be terrible.

Elsewhere, Knox leads his armed group up through the sixties during the blackout. They pass porters and residents moving upward in search of power and comfort, while Knox tries to keep his own mission concealed. On level fifty-six, farmers demand help stealing power from a better-supplied level below; to avoid suspicion and keep moving on schedule, Knox lets Shirly and Courtnee stay behind to assist, despite Shirly’s anger. The stop underscores how fragile order has become and how many people can feel that a reckoning is approaching.

Back in IT, the waiting ends without warning when the double doors at landing thirty-four are blown inward. Bobbie Milner fires wildly in panic, then a canister lands near the security gate and explodes, tearing apart guards in the entrance hall. Attackers rush through the smoke, and IT’s defenders open fire from their ambush positions around the conference room.

In the chaos, a huge bearded attacker charges in firing from the waist and shoots Peter Billings in the shoulder before concentrated gunfire brings the man down. Lukas remains frozen until a white-haired old woman appears through the smoke, clearly about to throw another bomb. He fires at last, killing her before she can complete the throw, but the bomb still detonates among the piled chairs and bodies.

A second wave tries to force its way through, and Lukas breaks down crying even as he reloads and keeps shooting. Fear, shock, and revulsion do not stop him from joining the defense. By the end of the assault, Lukas has been violently initiated into the silo’s civil conflict, and the struggle for control has turned into open slaughter.