Sheriff Holston climbs the silo's spiral stairs toward the upper level, listening to children play above him while he heads toward death. The worn metal steps and railings make him think about the immense age of the silo and the way generations of lives have been ground down inside it. As he climbs, Holston reflects on his own life in three stages: childhood in the silo, his long service as sheriff, and the last three years of secret waiting after his wife's death.

When Holston reaches the cafeteria, the contrast between his purpose and the room's ordinary life becomes sharper. Children run between tables while adults such as Donna and Clarke supervise them. Holston looks past them to the projected view of the dead landscape outside and remembers how different the silo had seemed when he was young.

Seeing the children leads Holston to think about the year he and Allison won the lottery to have a child. After Allison's birth-control implant was removed, they tried desperately and hopefully for a baby, even following silly superstitions because they knew their chance was limited. Their attempt ended not because they failed to conceive, but because Allison died suddenly before their year was over.

Holston then walks toward his office, passing the place associated with Allison's final struggle and resisting the urge to look for her body on the hillside outside. Inside, Deputy Marnes greets him casually, but Holston silently sets down his sheriff's star and asks for the holding-cell key. He steps into the cell, hands the key back through the bars, and finally gives voice to the decision he has been carrying for three years: he tells Marnes to get the mayor because Holston wants to go outside.