Jason wakes to find Amanda gone, a note explaining she cannot follow his self-destructive path, and half their remaining supplies left behind. The loss hits hard, and Jason experiences acute loneliness as he confronts the corridor with eight ampoules marked but only seven in his control.

Wandering Chicago without Daniela, Jason feels alienated and depleted. While returning to the power plant, three teenagers assault him, steal his backpack, and leave him injured. He confirms that three ampoules taped to his body remain, though some are crushed, and retreats to the box with almost nothing left.

He panhandles to survive and camps in the alley behind his house in a wrong world, watching a different Jason and Daniela live the life he craves. Days pass as he sinks into homelessness and doubts his sanity and the reality of the box. Drunk one night, he breaks into the house, stands over the sleeping couple, and imagines murdering his counterpart to take his place.

This fantasy crystallizes the truth: Jason cannot live a counterfeit life. The guilt and differences would be unbearable, and abandoning the search would mean letting his real Daniela go. He resolves to keep fighting with the remaining ampoules.

Jason cleans himself up, buys clothes and supplies, and returns to the box. Taking Amanda’s advice, he writes not facts but feelings—recounting in detail the first time he met Daniela and the powerful connection that defined his choice of life with her. With a single ampoule left, he walks the corridor and chooses a door guided solely by his love and intention for his true Daniela, then opens it.