After escaping the tunnels, Saint sits on the back of an ambulance while Eli Aaron's farmhouse burns. Dazed, half-deaf, and wrapped in a blanket, Saint tells Nix everything she knows, which allows the police to organize a search and follow blood into the forest. Even as officers move across the property, Saint is sick with shock and struggles to understand how the world can still look normal after what she has seen.

Saint waits through the effort to control the fire, watching the house collapse into a blackened shell. When Nix comes back and gives no hopeful news, Saint breaks down, hits his chest, and insists that someone is still inside. Nix tries to calm Saint and stops her from rushing back toward the flames, while officers continue spreading across the land and the scene settles into a sense of defeat.

Heavy rain arrives and turns the search ground to mud, slowing everyone down. The officers lose more time near marshy water, and one Ames County cop injures his knee and has to be pulled out. Because Eli Aaron may have burned in the fire or may have escaped across terrain he knows better than the police, the authorities issue bulletins and finally suspend the search for the night. When Nix says he will take Saint back to the station, where her grandmother is waiting, Saint refuses to accept it.

Saint runs away from the officers and keeps going alone through rain, darkness, nettles, and standing water. Nix calls after Saint, but Saint keeps searching, driven by anger and certainty. Near midnight, Saint finds Patch lying in the mud. Saint drops beside Patch, cradles Patch's head, and the police close in as Nix shouts that Patch is still breathing.