In the darkness, Patch slowly regains enough awareness to sense the girl beside him. She smells like the outside world, gives him a pill and water, and talks to keep him anchored while he struggles to speak through pain and disorientation.

As Patch manages a few questions, the girl refuses to share names or places. She explains that "the big man" listens, so silence and caution are necessary if Patch wants to stay alive. She also gives practical instructions for survival in the cell, including how food, water, washing, and the toilet buckets are handled.

Patch learns that he has been there for ten sleeps, though his broken sense of time makes that hard to accept. Feverish and confused, he tries to make sense of reality, asks whether the girl is real, and wonders if the man holding them is some kind of devil. The girl answers indirectly, suggesting that evil is human rather than supernatural.

When Patch says he needs to go home, the girl becomes more urgent. She tells him that when the captor is near, he must kneel, pray, and act like he believes. Her final warning reveals the stakes clearly: she thinks her obedience is why she is still alive, while the other girls are not.