Mission freezes after the explosion, stunned as the stairway shakes and a crowd pounds down from above. Through the smoke and wreckage across the central shaft, Mission sees that someone on level 116 is still alive: a man staring at him in horror with his undershirt over his mouth.

That sight jolts Mission into flight. He runs downward over damaged, unstable steps, clinging to the inner post until the railing returns. As he escapes, Mission realizes why panic is closing in on him: Cam had made the delivery, and Cam is almost certainly dead in the blast. Because Mission is wearing his blue chief, Mission also understands that the survivor and others above may think Mission was the one who brought the fatal package.

On level 117, Mission passes another crowd of shocked onlookers who have seen debris fall through the silo. He keeps moving because Lower Dispatch is the last barrier before Mechanical, which Mission now thinks of as safety. His goal shifts from understanding what happened to simply getting away before he is caught or blamed.

As Mission descends, someone screaming rushes past and falls over the rail into the depths, suggesting one of the people chasing him has been claimed by the damaged stairs. Mission moves to the outer rail where he can run faster despite the risk. Smoke burns his eyes, and by the end of his descent Mission realizes the haze is not only from the explosion above: smoke is rising all around him, hinting that the disaster may be spreading.