Donald endures a long, disorienting ride up the hidden lift, repeatedly fearing that his escape has been discovered and that he is being sent back down. When his flashlight dies, he is left in total darkness with nothing to do but wait, but he keeps telling himself that leaving Silo 1 is the right decision and that this attempt will end his suffering.

The lift finally stops in a sloped launch bay. Donald sees a narrow opening widening above him and recognizes the cloudy sky from the cafeteria screens. He crawls up the ramp and emerges onto a round concrete platform on the surface, overwhelmed by the scale of the open world after confinement in sealed rooms, simulation, and cryosleep.

After climbing down from the structure, Donald searches the horizon, locates the city, and uses old memories to orient himself toward the neighboring silo where Helen is buried. He remembers the area from before the silos were sealed and pushes those memories aside so he can keep moving. Donald also realizes people in the cafeteria may already have seen him on the screens, so he hurries, hoping no one will come after him before he reaches his destination.

Donald struggles uphill in the cumbersome suit, slipping in the wet soil and enduring abrasive wind and grit. He trusts Anna's explanation that the airborne machines attack only certain materials, which gives him hope that the suit will hold long enough. At the top, he looks down at the adjacent concrete tower and thinks of Helen below it; wanting to die under the sky and as close to her as possible, he removes one glove and starts on the other, only for an unseen person to seize him from behind.