Leaving Key West per Hutch’s instruction, Katie drives north until Rue calls to say Lieutenant Alonso failed to evacuate George Bailey due to the dog’s thunder phobia and a packed minivan. Realizing no one else is likely to help and that she is one of the few who can coax the dog, Katie makes a U-turn against evacuation traffic and races back to Key West.

On the drive she calls Cole to ask what he told Hutch the night of their fight. Cole admits he told Hutch that Katie had gone along with Cole’s lies to save her job and feared Hutch would revoke permission for the mini-doc, further poisoning Hutch’s view of her. Cole also reveals he and Sullivan slept together, are now “in love,” and that Sullivan is no longer hostile. Katie urges Cole to confess the truth to Hutch and hangs up as she approaches the marina.

In heavy rain and darkness, Katie boards the powerless Rue the Day and searches until she finds George Bailey hiding in Hutch’s closet, trembling. She gently coaxes him out with familiar words like “walk” and “leash” and gets him leashed, but when she opens the door to the storm he refuses to move. She tries treats, toys, logic, and force, slipping twice, but the dog remains immovable.

As Katie considers next steps, she hears Hutch’s phone ringing, discovers it trapped behind the bed slats, and realizes that may explain his silence. Suddenly, an intense nearby lightning strike shatters a window; moments later the dock collapses into the water, leaving the houseboat unmoored and drifting. With the radio jargon unintelligible and the marina partially on fire in the distance, Katie calls 911.

The dispatcher logs the distress but explains no rescues will occur during the active storm, now downgraded to Category Two, and instructs Katie to don life jackets, conserve phone battery, and shelter in place—adding that, if necessary, Katie should save herself over the dog. Katie searches Hutch’s supplies, finds extensive safety gear, and puts life jackets on both herself and George Bailey, bags her phone, and readies a lantern and radio.

As waves rise and water sloshes through the shattered-window end of the cabin, Katie scolds the dog in fear and then talks herself through options, recognizing that no one, including Hutch, can reach them until conditions improve. Accepting they are adrift and alone in the storm, she resolves to ride it out with George Bailey.