The chapter opens with the inmate catching a thrown weapon and immediately opening fire on Ark Island personnel. Chaos erupts with sirens, gunfire, and screams as the inmate, demonstrating preternatural reflexes and rapid healing, evades most shots and methodically kills the remaining officers in hand-to-hand combat and with energy weapons.

Rosabelle, injured and disoriented with ringing ears and likely broken ribs, recognizes that this unprecedented failure will lead to her execution and to Clara’s probable confinement and death in the asylum. Driven by panic for Clara, she forces herself into the fight. She notices Soledad down and bleeding, takes his gun, and steels herself despite fever and weakness.

Rosabelle assesses the inmate—blue-eyed, brown-haired, unarmed at first but now heavily armed—recalling Soledad’s remark that he looks like his father. She reflects on the stakes for Clara and her determination never to cry, then advances to engage him. When the inmate turns toward her, she fires, but he dodges, grinning, wounded yet seemingly unfazed and delighted by the violence.

With no reinforcements immediately available and the island unaccustomed to such losses, Rosabelle continues firing as pain worsens, possibly from a rib piercing an organ. The inmate closes the distance, disarms her, and points a charged energy weapon at her face while carrying an arsenal of captured guns.

Kneeling, feverish, and near collapse, Rosabelle begs the inmate to ensure officials are gentle with Clara, explaining that her sister is just a child and will be thrown into the asylum when Rosabelle dies. The inmate pauses at this revelation, lowering his weapon slightly and demanding clarification about who Clara is.

As the silence stretches and Rosabelle braces for death, the inmate unexpectedly disappears, leaving her alive. The scene ends with Rosabelle injured and delirious, and the inmate’s motives ambiguous but clearly affected by her plea for her sister.