Late in the evening, Garraty loses one of his warnings and takes stock of his body, trying to reassure himself that he is still strong enough to continue. The boys briefly recover some of their humanity by swapping crude jokes and tall stories, but the mood collapses again when another Walker, James Baker, is shot. As they move through a dark, sleeping town, Garraty thinks of Jan and of home, using those thoughts to steady himself against growing exhaustion and fear.

A rumor spreads that a washed-out bridge ahead may force the Long Walk to stop, and the walkers momentarily cheer at the possibility of rest. At almost the same time, Barkovitch viciously goads Rank into breaking the rules. Rank throws punches, loses control, falls, receives his warnings, and is shot. The others recoil from Barkovitch after Art Baker openly calls him a murderer.

When the group reaches the bridge, Garraty sees that highway workers and soldiers have already improvised a repair, so the Walk continues without any real pause. The brief hope of relief disappears. Soon afterward, McVries quietly tells Garraty that he no longer believes he can win. McVries says the Walk is not decided by physical strength alone but by something in the brain that keeps boys moving past ordinary limits, and he fears that when he is truly tired, he will simply sit down.

Near midnight, Garraty grows increasingly lonely and frightened. Olson explains that escape is impossible because the soldiers have advanced surveillance equipment. Garraty listens to his own footsteps, drifts into memories of Jan, and is jolted back to the road by another execution in the darkness. At midnight the boys mark the passing of the day with grim humor, and Garraty is embarrassed by a Maine sign cheering him on as a local favorite.

After midnight, light rain falls, a harmonica briefly plays, and another boy suddenly runs for the woods screaming and is shot before he can escape. Olson admits he cannot walk much farther, sounding nearly defeated. In another small town, Garraty and McVries become fixated on a badly failing boy in a trenchcoat marked 45. Garraty frantically asks the boy his name, but McVries stops him, saying the boy is dying. The trenchcoated boy falls again and again, then finally receives his ticket as the night march goes on.