Many of the people from Mechanical and Supply are badly wounded. Their leaders Knox and McClain are dead. They retreat downward, pursued by relentless gunfire from IT. Marck notes that IT’s guns are much better than theirs, capable of firing many shots at once, while Mechanical’s only fire one at a time.

Marck, who has been shot in the arm, is desperate to find his wife, Shirly, but the doors to the farm are locked. Further down, he meets three members of Supply, one of whom is gravely wounded with a chair leg sticking out of his abdomen. The wounded man is given a bomb and left behind. Marck and the others continue to run downward. A blast above them shakes the stairwell as the bomb goes off. The silo continues “its spiral into dark madness” (332).

Hours later, Marck and the others rest in Supply. The explosion on the stairway has impeded IT’s pursuit, but no one knows for how long. Supply is unsettled by McLain’s death. Tensions run high between Mechanical and Supply. Supply makes Mechanical to go back to their own level to treat their wounded.

Marck reunites with