In this chap­ter, Ivar urgent­ly inter­rupts the nar­ra­tor’s work to inform them that Wer­ryck, who is suf­fer­ing from a severe migraine, has request­ed their pres­ence. Over­dosed on shad­ows, Wer­ryck­’s quar­ters are dark and sti­fling, rem­i­nis­cent of “cheese sweat­ing in a warm room.” When the nar­ra­tor begins to play the bass gui­tar, Wer­ryck, despite his pain, shows a rare moment of calm, indi­cat­ing an unusu­al recep­tive­ness instead of his typ­i­cal agi­ta­tion.

As Wer­ryck even­tu­al­ly falls asleep, his exhaust­ed state marks a stark con­trast to a vibrant life; he appears weary and with­ered, sym­bol­iz­ing his declin­ing strength. The tran­quil­i­ty shat­ters with the arrival of Tom Skint, who announces that they are leav­ing the ship, prompt­ing Wer­ryck to rise, despite his dis­com­fort. As they pro­ceed through the cor­ri­dors, Wer­ryck stum­bles but remains deter­mined.

On deck, Skint demands for every­one to return to their quar­ters, yet the crew seems obliv­i­ous to the urgency of the sit­u­a­tion. A heavy rain begins to fall, reveal­ing a lurk­ing ten­sion among the secu­ri­ty guards as Mar­cel emerges, seem­ing­ly hav­ing author­i­ty despite his jan­i­to­r­i­al appear­ance. Skint’s attempts to enforce order grow increas­ing­ly futile as mem­bers of the crew begin vacat­ing the ship with­out heed to the lock­down.

As ten­sion esca­lates, the guards dis­arm against the back­drop of a chaot­ic stand­off. Skint fires his weapon, hit­ting an inno­cent guard and appar­ent­ly wound­ing Mar­cel. A chaot­ic strug­gle ensues, cul­mi­nat­ing in Skint being thrown over­board after a con­fronta­tion with the nar­ra­tor. This act sig­nals a change in pow­er dynam­ics as the crew ris­es against for­mer author­i­ty, fueled by adren­a­line and des­per­a­tion.

In the ensu­ing pan­de­mo­ni­um, Wer­ryck, despite his ago­niz­ing con­di­tion, aids in the lib­er­a­tion of impris­oned crew mem­bers. As chaos unfolds, Hazel, a fig­ure among the crew, tries to ral­ly every­one as they con­tem­plate the uncer­tain­ty of leav­ing the ship for the cruis­er in the rainy night. The nar­ra­tive bal­ances moments of cri­sis and sol­i­dar­i­ty, cul­mi­nat­ing in a sense of emerg­ing hope despite over­whelm­ing chal­lenges.

The chap­ter clos­es on the pro­tag­o­nist’s emo­tion­al tur­moil as they part from famil­iar faces, pro­cess­ing the unfold­ing upheaval while remem­ber­ing those who opt to remain in the tan­gled rem­nants of their pre­vi­ous lives. The air is charged with des­per­a­tion and the bit­ter­sweet nature of lib­er­a­tion.