Chap­ter 10 begins with the pro­tag­o­nist thrust into a whirl­wind of emo­tions after nar­row­ly escap­ing a life-threat­en­ing sit­u­a­tion. She races through the city, bat­tling exhaus­tion and pan­ic, only to find her­self at the Min­istry, where Simel­lia inter­cepts her with unex­pect­ed urgency. Their con­ver­sa­tion takes a trag­ic turn when Simel­lia informs her that Arthur, some­one deeply impor­tant in her life, has died. The rev­e­la­tion hits hard, and the pro­tag­o­nist’s emo­tion­al defens­es col­lapse, her grief and anx­i­ety over­whelm­ing her as she strug­gles to process the dev­as­tat­ing news.

How­ev­er, the emo­tion­al ten­sion sky­rock­ets when Simel­lia sur­pris­es her by pulling a gun, reveal­ing her­self as the mole who has been leak­ing vital infor­ma­tion. This stun­ning betray­al sparks a fierce con­fronta­tion between the two, with Simel­lia accus­ing the pro­tag­o­nist and the Min­istry of being respon­si­ble for the cat­a­stroph­ic con­se­quences fac­ing the world. She explains that their actions—particularly the destruc­tion of sub-Saha­ran Africa and the oblit­er­a­tion of Europe—are a direct result of the choic­es they’ve made. The pro­tag­o­nist, strug­gling with the moral weight of it all, defends her­self, but the argu­ment quick­ly turns vio­lent. Amid the chaos, the pro­tag­o­nist man­ages to seize con­trol of the sit­u­a­tion, briefly gain­ing the upper hand while con­tin­u­ing to dis­cuss the dire reper­cus­sions of their actions and the loom­ing soci­etal col­lapse.

The atmos­phere grows increas­ing­ly tense with the arrival of the Brigadier, who presents a grim analy­sis of their sit­u­a­tion. He sug­gests that they are trapped in an end­less cycle of vio­lence and ret­ri­bu­tion, with no clear way out. The pro­tag­o­nist, wracked with guilt over Arthur’s death and the loom­ing uncer­tain­ty of the future, begins to feel the full weight of her choic­es. In a des­per­ate attempt to break free from the cycle, she unloads her gun at the time-door machine, trig­ger­ing alarms and red warn­ing lights. The sud­den blare of the alarms sig­nals impend­ing dis­as­ter, fore­shad­ow­ing dire con­se­quences not just for her, but for every­one involved.

As the con­fu­sion esca­lates, Simel­lia takes action, attempt­ing to assist the pro­tag­o­nist in escap­ing the chaos. But their escape is short-lived as more Min­istry forces arrive, lead­ing to yet anoth­er dead­ly con­fronta­tion. In a des­per­ate moment of sur­vival, Simel­lia aims her gun at the pro­tag­o­nist, fur­ther high­light­ing the para­noia and dis­trust that have con­sumed their lives. Their tumul­tuous inter­ac­tion reach­es a break­ing point, and they even­tu­al­ly find them­selves in a park­ing lot, where Simel­lia, rec­og­niz­ing the futil­i­ty of their sit­u­a­tion, decides to sev­er ties with the pro­tag­o­nist. Her deci­sion to take con­trol of her own nar­ra­tive marks a sig­nif­i­cant shift in her char­ac­ter, empha­siz­ing the com­plex­i­ty of the choic­es they both face in a world that is spi­ral­ing out of con­trol.

The pro­tag­o­nist, now alone, returns to her home, but the peace she seeks is elu­sive. Her mind is con­sumed by the mem­o­ries of the rela­tion­ships and the life she once knew, now irrev­o­ca­bly altered by the chaos sur­round­ing her. To her shock, she finds Gra­ham sit­ting at her kitchen table, armed and con­fronta­tion­al. Their tense exchange forces the pro­tag­o­nist to con­front the depth of the betray­al and manip­u­la­tion that has been woven through their lives. As the con­ver­sa­tion unfolds, trust is shat­tered, and ques­tions about love, loy­al­ty, and the Min­istry’s influ­ence sur­face. The pro­tag­o­nist is left reflect­ing on the loss of her past, the regrets that now define her present, and the over­whelm­ing sense of futil­i­ty as she grap­ples with the inescapable forces of tem­po­ral dis­rup­tion and emo­tion­al destruc­tion. The chap­ter clos­es with a deep sense of reflec­tion, as the pro­tag­o­nist must come to terms with the emo­tion­al wreck­age and the stark real­iza­tion that her world, once full of struc­ture and cer­tain­ty, has now become irrepara­bly frac­tured.