The narrator returns to his old haunts in New York City. He's happy to be back, but he's also worried about the future. He doesn't know if he'll ever be able to write again, because he knows that his fame will only make people listen to what he has to say. He knows that if he says anything, people will listen, and he can prove that the enlightened people have gotten it right. But the apocalypse has come, and the survivors have been suffering for 15 years because of him. The narrator tells his daughter, Matilda, that he took her to meet her daddy. He tells her to go to the geriatric ward at the hospital and look around. He thinks it's time for her to get some sleep. He also tells her that the subway tunnels have already been destroyed, and that he can't even believe that he is still alive. He wonders if the red demon saved Athena's life.