In this chapter, we learn that the police and medical services have been called to the city because of an increase in the number of suicides and homicides. All leave has been canceled, and the city officials are unavailable for comment. The narrator tells us that he's not the one to blame for the situation. He says that he can do something about it, but he'll need a lot more than "a pen and paper" to do it. He's "bloody ecstatic" . Finally, he says, "she's learning" , and that's all she needs to do. She'll be able to "work it out" in time, she says, but she doesn't seem to understand why there's anything to live for. There's a loud noise for a while, and then it quiets down. Then it gets quiet again, and suddenly the narrator realizes that something's wrong. He realizes that he and his friends have walked straight into the "great beast," and he wonders if it's been averted.