Chapter 31

As the transition to the second floor completes, Carl watches the broadcast showing his group's brief appearance on the main program and learns that Agatha has likely been edited out of the footage—suggesting she may be dead. Brandon announces his plan to send all the safe-room residents down to the third floor early, and a new announcement reveals major changes to the patronage system and a drastically shortened six-day timer for floor completion.

The chapter opens as over 700,000 crawlers die during the transition to the second floor, reducing the survivor count from over 2 million to 1,292,526. Carl helps residents, including Elle McGibbons, into the storm shelter while watching the broadcast. Brandon and crew arrive with only six additional residents from the Waffle House location; the remaining 24 chose to stay behind. Agatha remains missing, and Chris appears distressed. As they watch the main program, their group appears for less than 15 seconds in a rapid montage of multiple crawler teams. The footage shows their boss fight with the tusklings and ends with Imani dropping a dildo on the floor. Notably, Agatha's mugshot does not appear, and Chris observes she was edited out of the scene entirely, implying she is likely dead. Brandon reveals his plan to send all residents down to the third floor early since they cannot train effectively in the shelter. The announcement reveals the floor timer has been accelerated to six days instead of the expected ten, and introduces major patronage changes: crawlers can now have up to three patrons with spots auctioned starting on the fourth floor. The announcement also warns of severe penalties—instant death by Rage Elementals—for human-born crawlers who defecate or urinate outside designated bathrooms. Brandon notes this is a problem for Jack, one of the residents. Donut becomes excited about her first followers, but Carl reminds her that viewers are watching and excessive performance will hurt her standing. She awkwardly attempts to act casual afterward.