Weems continues on, even though he feels like a “numb engine chugging slowly along” (221). He sees a man skiing and gets irrationally angry at him for making better progress through the snow. Weems follows the skier until he can’t see him anymore, and then stops. He smells a wood fire burning and knows getting there is his only chance, but his “legs had stopped, and they were not going to start again” (224). He passes out in the snow.

Lying in the snow, Weems hears a loud noise and sees a bright light. He’s sure it’s “an angel, come for me at the end” (226).

Weems lies still waiting for the angel to do whatever it’s going to do, but he realizes the sound of the angel’s wings “was strangely familiar” (228).