Veil's twisted odyssey leads him back to Calaway, the Illinois psychiatric hospital where his ordeal began, and more revelations of what really happened to him while he was held there. Most astonishly, he discovers that former patient Joe "J.C." Carter has joined the medical staff and become one of "them." Veil attempts to convince J.C.—who is conditioned to believe he's Dr. Novik—that he's completely victimized by "them." Veil also witnesses another man, Michael Kramer, undergoing the first phase of conditioning, an ordeal identical to what Veil underwent months ago at the hands of "them."