While he is imprisoned, formerly repressed religion begins to bloom, fertility rituals are endorsed, and the structure of society, as well as government, undergoes radical transformation. Cannibalism is openly practised in much of England. Beatrice-Joanna has run away, and is staying with her sister and brother-in-law in the countryside on their farm, where the blight is affecting even their chickens. She stays there until she delivers her twin sons, when members of the Population Police arrives to take her and her children to the city.