The creature escapes, running off into the wilderness. He spends months living in a family's barn without their knowledge, gradually learning to read and speak based on observations and memories from Waldman's brain. He attempts to earn the family's trust by anonymously helping them with their failing farm, and eventually converses with the patriarch, an elderly blind man, after murdering an abusive debt collector. However, when the blind man's family returns, they attack the creature and abandon their farm. The creature finds Victor's journal in his coat and learns of the circumstances of his creation. He burns down the farm and vows revenge on his creator.