“He’s lost everyone, including himself.”

Once S. reaches the shore he sees that he is on the waterfront of a small city. Spanning the length of the waterfront is a large brick factory, from where S. can hear the various sounds of a disturbance. Among this noise he hears people chanting: “Tell us where they are. Tell us where they are.” S. finds himself siding with the demonstrators because they’ve lost their people, and he feels like he’s lost everyone, himself included.

Here, Straka directly alludes to S.’s quest to find himself. This moment foreshadows the possibility that S. might find travel companions who inherently share the same goals as himself.

Jen and Eric don’t discuss much on this page, but they do make an interesting connection between Pollard State University and the Winter City:

Funny to read this today, when it finally started to feel like spring around here.

This winter was fucking brutal. Went on forever.

Pollard = Winter City?

Sure felt like it.

Considering S.’s experience in the Winter City, PSU must not be the happiest place for Jen and Eric. This suggests that Jen and Eric could both feel lonely in an environment with perpetual hardship.