after being told that the bus is experiencing engine trouble, the narrator has no choice but to spend the night in a musty hotel, the gilman house. while attempting to sleep, he hears noises at his door as if someone is trying to enter. wasting no time, he escapes out a window and through the streets while a town-wide hunt for him occurs, forcing him at times to imitate the peculiar walk of the innsmouth locals as he walks past search parties in the darkness. eventually, he makes his way towards railroad tracks and hears a procession of deep ones passing in the road before him. against his judgment, he opens his eyes to see the creatures and faints at his hiding spot. he wakes up unharmed. over the years that pass, he researches his family tree and discovers that he is a descendant of obed marsh, and realizes that he is changing into one of the deep ones. as the story ends, the narrator is accepting his fate and feels he will be happy living with the deep ones. he plans to break out his cousin from an asylum, who is even further transformed than he, and take him to the deep ones' city beneath the sea.