 Seemingly broken, and again working on the chain gang, Luke stops working to give water to a prisoner. Watched by the disappointed prisoners, he runs to one of the trucks to take Boss Godfrey's rifle to him. After Boss Godfrey shoots a snapping turtle, Luke retrieves it from a slough for him, complimenting the boss for his shot. Luke takes one last stab at freedom when he is ordered to take the turtle to the truck. He steals the dump truck, as well as the keys to the other trucks. In the excitement of the moment, Dragline jumps in the dump truck and joins Luke in his escape. Later, after abandoning the truck, Luke tells Dragline that they should part ways. Drag agrees and leaves. Luke enters a church, where he talks to God and blames Him for sabotaging him so he cannot win in life. Moments later, police cars arrive. Dragline walks in and tells Luke that the police and bosses have promised not to hurt Luke if he surrenders peacefully. But Luke, feeling that his life is no longer worth living, walks to a window facing the police and mocks the Captain by repeating the first part of his speech ("What we've got here is a failure to communicate."). He is immediately shot in the neck by Boss Godfrey. Dragline carries Luke outside, then charges at Boss Godfrey and attempts to strangle him until he is beaten and subdued by the other guards. In tears, Dragline implores Luke to live. The local police want to take Luke to a nearby hospital, but the Captain tells them to take him to the prison hospital instead, a long enough distance that Luke's chances of survival are slim. As the captain's car drives away, it crushes Boss Godfrey's glasses. After Luke's implied death, Dragline and the other prisoners reminisce about him. In the final scene, the prison crew is seen working near a rural intersection close to where Luke was shot. Dragline is now wearing leg irons, and there is a new Walking Boss. As the camera zooms out, the torn photograph of Luke grinning with the two women is superimposed on a bird's eye view of the cross-shaped road junction.
