Although that's the end of Offred's story, it isn't the end of the novel. Instead, the novel jumps way forward in time to explain that what we have just read is a transcript of recordings that Offred made about her experience. This epilogue also informs us that Nick and the Eyes were indeed part of Mayday, although Offred's ultimate fate isn't clarified completely.

This epilogue takes place in 2195, and describes finding Offred's tape as one of the artifacts of what's known in retrospect as the "Gilead Period." This ending is both slightly abrupt and moderately hopeful, as it seems to suggest that Gilead didn't rule indefinitely, and it came to be seen at least partially as a curious period of transition in a broader history.