6:16 A.M.
The light was still gold, but it no longer felt warm.
They gathered in the living room, shattered furniture pushed aside, blood staining the rugs and walls. The silence was deeper than usual—as if the house itself was holding its breath.
Karrie knelt next to Sophia's body, her eyes empty.
She hadn't left her side all night.
Joseph had pulled Mae's body from the hall. She was dead now—truly dead. Nothing left of the thing that had worn her face.
He covered her with a coat.
There was nothing else to do.
Mindy sat in a corner, holding her knees to her chest. "She died in my arms," she whispered. "And I still couldn't save her. Either of them."
Karrie didn't speak.
Derreck leaned against the wall, trying not to look at the trail of blood Olivia had left. "We should burn the bodies," he said. "Before night. Just in case."
"No," Karrie said sharply.
"Why not?"
"She's still Sophia," Karrie said, voice rising. "Don't you dare talk about her like she's some thing."
"She'll rot," Derreck muttered. "They all will."
Karrie stood up. "Say one more thing."
"Hey," Joseph said, stepping between them. "Not now. We're all broken, I get it—but this? This won't help."
Elli sat at the table, her notebook open, eyes flicking between lines of her entries. She'd been writing since before dawn.
Finally, she spoke.
"Do you want to know what I figured out?"
Everyone looked up.
Elli turned the page toward them. Diagrams. Circles. Names. Timelines.
"There are ten of us," she began. "There are ten knives in the kitchen drawer. I counted them before we ever played the game."
"So?" Mindy croaked.
Elli's voice was grim. "It's part of the game. Ten players. Ten nights. Ten knives. It's not just a prop—it's a pattern. Every night, one of us gets taken. And that night ends with one fewer person... and one fewer knife."
Derreck rubbed his face. "So the game is just… watching us kill each other?"
"No," Elli said. "The game wants a survivor. One. Just one. It's built that way. It's been rigged since the beginning."
Joseph sat down slowly. "And if someone tries to break the rules—like Mae—"
"They die faster," Elli said. "Or worse."
"Why knives?" Mindy asked. "Why not poison or… a spirit? Why make us do it ourselves?"
Karrie answered softly. "Because it hurts more."
No one said anything for a while.
They tended to Olivia next.
Her mangled hand was wrapped in towels and bandages. She didn't scream anymore—her voice was gone. Her face was pale, eyes hollow.
Joseph sat beside her. "You're going to be okay."
She shook her head.
"You're not one of them," he said.
"I feel it," she whispered. "In my head. Scratching."
"We'll stop it before it takes you again," Karrie said.
"If it takes me again," Olivia said, "don't hold back."
No one had a response to that.
6:23 A.M.
They tried to rest.
Joseph curled up on the couch, knife in hand.
Karrie and Mindy shared a blanket on the floor, heads close, finally asleep.
Elli didn't sleep.
She kept reading.
Derreck lay nearby, eyes half-open, staring at the ceiling like it might collapse.
Outside, the sun was already fading—softening into a dull glow.
Elli looked up.
"They feed on fear," she murmured. "And secrets. The more broken we are, the stronger the game gets."
"So what do we do?" Derreck asked, voice barely audible.
She looked down at the page.
"Stop keeping secrets," she said. "And stop hoping we can all survive. We can't. But we can choose who does."
Joseph stirred. "You're already planning who lives?"
"I'm planning who might," Elli said. "There's a difference."
7:01 P.M.
It was quiet.
Too quiet.
They all felt it—the shift in the air, the wrongness, like a cold breath down their spines.
Elli looked at the window. "It's time."
The last beam of sun died in the sky.
Karrie held Mindy's hand. Olivia sat bundled up near the fireplace, her ruined hand cradled in her lap. Joseph paced near the doorway, eyes scanning every shadow.
Derreck sat on the couch, staring at the wall.
His fingers tapped rhythmically on the armrest.
Tap. Tap. Tap-tap-tap.
No one noticed at first.
Until his foot started twitching. Then his head cocked sharply to the side.
"Derreck?" Mindy asked softly.
No answer.
"Derreck, look at me," Joseph said.
Derreck turned slowly. His eyes were unfocused. His jaw slack.
Then he smiled.
Wide. Crooked. Like his face wasn't used to smiling.
"Too late," he said. "I already counted all of you."
Then he stood.
And lunged.
7:12 P.M.
The living room exploded into chaos.
Derreck tackled Joseph to the floor, fists flying. Joseph rolled with the hit, smashing a lamp into Derreck's back. Glass shattered.
Mindy screamed.
Karrie grabbed Olivia and pulled her behind the couch.
Elli scrambled to the hallway, yelling, "He's taken—he's gone!"
Joseph kicked Derreck off him and ran—blood dripping from a cut along his arm.
Derreck didn't follow.
Instead, he turned to Lorenz.
The boy had barely stood up when Derreck charged him.
"Wait—no—" Lorenz gasped.
Derreck slammed him against the wall.
Then again.
And again.
He dragged Lorenz by the hair toward the corner cabinet—the old glass one Mindy had always been afraid of.
Derreck kicked the door open and shoved Lorenz inside, folding him like a doll.
Then he began slamming the door shut again and again—glass cracking, bones snapping—until Lorenz's body was half in, half out, blood streaking down the shards.
The room went silent except for Derreck's ragged breathing.
Karrie vomited into her hands.
Mindy sobbed behind the couch.
7:20 P.M.
Joseph crawled toward Olivia.
"He's blocking the front," he whispered. "We need to draw him away."
Olivia nodded, face pale with pain.
"Give me the poker," she said.
Karrie hesitated. Then handed it to her.
Olivia limped out first, dragging the iron poker behind her like a limp sword.
Derreck turned, blood on his face.
"Little broken girl," he sneered.
Olivia raised the poker. "Come on, then."
He lunged.
She stepped aside just in time—Joseph dropped from the top of the stairs, slamming Derreck with a chair.
They all ran.
7:34 P.M.
Elli led them into the bathroom, slammed the door shut, and jammed it with a broom handle.
Joseph was bleeding. Olivia could barely move. Mindy had a cut on her cheek, and Karrie was shaking uncontrollably.
"Lorenz is gone," Joseph whispered. "He's gone."
"Don't say his name," Karrie snapped.
"We have to. We have to remember them."
Elli knelt beside them, flipping through her notebook with shaking fingers. "We're four nights in," she murmured. "Three left before it shifts again."
"Shifts?" Mindy said.
Elli nodded. "The game isn't linear. It's watching us. Adapting. The closer we get to the end, the worse it gets."
Karrie covered her face. "I can't lose another person."
Joseph looked at the door. "Then we fight back tomorrow. No more hiding."
Outside, they heard Derreck's footsteps fade away.
But his laughter stayed behind.