Later that day after getting home, Dominic and Willa went right up to discuss the morning’s events. ‘What in the hell does Z think they’re doing? Making the game deadlier than before?!?’ asked Dominic. Willa replied, ‘They want to torment us, and make life more difficult. Anything is possible with this new Z’. The two friends were still shaken up from the text message sent to the group that morning, and had not realized how much worse the game was to become.

           Not that long after their conversation had finished, Felix had arrived on Willa’s patio. ‘Wilzy, care to let me in?’ said Felix. Willa opened the sliding door and let him into her bedroom. ‘What’s up, Felix? You haven’t come up the patio steps in a long time,’ said Willa. Felix replied, ‘Ever since Anna got arrested and put in the psych ward, I’ve been getting followed by this red-hooded figure, and it’s creeping me out big time. I lost them about a block and a half away from here.’ Willa then said, ‘Shit. It’s only been a day since she got arrested. When did you notice that you were getting followed?’ Felix continued, ‘I only noticed this morning when you were with the others. I’m definitely keeping my doors locked from now on.’ ‘Good thinking,’ replied Willa.

            As they discussed the red-hooded figure, Jennifer and Dominic walked into the room as they were discussing the same thing. ‘Felix, what are you doing here?’ asked Dominic. Willa replied, ‘He’s getting followed by our least favorite red-hooded person, known as Z’. ‘Fuck me. First us three on the day my parents died, then Jonah and Jen, now Carston, Vee, and Felix. This is too much of a coincidence that our immediate friend group is being targeted,’ said Dominic. ‘Calm down, Dom. We can figure out potential suspects later. For now, we need to tell the others about Felix being followed by Z,’ replied Willa. Jennifer then said, ‘Good thinking babe. We do need to enforce our buddy system a bit more now that this is happening.’

            Dominic, Felix, and Willa agreed, and the foursome then went down to the barn behind Noemi’s house. When they arrived, Noemi was chilling out on one of the sofas reading a book. ‘What’s up guys?’ asked Noemi. Willa replied, ‘Big problem... Felix has been getting followed by Z since last night. He only noticed this morning that it was the same red-hooded figure we saw out the barn windows this morning.’ Noemi’s jaw dropped, and she closed her book, leaving the bookmark in between the pages she was reading. ‘Do we need to get the others?’ asked Jennifer. ‘Wouldn’t hurt to get them so we can discuss. Maybe it wouldn’t hurt to get Felicity and Troy into the conversation too. They need to know what’s going on,’ replied Dominic. Willa then texted Jonah and Max in a group message to get Carston and come to the barn. Dominic then went inside his and Willa’s house to get Felicity to come over to the barn; Noemi went inside her house at the same time to get her younger brother.

            Felicity asked, ‘What’s all the fuss about, kids?’ ‘Our stalker is back, and is now following us in broad daylight, mom,’ said Willa. Troy then asked, ‘Why are Felicity and I here with you guys?’ Noemi then replied to her brother saying, ‘We need a buddy system in case something goes sideways. Any wrong step and it could result in someone getting injured or killed by Z. We know what Anna’s capable of, even if she’s locked up in the psych ward, let alone this new person following us.’

            Jonah then said, ‘Same buddy system we’ve tried doing in the past, but now Felicity and Troy are gonna have to buddy-up together. Felix can choose anyone to buddy up with.’ As Jonah was speaking, Veronica walked into the barn. She was out of breath and trying to regain her composure. ‘Vee, you look like you’ve seen a ghost,’ said Dominic. ‘What happened?’, he asked. Veronica replied, ‘I was walking here from my apartment when I started getting followed by that red-hooded figure from this morning. They started chasing me about 5 blocks away, before I lost them about a block from here. Whoever this new Z is, they are definitely on the scary side.’ The group as a whole then decided to restart the buddy system with the new rules. As they were inside discussing, the red-hooded figure was in the woods, chasing a woman named Katherine. As the hooded figure got closer, Katherine screamed out for help; but it was no use. The hooded figure got out a bowie knife, and stabbed Katherine in the gut, and left her to bleed out. The figure giggled to themselves, and walked away, ready to continue their reign of terror.

            Hours passed, and Katherine was still in the woods bleeding out. She slowly got up, and walked out of the woods to the porch of Noemi’s house. She rang the doorbell, and then passed out against the front door. Noemi opened up the door and screamed out; Carston heard the scream and came running down the stairs. ‘Katherine?!?’ he cried out. He picked up Katherine and ran for his car. Noemi opened the car door as Carston was letting Katherine into the back seat of the car. As she ran back inside, Troy was perplexed and asked, ‘What’s going on, sis?’ Noemi replied, ‘A woman named Katherine was on our front porch bleeding, and Carston and I are taking her to the hospital. Go next door and stay with Felicity until we get back.’

            Troy did exactly as his sister told him to do, and she ran off to Carston’s car. Carston then sped off to the hospital as Noemi was in the back seat keeping pressure on Katherine’s stomach wound. As they reached the emergency room, some of the nurses who were outside on their smoke break noticed the car speed into the parking lot. One of the nurses ran over to the car and had Carston roll down the window. The nurse asked, ‘What’s going on here sir?’ Carston replied, ‘My friend was stabbed pretty badly. She needs help.’ The nurse called for a gurney, and opened up the back door to the car. Noemi was still keeping pressure on the wound. ‘She’s not doing well, ma’am,’ said Noemi. The nurse got Katherine out of the car and had one of the other nurses put pressure on the wound like Noemi was doing while in the car. The nurses rushed Katherine inside the emergency room, and went to work trying to keep her from bleeding out further. Carston and Noemi went and parked the car in another part of the parking lot and went inside. Noemi then texted the others and let them know what was going on.

            As soon as they got the text message from Noemi, Dominic and Jonah sped off to the hospital. Willa and Felix were at the coffee shop with Jennifer and Veronica when the four of them got the message. Jennifer clocked out and the foursome left to go to the hospital as well. Max showed up at the hospital not that long after the message from Noemi went out to the group. Max walked into the emergency room waiting room, and asked Carston, ‘What happened, dude?’ ‘My friend Katherine must’ve been stabbed in the abdomen, and Noemi found her bleeding on our front porch,’ replied Carston. ‘Shit. Do you know who stabbed her?’ asked Max. Carston replied further, ‘While in and out of consciousness, she kept saying that a red-hooded figure chased her and then stabbed her.’ ‘Could it be Z?’ Max asked. Noemi replied, ‘We don’t know for sure, but it’s possible given that they’ve been more stalker-ish since Anna went into the psych ward last night after all the stuff at the field.’

            As soon as Dominic and Jonah arrived, the nurse who ran over to Carston’s car came out of the emergency room and walked over to Carston. She said, ‘Sir, your friend is currently stable. We were able to control the bleeding from her wound, but it’s possible that the wound could re-open if she moves wrong. We had to give her a blood transfusion to replace the blood she lost. She is being moved to a room upstairs.’ The nurse then walked away, going back to the nurses’ station inside the emergency room. Carston then breathed a sigh of relief, and then hugged his friends. He then walked off to go find Katherine in her new hospital room.

            As the group all met at the hospital, the red-hooded figure was busy watching the cameras from inside the hospital’s security room, giggling as the security guard was passed out, slumped against the wall. Unbeknownst to our group of friends, this game was about to become a lot more treacherous and borderline deadly if they didn’t figure out who was this new Z.