Hide

Mack is sitting in the bucket of the broken-down Ferris wheel where she has been hiding. She sees the spotlight go up and returns to camp. When she arrives, she is relieved to see that her friends are still safe. Jaden accosts her and claims that she is the murderer, just like her father. He points out that she is wearing Rosiee’s ring. She explains that she found it, but he leaves. Beautiful Ava says that she is glad that Mack is safe and then follows Jaden.

Mack and LeGrand begin to pack up supplies. They decide to leave camp with Ava and Brandon. The group agrees that whether this is a game or not, they shouldn’t be where they are expected to be. Ava calls out to Beautiful Ava and invites her to join them, but Beautiful Ava stays with Jaden.

Brandon shows them the tunnel of love, and they agree to make it their base camp for the rest of the game. LeGrand climbs a tree to keep watch and tells them that he will signal if he sees danger. Mack climbs into the rafters, and Ava follows her. Mack confesses to Ava that she feels responsible for her sister’s death because she took the best hiding spot, knowing that her father would probably find Maddie first. In turn, Ava confesses that her injury and the death of her lover, Maria, destroyed her life and made her lose her sense of purpose. Ava states that she didn’t have a choice about losing Maria, but she is determined not to lose Mack. They share a kiss: Mack’s first.

Brandon, feeling a little left out, goes outside and talks to LeGrand. LeGrand tells him about having 37 siblings, his favorite being Almera. He also reveals that he was banished. Brandon offers to let LeGrand live with him after the game, and LeGrand agrees. Brandon goes back inside and makes the same offer to Ava and Mack, who also agree. The three of them settle down for sleep.

After Brandon leaves, LeGrand recalls his life with the prophet and his subsequent banishment. For the first time, he decides that he did not deserve what happened to him. He decides that whatever happens next, he will try to help his newfound friends.

Jaden and Beautiful Ava make their way across the park. Jaden reflects on his life and insists to himself that he is not a bad person. He resents his mother for not paying enough attention to him and condemns his past girlfriends for not respecting him. As a teenager, he took solace in competitions, seeing the contestants transform into muscled machines who seemed to feel no pain, and he now wants a similar fate for himself. He decides to abandon Beautiful Ava, partly as punishment because she witnessed Ava punching him.

Beautiful Ava regrets going with Jaden but thinks it is too late to change her mind. She also believes that she knows where the others are hiding, but she will not give them away. She is dismayed to realize that she is starting her period and doesn’t have any menstrual products. When she and Jaden reach a swing ride, Jaden tells her that she is on her own. With a laugh, he climbs easily to the top and hides in a center pole where he can see everything. Alone in the daylight, she panics and runs.

From their hiding spot, Mack hears LeGrand signal. Through the walls, they see Beautiful Ava staggering past, bloody and terrified. Ava tells them that if it isn’t a game, they all need to survive. She goes outside to help. Mack moves to follow her, but Brandon stops her, shaking in terror at what he sees outside—the monster. Mack freezes.

Ava carries a section of pipe as a weapon and calls after Beautiful Ava, asking her to wait. Beautiful Ava tells her to run and hide and then sobs that she didn’t want anyone else to get hurt. Ava is astonished to see an invisible force rip the other woman in half. (Because Ava is not from one of the family bloodlines, she cannot see the monster as the others can.) However, she smells a horrible musky scent and tries to help, swinging her pipe blindly.

Mack hears the screaming and bursts outside. LeGrand and Brandon tell her that they saw a horrible devil. As they all look for Ava, LeGrand tells them about his banishment and his sister. Mack silently vows to help LeGrand get out of the park so that he can rescue her. They find the bloody remains of Beautiful Ava, but the other Ava is gone. Mack is devastated.

At her home, Linda is relieved that the season is almost over. Chuck radios from the tower to tell her that three survivors are approaching the fence. She tells him to shoot their arms or legs when they get too close.

Brandon recognizes the hum of an electric fence and stops everyone when they get close. Someone shoots at them from the tower, and they duck for cover. They decide to find another way to get LeGrand out of the park, and in the meantime, they try to find where Jaden is hiding. LeGrand says that he saw Jaden hiding in a certain spot before and knows where he is.

When they reach the hiding spot, Brandon climbs up after Jaden. He thinks about his father, who was a Callas and always had another, real family. Brandon was raised by his grandmother, who loved him, but he always felt the lack of being chosen. He came to the competition because his father called to tell him about it. Brandon decides to climb up and find Jaden because he is tired of being treated like a “thing” that doesn’t matter; he feels that Jaden treats people this way. He hopes that if he and Jaden are sacrificed, then it will be safer for Mack and LeGrand to escape, so he grabs Jaden’s ankle and pulls the two of them off the platform.

Below, LeGrand and Mack gaze in horror at Brandon’s body and at Jaden, who is wounded but still living. Mack plans to put Jaden out of his misery but is stopped by the approach of the monster, which she now sees for the first time. It is a humanoid monster with scarred eyes, walking on hind legs but with the head of a bull and massive horns. She leads LeGrand to a hiding spot, and the two escape.

Later that afternoon, they hear someone approaching. Mack tells LeGrand that she will distract the creature so that he can run. However, she is shocked to see Ava approaching, alive and armed with a rifle. Ava survived because the monster was uninterested in her. She heard the shooting from the tower and climbed up, killing the guard (Ray Callas) and taking his gun. She leads them back to the tower. On the way, they see Brandon’s body and realize that the monster doesn’t eat dead things. They climb up the tower, which isn’t electrified, and then exit the park and try to find help.

After a long walk that exacerbates Ava’s injured leg, they find a nice suburban home decorated with kitschy lawn ornaments. They break into the house to rest and regroup. They can’t find car keys or a car, but they eat some food. Mack sees a book engraved with the surname Nicely, her paternal grandmother’s given surname. She opens it to read.

Lillian Nicely’s journal begins in 1946 and recounts her experience with running the sacrifices. It was her idea to blind the monster so that it would not be able to hunt as efficiently, and she also conceived of the idea to build a maze-like amusement park around the beast. As Lillian states, this works well until the 1970s, when the disappearance of Patty Stratton causes the park to be closed. This event also coincides with the first journal entry of Linda, Lillian’s daughter.

Linda devotes the next several cycles to tricking people into coming into the park to clean it up. Finally, she hits on the plan to use a fake reality competition to lure sacrifices inside. She also writes about her hatred for the Callas heirs, who take credit for her achievements, and about tricking Susan Stratton into the park to let the beast eat her.

Ava, LeGrand, and Mack put the pieces together and realize what has been happening. Just then, Linda comes home, and Ava attacks her. They tie her up and are unimpressed with her callousness about her murderous actions. She insists that she is asking a noble sacrifice of them and that her family is owed their success. They threaten to leave, but she tells LeGrand that his father will just send Almera as his replacement. Mack hatches a plan and bargains with Linda, offering to go back into the park with LeGrand as long as Linda arranges for Almera to be moved to a safe and comfortable home. Linda also must give Ava the prize money and let her leave.

Linda agrees, and the four of them drive back into the park. Linda leaves them, and Ava asks Mack why she has done this. Mack shows her a handgun that she stole from Linda and explains that she has a plan.