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In this section, White intensifies the tension of the survival-based plot and builds a sense of uncertainty around the question of which characters will survive. This technique is coupled with a series of scenes that are designed to create humanizing portrayals of several key contestants while depicting others as less than ethical. By contrasting the actions of Brandon and Jaden, for example, White makes it clear which of the two characters would be a greater loss. Jaden’s deliberate hostility toward the other contestants also marks him as a secondary antagonist. By using common tropes and allusions to the horror genre, White amplifies the narrative’s uncertainties as the characters find themselves increasingly unbalanced by their circumstances. For example, horror films often rely on “jump scares” to elevate the emotional stakes, and White mimics this technique in the novel by having Mack stumble upon a creepy statue of a clown that she initially believes to be a living person. The wary tone of the descriptions aptly captures Mack’s state of high alert. As the narrative states, “In the nearest shack, a man is sitting at a rotted piano, his back to her. He doesn’t move. Neither does she” (48). Mack finally realizes that this is a statue and “creeps forward,” hesitantly thinking, “Maybe in its glory days a statue of a clown sitting at a piano filled people with delight, but seriously, what the fuck” (47-48). Mack’s disgusted reaction blends deep fear with dark humor, and the moment acts as a subtle allusion to the many film and book titles that have capitalized on the widespread terror of clowns. 

Other characters have similar experiences that also make use of horror movie tropes, and White makes her reliance on these well-worn conventions explicit when Rosiee encounters a carousel that “looks like something out of a horror movie. Not a high-budget one, either. One of the cheap, off-brand films doomed to languish in the depths of Netflix and the $2 bargain DVD bin at Walmart” (50). With these derisively toned asides, White injects a form of metacommentary that simultaneously ridicules and embraces the most blatantly schlocky tropes of the horror genre, gleefully reveling in the cliché-in-progress. This pattern continues as Logan, who is afraid of clowns, sees a clown tunnel and consoles himself by thinking that his fear is “a more rational fear than, say, sharks. It’s 100 percent guaranteed that a shark can’t get you if you don’t go into the ocean. But clowns? Apparently they hang out in forests now” (53). While the characters might comfort themselves by thinking that they are safe from their supposedly silly fears, these scenes carry an extra layer of danger and dramatic irony, as the narrative has already hinted that a real threat does exist. 

While the situation itself is deeply dangerous, the characters’ choices to put themselves in this situation are explained by their pressing needs to win the competition in order to survive in their everyday lives. Fueled by desperation, they often ignore warning signs because they are fixated on the idea that winning the contest will allow them to better themselves. White therefore invokes the theme of The Horrors of Poverty in a Classist Society, exploring the ways in which poverty traps people, both figuratively and literally. A prime example of this dynamic can be seen when Christian notices his mother’s given surname, Stratton, written on a ride and thinks, “It feels like a sign […] Like this is his chance back into the world [his mother] left behind” (53). He imagines himself finally joining his mother’s family world of inherited wealth, and he never questions why her name is present in the park. Similarly, Isabella ignores the many red flags of the competition because “[s]he wants a fucking job. She wants these miserable fuckers who can afford to run a $50,000 children’s game to give her a salary and benefits” (54). Her determination to win keeps her distracted until the monster devours her. With the first casualties of the contest, White shows that poverty feeds desperation and makes people more vulnerable to exploitation.

As the tension builds in this section, Mack’s trauma is increasingly evident, and she struggles to keep her past from overtaking the present. The common refrain of hide-and-seek (“Come out, come out, wherever you are!”) is repeated frequently and becomes a motif that explores The Long-Term Impact of Trauma. For Mack, the violent trauma of her past is fresh and ever present in her mind, and although she tries to reassure herself that the hide-and-seek competition is “just a game,” she is nevertheless “filled […] with existential terror” at “the idea of being found. And then dying” (68). When she hears the monster’s huffing noises, she is immediately transported back to the day of the massacre in her childhood home, when she was “stalked as prey” (68). Although she tries to tell herself that she is safe from her father, she knows that “[s]omething else has taken up his task” (68). To survive the game, Mack will need to find a way to come to terms with her past and focus on surviving the present. While the threat of Mack’s father is long gone, Linda and the other heirs of Asterion have summoned a monster that represents a very real threat.