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The friends enter the empty guard station with trepidation. The dead guard’s badge opens the main doors, but not the offices, and not the sealed weapons lockers. They find a staff recreation room that has a computer. Griselda works on it while Ethan leaves to find food and Nyles to find a phone. Griselda hacks into the email of the last guard to use the computer and sees a message about the arrival of the Hardy Girls on the island, followed by the arrival of all the other Painiacs. The email indicates that the Painiacs will not be leaving the island. Dee wonders if the Painiacs are the Postman’s real victims.

Griselda follows the computer cord to try and establish an internet connection, but the network signal is blocked. Mara has left the room with one of the guys. Nyles returns, having found more dead soldiers but no phone. Nyles wonders why the Postman did not kill the friends, but Dee knows that Kimmi is behind everything, and is out for revenge by hurting people Dee cares about. Dee knows their deaths will be her fault and is about to tell them about Kimmi when Mara arrives breathlessly asking about Ethan.

Mara was with Ethan in the cafeteria, but he left to find a way into the kitchen. They all run to the cafeteria. The double doorbell ring sounds. The TV screen shows Ethan in a glass room, pounding on the walls, shouting he will go down fighting. The group cannot get through the metal door to the kitchen. Ethan talks to them directly. He knows he is doomed and knows Griselda cares about him. Dee is surprised to find that Griselda truly cares for Ethan. He is about to tell the world the truth about Alcatraz 2.0 when Cecil B. DeViolent interrupts, dressed in a business suit, fake beard, and sunglasses. Cecil B. illuminates the glass room, revealing an office setting that is decorated for Christmas. He brings in a blond-wigged mannequin holding a machine gun. Ethan excitedly recognizes a scene from Die Hard. Cecil B. speaks in German to the dummy, saying, “Shoot the glass” (233), though Ethan faults Cecil’s German. Ethan responds with his own quote from the film. Gunfire explodes, raining bullets and glass on Ethan, who dies smiling.

The Postman Forum contributors question how Ethan was suddenly killed, speculate about a conspiracy, wonder if the Postman has lost control, and observe that the justice system is suddenly admitting they do not supervise the prison.

Griselda is devastated by Ethan’s death. Dee tries to comfort her by saying this is how Ethan would have wanted to die, as a part of his favorite movie. Dee thinks his death was quick and painless. Griselda suddenly realizes that the set and Ethan’s death took a lot of time to set up, though there was little time between his abduction and his murder, which means the Postman knew they would be in the guard station. Griselda thinks one of them—Mara—is a traitor. Dee defends Mara, saying it was her own idea to go to the guard station. Griselda thinks Dee brought trouble to the island. Nyles defends Dee. Griselda sarcastically asks Dee what her plan is to save them from the Painiacs.

Dee asks Mara where all the Painiacs have their kill sites. Dee wants to eliminate the Postman’s advantage and tell the world what is happening on Alcatraz 2.0. The way to do that is to get noticed by the Postman’s cameras.

Dee plans to get captured by one of the Painiacs, get onto a live feed, tell the world what is happening on Alcatraz 2.0, and then escape. They will have a short window to speak before the Postman cuts off the feed. Dee dresses for the cameras in a coordinated Cinderella outfit with matching sparkly makeup and clear shoes with short stiletto heels. Dee is glad to see the crow cameras tracking them as they cross town, headed for the first Painiac’s kill site. They will visit each one until they encounter a killer. Mara explains that DIYnona uses a chapel filled with crafting materials; Hannah Ball, the cannibalistic chef, is probably in a local restaurant; and Gassy Al favors a pavilion by the pier. Mara makes a mistake referring to Gassy Al’s executioner’s cowl—Griselda notes that it is Robin’s Hood who wears the cowl. If they cannot find a Painiac in any of the kill locations, Dee will return to Slycer’s warehouse maze. They start at the elementary school auditorium where Molly Mauler feeds people to wild animals. Dee thinks if they trust each other and cooperate, they will survive.

Dee flashes back to her abduction. She is angry and tired of playing along with Kimmi’s torturous “games.” Dee pretends to sleep but waits for Kimmi to enter the white room. When she hears the door open, Dee rushes Kimmi, pushes past her, and runs up a stairway. Kimmi follows. Dee emerges into a sunny upstairs hallway. Dee screams for help as she runs through the house looking for the front door. She hears a voice ask if everybody is okay and shouts that she has been kidnapped. She reaches the door and manages to yell her name out, but Kimmi grabs her and starts dragging her backward. The mail carrier at the door breaks inside and takes Dee from Kimmi. He carries her outside and calls 911.

Dee decides she can trust Nyles, Griselda, and Mara, knowing none of them are Kimmi. The school auditorium is silent and neglected. Empty, partially dismantled animal cages stand on the stage. Scratch marks and a bloodstain also show Molly has been there. Dee hears a sudden noise and realizes that Mara is gone.

Dee, Nyles, and Griselda rush outside. Dee screams Mara’s name. A Painiac must have been waiting for them inside and kidnapped Mara. Dee declares they have time to save “Monica,” mixing up her sister’s name with Mara’s. Griselda comments bitterly that they didn’t have time to save Ethan. Dee orders them to split up: She will go to Gassy Al’s pavilion, while Nyles and Griselda can search other sites.

The glass-walled, fabric-roofed pavilion is surrounded by a concrete wall. Metal doors in the wall are open for Dee. Like Gucci Hangman, Gassy Al dresses his sets and victims according to elaborate themes. The door slams behind Dee and lights come on in the pavilion, showing a replica of Monica’s bedroom down to posters of the Hemsworth brothers and Monica’s Gucci fan wall. A purple-faced Mara lies on the bed.

Dee screams at Mara to wake up. A mechanical voice offers to wake her, and a rushing sound signals air is pumping into the room. Mara awakens. She is dressed the same way as Monica on the day she died. Dee offers herself to the Postman instead of Mara, but the robotic voice uses a line that Kimmi used to say, telling Dee she needs to “earn nice things” (259). Lethal Uragan D2 gas pumps into the room. Dee urges Mara to cover her mouth. Mara jumps from the dresser as high as she can get, where the air is better. Dee cannot break the walls, does not see a door, and decides to save Mara through the fabric pavilion roof.

Dee climbs onto the concrete wall and jumps ten feet to the roof. Poking holes in the fabric roof with the heel of her shoe, she scales one of the peaks. She slides down into the middle, punches more holes, fits her head through the roof, and tells Mara to grab her hand. Dee is irritated to hear Nyles behind her coming to help. Time runs out. The gas overcomes Mara. She foams at the mouth, convulses, falls off the wall onto the bed, and collapses.

User comments reflect confusion. Why did the DRBC go to the auditorium? What is the point of the bedroom scene? One user notes that @ThePostman_PEI has been silent and wonders if the Griff is right.

Dee is furious. She drops down and faces the active camera, shouting that they will defeat Kimmi and the Postman and destroy Alcatraz 2.0. She tells viewers that the Postman broke his rules and killed everyone: He is the guilty one. Nyles adds they were wrongly convicted. Griselda offers that Dr. Farooq gave false testimony. Dee suggests that the same thing can happen to any of the app users. The feed suddenly cuts off, but the three friends think they have succeeded in getting their message out.

Dee takes a moment to apologize to the dead Mara, feeling guilty for involving her in their plans. Dee finds a heavyset body behind a wall. The person wears an unprofessional-looking executioner’s cowl. He has been stabbed to death. Dee has a lightbulb moment and understands everything. Dee tells Nyles she is hungry, and that they should go to I Scream. Nyles realizes she is speaking in code. At the ice cream shop, they see that although they were filmed shouting at the cameras, there was no sound. Their message did not get out. Dee picks up Ethan's left-behind axe and informs Nyles and Griselda she has something to tell them.

The Postman, watching, is stunned that Dee told Nyles and Griselda about Kimmi. Nyles is shocked, but Griselda is angry at Dee for keeping her secret, though Dee says she did it to protect them. Dee then asserts that they were never in any danger because they are the Postman’s children: Griselda is Kimmi, and Nyles is her brother.

The Postman thinks that Dee has become unhinged, which is what the Postman’s intent was in making Mara’s death like Monica’s.

Dee declares that the Postman wanted Dee, Ethan, and Mara to kill the Hardy Girls and that Nyles or Griselda gave Ethan to the Postman. Griselda is furious. The Postman is thrilled that the friends are falling out. Nyles urges Dee to calm down. Dee pulls out the ax. She is going to find the Postman, kill him, and take down Alcatraz 2.0. down. Nyles leaps for the ax. He and Dee go sprawling, Griselda grabs the weapon, and Dee flees the store, running barefoot down the road toward the Postman.