- It's flashback time. Marcus used to love Live Action Role Playing (LARPing) and talks about the cool weekend-long events he and others would go to at scout camps out of town. He says it's "like summer camp for drama geeks" (18.13).
- For his first game, Marcus's character is a wizard. Darryl's there too. So is Charles, the bully. (It's unclear why.)
- We get more of the backstory about why Charles and Marcus don't get along. There was some bodily contact outside of game rules (with Marcus's nose bleeding as a result).
- That night, Darryl and Marcus stole Charles's towel and clothes while he was showering, tied them in knots, and dropped them in the urinal. Then everyone watched Charles run naked across camp.
- Marcus then tells us about the Wretched Daylight games, another LARP involving rival vampire clans (18.26-30).
- These took place a few times a month, with the organizers renting out a block of rooms in a San Francisco hotel and letting the kids go at it.
- Once there was an editor from an Italian travel magazine staying at the hotel while a game was going on. He asked Marcus what he and his friends were doing. Marcus made up a crazy story about them being the last of the Old People trying to find a lost prince (18.36).
- Turns out the story worked its way around the internet and up to the New York Times, who found out the truth when they fact-checked the story. This hurt LARPing's reputation because people who did it were seen as "hoaxers, as weird, pathological liars" (18.45).
- Marcus and Darryl got teased a lot about LARPing after that. Then they switched to ARGing.
- The whole reason for these flashbacks to the LARP world is because Marcus says that instead of "dwelling on your mistakes," well, "you can learn from them" (18.50). He's hatching a plan.
- The next day, we get the details. The plan is VampMob, a game that will start at 8:00 the next morning and last thirty minutes. Details like location TBA.
- Now it's time to pack in preparation for being a fugitive. Ange packs, sends herself an encrypted copy of her hard drive via email, and they head to Marcus's house.
- There's nothing quite as fun as having your girlfriend over for dinner to meet your parents for the first time. (Sarcasm.)
- Marcus goes and packs his bag with Ange's help, and then they go down to dinner.
- Turns out Marcus's mom is a hot sauce natural. Ange gives her the hot sauce mister because "you seem like the kind of woman who should have one of these" (18.126).