It was my idea to take the sneaky shortcut on a lonely road along the river. But that same road brought us right into the center of dozens of Chasers prowling along Canal Street. After we crossed the tracks, an Amtrak train slowly backed over the crossing, blocking off our escape route. And then the Chasers came. I made it past one, but another came around the corner. Two of my friends escaped into the darkness around some parked trailers, b ut Emily & I got caught disappointingly quickly.

It was a bummer after all that scheming in the early part of the game! To go down with hardly a fight. But the street was solid pink territory. We passed hungry Chasers all interested in winning ribbons, with not enough prey to go around. At last a lone runner appeared sneaking along the cars on Canalport. We thought we had him cornered in a fenced in parking lot, but he hopped the 5-foot fence and tore across the street behind some garages, where I poked around but didn't see his shadow escape until he was too far away to catch.

From there we roamed through desolate streets toward the bridge to Chinatown where we ran into Nathan again. We watched from a distance as a busload of Runners exited the Cermak bus, ran around an empty lot in a panic and back onto the same bus. Must have been some Chasers hiding in the bushes waiting for them.

After bubble teas and waiting around in Chinatown, we all headed toward home. Nathan caught a few runners escaping the safety of the plaza, but I was sad the fun was over and I hadn't caught anyone.

But walking toward Pilsen I spotted a couple with thin blue ribbons far away on the other side of the street. For several blocks we had a slow motion pursuit, waiting for walk signals at stoplights, pretending that none of us noticed each other. Crossing at the crosswalk I was nearly on them when we all broke into a run.

Suddenly the girl wheeled around and was squirting something at me. Mustard! It was enough to confuse me and almost slow me down, but instead of taking off, the girl turned to aim the mustard bottle with obvious relish. It was easy enough to tag her, but my clothes and face were splattered. I chased her friend down the block but turning back to the mustard girl she was gone. So I had to track her and chase her again a block away. "Please can I keep my blue ribbon?" she pleaded. "Let's pretend this never happened!" Her friend gave me his ribbon, but she refused.

Its a drag to get caught. But after that you get to chase people!