THE RUN

Every autumn a few of Halloway's dead rise early. This season it's all of them. Every night the Waits walk some home, and every muerto walked home for the first time goes on the Chalk. Any muerto still loose can turn up on any night — so the Chalk is a straight count, not luck. A full night, every wave and the Sunrise Rush, walks about 66 home.

The Chalk fills once. When it's full, it stays full — and the nights don't stop. The dead keep rising, every night, until the Day. Your nights, your score, and your satchel keep counting; the Chalk simply has no room left to write.

And when the Chalk filled, the gate stood open both ways. The Diablos — the ones who woke on the wrong side of it — come through, a few every night, and have to be driven back. The gate lets the last one through on the Day.

The Chalk remembers who walked them home. It hands nobody anything — the muertos belong to whoever holds them, on the Chalk or off it.

The gate opened September 29, 2026. It lets 29 through tonight — 31 loose, 11 driven back so far. What isn't driven back tonight is still loose tomorrow, and the gate lets a few more through on top. The last of them comes through on the Day. Each glimjack can drive back up to 10 a night — the rest are for the others.

1. Season One: the Run. The nights of 2026, up to the Day — November 1–2. Nightly, until then, whether the Chalk is full or not.
2. The Day. When it comes, this Chalk is kept as Season One's record — every mark, and every glimjack who made one.
3. The off-season. The nights go on after the Day: one named night a day, the same for everyone, all of Halloway to walk.
4. Season Two. Opens a new Chalk when it's ready. Everything you've done carries with you; Season One's Chalk stays on the wall.