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Speaker 1: I've been a paramedic in Chicago for six years now.

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If you've never worked emergency medicine in a major city,

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let me paint you a picture. It's chaos, beautiful, terrible chaos.

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You get used to the overdoses in gas station bathrooms,

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the car accidents on the Dan Ryan at rush hour,

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the cardiac arrests in cramped apartments where you're doing compressions

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while family members scream in your ear. You learn to

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compartmentalize to be able to eat your lunch thirty minutes

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after watching someone die. You learn that most people's worst day,

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it's just another Tuesday for you. My partner, Magnus, has

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been doing this for fifteen years. He's seen everything twice over,

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gang shootings, house fires, you name it. Magnus is the

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guy who stays calm when everyone else is losing their minds.

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He's the guy who can talk down a site patient

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having a violent episode, or crack a joke dark enough

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to make you forget the smell of burnt flesh. He's

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taught me more about this job than any textbook ever could.

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But here's the thing about Magnus that always struck me

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as odd. About once a month we get a call

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that doesn't make it into our official reports. I noticed

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the pattern about two years in. We'd respond to something,

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usually weird, usually in a part of the city that

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feels just slightly off, and Magnus would handle everything. He'd

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always drive on those calls, wouldn't let me take the wheel,

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even when it was my turn in the rotation, and

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afterward the paperwork would be minimal, a few lines, nothing detailed,

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nothing that captured what we'd actually seen, and Magnus would

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never ever let me ask questions about it afterward. I

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tried once. We'd responded to a call in an abandoned

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building where we found a guy who'd been dead for

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at least three days, but the nine one one call

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had come from his phone ten minutes before we arrived.

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I started to say something back at the station, and

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Magnus just looked at me with this expression I'd never

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seen before. It was an angry, scared let it go.

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He said, that was it. Let it go. So I did,

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because Magnus had kept me alive more times than I

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could count, and if he said let it go, I

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let it go. One night, Magnus called in sick. In

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six years of working together. I never know Magnus to

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call in sick. The guy came to work with a

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broken finger with his marriage falling apart. But that night,

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at nine forty seven pm, I got a text not

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feeling great. Taken the night off, be careful out there.

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I was partnered with Jake for the shift, a rookie

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who'd been on the job for maybe eight months. Nice kid, eager,

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but talk too much. We'd handle two calls already. First

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was a drunk college student who'd fallen down some stairs,

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and an elderly woman with chest pains who turned out

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to be having a panic attack. It was just after

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midnight when the dispatcher's voice came over the radio, and

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I swear to God, I felt my stomach drop before

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she even finished the sentence. Meddic forty seven, we have

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an unresponsive person at twelve forty seven Riverside Avenue, Apartment

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four F. Police are not unseen, repeat no unseen. It

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was the tone, flat and emotionless. Jake reached for the

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radio to confirm, but I grabbed his wrist. He looked

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at me, confused. Let me, I said, I picked up

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the radio dispatch. This is Medic forty seven. Can you

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repeat that address a pause longer than it should have been.

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Twell forty seven Riverside Avenue, Apartment four F copy that

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Medic forty seven en route, I hung up the radio

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and started the engine. Jake was staring at me. You okay,

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you look like you've seen a ghost. I didn't answer.

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I was too busy trying to remember if Marcus had

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ever told me what to do if I got one

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of those calls without him. He hadn't. I pulled out

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of the station, and for the first time in six years,

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I understood exactly why Marcus always drove, because when you're

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behind the wheel, you can't run. Twelve forty seven Riverside

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Avenue was a midrise apartment building in Lakeview. You could

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tell he had seen better days, but it wasn't quite

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run down enough to be condemned. Break facade, probably built

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in the seventies, with a security door that buzzed open

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without anyone asking who we were. Jake grabbed the jump

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bag and monitor while I took the oxygen kit standard response.

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Nothing felt different yet, except for the knot in my

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stomach that wouldn't go away. The elevator was broken, of course,

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it was so we took the stairs to the fourth floor.

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Jake was torn looking the hallway up, something about a

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call he'd run last week. But I wasn't listening. I

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was trying to focus on the routine, one foot in

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front of the other. The fourth floor hallway was long

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and narrow, lit by flickering fluorescent lights that gave everything

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a sickly yellow tinge. Apartment doors marched down both sides,

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four A, four B, four C on the left, four D,

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four E, four G on the right. I stopped. Jake

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nearly walked into me. What's wrong? Where's four F? He

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looked at the doors, then back at me. What do

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you mean? I pointed four E, then four G. There's

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no four F. Jake walked down the hall, checking each

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door number. That's weird. Maybe it's a typo. Maybe they

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meant four E. I pulled out my radio dispatch Medic

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forty seven, can you confirm the apartment number, which showing

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no apartment four F at this location? Static? Then twelve

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forty seven Riverside Avenue, Apartment four F, fourth floor dispatch.

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There is no apartment four F. The hallway goes from

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four E to four G. Another pause, longer this time,

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I could hear keyboard clicking in the background. Medic forty seven.

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Our system shows apartment four F, fourth floor. The call

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came from inside that unit. I looked at Jake. He shrugged,

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already moving back toward the stairs. Maybe it's on a

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different wing. These all buildings can be weird, Yeah, I said, weird.

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We checked the other side of the hallway, same thing.

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No for F. Jake suggested we try for E. Maybe

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the caller got confused. I was about to agree when

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I decided to walk the hallway one more time, just

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to be sure. Four A, four B, four C, four

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D four E. And there it was four F. I

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stopped so abruptly. Jake walked into me this time. Dude,

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what he saw it too? The door was there, brass

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number screwed into dark wood for F. The paint was

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older than the other doors, more worn, and it was

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open slightly a jar, maybe an inch enough to see

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darkness inside. I wasn't there before, Jake whispered, I know, Jake.

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My hand was on my radio. I should call this in.

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I should tell dispatch that something is very wrong here.

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But what would I even say? That a door appeared

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out of nowhere. They'd think I was on something. I

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thought about Magnus, and by the way he looked at

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me when he said, let it go about his text

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this morning, be careful out there. I pushed the door open.

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The apartment was dark except for the light spilling in

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from the hallway. I found a light switch and flipped it.

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A single overhead bulb flickered on, revealing a small studio apartment,

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old furniture, floral wallpaper that might have been pretty in

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nineteen eighty two, and on the floor, between a warm

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couch and a coffee ta covered in prescription bottles was

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an elderly woman. She was lying motionless on her back,

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arms at her side, staring at the ceiling. Training took over.

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I dropped my knees beside her while Jake set up

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the monitor. Ma'am, ma'am, can you hear me? I checked

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for a pulse. Her skin was ice cold. No paws.

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I tilted her head back, checked the railway, Jake, she's

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not breathing. Get the bag ready. Jake was already moving,

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pulling out the ambu bag. I started compressions. Her chest

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felt rigid under my hands, like she'd been dead for hours.

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Made forty seven to dispatch. We have an unresponsive elderly female.

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No pulse, no respirations starting CBR. Her eyes flicked open

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like a doll's to reveal a milky white. She had

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no iris, no pupil It was like the life was

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strained from them. I froze, hands still on her chest.

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Jake made a sound I'd never heard another human make,

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something between a gasp and a whimper. The woman's head

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turned toward me, smooth and mechanical, and her hands shot

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out and grabbed my wrist. Her grip was ice cold

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and strangely strong. Her mouth moved, her voice dry, crackling

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like old paper. They're already here, she said, why did

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you come? I tried to pull away. Her fingers dug

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into my wrist. Ma'am, let go. Why did you come?

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Jake was backing toward the door, the ambi bag falling

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from his hands. I yanked my arm hard and a

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grip released. All at once. I scrambled backward, and the

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woman's head lolled back to center, eyes still open, still white,

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and then she just stopped. The monitor, which Jake managed

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to attach, showed a flat line. My sisterly she was dead,

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really dead this time? What the hell? Jake was saying,

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over and over, what the hell? What the hell? I

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checked a pulse again, just to be sure nothing. Skin

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already cooling. She'd been dead before we started CPR, maybe

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hours before. I looked at her eyes. They were normal,

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now brown clouded with death, but normal. We need to go,

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I said, what we need to leave now. I grabbed

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the monitor started packing up. Jake didn't argue. We were

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out of that apartment in thirty seconds, and I pulled

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the door shut behind us. In the hallway, I turned

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back to lock The door to Fort f was gone,

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just wall and faded wallpaper. Jake saw it too, down

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the stairs. I said, don't run, walk normally, don't say anything.

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We made it to the ambulance just as a black

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sedan pulled up to the curb with tinted windows and

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no plates. It wasn't the police. Two people got out,

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a man and a woman, both in dark suits that

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looked expensive. They moved with purpose, neither hurrying nor wasting time.

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The woman approached me while the man headed into the building.

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Responded to the call at twelve forty seven Riverside. She asked.

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Her voice was pleasant, professional, like she was asking about

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the weather. Yes, what did you find? I looked at Jake.

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He was staring at the woman like she was speaking

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a foreign language. An apartment for F I said, elderly

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woman unresponsive. We started resuscitation, but she was already apartment

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for e. The woman corrected, smiling, not a warm smile,

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a smile that said we were going to agree with her.

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You responded to apartment for e elderly woman deceased and

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arrival natural causes likely cardiac arrest. You assessed the patient,

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confirmed she was beyond resuscitation, and cleared the scene standard

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d u A protocol. She pulled out a tablet, tapped

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the screen a few times, then turned it toward me.

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There was a report already filled out, my name at

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the top. Everything she just said was typed neatly into

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the appropriate fields. That's what happened, she said. It wasn't

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a question. I looked at the report, looked at her.

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She was still smiling. Sign here, she said, offering me

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a stylus. My hand was shaking. I could feel Jake

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staring at me, waiting to see what I'd do. I

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thought about magnus again. I took the stylus and signed

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it excellent, the woman said, taking the tablet back, You

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did good work tonight. The familyppreciates your professionalism during a

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difficult time. What family, Jake blurted out. The woman looked

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at him for the first time, really looked at him.

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Jake went pale. The family of the deceased, she said, slowly,

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like she was explaining something to a child in apartment.

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For e. You should go back to your station now.

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I'm sure you have other calls waiting. She walked back

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to the sedan. The man emerged from the building a

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moment later, carrying a black bag I hadn't seen him

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take in. They got in the car and drove away.

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Jake and I stood there for a long moment, and

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we drove back to the station in complete silence. Jake

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kept opening his mouth like he was going to say something,

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then closing it again. My wrist still hurt where the woman,

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the dead woman, the woman with white eyes, had grabbed me.

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I found a bruise there, five finger shaped marks, dark

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purple against my skin. They didn't fade for two weeks.

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Magnus was at the station when we got back. I

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saw him through the bay doors as I pulled in,

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sitting at the table in the common room with a

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cup of coffee, looking completely fine, like he'd been waiting.

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Jake practically ran inside, mumbling something about needing to use

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the bathroom. I heard him lock himself in and turn

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on the fawcet I walked in. Magnus looked up at me,

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and I saw it in his eyes immediately. He knew

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you got a type seven call, didn't you, he said quietly.

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I sat down across from him. What the hell was that, Magnus?

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He glanced toward the hallway, making sure we were alone.

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A system for like certain calls, type sevens, they get

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rooted to experience crews, people who can handle irregularities. Irregularities

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things that don't fit in normal reports, heart attacks that

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aren't medical, accidents that aren't accidental, calls from addresses that

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shouldn't exist. He leaned forward. There are things in this

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city that don't belong in the daylight. Most people never

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see them, but sometimes something breaks through. Someone calls nine

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to one one and someone has to respond, So they

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send us. They send paramedics who can handle it, who

235
00:18:55,039 --> 00:18:58,960
can see something impossible, do their job anyway, and then

236
00:18:59,160 --> 00:19:04,680
let it go. He looked at me hard. You did

237
00:19:04,720 --> 00:19:08,880
good tonight. You signed the report. That's exactly what you're

238
00:19:08,920 --> 00:19:12,920
supposed to do. What happens if I hadn't signed it.

239
00:19:14,799 --> 00:19:20,240
Magnus went very quiet. He stared into his coffee. Magnus,

240
00:19:21,440 --> 00:19:24,960
don't ask questions you don't want to answered, he said. Finally,

241
00:19:25,839 --> 00:19:29,319
just do the job, file the paperwork, go home to

242
00:19:29,400 --> 00:19:34,720
your family. The people in the suits, I said, they're

243
00:19:34,720 --> 00:19:39,720
the ones who clean it up, quality assurance. They handled everything,

244
00:19:40,160 --> 00:19:43,279
make sure he doesn't get into the news, doesn't cause panic.

245
00:19:44,000 --> 00:19:51,000
They have protocols, procedures and prefard reports, he paused. They've

246
00:19:51,039 --> 00:19:57,160
been doing this for decades, maybe longer. How many paramedics

247
00:19:57,160 --> 00:20:02,240
have work Type sevens doesn't over the years, Most handle

248
00:20:02,240 --> 00:20:05,559
it like you did see something wrong, do their job,

249
00:20:05,920 --> 00:20:10,160
sign the paperwork, go home. They get hazard pay and

250
00:20:10,240 --> 00:20:15,519
don't ask questions. His jaw tightened. The ones who do

251
00:20:15,640 --> 00:20:20,400
ask questions transfer to other departments, or take early retirement,

252
00:20:22,000 --> 00:20:26,839
or have accidents the way, he said, accidents made my

253
00:20:26,880 --> 00:20:31,200
blood run cold. I've been doing this for fifteen years.

254
00:20:31,839 --> 00:20:35,839
Magnus continued, stopped counting the Type sevens at one hundred.

255
00:20:36,839 --> 00:20:39,680
I was told to call in sick tonight. I hope

256
00:20:39,680 --> 00:20:42,920
they'd reassigned your call to someone with more experience, but

257
00:20:43,039 --> 00:20:46,920
they sent you anyway. He stood up and put a

258
00:20:46,960 --> 00:20:50,640
hand on my shoulder. Because you're good at your job.

259
00:20:51,240 --> 00:20:55,319
You stay calm, you can handle it, and you've proved

260
00:20:55,319 --> 00:21:01,799
them right. He headed for the door. Then stop, go home,

261
00:21:02,119 --> 00:21:06,200
get some rest, Nick Shift, we'll be back to normal

262
00:21:06,279 --> 00:21:13,400
chaos overdoses and car accidents, regular stuff. He looked back

263
00:21:13,440 --> 00:21:17,759
at me. Don't upset the balance, Just do your job,

264
00:21:18,119 --> 00:21:25,200
sign the paperwork, and go home. Then he was gone.

265
00:21:25,599 --> 00:21:29,039
Jake emerged from the bathroom a few minutes later, pale

266
00:21:29,240 --> 00:21:33,240
but composed. Are we going to talk about what happened?

267
00:21:33,920 --> 00:21:38,559
He asked. I thought about Magnus's warning about the woman

268
00:21:38,599 --> 00:21:43,799
in the suit and a pleasant smile. No, and I said,

269
00:21:44,240 --> 00:21:51,279
we're not. Jake nodded and left without another word. I

270
00:21:51,319 --> 00:21:54,279
sat alone in the common room, staring at the bruises

271
00:21:54,319 --> 00:21:59,000
on my wrist, five finger shaped marks, dark purple against

272
00:21:59,000 --> 00:22:05,200
my skin. Somewhere in this city, right now, there were

273
00:22:05,319 --> 00:22:09,480
things that didn't belong, Things up broke the rules of reality,

274
00:22:10,519 --> 00:22:13,720
and there was an entire system designed to make sure

275
00:22:14,200 --> 00:22:18,279
no one ever knew about them. I was part of

276
00:22:18,319 --> 00:22:23,359
that system now, whether I wanted to be or not.

277
00:22:26,000 --> 00:22:30,400
A week past seven shifts of normal calls, a stabbing

278
00:22:30,440 --> 00:22:33,640
in Englewood, a three car pile up on Lake Shore Drive,

279
00:22:34,160 --> 00:22:39,039
an elderly man with pneumonia, two overdoses, a diabetic emergency.

280
00:22:40,279 --> 00:22:43,960
Jake and I didn't talk about the apartment. Magnus acted

281
00:22:44,000 --> 00:22:47,400
like nothing had happened. The bruises on my wrist faded

282
00:22:47,440 --> 00:22:52,880
to yellow, then disappeared. I almost convinced myself that it

283
00:22:52,920 --> 00:22:57,319
would be a one time thing. Then on a Tuesday night,

284
00:22:57,519 --> 00:23:01,440
at eleven thirty four p m. The dispatcher's voice came

285
00:23:01,480 --> 00:23:07,119
over the radio with that same careful, flat tone, Medic

286
00:23:07,200 --> 00:23:11,799
forty seven, we have multiple casualties at Downtown Station, Redline

287
00:23:11,839 --> 00:23:17,799
platform Track three. Fire and police are en route. Magnus

288
00:23:17,880 --> 00:23:21,559
was driving. He let out a deep breath, but he

289
00:23:21,599 --> 00:23:25,880
didn't say anything, just flipped on the lights and sirens.

290
00:23:26,920 --> 00:23:33,920
Multiple casualties, I said, trained derailment dispatcher didn't say, they

291
00:23:33,960 --> 00:23:41,880
always say. Magnus didn't respond. We arrived before fire or police.

292
00:23:42,680 --> 00:23:45,960
The station entrance was still open and a few late

293
00:23:46,039 --> 00:23:51,519
night commuters were heading down the stairs, completely oblivious Magnus

294
00:23:51,559 --> 00:23:54,039
grabbed the jump bag and traumak it. I took the

295
00:23:54,079 --> 00:24:00,920
monitor and oxygen. Were descended into the station, risingly empty

296
00:24:00,960 --> 00:24:04,160
for a Tuesday night, just the CTA worker at the

297
00:24:04,160 --> 00:24:08,119
booth reading something on his phone. He didn't look up

298
00:24:08,160 --> 00:24:14,799
as we passed. The platform was deserted. Fluorescent lights hummed overhead,

299
00:24:15,400 --> 00:24:19,359
Somewhere water dripped. The electric sign said the next train

300
00:24:19,359 --> 00:24:23,640
would arrive in four minutes. And on the tracks, five

301
00:24:23,799 --> 00:24:30,880
people were lying motionless. They were arranged almost neatly, parallel

302
00:24:30,960 --> 00:24:35,400
to each other, like they'd lay down deliberately. Two men,

303
00:24:35,720 --> 00:24:39,680
three women, ranging in age from maybe twenty to sixty,

304
00:24:40,720 --> 00:24:47,319
different races, different clothing, nothing connecting them that I could see. Jeez,

305
00:24:47,759 --> 00:24:52,160
I muttered. Moving toward the edge of the platform, we

306
00:24:52,240 --> 00:24:55,359
climbed down onto the tracks. I checked for the sound

307
00:24:55,359 --> 00:25:01,799
of an approaching train. Nothing in both directions was dark

308
00:25:01,839 --> 00:25:06,440
and silent. I knelt beside the first body, a woman

309
00:25:06,559 --> 00:25:11,039
in a business suit. Her eyes were open, staring upward.

310
00:25:11,599 --> 00:25:14,720
Her mouth was open to frozen in what looked like

311
00:25:14,759 --> 00:25:18,720
a scream. The expression on her face was pure terror

312
00:25:19,319 --> 00:25:21,440
and look I'd only seen a few times in my

313
00:25:21,559 --> 00:25:28,440
career on people who died violently, no pulse, skin already cooling.

314
00:25:30,319 --> 00:25:35,440
This one's gone, I said, moving to the next. Magnus

315
00:25:35,519 --> 00:25:38,519
was checking the others, moving quickly from one body to

316
00:25:38,559 --> 00:25:44,640
the next. I heard him mutter something under his breath. Magnus,

317
00:25:45,279 --> 00:25:48,279
they were all dead. He sat back on his heels.

318
00:25:49,119 --> 00:25:52,480
And they've been gone for hours. Riga mortis is already

319
00:25:52,519 --> 00:25:57,799
setting in. I looked at my watch. Dispatch called this

320
00:25:57,880 --> 00:26:04,200
in ten minutes ago, I know. I examined the man

321
00:26:04,200 --> 00:26:08,160
in front of me more closely, middle aged, wearing jeans

322
00:26:08,160 --> 00:26:12,720
and a cup's jacket. No visible injuries, nothing to indicate

323
00:26:12,759 --> 00:26:17,720
the cause of death, just that same expression of absolute terror,

324
00:26:18,319 --> 00:26:24,880
mouth open, eyes wide. And then I saw it on

325
00:26:25,000 --> 00:26:30,359
his neck, just below his left ear, A small circular burn,

326
00:26:31,200 --> 00:26:36,039
perfectly round, maybe the size of a dime. The skin

327
00:26:36,160 --> 00:26:41,079
was blackened at the center, red around the edges. Magnus,

328
00:26:41,480 --> 00:26:46,599
I pointed, look at this. I checked the woman in

329
00:26:46,640 --> 00:26:51,559
the business suit, same mark, same location, left side of

330
00:26:51,599 --> 00:26:55,839
the neck, just below the ear. They all have it,

331
00:26:56,359 --> 00:26:59,920
I said, moving to the third body. All of them

332
00:27:00,160 --> 00:27:04,359
have the same. Magnus moved fast, pulling a sheet from

333
00:27:04,400 --> 00:27:07,200
the trauma bag and draping it over the nearest body.

334
00:27:08,440 --> 00:27:14,000
Don't look too close. What, Magnus, This is evidence we

335
00:27:14,079 --> 00:27:17,119
need to document. We need to wait for quality assurance.

336
00:27:18,559 --> 00:27:21,799
He was covering the other bodies. Now, his movements quick

337
00:27:21,839 --> 00:27:26,680
and efficient. That's all we need to do. Five people

338
00:27:26,720 --> 00:27:29,839
are dead, Magnus. They have identical marks on their necks.

339
00:27:30,160 --> 00:27:35,519
That's not coincidence. That's not our job. He finished covering

340
00:27:35,519 --> 00:27:38,599
the last body and stud of pulling me back toward

341
00:27:38,640 --> 00:27:42,920
the platform. Our job is to confirm their deceased and

342
00:27:42,960 --> 00:27:48,960
secure the scene. That's it. I heard footsteps from the

343
00:27:48,960 --> 00:27:55,079
platform above us, multiple people moving with purpose. Two CTA

344
00:27:55,200 --> 00:28:01,240
supervisors appeared first, both in Transit Authority uniforms. Behind them

345
00:28:01,519 --> 00:28:06,279
four people in suits, three men and one woman. Not

346
00:28:06,440 --> 00:28:09,200
the same woman from the apartment, but she had the

347
00:28:09,359 --> 00:28:16,079
same professional, detached expression. Paramedics one of the suits said,

348
00:28:16,519 --> 00:28:22,119
not quite a question, what's the situation. Magnus climbed back

349
00:28:22,160 --> 00:28:26,640
onto the platform, pulling me up after him. Five deceased

350
00:28:26,640 --> 00:28:30,519
individuals on the tracks, no visible cause of death, no

351
00:28:30,599 --> 00:28:35,480
train involvement. The woman in the suit nodded like this

352
00:28:35,680 --> 00:28:40,079
was exactly what she'd expected to hear. She gestured to

353
00:28:40,119 --> 00:28:43,440
the others and they climbed down onto the tracks, pulling

354
00:28:43,480 --> 00:28:47,440
back the sheets Magnus had just placed. One of them

355
00:28:47,480 --> 00:28:50,920
had a device. I didn't recognize something that looked like

356
00:28:50,960 --> 00:28:55,240
a Geiger counter, but wasn't. He waved it over each body,

357
00:28:55,599 --> 00:29:01,759
checking her read out confirmed, he said, uietly. All five.

358
00:29:03,839 --> 00:29:08,000
The woman turned back to us. Thank you for responding.

359
00:29:08,720 --> 00:29:13,519
We'll take it from here. What about the police, I asked,

360
00:29:14,000 --> 00:29:18,559
Fire department, this is a crime scene. There's been a

361
00:29:18,559 --> 00:29:23,519
malfunction with the emergency call system, she said smoothly. A

362
00:29:23,599 --> 00:29:27,519
false alarm triggered multiple dispatch codes. Fire and police have

363
00:29:27,599 --> 00:29:31,640
been notified and the response is not needed. There are

364
00:29:31,720 --> 00:29:36,920
five dead people. There are no casualties, she interrupted, still

365
00:29:36,960 --> 00:29:42,039
smiling that same professional smile. You responded to a false

366
00:29:42,079 --> 00:29:47,440
alarm at Downtown station equipment malfunction. You found the platform empty.

367
00:29:48,240 --> 00:29:53,240
That's what happened. Magnus put a hand on my shoulder

368
00:29:53,839 --> 00:29:58,720
a warning. I looked back at the tracks. The suits

369
00:29:58,720 --> 00:30:03,839
were already moving the par working with practiced efficiency. One

370
00:30:03,839 --> 00:30:06,079
of them was taking photographs with a camera that I

371
00:30:06,079 --> 00:30:09,920
had no flash. Another was collecting samples from something on

372
00:30:09,960 --> 00:30:16,839
the platform. Equipment malfunction. The woman repeated, you can follow

373
00:30:16,839 --> 00:30:22,759
your report back at the station. We were dismissed. Marcus

374
00:30:22,839 --> 00:30:26,039
led me back through the station, past the CTA worker

375
00:30:26,279 --> 00:30:29,599
who still hadn't looked up from his phone, up the stairs,

376
00:30:29,680 --> 00:30:33,160
the street level. The ambulance was where we'd left it.

377
00:30:34,839 --> 00:30:40,200
Get in, Magnus said, I got in. We drove three

378
00:30:40,240 --> 00:30:46,640
blocks in silence before I finally spoke. What killed them?

379
00:30:47,319 --> 00:30:52,960
I don't know, Magnus, I don't know, he repeated, harder

380
00:30:53,000 --> 00:30:56,759
this time, and I don't want to know, neither should you.

381
00:30:58,240 --> 00:31:01,880
They had burns on their necks, all of them, same location,

382
00:31:02,240 --> 00:31:07,720
same size. I know, So what does that? What kills

383
00:31:07,799 --> 00:31:11,200
five people with no visible trauma except a small burn.

384
00:31:12,680 --> 00:31:17,119
Magnus's jaw was tight. Something we're not equipped to handle,

385
00:31:17,640 --> 00:31:21,079
something that quality assurance will figure out and contain and

386
00:31:21,119 --> 00:31:26,200
make sure never happens again. He glanced at me. That's

387
00:31:26,279 --> 00:31:31,880
how this works. We respond, we confirm, we report, They

388
00:31:32,079 --> 00:31:37,519
handle the rest. They're covering it up. They're preventing panic.

389
00:31:38,119 --> 00:31:43,960
There's a difference. I thought about those faces that terror.

390
00:31:44,960 --> 00:31:48,240
Whatever those five people had seen before they died, it

391
00:31:48,279 --> 00:31:51,079
had been bad enough to literally freeze the fear in

392
00:31:51,119 --> 00:31:55,640
their faces. How many calls like this have you worked?

393
00:31:56,079 --> 00:32:01,519
I asked, Magnus was quiet for a long time enough

394
00:32:01,559 --> 00:32:05,480
to know that asking questions doesn't change anything. It just

395
00:32:05,559 --> 00:32:10,480
makes it harder to sleep at night. We got back

396
00:32:10,519 --> 00:32:13,920
to the station at twelve forty seven am. There was

397
00:32:13,960 --> 00:32:17,960
a report already waiting in my inbox, refilled just like

398
00:32:18,079 --> 00:32:23,440
last time, false alarm equipment malfunction, so that form was empty,

399
00:32:24,039 --> 00:32:30,640
cleared seen at twelve fifteen. I signed it, but when

400
00:32:30,680 --> 00:32:35,160
I got home that morning, I couldn't sleep. I kept

401
00:32:35,160 --> 00:32:38,960
seeing those five bodies lined up on the tracks, those

402
00:32:39,000 --> 00:32:44,920
open mouths, those wide eyes, that perfect circular burn, and

403
00:32:45,000 --> 00:32:49,920
I kept thinking, somewhere in this city something had killed

404
00:32:50,039 --> 00:32:53,480
five people in a way that left almost no evidence,

405
00:32:54,200 --> 00:32:58,079
something that made experienced paramedics look away and suits with

406
00:32:58,200 --> 00:33:02,279
strange equipment show up with a minute, something that Quality

407
00:33:02,279 --> 00:33:05,640
Assurance wanted to make sure no one ever knew about.

408
00:33:07,279 --> 00:33:10,640
I lay in bed, staring at the ceiling, listening to

409
00:33:10,720 --> 00:33:15,000
the distant sound of the L train rumbling past. I

410
00:33:15,079 --> 00:33:19,039
wondered how many other people had died like that, Wondering

411
00:33:19,480 --> 00:33:25,519
how many more would I started looking through old reports

412
00:33:25,599 --> 00:33:29,519
during my downtime at the station, not trying to draw attention,

413
00:33:30,240 --> 00:33:33,119
just pulling up calls from the database while Magnus was

414
00:33:33,160 --> 00:33:36,039
out on runs, but during slow nights when no one

415
00:33:36,160 --> 00:33:40,480
was paying attention. The pattern emerged quickly once I knew

416
00:33:40,480 --> 00:33:45,400
what I was looking for. Calls with minimal documentation, a

417
00:33:45,400 --> 00:33:49,559
few lines, barely any detail, no follow ups, and no

418
00:33:49,720 --> 00:33:55,960
patient transport, just cleared scene or unfounded or referred to

419
00:33:56,000 --> 00:34:00,720
other agency. And they were always handled by the names

420
00:34:01,599 --> 00:34:06,039
veteran paramedics, people who'd been on the job for ten, fifteen,

421
00:34:06,160 --> 00:34:12,719
or twenty years. I started tracking the names. Richards fourteen

422
00:34:12,800 --> 00:34:16,599
years on the job, transferred to fire Prevention in twenty nineteen,

423
00:34:17,639 --> 00:34:23,480
Kleine eighteen years, early retirement in twenty twenty one, Peters

424
00:34:23,840 --> 00:34:29,159
eleven years, transferred to Training division in twenty twenty. The

425
00:34:29,199 --> 00:34:33,920
pattern was consistent. Worked the job for years, handled dozens

426
00:34:34,000 --> 00:34:38,920
or hundreds of these minimal documentation calls, then suddenly leave

427
00:34:39,000 --> 00:34:46,239
field work. One name kept appearing more than others, Sophie Wu.

428
00:34:46,559 --> 00:34:49,639
She worked as a paramedic for twelve years from two

429
00:34:49,719 --> 00:34:53,280
thousand and nine to twenty twenty one. Her name was

430
00:34:53,320 --> 00:34:57,599
on over two hundred reports with minimal documentation, more than

431
00:34:57,639 --> 00:35:03,079
anyone else I'd found. Then, in March twenty twenty one,

432
00:35:03,119 --> 00:35:09,960
she took early retirement. After that nothing, Her name just

433
00:35:10,000 --> 00:35:15,519
disappeared from the system entirely. I found her obituary on

434
00:35:15,559 --> 00:35:20,119
the third page of Google results. Sophie Wu, thirty eight,

435
00:35:20,880 --> 00:35:24,239
died in a single vehicle accident and I two ninety

436
00:35:24,599 --> 00:35:29,239
on June fifteenth, twenty twenty one. She is survived by

437
00:35:29,239 --> 00:35:34,320
a sister, Michel Wou, of Portland, Oregon, three months after

438
00:35:34,360 --> 00:35:41,400
early retirement car accident. I stared at the obituary photo.

439
00:35:42,320 --> 00:35:46,719
She looked tired, older than thirty eight. I closed the

440
00:35:46,760 --> 00:35:50,239
browser and sat in the quiet station, listening to the

441
00:35:50,360 --> 00:35:55,079
hum of the fluorescent light. How many Type seven calls

442
00:35:55,079 --> 00:36:00,239
at Sophie Wu worked two hundred documented, probably more that

443
00:36:00,280 --> 00:36:04,360
weren't in the system, twelve years of responding to things

444
00:36:04,360 --> 00:36:08,360
that shouldn't exist, of signing pre filled reports and not

445
00:36:08,559 --> 00:36:16,280
asking questions. And then she tried to leave. I looked

446
00:36:16,280 --> 00:36:20,719
at the clock three forty two am. Magnus was due

447
00:36:20,760 --> 00:36:24,719
back from a call any minute. I cleared my browser

448
00:36:24,800 --> 00:36:28,239
history and went back to scrolling through my phone, pretending

449
00:36:28,360 --> 00:36:32,159
I'd just been killing time. But I couldn't stop thinking

450
00:36:32,199 --> 00:36:35,920
about that photo, about the look in Sophie Woo's eyes.

451
00:36:37,039 --> 00:36:42,719
She'd known something and knowing had gotten her killed. The

452
00:36:42,840 --> 00:36:48,159
question was how much could I learn before I ended

453
00:36:48,239 --> 00:37:01,480
up the same way. The call came in six fifteen pm,

454
00:37:01,840 --> 00:37:07,719
right at shift change, structural fire, Westmont Towers, eighteen forty

455
00:37:07,840 --> 00:37:13,360
North Clark twenty, third floor, multiple units responding. We could

456
00:37:13,400 --> 00:37:17,119
see the smoke from six blocks away, dark clouds billowing

457
00:37:17,159 --> 00:37:19,440
from the upper floors of a luxury high rise in

458
00:37:19,480 --> 00:37:23,360
Lincoln Park. By the time we arrived, it was a

459
00:37:23,400 --> 00:37:28,679
full response, four fire trucks, two ladder companies, police blocking

460
00:37:28,679 --> 00:37:33,800
off the street. An ambulance is staged in a line chaos,

461
00:37:34,599 --> 00:37:37,840
residents streaming out of the building in their expensive athlesire,

462
00:37:37,840 --> 00:37:41,800
where some carrying pets, others on their phones recording everything.

463
00:37:43,559 --> 00:37:46,800
Magnus parked at the staging area. We were the third

464
00:37:46,880 --> 00:37:50,760
ambulance un scene. A man in a suit appeared at

465
00:37:50,800 --> 00:37:54,760
my window. Before I could even open the door, Medic

466
00:37:54,800 --> 00:38:00,000
forty seven. He said, here, come with me side entrance.

467
00:38:02,519 --> 00:38:05,960
Magnus and I exchanged the glance. He grabbed a jump bag.

468
00:38:06,039 --> 00:38:09,880
Without a word. The suit led us from the chaos

469
00:38:10,079 --> 00:38:13,920
around the corner to a service entrance. A service elevator

470
00:38:14,000 --> 00:38:18,960
was waiting, doors open. We got in the suit pressed

471
00:38:18,960 --> 00:38:26,880
twenty three what's the situation? I asked, single occupant unresponsive,

472
00:38:27,159 --> 00:38:32,639
twenty third floor, What about the fire? He didn't answer.

473
00:38:33,960 --> 00:38:38,079
The elevator rose in silence and watched the numbers climb.

474
00:38:39,039 --> 00:38:43,559
The doors open on the twenty third floor, no smoke, fire,

475
00:38:43,760 --> 00:38:49,599
or heat. The hallway was pristine, cream colored walls, expensive

476
00:38:49,679 --> 00:38:53,400
light fixtures, the faint smell of whatever cleaning product rich

477
00:38:53,440 --> 00:38:57,519
people use. The suit led us to apartment twenty three

478
00:38:57,599 --> 00:39:04,960
oh four. The door was open. Inside the apartment was immaculate,

479
00:39:05,840 --> 00:39:08,280
floor to ceiling windows with a view of the lake.

480
00:39:08,840 --> 00:39:13,760
Modern furniture, the kind you scene magazines. Everything clean and

481
00:39:13,880 --> 00:39:22,360
perfectly arranged, except for the walls. Scorch marks covered every surface,

482
00:39:23,199 --> 00:39:29,360
not random, but imperfect geometric patterns, circles within circles, lines

483
00:39:29,440 --> 00:39:35,000
intersecting at precise angles, symbols I didn't recognize. The marks

484
00:39:35,000 --> 00:39:38,280
were burned into the paint, the dry wall beneath blackened

485
00:39:38,320 --> 00:39:42,920
and cracked. And in the center of the living room,

486
00:39:43,400 --> 00:39:48,480
sitting in a leather armchair facing the windows, was a man.

487
00:39:50,320 --> 00:39:53,440
He was maybe forty, wearing a dress shirt and slacks.

488
00:39:54,079 --> 00:39:57,239
His hands were on the armrests, his head tilted back

489
00:39:57,280 --> 00:40:04,159
slightly His eyes were open, staring at the ceiling. He

490
00:40:04,360 --> 00:40:11,199
wasn't breathing. Magnus moved forward, checking for a pulse. I

491
00:40:11,239 --> 00:40:15,119
set up the monitor and attached the leads flat line.

492
00:40:16,760 --> 00:40:22,360
How long has he been down? I asked the suit unknown.

493
00:40:23,199 --> 00:40:27,320
I checked the man's skin, normal temperature, no rigor mortis.

494
00:40:28,000 --> 00:40:32,559
He looked like he died minutes ago, not hours. But

495
00:40:32,719 --> 00:40:37,960
something was wrong. His expression was blank, completely empty, like

496
00:40:38,039 --> 00:40:42,679
someone had raised everything behind his eyes. Magnus pulled out

497
00:40:42,719 --> 00:40:49,079
up pen light and checked the man's pupils, fixed and dilated.

498
00:40:50,000 --> 00:40:54,360
I looked around the apartment again. Those geometric patterns burned

499
00:40:54,360 --> 00:40:59,559
into every wall, the precision of them, nothing else was damaged.

500
00:41:01,159 --> 00:41:04,599
My eyes landed on the coffee table. The man's phone

501
00:41:04,679 --> 00:41:08,800
was there, screen still lit. A text message was open.

502
00:41:10,360 --> 00:41:15,599
Don't tell them what you saw, Magnus, I said, quietly,

503
00:41:16,400 --> 00:41:21,519
look at this. He glanced at the phone, then quickly

504
00:41:21,559 --> 00:41:26,920
looked away. But I saw his jaw tighten. What did

505
00:41:26,960 --> 00:41:32,679
he see? I asked. Magnus didn't answer. He was checking

506
00:41:32,719 --> 00:41:37,519
the man's vitals again, but his hands were shaking. Magnus,

507
00:41:37,719 --> 00:41:41,199
what did he we confirm death and clear the scene,

508
00:41:41,840 --> 00:41:49,199
Magnus said, his voice tight. That's all footsteps in the hallway.

509
00:41:49,960 --> 00:41:53,400
Three more suits entered, along with two people in hasmaic

510
00:41:53,400 --> 00:41:58,239
gear carrying equipment. I didn't recognize the lead suit, a

511
00:41:58,239 --> 00:42:02,800
different one, older with gray at his temples. Looked at us.

512
00:42:03,840 --> 00:42:11,880
Status male, approximately forty years old, deceased. Magnus said, no

513
00:42:12,000 --> 00:42:18,320
obvious cause of death. The suit nodded gas leak. Explosion,

514
00:42:18,760 --> 00:42:25,960
single fatality, standard procedure. He gestured toward the door. We'll

515
00:42:26,000 --> 00:42:31,000
take it from here. Gas leak. I said, there's no

516
00:42:31,159 --> 00:42:35,760
damage except gas leak. The suit repeated, harder this time,

517
00:42:36,639 --> 00:42:41,679
you can clear the scene. Magnus was already packing up.

518
00:42:42,400 --> 00:42:46,800
I followed him out, glancing back once. The people in

519
00:42:46,880 --> 00:42:50,159
hasmat suits were spraying something on the walls. The scorch

520
00:42:50,239 --> 00:42:57,480
marks were disappearing, the geometric patterns fading like they'd never existed. Outside,

521
00:42:57,880 --> 00:43:02,000
the fire trucks were already leaving. The smoke or whatever

522
00:43:02,039 --> 00:43:06,199
it had been, was gone. Residents were being led back

523
00:43:06,239 --> 00:43:09,800
into the building by police officers who were explaining that

524
00:43:09,880 --> 00:43:12,559
there'd been a small gas leak on the twenty third floor,

525
00:43:13,039 --> 00:43:19,480
quickly contained, no danger, Everything was fine, and they believed it.

526
00:43:20,360 --> 00:43:24,000
I watched them nod, relieved, already pulling out their phones.

527
00:43:24,039 --> 00:43:28,840
The text friends and family that everything was okay. We

528
00:43:28,920 --> 00:43:34,360
got back in the ambulance. Magnus drove three blocks from

529
00:43:34,400 --> 00:43:37,760
the scene. He pulled a flask from under his seat

530
00:43:37,840 --> 00:43:41,960
and took a long drink. I'd worked with Magnus for

531
00:43:42,000 --> 00:43:48,400
six years. I'd never seen him drink and shift. Magnus, don't,

532
00:43:48,880 --> 00:43:55,079
he said, just don't. He took another drink, then put

533
00:43:55,079 --> 00:43:59,679
the flask away and kept driving. I locked at my hands.

534
00:44:00,480 --> 00:44:04,880
They were shaking too. That text message kept playing in

535
00:44:04,920 --> 00:44:10,960
my mind. Don't tell them what you saw. Whatever that

536
00:44:11,000 --> 00:44:15,880
man had seen, it had killed him, killed him and

537
00:44:15,960 --> 00:44:20,840
burned impossible patterns into his walls, and now it was

538
00:44:20,880 --> 00:44:26,960
like it had never happened at all. I found Magnus

539
00:44:26,960 --> 00:44:29,320
in the station locker room at the end of the shift,

540
00:44:29,639 --> 00:44:31,760
sitting on the bench with his head in his hands.

541
00:44:33,280 --> 00:44:36,159
I need to know what we're dealing with, I said.

542
00:44:37,559 --> 00:44:42,920
He didn't look up. No you don't, Yes, I do.

543
00:44:44,440 --> 00:44:47,719
I sat down next to him. That man in the apartment,

544
00:44:48,039 --> 00:44:50,920
those five people on the tracks, the woman in four

545
00:44:51,119 --> 00:44:55,320
f I need to know what's killing them. It doesn't

546
00:44:55,360 --> 00:45:00,320
matter what it matters to me. Magnus finally He looked

547
00:45:00,360 --> 00:45:05,400
at me. He looked exhausted, older than I'd ever seen him.

548
00:45:06,000 --> 00:45:08,960
You think this city runs on laws and logic, he

549
00:45:09,039 --> 00:45:12,960
said quietly, Traffic laws and building codes and the natural

550
00:45:13,079 --> 00:45:17,400
order of things. He laughed, But there was no humor

551
00:45:17,400 --> 00:45:21,960
in it. It doesn't. There are things that live here

552
00:45:22,159 --> 00:45:27,199
alongside us, old things, wrong things, things that don't care

553
00:45:27,280 --> 00:45:33,320
about our rules because they operate on different ones. I waited.

554
00:45:34,239 --> 00:45:40,360
He was finally talking. Quality assurance. Isn't a department, he continued.

555
00:45:41,079 --> 00:45:45,639
It's a protocol when reality breaks, when something that shouldn't

556
00:45:45,639 --> 00:45:50,199
exist does exist, When the rules stop working, someone has

557
00:45:50,239 --> 00:45:55,079
to clean it up, contain it, make sure it doesn't spread.

558
00:45:55,840 --> 00:46:02,320
The people in suits we call them adjusters. They modify records, memories,

559
00:46:02,760 --> 00:46:07,639
and sometimes evidence. They make the impossible possible to ignore.

560
00:46:09,360 --> 00:46:14,599
He rubbed his face. Paramedics like us, with the first responders,

561
00:46:15,159 --> 00:46:17,800
We show up when reality is still broken, when the

562
00:46:17,840 --> 00:46:21,639
scene is still fresh. We confirm what we can. We

563
00:46:21,800 --> 00:46:26,360
document what really happened, not in the official reports, but

564
00:46:26,559 --> 00:46:31,119
somewhere someone keeps track, and then we let the adjustice

565
00:46:31,199 --> 00:46:37,239
bury it. Why the word came out harder than I intended?

566
00:46:38,000 --> 00:46:41,599
Why cover it up? Five people died on those tracks.

567
00:46:42,039 --> 00:46:44,719
That man in the apartment saw something that killed him.

568
00:46:45,079 --> 00:46:52,599
Don't they deserve, deserve what the truth? Marcus stood up pacing. Okay,

569
00:46:53,159 --> 00:46:56,079
say we tell the truth. Say we put it in

570
00:46:56,119 --> 00:47:00,159
the official record. Five people killed by an unknown entity,

571
00:47:00,000 --> 00:47:04,039
the geometric burn patterns of unknown origin, an apartment that

572
00:47:04,119 --> 00:47:12,360
appears and disappears. What happens? Then? I didn't answer. I'll

573
00:47:12,400 --> 00:47:16,840
tell you what happens. News picks it up. Social media explodes.

574
00:47:17,159 --> 00:47:21,679
People start asking questions, demanding answers, and when they don't

575
00:47:21,679 --> 00:47:26,719
get answers that make sense, they panic. They stop taking

576
00:47:26,719 --> 00:47:29,800
the train, they stop going to work. They start seeing

577
00:47:29,840 --> 00:47:34,400
threats everywhere because now they know, really know, that there

578
00:47:34,400 --> 00:47:36,719
are things out there that can kill them in ways

579
00:47:36,719 --> 00:47:41,880
that they can't understand or prevent. He turned to face me.

580
00:47:43,000 --> 00:47:49,039
The city collapses, not in a bang, but slowly, fierce

581
00:47:49,079 --> 00:47:55,000
spreads faster than any disease. Trust in institutions evaporates, and

582
00:47:55,039 --> 00:48:00,840
there's things out there, those old wrong things on that fear.

583
00:48:01,679 --> 00:48:09,199
They get stronger, more bold, and more people die. I

584
00:48:09,239 --> 00:48:15,599
felt cold. So we just pretend it's not happening. We

585
00:48:15,679 --> 00:48:19,559
contain it, We respond, We document for the people who

586
00:48:19,679 --> 00:48:22,679
need to know, and we let everyone else believe in

587
00:48:22,760 --> 00:48:28,880
gas leaks and equipment malfunctions and natural causes. His voice softened.

588
00:48:30,199 --> 00:48:34,519
This way life goes on. People go to work, raise

589
00:48:34,599 --> 00:48:38,960
their families, and live their lives. They're safe because they

590
00:48:39,000 --> 00:48:43,079
don't know they're in danger. Ignorance isn't just bliss here,

591
00:48:44,719 --> 00:48:50,800
it's survival. I thought about those residents at Westmont Towers,

592
00:48:51,199 --> 00:48:55,760
nodding along as police explain the gas leak, relieved, already

593
00:48:55,800 --> 00:48:59,800
moving on with their lives. How long has this been

594
00:48:59,840 --> 00:49:05,360
going on in Chicago? Since before there was a Chicago.

595
00:49:06,000 --> 00:49:10,280
Every city has it, has always had it, London, Tokyo,

596
00:49:10,519 --> 00:49:15,480
New York, Mexico City, anywhere where humans gather in large numbers,

597
00:49:16,000 --> 00:49:19,079
the things that live in the cracks gather too, and

598
00:49:19,159 --> 00:49:24,079
every city as people like us first responders who see

599
00:49:24,119 --> 00:49:28,920
what's really there, and adjustice, who make sure no one

600
00:49:29,000 --> 00:49:34,039
else has to the weight of it settled on me

601
00:49:35,079 --> 00:49:39,880
every call we'd run, every PREFID report i'd signed. I

602
00:49:40,039 --> 00:49:44,119
wasn't just a paramedic anymore. I was part of a

603
00:49:44,159 --> 00:49:51,679
massive cover up. I found Sophie Woo's obituary, I said quietly.

604
00:49:53,159 --> 00:49:58,039
Magnus went very still. She worked type sevens for twelve years.

605
00:49:58,400 --> 00:50:01,880
Then she retired. Then she died in a car accident

606
00:50:01,960 --> 00:50:07,280
three months later. I know, was it really an accident?

607
00:50:09,239 --> 00:50:13,400
Magnus was quiet for a long time. I don't know.

608
00:50:14,159 --> 00:50:18,960
Maybe maybe she just got unlucky, he looked at me.

609
00:50:20,000 --> 00:50:24,480
Or maybe she started asking too many questions, started digging

610
00:50:24,519 --> 00:50:27,920
too deep, started thinking she could do something about it,

611
00:50:29,400 --> 00:50:33,840
and they killed her for it. I don't know, he repeated,

612
00:50:34,840 --> 00:50:37,440
But I know she's dead. And I know a dozen

613
00:50:37,480 --> 00:50:40,880
other paramedics who worked Type sevens and left the job early,

614
00:50:41,519 --> 00:50:45,119
and most of them are fine. They're teaching EMT classes,

615
00:50:45,440 --> 00:50:49,679
working desk jobs, or retired to Florida. They moved on.

616
00:50:50,320 --> 00:50:55,119
They let it go. He sat back down next to me.

617
00:50:56,679 --> 00:51:00,679
You're a good paramedic. You stay calm, you've I think fast.

618
00:51:01,039 --> 00:51:08,400
You save lives. That's worth something that matters. His voice

619
00:51:08,440 --> 00:51:13,039
was almost pleading. Now, don't throw that away, trying to

620
00:51:13,119 --> 00:51:17,239
fight something you can't beat. Just do the job, sign

621
00:51:17,320 --> 00:51:25,280
the reports, go home. I looked at my hands steady now,

622
00:51:25,599 --> 00:51:27,559
but I could still feel the ghost of that dead

623
00:51:27,559 --> 00:51:32,480
woman's grip on my wrist. What if I can't let

624
00:51:32,559 --> 00:51:39,440
it go, I asked. Magnus closed his eyes. Then you

625
00:51:39,599 --> 00:51:46,519
end up like Sophie Woo, one way or another. We

626
00:51:46,599 --> 00:51:51,039
sat in silence outside. I could hear the day shift arriving,

627
00:51:51,679 --> 00:51:54,599
voices in the hallway, someone laughing at a joke. I

628
00:51:54,639 --> 00:51:59,679
couldn't hear normal life going on like it always did.

629
00:52:00,199 --> 00:52:03,440
Built and a foundation of lies and cover ups and

630
00:52:03,559 --> 00:52:08,039
things that shouldn't exist, and I was part of it. Now.

631
00:52:09,599 --> 00:52:13,920
The question was could I live with that? Or were

632
00:52:14,000 --> 00:52:20,719
trying to expose it? Kill me? First A text came

633
00:52:20,840 --> 00:52:27,000
three days after my conversation with Magnus, unknown number, meeting

634
00:52:27,039 --> 00:52:31,440
to morrow, two p m. Fifteen fifteen, West Monroe, Sweet

635
00:52:31,480 --> 00:52:38,760
eight hundred, come alone, no signature and no explanation. I

636
00:52:38,760 --> 00:52:42,000
showed it to Magnus during our shift. He read it,

637
00:52:42,400 --> 00:52:48,400
his face going pale. Don't go, he said, what is it?

638
00:52:49,719 --> 00:52:54,079
They want to talk to you, the adjusters. He handed

639
00:52:54,119 --> 00:52:57,880
my phone back. If you don't go, they'll come to

640
00:52:57,960 --> 00:53:04,360
you if you do go, he trailed off. What just

641
00:53:05,119 --> 00:53:10,639
be careful what you agree to? Fifteen fifteen West Monroe

642
00:53:10,880 --> 00:53:14,400
was a generic office building in the West Loop glass

643
00:53:14,400 --> 00:53:17,719
and steel, the kind of place that housed insurance companies

644
00:53:17,719 --> 00:53:23,079
and consulting firms. Nothing remarkable, Sweet eight hundred had no

645
00:53:23,159 --> 00:53:28,159
name on the door, just the number. I knocked. The

646
00:53:28,239 --> 00:53:34,400
door opened immediately. A woman stood there, mid forties, wearing

647
00:53:34,400 --> 00:53:40,280
a charcoal suit, professional put together. She smiled like we

648
00:53:40,280 --> 00:53:45,880
were old friends. Thank you for coming. I'm direct to read,

649
00:53:47,039 --> 00:53:53,719
she gestured inside. Please. The office was small, a desk,

650
00:53:54,000 --> 00:54:00,480
two chairs, no windows, completely anonymous. She sat behind the desk.

651
00:54:01,119 --> 00:54:04,920
I took the chair across from her. You've been doing

652
00:54:05,039 --> 00:54:10,199
excellent work, she began. Your reports are thorough, your discretion

653
00:54:10,559 --> 00:54:15,000
is noted, you respond well under pressure, you don't panic,

654
00:54:15,360 --> 00:54:20,960
and you understand the importance of protocol. Thank you, I said,

655
00:54:21,559 --> 00:54:25,519
because I didn't know what else to say. We'd like

656
00:54:25,639 --> 00:54:29,679
to offer you a position. She slid a folder across

657
00:54:29,679 --> 00:54:35,400
the desk, Specialized Response Unit. You'd be responding exclusively to

658
00:54:35,519 --> 00:54:40,840
type seven calls, full clearance, significant pay increase. We're talking

659
00:54:40,960 --> 00:54:47,960
double your current salary, better benefits, hazard pay, pension. I

660
00:54:48,079 --> 00:54:52,159
opened the folder. The numbers were real, so was the

661
00:54:52,159 --> 00:54:58,000
benefits package. This wasn't a token offer. You'd be part

662
00:54:58,159 --> 00:55:03,159
of the whole picture, read continued. No more signing reports.

663
00:55:03,159 --> 00:55:06,119
You don't understand. You'd be part of the team that

664
00:55:06,239 --> 00:55:11,400
handles these situations from start to finish. I looked up

665
00:55:11,440 --> 00:55:18,360
at her. What is the whole picture? She smiled. That's

666
00:55:18,400 --> 00:55:22,599
what the clearance is for. But understand, this isn't a

667
00:55:22,719 --> 00:55:25,880
job you do for a few years then move on.

668
00:55:25,880 --> 00:55:30,760
Once you're in, you don't leave. Early retirement isn't an option.

669
00:55:31,559 --> 00:55:34,760
You work until we say you're done, and then you

670
00:55:34,920 --> 00:55:39,079
transition to a consulting role. You stay in the system

671
00:55:40,639 --> 00:55:45,840
for how long as long as necessary. She pulled out

672
00:55:45,840 --> 00:55:48,960
a tablet, tapped the screen, then turned it toward me.

673
00:55:50,199 --> 00:55:57,719
Let me show you something. The screen displayed a file directory, names, dates, photographs.

674
00:55:58,639 --> 00:56:05,360
I recognize some of them. Paramedics I'd found in my research, Peter's, Klein's, Richard's,

675
00:56:06,440 --> 00:56:11,119
and Sophie Wu. These are people who tried to walk away,

676
00:56:11,760 --> 00:56:16,159
read said quietly. People who worked Type seven calls, who

677
00:56:16,199 --> 00:56:19,679
gained knowledge, who then decided they didn't want to be

678
00:56:19,760 --> 00:56:24,119
part of the system anymore. She swiped through the files,

679
00:56:24,400 --> 00:56:29,280
each one showing a different outcome. Richard's transferred to fire Prevention,

680
00:56:30,119 --> 00:56:37,239
still alive, still working clin early retirement, moved to Arizona alive,

681
00:56:38,280 --> 00:56:46,559
Peter's Training Division alive. Then Sophie Wu deceased car accident,

682
00:56:47,920 --> 00:56:52,960
then some others. I didn't recognize missing persons reports, unsolved deaths,

683
00:56:53,480 --> 00:56:59,079
suicides that look suspicious. We take care of our people,

684
00:56:59,719 --> 00:57:04,920
read said, We really do. Good salary, good benefits, protection,

685
00:57:05,920 --> 00:57:09,320
you work with us, We make sure you're safe, We

686
00:57:09,400 --> 00:57:12,280
make sure your family is safe. We make sure you

687
00:57:12,360 --> 00:57:17,280
have a long, comfortable career and a peaceful retirement. She

688
00:57:17,400 --> 00:57:21,760
closed the files and looked at me directly. But only

689
00:57:22,079 --> 00:57:25,760
if you stay in line, only if you follow a protocol,

690
00:57:26,440 --> 00:57:31,159
Only if you understand that this knowledge comes with responsibility,

691
00:57:32,880 --> 00:57:37,039
she paused. People who try to expose what they've seen,

692
00:57:37,480 --> 00:57:40,360
who try to go public, who think they can walk

693
00:57:40,400 --> 00:57:44,480
away and live a normal life. They don't understand how

694
00:57:44,519 --> 00:57:48,320
deep this goes, how many people are invested in keeping

695
00:57:48,360 --> 00:57:55,840
things quiet. Are you threatening me? I'm offering you a choice.

696
00:57:57,360 --> 00:58:02,920
She slid the folder closer the position. Join the specialized unit,

697
00:58:03,360 --> 00:58:07,159
see the whole picture, make real money, be part of

698
00:58:07,239 --> 00:58:12,960
something important. Or stay where you are, keep running regular

699
00:58:13,000 --> 00:58:17,079
calls with magnus, sign the occasional Type seven report, and

700
00:58:17,199 --> 00:58:20,199
eventually transfer to a nice desk job when you're ready.

701
00:58:21,719 --> 00:58:25,079
And if I don't want either option, if I want

702
00:58:25,079 --> 00:58:31,239
out completely, Reed's smile didn't change but something shifted in

703
00:58:31,280 --> 00:58:36,639
her eyes. Then you'd be making a mistake because you've

704
00:58:36,679 --> 00:58:41,039
already know too much. You've worked multiple Type seven calls,

705
00:58:41,639 --> 00:58:47,000
You've done research, You've found Sophie Woo's obituary. She leaned

706
00:58:47,000 --> 00:58:52,239
forward slightly. You're already in the system. The only question

707
00:58:52,440 --> 00:58:59,320
is whether you're an asset or a liability. The room

708
00:58:59,400 --> 00:59:05,400
felt small suddenly, think about it, Reid said, standing, you

709
00:59:05,480 --> 00:59:08,920
don't have to decide today, but don't take too long.

710
00:59:09,559 --> 00:59:13,400
We're starting a new training cycle next month. I'd like

711
00:59:13,480 --> 00:59:17,920
you in it. She walked me to the door, handed

712
00:59:17,920 --> 00:59:21,679
me a business card, just a phone number, nothing else.

713
00:59:22,840 --> 00:59:28,000
Call when you're ready, and remember we're not the enemy.

714
00:59:28,719 --> 00:59:32,480
We're the people keeping the city running, keeping people safe.

715
00:59:34,039 --> 00:59:40,280
That's worth something. The door closed behind me. I stood

716
00:59:40,320 --> 00:59:45,000
in the hallway, staring at the business card, an opportunity

717
00:59:45,360 --> 00:59:50,840
a threat both at once. I thought about Sophie Woo,

718
00:59:50,960 --> 00:59:54,960
about whether her accident was really an accident, about whether

719
00:59:55,000 --> 00:59:56,760
I'd have a choice at all if I said no.

720
00:59:59,000 --> 01:00:06,760
My phone buzzed, Magnus, how did it go? I didn't

721
01:00:06,760 --> 01:00:10,239
know how to answer, because I was starting to realize

722
01:00:10,519 --> 01:00:13,960
that the moment I'd signed that first report, the moment

723
01:00:14,039 --> 01:00:19,280
I'd walked into Apartment four F, I'd stopped having choices.

724
01:00:20,840 --> 01:00:24,480
I was in the system now. The only question was

725
01:00:25,760 --> 01:00:31,039
how deep was I willing to go. I called the

726
01:00:31,119 --> 01:00:35,960
number and reader's card three days later. I appreciate the offer,

727
01:00:36,440 --> 01:00:40,079
I told her, but I'm going to stay where I am.

728
01:00:42,440 --> 01:00:47,039
Silence on the other end, Then, are you sure this

729
01:00:47,320 --> 01:00:53,559
is a significant opportunity. I'm sure. I'm a paramedic. I

730
01:00:53,639 --> 01:00:59,000
want to keep doing that job. Another pause. All right,

731
01:00:59,639 --> 01:01:03,519
the offer stands if you've change your mind, but remember

732
01:01:03,719 --> 01:01:10,480
what we discussed. She hung up. Magnus seemed relieved when

733
01:01:10,480 --> 01:01:15,840
I told him, good He said, smart choice. Keep your

734
01:01:15,880 --> 01:01:22,239
head down, do the work, don't ask questions. For a

735
01:01:22,280 --> 01:01:28,440
few weeks, everything was normal, overdoses, chest pain, car accidents,

736
01:01:28,760 --> 01:01:34,280
regular calls, no Type sevens. Then, on a Wednesday night,

737
01:01:34,519 --> 01:01:39,480
at ten forty eight pm, Medic forty seven, officer down,

738
01:01:39,719 --> 01:01:47,079
Industrial District, per nineteen police en route. Officer down. Marcus's

739
01:01:47,079 --> 01:01:51,039
brow furrowed. Officer down. Calls don't go through our dispatch.

740
01:01:52,840 --> 01:01:57,119
We drove in Silence. Per nineteen was in the abandoned

741
01:01:57,119 --> 01:02:02,280
industrial district along the river, empty warehouses, broken windows and

742
01:02:02,360 --> 01:02:06,400
trailing fences with holes cut through them, no police cars

743
01:02:06,480 --> 01:02:10,440
or lights, just the black sedan parked near the warehouse entrance,

744
01:02:11,559 --> 01:02:18,400
and a justice stood beside it, a younger man, expressionless inside.

745
01:02:18,920 --> 01:02:24,519
He said, second floor. We followed him through the warehouse.

746
01:02:24,880 --> 01:02:30,480
Our flashlights cut through the darkness, illuminating rusted machinery, broken pallets,

747
01:02:30,639 --> 01:02:34,159
graffiti on the walls. The air smelled like mold and

748
01:02:34,320 --> 01:02:39,360
rust and something chemical. The second floor was one large

749
01:02:39,440 --> 01:02:44,280
open space, empty except for what was in the center,

750
01:02:46,000 --> 01:02:51,920
a perfect circle of salt, maybe six feet in diameter,

751
01:02:53,480 --> 01:02:59,960
and inside it her body. A police officer uniform still visit,

752
01:03:00,639 --> 01:03:05,719
lying on his back. But something was wrong. His skin

753
01:03:05,880 --> 01:03:10,280
was gray, sunken, tight against his bones. His eyes were sunken,

754
01:03:10,519 --> 01:03:15,639
his mouth open. He looked mummified, desiccated, like he'd been

755
01:03:15,719 --> 01:03:21,760
dead for years. Magnus checked his watch. Call came in

756
01:03:21,840 --> 01:03:25,599
twenty minutes ago. I knelt at the edge of the

757
01:03:25,599 --> 01:03:31,079
salt circle, not crossing it now, Paul, sobviously. The body

758
01:03:31,280 --> 01:03:35,360
was completely dried out, like something had sucked every drop

759
01:03:35,360 --> 01:03:40,039
of moisture from it. Magnus moved closer, shining his light

760
01:03:40,079 --> 01:03:47,079
on the officer's face. Then he went very still. I

761
01:03:47,199 --> 01:03:52,039
know him, he said quietly, Jack Hargrave. He was a

762
01:03:52,039 --> 01:03:57,039
beatcop in the twelfth District. You know him. He worked

763
01:03:57,079 --> 01:04:02,119
with Sophie Woo. Marcus's voice was tight. They responded to

764
01:04:02,199 --> 01:04:07,519
scenes together before she retired. I looked at the adjuster.

765
01:04:08,559 --> 01:04:15,360
What happened here? He didn't answer. Magnus stood up his flashlight,

766
01:04:15,440 --> 01:04:19,719
sweeping the rest of the warehouse floor. Then he stopped,

767
01:04:20,280 --> 01:04:25,440
the beam fixed on something in the darkness. Geez, he whispered.

768
01:04:27,079 --> 01:04:32,920
I followed his light. More circles, dozens of them, scattered

769
01:04:32,960 --> 01:04:37,519
across the warehouse floor in no particular pattern, all of

770
01:04:37,559 --> 01:04:44,840
them perfect, made of salt, but empty. Magnus turned to

771
01:04:44,920 --> 01:04:50,800
the adjuster. He was asking questions. Wasn't he about Sophie,

772
01:04:51,079 --> 01:04:56,639
About what really happened to her? These justice expression didn't change.

773
01:04:58,039 --> 01:05:03,800
Magnus I said, what are these? They're for people who

774
01:05:03,880 --> 01:05:08,760
know too much. His voice was shaking. Now he grabbed

775
01:05:08,800 --> 01:05:13,719
my arm. We need to leave now. We haven't finished

776
01:05:13,719 --> 01:05:18,199
the assessment. There's nothing to assess. He's dead, he's been processed.

777
01:05:18,559 --> 01:05:23,320
We need to go. I looked at the empty circles again,

778
01:05:24,039 --> 01:05:31,840
dozens of them waiting Magnus. Now he walked back through

779
01:05:31,840 --> 01:05:36,760
the warehouse faster this time. The adjuster didn't follow. I

780
01:05:36,800 --> 01:05:39,400
could feel his eyes on my back until we reached

781
01:05:39,400 --> 01:05:44,599
the exit. Magnes didn't speak until we're in the ambulance, doors,

782
01:05:44,639 --> 01:05:51,159
locked engine, running those circles, he said, staring straight ahead.

783
01:05:52,159 --> 01:05:56,760
They're not just for containment, they're for disposal, for people

784
01:05:58,119 --> 01:06:03,360
who've become problems. He had just as did that. I

785
01:06:03,400 --> 01:06:07,400
don't know. Maybe maybe they're just cleaning up after something

786
01:06:07,400 --> 01:06:13,559
else does it. Either way, He finally looked at me,

787
01:06:14,119 --> 01:06:17,960
and I saw the real fear in his eyes. Jack

788
01:06:18,159 --> 01:06:22,360
was a good cop. He and Sophie were close. After

789
01:06:22,440 --> 01:06:26,920
she died, he started asking questions, talked to her sister,

790
01:06:27,320 --> 01:06:31,199
looked into her accident. And now he's dead in a

791
01:06:31,239 --> 01:06:37,199
warehouse full of empty circles. You think they killed him.

792
01:06:37,679 --> 01:06:41,039
I think he knew too much and didn't stop asking questions,

793
01:06:41,639 --> 01:06:44,760
and they just showed you what happens when you crossed

794
01:06:44,760 --> 01:06:49,760
that line. He put the ambulance in gear and drove.

795
01:06:50,880 --> 01:06:54,920
His hands were shaking on the wheel. I looked back

796
01:06:54,920 --> 01:06:59,719
at the warehouse and the black sedan still parked outside.

797
01:07:00,119 --> 01:07:05,519
Somewhere in there, Jack Hargrave's body was being processed, documented

798
01:07:06,719 --> 01:07:11,280
and raised and dozens of empty salt circles were waiting

799
01:07:11,719 --> 01:07:16,400
for the next person who asked too many questions. I

800
01:07:16,440 --> 01:07:19,480
thought about the folder in my apartment, the research I've

801
01:07:19,519 --> 01:07:23,320
been doing, the names I've been tracking. I thought about

802
01:07:23,360 --> 01:07:28,559
Reader's offer, once you're in, you don't leave. And I

803
01:07:28,639 --> 01:07:35,000
thought about those empty circles. Magnus was right, we needed

804
01:07:35,079 --> 01:07:39,760
to leave. All I could think was had I already

805
01:07:39,800 --> 01:07:43,760
crossed the line? Were they just waiting for me to

806
01:07:43,880 --> 01:07:49,960
take one more step? My day off, I was at home,

807
01:07:50,400 --> 01:07:53,519
halfway through a load of laundry when my phone buzzed

808
01:07:53,519 --> 01:08:00,000
with an emergency page Type seven. All available units respond immediately.

809
01:08:01,960 --> 01:08:07,559
The address made my stomach drop Chicago Memorial Hospital, our

810
01:08:07,719 --> 01:08:12,559
hospital where we brought patients every shift. I grabbed my

811
01:08:12,639 --> 01:08:18,079
keys and drove. The scene was chaos. Police had carded

812
01:08:18,079 --> 01:08:21,680
off three blocks. Fire trucks lined the street. At least

813
01:08:21,680 --> 01:08:25,039
six ambulances were staged in the parking lot, and more

814
01:08:25,119 --> 01:08:30,840
were arriving, but no one was going inside. The entire

815
01:08:30,920 --> 01:08:35,119
east wing was sealed, plastic sheeting over the doors adjust

816
01:08:35,159 --> 01:08:37,560
as in hazmat suits. Moving in and out through a

817
01:08:37,600 --> 01:08:43,720
decontamination tent. I found Magnus near the ambulance staging area.

818
01:08:43,760 --> 01:08:50,000
His face was gray. What's happening, I asked, I don't know.

819
01:08:50,600 --> 01:08:54,359
They called everyone in, every paramedic whose work type SEVENS.

820
01:08:55,479 --> 01:09:01,760
He looked at the hospital. Something's wrong, really wrong. An

821
01:09:01,800 --> 01:09:07,279
adjuster approached someone I didn't recognize. You two with me.

822
01:09:09,600 --> 01:09:13,399
We were led through a decontamination tent, given masks and gloves,

823
01:09:13,960 --> 01:09:17,800
then through the sealed doors into the east wing. The

824
01:09:17,920 --> 01:09:22,800
hallway was empty, emergency lighting cast everything in red. The

825
01:09:22,840 --> 01:09:27,039
air smelled like ozone and something rotting. We were taken

826
01:09:27,079 --> 01:09:30,479
down two flights of stairs to the basement level, to

827
01:09:30,600 --> 01:09:35,960
the morgue. The doors were propped open. Inside, at least

828
01:09:36,000 --> 01:09:40,920
a dozen adjusters were working frantically setting up equipment, taking readings,

829
01:09:41,079 --> 01:09:49,720
speaking urgently into radios. And the bodies were moving, not

830
01:09:49,840 --> 01:09:54,319
all of them, but enough. Five maybe six corpses on

831
01:09:54,399 --> 01:09:57,880
gurneys covered with sheets that were now sliding off as

832
01:09:57,920 --> 01:10:02,199
the bodies beneath them jerked and twitched. Their movements were wrong,

833
01:10:02,840 --> 01:10:07,880
spastic and uncoordinated, like puppets with tangled strings. One sat

834
01:10:07,960 --> 01:10:11,359
up as I watched a woman maybe sixty, with a

835
01:10:11,359 --> 01:10:15,279
white incisions soured across her chest. Her eyes were open,

836
01:10:15,399 --> 01:10:20,039
but filmed over milky white. Her mouth open and closed,

837
01:10:20,319 --> 01:10:25,600
open and closed, but no sound came out. My god,

838
01:10:26,399 --> 01:10:31,520
Magnus whispered. An adjuster was near us, shouting into a radio.

839
01:10:32,319 --> 01:10:36,199
Containment is failing. Repeat, containment is failing. We need black

840
01:10:36,239 --> 01:10:41,439
protical authorization now. Another corpse rolled off its gurney and

841
01:10:41,520 --> 01:10:45,119
hit the floor with a wet thud. It began crawling,

842
01:10:45,600 --> 01:10:52,880
dragging itself forward with jerking mechanical movements toward us. Stay back,

843
01:10:53,239 --> 01:10:55,880
and adjust the warned, pulling us away from the door,

844
01:10:57,039 --> 01:11:01,840
but I couldn't look away. The crawling corpse was a man, young,

845
01:11:02,159 --> 01:11:07,079
maybe thirty, hospital gown hanging off his gray skin. His

846
01:11:07,199 --> 01:11:13,560
mouth was moving too, forming shapes words. I stepped closer,

847
01:11:13,840 --> 01:11:20,720
trying to read his lips. Don't magna started. The corpse's

848
01:11:20,720 --> 01:11:24,760
hands shot out and grabbed my ankle. The grip was cold,

849
01:11:25,239 --> 01:11:30,399
impossibly strong. I tried to pull away but couldn't. Its

850
01:11:30,439 --> 01:11:36,640
mouth kept moving, and suddenly I could hear it, something

851
01:11:36,720 --> 01:11:39,920
directly in my head, like a voice made of static.

852
01:11:42,039 --> 01:11:48,880
It's spreading. You can't contain it anymore, and adjuster pulled

853
01:11:48,880 --> 01:11:52,880
me back, breaking the corpse's grip. Two others moved in

854
01:11:52,960 --> 01:11:55,840
with some kind of device, pressing it against the body.

855
01:11:56,760 --> 01:11:59,479
There was a flash of light and the corpse went still,

856
01:12:00,640 --> 01:12:04,239
But the others were still moving, still jerking and twitching,

857
01:12:04,680 --> 01:12:10,680
still mouthing silent words. The doors burst behind us. Director

858
01:12:10,720 --> 01:12:15,199
Reads strode in, flanked by four more adjusters. She took

859
01:12:15,239 --> 01:12:18,680
one look at the scene, and a professional composer cracked

860
01:12:18,880 --> 01:12:25,359
for just the second. How many she demanded? Seven? Animated

861
01:12:25,720 --> 01:12:31,840
more showing early signs, hits accelerating, initiate protocol black, Clear

862
01:12:31,920 --> 01:12:37,039
the building. Every one out now, Director, We haven't contained,

863
01:12:37,319 --> 01:12:41,319
I said. Now. She turned to the adjusters around the room,

864
01:12:42,000 --> 01:12:45,159
full lockdown, no one in or out. With sealing this

865
01:12:45,439 --> 01:12:50,039
entire wing. Magnus grobbed my arm and pulled me toward

866
01:12:50,119 --> 01:12:53,840
the exit. We were swept along with a tide of adjusters,

867
01:12:53,920 --> 01:12:58,439
evacuating the morgue, up the stairs, through the decontamination tent,

868
01:12:58,920 --> 01:13:03,600
out into the parking lot. Alarms were blaring. Now the

869
01:13:03,760 --> 01:13:10,239
entire hospital was being evacuated. Patients, staff, visitors, everyone streaming

870
01:13:10,279 --> 01:13:16,439
out of the exits, confused, frightened, and demanding answers. The

871
01:13:16,680 --> 01:13:19,960
justics were already moving through the crowd with practice deficiency,

872
01:13:20,479 --> 01:13:23,880
herding people away from the east wing, explaining in calm

873
01:13:24,000 --> 01:13:26,640
voices that there had been a gas leak, that it

874
01:13:26,720 --> 01:13:33,119
was a precautionary evacuation, that everything was under control. Magnus

875
01:13:33,199 --> 01:13:37,039
pulled me away from the crowd behind one of the ambulances.

876
01:13:38,319 --> 01:13:42,800
This is it, he said, his voice shaking. Whatever they've

877
01:13:42,840 --> 01:13:46,199
been covering up, whatever they've been containing all these years,

878
01:13:47,439 --> 01:13:53,359
it's breaking through. It's getting stronger. What's that down there?

879
01:13:54,720 --> 01:13:57,800
I don't know, but I know it's never happened before.

880
01:13:58,720 --> 01:14:03,119
Did you see their faces? They were panicking, The adjusters

881
01:14:03,199 --> 01:14:09,159
were panicking. We watched as more hazmat suited figures entered

882
01:14:09,159 --> 01:14:13,119
the east wing. Through the windows, I could see flashes

883
01:14:13,159 --> 01:14:16,479
of light. He muffled sounds that might have been screams

884
01:14:17,159 --> 01:14:22,119
or might have been something else. By four am, the

885
01:14:22,199 --> 01:14:28,000
evacuation was complete. The official story was already spreading gas

886
01:14:28,119 --> 01:14:32,359
leak no injuries. Hospital would reopen in the morning after

887
01:14:32,479 --> 01:14:40,000
safety checks, and by eight am it did. The East

888
01:14:40,039 --> 01:14:44,359
wing was unsealed, patients were moved back in, staff returned

889
01:14:44,359 --> 01:14:50,800
to work. The morgue reopened like nothing had happened. I

890
01:14:50,840 --> 01:14:54,880
was put on mandatory leave the next day, stress related.

891
01:14:54,960 --> 01:14:59,079
They called it two weeks full pay see the department

892
01:14:59,119 --> 01:15:06,000
counselor before returning to duty. Magnus retired just like that,

893
01:15:06,600 --> 01:15:09,520
sent an email to the director, turned in his badge

894
01:15:09,520 --> 01:15:15,039
and gear, and disappeared. I called him six times. He

895
01:15:15,119 --> 01:15:21,439
never answered. Three days into my leave, a package arrived

896
01:15:21,439 --> 01:15:25,520
at my apartment. It had no return address, just my

897
01:15:25,640 --> 01:15:31,399
name on a plane Manila envelope inside a new ID badge,

898
01:15:31,920 --> 01:15:38,560
my photo, my name, but a different title, Specialized Response

899
01:15:38,720 --> 01:15:44,439
Unit Level two clearance, and a note typed on plain paper.

900
01:15:46,479 --> 01:15:50,159
You don't have a choice anymore. You were there, you

901
01:15:50,359 --> 01:15:55,720
saw it. The situation is escalating and we need experienced personnel.

902
01:15:56,640 --> 01:16:01,479
Report Monday six a m fifteen fifteen Westman Sweet eight hundred,

903
01:16:02,279 --> 01:16:08,560
signed director read. That would have been enough, but there

904
01:16:08,600 --> 01:16:14,760
was one more thing in the envelope. A photograph my

905
01:16:14,920 --> 01:16:19,680
sister's house, the one she'd bought in Evanstone, her husband's car,

906
01:16:19,760 --> 01:16:22,760
and the driveway my nephew's bike on the front lawn,

907
01:16:23,840 --> 01:16:27,359
taken yesterday based on the date stamp in the corner.

908
01:16:28,560 --> 01:16:32,600
There was no direct threat, just the photo, but the

909
01:16:32,640 --> 01:16:38,039
implication was clear. I sat on my couch staring at

910
01:16:38,079 --> 01:16:44,279
the ID badge, the note, the photograph. Magnus had been right.

911
01:16:45,840 --> 01:16:49,920
Once you're in the system, you don't get out. And

912
01:16:50,000 --> 01:16:54,039
I was in deep, now, too deep. I'd seen the

913
01:16:54,079 --> 01:16:57,000
bodies wake up. I'd heard that voice in my head.

914
01:16:58,399 --> 01:17:03,800
It's spreading. You can't contain it anymore. Whatever they've been

915
01:17:03,840 --> 01:17:08,600
covering up for decades, maybe centuries, it was breaking through,

916
01:17:09,119 --> 01:17:13,199
getting stronger, and they needed people who'd already seen it,

917
01:17:13,520 --> 01:17:17,800
who already knew, to help them fight it, or contain it,

918
01:17:18,359 --> 01:17:25,399
or die trying. Monday morning, six am, I didn't have

919
01:17:25,479 --> 01:17:33,159
a choice. I never had. I reported to fifteen fifteen

920
01:17:33,199 --> 01:17:37,000
West Monroe. The lobby was empty except for a security

921
01:17:37,039 --> 01:17:40,479
guard who checked my ID and directed me to the elevator.

922
01:17:41,479 --> 01:17:44,520
He pressed the button I hadn't noticed before, one with

923
01:17:44,560 --> 01:17:49,319
a symbol I didn't recognize. The elevator went down and

924
01:17:49,479 --> 01:17:55,039
down and down. When the doors opened, I wasn't in

925
01:17:55,119 --> 01:18:01,439
Chicago anymore, not the Chicago people knew. Facility was massive,

926
01:18:02,399 --> 01:18:05,840
a concrete bunker that stretched in every direction, lit by

927
01:18:05,920 --> 01:18:10,119
harsh fluorescent lights. Dozens of people moved through the corridors

928
01:18:10,119 --> 01:18:14,640
with purpose adjust as people in hasmat suits, others in

929
01:18:14,720 --> 01:18:19,720
tactical gear. The computer stations lined the walls, displaying maps

930
01:18:19,760 --> 01:18:24,359
of the city covered in red dots, so many red dots.

931
01:18:26,039 --> 01:18:33,359
Director Reid was waiting. Welcome to operations. She said, this

932
01:18:33,840 --> 01:18:38,199
is where the real work happens. She led me through

933
01:18:38,239 --> 01:18:41,840
the facility, showed me labs where people analyze samples of

934
01:18:41,880 --> 01:18:45,920
things I couldn't identify. Showed me holding cells with reinforced

935
01:18:45,960 --> 01:18:50,720
doors and observation windows that looked into darkness. She showed

936
01:18:50,720 --> 01:18:54,840
me an armory starked with equipment that definitely wasn't standard

937
01:18:54,880 --> 01:19:00,479
medical gear. There are breaches throughout the city lane. As

938
01:19:00,479 --> 01:19:04,680
we walked, places where reality is thin, where things from

939
01:19:04,720 --> 01:19:08,159
the other side can push through. We've been managing them

940
01:19:08,159 --> 01:19:14,319
for decades, containing them, cleaning up the aftermath. She stopped

941
01:19:14,319 --> 01:19:17,239
in front of a massive display screen showing the map

942
01:19:17,279 --> 01:19:22,960
of Chicago, red dots clustered in certain areas, the Industrial District,

943
01:19:23,319 --> 01:19:27,199
part of the South Side, and the old subway tunnels.

944
01:19:27,840 --> 01:19:32,199
Type seven calls used to be monthly, then weekly. Now

945
01:19:32,239 --> 01:19:36,039
we're getting multiple calls per day. She looked at me.

946
01:19:37,039 --> 01:19:41,600
We're losing ground. Whatever is on the other side, it's

947
01:19:41,680 --> 01:19:46,720
pushing through, getting stronger. The incident at the hospital there

948
01:19:46,800 --> 01:19:50,399
was a Category four breach, the largest we've ever had

949
01:19:50,479 --> 01:19:57,319
in a populated area. What stopped it? We did barely.

950
01:19:59,119 --> 01:20:03,439
She pulled up footage a tablet the hospital Morgue adjusters

951
01:20:03,479 --> 01:20:07,640
with devices that pulsed with light, the bodies finally going still.

952
01:20:09,279 --> 01:20:12,920
But it cost us three adjust as dead, two more

953
01:20:13,000 --> 01:20:16,560
in medical, and we had to use Protocol black, which

954
01:20:16,600 --> 01:20:21,560
means we burn through resources we can't easily replace. She

955
01:20:21,680 --> 01:20:25,560
handed me a tablet. This is what we're dealing with.

956
01:20:26,079 --> 01:20:30,920
This is why we need you. The footage showed other breaches,

957
01:20:31,479 --> 01:20:34,720
an apartment where the walls were bleeding, a subway tunnel

958
01:20:34,760 --> 01:20:38,560
with the tracks led into somewhere that wasn't Chicago, a

959
01:20:38,680 --> 01:20:44,000
park where children's shadows moved independently of their bodies. You've

960
01:20:44,039 --> 01:20:49,640
seen it, Reid said, You've been exposed. That makes you valuable.

961
01:20:50,920 --> 01:20:55,560
Most people, when they see what's really there, their minds break,

962
01:20:56,199 --> 01:21:01,840
They rationalize it away, forget it, or they're insane. But

963
01:21:02,039 --> 01:21:07,159
some people, people like you, can see it and stay functional.

964
01:21:08,439 --> 01:21:15,159
That's rare, that's necessary. She led me to a locker

965
01:21:15,239 --> 01:21:19,039
room where a team was gearing up. Five people all

966
01:21:19,079 --> 01:21:22,720
around my age, all with the same haunted look I'd

967
01:21:22,760 --> 01:21:29,000
seen in Magnus's eyes. Your team, Reid said, they'll train

968
01:21:29,079 --> 01:21:36,800
you you start today. A woman approached Asian early thirties

969
01:21:37,119 --> 01:21:41,319
with a scar running down her left cheek. I'm Cho,

970
01:21:41,880 --> 01:21:46,319
former paramedic, been with the unit for two years. She

971
01:21:46,439 --> 01:21:50,279
handed me a vest. Put this on, we've got a call.

972
01:21:52,119 --> 01:21:56,279
The vest was heavy, reinforced with something that wasn't just kevlar.

973
01:21:57,479 --> 01:22:02,119
The equipment they gave me looked medical at first, glass bags, monitors,

974
01:22:02,119 --> 01:22:07,000
and trauma supplies, but there were other things too, devices

975
01:22:07,039 --> 01:22:11,479
I didn't recognize, containers filled with salt, iron fillings and

976
01:22:11,560 --> 01:22:15,479
other substances. A weapon that looked like a cross between

977
01:22:15,479 --> 01:22:20,319
a taser and something from a science fiction movie. What

978
01:22:20,560 --> 01:22:26,279
is this? I asked. Tools Cho said you'll learn what

979
01:22:26,319 --> 01:22:32,000
they do right now. Just stay close and follow my lead.

980
01:22:32,680 --> 01:22:38,439
An alarm blared, red lights flashed a voice over the intercom.

981
01:22:38,880 --> 01:22:44,279
Reality breach Category five, SECT seven, multiple entities. All available

982
01:22:44,359 --> 01:22:51,520
units respond Category five worse than the hospital. The team

983
01:22:51,600 --> 01:22:55,600
moved with practice deficiency, loading into an armored vehicle that

984
01:22:55,680 --> 01:23:00,000
looked nothing like an ambulance. I climbed in after them.

985
01:23:00,560 --> 01:23:03,520
As we pulled out of the facility through tunnels that

986
01:23:03,600 --> 01:23:07,039
led god knows where, Joe handed me a helmet with

987
01:23:07,119 --> 01:23:11,079
a visor. Put it on the visor filters. What you

988
01:23:11,159 --> 01:23:16,079
see makes it easier to look at them directly. Look

989
01:23:16,119 --> 01:23:20,800
at what she smiled, but there was no humor in it.

990
01:23:22,039 --> 01:23:27,640
You'll see the vehicle accelerated. I looked at the team

991
01:23:27,680 --> 01:23:32,079
around me. They were checking their equipment, loading their weapons,

992
01:23:32,439 --> 01:23:38,119
preparing for something I couldn't imagine. I thought about Magnus,

993
01:23:38,399 --> 01:23:42,439
about his warning, about Sophie Woo and Jack Hargrave and

994
01:23:42,520 --> 01:23:45,680
all the others who tried to walk away. I thought

995
01:23:45,720 --> 01:23:50,439
about my sister's house, that photograph. They were no longer

996
01:23:50,640 --> 01:23:53,600
just making me part of the cover up. They were

997
01:23:53,640 --> 01:23:58,039
making me part of the war. Whatever was pushing through

998
01:23:58,039 --> 01:24:01,319
those breeches, whatever was made the dead wake up and

999
01:24:01,439 --> 01:24:06,279
speaking voices made of static. We with a front line,

1000
01:24:07,399 --> 01:24:11,119
the people who responded when reality broke, the people who

1001
01:24:11,159 --> 01:24:15,199
fought to keep it from spreading. The vehicle burst out

1002
01:24:15,199 --> 01:24:18,279
of the tunnel into the pre dawn darkness of Chicago.

1003
01:24:19,279 --> 01:24:23,600
The city looked peaceful from here, normal people sleeping in

1004
01:24:23,640 --> 01:24:27,279
their homes, unaware of what moved in the spaces between.

1005
01:24:28,920 --> 01:24:34,319
Joe caught my eye. You okay, I just said, the

1006
01:24:34,399 --> 01:24:39,119
vest checked the equipment I didn't know how to use yet, No,

1007
01:24:39,960 --> 01:24:46,479
I said honestly. She nodded. Good. Fear keeps you sharp,

1008
01:24:47,199 --> 01:24:52,039
keeps you alive. The vehicle turned down a side street,

1009
01:24:52,279 --> 01:24:56,319
heading toward a warehouse district where reality was breaking and

1010
01:24:56,439 --> 01:25:01,680
things that shouldn't exist were pushing through, and I understood

1011
01:25:02,319 --> 01:25:06,399
finally what Magnus had been trying to tell me all along.

1012
01:25:08,239 --> 01:25:12,239
You can't walk away from this job, because once you've

1013
01:25:12,279 --> 01:25:17,960
seen what's really out there, it sees you too, and

1014
01:25:18,079 --> 01:25:23,600
it doesn't forget. The vehicle stopped, the team moved out,

1015
01:25:24,079 --> 01:25:27,840
and I followed them into the darkness, toward whatever was

1016
01:25:27,880 --> 01:25:32,880
waiting on the other side of reality. My first call

1017
01:25:33,079 --> 01:25:38,600
with the new unit, first of many, because here the

1018
01:25:38,720 --> 01:25:44,720
calls never stop, and now neither could I