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Speaker 1: Hello, I'm welcome stories all the time. Glad you are here.

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Let's get into it. It's three seven a m. And

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the flicker of the overhead fluorescent makes forty feet of

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empty I'll look like a hallway in a bad dream.

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Sam Greaves is halfway her scanning what's left of box

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cereal when a small, shaking hand grabs his forearm. Missus O'Brien,

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the local insomniac, the forearm rotasary chicken crusader, stares at him,

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face damp with sweat, rosas in dry storage three. She whispers,

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her finger nails dig in a little. Her eyes go

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past him, searching the shadows where produced Kurt's pile up.

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I saw her. She was helping a man back there

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by that locked door. I swear, just now, just a

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minute ago. Don't let him in. Sam has been on

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overnight shift here too many years to panic. He tries,

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gentle Missus O'Brien, dry storage trees locked up for the week.

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Nobody's in there. He smiles, shows his key ring. I'm

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the only one with the key. Even if Roza forgot

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the fire door, she was in there. Miss O'Brien's whisper

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is jumble with breathy, urgent stacatto. I know er Blue

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Vess Harrop. She looked right at me, Sam, Crane's his

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head fighting the urge to yawn. There's no one near

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dry storage. The motion lets stay cold, gray and still.

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He thumbs his radio. Hey, Lauren, anyone covering dry three

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or back there? Just now? Crackle learn from checkouts, sounding irritable. No,

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Sam Storage clear, I'm the only one on this half

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the floor. Sam thanks her quietly. Eyes on, Missus O'Brien.

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I'll check the cameras in a minute, he adds, just

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in case maybe some one walked into her stock. People

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are tired, but no one's allowed in there. Remember o K.

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Missus O'Brien shakes once heart, then dabdos herself. You believe me,

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don't you? Sam. There's something brutal in her request, as

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if she's searching for permission to forget what she saw.

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He leads her back to the main floor. The store

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hums wax tiles, streaked by bare wheels, metal cots with

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bent legs. At the end of Asle thirteen, a family

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is haggling with the temp kecheur about the price of

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the last five pound bags of flya. The end is

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in the air. Mardl's Supermarket will shutter in one week.

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Another discount casualty. Half the shelves are picked over half

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a customer's prow for going out of business gold. Sam

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resumes inventory, but as he is keep darting back to

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the break room, chatter of the quick never shuffles by.

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The tobacco counter. Frustration at the company is thick a

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spilled mop water in every sidelong glance, in every rumor

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about corporate observe his looking in the upstairs office, and

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the constant rumors that maybe, just maybe martyrs when closed.

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After all, he uses the scanners dim Screenlwer's cover, but

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he can feel the knot of Missus O'Brien's worry settle

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under his rops Rose's face in dry storage at this

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ire impossible on every practical level, but Sam isn't sure

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there's anything practical about this last dark week. On Aisle six,

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labels curl away from half empty bottles and empty pegs

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sorry out of stock, sign's blossom light mailed you. Sam

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imagines the store is of Pip Caucus, and for a

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moment he catches the urge to laugh. Everyone is waiting

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staff for the severance regulars for the next rumor ghosts,

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if there are any, for the coming dark routines. All

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they've gone. He checks the tags, keys jangle in for

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a sliver of calm. He recites the roll call under

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his breath. Ros On Produce, Dave Ding Security, mostly Internet Pseudocu,

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Lauren up Front, Tomas Overnight stock out is plugging away

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with headphones and old punk snarling loud enough for everyone

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to hear. Tonight, the energy is strange. Temp workers wander

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their blue vests bright as wounds out back the corpora.

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Guy fent and hovers over the bakeries, gribbling unreadable notes.

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Sam finishes the shelf and knocks twice on the stock

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room door to scold himself for superstition. His scanner pink

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ping's the next sparcode. The break room not long past

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once hosted birthday cupcakes, off key singing and coffee more

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bitter than necessary. Early to night. Sam tries to quick

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pep talk cleans into nostalgia, cracks a joke about how

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in ten years you'll miss this place. Nobody laughs. Rosa

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signds him a half grin, but her eyes dart to

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her phone as of checking escape routs. Dave checks his watch.

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Lauren rolls her eyes into her coffee and lets the

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silence balloon. People whisper about pilfering, a pallid ofish soap,

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vanished Tuesday drink, collers run light, and Sam's learn to

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let it go when check out runs blind or staff,

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a pocket snacks. Nobody is greedy, just grim, tired, and

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desperate for something to call theirs before the doors close

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for good. Sam unlocks the loading dock for the foreign

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broad run and finds the driver asleep, face pressed to

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the wheel. Nobody wants to be here. Everyone needs to

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be somewhere else. In the aisles, the air turns thick

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with effort. Someone pushes a broom in tightening circles, as

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if the grime were resistant to all human hope. A

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radio ab of the frozen foods asle fozzes then returns

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to bland. Late night ballads cotts collect and awkward clustus

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left behind by customers too tired to lift another can.

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The never washed supermarket windows reflect only disappointing ghosts. His

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own locker, a stash of untouched energy gum, a photo

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of his old crew tip to the door rose, the

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smile loudest in the center. Four of quit in a month,

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washing out in silence or vanishing, the shift their departure

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and remark except in snatches of gossip. The night limps

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Sam's body buzzing with fatigue. He takes the lover is

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off a clipboard, routes the tempt team to asle nine

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cereals a warzone. He jokes, they do not laugh, and

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loiters by customer service, listening in case Lauren needs back.

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A woman in huws run down to Felt, asks Sam

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for paper towels, then seems to forget why Laurence nicholas

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tiny palm cross charm has been missing since early May.

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It comes up every night and unacknowledged loss among hundreds,

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tension sharpens every gesture. They all feel the invisible ticking,

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the overhead light wink, a sneeze from the deli becomes

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instantly comic, and the laughter dies too fast to night.

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Sam thinks Missus O'Brien is the only real customer left.

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The rest staff and rigulous cluster in routines hiding in

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plain sight, saying nothing substantial. Sam checks the stores inventory

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dashboard more voids than numbers. The only order to hear

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is the order to choose to keep faking. He leaves

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Lauren in front, hands her a tray of final markdowns,

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and promises a pizza run soon. As the shift ends.

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She rolls her eyes, but not unkindly. Out back, the

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steel of the loading bay is sticky with last summer's heat.

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The echoes off the concrete. Tough and tired. Quintc' door

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alarms sculds himself for another flash of nerves and tells

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himself again that it's all normal, just a long ending

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slower than anyone needs a little beforefore Dave emerges with

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a coffee, holds the door and speaks slow. Rose is

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not back from lunch overtime by now. Sam grunts, tee

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set you see her out front. Dave shrugs, not since

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before break she said she'd grab a smoke up back,

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maybe head upside, but her jackets still in the locker.

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Lauren finishes a presh sheet at the register, then stops confused.

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She holds up a page scribbled with familiar oopinscript. Two

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dollars ninety nine cents, melons, one dollar twenty eight cents bagels,

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The date in the corner reads last night, except Rosa

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didn't work last night. Lauren stares its arm. You see

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her fill this, it's her writing. Sam takes the page,

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smells the faint sugar of the marker. Maybe she started

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last year and forgot it. He's trying to keep the

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moving parts together, trying hard. Lauren blinks. She wasn't here,

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She whispers, voice nodded. The trade glance is uncertain, shivering

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with new ties. In the lethel security office, Sam and

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Dave hover over the monitor. The reaply flickers with cheap,

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uneven lines. The cameras hate the dark and don't like

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last minute improvisation. The queue up, dry, storage tree, dead hallway,

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nothing but crate and mussy shadow. No one for ires

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except a single blurry motion at two nineteen, chop astatic

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before the recorder skips rewind. Sam's face appears, then peels

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off to another aisle. Lauren in pale pink aired about

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a dead register. Two thirteen nothing, two fourteen smudge along

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the bakery window. Dave scrambles drough feeds this one, showing

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the break room. Look rose there. Sanm squints but can't

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find her. The last confirmed shot Rosa two seventeen. A

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m with a broken deli cart rolling past frozen foods.

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After that, no sign. Dave type's rough, broad shouldered fingers.

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Could she have ducked out a fire? I can check

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alarms some size. The dry storage is locked unless she

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has my keys. He touches his belt, weighing something old

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in earth. He's lost count of how many nights he's

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wrangled over time, broken up, small screaming matches, led the

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lost and drunken out the slide indoors. But this is new,

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Sam wonders briefly if assess of Brind's panic means anything

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real at all. He bites his tongue before saying it aloud.

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Venton appears in the doorway, sleeves roll, hair damp with

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nervous sweat. Why isn't the staff checking up to date?

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Mister grieves. Sam blinks, we're a running light. Lauren is

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up front, Rosa would around some staff skip the scanner

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when it's crazy. Fenton's eyes narrow, muff curling into a frown.

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How do you expect us to maintain an oddit trail?

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If staff can disappear from logs, The man's British temporarily

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hide from corporate h hue for oversight, he smells out

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theft with the energy of a terrier and the compassion

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of a random code generator. We'll check, probably just stepped outside.

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He'll check every entry since midnight, every camera angle. If

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someone is walking out with insold products. Nothing's missing. Anyone

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cares about Fenton. Sam Snap's too tired to hide it.

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We'd notice Fenton's expression closes. See that you do. This

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is still a business, He leaves, muttering into his phone. Outside,

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the echo of Temperes is met by the hard complexity

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of nobody knowing anything. Lauren and Dave trade looks the

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store huddles in on itself. All's three through six are gloomer. Now,

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night lights cutting harsh lines. Staff keep moving, but the

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rhythm's wrong. Don't go lowin, Lauren says, half as a joke,

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as if Rose is vanish, and gives them new permission

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to fear. Two IROs crawl by palette, skitter on the

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old tiles. There's always a reason, Sam murmurs to himself,

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eyes tracking every shadow in the mirrored house of the freezer,

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he finds Missus O'Brien again buying discount donuts on credit.

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She's steadier now, hair smooth. Did you check for Rosa?

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I'd know her anywhere. Just some confusion that Sam says gently,

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we're looking sometimes the store well, people move through fast.

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Missus O'Brien offers up a smile. I'll pray for her

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for you too. Don't stay late tonight. Sam nods feels

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the surreal, skin crawling pressure. What if he's talking nonsense

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into a night only he truly knows. He walks the floor,

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heels squeaking, The meek counter closes early, someone leaves a

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warm soda under the simple table. By five, he is

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assembling the staff. Lauren dave a half dozen tempts by

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bakery for an neat hawk's safety check. He means to

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search systematically, but everyone understands this is for Rosa. Lauren's

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voice is low. We should call her phone. I already did,

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straight to Vorsmell. They branched through the aisles. Sam lead

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by example, prying open every break room freezer and shadowed

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nook the staff joke nervous, she probably just quit early,

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walked off. Good timing, really, but the laughter catches. No

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one wants to look like they believe in ghosts. In back,

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Lauren checks the staff lockers. Her purse is here, I

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d still inside. Her voice is rough, faltering as she

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holds up the battered bag. Deal shines his flashlight under

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the break room couch. Just receipts, He mutters on the

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staff table. A stack of abandoned price guns, one blinking

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with a dead battery. A kid from Tim Staffing's side

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up to Sam, Boss. Did you see these boxes near

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the old freezers? Someone move them? Sam Franz pushes open

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the loading door. Light flickers, palette scattered with abandoned stock.

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There goes jokes Rise, skipping the edge of anxiety. Lauren,

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elsewhere rifles through discount packs. She finds a note folded

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inside a price gun tape under the shelf to Lauren,

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in Rose's amiscible hand. Lauren hesitates, then reads it aloud,

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quiet and shrill. Don't trust them. After closing, the date

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is marked with next Sunday, two day ahead impossible. Sam

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thinks Rose's handwriting, but meant for a day that hasn't come.

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He presses the note into his shirt pocket, refusing for

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now to believe it. Fenton sweeps in waving print huts

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inventory discrepancies, entire shipments logged after close product cleaners, snack shows,

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checked in with Rose's ID after her lost chemiciting. He

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dressed the papers in Sam's face, eyes alight with accusation.

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You're covering for her. Are you all in on this?

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Lauren squares her shoulders. We didn't forge anything. She was

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at her station, he saw her. Fenton scuffs the system

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doesn't lie, Sam, weary people do, or techlitched, or he

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stops glancing at the time, stamps one for tonight, one

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for tomorrow, both signed in Roses distinctly be handwriting. This

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is impossible, not unless someone's gone full mission impossible. Fenton

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leans in, explain it, or the police come in. Lauren's

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neck is lost for weeks, appears deep into the serial

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00:12:22,480 --> 00:12:25,840
display wrapped out around afresh, never a worn grocery slip,

231
00:12:25,919 --> 00:12:30,559
Martl's discount dated to more. The air turns, then staff

232
00:12:30,639 --> 00:12:35,120
back away, muttering behind hands. Someone quips maybe Roses a

233
00:12:35,120 --> 00:12:38,000
ghost after all? The joke climbs hard. In the silence.

234
00:12:38,720 --> 00:12:42,120
Sam scripts his palms against his thighs. Let's get lights,

235
00:12:42,200 --> 00:12:46,039
run a real search. The power fluckers for a moment.

236
00:12:46,200 --> 00:12:49,480
The whole floor dies in darkness, firge motos go quiet.

237
00:12:49,480 --> 00:12:53,159
Security lights stutter for five or six frantic seconds. Everyone

238
00:12:53,200 --> 00:12:55,039
is alone in a night that could go on forever.

239
00:12:55,679 --> 00:12:57,840
The store feels so much smaller and so much more

240
00:12:57,919 --> 00:13:01,440
dangerous in blackout. When the lights return, nobody is where

241
00:13:01,440 --> 00:13:04,679
they started. The building is a maze, and everyone wears

242
00:13:04,720 --> 00:13:07,360
the look of the newly lost. Sam heads for the

243
00:13:07,399 --> 00:13:11,159
security room alone now Josse. He boots the monitors sits

244
00:13:11,200 --> 00:13:12,960
hip to hip on a plastic chair, still warm from

245
00:13:13,000 --> 00:13:18,360
Finton's presence. His scrolls he grabs. He watches iris disappear,

246
00:13:18,919 --> 00:13:21,919
blurry figures, always in the corners between shelves, never caught

247
00:13:21,960 --> 00:13:24,759
by more than one camera, A two sixteen on five

248
00:13:24,799 --> 00:13:27,600
different feeds. A shape moves near produce, but never turns

249
00:13:27,600 --> 00:13:30,600
its face toward any lens. He checks staff, check and

250
00:13:30,679 --> 00:13:34,720
looks times. A river running two ways. Sam grieves entry

251
00:13:34,759 --> 00:13:37,480
to break room two fourteen am, the entry to dry

252
00:13:37,480 --> 00:13:42,080
storage two fifteen am, the exit en Slashe except Sam

253
00:13:42,120 --> 00:13:45,240
never went in there. He remembers tracking peanut butter rist

254
00:13:45,240 --> 00:13:49,039
stocking frozen peas. He does not remember opening dry storage.

255
00:13:49,600 --> 00:13:52,879
Dave calls it someone screwing with the locks. The system

256
00:13:52,919 --> 00:13:55,519
can hell, anyone who took that online am in training could,

257
00:13:56,080 --> 00:13:58,840
Lauren accuses the new night shift, her voice breaking, you

258
00:13:58,960 --> 00:14:01,879
said you've covered produce. She hisares Atomas, who jams his

259
00:14:01,879 --> 00:14:06,279
headphones on tider mouttering about viruses and sabotage. Sam clamps

260
00:14:06,279 --> 00:14:09,039
his teeth to stop from shouting. No more blaming, No

261
00:14:09,120 --> 00:14:11,840
more stores than onet eyes on every door. He finds

262
00:14:11,879 --> 00:14:15,039
Fenton in the staff office. The man's face is pasty

263
00:14:15,080 --> 00:14:18,679
with adrenaline handshake as he checks system locks. Fenton levels

264
00:14:18,679 --> 00:14:21,720
a flat look at Sam. The store is haunted, all right,

265
00:14:21,799 --> 00:14:24,240
but by fraud, the old soft who have been hacked before,

266
00:14:24,320 --> 00:14:27,559
but the sleeping enters, fake signatures. This is controlled methodical,

267
00:14:27,639 --> 00:14:30,000
not staff, not with this precision, unless you're all in

268
00:14:30,120 --> 00:14:34,399
on it, or unless you're projecting. Sam says, coolly, sacred tightness.

269
00:14:34,960 --> 00:14:39,000
Corporate spend years covering its own mistakes. Fenton turns, gathering

270
00:14:39,000 --> 00:14:42,720
his laptop. He's sweating beneath his nice jacket. Wellsie, who

271
00:14:42,720 --> 00:14:46,080
gets blamed when the oddit's done, grieves. Sam waits until

272
00:14:46,120 --> 00:14:48,639
the office empties, then presses his eyes into his palms.

273
00:14:49,279 --> 00:14:53,840
He feels watched. He's done staring at shadows. Cursing softly,

274
00:14:53,840 --> 00:14:55,919
he swings his keys off his belt, turning the jagged

275
00:14:56,000 --> 00:14:58,559
edge brass key for dry storage tree. He waits for

276
00:14:58,639 --> 00:15:01,240
Dave at the breakroom, wirless, and together they march into

277
00:15:01,240 --> 00:15:04,240
the store, stitch together. Had The air near dry storage

278
00:15:04,279 --> 00:15:06,480
is close and cold, traces of bleach clinging to metal,

279
00:15:06,519 --> 00:15:10,039
and til the padlock on the door is untouched. Sam

280
00:15:10,039 --> 00:15:12,360
slides the key in, listens for the tiny click, then

281
00:15:12,399 --> 00:15:15,840
swings the door open. Inside the cold is immediate punishing

282
00:15:16,399 --> 00:15:19,080
sack after a stack of unsorted cardboard squeezes the narrow

283
00:15:19,159 --> 00:15:22,360
aisle to almost nothing. The dust is thick, broken only

284
00:15:22,360 --> 00:15:25,320
by a tight recent trail of shoe prints. A radio

285
00:15:25,360 --> 00:15:28,240
staff issue stickered Rosa lies on its side atop a

286
00:15:28,240 --> 00:15:31,759
back of rock salt. Lauren comes over walkie talkie, Sam,

287
00:15:32,000 --> 00:15:34,639
you need to see this. She found her phone wedged

288
00:15:34,639 --> 00:15:37,799
in bakery stock screen open, a voice memo running. She

289
00:15:37,879 --> 00:15:41,080
hadn't recorded anything. She plays it anyway, her own voice

290
00:15:41,080 --> 00:15:43,840
echoing as if a cross water, quietly saying Rosa, you

291
00:15:43,879 --> 00:15:48,000
can be here, not tonight. The beat a second voice

292
00:15:48,120 --> 00:15:51,480
very much Rosa's whispering I never left. Sam frowns at

293
00:15:51,480 --> 00:15:54,519
the receipt crowned into the radio sprin clip, all stamped

294
00:15:54,559 --> 00:15:57,399
for tomorrow. On the price gun's log at least a

295
00:15:57,440 --> 00:16:01,559
dozen new entries item old Star Special Order HASH nineteen

296
00:16:01,600 --> 00:16:06,039
thousand eighty three process by R. Sanchez, Time to thirty

297
00:16:06,080 --> 00:16:09,519
nine a m for SLUSS seven. Today's the fifth, the

298
00:16:09,559 --> 00:16:12,720
seventh of future. No one has yet occupied. He pockets

299
00:16:12,720 --> 00:16:14,840
the receipts, feeling a cave open in the pit of

300
00:16:14,840 --> 00:16:18,279
his stomach. She's not here, Dave says gently now, but

301
00:16:18,399 --> 00:16:22,320
neither man's sounds convinced. Lauren walks in, clutching a trembling

302
00:16:22,360 --> 00:16:25,639
phone on the screen. Her own voice crackles through the recording,

303
00:16:25,840 --> 00:16:28,840
but the background of fuzzy, shifting shadow moves just beyond recognition.

304
00:16:29,360 --> 00:16:32,000
In the security room, the monitor's bubble was static, then

305
00:16:32,080 --> 00:16:35,480
mole clear. Now footage cycles on loop last Monday's empty

306
00:16:35,519 --> 00:16:38,120
eyles fused with Tonight's live feed, but neither show enough

307
00:16:38,120 --> 00:16:41,200
of anything to anchor them in real time. Sam curses

308
00:16:41,960 --> 00:16:45,159
someone's playing with the feats, maybe Rosa herself, maybe Fendin.

309
00:16:45,279 --> 00:16:49,759
Maybe he stops. Unwilling to say something worse, He considers

310
00:16:49,799 --> 00:16:51,600
helen the teen to go home, to lock the doors

311
00:16:51,639 --> 00:16:53,879
burn the schedules, call the police and let the slow

312
00:16:53,919 --> 00:16:56,840
moving horror presidious sword it all out. But he's never

313
00:16:56,919 --> 00:17:00,000
let a shift collapse before. Now the stuff gathering rough,

314
00:17:00,240 --> 00:17:03,320
nervous clusters. Dave checks to loading bay, tom As does rounds,

315
00:17:03,440 --> 00:17:07,000
muttering about digital sabotage. Lauren, eyes wide and haunted, clings

316
00:17:07,000 --> 00:17:10,960
to her recovered phone. A few want to call the police. Others,

317
00:17:11,119 --> 00:17:14,039
trained and frightened, argue that bringing in outsiders means losing

318
00:17:14,079 --> 00:17:16,799
what little control they have left. No one wants their

319
00:17:16,880 --> 00:17:19,720
last week to find biscandal or shame. A temp worker

320
00:17:19,720 --> 00:17:22,079
find a staff vest folded by the trash, price tags

321
00:17:22,079 --> 00:17:26,400
still attach and laughs. The laugh dies quickly, a sudden,

322
00:17:26,480 --> 00:17:31,119
complete blackout. For sixty seconds, nothing but breath. Emergency lights

323
00:17:31,119 --> 00:17:35,119
snap rout, then blue, then white, sickling wildly, Nobody moves

324
00:17:35,119 --> 00:17:38,079
for a terrifying instant Somewhere deep in the dark, the

325
00:17:38,079 --> 00:17:41,119
p A system lutches to life, garbled static, then a voice,

326
00:17:41,160 --> 00:17:44,839
sweet familiar, broken by taped glitches, lost orders, last orders,

327
00:17:44,839 --> 00:17:47,720
Please bring all legends to the front. Sam pushes through

328
00:17:47,759 --> 00:17:51,359
the loading bay, astrobing. Flickering flashlight dances at the edge

329
00:17:51,359 --> 00:17:54,119
of vision. The only light dave at his elbow, wincing,

330
00:17:54,519 --> 00:17:57,359
clutching a wrench down the bread aisle. A path of

331
00:17:57,440 --> 00:18:00,519
stat boxes outlines away toward the stores rear, but the

332
00:18:00,599 --> 00:18:03,720
rout is unfamiliar, almost mays like a turn leads to

333
00:18:03,759 --> 00:18:06,440
double chalves. He doesn't remember stocking, and another spits him

334
00:18:06,440 --> 00:18:08,559
out by the soor de fridge machines, humming just off

335
00:18:08,559 --> 00:18:12,279
the beat. They split up without agreeing to somewhere behind

336
00:18:12,279 --> 00:18:15,720
bulk cleaning. Lauren's radio sudders with her own name, Lauren,

337
00:18:15,759 --> 00:18:19,000
help me, I'm here. Then again from the opposite wall,

338
00:18:19,200 --> 00:18:23,559
Lauren bleed. Sam fumbles in the aisle. A laptop glows

339
00:18:23,559 --> 00:18:26,599
a store should lenovo may be Fenton's, maybe not. The

340
00:18:26,640 --> 00:18:29,680
screen is cracked, but running a mass diagnostic on store inventory,

341
00:18:29,680 --> 00:18:33,200
a camera software batch scans. He catches the real time

342
00:18:33,200 --> 00:18:35,880
footage in the display. His own face looking down shoulders

343
00:18:35,960 --> 00:18:38,640
hunch lends over his shoulder shows the second figure blurred,

344
00:18:38,799 --> 00:18:42,079
moving always a pace behind. He spins nothing but air.

345
00:18:42,759 --> 00:18:45,319
The shelf spits out an old silver paper, clacking loudly.

346
00:18:45,799 --> 00:18:47,920
The chaosk by the deli belches a print out hot

347
00:18:47,920 --> 00:18:51,519
as a wound. New shift cinches are closing shift twelve

348
00:18:51,519 --> 00:18:54,839
slash seven. Manager as grieves the date is after the

349
00:18:54,880 --> 00:18:59,559
scheduled closure, after the lost shift's calculation impossible, Sam says aloud.

350
00:19:00,240 --> 00:19:02,680
Lauren's voice cracks somewhere near by a scream or aply.

351
00:19:03,319 --> 00:19:06,240
The overhead lights come on, then off again, all up

352
00:19:06,279 --> 00:19:08,839
and down the aisles. The doors rattle into their locked positions.

353
00:19:09,480 --> 00:19:11,319
A poll of staff and customers may be ate in

354
00:19:11,359 --> 00:19:14,200
total cluster near customer service face is drawn hollow by

355
00:19:14,200 --> 00:19:17,559
fearing confusion, Lauren pushes forward, clutching a crumpled note nearly

356
00:19:17,599 --> 00:19:20,559
taped to the desk, brutally fresh in Rose's pen. Inventory

357
00:19:20,640 --> 00:19:24,359
never ends. Fenton is gone. No one saw him leave.

358
00:19:24,960 --> 00:19:27,960
Some wants to shout. He cannot name what exactly is

359
00:19:28,000 --> 00:19:30,880
happening at theft break down, A perfect and deliberate manipulation,

360
00:19:30,960 --> 00:19:34,400
a haunting that does much psychological supernatural. But he knows,

361
00:19:34,400 --> 00:19:36,240
deep in the ugly heart of the store, under a

362
00:19:36,319 --> 00:19:38,759
sealing fans turning too slowly, that nothing will end until

363
00:19:38,799 --> 00:19:42,000
some one admits what's really being kept in stock. Outside,

364
00:19:42,079 --> 00:19:46,000
It's still night crush, watchful waiting inside. Nobody trusts the store,

365
00:19:46,720 --> 00:19:49,759
least of all the ones test to close it. Forever inside.

366
00:19:49,799 --> 00:19:52,599
Nobody trusts the store, least of all the ones test

367
00:19:52,599 --> 00:19:55,079
to close it forever. Dave is the first to break

368
00:19:55,079 --> 00:19:57,920
the weird hush. Some one's got to check for Fenton,

369
00:19:58,000 --> 00:20:00,960
he mutters, already angling his flashlight at the customer toilets.

370
00:20:01,559 --> 00:20:03,519
There's a hitch in his stride, like every step might

371
00:20:03,559 --> 00:20:06,160
spring a trap, a temp work, they call him. Eddie

372
00:20:06,160 --> 00:20:08,839
stops pacing, fidgeting with his lanyard until it snaps off

373
00:20:08,880 --> 00:20:11,599
and clatters to the tile. None of this is right,

374
00:20:11,799 --> 00:20:14,759
Eddie says, too loud. I'm not staying. I'll leave my

375
00:20:14,759 --> 00:20:18,039
paycheck to slep me out. Sam tries to speak calmly,

376
00:20:18,160 --> 00:20:20,400
but the words jam lost against the drone from the

377
00:20:20,440 --> 00:20:23,920
ventilators above. He looks once hard through the entry glass.

378
00:20:24,480 --> 00:20:28,680
No headlights outside, no early morning bread truck, only the

379
00:20:28,720 --> 00:20:31,359
muffled glow from abandoned cash registers in the shimmer of

380
00:20:31,359 --> 00:20:35,079
fluescent between frozen blasts. Lauren drips close for phone worthless

381
00:20:35,119 --> 00:20:38,240
in her Palmnow the signal dead. Warehouse doors are locked

382
00:20:38,319 --> 00:20:41,039
up tight, the breakers out again, Sam, and as she shivers,

383
00:20:41,119 --> 00:20:43,960
every time I go back there, it feels smaller. Dave

384
00:20:44,000 --> 00:20:47,319
circles back service corps doors a dead end. I check

385
00:20:47,400 --> 00:20:50,279
the doors. Fentin's probably in the corporate office, calling him

386
00:20:50,279 --> 00:20:53,119
back up security or something. He never said a word,

387
00:20:53,240 --> 00:20:56,279
Lauren says, he was right behind me before the lights.

388
00:20:56,880 --> 00:21:00,200
She trails off, lips pressed in, unwilling to finish the sentences.

389
00:21:00,920 --> 00:21:03,240
A customer, the old guy they all call mister Howard,

390
00:21:03,319 --> 00:21:05,880
who only ever buys, and a soup council lies closer

391
00:21:05,920 --> 00:21:08,079
to the group. He has a bleeding nick above his

392
00:21:08,160 --> 00:21:10,000
left eyebrow, and notice until laur in her is to

393
00:21:10,039 --> 00:21:13,279
dab it with the tissue found the bathroom's lock, he offers,

394
00:21:13,400 --> 00:21:16,960
not quite meeting anyone's gaze. Someone's talking in there, but

395
00:21:17,039 --> 00:21:20,000
it doesn't sound right, not like staff. The air is

396
00:21:20,079 --> 00:21:23,119
drenched in the chemical hus shoved a blackout, seeing Finn's

397
00:21:23,119 --> 00:21:26,480
shadow with delayed power. First blit, second Old Sam he

398
00:21:26,559 --> 00:21:28,839
is is breathing in the whirr of one remaining freezer.

399
00:21:29,400 --> 00:21:31,960
He turns to the others, counting, always counting crew and

400
00:21:31,960 --> 00:21:35,920
customers alike. We stay together, Sam says. He sets his

401
00:21:36,000 --> 00:21:38,559
jaw and tries to push the authority back into his voice.

402
00:21:39,200 --> 00:21:41,839
No running, We search quietly, and we don't get split

403
00:21:41,920 --> 00:21:44,119
up again. We keep our heads, or somebody's going to

404
00:21:44,119 --> 00:21:48,519
get her. Nobody argues, even Eddie, pink faced and seething,

405
00:21:48,640 --> 00:21:50,480
acts away from the exit doors as if they might

406
00:21:50,480 --> 00:21:55,119
come alive. First, Sam continues, Fenton's gone, but his laptop's running.

407
00:21:55,160 --> 00:21:57,359
Will check his office were group, then we look for

408
00:21:57,480 --> 00:21:59,839
ros again. If she is still inside, we'll find her.

409
00:22:00,039 --> 00:22:02,599
If not, we'll get through this shift. Like always. They

410
00:22:02,680 --> 00:22:04,519
fan out in a tight cluster under the dead glow

411
00:22:04,599 --> 00:22:08,200
security lighting. The store has shrunk ailes, folding in colored doors,

412
00:22:08,200 --> 00:22:11,960
sweating in thick and natural fog in prody spins, overflow

413
00:22:12,000 --> 00:22:15,480
with boxed apples that nobody remembers. Stocking, Lawrence snatches up

414
00:22:15,480 --> 00:22:18,519
a plastic wrapped tomato and tosses a mottering old stock.

415
00:22:18,759 --> 00:22:21,440
Like everything here. At the central office, they find the

416
00:22:21,440 --> 00:22:24,599
door barely propped open, with the shoe Fentin's black Oxford,

417
00:22:24,680 --> 00:22:27,920
slicky and inexpensive. The musty air inside is supercharged with

418
00:22:27,960 --> 00:22:30,920
the smell of burnt paper and disinfectant. The desk lamp,

419
00:22:30,920 --> 00:22:33,440
plugged into a dying ups, flickers between life and death.

420
00:22:34,079 --> 00:22:37,880
Sam pushes and first the laptop is still running diagnostics.

421
00:22:37,920 --> 00:22:41,079
A rainbow of tabs stands open inventory software flickering different

422
00:22:41,079 --> 00:22:44,960
colored air states. The screen keeps freezing and refreshing invalid

423
00:22:45,079 --> 00:22:48,480
entry shift not found processing future date confirms slush reject.

424
00:22:49,000 --> 00:22:51,400
Lauren picks up a handful of half burned schedule print

425
00:22:51,400 --> 00:22:54,279
outs from the trash. Each lists a closing shift with

426
00:22:54,400 --> 00:22:57,240
names re arranged in strange ways. Grieves. The slash sanches

427
00:22:57,279 --> 00:23:00,519
are slash Davsey, slash Laurnen, some morked, complete on dates

428
00:23:00,559 --> 00:23:03,119
that haven't passed yet, others pending on dates weeks ago.

429
00:23:03,640 --> 00:23:05,799
The safe is wide open, empty but for a crumple

430
00:23:05,839 --> 00:23:08,440
of paper a torn photo. All staff faces scratched off

431
00:23:08,480 --> 00:23:11,640
with a thick, furious black marker, except when Neurose's staring

432
00:23:11,640 --> 00:23:14,480
out like a survivor. Whope brings in this much planning

433
00:23:14,519 --> 00:23:17,319
for a door that's closing. Dave breedes, thumbing through the

434
00:23:17,359 --> 00:23:19,799
rest of the drawer. It's like he thought Martyals was

435
00:23:19,839 --> 00:23:23,079
going to keep going forever. Sam leans over the looks.

436
00:23:23,799 --> 00:23:25,720
It can't all be fentin. There's too much, no time

437
00:23:25,759 --> 00:23:28,759
for one man. Rose's name is everywhere on the whiteboard

438
00:23:28,839 --> 00:23:31,640
behind the desk. Someone escaled over old sales targets with

439
00:23:31,640 --> 00:23:35,440
a fat black marker. Inventory never ends inventory never ends, inventory,

440
00:23:35,480 --> 00:23:38,559
never until the Marcker died out to gray dust. Lauren's

441
00:23:38,559 --> 00:23:40,799
phone pings just once, and she jolts so hard she

442
00:23:40,839 --> 00:23:44,680
almost drops it. The lock screen pulses a tex no sendy,

443
00:23:44,920 --> 00:23:47,160
just the preview of a single line check the deli.

444
00:23:47,839 --> 00:23:52,319
She holds it up. Sam squints, probably Rose's number, right.

445
00:23:53,079 --> 00:23:56,400
Lauren shakes her head, voice rasping over sudden panic. Her

446
00:23:56,480 --> 00:24:00,480
phone's missing. We tried calling, remember. She stands there, terrified,

447
00:24:00,519 --> 00:24:03,240
thumb pous to open the message. I don't I don't

448
00:24:03,279 --> 00:24:06,519
want to see what it says. Without thinking, Sam reaches

449
00:24:06,519 --> 00:24:08,640
and gently takes back the phone, slipping it into his

450
00:24:08,680 --> 00:24:12,160
own pocket. The group, Lauren, Dave, the two remaining tempstaff,

451
00:24:12,319 --> 00:24:15,160
Mister Howard and Missess O'Bryan, who appears suddenly at the door.

452
00:24:15,200 --> 00:24:18,839
We gather outside the office. Dave chackx's walkie again, nothing

453
00:24:18,880 --> 00:24:22,480
but fusspits out. Sam presses his ear beast, searching for

454
00:24:22,519 --> 00:24:25,559
any anchor to normalcy. All the radios seem to want

455
00:24:25,559 --> 00:24:27,400
to night is to spit up old static and catch

456
00:24:27,559 --> 00:24:30,559
erran snatches of far away voices they can interpret from

457
00:24:30,599 --> 00:24:33,960
down the halt. The piers still hisses softly and then unexpectedly,

458
00:24:34,039 --> 00:24:36,519
a new message emerges, crackly, a woman's voice wavering in

459
00:24:36,559 --> 00:24:39,119
pitch and rhythm, clean a bile three, Rosa. Please report

460
00:24:39,200 --> 00:24:42,559
model's closing forever, please, we need it. The group freezes.

461
00:24:43,279 --> 00:24:47,599
Eddie's eyes widen. It's her, He gasps, that's Rosa, that's

462
00:24:47,599 --> 00:24:51,160
her voice. Lauren clings to Sam's arm. We have to

463
00:24:51,160 --> 00:24:53,720
go to Delhi the message we have two ifi. She's okay.

464
00:24:54,119 --> 00:24:56,319
Her voice is trembling, held together only by the force

465
00:24:56,319 --> 00:24:59,039
of something desperate and raw. In a halting chain, they

466
00:24:59,079 --> 00:25:02,200
said out. Each shadow along the lunoleum seems thick at

467
00:25:02,200 --> 00:25:04,519
every pile of display stop, more like a crude sentinel

468
00:25:05,119 --> 00:25:08,599
near frozen foods. Sem stops. He kneels beside a half

469
00:25:08,680 --> 00:25:10,960
rolled palette of a valley, wipes, and finds another note,

470
00:25:11,079 --> 00:25:15,200
freshly crease, slipped under the plastic crap. Samdoor codes, change tonight,

471
00:25:15,319 --> 00:25:18,039
don't forget where you start. At twelve's last seven, he

472
00:25:18,160 --> 00:25:21,519
runs his finger along the date three days past closure,

473
00:25:21,640 --> 00:25:25,039
lobbed in Rose's hands, shop and urgent. Lauren look at this.

474
00:25:25,720 --> 00:25:28,799
Her face crumples as she reads. Is she warning us?

475
00:25:29,559 --> 00:25:32,680
Dave turns scanning produced with the light we can't reach

476
00:25:32,720 --> 00:25:35,839
the Delhi directly. It blocked. They stack the bread ale. Remember,

477
00:25:36,519 --> 00:25:39,519
Sam bites down a curse. He tries to lead through

478
00:25:39,519 --> 00:25:42,279
health and beauty, but every deeter folds back toward al five,

479
00:25:42,400 --> 00:25:44,519
where the detergent stocks are weirdly and touched and in

480
00:25:44,599 --> 00:25:47,799
touched island in a ravage sea. Missus O'Brien and mister

481
00:25:47,799 --> 00:25:50,279
Howard begin muttering about leaving, but no one makes him

482
00:25:50,279 --> 00:25:53,480
move toward the exit again. Something in the air, electric

483
00:25:53,519 --> 00:25:55,799
and predatory has shaken the false pravado from even the

484
00:25:55,799 --> 00:25:58,519
most bullhead. As they approach the path to Delhi, the

485
00:25:58,519 --> 00:26:02,640
store layout suddenly stops making sense. Racks double back on themselves.

486
00:26:03,359 --> 00:26:06,839
All numbers are missing or swapped. The sail banners overhead

487
00:26:06,839 --> 00:26:08,920
give off a ghostly blue tinge that wasn't there before.

488
00:26:09,559 --> 00:26:13,279
It feels wrong, like they're moving in circles. That's not possible,

489
00:26:13,359 --> 00:26:15,519
Dave whispers, holding his arm out to stop Lauren from

490
00:26:15,519 --> 00:26:18,400
wandering off. You can't that was the frozen food section.

491
00:26:18,599 --> 00:26:21,599
It's just a minute ago. Sam turns to the customer

492
00:26:21,599 --> 00:26:24,759
service podium, looking for anything grounding, but finds only a

493
00:26:24,759 --> 00:26:27,160
black checker terminal and a spool of receipt paper, hissing

494
00:26:27,240 --> 00:26:29,640
out an never ending line of dashes and question marks.

495
00:26:30,319 --> 00:26:33,279
Behind him, Missus O'Brien is reciting something under her breath,

496
00:26:33,400 --> 00:26:37,359
hands casts so tight her knuckles Blanche Rosa, come home, Rosa,

497
00:26:37,480 --> 00:26:41,000
come home, Rosa Come There's a sudden crash from near hardware.

498
00:26:41,559 --> 00:26:45,680
The group lurches together, every muscle drawn taut. Eddie sways violently,

499
00:26:45,759 --> 00:26:48,000
grabbing one of the cheap metal shelf brackets from a binner,

500
00:26:48,000 --> 00:26:50,559
as if fit's a club. Dave Paul sam aside. His

501
00:26:50,680 --> 00:26:53,319
voice is dropped to near whisper. We have to control

502
00:26:53,400 --> 00:26:55,319
this if it's some tech thing like Fenton, said a

503
00:26:55,319 --> 00:26:59,720
corporate pranker. Fenton doesn't have this kind of imagination. Sand

504
00:26:59,759 --> 00:27:03,079
tried to laugh, but it comes out hollow. He makes spreadsheets,

505
00:27:03,160 --> 00:27:06,640
he doesn't make nightmares. Lareen interrupts, pointing at a price

506
00:27:06,720 --> 00:27:10,079
scanner plugged into a random end CUPT flashing weirdly. That's

507
00:27:10,079 --> 00:27:13,519
not supposed to be here. It's running something. Sam unplugs it,

508
00:27:13,599 --> 00:27:16,079
but the screen still closed, blue looping ere a future

509
00:27:16,160 --> 00:27:19,119
date entered as signing shift inventory in progress in progress.

510
00:27:19,799 --> 00:27:22,079
Arren turns it off twice, but it turns itself on again.

511
00:27:22,119 --> 00:27:26,440
After a few seconds, Sam's done playing gentle everyone. Delly

512
00:27:26,519 --> 00:27:31,079
now ignored the aisles as forward. It almost works step

513
00:27:31,119 --> 00:27:33,079
by step wall to walk. They pressed down the left

514
00:27:33,079 --> 00:27:35,160
hand wrap past dairy toward the wide glass of the

515
00:27:35,160 --> 00:27:38,359
deli coolers. Half the hanging meats inside a slip from

516
00:27:38,359 --> 00:27:41,640
their hooks lying in pink edge heaps the entire glass

517
00:27:41,680 --> 00:27:44,039
fogs and wood from the store side is slow gathering

518
00:27:44,079 --> 00:27:47,039
cold that makes everything feel underwater. Day points at the

519
00:27:47,079 --> 00:27:50,359
inside of the glass, where condensation covers the surfaces except

520
00:27:50,359 --> 00:27:53,119
for one brief strip clear as day. Someone's pump print

521
00:27:53,799 --> 00:27:56,559
next to it, ridden backwards as though from within up

522
00:27:56,599 --> 00:27:59,880
to forty three in Sam's pulse jumps high in his throat.

523
00:28:00,640 --> 00:28:03,839
Check Both sides don't touch anything unless unless it no

524
00:28:03,960 --> 00:28:07,759
one finishes. Lauren braver than she knows, knocks in the glass,

525
00:28:08,480 --> 00:28:13,119
brosso her whisper barely registers. Her phone from Sand's pocket

526
00:28:13,200 --> 00:28:16,599
chimes again. The new message is even shorter, two words,

527
00:28:17,279 --> 00:28:20,480
find ledger. He hands it back in Terence, scanning for

528
00:28:20,519 --> 00:28:23,319
anything that qualifies a binder, a tablet, even the battered

529
00:28:23,319 --> 00:28:25,359
spiral note by they use when the system was down

530
00:28:25,440 --> 00:28:28,119
last month. None of the food cases open from the front,

531
00:28:28,200 --> 00:28:30,799
not without a key. Day fetches the spare from the

532
00:28:30,839 --> 00:28:33,240
managers ring. Sam coun't recall giving him the ring, but

533
00:28:33,319 --> 00:28:35,480
there it is in Day's hand, cold and greasy in

534
00:28:35,480 --> 00:28:38,880
the middle. The case crackles as it pops. The cold

535
00:28:38,960 --> 00:28:42,279
is like a punch inside Wage. Between drip trees of

536
00:28:42,319 --> 00:28:44,440
dyed ham and half rotted letters. There is a cheap

537
00:28:44,440 --> 00:28:47,200
blue composition book, soaked at one corner with sailing brown.

538
00:28:47,799 --> 00:28:50,680
Sam yanks it out on the cover. Some one has

539
00:28:50,680 --> 00:28:53,160
scolds over layers and layers of faded numbers, a ledger

540
00:28:53,279 --> 00:28:56,559
dun't file keep here, do not update, and beneath check

541
00:28:56,599 --> 00:29:00,480
to morrow. The cess of Ryan gasps a little, whereas coats.

542
00:29:00,519 --> 00:29:04,920
Those are her codes. Lauren opens to the first dry page. Columns,

543
00:29:04,960 --> 00:29:07,359
item by item, date by date are listed with initials

544
00:29:07,400 --> 00:29:10,640
for every staff member, every shift for months but past

545
00:29:10,720 --> 00:29:14,079
last week. The interest jump backwards, then forwards. There are

546
00:29:14,119 --> 00:29:17,240
ships listed for every person in the group, marked future overpast,

547
00:29:17,359 --> 00:29:20,119
some atimes, the cross midnight, others underlined with the word

548
00:29:20,200 --> 00:29:23,880
failed in red. Sam flips to the final page. There

549
00:29:23,920 --> 00:29:27,839
is a scrawled note jacked from shaking hands Inventory Reconcile

550
00:29:27,880 --> 00:29:30,720
twelve s last seven manager s, G closer R s

551
00:29:30,799 --> 00:29:32,720
and i'fe always knight, final order, do not let them

552
00:29:32,799 --> 00:29:36,559
leave until done. He feels the world slope sideways. Something

553
00:29:36,599 --> 00:29:39,160
in the stores being engineered, a system, a process, a

554
00:29:39,160 --> 00:29:42,519
perfect storm of old guilt and future dread, A distant crash,

555
00:29:42,680 --> 00:29:45,079
and a sputter from the pi Agnrus's voice less clear,

556
00:29:45,160 --> 00:29:49,119
less confident, Choplin looped Martles never closes, bring order, count everything,

557
00:29:49,160 --> 00:29:52,519
start again, Start again. Lawren SAgs against the display, the

558
00:29:52,559 --> 00:29:55,359
notebook slipping from her grip. Dave helps her up as

559
00:29:55,359 --> 00:29:58,160
the other's huddle tighter. Did she do this to herself,

560
00:29:58,880 --> 00:30:01,880
Lauren says? Or did Fenton do it to all of us?

561
00:30:02,440 --> 00:30:06,039
Nobody has a good answer. They stand uncertain, the clatter

562
00:30:06,079 --> 00:30:07,519
of their hearts as loud as a hum of back

563
00:30:07,599 --> 00:30:13,119
up generators. Sam has led them here. There is evidence everywhere, receipts, schedules,

564
00:30:13,200 --> 00:30:17,200
pomp prints, electronicalize, and no path back to anything, remotely saying.

565
00:30:17,759 --> 00:30:19,759
They wait for the power to resolve, for the courage

566
00:30:19,759 --> 00:30:22,240
to name what's happening, all the while, the note in

567
00:30:22,279 --> 00:30:24,279
Sam's pocket burns a hole at his hip. The inventory

568
00:30:24,319 --> 00:30:27,279
never ends, and somewhere in the dark past the dely

569
00:30:27,359 --> 00:30:29,920
case and the crumpled schedules. The shadow of movement slides

570
00:30:29,920 --> 00:30:32,759
behind the racks, just outside the arc of every remaining camera.

571
00:30:33,359 --> 00:30:36,640
The store holds its breath and waits. Laurent's back is

572
00:30:36,680 --> 00:30:39,640
pressed to the cold glass of the deli case. Nobody

573
00:30:39,720 --> 00:30:43,279
speaking now somewhere up by checkouts, the automatic receipt printer

574
00:30:43,359 --> 00:30:46,039
spits out a steady stream, fluttering paper onto the dusty til.

575
00:30:46,680 --> 00:30:50,000
Dave checks his watch, but the face is blank. It ticks,

576
00:30:50,039 --> 00:30:53,119
but the hands don't move. Missus o'brine mumbles softly, her

577
00:30:53,240 --> 00:30:56,400
voice losing the rhythm of even her old prayers. Nobody

578
00:30:56,440 --> 00:30:58,880
is gone and nobody is found, and Sam stands with

579
00:30:59,000 --> 00:31:01,519
Rose's battered leisure in his hands. It's water swallen, spine,

580
00:31:01,519 --> 00:31:04,880
prickly and cold. The doors haven't opened since the last blackout.

581
00:31:05,400 --> 00:31:07,759
The air is sharper, each breath edge with electrical ozon

582
00:31:07,839 --> 00:31:10,920
and freezer chill. Sam tries the main double glass doors,

583
00:31:11,000 --> 00:31:15,400
yanking so hard the entire frame rattles still stuck. Eddie's

584
00:31:15,440 --> 00:31:19,400
knuckles bleed from pounding. All exits locked jammed a block

585
00:31:19,440 --> 00:31:22,799
from the other side. Day's flashlight picks out shoe impressions

586
00:31:22,799 --> 00:31:26,559
on the matte fresh dustless leading nowhere. The store feels

587
00:31:26,559 --> 00:31:29,160
wrong in ways that grow each minute. Ileslap freezer cases

588
00:31:29,160 --> 00:31:31,960
appear in the wrong places overhead, thank you for shopping.

589
00:31:32,000 --> 00:31:34,359
Signs double back on themselves, so he's not sure which

590
00:31:34,400 --> 00:31:38,680
direction leads out. Sam takes mental attendance. Lauren shicken but

591
00:31:38,720 --> 00:31:41,079
with the hand on thes cess O'Brien's arm. Dave glaring

592
00:31:41,079 --> 00:31:43,480
into the returns bin. Eddie's silent except for the whites

593
00:31:43,480 --> 00:31:45,960
of his eyes. Mister Howard clutching his bleeding brow. Two

594
00:31:46,000 --> 00:31:49,119
temp stuff pressed tight near the coin counting machine. Sam's

595
00:31:49,200 --> 00:31:52,160
voice emerges flat. We group up, We move. Dave, get

596
00:31:52,200 --> 00:31:54,960
walkies and check the breaker room. Lauren sort receipts for

597
00:31:55,000 --> 00:31:58,400
anything strange. Eddie Howard stick close, temp crew, get flashlights

598
00:31:58,440 --> 00:32:01,200
if you find them, don't don't split an stand. No

599
00:32:01,279 --> 00:32:04,200
one says a word. Sam tries the radios again for

600
00:32:04,240 --> 00:32:07,920
back up. This screech feed back, then go dead. The

601
00:32:08,000 --> 00:32:10,599
pia crackles once more, with Rose's voice Colm, this time

602
00:32:10,720 --> 00:32:14,359
infuriating the ordinary night shift. Please restock, nightshift, Please restock.

603
00:32:14,920 --> 00:32:17,759
Lauren chokes out a nervous law, her tone verging on hysterical.

604
00:32:18,359 --> 00:32:21,079
She is not even on chift. Sam, She's not here right.

605
00:32:21,920 --> 00:32:24,640
Sam forces out a nod he doesn't feel. He takes

606
00:32:24,640 --> 00:32:27,400
two steps toward the customer service desk, ledger tucked under

607
00:32:27,400 --> 00:32:30,119
his arm, everything in him straining for a decision. No

608
00:32:30,279 --> 00:32:33,680
moscle memory helps. He's lived fourteen years on these tiles,

609
00:32:33,680 --> 00:32:36,880
but the rules keep winding and spoiling behind him. Missus

610
00:32:36,920 --> 00:32:39,880
O'Brien slides into his path, clutching a batter coupon book.

611
00:32:40,519 --> 00:32:43,480
You need to find her, she whispers, Horse, she's waiting.

612
00:32:43,720 --> 00:32:46,400
She wants someone to see. Dave sweeps up with an update.

613
00:32:46,440 --> 00:32:48,960
Breaker rooms blown panel melted down to soot, the smell

614
00:32:49,039 --> 00:32:52,079
bitter and sharp. All battery lights have an iron tops

615
00:32:52,119 --> 00:32:55,200
if that every outside door bolt is few shut, melted,

616
00:32:55,359 --> 00:32:58,559
not just locked. Sam scans through the receipts. Lauren hands

617
00:32:58,559 --> 00:33:01,640
over every third, the carrs a future date, all with

618
00:33:01,759 --> 00:33:05,359
manager s grees closer, Ah Sanchez and in the margins

619
00:33:05,440 --> 00:33:09,000
inventory never ends looping like a name or password. Diff

620
00:33:09,000 --> 00:33:12,599
walks his radio against his stye, Frustrated, nothing's getting through

621
00:33:12,599 --> 00:33:15,519
the static. If there's anyone listening, help, maybe corperate, maybe

622
00:33:15,559 --> 00:33:17,799
the cops. I don't know. It's not going anywhere to night.

623
00:33:18,400 --> 00:33:20,839
He looks to Sam. Joe sat, worry. Do we start

624
00:33:21,559 --> 00:33:24,680
some glances around, gripping the ledger until his knuckles ache.

625
00:33:25,200 --> 00:33:27,960
Fenton's lastnome was his office. If someone's running all this,

626
00:33:28,200 --> 00:33:30,640
that's the hub. If he's pulling strings or roses back,

627
00:33:30,680 --> 00:33:34,440
their rancers are in that office or nowhere. Lauren, despite everything,

628
00:33:34,519 --> 00:33:38,880
finds her center. She touches Sam's elbow. Okay, but you're

629
00:33:38,880 --> 00:33:42,079
not going in alone. They gathered the little cluster, moving

630
00:33:42,119 --> 00:33:44,920
tight as a drop box of cans. Up front, every

631
00:33:44,920 --> 00:33:48,000
shadow feels like a trick. Banners hang lower, their edges

632
00:33:48,039 --> 00:33:51,200
curled up like tons. Through the trembling offices, the airwarp,

633
00:33:51,279 --> 00:33:54,279
storm maps taped to the walls, every one slightly off layout,

634
00:33:54,279 --> 00:33:57,319
out of sink, staff names layered and crossed at near

635
00:33:57,359 --> 00:33:59,720
Fenton's door. De paulls He's nowhere to be seen and

636
00:33:59,759 --> 00:34:01,519
is Shah. She was still jammed under the frame, but

637
00:34:01,559 --> 00:34:04,000
the GAP's now barely enough to slip a hand inside

638
00:34:04,519 --> 00:34:08,840
Sam's shoulders in ignoring the electric prickle on his skin inside.

639
00:34:09,079 --> 00:34:11,440
Monitors flicker at the feed show every aisle at once

640
00:34:11,559 --> 00:34:15,800
olaid with looping static feedback blip blipping hastily open safegates

641
00:34:15,800 --> 00:34:18,159
wide and empty. The air is thick with the old

642
00:34:18,159 --> 00:34:20,039
copper tang of blood, though there is no sign of

643
00:34:20,079 --> 00:34:22,800
a struggle. Lawrence sifts drew a disc pile, coming up

644
00:34:22,840 --> 00:34:24,800
with another hand at a note dated two days from now,

645
00:34:24,920 --> 00:34:27,400
Rose's wild looping script. Don't let them clock out tonight.

646
00:34:27,960 --> 00:34:31,440
Dave points at the monitors. Watch the back aisle movement.

647
00:34:32,000 --> 00:34:35,039
They see themselves, tiny pixel wash walking through the frozen

648
00:34:35,039 --> 00:34:37,639
food section. Lom repeat, always three steps ahead of where

649
00:34:37,639 --> 00:34:40,440
they actually are. But in the back corner dry storage

650
00:34:40,440 --> 00:34:43,599
three of fagus stands half in shatter. Impossible to tell

651
00:34:43,840 --> 00:34:47,320
Brosa or just the bad pixels. Whatever it is, it's

652
00:34:47,360 --> 00:34:51,039
waving them forward. Sam teeth clamped, moves to the main system.

653
00:34:51,079 --> 00:34:54,760
They'd only take Fenton. Ever trusted, He cycles through error messages.

654
00:34:55,400 --> 00:34:57,800
Every third pop up asks for manager confirmation of ride

655
00:34:57,840 --> 00:35:01,320
cycle closing shift twelve slash seven. Try the Admirnt Cogieu's

656
00:35:01,360 --> 00:35:06,000
for holiday payroll, lawn whispers, try anything. Sam keys it

657
00:35:06,039 --> 00:35:10,039
in and Martiello las twenty ten. Nothing a new screen,

658
00:35:10,119 --> 00:35:13,760
shift and complete a sign closer Lis staff present first

659
00:35:13,760 --> 00:35:15,960
flit second. Sam swears a screen tights on its own,

660
00:35:16,000 --> 00:35:20,880
listing Dave lorn Sam Rosa Fenden. He stabs ye see twice.

661
00:35:21,519 --> 00:35:24,119
The screen goes blank, then flares into a blinding sheet

662
00:35:24,159 --> 00:35:27,800
of white. A tone or prompt inventory never ends. Below it,

663
00:35:27,880 --> 00:35:30,280
a tiny red note flickers up. Come to the dely isle.

664
00:35:30,360 --> 00:35:34,159
No one leaves without reconcile. Dave crabs Sam's shoulder. You

665
00:35:34,239 --> 00:35:37,440
see that, right? You seeing this? I'm seeing it, Sam

666
00:35:37,440 --> 00:35:41,360
says he can hardly breathe. I wish I wasn't. A

667
00:35:41,400 --> 00:35:44,639
scraping noise in the hall behind the group wheels every

668
00:35:44,679 --> 00:35:48,000
neck craned. Rose's voice, clear as a bell, now drifts

669
00:35:48,000 --> 00:35:50,800
out of the PI. A final sweet pile twelve. Eddie

670
00:35:50,800 --> 00:35:54,400
passed his limits, sprints away down the bread isle. Sam shouts,

671
00:35:54,639 --> 00:35:57,920
reaching too late, but Eddie vanishes between Raxin doesn't answer it.

672
00:35:57,960 --> 00:36:02,159
When cold the res squeeze together, helpless, Lauren's hands are

673
00:36:02,159 --> 00:36:04,960
shaking the ledger, the ledger. We have to finish it,

674
00:36:05,000 --> 00:36:07,559
she left instructions final order. That's which she is waiting

675
00:36:07,559 --> 00:36:10,639
for Sam. Sam's body moves on its own, crowding with

676
00:36:10,679 --> 00:36:12,840
a group back toward the heart of the store. The

677
00:36:12,880 --> 00:36:15,559
air gets colder and wetter by the time they hit

678
00:36:15,599 --> 00:36:18,440
the deli, the floor shopping streaked with black icy fluid.

679
00:36:19,119 --> 00:36:22,199
Inside the Delhi cases a mountain of receipts, schedules, sticky notes,

680
00:36:22,239 --> 00:36:25,480
all in Moses's hand, all marked with future dates, present dates,

681
00:36:25,679 --> 00:36:29,480
name cycled and scratched out, including Sam's lorens and uneasily

682
00:36:29,559 --> 00:36:32,599
his own. A low, grinding grown thunders from the darkness

683
00:36:32,639 --> 00:36:36,760
behind the meat counter. Misses O'Brien huddles close, whispering, are

684
00:36:36,760 --> 00:36:38,920
we supposed to sign out? Is that what she wants?

685
00:36:39,599 --> 00:36:41,960
The radio on the counterburst a life, no hands touching

686
00:36:41,960 --> 00:36:46,199
it now, screaming static, then resolving into a single clear phrase, inventory, reconcile,

687
00:36:46,280 --> 00:36:49,000
one item left. Sam stares into the glim of the

688
00:36:49,039 --> 00:36:51,320
back kitchen, knowing some other the last item is not

689
00:36:51,440 --> 00:36:54,880
a can or cut, it's them. Dave tries the breaker again,

690
00:36:55,000 --> 00:36:58,599
finds every switch fused. Lauren passes the ledger, hands flicking

691
00:36:58,599 --> 00:37:02,400
over wet sticky notes, muttering names and dates. Sam listens

692
00:37:02,440 --> 00:37:05,760
as Laurence starts to count people quietly by hand. Six

693
00:37:05,800 --> 00:37:10,599
staff enter tonight, one rosa disappeared, now when molready gone.

694
00:37:11,039 --> 00:37:13,800
If this is inventory, it's a thinning out, not a count.

695
00:37:14,400 --> 00:37:16,400
A sudden rush of cold air whips through the Delhi.

696
00:37:17,039 --> 00:37:20,400
Lauren yells someone's behind the meat oven. Sam grabs cast

697
00:37:20,400 --> 00:37:23,880
iron bread pan and leads boots, sloshing water. He rounds

698
00:37:23,880 --> 00:37:29,119
the edge, swinging wildly. Nothing, no one except another walky

699
00:37:29,159 --> 00:37:31,719
talkie screen light. The last ten log inches of reading

700
00:37:31,880 --> 00:37:36,039
entry surenches are the times all impossibly future or past? Dave,

701
00:37:36,119 --> 00:37:39,039
stripping off his vest infistration, discovers a staff line nerd

702
00:37:39,079 --> 00:37:41,679
inside his breast pocket to name tape peeled off, replaced

703
00:37:41,679 --> 00:37:45,039
with vows. Here the handwriting is not his, nor Sam's,

704
00:37:45,079 --> 00:37:48,920
nor lawns. Behind the bread slicer, a phone buzzes, fentans,

705
00:37:49,599 --> 00:37:52,880
its screen pulses, recording a live video, bling ceiling tile,

706
00:37:53,079 --> 00:37:55,760
then shifting, then snapping frames that appear to be swarming

707
00:37:55,760 --> 00:37:58,079
with ghostly vest clad workers walking aisles in this match

708
00:37:58,159 --> 00:38:01,199
time flickering in and out of sight. Sam pulls open

709
00:38:01,239 --> 00:38:05,079
the dell's side exit, expecting a wall. Instead a narrow

710
00:38:05,119 --> 00:38:07,280
and finished service wholly gos away in the wrong direction,

711
00:38:07,480 --> 00:38:10,000
ending in a scratch up fire door on the door

712
00:38:10,079 --> 00:38:12,719
written in pencil, not an exit. End of shift. Only

713
00:38:13,280 --> 00:38:16,320
a rising panic overtakes Lauren. This a last here every

714
00:38:16,360 --> 00:38:18,800
chef every staff in this section for final close out

715
00:38:19,119 --> 00:38:21,840
names us all of us, as if she holds it

716
00:38:21,920 --> 00:38:24,639
up her hand starters, as if we already did this

717
00:38:24,800 --> 00:38:28,400
months ago. A sudden, violent shudder sets the overheads quivering.

718
00:38:28,960 --> 00:38:31,599
The lights urge, lights pop, and then the pier launches

719
00:38:31,639 --> 00:38:34,199
again with overlapping busses. Now Rosa and Fenton fighting to

720
00:38:34,280 --> 00:38:36,719
draw each other out their arguments, mangling their regular closing

721
00:38:36,760 --> 00:38:39,800
announcements into a chat counted all signed the sheets, don't leave,

722
00:38:39,880 --> 00:38:43,079
don't go, don't Dave shoves a meek case off its moorings,

723
00:38:43,079 --> 00:38:45,960
searching for the source of the voices. Sam feels his

724
00:38:45,960 --> 00:38:48,239
stomach flip as the walls of daily flex bending, so

725
00:38:48,320 --> 00:38:52,039
the ceiling cracks in the sound intensifies. Lauren grabs the ledger,

726
00:38:52,079 --> 00:38:54,440
flipping to black pages, jabbing her finger at the last

727
00:38:54,480 --> 00:38:58,000
open date, post closing review, final audit manager as grieves

728
00:38:58,000 --> 00:39:02,400
closer are sanches the line beneath his blank in the corner,

729
00:39:02,480 --> 00:39:05,159
mister Howard is trembling, blood running freely from his eyebrow.

730
00:39:05,239 --> 00:39:09,000
Now it was never supposed to end, he whispers. Sam

731
00:39:09,039 --> 00:39:12,920
clamps the ledger shut it's pulping under his fist. Check

732
00:39:12,920 --> 00:39:16,119
the staff room, He decides voice horse, if there's anything

733
00:39:16,199 --> 00:39:18,880
left to find, it's there. Dave kicks open the swinging

734
00:39:18,880 --> 00:39:21,760
staff door, his temper gum bridle. The temp crew, however,

735
00:39:21,880 --> 00:39:24,559
dizzy from the cold and damp in terror, they push

736
00:39:24,599 --> 00:39:27,119
into the stalk quite light of the staff room. Every

737
00:39:27,159 --> 00:39:30,679
locker is a jar inside Sam's his jacket, but also

738
00:39:30,679 --> 00:39:33,039
a fresh stack of schedules, all printed for dates in

739
00:39:33,039 --> 00:39:35,880
the coming weeks, a grand reopening. Martyal's staff lists attach.

740
00:39:36,519 --> 00:39:40,639
Rose's name is circled and underneath his. Lauren's own locker

741
00:39:40,679 --> 00:39:43,159
is empty, but for her missing necklace, now wound tight

742
00:39:43,159 --> 00:39:45,320
with a new badge never issued that proclaims her cash

743
00:39:45,360 --> 00:39:49,360
coordinator Mardel's two point zero. Missus O'Brien, clutching her purse,

744
00:39:49,400 --> 00:39:52,719
begins to weep, Let us out, she blurts, voice high

745
00:39:52,719 --> 00:39:55,440
in paper. The main monitor in the corner snaps on

746
00:39:55,679 --> 00:39:57,719
live feets strobing loop in a stuff huddle at night,

747
00:39:58,000 --> 00:40:00,480
faces each by sleeplessness and fear over laid with gray

748
00:40:00,519 --> 00:40:04,119
scale static. Every ten seconds, the group assolves, replaced by

749
00:40:04,119 --> 00:40:07,039
a single figure sweeping the floor vest Blaird, always from behind,

750
00:40:07,199 --> 00:40:11,679
Sometimes Rose's sighs, sometimes not Lauren sits breeding hard, and

751
00:40:11,719 --> 00:40:14,760
buries her face in her hands. I keep getting texts.

752
00:40:14,800 --> 00:40:18,280
She breaths every night since closure week started. Leave something

753
00:40:18,280 --> 00:40:20,480
behind where no one will think to look. If she's alive,

754
00:40:20,599 --> 00:40:23,079
Why is she doing this to us? Dave Neil's knees

755
00:40:23,119 --> 00:40:27,239
cracking with fatigue. She blew the whistle on that temporial thing. Remember,

756
00:40:27,360 --> 00:40:29,960
got herself demoted and iced out this. If it's revenge,

757
00:40:30,079 --> 00:40:33,719
it's too much. If it's not, he trails off, staring

758
00:40:33,760 --> 00:40:36,760
into the humming fan above the lockers. Sam pulls at

759
00:40:36,800 --> 00:40:39,320
the next drawer finds a flickering old bockerhard scanner left

760
00:40:39,360 --> 00:40:41,920
on its record showing fresh entries every hour for Daisy.

761
00:40:41,920 --> 00:40:44,320
Inventory added two fourteen a M two fifteen a M

762
00:40:44,400 --> 00:40:47,360
two sixteen a M. Closer are as half a dozen times,

763
00:40:47,400 --> 00:40:50,320
over and over. Laurence DoD is the scheduled notes or

764
00:40:50,400 --> 00:40:53,159
voice settling. If someone wanted to haunt us, they'd have

765
00:40:53,199 --> 00:40:57,079
the whole system inventory schedules, the our lives. Dave punches

766
00:40:57,079 --> 00:41:00,400
the locker, making his hand bleed. What do we do? Sam?

767
00:41:00,440 --> 00:41:03,000
Finish her book or torch the place and hope it ends.

768
00:41:03,800 --> 00:41:06,400
Sam opens his mouth to answer a ringing clatter interrupts

769
00:41:06,400 --> 00:41:09,280
as a heavy object's launds the main staff door. On

770
00:41:09,320 --> 00:41:11,199
the other side, a face is pressed to the wire.

771
00:41:11,199 --> 00:41:14,480
Gust pail iesering the dark croser or something close staring

772
00:41:14,519 --> 00:41:17,519
out from between smears of blood and grease. She mouths

773
00:41:17,559 --> 00:41:22,440
something wordless. Sam can't move. The world stops. The pa

774
00:41:22,480 --> 00:41:25,920
whales behind them. Night Manager, Please proceed, reconcile or remain.

775
00:41:26,559 --> 00:41:29,679
Lauren cracks rushing to the door. Sam tries to hold

776
00:41:29,679 --> 00:41:32,000
her back. No force on earth will keep her. She

777
00:41:32,119 --> 00:41:35,840
tugs the latch. The hallway beyond is empty, just a

778
00:41:35,840 --> 00:41:38,440
trail of dark liquid leading down past the frozen foods.

779
00:41:39,079 --> 00:41:42,000
Deve picks up a steel mop pandle this ends now.

780
00:41:42,159 --> 00:41:44,199
Dell is a dead end. Staff room loops us. We

781
00:41:44,280 --> 00:41:47,639
check Fentin's last. They charge out, drawn by adrenaline, an

782
00:41:47,639 --> 00:41:50,559
animal panic down wrong. Engele dials past freezer cases with

783
00:41:50,599 --> 00:41:53,760
doors missing, through endless stacks of old bread. The drowning

784
00:41:53,800 --> 00:41:56,360
feedback in the ear grows A hundred off kilter intero

785
00:41:56,360 --> 00:41:59,360
comes bent into a single tone. Near the office. The

786
00:41:59,360 --> 00:42:02,800
smell grows west bleach, a molden something metallic, an empty

787
00:42:02,880 --> 00:42:05,480
suit jacket draped over a chair. Fentins marked with a

788
00:42:05,519 --> 00:42:10,039
giant yellow sticker, void shift, another sheet, nearly printed, inventory completed,

789
00:42:10,079 --> 00:42:13,800
staff present zero. Lauren shoves it aside, scanning the remaining

790
00:42:13,840 --> 00:42:17,639
computer on the desktop. Audiologus hundreds. Each named is a

791
00:42:17,639 --> 00:42:20,840
debate between e Rosss and Peter Fentin. She plays the

792
00:42:20,880 --> 00:42:24,880
most recent. Their voice is spiral, fragmented. Rosa defending, closing

793
00:42:24,880 --> 00:42:27,000
out in Peter, pleading no, don't make this a story.

794
00:42:27,039 --> 00:42:29,519
They can never leave the office. Printer spits out a

795
00:42:29,559 --> 00:42:33,199
final dirty page, inventory zero, staff zero, farewell shift, mortals

796
00:42:33,239 --> 00:42:36,679
is always here. Dave curses. The PA launch is a

797
00:42:36,719 --> 00:42:41,119
final chant, come to Delhi and transmission. Lauren reaches for Sam.

798
00:42:41,400 --> 00:42:43,880
He gathers a remaining staff, hurting them tired. Shock to

799
00:42:43,920 --> 00:42:46,679
the Delhi one more time. The room feels colder and

800
00:42:46,719 --> 00:42:50,800
sharper than ever. Emergency floods, paint warp shadows on the linoleum,

801
00:42:51,039 --> 00:42:53,800
the glass, deli cases pried wider, overflowing. The scraps in

802
00:42:53,880 --> 00:42:58,400
Rosa's hand, names, times, warnings, lists of losses, future dates

803
00:42:58,480 --> 00:43:01,079
well up in ghostly columns, closing shifts for weeks ahead,

804
00:43:01,199 --> 00:43:05,079
staff no longer alive, Manager code scrambled Lauren's hands dick

805
00:43:05,119 --> 00:43:08,519
feverishly through the slips. It's all here, all our losses,

806
00:43:08,559 --> 00:43:12,000
stolen things, missing, Badge's memories, with a stock We're what's left.

807
00:43:12,639 --> 00:43:14,639
The group watches as the voices on the PA over

808
00:43:14,719 --> 00:43:18,360
lapanger regret, beg for an end, count it, sign it, Bristock,

809
00:43:18,480 --> 00:43:22,840
don't close, Rosa pleads. Fenton's voice is frayed, scared, laid behind.

810
00:43:23,039 --> 00:43:24,920
Let it go, Rosa. He can run a store with

811
00:43:24,960 --> 00:43:29,119
nobody left. Dave, grouping Sam's sleeve, hisses they can't both

812
00:43:29,159 --> 00:43:31,599
be running this. Fendon's dead weight, and Rosa, if she's

813
00:43:31,639 --> 00:43:34,119
even real, wants us to finish her list or never leave.

814
00:43:34,760 --> 00:43:38,719
The Dali lights die one by one. Sam desperate jams

815
00:43:38,760 --> 00:43:41,400
the ledge of flat What if this is it? If

816
00:43:41,400 --> 00:43:44,840
we clock out somehow somewhere, maybe this all ends. Lauren

817
00:43:44,880 --> 00:43:47,679
finds a time clock card marked voided var s still

818
00:43:47,719 --> 00:43:51,000
warm to the touch. She slaps it on the ledger, sobbing.

819
00:43:51,599 --> 00:43:54,599
If she want a closure, this would do it. A sudden,

820
00:43:54,639 --> 00:43:57,920
hissing pulserge is through the PA. All screens go white,

821
00:43:58,519 --> 00:44:01,039
The store shakes, freeze a cycle down, the living sound

822
00:44:01,039 --> 00:44:04,599
of everything stopping. The glass Deli case is lit from inside,

823
00:44:04,599 --> 00:44:08,159
blinding blue white something. Someone moves behind the fogged glass,

824
00:44:08,159 --> 00:44:11,440
pressing upon to the interior surface, matching every staff member

825
00:44:11,480 --> 00:44:14,400
finger for finger. They've grabs the fire axe and swings

826
00:44:14,400 --> 00:44:18,119
splinter in plastic ice and glass. The deli case erupts

827
00:44:18,119 --> 00:44:20,840
in a flurry of re seats and schedules. In the center,

828
00:44:21,119 --> 00:44:23,880
Ros's staff line out a notebook page showing twelve slash

829
00:44:23,880 --> 00:44:27,199
seven end shift, all counted on the wall. Fenton's laptop

830
00:44:27,239 --> 00:44:30,000
project still images a staff group, then a slow live feed.

831
00:44:30,079 --> 00:44:33,320
A group in the Delhi overlaid. Another figure pieces in

832
00:44:33,360 --> 00:44:36,840
a background, pausing behind sound, then fading. Laurence hobs in

833
00:44:36,880 --> 00:44:39,480
the glare, clutching the linard, voice torn raw. She wants

834
00:44:39,559 --> 00:44:42,280
us to count her, sign her out, that's all. Sam

835
00:44:42,400 --> 00:44:45,159
rips a pen through the final page, reconciled, all present,

836
00:44:45,239 --> 00:44:48,760
and the lights blast back in a rolling wave. Pa

837
00:44:48,880 --> 00:44:52,320
howls and dies. Security shutters begin to cough upward, slow

838
00:44:52,320 --> 00:44:55,559
and uneven. In the hush, Dave stands tall, covering the

839
00:44:55,559 --> 00:44:58,760
gabble of customers and staff. We finished the last walk

840
00:44:58,760 --> 00:45:02,079
and we're done. No more ghosts, no moralists. Lauren lays

841
00:45:02,079 --> 00:45:04,440
the ledger on the plastic deli tray, pushes the line

842
00:45:04,440 --> 00:45:08,519
out to the front. Everyone touches the page. Missus O'Brien

843
00:45:08,599 --> 00:45:11,360
Bleak wipes her eyes, moaning she let us go. The

844
00:45:11,400 --> 00:45:13,679
storer is empty. The looping sounds, the black colors, the

845
00:45:13,719 --> 00:45:16,519
rong aisles all fade. Only the debris and the ledger

846
00:45:16,599 --> 00:45:20,679
remain pulped and cold atop the broken glass. Emergency buzzers

847
00:45:20,679 --> 00:45:23,639
are up from above. Street lights spangle the dark lot.

848
00:45:24,400 --> 00:45:27,639
The entry doors finally grind open, slow as sunrise. Some

849
00:45:27,760 --> 00:45:31,519
stuff run, some cannot. They simply sag and shiver, eyes

850
00:45:31,559 --> 00:45:35,239
wide as windows. Sam hang on Lauren's shoulder, watches Dave

851
00:45:35,320 --> 00:45:38,239
Neil gasping the way drowning men gas, eyes brimming with tears.

852
00:45:38,880 --> 00:45:41,760
One by one they slip out, cradling was left of themselves,

853
00:45:41,800 --> 00:45:44,079
pushing past the coal. The puppy notes the drunk case

854
00:45:44,079 --> 00:45:47,719
and the fissing fails ganners outside. The police finds nothing

855
00:45:47,719 --> 00:45:51,960
but water, glass and chaos. No proof, no bodices, no explanation. Sam,

856
00:45:52,119 --> 00:45:53,840
Lauren and Dave are care for by E and T.

857
00:45:54,519 --> 00:45:57,519
The light and mottos flicker, then fall loutterly silent. The

858
00:45:57,599 --> 00:46:01,559
next morning, the police statement is filed, Corporate refuses comment,

859
00:46:02,320 --> 00:46:04,920
staff dispers most, vowing never to speak of the night again.

860
00:46:05,519 --> 00:46:09,440
Sam cannot sleep for days, hunting olf records, following names online,

861
00:46:09,519 --> 00:46:12,360
searching for any real trace. When the call comes, a

862
00:46:12,360 --> 00:46:15,559
new supermarket opening manager's name already printed on the schedule,

863
00:46:15,679 --> 00:46:17,840
half the old staff pre approved. He cannot shake the

864
00:46:17,880 --> 00:46:21,119
sensation that Rose Its signed his name there. Final action

865
00:46:21,280 --> 00:46:23,760
on his last walk through models. Three days before demolition,

866
00:46:23,840 --> 00:46:27,719
Sam poleses by his locker inside a freshly minted lanyard

867
00:46:27,880 --> 00:46:31,920
night manager Mardell's grand reopening seven slash twelve post it

868
00:46:32,000 --> 00:46:34,199
notes lined the back wall, every one in Rose's hand

869
00:46:34,320 --> 00:46:37,519
inventory never ends twelve slast seven. He peels the lineard

870
00:46:37,519 --> 00:46:39,800
from its hook, closes the locker with a shaking breath,

871
00:46:40,039 --> 00:46:44,159
and walks outside, never once looking back. Sunrise catches the

872
00:46:44,159 --> 00:46:47,280
store's dark windows. For a moment, some thinks he sees

873
00:46:47,280 --> 00:46:50,119
someone moving one last time behind the glass, arranging boxes

874
00:46:50,199 --> 00:46:52,159
just out of sight, and then he turns toward the

875
00:46:52,159 --> 00:46:56,039
parking lot, leaving the store finally and completely behind. Behind him,

876
00:46:56,039 --> 00:46:58,440
the parking lot is already bright with the morning's first light,

877
00:46:58,519 --> 00:47:01,280
dabbling the puddles left by the fire hoses, illuminating the

878
00:47:01,280 --> 00:47:03,920
old signages. If it had never flickered neumbly through fourteen

879
00:47:04,000 --> 00:47:07,519
years of damp night. Sam holds the line a tight feeling,

880
00:47:07,519 --> 00:47:10,000
the ridged edge of the id badge bite into his palm.

881
00:47:10,239 --> 00:47:13,400
He can still smell martle stale bread fruit, wrought chemical tang,

882
00:47:13,480 --> 00:47:15,400
rolling out of the doorway with every breath of wind,

883
00:47:15,519 --> 00:47:18,760
as if the store itself refused surrender. There are voices

884
00:47:18,960 --> 00:47:21,960
muffled behind the glass. Police still sweep the aisles with maglights,

885
00:47:22,079 --> 00:47:24,440
but they walk with normal feet, now, boots landing in

886
00:47:24,480 --> 00:47:28,079
real space, no longer slip insideways downe haunted geometry. They

887
00:47:28,159 --> 00:47:30,760
treat him, and Lauren and Dave too, with that careful,

888
00:47:30,760 --> 00:47:33,199
officious blankness that says they've already written the story in

889
00:47:33,199 --> 00:47:36,960
their heads. System failures stress may be carbon monoxide, almost

890
00:47:36,960 --> 00:47:39,039
certainly a break down hastened by the pressure to close.

891
00:47:39,760 --> 00:47:43,119
No mention of ledge, as nobody remembers filling or strange schedules,

892
00:47:43,320 --> 00:47:45,320
or staff who vanish and tone up again in line

893
00:47:45,360 --> 00:47:48,599
for final pay. Lauren sits on the curb, knees pull

894
00:47:48,639 --> 00:47:51,320
to her chest, mascar dried in thin frids under her eyes.

895
00:47:51,960 --> 00:47:54,639
She watches a paramedic rap Dave's knuckles flinching with each

896
00:47:54,639 --> 00:47:57,760
stab of hot antiseptic. Did you ever did you actually

897
00:47:57,800 --> 00:48:01,119
see her? Lauren asks, not move her head, barely enough

898
00:48:01,159 --> 00:48:04,480
voice to be called a whisper. I saw her, Dave mutters, then,

899
00:48:04,559 --> 00:48:07,440
as where I saw something? Shoes everywhere and nowhere. I

900
00:48:07,480 --> 00:48:10,239
don't remember opening that freezer, don't remember half the night.

901
00:48:10,719 --> 00:48:13,639
He drops his wrist, flexing the thick bandage they've given him.

902
00:48:13,960 --> 00:48:15,840
Sam looks from one to the other and feels a weird,

903
00:48:15,920 --> 00:48:18,519
floating clarity, the way he sometimes did driving home after

904
00:48:18,519 --> 00:48:21,199
a seventy I a week, A sense that the world

905
00:48:21,239 --> 00:48:23,840
shape is warm, and everything outside this parking lot can't

906
00:48:23,840 --> 00:48:26,159
possibly connect to what happened to the circles and lists

907
00:48:26,159 --> 00:48:28,360
that still chase each other across the inside of his skull.

908
00:48:28,920 --> 00:48:31,559
The temp crew keep their hoods up, exchanging no names,

909
00:48:31,719 --> 00:48:35,159
waiting solidly for their rides. Missus o'brinds it's further off,

910
00:48:35,159 --> 00:48:37,960
still clasping her kopen book to her chest, rocking and humming.

911
00:48:38,440 --> 00:48:40,800
Mister Howard accepts a juice box from an EMT with

912
00:48:40,840 --> 00:48:43,199
the blank gratitude of a man who's just exited a war.

913
00:48:43,840 --> 00:48:46,199
A detective with the clipboard stands of o Sam, waiting

914
00:48:46,239 --> 00:48:49,280
for him to finish filling the company statement. You're saying,

915
00:48:49,320 --> 00:48:52,039
no sign of theft, no bodily injuries after the blackout,

916
00:48:52,079 --> 00:48:55,320
just confusion and that inventory discrepancies stretching back how long?

917
00:48:56,000 --> 00:48:59,280
Sam shrugs, then hands the clipboard back. It's all in

918
00:48:59,320 --> 00:49:00,679
the system, if if you can pull it out of

919
00:49:00,679 --> 00:49:05,039
those old terminals, he forces, a quick, awkward smile. Numbers

920
00:49:05,039 --> 00:49:09,039
always add up right. The detective accepts this or gives up, caring.

921
00:49:09,639 --> 00:49:12,239
She has other stores to check, other mornings to finish.

922
00:49:12,679 --> 00:49:15,000
Behind her, the rumble of the model server truch echoes

923
00:49:15,039 --> 00:49:18,440
and fades by Niun Corporate has dispatched a van full

924
00:49:18,480 --> 00:49:21,360
of lockwooxes and tops. The windows go gray and a

925
00:49:21,480 --> 00:49:23,960
new paint, as if erasing the inside by darkening the

926
00:49:23,960 --> 00:49:26,960
outer shell. A handful of reporters arrive, take a few

927
00:49:26,960 --> 00:49:29,719
sullen furtos, and leave. When it becomes clear nobody will

928
00:49:29,760 --> 00:49:32,920
talk about what really happened last night, Lauren rises to

929
00:49:32,920 --> 00:49:35,400
her feet at last, brushing off her palm's shoulders hunch

930
00:49:35,480 --> 00:49:39,880
too close together. I'm sorry, she says, not to anyone specific,

931
00:49:40,159 --> 00:49:43,559
maybe not even allowed. Then she walks away, back toward

932
00:49:43,599 --> 00:49:46,840
the bus stop. Not looking over her shoulder. Sam watches

933
00:49:46,880 --> 00:49:50,360
Dave Ague with a suited loss prevention investigator. He's loud

934
00:49:50,440 --> 00:49:52,519
enough now that two police glance over, but nothing in

935
00:49:52,559 --> 00:49:55,159
Dave's faces. Rage. It's too tired for that, just hollow

936
00:49:55,199 --> 00:49:58,000
strip down disappointment. If Dave once tried to be disto,

937
00:49:58,079 --> 00:50:00,519
his conscience last night made him give that up. Good

938
00:50:01,119 --> 00:50:04,280
flagged outside Mardle's hang at half mast, a coincidence of timing,

939
00:50:04,599 --> 00:50:08,320
national tragedy unrelated older by IROs. But Sam half expects

940
00:50:08,320 --> 00:50:10,360
to see Rose's hand scroll on note beneath even that

941
00:50:10,519 --> 00:50:13,639
clock out by order of management. He can't raise a laugh.

942
00:50:14,199 --> 00:50:16,440
He stands in the bite of early summer when burning

943
00:50:16,440 --> 00:50:18,559
his eyes, and wonders if he'd know the difference if

944
00:50:18,559 --> 00:50:21,159
she was standing next to him now for two days

945
00:50:21,199 --> 00:50:23,599
he gets maybe in iris, sleep at a time, catatonic,

946
00:50:23,679 --> 00:50:25,880
haunted by the pattern as ringing of the stores into calm,

947
00:50:25,960 --> 00:50:28,760
by the clack of schedules he never saw printed every

948
00:50:28,800 --> 00:50:31,480
now and then text bocket his phone mostly spam once

949
00:50:31,480 --> 00:50:34,559
on unfamiliar dress with a string of numbers seven slash twelve,

950
00:50:34,679 --> 00:50:37,280
his birthday and the supposed grand reopening date printed on

951
00:50:37,360 --> 00:50:40,440
his relic bat. He nearly deletes it, but Habit makes

952
00:50:40,480 --> 00:50:42,400
him save it, tuck it among the phones other ghosts

953
00:50:43,159 --> 00:50:46,239
they've leaves town after filing a medical complaint. Lauren gets

954
00:50:46,280 --> 00:50:48,440
offered a cash office job two hundred miles away and

955
00:50:48,480 --> 00:50:51,719
never answers his calls again. Missus O'Brian is never seen

956
00:50:51,760 --> 00:50:54,000
around as part of the city. After the store closes,

957
00:50:54,719 --> 00:50:56,679
half the tempt crews show up as no shows. When

958
00:50:56,679 --> 00:50:58,800
he passes by a new deep discount outlet opening up.

959
00:50:58,800 --> 00:51:02,000
Will Emmon's hardware used to be the old Martyr's as silent,

960
00:51:02,079 --> 00:51:04,679
its interior blue blackout paint just visible if you stand

961
00:51:04,679 --> 00:51:06,480
on your toes at the right angle ands goin pass

962
00:51:06,519 --> 00:51:10,119
the boats. Sam tells himself his record is clean. He

963
00:51:10,159 --> 00:51:12,760
reads the emails like prayers just in case. No lawsuits,

964
00:51:12,800 --> 00:51:16,159
no insurance claims, nobody blaming him, nobody blaming Rosa or

965
00:51:16,199 --> 00:51:20,079
Fenton any more, ventand apparently is on medical leaf hospitalized.

966
00:51:20,199 --> 00:51:23,440
Sam's sure, though corporate says nothing about where. He mails

967
00:51:23,440 --> 00:51:25,480
the shirts of Fenton's old schedule to a post office

968
00:51:25,519 --> 00:51:29,559
box for ongoing audit never hears back. One morning, he

969
00:51:29,599 --> 00:51:31,639
wakes to an envelo upon his mat slid through some

970
00:51:31,719 --> 00:51:36,039
time before dawn. No return address Inside a single shifts

971
00:51:36,039 --> 00:51:38,400
schedule printed in Martle's old type face, his name and

972
00:51:38,480 --> 00:51:42,920
badge or hire Night Nannager Martle's grand reopening, Seven's last twelve.

973
00:51:43,400 --> 00:51:45,920
His handshake as he traces the dates, list the old names,

974
00:51:46,039 --> 00:51:48,519
all marked approved of Rosa's circle twice in blue pen.

975
00:51:49,079 --> 00:51:52,000
That afternoon, a phone call. There's a new store, a

976
00:51:52,039 --> 00:51:54,639
clean stop. We'd like to bring you on. Several of

977
00:51:54,679 --> 00:51:57,360
your former team vouched for you, said he kept things running,

978
00:51:57,480 --> 00:52:00,639
that he always made sure everyone felt safe. Bright played

979
00:52:00,760 --> 00:52:04,400
hr Vorse, insistent, would you be interested? Mister Grief's full time,

980
00:52:04,559 --> 00:52:08,679
full benefits, security and cloder. He waits before answering, checking

981
00:52:08,719 --> 00:52:11,239
the lineyard again, looking for signs of prank or set up,

982
00:52:11,840 --> 00:52:14,480
finds only the slick print the hard edge. Roses go

983
00:52:14,599 --> 00:52:18,400
slooping inside his grip. He almost says no, almost, but

984
00:52:18,440 --> 00:52:20,239
the fear of the gap, of not having anywhere to

985
00:52:20,239 --> 00:52:23,440
clock in pushes him over. I'll come by, he agrees,

986
00:52:23,480 --> 00:52:27,360
at last, Just send me the details. The new supermarket

987
00:52:27,440 --> 00:52:30,800
shares nothing with Martles but its squire, blank walls, glowing screens,

988
00:52:30,840 --> 00:52:33,920
the same plunging cold in the back holes on walk through,

989
00:52:33,960 --> 00:52:36,880
he finds himself mapping the aisles by reflex tracing phantom

990
00:52:36,920 --> 00:52:40,159
shells and double checking every eggs or twice new staff,

991
00:52:40,360 --> 00:52:42,559
new prices. But when the manager hand him a set

992
00:52:42,599 --> 00:52:45,119
of Keith Brass familiate warming to his skin, he wonders

993
00:52:45,119 --> 00:52:47,000
how they came to fit so perfectly in his palm

994
00:52:47,039 --> 00:52:50,000
again for a week's strange patterns that could behind his

995
00:52:50,079 --> 00:52:52,920
eyes as soda misplaced, sacked in a place nobody admits

996
00:52:52,920 --> 00:52:55,559
to stocking a frozen piece slip left and signed just

997
00:52:55,679 --> 00:52:58,519
one letter are in a hurried hand, He shrugs it off.

998
00:52:59,039 --> 00:53:01,800
He tries not to count the re seats. Some nights

999
00:53:01,840 --> 00:53:04,360
he dreams of the store Martals, but with ceilings too high,

1000
00:53:04,400 --> 00:53:07,920
products stacked forever, endlessly, rotating schedules, pinned corkboards all down

1001
00:53:07,960 --> 00:53:11,719
the back hallways. Rosa is there, always, working, voice echoing

1002
00:53:11,719 --> 00:53:15,639
from the frozen case. Count everything she instructs, then go home.

1003
00:53:16,119 --> 00:53:19,000
He always wakes before he can answer. When Sam picks

1004
00:53:19,079 --> 00:53:21,199
up his final envel of months later, on the last

1005
00:53:21,280 --> 00:53:23,679
dark sweep through the ruined martles, he finds behind his

1006
00:53:23,760 --> 00:53:27,639
old jacket the Lionard waiting night manager Martal's grand reopening

1007
00:53:27,760 --> 00:53:31,679
seven slash twelve sicky notes line the locker's interior. Inventory

1008
00:53:31,719 --> 00:53:35,239
never ends, twelve slash seven, inventory never ends. Rosse's s

1009
00:53:35,239 --> 00:53:37,639
grit true as ever, looping across the gloss plastic in

1010
00:53:37,679 --> 00:53:40,920
a hand that's pot Dratt Part apology. He stands quietly,

1011
00:53:41,079 --> 00:53:43,280
stirring into the dark of his old domein locker, swinging

1012
00:53:43,280 --> 00:53:46,239
gently Pierre with spring static just out of earshot, register

1013
00:53:46,360 --> 00:53:49,480
lights long since powered down. It almost peaceful now, but

1014
00:53:49,519 --> 00:53:53,079
he doesn't trust the calm. Sam pockets the lionardsmooths down

1015
00:53:53,119 --> 00:53:56,159
the notes and swings the locker closed. He listens for

1016
00:53:56,199 --> 00:53:59,599
any lost sant Rouse's voice, the printer's whine, Fenton's nervous shuffle,

1017
00:53:59,639 --> 00:54:01,559
but their zone, the tick of the wall clock clicking

1018
00:54:01,559 --> 00:54:03,480
toward a time he doesn't have to punch any more.

1019
00:54:04,039 --> 00:54:06,199
He does not look back, not even when the automatic

1020
00:54:06,280 --> 00:54:08,239
entry door's flutter in a cross wind and briefly let

1021
00:54:08,239 --> 00:54:11,039
in a breath of stale call. There outside the city

1022
00:54:11,039 --> 00:54:12,760
waits the day at the future, even a new name

1023
00:54:12,800 --> 00:54:15,599
on a new badge, But Sam hesitates on the curb,

1024
00:54:15,719 --> 00:54:18,440
last man out, Marhal's echoing behind him through every inch

1025
00:54:18,480 --> 00:54:23,000
of glass. Sunrise pulls across the empty parking slots. He ceases,

1026
00:54:23,039 --> 00:54:25,000
just for a second, and perhaps always had a forem

1027
00:54:25,079 --> 00:54:27,079
in red vest, shifting boxes at the farthest end of

1028
00:54:27,079 --> 00:54:30,039
a forgotten aisle, just beyond the blue tinted glass. He

1029
00:54:30,119 --> 00:54:33,679
blinks and she is gone. Shouldering his bag, Sam walks

1030
00:54:33,719 --> 00:54:36,519
into the light, and the doors lie quietly, peacefully shoot

1031
00:54:36,519 --> 00:54:39,440
behind him. There is nothing to carry, no register, light

1032
00:54:39,519 --> 00:54:42,239
left to check, no last announcement crackling in the rafters.

1033
00:54:42,920 --> 00:54:45,400
Sam's footsteps hit the asphalt, and the glass doors side

1034
00:54:45,440 --> 00:54:47,880
closed so gently it might have been the wind. He

1035
00:54:47,960 --> 00:54:49,960
stands for a moment, as if waiting for someone to

1036
00:54:50,039 --> 00:54:51,760
run after him, as if a voice will call him

1037
00:54:51,800 --> 00:54:54,679
back to check one last dial. His hands still tremble,

1038
00:54:55,280 --> 00:54:57,559
he pushes them into his jacket pocket, hearing the dry

1039
00:54:57,559 --> 00:54:59,800
scrap of the brand new line out tag badge call

1040
00:54:59,880 --> 00:55:02,840
and and familiar against his rest. The sky is huge

1041
00:55:02,840 --> 00:55:05,519
and unbothered by anything as small as one supermarket's secret

1042
00:55:06,039 --> 00:55:08,239
across the lot. The police have already begun to then

1043
00:55:08,280 --> 00:55:11,119
out ambulance is gone. News Van's trailing away in second

1044
00:55:11,159 --> 00:55:15,519
guessing circles. Martel's is just another lost cause. He almost

1045
00:55:15,519 --> 00:55:18,039
expects a pause for surviving, but he gets only the restles.

1046
00:55:18,039 --> 00:55:20,639
Skulls overhead in the traffic, growing loud as a weekday wakes.

1047
00:55:21,400 --> 00:55:23,639
Dave stands by the curb, patched hand on his keys,

1048
00:55:23,679 --> 00:55:26,440
staring at the boarded store front. He getting any sleep

1049
00:55:26,480 --> 00:55:30,400
to night. Sam gives a small honor shake, words stick,

1050
00:55:31,159 --> 00:55:34,519
I don't think so. Lauren drifts behind him, expression flat,

1051
00:55:34,800 --> 00:55:37,400
fun cluss like a life line. Her screen flat is

1052
00:55:37,400 --> 00:55:40,840
a hundred and red messages, most of them logistics, numbers, tasks.

1053
00:55:41,480 --> 00:55:44,400
She deletes them one by one. Can't go home anywhere.

1054
00:55:44,480 --> 00:55:47,079
My apartment smells like lemon fall cleaner. Ghost don't belong

1055
00:55:47,119 --> 00:55:50,679
in apartments. A rusted cart rolls down the garter for

1056
00:55:50,719 --> 00:55:52,880
a second, the high wheels sketch two shadows over the

1057
00:55:52,880 --> 00:55:56,519
black top. Dave's squint says of judging the trajectory, then snorts,

1058
00:55:57,679 --> 00:55:59,639
maybe they'll build us a place early. You hear that.

1059
00:56:00,519 --> 00:56:04,519
Sam lessens inside the store. Beyond the painted of her panels,

1060
00:56:04,760 --> 00:56:06,960
there is a strange mechanical writting, a final ristock or

1061
00:56:06,960 --> 00:56:10,760
a shelf collapsing. Impossible to say. He looks away, No,

1062
00:56:11,079 --> 00:56:14,039
not any more, A hondo with last years, then stops

1063
00:56:14,039 --> 00:56:16,639
in front of lurin. Her sister leans over for her,

1064
00:56:16,840 --> 00:56:19,920
face just visible, pale with worry. Lauren holds up a

1065
00:56:19,920 --> 00:56:22,480
hand that the faint is good bye. She's gone, and

1066
00:56:22,599 --> 00:56:24,920
that feels like another part of the store closing forever.

1067
00:56:25,719 --> 00:56:28,320
Sam and Dave remain a moment longer, sharing the sort

1068
00:56:28,360 --> 00:56:30,679
of silence that can only exist between people who almost

1069
00:56:30,719 --> 00:56:33,400
didn't make it out together. Dave breaks it with a grunt,

1070
00:56:33,440 --> 00:56:36,239
looking at Sam's badge. You goin to take the offer

1071
00:56:36,320 --> 00:56:40,920
the new place, Sam shrugs, Maybe for a paycheck, but

1072
00:56:41,039 --> 00:56:42,840
there's terror in him that he'll be handed a ring

1073
00:56:42,880 --> 00:56:45,119
of keys already worn smooth, or find his name at

1074
00:56:45,159 --> 00:56:46,840
the top of a schedule in ink that isn't his.

1075
00:56:47,719 --> 00:56:50,360
Some one from Corper crosses the lot, carrying oil off

1076
00:56:50,360 --> 00:56:53,880
tops and an armful faded, crumpled help wanted posters. She

1077
00:56:53,960 --> 00:56:56,400
waves without recognition, then and locks the outside door with

1078
00:56:56,480 --> 00:56:58,960
a practiced motion, as if the store has never closed.

1079
00:56:59,480 --> 00:57:02,679
I for a still inside, counting down the aisles, keeping

1080
00:57:02,679 --> 00:57:06,320
the inventory perfect. Sam walks Dave to his car. The

1081
00:57:06,360 --> 00:57:08,719
sky is old blue glair, now, the lot almost empty.

1082
00:57:09,199 --> 00:57:12,239
Don't let them get you back inside. Dave mutters, there's

1083
00:57:12,239 --> 00:57:15,480
a hardness to his voice. You start doing inventory, you

1084
00:57:15,559 --> 00:57:18,039
never stop. Get a job at a bookstore, maybe something

1085
00:57:18,039 --> 00:57:21,679
with less ghosts. Sam laughs, a real sound for once,

1086
00:57:22,559 --> 00:57:25,280
no more can ham, I promise. Dave gets in and

1087
00:57:25,320 --> 00:57:28,519
drives away without looking back. The engine rattles away, and

1088
00:57:28,639 --> 00:57:31,360
Sam stands in the daylight, watching his friend shrink down

1089
00:57:31,400 --> 00:57:33,480
the street, one of the last believers in what happened.

1090
00:57:33,519 --> 00:57:36,639
One more name off an endless, shifting roster. A truck

1091
00:57:36,679 --> 00:57:39,079
with the new supermarket's logo pulls in, idling beside the

1092
00:57:39,079 --> 00:57:42,880
shuttered Mardel's entrance. Sam sees his own name once on

1093
00:57:42,960 --> 00:57:45,639
a roster clung to the dashboard. You can just make

1094
00:57:45,639 --> 00:57:48,239
out the column of initials beneath, familiar and not like

1095
00:57:48,320 --> 00:57:50,760
someone's memory tried to reassemble their old team but got

1096
00:57:50,760 --> 00:57:53,440
the details just a bit wrong. Sam lets the badge

1097
00:57:53,440 --> 00:57:55,800
rest in his hand for a minute, index finger tracing

1098
00:57:55,800 --> 00:57:58,719
the thick block letters, too sharp, too fresh. Part of

1099
00:57:58,760 --> 00:58:00,760
him makes to go home, but a zepopot wants to

1100
00:58:00,800 --> 00:58:02,840
see the inside of the store one last time. Proved

1101
00:58:02,840 --> 00:58:05,119
to himself that the aisles will be empty, lifeless, that

1102
00:58:05,239 --> 00:58:08,239
nothing will echo, accept the tap of his shoes. Instead,

1103
00:58:08,320 --> 00:58:10,639
he puts the badge in his bag, locks a zipper,

1104
00:58:10,760 --> 00:58:13,039
and walks along the new strip's board until he's only

1105
00:58:13,039 --> 00:58:16,079
a figure among hedges and chain link. He doesn't look back.

1106
00:58:16,800 --> 00:58:18,880
He knows the store won't call him again, not now.

1107
00:58:19,559 --> 00:58:21,800
If the inventory system wants him, it'll have to reach

1108
00:58:21,920 --> 00:58:24,360
him out here in the weekday sun, where phantom schedules

1109
00:58:24,360 --> 00:58:27,280
and coded announcements can't get a foothold. He turns the

1110
00:58:27,320 --> 00:58:30,800
next corner, breathes out, and feels the air at last, free, unnumbered,

1111
00:58:30,800 --> 00:58:33,639
and sword behind him. The door is never quite closed

1112
00:58:33,639 --> 00:58:36,400
all the way. A single sticky nook curls above the glass,

1113
00:58:36,400 --> 00:58:40,760
half blur yellow Sindar sanches reading only count complete, Go home.

1114
00:58:41,320 --> 00:58:45,320
Sam walks on and never looks back again. And that

1115
00:58:45,480 --> 00:58:47,840
is the end. Thank you for listening, and I will

1116
00:58:47,840 --> 00:59:00,679
see you in the next one.