C-CUTC-021
Barista: Julia Wandsun
Date: Dec-13-2019
Receipt: C-CUTC-021
Subject: Division Zulu
We found her.
Or rather, we found what was left of her.
Katherine Wade—Subject-13—had been abandoned in that chamber, alone except for the ████████ ███████ ██ ███ ████ ███████ ███ ███████ ██ █████ ███████ ████████ ████ ██████ ███ ████. Agent Dingane █████ █████ █ ██████. ███ ███████ ████ ███’█ ██████.
And yet, beneath all that hunger, I saw something else.
█████████ ████ ███ █████ ███.
I don’t know what they did to her. Or what ████████-Δ did to all of them. But I do know one thing—██ █████’█ █████ ██ █████ ███ █████. Jean-Marc made the call to ████ ███ ████ ██ █████ ████████ ███████ ██ ██████ ███.
Of course, without a Cafe to go back to… we don’t have many options ██ █████ ██ ████ ███. For now, we’ll have to ███ ███ ██ ███ ███████ █████ ██ ███ █████ ██ ███ █████ ████. ███ ███████ █████ ████████ ███ ██████ ██████ ██████—████████ ██ █████████ █ ███.
█ ████ ████ ████’██ ██ ██████ ██ ████ █████████.
…I don’t know if ███’██ ████ ██████.
But at least at the Cafe, ███ ███ █ ██████. ███████ ██ ███████ ████ ████ █████ ███ █████ ██████ ████ ██ ██ ████ ███.
Julius: Empty.
Jennifer: Just a containment pod. Subject-13… Katherine Wade.
Jean-Marc: Katherine… Alright. This is it. Everyone stay sharp. I don’t know what’s behind that glass, but whatever it is, Zulu didn’t want it getting out.
Julius: Where is Zulu?
Victoria: Yeah, you’d think they’d be more… present. Especially after Amber and Alex’s recon.
Ichabod: They only seen the outside. Ain’t seen the inside. Something’s wrong here.
Julius: ███████ ███████. ████████-Δ. Every test failed… except one. Subject-13. They managed to ████ ███ █████. They made one work. “██████████.”
Ichabod: ██████████’█ a hell of a word. Lookee over there.
[Ichabod tilted his head toward ███ ███████ ██ Agent Dingane, ███████ ██ ███ ██████ ██ ███ ███████—████ █████ ██ █ ███ ████ █████████ ██████ ██████ ████ ████████. ███ ███████ █████ ████, ███ ████ ████████ ███. ███ █████ ███████ ████ ███ █████, ███ █████ ████████ ████ ███ █████, ███ █████ ████ ████ ███ ████.]
Julia: Holy shit.
Victoria: Fuck—that’s gross.
Julius: Likely deserved it.
Jean-Marc: No wonder the drones left us alone. No one was left to sound the alarm. Zulu must already know—█████ must already know. They’re trying to contain. To figure out how to remove Subject-13.
Jennifer: And whatever did that is still in here.
[Jennifer gestured toward the containment pod.]
Victoria: She’s still in there.
[Victoria laid a hand against the glass of the containment chamber. Inside, a young woman lay motionless.]
Julia: She’s just… sleeping.
Jean-Marc: She’s not sleeping. She’s waiting.
[There was a shift. A flicker of motion. The figure inside the pod moved—her shoulders tensing as if suddenly aware of being watched. Then—her eyes opened.]
Katherine: …██████.
[The glass rattled. Then shattered. Shards of reinforced crystal rained down on the Cafe and Diner.]
Ichabod: Shit! MOVE! MOVE!
[Ichabod █████ ███ █████ ██ █ ████████ ██████, █████████ █ ████ ██ █████ █████—█████████ ███████ ████ ██ ████ █ █████, ███████ ██████.]
Jean-Marc: Try to contain her! Don’t kill her!
Ichabod: Kill her? I don’t know if we can.
[█████████ ██████ ███████ ███████’█ ████ ████ █████ ██ ███ ██████ ██ ███ ████.]
Julia: K-Katherine—? Katherine! STOP! You don’t have to do this! We can help you!
[Katherine faltered. Just slightly. Julia’s voice cut through the haze, a thin beacon of light amidst the storm of hunger.]
Katherine: I don’t—I don’t—want to—
[█████████ ███████ ████, █████████ ███ ███████. █ ██████ ███████ ██████ ███, ██ ██████████, ███████ ████. ███ ██████ ███ ████ █████. ███ ███ ████—████ █████—███ █████████ ████ ██ █████████ ███████ ████.]
Jean-Marc: Julia, get back! Jenni, get her out of here! Julius, Ichabod—contain her.
[Julia shook Jenni off, then took a step forward.]
Julia: You’re still you, Katherine. Beneath whatever they did to you—you’re you.
Katherine: No… ███…███…█. ██…██.
[█████████’█ ██████ █████████. ███ █████ ████████. ███ █████—█████, ████████—████████ ██████ ███ ███████ █████ ██ ██████. Toward Julia. ██████ ███ █████ █████, ███ ███ ███████. █ █████ ██ ██████ ██████ ██████ ███████ ███ ████—████████. ███ █████ ███████ ████ ███ █████, ███████████ ███████ ██████ ███ ██████████. ███ ████ █ ██████████ █████ ████████ ████ █████████’█ █████. █████████'█ ████ ██████ ████ █ ███████ █████ ████ ███ █████████—██████████.]
Victoria: Hate doing that.
Julia: Will she… be alright? Did you—
Victoria: Normally, that trick’d kill a person. Hearts are just electrical pulses, after all. ██████ ████ ███ ██ ███████████. But she—
Jean-Marc: ███ █████ ███ ██ ████ ██ ███. █ ███’█ ████ ███ ████ ███’██ ██ ███ ██████.
Julius: What now?
Jean-Marc: Secure her. Fast. We need to get out of here before the Zulus realize we have their test subject.
[Julius and Ichabod moved in, ███████ █████████’█ ██████ █████████ ████ █████████ ██████████. Julia knelt beside her, brushing the blood-matted hair from her face.]
Julia: You’re safe now.
Decaffeinate Receipt
“One false word.”
Knowledge | 1 Word