C-CUTC-025
Barista: Mikey Jenkins
Date: Dec-15-2019
Receipt: C-CUTC-025
Subject: Corpses
So, Rachel left us with a hell of a thought yesterday: █████ ███ ████████, █████ ███ ████████.
And me being me, I just had to know if she was right.
So, Sarah and I ran some experiments.
Man—where’s Brent when you need him? He’d be all over this crap. I mean, sure, he’s probably still in jail… on account of the experiments—but damn, he would’ve loved this.
Anyway, we ████ ████ █████████’█ ███████ ████—███’█ █████, ██ ██████-███████ ███ ████████████ ██ ███ ██████████. █████ ██ ████. ███ ██████ ███ ███████ ██ ███████ ██████.
Though… she’s actually pretty chill. All things considered. She’s scared. Confused. Hurt. But she hasn’t been outwardly violent since we brought her back to the Third Cafe.
Anyway, Jules got me a vial of animal blood. Deer, specifically. Fresh. Very fresh. I’m guessing the Jean-Marc household is having venison tonight.
It worked—or at least—there is ████ ██████████ ██ ████ ███ ████. We’re going to need more tests though to be sure.
Sarah: This is safe, right?
Mikey: Absolutely not.
Sarah: …I figured. Katherine, we want to figure out ████ ███ █████ ███ ██ ███. Do you think you could drink this vial of blood for us?
Katherine: …Do I have a choice?
Mikey: Yeah. I mean—it’s up to you. ██’██ ███ ███ █████. But the sooner we can make sure ███’██… █’████, ███ █████ █████ █ ██████ ██████████, the sooner we can let you out of here.
Katherine: Okay… okay. I’ll do it.
[Katherine drank the blood. The moment it touched her lips, her body tensed. Eyes wide. Breath shallow.]
Sarah: Katherine, are you okay?
Katherine: ███ ███… ████… █████ ███… █████████… ██████ █████████… ██████ ████████… █████ ███████…
[Katherine’s hands twitched, almost reaching for something unseen.]
Katherine: █████… ████…
[Her voice cracked as her body jerked, then stilled.]
Katherine: █████… ████████… ████…
[Katherine inhaled sharply, deeply.]
Katherine: ████, ██████ █████… ████—█ ███████ ██████ ████ ████████ █’██ ████ █████… ███████… ██████ █████████… █████ ██████ █████████…
Sarah: Katherine?
[Katherine blinked, dazed, like waking from a dream already fading.]
Mikey: Interesting.
Katherine: What… was that?
Mikey: ████████. Or maybe ████████. Hard to tell. I suppose █ ████’█ ████████ ███’█ ██ ███ ███████. But yeah—you had ████ ██████████ ██ ███ ████ █████ █████ ███ ████ █████. That much is clear.
Katherine: I felt ███ ██████ ██ ████. ██ ███ ████ ███ ████████ ███ ████—█ ██████ ████, █ █████—███ ████… ███ ████████ ████’█ ████…?
Mikey: Now that is interesting. The █████ ███ █████ █████████ ██ ███ ███████ ██ ██████.
Katherine: The… what?
Sarah: Oh! Right—you were… just a normal human before all this, huh? ████ ██████ ███, ████ ██ ██ ███ █████████.
Katherine: …Like heaven?
Mikey: …Or, eh, hell. But it’s more complicated than that. You said you felt a deep howl, right? ███ ████. Should be the ███████ ██████ ██ ██████████—█████ ██████ ████ ███ ████-███████ █████. ███████ ████ ██ ███ ██ ██ ████████ ██ ███ ██████████ ████ ████ ███. I think we can chalk █████ ██ ██ ████████… but we’ll need more tests.
Katherine: …So… I still have to stay here?
Mikey: Unfortunately. We don’t have a nicer location right now. But we’ll always have at least one Barista with you until we figure this out. You won’t be alone. And they won’t be able to take you back.
Katherine: …Okay.
Decaffeinate Receipt
“Dropped by the former Third Villa—and I replaced an L along the way."
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