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Summary
Hawkins National Laboratory runs on routine: checklists, keycards, fluorescent lights, and the understanding that nothing here is personal.
You learn this quickly, just a few days into the job that was forced onto you.
You also learn that Peter Ballard never walks the same route twice, never stands where the cameras linger too long, and never looks at you unless you're alone.
You are both orderlies-interchangeable, invisible, trained to keep your heads down and your mouths shut. Friendship is discouraged. Attachment is a liability. Affection is a violation.
So you talk in hallways without microphones. You pass notes meant to be destroyed. You pretend not to notice when he positions himself between you and certain doors.
Peter says the lab is watching everyone.
Later, in a voice barely above a whisper, he tells you who you should really be afraid of.
You should report him.
You should keep your distance.
You should never follow him off-camera.But the spaces between cameras are the only places you ever feel safe-and Peter is the only one who knows how to find them.