THE NEXT TRANSCRIPT BEGINS BACK IN THE CAR, AND APPEARS TO HAVE BEGUN THE SECOND ANDERS, EMMA, AND BLAINE HAVE RE-ENTERED THE CAR.

--File 034: Reading Up--

10/20/XXXX

The energy in the car is tense. Emma's door is just slamming shut as Blaine begins recording again. Anders has pulled his phone out, looking anxious as he presumably begins to dial Bartosz's phone number.

Blaine: "Well, we've answered a couple questions with that little stunt, and I guess we don't have to play pretend marriage."

Emma: "That was a whole other fucking level of terrifying. That guy knew who I was. What the actual fuck?"

Blaine: "He actually said 'We've been waiting for you'. They know Bartosz is here, too. Fuck, how much do they know?"

Anders: "Presumably, they must be watching us. Whether they can watch us through the game, I'm not so sure."

Emma: "Trying to get through to Bartosz?"

Anders has his phone to his ear, a deep frown on his face, and after a moment, he lowers the phone and attempts to re-dial the number.

Anders: "Jakub isn't answering. I'm not sure if that's because of the cell reception, or if something is wrong."

Blaine: "I guess we just keep trying to reach him. You have the walkie talkie, right?"

Anders: "Yeah, I'll try that in a second. We shouldn't be having bad reception already, unless... No, I'm getting paranoid. Everything is fine."

Emma: "Except for the part where these fuckers already know we're here, why we're here, and who I am. At least they didn't know what I looked like, apparently."

Blaine: "Actually, that's a good point. Small consolation. But that would mean..."

Emma: "They're probably watching me through the game."

Anders: "Damn. He's not answering. I swear, if that dipshit is out pissing without his phone, I'll- I'm sorry, Emma, that was crass."

Emma: "I'm about three shakes away from a meltdown, Detective, the last thing I'm worried about is your potty mouth."

Anders snorts at this, but returns to one last attempt at a call. When it, too, does not go through, he swears, puts it down, and reaches for the walkie talkie.

Anders: "Bartosz, dammit, come in, would you? We have a serious problem. They know who we are, and they know you're out there. You have no cover. You're not hidden. Answer me."

They wait when Anders releases the call button, but nothing comes through on the phone. The three of them exchange worried glances, and Anders tries again.

Anders: "Jakub, I swear to God, if you don't answer, we'll drive through the whole forest until we find your ass and kick it. Answer me."

There's another very long, pregnant pause, and all three of them stop breathing. The unspoken question of "What do we do?" lingers in the air for just a moment, before suddenly, the walkie talkie crackles to life, making all three of them jump. Emma shrieks in surprise.

Bartosz: "I'm fine, shithead, I had to go to the bathroom. I forgot my phone. I didn't catch what you said, what was that all about?"

Anders is visibly relieved, and Blaine practically sags against the seat.

Anders: "You jackass, you have no idea how badly you scared the shit out of us. They know we're here, and what we're here for."

Bartosz: "What? You kiddin' me? How the fuck did you blow your cover?"

Emma: "We didn't. They knew who I was. The second I pulled the game out, it was like a horror movie in there. Some police officer came straight up to us, looking like he came straight off the movie poster of a Stephen King film."

Anders: "They also know you're out there, Jakub. There's no cover. They know you're there."

Bartosz: "Ah, shit. I was afraid of that. So what, they went all darkside? The whole restaurant?"

Blaine: "No. Just about half the diner, and the other half looked scared shitless, including the waitress."

Bartosz: "Well, at least it's not the whole damned town. You guys did good, even if it probably scared the piss outta you."

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

Emma: "You try eating lunch in a dead silent diner with half the clientele shooting you demonic satan smiles the whole time."

Bartosz: "I'd rather not. Tell you what, let's split up. If those assholes know I'm here, no point in hiding out in the woods like a loser. I'm going to get to my buddy at the church and get him up to speed. You lot stick to the plan- get to the library and try to find anything you can on Grantham."

Anders: "Roger. Please, Jakub, keep your fucking phone on you, yeah?"

Bartosz: "Yeah, yeah, I know. Lesson learned. Don't want my wife to think I'm cheating."

Anders rolls his eyes in disgust as Blaine snickers.

Anders: "I happen to know you get worse when you're scared, so you're not fooling anyone, Jakub. We're heading over to the library. Stay safe. They know you're here, and they know why you're here, don't forget that."

Bartosz: "Just means I'll finally get a different response, after all these years. Take care, kids."

Blaine: "So, to the library?"

Anders: "Unfortunately. Come on, let's get this show on the road."

Blaine continues recording as Anders carefully navigates the car out of the parking lot. As they do, Blaine manages to catch the police officers from before casually all standing outside the diner, watching as they drive away. The nightmare grins are back on their faces, and more than a few of them have cell phones up to their ears, likely reporting the presence of the three of them to... some other entity.

Blaine: "Looks like word's about to spread. The police over there are probably making sure the whole town knows who we are, and that we're here."

Emma: "You know, when I was 5, I used to tell my mom that I 'wanted the whole world to know my name'. If it goes anything like this kind of notoriety, I've changed my mind. I don't want anyone to know my name."

They drive in anxious silence following this. It's unclear if GPS has proven useless in this town, because Anders is relying on a physical map of the town to navigate around and find a local library. Ironically, the map is designed like it would be handed out to tourists, but in a town that shuns outsiders, a touristy map seems useless.

At last, Anders pulls up to a building with a large, albeit rundown and vaguely bland sign out front. The lettering is faded, but it reads "One Hope Library". The library itself is about accurate for a small library. Hardly anything to look at, it could be mistaken for a home, rather than a library. Just about two stories tall in an American Colonial style, the building has gray paneling on the sides, a simple roof, and an extension out the back that doesn't quite match the shape of the main building. It sits directly on a cement block, and appears to potentially have a cellar.

Anders, Emma, and Blaine all look uneasily at each other, before squaring their shoulders and stepping out of the car to head to the library.

Blaine: "What are the odds they've removed anything we'd want to find?"

Anders: "About as high as the odds are that they've pulled it all out and have it waiting next to a particularly smiley librarian."

Emma: "Please don't jinx it. I'd super rather that not be the case."

The stairs creak as they approach the doors, walking into a relatively well-lit room. The walls are a bland, off-white, and the bookshelves are a mismatched collection of modern floor-to-ceiling shelves packed with books, and cedar wood shelves pressed up against the walls between windows. It is sparsely decorated, and there is a very, very small children's area in the back filled mostly with bookshelves.

The librarian at the front desk glances up, pulls a double take, and immediately crosses her arms, looking agitated. She is about as stereotypical a librarian as it gets, being a dotty older woman with gray hair, dangling earrings, and a little mauve suit with a fake, pink flower sticking out of her front pocket.

Librarian: "And who the hell do you think you are, waltzing into my library like you own the place?"

Before Anders or Blaine can say anything, Emma walks straight up to her, pulls out the game console, and places it pointedly on the desk in front of her.

A long moment passes as the woman blinks in surprise at the game, before, as Emma must have predicted, she looks up and smiles in that now-familiar, overly-wide manner, her eyes suddenly too big for her once kindly face.

Librarian: "I see. Welcome, Emma."

Emma says nothing, quickly removing the game and slipping it into her backpack. Blaine quickly steps up beside her as she does, as the librarian's unwavering gaze does not leave her face.

Librarian: "What brings you here today?"

Anders: "We're looking for newspapers over the last forty years or so."

Somehow, the woman's smile grows wider. Her eyes never leave Emma's face.

Librarian: "But of course. That'll be downstairs. Please be careful, and keep in mind, the newspapers are not for borrowing. There's a photocopy machine down there, should you need one."

Blaine puts his hand on Emma's shoulder and pointedly guides her so she's standing behind him. The woman's too-big eyes follow Emma until they land on Blaine, and then she zeroes in on his face.

Librarian: "Ah, and Blaine. Of course you are here, too, with Emma. Yes, that's as it should be. Go ahead downstairs, my dears. Much to learn, I'm certain."

Blaine keeps Emma behind him, and Anders takes up a position on the other side of her. Blaine's camera catches Anders walking almost backwards to keep the woman in view; she seems barely interested in his presence at all, instead smiling at Emma wherever possible, and at Blaine whenever Emma is not visible.

Anders, Emma, and Blaine reach a door to the far right, which opens up to a set of stairs lit only by a single pull string lightbulb.

Emma: "Straight out of a horror movie, all of this."

Emma's voice is quiet, but the camera picks it up well. Anders shifts Blaine so he's behind Emma, and now Anders leads the way down the stairs. The air becomes stale and heavy the deeper they go, but the cellar appears to just be an extension of the library, possessing older files and records.

Anders: "Right, let's all spread out. We need to find anything about Grantham. We're looking for anything from around forty years ago, and there's a high chance that that'll still be a lot of data."

Blaine: "Any chance they put all of this on the computer...?"

Anders: "You see any computers down here, kid?"

Blaine: "Wishful thinking."

Emma: "Come on. Timer's ticking. Let's get moving."

The camera shows Emma marching past Anders on the stairs and straight into the room beyond. The lights down here are all fluorescent, giving the room an eerily sterile feeling.

Blaine: "Welp, if anyone finds anything, warn me, so I can start recording again. Gonna need both hands, for this.

Blaine fiddles with the camera, and before anyone can agree or disagree, he shuts it off.

--END TRANSMISSION--