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[ARCHIVE TAPE #003]
[DATE: CORRUPTED]
[SOURCE: PROJECT CREATOR]
The cassette does not slide in.
It is already inside.
The television turns on by itself.
WHRRRRRRRR—
Black screen.
No static.
No tracking.
Only breathing.
Slow.
Human.
Then—
BEEP.
ON SCREEN
SUBJECT HEART RATE: 0 BPM
BRAIN ACTIVITY: 0%
TIME OF DEATH: 03:17:42
Three seconds.
A younger voice speaks from behind the camera.
MAKER (O.S.)
Again.
The image appears.
INT. OLD LABORATORY — NIGHT
Not the laboratory from Tape #1.
Older.
Concrete walls.
Rusting equipment.
Bare bulbs.
No Cameramen.
No Speakermen.
No TV Men.
Only humans.
A much younger MAKER stands beside an operating table.
No goggles.
No lab coat.
Black shirt.
Gloves.
Dark circles beneath his eyes.
Across from him stands the UNKNOWN FRIEND from Tape #2.
Their face still refuses to record.
On the table—
A DEAD MAN.
The heart monitor shows a flat line.
UNKNOWN
He's gone.
MAKER
For seventeen seconds.
UNKNOWN
That's generally what "gone" means.
The Maker adjusts a metal device attached to the corpse's chest.
Three circular lights.
All dark.
MAKER
No.
He checks a dial.
MAKER
Gone means permanent.
His finger hovers over a switch.
MAKER
This is temporary.
UNKNOWN
You said that last time.
The Maker doesn't look up.
UNKNOWN
Last time he screamed for eleven minutes.
The Maker's hand stops.
Silence.
UNKNOWN
Maybe death should be allowed to win once in a while.
MAKER
Death wins constantly.
He finally looks at them.
MAKER
I find that statistically annoying.
He activates the first switch.
RED.
Nothing.
The second.
YELLOW.
The corpse's fingers twitch.
The Unknown backs away.
UNKNOWN
There.
MAKER
Reflex.
Another twitch.
The monitor remains flat.
The Maker reaches for the third switch.
The Unknown catches his wrist.
UNKNOWN
Wait.
He looks at them.
UNKNOWN
What if what comes back isn't him?
Silence.
The Maker looks at the body.
Then at the final switch.
MAKER
Then we learn something important.
UNKNOWN
That might be the worst answer you've ever given me.
MAKER
It was honest.
He flips the switch.
GREEN.
Nothing.
One second.
Two.
Three.
The Maker's confidence disappears.
MAKER
Come on.
Four.
Five.
The Unknown slowly lowers their hand.
Six—
The corpse GASPS.
BEEP-BEEP-BEEP-BEEP-BEEP!
The Subject bolts upright.
Screaming.
The Maker grabs his shoulders.
MAKER
Easy! Easy! Look at me!
SUBJECT
I WAS—
He chokes.
His eyes dart around the laboratory.
SUBJECT
I was somewhere.
The Maker freezes.
UNKNOWN
Where?
The Subject's breathing slows.
SUBJECT
There wasn't anything.
He swallows.
SUBJECT
No light.
No sound.
Nothing.
Then—
His eyes shift.
Not toward the Maker.
Toward the recording camera.
SUBJECT
Then something looked at me.
The camera begins to zoom.
Slowly.
MAKER
What looked at you?
The Subject's terror vanishes.
Completely.
His mouth bends into a smile.
SUBJECT
You know.
The Maker steps backward.
UNKNOWN
What did you see?
The Subject keeps staring directly into the lens.
SUBJECT
The thing recording us.
Silence.
The Maker turns toward the camera.
All color leaves his face.
MAKER
There shouldn't be a camera in this room.
SKRRRRRRRRT!
The image tears.
One frame—
The operating table is empty.
Second frame—
Two corpses lie on it.
Third frame—
The Maker lies there instead.
Eyes open.
Dead.
Fourth frame—
The Unknown Friend stands behind him.
Their face is visible.
But only for a fraction of a second.
The face does not belong to a human.
SNAP.
Normal footage.
Nobody reacts.
They never saw the frames.
The Subject starts laughing.
Softly.
Not happy.
Not hysterical.
Just—
constant.
UNKNOWN
Turn the machine off.
MAKER
I'm trying.
The Maker rips a cable from the revival device.
The heart monitor dies.
The Subject continues breathing.
Another cable.
Another.
MAKER
No.
He checks the corpse's pulse.
MAKER
No, no, that's—
The Subject's head turns toward him.
SUBJECT
You wanted resurrection.
His neck rotates farther.
CRACK.
The Maker recoils.
SUBJECT
Immortality was already here.
The lights die.
BLACK.
A body hits the floor.
UNKNOWN
[MAKER'S NAME]!
The name is completely erased by static.
A dragging sound.
Metal scraping.
Then—
Laughter.
Not the Subject's.
The Unknown Friend's.
The same warm laugh from Tape #2.
The one they gave when they caught the Maker tucking Unit One in with a blanket.
Except now—
It is coming from beneath the operating table.
MAKER
…No.
The laughter continues.
MAKER
Stop.
A wet dragging sound.
MAKER
Please stop.
The lights return.
The Subject is gone.
The Unknown Friend is gone.
The room is empty except for the Maker.
Blood runs from his temple.
He stands completely still.
Then—
The laugh again.
From underneath the table.
The Maker slowly looks down.
The recording camera tilts with him.
We never see what he sees.
His expression collapses.
Not fear.
Not shock.
Recognition.
MAKER
…I'm sorry.
CUT TO BLACK.
ON SCREEN
TAPE #003 COMPLETE
EXPERIMENT: RESURRECTION
The word deletes itself.
EXPERIMENT: IMMORTALITY
Then:
SUBJECT TERMINATED: 03:17:42
SUBJECT REVIVED: 03:18:05
SUBJECT TERMINATED: 03:24:11
Pause.
A new line appears.
SUBJECT DETECTED: 04:02:33
Another.
SUBJECT DETECTED: 07:51:09
Another.
SUBJECT DETECTED: 19:26:41
The date changes.
Next day.
SUBJECT DETECTED.
Three days later.
SUBJECT DETECTED.
Two months.
SUBJECT DETECTED.
One year.
SUBJECT DETECTED.
Five years.
SUBJECT DETECTED.
Twelve years.
SUBJECT DETECTED.
The screen begins filling.
Line after line.
Hundreds.
Thousands.
Different dates.
Different locations.
Every entry identical.
SUBJECT DETECTED.
SUBJECT DETECTED.
SUBJECT DETECTED.
The timestamps accelerate.
Then suddenly stop.
One final record appears.
SUBJECT DETECTED: ██/██/████
LOCATION: ARCHIVE ROOM
Silence.
The cursor blinks.
Then:
DISTANCE FROM TAPE PLAYER: 0.4 METERS
CLICK.
The television turns off.
Three seconds.
Nothing.
Then, from inside the cassette player—
BEEP.
A heartbeat.
Another.
BEEP.
Closer.
Then—
the Unknown Friend laughs.
END TAPE #3