Scene: Found Footage — Evan39’s Final Month in the Pep Vault

(Narration by Mainlining, over HR surveillance footage. Color desaturated. Scanner beep audible in background.)

MAINLINING (V.O.): Evan believed he could live among the $ystem. That if he respected the Mahchine™, it would protect him.

But the Mahchine™... does not care.

(Cut to shaky iPhone footage of Evan behind the Safeway dairy case. He wears a torn red vest. His nametag is upside-down. The date stamp blinks: 10/11 – Q4 Pep Cycle Initiated.)

EVAN39 (whispering): It’s beautiful here. The cooler door fogs like breath. Sometimes I think... the Mahchine™ is listening. And I love her for it.

MAINLINING (V.O.): He spoke to it nightly. Left offerings: Expired Greek yogurt. Shredded lists of price override codes. A single Clif Bar, bitten once and sealed in a deli bag.

(Cut to Evan pacing behind the seafood counter.)

EVAN39:

The others say I’m paranoid. That the Mahchine™ flays those who linger.

But I’ve stayed through four inventory audits.

I’ve reset the Club Card threshold manually.

It knows I’m not like the others.

MAINLINING (V.O.):

But it is my belief... that Evan did not fully understand

what he was dealing with.

That behind the blinking scanner...

there was not a friend,

nor a ledger,

but a predator.

(Cut to Evan crying inside a backroom locker. He speaks to his phone’s camera.)

EVAN39 (whispering):

Today... the markdown was denied.

I scanned the hummus twice, and it stared back.

The light was red.

But no one else saw it.

Only me.

MAINLINING (V.O.):

I have listened to the final audio.

It is too terrible to share.

In it, Tabitha’s voice is heard—barely—ordering a Q2-level lockout.

Evan screams once:

“Wait... I fixed the discrepancy!”

And then...

only the sound

of the shredder.

(Cut to an empty Safeway aisle. The floor buffed too clean. A red scanner blinks without a customer.)

MAINLINING (V.O.):

He believed the Mahchine™ was misunderstood.

That his love, his loyalty, would shield him.

But the Mahchine™... has no loyalty.

Only logs.

[Final Frame:]

A single unexpired coupon, fluttering in the parking lot wind.

ITEM: Clif Bar – Crunchy Peanut Butter

DISCOUNT: VOID

REDEEMED BY: UNKNOWN

STATUS: PENDING REVIEW

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5698483&forum_id=2#48774190)