[Intro - fluorescent hum, distant sirens, radio squelch] [FEMALE POLICE RADIO - calm, clipped, dispatch underneath] This is officer Reyes. Keep your radio low. We have units entering the south lobby. [MALE, whisper] He’s still outside the maintenance room. [Slow metal scrape across door] [FEMALE POLICE RADIO] Do not engage. Do not answer him. [MALE] I’m not planning a f@king conversation. [Beat enters - heartbeat kick, dry 808 pulse] [Verse 1 - MALE, controlled but shaking] Power died at 2:14. Hall went green, elevator froze. One boot dragged across concrete, stopped when I stopped, moved when I breathed. No knock. No rush. Like he already knew there was nowhere behind me left to move. [Radio burst] [FEMALE POLICE RADIO - more urgent] We may have an ID. Cal Mercer. Fifty-one. Former night maintenance supervisor. Worked here eleven years. [MALE] You’re telling me he knows every f@king wall? [FEMALE POLICE RADIO] Yes. [Pipe impact behind left ear] [Chorus - heavy half-time] Keep the radio low. He knows where the dead halls go. Every vent, every stair, every door below. Keep the radio low. Don’t let that red light glow. He built these passages. He knows where I’ll go. [Verse 2 - hats tighten, breathing closer] I crawled through heating ducts, rust cutting through my sleeves. He didn’t chase fast. That scared me worse. He knew where every tunnel leads. Then Reyes came back, voice breaking through static. [FEMALE POLICE RADIO] Listen carefully. Mercer is linked to nine confirmed homicides. [MALE] Nine? [FEMALE POLICE RADIO] Nine. Six years. Three buildings. Same pattern. [MALE] What pattern? [Radio static swells] [FEMALE POLICE RADIO] He killed power first. Used service access to isolate them. No forced entry. He attacked at close range. Some were strangled. Others died from blunt-force injuries. [MALE, angry whisper] Jesus f@king Christ. [FEMALE POLICE RADIO] He also used recordings of previous victims to draw people out. [Dead silence] [From far down duct - WOMAN CRYING] Please... help me. [MALE] That’s a recording. [FEMALE POLICE RADIO] Do not follow it. [WOMAN CRYING, now behind him] Please... [MALE, snaps] SHUT THE F@K UP! [Sudden bang. Beat drops into double-time] [Verse 3 - MALE, breathless rap] Hands forward, knees on steel, crawlspace shaking under me. Left turn, dead end, right side drops three stories deep. Something hits the duct behind. Again. Again. Again. [MALE] Come on then! You want me? F@king COME ON! [FEMALE POLICE RADIO - shouting over sirens] Evan, stop! He wants noise! Move toward Stairwell C! [MALE] I’m done crawling! I’m done hiding from this b@stard! [FEMALE POLICE RADIO] EVAN, MOVE! [SFX: ceiling panel crashes] [Bridge - no beat, only alarms and breath] [MALE lands hard] Where am I? [FEMALE POLICE RADIO] Fourth-floor records room. Officers are close. [MALE] You said that two minutes ago! [FEMALE POLICE RADIO] I know. Stay with me. [MALE, furious] No, you stay with ME! He’s been inside every wall I touch! [Three soft knocks] [CAL MERCER - close, calm] Evan. [MALE freezes] [CAL] Nine people begged louder than you. [MALE] F@k you. [CAL] They all said that too. [Final Chase - sirens surge, violent drums] [FEMALE POLICE RADIO] Units on four! Suspect is armed! Do not enter alone! [SFX: door breach] [POLICE SHOUTING] Police! Hands! HANDS! [SFX: two gunshots] [SFX: scream, radio feedback] [SFX: three rapid gunshots] [MALE] REYES?! [POLICE RADIO - overlapping voices] OFFICER DOWN! FOURTH FLOOR! OFFICER DOWN! Send medical! Send medical! [FEMALE POLICE RADIO - panicked, static breaking] Evan, run! RUN NOW! [MALE, screaming] WHERE?! [FEMALE POLICE RADIO] Stairwell C! Go! [MALE] That’s where he f@king wants me! [SFX: alarm bell, sirens, boots, someone screaming far below] [CAL - somewhere unseen] Evan. [MALE] STOP SAYING MY NAME! [CAL] Ten. [MALE] What? [CAL] Nine before tonight. [Radio carrier opens] [FEMALE POLICE RADIO] Evan, do not listen to him! [SFX: gunshot very close] [FEMALE POLICE RADIO screams, radio drops] [Open static] [MALE] REYES! REYES, ANSWER ME! [Only static, then distorted breathing] [CAL - through police radio] Keep the radio low. [Final Chorus - enormous 808s, corrupted voices, sirens woven into rhythm] Keep the radio low. No safe floor, nowhere to go. Blue lights bleeding through the smoke, somebody crying down below. Keep the radio low. Every voice becomes his own. Nine dead before I met him. Now he’s counting as he comes. [MALE, ragged, furious] I’m not number ten. You hear me? I’M NOT F@KING NUMBER TEN! [Beat cuts] [Footsteps stop behind him] [CAL, whisper] Then turn around. [SFX: struggle, impact, gunshot] [Black silence] [Four seconds] [Police radio squelch] [FEMALE POLICE RADIO - weak, buried in static] Evan... answer me. [Long pause] [FEMALE POLICE RADIO - faintly through same channel] Please... [Sirens continue for two seconds, then hard cut]
