Lloyd took off the headset and sunk down in his chair. Connor Hatfield was finally gone. Except he wasn't, because his body was about six feet away from him. Lloyd sat there in complete silence for a moment, feeling the chilling air sink into his skin. His office was warmer than the waiting room, but not by much. Watching Connor from his desk, memories Lloyd hated flooded his mind. He remembered seeing his mother with  the same blank, emotionless expression on her face, laying in her casket.

The last time he saw her, she didn't really look like herself. Not as he knew her. Staring at Connor right now, his stomach lurched. He stood up and walked over to Connor's body, standing over it like a guilt ridden angel, mourning it's failures. He reached out and touched Connor's hand. Still warm, a little at least. But it was fleeting. Soon it would be cold as stone, just like his mother's. That feeling scared him more than anything else in the world.

I'm wasting time. He chided himself. I have more clients to attend to.

He walked back over to his monitors and paged Dr. Meyer.

"I'm done with Mr. Hatfield. He's ready for preservation." Lloyd spoke towards the monitor.

"Keep him there for a moment. We have a situation going on." Dr. Meyer replied, sounding out of breath.

"What's going on?" Lloyd asked, confused.

"You'll be briefed later." he replied and ended the call.

What could the situation be? Did a machine stop working? Did another attack happen? Lloyd grabbed the gun and slid it into his pocket. It probably isn't even that serious, but just in case. He walked towards the door and stopped before he opened it. Looking back at Connor, he was starting to feel uncomfortable with his body still in the room. Connor himself was gone, he had walked out of this same door, but in the digital world. His continued silent presence unnerved Lloyd, and he had to figure out what the holdup was as soon as possible. He stepped out and immediately noticed two automatons guarding the door to the waiting room. To his right, Ben was standing still until he noticed him.

"Hey, psst. Come with me." he nodded in the direction of break rooms and promptly took off, not letting Lloyd utter a word. Without much of a choice, Lloyd followed Ben to the break room, where Arthur, Will, and Marcy were all sitting on different couches, looking very uncomfortable. A massive flat-screen TV was mounted on the wall in front of them, playing ambient music with abstract shapes floating across the screen. There was a ton of food and snacks prepared on the counter, as if they were about to throw a party. All of it was untouched, and Lloyd wondered why that was.

"I'm getting tired of asking the same shit. What the hell is happening?" Lloyd demanded.

Frederick has a tactic to speed up the process, get more clients in quicker." said Arthur. "So now we wait."

"How long have you been waiting?" he asked the group.

"Ten, nearly twenty minutes." said Will.  "I could've been on my fifth client by now,

Fifth?!

"If you don't mind me asking," Lloyd started. "How?"

"I'm not like you two." He replied, gesturing to Lloyd and Arthur. "You both baby you're clients. You all try to sugarcoat hell."

"Hey now," Marcy chided. "Don't call it that."

"That's exactly what it is." Will continued. "It's like America don't believe in God anymore."

"Why should anyone believe, look at the fucking sky outside." Arthur retorted. "Your god don't give a shit about us."

"You young people are always so damn stupid!"

"Both of you, cut it out!" Marcy demanded. "Neither one of you going anyways, so why waste your breath disagreeing with each other?"

Arthur and Will both glared at each other, but Will's softened a little.

"At least you aren't that stupid."

"I'm still going, damn it." Marcy declared, holding up her hands. "You trying to call me stupid?"

"Marcy no, no, I didn't mean... I apologize." Will stammered.

She smiled and got up off the couch. "My appetite is back. I'm eating."

They quietly watched her passed until Ben tapped Lloyd's shoulder.

"Can I tell you now?" he asked Lloyd.

"Sure. Go ahead."

"A bunch of the doctors and nurses went into the break room, wearing respirator masks and wheeling in probably a dozen or more gurneys."

Lloyd turned to the automaton, hardly believing the words emanating from it's face.

"Are you serious?"

"Yep. And the other automatons are posted up so none of you can go to the waiting area."

"That's why Beth wanted to leave early." Will added, stretching his arms out and yawning. He put his grimy black boots on the small, white marble coffee table. "She didn't want to be part of the mass grave."

"What do you mean mass grave? How could they treat all of those people at once?" Lloyd asked him.

"Easy." said Arthur, getting up to go to the counter. "They're treating them like shit. Like numbers in a quota instead of actual patients of this facility. I've done two people today. Will has done four. What about you?"

Lloyd looked at the both of them, embarrassed. "Just one."

"Exactly. Me and you, we're too slow. Because we actually try to build a rapport with the clients. Will, and I kid you not, tells them to fuck off and go out the door right after putting them in local."

Will laughed as if proud of this fact. "I'm just trying to be efficient. If they need consultation they can come back after the digital census, when we aren't scrambling to put more people in the system. Can you get me a drink Arthur? Nothing Carbonated."

"Tea, water, or lemonade?"

"Um.... sweet tea."

"I got you." Arthur poured Will a cup while Marcy carried her plate and drink back to her seat.

"Are none of y'all curious about what they're doing in there?" Lloyd asked them.

"Curious? Yes. Willing to risk this job and possibly my life? No." Will remarked.

Lloyd shook his head. "I'm going to find Frederick." He stood up and turned around, with Ben in pursuit."

"Hey man, whatever you're planning, remember these machines they put us in are beyond deadly." Ben commented.

"So you're saying I have backup?"

"I'm saying two mechs versus one mech and a fleshy dude isn't going to go in our favor."

Out in the hall, the other two automatons had not moved an inch. Lloyd noticed neither of them had a broken hand. Either James got it fixed or James wasn't here. The fake wall appeared to be turned off, because it wasn't illuminated or see-through. He couldn't tell what was going on behind the door. The automaton on the right as Lloyd got closer.

"You aren't permitted to go through this area at this time." A male voice, but not James.

"I'm looking for Frederick Murray, do you have any idea where I can find him?"

"I do not." The automaton said coldly.

"Well, you can tell him I'm done for the day, because I'm leaving now."

Before Lloyd could even step forward, both of the automatons did.

"You have already been warned. Stand down, and return to your area."

Ben stepped in front of Lloyd, and Lloyd reached into his pocket.

"What is your identification number?" one automaton said to Ben.

"Why do you need to know?" he replied, aggression rising in his voice.

"Ladies, ladies, what's all the fuss?" said Frederick, walking up to the scene. Lloyd turned around but Ben only took a small glance before turning his attention back to the automatons in front of him.

"Tell me about this damn shortcut of yours." Lloyd replied, walking towards him.

"Why did Beth leave early? And how was she able to visit my room in local?"

"I sent her there. Local isn't private like your office is, er, was supposed to be. All of the patients go through it and its connected to every computer. I was made aware that Hatfield was distressed, and I thought a little help could go a long way."

"And this? Why are they blocking the waiting room?"

Someone knocked on the door and everyone turned around. The automatons guarding the entrance stepped aside as the door lit up and slid open, letting through multiple doctors and nurses with gurneys of unconscious clients. Each of them had a respirator mask on, leaving their IDs the only way to identify them. They moved by too quickly for him to see them, but he knew Meyer and Crowley were in the procession too.

Lloyd looked on in shock as they zipped past them as if they weren't even in the hallway. Lloyd saw the automatons moving forward and rushed past them, entering the waiting room. Multiple chairs had been knocked over. There were small traces of liquid on the floor, but he couldn't discern it because of the black glass. Someone was missing an entire shoe. Lloyd looked over to his right and saw Peter, slumped over his desk.

"HEY I NEED HELP!!!" Lloyd shouted. he ran to Peter's side and  checked his pulse.

"He's still alive, thank god. Ben, help me-"

"I got him," Ben replied, hoisting Peter up effortlessly. "He needs some fresh air."

"Take him to an open operating room." said Frederick, face completely hidden by the respirator mask.

Ben quickly marched out the room, ignoring the automatons in the hallway. Frederick and Lloyd stayed in the room, staring at one another.

"You might want to get out of this area quick," he advised. "Or put on a mask."

"What did you poison them with?"

"Carbon Monoxide." he stated bluntly.

"Don't you know that crap can be fatal?!" Lloyd shouted.

"That was the damn near the point!" Frederick yelled back. "Carbon Monoxide has no smell. It could give you headaches, little nausea and fatigue, and then unconsciousness. That's what I was going for, its that simple."

"Simple." Lloyd echoed. He looked ready to shoot Frederick himself.  "You're out of your damn mind."

"They've already signed the waivers! We have approval to put them into the system, how they get there is irrelevant."

"What happened to the therapy in transfer therapy? What happened to the reason me, Will, and Arthur was hired in the first place?" Lloyd questioned him.

"It still stands, just on a bigger scale for a moment, as we try this out. We will be transferring all of them, from local to New America, at the same time. They will see and interact with each other, they will see you three and talk to you, like a big AA meeting or something."

Lloyd closed his eyes and rubbed his temples, sighing. One day. He just wanted one day that wasn't a complete mess. That can't be too much to ask for.

"We gotta get you out of here and air out this area." said Frederick, leading him back into the hall.

"The gas isn't causing my headache, you are."  Lloyd grumbled, walking towards the hallway.

"I had to at least attempt this, to speed up the process." Frederick explained. "People have loved ones in the digital world that they want to be reunited with as soon as possible. You can't understand that Lloyd."

"Don't tell me what I don't understand." Lloyd warned him. "I have family in there that I'll probably never see again."

Frederick stopped walking, and at this point they were out of earshot of the automatons.

"What if I told you there was a way you could see them again?"