June 6, 2025 • 36 mins
Company Bravo arrives in Joiceville to complete their mission, but not everything goes according to protocol. Inside the Super Awesome Diner, tensions rise, old wounds reopen, and the line between duty and disaster blurs. As the team confronts strange technologies, personal reckonings, and increasingly unexplainable events, one thing becomes clear: Joiceville doesn’t play by the rules.
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Content Unit 447A, internally labeled Excuse Us, has been written, created, and performed by Rodrigo Pool. Blind Corp approves this message for distribution. By continuing to listen, you consent to all applicable policies, including those you have not yet been informed of.
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/excuse-us--6179435/support.
Content Unit 447A, internally labeled Excuse Us, has been written, created, and performed by Rodrigo Pool. Blind Corp approves this message for distribution. By continuing to listen, you consent to all applicable policies, including those you have not yet been informed of.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to Excuse Us. The podcast appeals back the layers
of a small town life, uncovering the hidden horrors lurking
just beneath the surface of Joyspell, North Carolina, from the
tale of a quaint little diner to the chilling corporate
secrets of Blind Corp. This is in your ordinary postpacolleptive
survival story. No, this is something much darker, much weirder,
much funnier, perhaps th all from the perspective of the
(00:25):
only survivor. You'll dive into a quirky, fragmented recollection of
chaos and growing dread that led to joy Spell's downfall.
Oh and a little bit of warning before we get started.
Excuse Us contains mature content intended for a mature audience,
a strong language, and lets you say, a rather twisted
sense of humor is intended. Little indiscretion is definitely advised.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
In the winter of the year twenty twenty something, Ernesto.
Miller was dumped by his fiance Catherine Lynn d on
a Thursday. The breakup took place in the frozen food
aisle of a small grocery store in Joyce, Bill, beside
a stack of discounter waffle boxes.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
You're a kind person, Ernesto. But I can't marry someone
who believes in emotional prepping for conversations that haven't happened yet.
Speaker 4 (01:27):
I kept a folder of protected outcomes to reduce stress.
Speaker 5 (01:30):
It's a coping tool exactly.
Speaker 3 (01:32):
That's why we're done. You kiss me like a mandatory assignment.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
She took the reusable bag and left. Ernesto remained his
breath visible, his expression unreadable. The waffles remained undutched. Four
days later, Ernesto submitted an application to join the Blind
Corporation's Private security division. He cited strategic heartbreak under reasons
(01:57):
for enlistment. His application was approving instantly. The organization appreciated
his handwriting. On day one, he was designed the name
Candidate two eight seven B. On day four, he has
to be called Jackie. No one objected. On day eight,
Jackie completed her training modules for basic combat, emotional suppression,
(02:19):
and long range pencil sharpening. Day twelve, she learned how
to field strip a rifle while reciting her worst memory.
Speaker 6 (02:28):
We adopted a cat. We named it maybe we lost it.
Within three days.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
West Anderson was her first deployment. It smelled of gunpowder
pond water and slightly burnt lentils. No one asked questions,
no one of her answers. Jackie liked it. There reminded
her of a boarding school, if the boarding school was
designed by fascists with a mid century esthetic. Two weeks
(02:54):
after her being stationed at West Anderson, Jackie was promoted
to lieutenant, not because of pallor or skill, but because
her predecessor was found building a shrine to the company's
missing CEO using uncooked rice and.
Speaker 6 (03:08):
Air effective immediately promotion Miller Ernesto Jackie title Lieutenant squad
Raba objective readiness.
Speaker 5 (03:17):
I hate the word readiness.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
In a quiet moment, Jackie mailed a letter to Katherine Lynde.
It was never opened. The return address simply read West
Anderson underneath in smaller letters, discipline through destonance. At West Anderson,
introductions were discouraged. A file was typically handed over as
(03:39):
a loot was optional. Eye contact was considered an intimacy
reserve for court martials. Nonetheless, Lieutenant Jackie Miller made private
Moon on her first day with a quiet inabailability of
a storm. Arriving slightly early.
Speaker 5 (03:52):
Name division, Why are you late in that order?
Speaker 7 (03:55):
Baba Moon? Transfer from a Seahawk Bay Division. Not late,
just early for the second part of my life. Sorry,
you speak like a brochure for trauma, better than sounding
like a back alley instruction manual for the bottled up feelings.
I always say they stare at.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
Each other for six full seconds, the exact threatful before
a military handbook requires somebody to say something constructive or
offer mild violence. Jackie chose the former, but heavily considered
the latter.
Speaker 6 (04:20):
Fine, Welcome to squad Brabo. You're replacing Private Jasper. He exploded.
Technically he imploded, and then he exploded.
Speaker 7 (04:28):
Where's the body? You'll find pieces of him around if
you're sentimental. I keep one for every person I survive.
Thought i'd start early with you. I don't die easily
now they did Jasper.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
One was emotionally embalmed and the other spiritually disintegrating, but
at West Anderson that counted as heavily compatible. They were
soon assigned joint supervision of Object Brabo, the warhead, the device,
the thing, then the locked room that hum when no
one was near it. They were told they didn't exist.
They also were told to guard it with their lives.
Both of them took the contradictions personally. Squad Bravo was
(05:03):
a four piece ensemble of mild dysfunction and muted disaster
led by Lieutenant Jackie Don't call me that Miller that
were trained to obey, surveil, detonate, and politely ignore each
other's breakdowns. Private Shaw, the squad's resident beer philosopher. His
personal motto was I drink IPAs because they taste like pain,
(05:24):
and I respect myself.
Speaker 8 (05:26):
Show which one are you MoU the torture of one
of the secret genius.
Speaker 9 (05:31):
Yes, Private Utah.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
He sanitizes on MRIs and had never been hugged voluntarily.
He believed most diseases started with handshakes and that trust
was best sterilized before use.
Speaker 10 (05:44):
You'll all die faster if you keep touching doorknobs like that.
Speaker 9 (05:48):
Don't worry man. Death builds immunity.
Speaker 10 (05:51):
So does bleach.
Speaker 2 (05:52):
Because which one I trust more?
Speaker 9 (05:54):
Rookie?
Speaker 2 (05:55):
Rookie's name was unknown. He smiled too much, asked too
many questions, and still call Sergeant Richards sir, even though
Richards told him not to. He thought this was a
place where people could change the world. He was wrong.
Speaker 4 (06:09):
So when we get a sign our armor updates. Do
we get the themes on? Do we squads get one
of those our squad We're Brabo right, Oh, he's adorable.
Speaker 9 (06:18):
Can we keep him?
Speaker 7 (06:19):
He's already been claimed and so.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
Squad Brabo was complete hypochondriac, a hipster statist, a lost idealist,
and a woman who had seen too much and spoken
too little. Together, they would guard the device that didn't exist,
prepare a war that had been technically in it, and
fall apart one operation at a time. Before he joined
(06:49):
Squad Brabo, he had no name, no known training, no
verifiable paperwork, but he had exceptional aim in an unsettling
comfort with explosives. So blank Or gave him a name, Sanchez,
which is not necessarily his real name, but sounded good
in a mission report, like someone you could trust with
a morally complicated order or with tacos.
Speaker 11 (07:11):
Well, come private to the office of Sergeant Richards. Please
es take your name and rank for the record.
Speaker 4 (07:16):
Rookie, second Division of forty second Squad no rank yet
still in review. I think it's been unclear.
Speaker 11 (07:23):
Well, thank you, private, rookie. What is the nature of
your visit?
Speaker 4 (07:26):
I am here to request an audience with Sergeant.
Speaker 11 (07:28):
Richards uh huh, well I could have guessed that. What's
the nature of your visit?
Speaker 4 (07:32):
It is sensitive. I prefer to discuss it only with
Sergeant Richards.
Speaker 11 (07:36):
But that's adorable. But we don't operate on feelings here,
private rookie. We operate on a chain of command in
a vague existential dread. Now again, what's the nature of
your visits? I want to quit another one? Yes, and
what's the reason for this sudden bursts of an ampatriotic clarity?
Speaker 4 (07:55):
I believe I am morally incompatible with chemical warfare?
Speaker 11 (07:59):
Uhh and what do you think? This is? Green peace?
Speaker 12 (08:02):
Now?
Speaker 9 (08:03):
What is the nature of this disruption? Receptionist? Who is
this man with the eyebrows of a guilty poet?
Speaker 11 (08:10):
Sir, he pull us pedygun salace on me? Wouldn't wait?
Speaker 9 (08:14):
No, no, mister Gonzalis, What is the meaning of this?
My name is not tragic? Really, because now I'm craving
carnitas wrapped in disappointment.
Speaker 7 (08:25):
There's a place outside the compound. Five dollars tacos cash only,
real tortill Yes.
Speaker 11 (08:30):
Five dollars absolutely not. No meat worth digestion should cost
less than my conditioner.
Speaker 4 (08:36):
Yeah.
Speaker 9 (08:36):
Now, now, receptionist, which I assume is your Christian given name.
Never judge at taco by its price point. Wars have
been fought for less, usually if by men with smaller
arms and larger opinions and even smaller appendages.
Speaker 4 (08:51):
Sir, I cam here to resign. I don't think I
belong in this world?
Speaker 9 (08:56):
What would you say? Something like that?
Speaker 2 (08:58):
Nobody?
Speaker 9 (08:59):
Nobody beloves us in any war, especially this war, or
any other word or the passwords. Nobody even lungs in war.
That's what makes it fair.
Speaker 7 (09:08):
Also, also he's got good instincts. He can reassemble a
drone in forty five seconds while.
Speaker 9 (09:16):
Crying emotional resilience. I like that. Now, what's your speciality,
mister Gonzalez?
Speaker 4 (09:23):
For some reason, I was assigned the monarker Sanchez.
Speaker 9 (09:26):
God damn it, child, answer my question?
Speaker 4 (09:28):
Yeah, communications and empathy and also minor in moral objection.
She is why I am here?
Speaker 2 (09:34):
You ever killed someone with a landmine made out of
all snack rappers and a hurt feelings?
Speaker 1 (09:39):
Boy?
Speaker 9 (09:40):
No, sir, eh, excellent, a blank canvas. Welcome to squad Brabo.
Speaker 4 (09:45):
Wait, I wasn't I quit him too late?
Speaker 9 (09:48):
Bitch? You've been selected for a sexual combat.
Speaker 11 (09:52):
He means psychological warfare.
Speaker 7 (09:55):
Usually welcome to the family, Jake.
Speaker 2 (09:57):
Now just like that the nameless boy who try to
leave state because in blank orb resignation is just a
longer deployment.
Speaker 9 (10:12):
Excellent, you'll fit right.
Speaker 11 (10:14):
And this is how you get new recruits. Now threaten
them with cultural food metaphors and moral collapse.
Speaker 9 (10:22):
They always are the best ways. Receptionist.
Speaker 4 (10:27):
That is your name, right, So I'm not the end
of discharge, not just discharge.
Speaker 13 (10:32):
This isn't a breakfast buffet start of a biscuit. You
don't just stop eating the curry because it gets all
curled up and weird. You stop eating even after it
makes you tell me old, sour and shit. You requested
to join us by name.
Speaker 4 (10:48):
Remember that I don't recall that, sir.
Speaker 9 (10:50):
You screamed it in your sleep during the chemical hallucination
hallucination have hallucination trials. How the fuck do you say
that word doesn't matter? Something about sexual combat and dying
in honor? Since the worm God's mouth, the word god's
mouth snrap mouse, smash mouth, smash mouth. That was me
(11:15):
the nineties band. This makes no sense.
Speaker 11 (11:18):
Mm hm, that was a weird Tuesday.
Speaker 7 (11:20):
He tried to wrestle a nding machine and call that
Emperor regret you.
Speaker 9 (11:24):
Show promise that day, raw sticky promise, promised, like the
one if you were to cut a young saplet and
it was ready to give you delicious syrup. I'm pretty
sure that's how it works. So we've made it official.
You're hours now, kid boy, child, infant, ooh spring, that's
(11:46):
how you say that.
Speaker 7 (11:46):
Word, right right, Come on, rookie, I'll show you the
art marine where we keep the good cereal. Also, when
we cry and no.
Speaker 4 (11:56):
One's looking, do I get a nick name, like a
cool nickname.
Speaker 9 (12:00):
That is a lot of crying, We shall henceforth call
you Jake. Why Jake, because someone needs to.
Speaker 7 (12:06):
Be Seahawk had a marina, a lighthouse, and a bakery
that made the worst lemon bars in the county. It
(12:29):
was my home. Now it's the crater that hums when
the moon's out. Blindcorps showed up to install for structure upgrades,
which is bureaucratic to speak for chemical weapon tests. They
said it would bring jobs. Instead it brought screaming and
fire that didn't behave like fire.
Speaker 2 (12:50):
Private Moon was homeschooled by her mother. Her father repaired oats.
One day, he came back home coughing. Three days later
he chewed through the kitchen table. Four days after that,
he wasn't her father anymore.
Speaker 7 (13:04):
We didn't call them psalombies. That was too simple recall them.
They're gone, because even when they were there, they weren't.
I watched my best friend Leela fall off the dock
trying to pull her brother out of the water. The
brother had no eyes, just humming where his mouth used
(13:27):
to be.
Speaker 2 (13:27):
Blankorp issued a containment order and then let Sea Hawk
Bay on fire.
Speaker 7 (13:33):
I walked out of that place barefoot. No one stopped me,
no one asked questions. I don't think they noticed I
was alive. After that, the days stopped lining up. They
just stopped. Sometimes I see Sea Hawk Bay when I
close my eyes. Sometimes I hear my father humming. Sometimes
(13:58):
I think maybe I died.
Speaker 5 (14:01):
There, But you didn't, Private Moon, you did not die there.
Speaker 7 (14:05):
Maybe not in the literal sense. Come up, that'd be silly.
But parts of me were claimed and the rest well.
I gave that to Blindcorp, piece by piece until I
was useful again.
Speaker 2 (14:18):
She fell for military reassignment under an alias. Scored in
the top one percentile for her controlled detachment, gave birth
to a child who was quickly given into adoption, was
flagged as ethically flexible with create a problem solving instincts.
Assigned to West Anderson without ceremony.
Speaker 7 (14:40):
Hmm, now I've got a squad, a uniform, a family,
an omission. Funny, isn't it. You lose everything and somehow
you become the perfect employee. Thank you, Blindcorp. You saved
my life.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
In rare moments when we were training, when they were training,
not me. I wasn't there, not dying or filling out
death paperwork, a lot of death. Squad brobo was allowed
twenty seven minutes uninterrupted of unsupervised decompression. It was encouraged
they use this time for bonding. No one defined what
(15:33):
that meant, so they.
Speaker 8 (15:35):
Guessed, all right, cards on the table, no crying aloud,
who's your hot? Sex with a supervisor officer?
Speaker 9 (15:42):
That's widly inappropriate. Gross.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
I didn't say yes either.
Speaker 10 (15:47):
I was choking on a multibidamin rose not inappropriate stuff?
Speaker 9 (15:52):
Ah, bloody?
Speaker 8 (15:53):
Hell am I the only one who hasn't done it?
Speaker 1 (15:54):
Oh?
Speaker 9 (15:54):
Your fuckers didn't say you didn't.
Speaker 4 (15:56):
I once kissed the sergeant during a drill reel. Technically
I was aiming for her whistle.
Speaker 7 (16:02):
That sounds weirdly noble.
Speaker 4 (16:04):
Gross it was. She gave me a sticker afterward.
Speaker 7 (16:08):
Seahawk Bait had sticker books too, but you only feel
them when your neighbors stop coming back.
Speaker 2 (16:14):
Geez.
Speaker 5 (16:15):
It was nice, pretty embarrassing.
Speaker 7 (16:16):
It's kind of like, oh, they're not going back, Oh
they're dead. That's well.
Speaker 10 (16:20):
Actually, I once aphata alphabetized and my own blot sample.
Speaker 8 (16:24):
That's the most utah things. Not that hard I've ever
heard you say utah.
Speaker 6 (16:31):
I used to write letters to my ex even after
she stopped reading them. Eventually I stopped sending them. Now
I just file them under completed operations.
Speaker 4 (16:42):
I like it here even when I don't.
Speaker 7 (16:44):
You know, yeah, I know.
Speaker 8 (16:46):
Gross, or your motherfucker's gross. All right, new game. Everyone
named something that it's not awfully gross. They've saved this
place if it all went up in flats go Yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
My sign of Tizer style for.
Speaker 4 (17:00):
Sure, my cassette player, Moon's cassette player.
Speaker 6 (17:04):
The Protoco manual, and maybe the recipe for those burnt
rice cubes in.
Speaker 8 (17:11):
The me I'll say Rookie because he's the only one
Dominov to think I'm a good person.
Speaker 4 (17:16):
You are a good person.
Speaker 7 (17:18):
That's nice.
Speaker 4 (17:18):
Look at his fuck what see?
Speaker 9 (17:20):
This is what I mean.
Speaker 5 (17:21):
You guys are locy shit, wonderfully weird.
Speaker 2 (17:25):
Precisely seven hundred hours is squad probably assembled in the
briefing room B seventeen, a space indistinguishable from a storage closet, say,
for the projector screen and the lingering scent of stale coffee.
Speaker 14 (17:40):
All right, this is the device that goes boom and
coincidentally doesn't go boom. I don't know why the fuck
they named it that ate you quiet in the back. Okay,
Officially it's a Class seven containment disruption apparatus. Officially it's
a big bomb. Unofficially it doesn't exist. Yeah, any questions,
(18:01):
no question.
Speaker 9 (18:02):
You fucking name that straightforward.
Speaker 2 (18:05):
I appreciate that. Honestly.
Speaker 14 (18:06):
Your mission is to transport the device to Sector seven
coordinates four to seven point three by one two two
point five. There you'll activate it. Actually, most of it
will be there. You will just assembling it, putting it together,
will make some test runs, and then you'll detonate it.
Speaker 4 (18:24):
What happens after activation goes boom?
Speaker 14 (18:27):
Actually a dozen It is a high frequency sonar sound.
So it's just it does it? So it melts brains,
is going to melt brains, so take the appropriate precautions.
Speaker 4 (18:37):
Next, Oh, okay, are we are we going to be okay?
Speaker 7 (18:41):
Any collateral damage expected?
Speaker 13 (18:44):
Yes?
Speaker 7 (18:44):
Civilians possibly got it?
Speaker 1 (18:47):
Yeah?
Speaker 8 (18:48):
Well, was the strategic objected classified?
Speaker 14 (18:52):
Lieutenant Miller. You're the leader of the operation.
Speaker 5 (18:55):
Acknowledged team.
Speaker 6 (18:56):
This is compression operation only everyone out there is fucking
dead already, so we're just gonna.
Speaker 5 (19:03):
Pop some hits and get the mission done. This is
a containment operation. Understand h w A K initiative.
Speaker 6 (19:10):
Has failed and now we need to contain it. Correct, correct,
let's go.
Speaker 9 (19:16):
Dismissed.
Speaker 14 (19:17):
I don't want any civilians harm, but if you need
to get rid of the mall, we want no witnesses.
This is a clear operation. Is this code Zeta blue?
As you understand this and I do too. This conversation
never happened, and whatever you do underfield never took place.
Speaker 5 (19:35):
Thank you.
Speaker 14 (19:36):
Everyone's dismissed, lieuten of Miller.
Speaker 6 (19:42):
I get one on the left, flank one on the left,
take him out of a silencer, please advice Mark, got it.
Speaker 5 (19:52):
Now, Good job.
Speaker 6 (19:56):
Acoustic disintegration opparatus model eight eighty three. And this is
catastrophic neural failure via supersonic vibrations, not a bomb. A
good job, by the way, no explosion, just everything stops working.
Speaker 5 (20:13):
Great.
Speaker 6 (20:13):
I love these mind Corp my blind corp, fucking mindgame manuals.
Speaker 7 (20:18):
It's quieter that way.
Speaker 5 (20:20):
They don't scream.
Speaker 7 (20:21):
Their brains don't know how he it shuts down, boom,
lights out, Like in Book of Mormon.
Speaker 5 (20:26):
You read the file.
Speaker 7 (20:27):
I didn't have to. I watched him in Seahawk Bay,
m yet I watched it, heard it hum through the
walls while I held my own aunt dound with a
coffee table. Yeah, this happened.
Speaker 6 (20:43):
Was Modular is designed for inconspicuous urban transit. Five point
six kilos of subtle murder. It comes in two cases,
so it looks like you're just gamping camps with lithium
nickel cobalt power cell.
Speaker 5 (21:00):
Is this fallout?
Speaker 7 (21:02):
I know? Uh, nerves of steal? What was the faction?
Never mind, that's the verification beacon seal for the Brotherhood.
That's the one that was the Brotherhood is steal like
a heartbeat?
Speaker 6 (21:15):
Then command, No, we're still here, still on schedule? What?
Speaker 7 (21:20):
Yeah, it's like a baby monitor for war crimes. Uh huh, great.
Speaker 3 (21:25):
Isn't it?
Speaker 5 (21:26):
You always talk this way? Only one.
Speaker 7 (21:29):
I'm around people who deserve.
Speaker 5 (21:30):
Honestly, all right, Aris Smith, let's go. What am I
to you?
Speaker 12 (21:34):
You're someone who's too smart to still be pretending this
mission makes sense and too kind to admit she's already
planning to go through with with it anyway.
Speaker 5 (21:44):
They said scene may be active.
Speaker 12 (21:46):
That's you.
Speaker 5 (21:47):
The Hawk initiative is still in there. That didn't say
what it is.
Speaker 6 (21:52):
It just that activating the ADA eighty three would make
sure no one would ever find out.
Speaker 12 (21:59):
A funny they keep building these weapons, but they never
ask what kind of person comes back from using them.
Speaker 5 (22:06):
We're basically a kleeck to watch out on your.
Speaker 12 (22:08):
Left, on your sixteen Yes, take him out, thing.
Speaker 7 (22:12):
Though, copy these questions you're This thing doesn't explode, It erases,
It vibrates you out of your own memories. It homes
like a lullaby when it stops. So do you I
need to know?
Speaker 12 (22:29):
Are you planning something?
Speaker 7 (22:31):
Of course I am. Have we met? Well, you tell
me what it is only if you promise not to
stop me.
Speaker 12 (22:40):
I can't promise that.
Speaker 7 (22:42):
Moon then I'll tell you when it's too late.
Speaker 2 (22:44):
The device kept humming, and for the first time in years,
Jackie Miller realized she was afraid not a failure, but
of what success might look like.
Speaker 12 (22:58):
Do you think you can grow in the potted field?
Shut the fuck up?
Speaker 7 (23:04):
Shot, Shut the fuck up?
Speaker 12 (23:06):
Oh well, I see Now that's the frequency.
Speaker 10 (23:09):
Okay, we're on side whenever you guys are done fucking
around the communications.
Speaker 15 (23:15):
Over Yeah, okigure, but this one's different.
Speaker 7 (23:50):
No, they're all the same. I like it. They're all
the same.
Speaker 4 (23:55):
No, this one's warmer, like it was made before all
the bad all the bad things.
Speaker 7 (24:01):
Happened, before everything went to hell.
Speaker 12 (24:03):
Yeah.
Speaker 7 (24:03):
I used to catalog bird calls, had a little journal, sketches,
time stamps, the good kind, good kind of stamps, all right,
made up names for them like, Yeah, I have one
what's called the red throated spiral ghost drap pepper, a
warbling liar.
Speaker 4 (24:24):
That last one sounds like Sean.
Speaker 7 (24:27):
I'm sorry, yes, accurate, it's accurate. In fact, you remind
me of someone I never met.
Speaker 4 (24:35):
Sorry, except you.
Speaker 7 (24:38):
Would listen more and you didn't could turn inside out
by a test run. I'm hoping, you know, hoping. Do
you think would have been your age right about now.
It's a compliment. It's a compliment. Okay, we're gonna make
(24:59):
it back, all right, Yeah, I think we're gonna make
it back. You out of all of us, I mean,
you will. Rules it is what it is. Rookie always
makes it back.
Speaker 12 (25:11):
You bet.
Speaker 4 (25:12):
Think about quitting, just walking off into the trees and
pretending this isn't your life.
Speaker 7 (25:17):
I did once, But when I got to the edge
of the forest, I realized I didn't know how to
be a person anymore, no different, And these gunners just
a tool that wasn't done being use.
Speaker 4 (25:33):
You're not a tool. You're one of the good ones.
Speaker 7 (25:37):
You think that.
Speaker 4 (25:38):
Now something goes wrong tomorrow, and I mean really wrong.
I want you to know I wasn't scared cheat not
with you.
Speaker 2 (25:51):
Around Sector nine Exterior Perimeter, Company BRABO arrives on schedule
nineteen minutes before the first firm casualty. They are not
to breathe from the nature of the outbreak. They are
told only secure the area. I wait for their orders.
No orders ever.
Speaker 5 (26:11):
Come, Lieutenant Miller.
Speaker 6 (26:13):
Company BRABO has established position Target structure, a retro fitted
themed fucking name is that this super awesome. Fucking are
you kidding me? Lights are on, no visual on civilians.
I know this fucking place, God damn it.
Speaker 16 (26:31):
Confound stand by, repeat stand by code veronica in effect,
I repeat stand by and await instructions like a code
veronica that's not a real part of car.
Speaker 8 (26:44):
Means things are going to get very weird, very fast.
Speaker 12 (26:48):
Keep your eyes open, Princess, Jake, Jackie, Jake, stay close
to me.
Speaker 4 (26:54):
My name's not Jake. Okay, okay.
Speaker 2 (27:00):
One hundred and forty seven hours and unidentified figure stumbles
from the woods behind the diner. Bravo response, heracle fails,
Instinct kick in, and someone hans.
Speaker 12 (27:14):
What was my conness? Connas? The circling round back, the
circling round back. Blood you, oh man, oh no, it's
just gonna be the wrong.
Speaker 4 (27:31):
God, what's that.
Speaker 12 (27:35):
Don't talk, don't don't don't talk.
Speaker 7 (27:38):
You're okay, You're okay, come on, you're okay, okay.
Speaker 12 (27:42):
Yeah, I'm leaving everywhere.
Speaker 4 (27:43):
Yeah, okay, you've lied again.
Speaker 12 (27:52):
They shut him. He wasn't even armed. We didn't see,
We couldn't. We couldn't. Okay, we we.
Speaker 6 (28:02):
Donkey poop all right to focus focus focus A similar
device Moon shot inside. Now now ride the buck now
it's gone, move.
Speaker 12 (28:14):
Past still more humm m hm hmm okay Hi.
Speaker 2 (28:25):
Just like that, the mission changes shape. One life gone,
one device, arming, one squad unraveling. Then casualty would not
be by accident. The Bravo unit reaches the diner inside
overturned chairs, ketchup packages.
Speaker 9 (28:42):
Burst like wounds.
Speaker 2 (28:44):
The air is thick with gas, stove heated, bloody odor,
and something far more wrong. There is no longer a mission.
It's a memory unraveling in real time.
Speaker 8 (28:56):
You clear the booth, chuckolate light, check of the lights.
Speaker 6 (29:01):
Oh and weapons understune on this you are sure it's
turned okay. If you're sure, then take him out.
Speaker 12 (29:07):
I'm sorry, I'm standing here.
Speaker 5 (29:09):
Your get up.
Speaker 2 (29:12):
Wit Wait no, no, no, wait wait wait.
Speaker 7 (29:13):
Wait whoa whoa, Kevin's gone.
Speaker 9 (29:18):
Holding hell, he's a parlor.
Speaker 7 (29:21):
Don't say you blew him off, not in a fun way.
Speaker 2 (29:26):
Outside.
Speaker 9 (29:27):
The cook had made his choice.
Speaker 2 (29:29):
A gallon of gasoline, a flare gun, larder ThM than
no one asked for.
Speaker 5 (29:34):
Fucking name it.
Speaker 9 (29:35):
That's well done, that was cook.
Speaker 7 (29:38):
Everyone fall back to the north wall, secure the eighty
A eighty three. It's all on rap and leka just
like last time. My god, you killed Jake kid or he.
Speaker 8 (29:51):
Rented the line of fire. You'll shut him, not just me.
Speaker 7 (29:56):
I saw you, you banick, you'd always.
Speaker 9 (30:00):
Mmmmmm don't get weird.
Speaker 8 (30:02):
Only now okay, we'll crackling a little bit.
Speaker 7 (30:05):
Jake respected me. You listen, when none of you would.
Speaker 9 (30:11):
You worship you thought you were some kind of tragic saint.
Speaker 7 (30:15):
And you kill them?
Speaker 8 (30:19):
What don't don't do this, don't.
Speaker 7 (30:22):
Do this, already done.
Speaker 5 (30:25):
Everyone stopped doing things.
Speaker 9 (30:26):
Jesus Christ, that's no.
Speaker 7 (30:30):
Big Daddy, don't need to know what little sister's doing.
Speaker 8 (30:33):
I have fu this.
Speaker 12 (30:34):
What do you mean?
Speaker 7 (30:34):
What do you think The most fitting way for you
to go is to feel exactly what you help create.
Speaker 5 (30:41):
Yeah, it's easy.
Speaker 16 (30:43):
Given no no, no no no no, no, no no no.
Speaker 2 (30:57):
The walls grown the eighty eight eighty three pulses, and
one by one, every lie gets closer to its detonation point.
Company Bravo was never trained to handle betrayal, emotion, or
setting bites to the neck. Nonetheless, they now had all three.
Speaker 17 (31:20):
This mad woman just killed the only person that could
synthesize a proper vaccine.
Speaker 7 (31:24):
She had it coming. Oh yeah, how many musicals have
we referenced it?
Speaker 1 (31:28):
What did she do?
Speaker 3 (31:29):
Sorry, I can't hear you. You kind of mumble when
you commit treason.
Speaker 17 (31:36):
She dragged doctor Susan Lee d d outside. Now now
she's been eaten alive, like badly stored leftovers. Yeah, and
she also killed that guy.
Speaker 7 (31:50):
That guy, he's not dead, he's just sleeping off. Yeah,
well whatever, Yes, sleeping off, a betrayal, hangover.
Speaker 12 (31:59):
A.
Speaker 5 (32:06):
Untolerated subordination in my troops or irony.
Speaker 9 (32:11):
Okay, that's that's where things are. Jesus, I can't take
this anymore.
Speaker 17 (32:15):
I'm freaking out me and your root. You're a horrible
You're a mean girl with a.
Speaker 9 (32:21):
Gun and no charisma.
Speaker 5 (32:23):
Kid breathe, don't.
Speaker 17 (32:24):
You kid me, you arrogant punk as diner demon. You
don't know me, you don't even like me. I'm a person,
damn it.
Speaker 5 (32:33):
I thank you.
Speaker 16 (32:36):
It was his face.
Speaker 3 (32:39):
I just wanted to punch it in put repeatedly, like
from the minute I saw him.
Speaker 7 (32:42):
Yeah, I just walked in.
Speaker 2 (32:44):
You know for me too, that's just I just want
to Wow, there's a lot of carnage.
Speaker 4 (32:50):
Sir, ma'am, Sir, Sarah, ma'am, Sir.
Speaker 10 (32:52):
The device is ready, fantastic, accepts, expect accept manual detonation
screen is busted, but I have this handed andy remote detonator.
Speaker 9 (33:07):
Yeah, I'm always prepared.
Speaker 10 (33:08):
M just one button, one button, elegant and lethal like
a poem chefs.
Speaker 5 (33:17):
I feel nothing about that. I'm a different person today,
you know what.
Speaker 3 (33:21):
I feel nothing about it.
Speaker 5 (33:22):
Correct responds.
Speaker 6 (33:23):
Nobody liked them except maybe the bending machine, and that's
just pure speculation.
Speaker 5 (33:28):
Then interfect me.
Speaker 3 (33:29):
I can move on.
Speaker 5 (33:31):
If you can't do this, Jah.
Speaker 6 (33:34):
Already dead, Bomb's arm NERD's dead. Very productive morning.
Speaker 3 (33:38):
I will say, I'm not gonna lead.
Speaker 5 (33:39):
Yeah, that's the Moon's gun. It's rigged, recalls a donkey.
Bell's crooked. Unless you're a private moon, It'll miss everything.
Speaker 3 (33:47):
I've always had, bad aim. I'm not scared of missing.
I'm scared of not trying.
Speaker 6 (33:53):
She got exposed to the red chemical. You know, Seahawk
Bay heard of it. Soul survivor allegedly.
Speaker 7 (34:00):
Shut up, shop shut shut it shut.
Speaker 5 (34:06):
Shoot, God damn it, my organs. I need those to live.
Just go, you stop, and you stop. I was in
love with you, you fucking idiot.
Speaker 9 (34:20):
Oh, both of them.
Speaker 2 (34:22):
Four in that sad predictable way people do when they
run out of backup plans.
Speaker 5 (34:28):
I know, no, yeah, okay, let's get this done.
Speaker 12 (34:44):
Shut six four three two two what sister?
Speaker 5 (34:58):
Excuse me? I'll don't keep book.
Speaker 3 (35:14):
This episode is made possible by listeners link you visit
our website at lifdesign dot net, forward slash excuse Us.
Speaker 2 (35:22):
For support or additional information, please visit our website or
Patreon page at Patreon dot com Forward slash.
Speaker 3 (35:29):
Block ule Art tonight's production of Excuse Us, a mystery
drama with delightful undertones of humor and eldertor.
Speaker 18 (35:38):
What's produced by Rebecca lake Pool and rodrigole Pool, Written
and directed and performed by rodrigal Pool in association with
R and R Side Audio Theater.
Speaker 3 (35:49):
Music and sound effects by Epidemic Sound. Some other sound
effects are recorded live on set.
Speaker 7 (35:55):
Voice modulation by eleven Mats.
Speaker 3 (35:58):
If you're enjoying this production, please make sure to review
or subscribe to our show. Wherever you listen to your podcast.
Speaker 2 (36:05):
Check out our Patreon page for bonus content.
Speaker 5 (36:08):
Until next time, this is Rodrigo
Speaker 2 (36:12):
Paul saying thank you very much for listening.
Welcome to Excuse Us. The podcast appeals back the layers
of a small town life, uncovering the hidden horrors lurking
just beneath the surface of Joyspell, North Carolina, from the
tale of a quaint little diner to the chilling corporate
secrets of Blind Corp. This is in your ordinary postpacolleptive
survival story. No, this is something much darker, much weirder,
much funnier, perhaps th all from the perspective of the
(00:25):
only survivor. You'll dive into a quirky, fragmented recollection of
chaos and growing dread that led to joy Spell's downfall.
Oh and a little bit of warning before we get started.
Excuse Us contains mature content intended for a mature audience,
a strong language, and lets you say, a rather twisted
sense of humor is intended. Little indiscretion is definitely advised.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
In the winter of the year twenty twenty something, Ernesto.
Miller was dumped by his fiance Catherine Lynn d on
a Thursday. The breakup took place in the frozen food
aisle of a small grocery store in Joyce, Bill, beside
a stack of discounter waffle boxes.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
You're a kind person, Ernesto. But I can't marry someone
who believes in emotional prepping for conversations that haven't happened yet.
Speaker 4 (01:27):
I kept a folder of protected outcomes to reduce stress.
Speaker 5 (01:30):
It's a coping tool exactly.
Speaker 3 (01:32):
That's why we're done. You kiss me like a mandatory assignment.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
She took the reusable bag and left. Ernesto remained his
breath visible, his expression unreadable. The waffles remained undutched. Four
days later, Ernesto submitted an application to join the Blind
Corporation's Private security division. He cited strategic heartbreak under reasons
(01:57):
for enlistment. His application was approving instantly. The organization appreciated
his handwriting. On day one, he was designed the name
Candidate two eight seven B. On day four, he has
to be called Jackie. No one objected. On day eight,
Jackie completed her training modules for basic combat, emotional suppression,
(02:19):
and long range pencil sharpening. Day twelve, she learned how
to field strip a rifle while reciting her worst memory.
Speaker 6 (02:28):
We adopted a cat. We named it maybe we lost it.
Within three days.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
West Anderson was her first deployment. It smelled of gunpowder
pond water and slightly burnt lentils. No one asked questions,
no one of her answers. Jackie liked it. There reminded
her of a boarding school, if the boarding school was
designed by fascists with a mid century esthetic. Two weeks
(02:54):
after her being stationed at West Anderson, Jackie was promoted
to lieutenant, not because of pallor or skill, but because
her predecessor was found building a shrine to the company's
missing CEO using uncooked rice and.
Speaker 6 (03:08):
Air effective immediately promotion Miller Ernesto Jackie title Lieutenant squad
Raba objective readiness.
Speaker 5 (03:17):
I hate the word readiness.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
In a quiet moment, Jackie mailed a letter to Katherine Lynde.
It was never opened. The return address simply read West
Anderson underneath in smaller letters, discipline through destonance. At West Anderson,
introductions were discouraged. A file was typically handed over as
(03:39):
a loot was optional. Eye contact was considered an intimacy
reserve for court martials. Nonetheless, Lieutenant Jackie Miller made private
Moon on her first day with a quiet inabailability of
a storm. Arriving slightly early.
Speaker 5 (03:52):
Name division, Why are you late in that order?
Speaker 7 (03:55):
Baba Moon? Transfer from a Seahawk Bay Division. Not late,
just early for the second part of my life. Sorry,
you speak like a brochure for trauma, better than sounding
like a back alley instruction manual for the bottled up feelings.
I always say they stare at.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
Each other for six full seconds, the exact threatful before
a military handbook requires somebody to say something constructive or
offer mild violence. Jackie chose the former, but heavily considered
the latter.
Speaker 6 (04:20):
Fine, Welcome to squad Brabo. You're replacing Private Jasper. He exploded.
Technically he imploded, and then he exploded.
Speaker 7 (04:28):
Where's the body? You'll find pieces of him around if
you're sentimental. I keep one for every person I survive.
Thought i'd start early with you. I don't die easily
now they did Jasper.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
One was emotionally embalmed and the other spiritually disintegrating, but
at West Anderson that counted as heavily compatible. They were
soon assigned joint supervision of Object Brabo, the warhead, the device,
the thing, then the locked room that hum when no
one was near it. They were told they didn't exist.
They also were told to guard it with their lives.
Both of them took the contradictions personally. Squad Bravo was
(05:03):
a four piece ensemble of mild dysfunction and muted disaster
led by Lieutenant Jackie Don't call me that Miller that
were trained to obey, surveil, detonate, and politely ignore each
other's breakdowns. Private Shaw, the squad's resident beer philosopher. His
personal motto was I drink IPAs because they taste like pain,
(05:24):
and I respect myself.
Speaker 8 (05:26):
Show which one are you MoU the torture of one
of the secret genius.
Speaker 9 (05:31):
Yes, Private Utah.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
He sanitizes on MRIs and had never been hugged voluntarily.
He believed most diseases started with handshakes and that trust
was best sterilized before use.
Speaker 10 (05:44):
You'll all die faster if you keep touching doorknobs like that.
Speaker 9 (05:48):
Don't worry man. Death builds immunity.
Speaker 10 (05:51):
So does bleach.
Speaker 2 (05:52):
Because which one I trust more?
Speaker 9 (05:54):
Rookie?
Speaker 2 (05:55):
Rookie's name was unknown. He smiled too much, asked too
many questions, and still call Sergeant Richards sir, even though
Richards told him not to. He thought this was a
place where people could change the world. He was wrong.
Speaker 4 (06:09):
So when we get a sign our armor updates. Do
we get the themes on? Do we squads get one
of those our squad We're Brabo right, Oh, he's adorable.
Speaker 9 (06:18):
Can we keep him?
Speaker 7 (06:19):
He's already been claimed and so.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
Squad Brabo was complete hypochondriac, a hipster statist, a lost idealist,
and a woman who had seen too much and spoken
too little. Together, they would guard the device that didn't exist,
prepare a war that had been technically in it, and
fall apart one operation at a time. Before he joined
(06:49):
Squad Brabo, he had no name, no known training, no
verifiable paperwork, but he had exceptional aim in an unsettling
comfort with explosives. So blank Or gave him a name, Sanchez,
which is not necessarily his real name, but sounded good
in a mission report, like someone you could trust with
a morally complicated order or with tacos.
Speaker 11 (07:11):
Well, come private to the office of Sergeant Richards. Please
es take your name and rank for the record.
Speaker 4 (07:16):
Rookie, second Division of forty second Squad no rank yet
still in review. I think it's been unclear.
Speaker 11 (07:23):
Well, thank you, private, rookie. What is the nature of
your visit?
Speaker 4 (07:26):
I am here to request an audience with Sergeant.
Speaker 11 (07:28):
Richards uh huh, well I could have guessed that. What's
the nature of your visit?
Speaker 4 (07:32):
It is sensitive. I prefer to discuss it only with
Sergeant Richards.
Speaker 11 (07:36):
But that's adorable. But we don't operate on feelings here,
private rookie. We operate on a chain of command in
a vague existential dread. Now again, what's the nature of
your visits? I want to quit another one? Yes, and
what's the reason for this sudden bursts of an ampatriotic clarity?
Speaker 4 (07:55):
I believe I am morally incompatible with chemical warfare?
Speaker 11 (07:59):
Uhh and what do you think? This is? Green peace?
Speaker 12 (08:02):
Now?
Speaker 9 (08:03):
What is the nature of this disruption? Receptionist? Who is
this man with the eyebrows of a guilty poet?
Speaker 11 (08:10):
Sir, he pull us pedygun salace on me? Wouldn't wait?
Speaker 9 (08:14):
No, no, mister Gonzalis, What is the meaning of this?
My name is not tragic? Really, because now I'm craving
carnitas wrapped in disappointment.
Speaker 7 (08:25):
There's a place outside the compound. Five dollars tacos cash only,
real tortill Yes.
Speaker 11 (08:30):
Five dollars absolutely not. No meat worth digestion should cost
less than my conditioner.
Speaker 4 (08:36):
Yeah.
Speaker 9 (08:36):
Now, now, receptionist, which I assume is your Christian given name.
Never judge at taco by its price point. Wars have
been fought for less, usually if by men with smaller
arms and larger opinions and even smaller appendages.
Speaker 4 (08:51):
Sir, I cam here to resign. I don't think I
belong in this world?
Speaker 9 (08:56):
What would you say? Something like that?
Speaker 2 (08:58):
Nobody?
Speaker 9 (08:59):
Nobody beloves us in any war, especially this war, or
any other word or the passwords. Nobody even lungs in war.
That's what makes it fair.
Speaker 7 (09:08):
Also, also he's got good instincts. He can reassemble a
drone in forty five seconds while.
Speaker 9 (09:16):
Crying emotional resilience. I like that. Now, what's your speciality,
mister Gonzalez?
Speaker 4 (09:23):
For some reason, I was assigned the monarker Sanchez.
Speaker 9 (09:26):
God damn it, child, answer my question?
Speaker 4 (09:28):
Yeah, communications and empathy and also minor in moral objection.
She is why I am here?
Speaker 2 (09:34):
You ever killed someone with a landmine made out of
all snack rappers and a hurt feelings?
Speaker 1 (09:39):
Boy?
Speaker 9 (09:40):
No, sir, eh, excellent, a blank canvas. Welcome to squad Brabo.
Speaker 4 (09:45):
Wait, I wasn't I quit him too late?
Speaker 9 (09:48):
Bitch? You've been selected for a sexual combat.
Speaker 11 (09:52):
He means psychological warfare.
Speaker 7 (09:55):
Usually welcome to the family, Jake.
Speaker 2 (09:57):
Now just like that the nameless boy who try to
leave state because in blank orb resignation is just a
longer deployment.
Speaker 9 (10:12):
Excellent, you'll fit right.
Speaker 11 (10:14):
And this is how you get new recruits. Now threaten
them with cultural food metaphors and moral collapse.
Speaker 9 (10:22):
They always are the best ways. Receptionist.
Speaker 4 (10:27):
That is your name, right, So I'm not the end
of discharge, not just discharge.
Speaker 13 (10:32):
This isn't a breakfast buffet start of a biscuit. You
don't just stop eating the curry because it gets all
curled up and weird. You stop eating even after it
makes you tell me old, sour and shit. You requested
to join us by name.
Speaker 4 (10:48):
Remember that I don't recall that, sir.
Speaker 9 (10:50):
You screamed it in your sleep during the chemical hallucination
hallucination have hallucination trials. How the fuck do you say
that word doesn't matter? Something about sexual combat and dying
in honor? Since the worm God's mouth, the word god's
mouth snrap mouse, smash mouth, smash mouth. That was me
(11:15):
the nineties band. This makes no sense.
Speaker 11 (11:18):
Mm hm, that was a weird Tuesday.
Speaker 7 (11:20):
He tried to wrestle a nding machine and call that
Emperor regret you.
Speaker 9 (11:24):
Show promise that day, raw sticky promise, promised, like the
one if you were to cut a young saplet and
it was ready to give you delicious syrup. I'm pretty
sure that's how it works. So we've made it official.
You're hours now, kid boy, child, infant, ooh spring, that's
(11:46):
how you say that.
Speaker 7 (11:46):
Word, right right, Come on, rookie, I'll show you the
art marine where we keep the good cereal. Also, when
we cry and no.
Speaker 4 (11:56):
One's looking, do I get a nick name, like a
cool nickname.
Speaker 9 (12:00):
That is a lot of crying, We shall henceforth call
you Jake. Why Jake, because someone needs to.
Speaker 7 (12:06):
Be Seahawk had a marina, a lighthouse, and a bakery
that made the worst lemon bars in the county. It
(12:29):
was my home. Now it's the crater that hums when
the moon's out. Blindcorps showed up to install for structure upgrades,
which is bureaucratic to speak for chemical weapon tests. They
said it would bring jobs. Instead it brought screaming and
fire that didn't behave like fire.
Speaker 2 (12:50):
Private Moon was homeschooled by her mother. Her father repaired oats.
One day, he came back home coughing. Three days later
he chewed through the kitchen table. Four days after that,
he wasn't her father anymore.
Speaker 7 (13:04):
We didn't call them psalombies. That was too simple recall them.
They're gone, because even when they were there, they weren't.
I watched my best friend Leela fall off the dock
trying to pull her brother out of the water. The
brother had no eyes, just humming where his mouth used
(13:27):
to be.
Speaker 2 (13:27):
Blankorp issued a containment order and then let Sea Hawk
Bay on fire.
Speaker 7 (13:33):
I walked out of that place barefoot. No one stopped me,
no one asked questions. I don't think they noticed I
was alive. After that, the days stopped lining up. They
just stopped. Sometimes I see Sea Hawk Bay when I
close my eyes. Sometimes I hear my father humming. Sometimes
(13:58):
I think maybe I died.
Speaker 5 (14:01):
There, But you didn't, Private Moon, you did not die there.
Speaker 7 (14:05):
Maybe not in the literal sense. Come up, that'd be silly.
But parts of me were claimed and the rest well.
I gave that to Blindcorp, piece by piece until I
was useful again.
Speaker 2 (14:18):
She fell for military reassignment under an alias. Scored in
the top one percentile for her controlled detachment, gave birth
to a child who was quickly given into adoption, was
flagged as ethically flexible with create a problem solving instincts.
Assigned to West Anderson without ceremony.
Speaker 7 (14:40):
Hmm, now I've got a squad, a uniform, a family,
an omission. Funny, isn't it. You lose everything and somehow
you become the perfect employee. Thank you, Blindcorp. You saved
my life.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
In rare moments when we were training, when they were training,
not me. I wasn't there, not dying or filling out
death paperwork, a lot of death. Squad brobo was allowed
twenty seven minutes uninterrupted of unsupervised decompression. It was encouraged
they use this time for bonding. No one defined what
(15:33):
that meant, so they.
Speaker 8 (15:35):
Guessed, all right, cards on the table, no crying aloud,
who's your hot? Sex with a supervisor officer?
Speaker 9 (15:42):
That's widly inappropriate. Gross.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
I didn't say yes either.
Speaker 10 (15:47):
I was choking on a multibidamin rose not inappropriate stuff?
Speaker 9 (15:52):
Ah, bloody?
Speaker 8 (15:53):
Hell am I the only one who hasn't done it?
Speaker 1 (15:54):
Oh?
Speaker 9 (15:54):
Your fuckers didn't say you didn't.
Speaker 4 (15:56):
I once kissed the sergeant during a drill reel. Technically
I was aiming for her whistle.
Speaker 7 (16:02):
That sounds weirdly noble.
Speaker 4 (16:04):
Gross it was. She gave me a sticker afterward.
Speaker 7 (16:08):
Seahawk Bait had sticker books too, but you only feel
them when your neighbors stop coming back.
Speaker 2 (16:14):
Geez.
Speaker 5 (16:15):
It was nice, pretty embarrassing.
Speaker 7 (16:16):
It's kind of like, oh, they're not going back, Oh
they're dead. That's well.
Speaker 10 (16:20):
Actually, I once aphata alphabetized and my own blot sample.
Speaker 8 (16:24):
That's the most utah things. Not that hard I've ever
heard you say utah.
Speaker 6 (16:31):
I used to write letters to my ex even after
she stopped reading them. Eventually I stopped sending them. Now
I just file them under completed operations.
Speaker 4 (16:42):
I like it here even when I don't.
Speaker 7 (16:44):
You know, yeah, I know.
Speaker 8 (16:46):
Gross, or your motherfucker's gross. All right, new game. Everyone
named something that it's not awfully gross. They've saved this
place if it all went up in flats go Yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
My sign of Tizer style for.
Speaker 4 (17:00):
Sure, my cassette player, Moon's cassette player.
Speaker 6 (17:04):
The Protoco manual, and maybe the recipe for those burnt
rice cubes in.
Speaker 8 (17:11):
The me I'll say Rookie because he's the only one
Dominov to think I'm a good person.
Speaker 4 (17:16):
You are a good person.
Speaker 7 (17:18):
That's nice.
Speaker 4 (17:18):
Look at his fuck what see?
Speaker 9 (17:20):
This is what I mean.
Speaker 5 (17:21):
You guys are locy shit, wonderfully weird.
Speaker 2 (17:25):
Precisely seven hundred hours is squad probably assembled in the
briefing room B seventeen, a space indistinguishable from a storage closet, say,
for the projector screen and the lingering scent of stale coffee.
Speaker 14 (17:40):
All right, this is the device that goes boom and
coincidentally doesn't go boom. I don't know why the fuck
they named it that ate you quiet in the back. Okay,
Officially it's a Class seven containment disruption apparatus. Officially it's
a big bomb. Unofficially it doesn't exist. Yeah, any questions,
(18:01):
no question.
Speaker 9 (18:02):
You fucking name that straightforward.
Speaker 2 (18:05):
I appreciate that. Honestly.
Speaker 14 (18:06):
Your mission is to transport the device to Sector seven
coordinates four to seven point three by one two two
point five. There you'll activate it. Actually, most of it
will be there. You will just assembling it, putting it together,
will make some test runs, and then you'll detonate it.
Speaker 4 (18:24):
What happens after activation goes boom?
Speaker 14 (18:27):
Actually a dozen It is a high frequency sonar sound.
So it's just it does it? So it melts brains,
is going to melt brains, so take the appropriate precautions.
Speaker 4 (18:37):
Next, Oh, okay, are we are we going to be okay?
Speaker 7 (18:41):
Any collateral damage expected?
Speaker 13 (18:44):
Yes?
Speaker 7 (18:44):
Civilians possibly got it?
Speaker 1 (18:47):
Yeah?
Speaker 8 (18:48):
Well, was the strategic objected classified?
Speaker 14 (18:52):
Lieutenant Miller. You're the leader of the operation.
Speaker 5 (18:55):
Acknowledged team.
Speaker 6 (18:56):
This is compression operation only everyone out there is fucking
dead already, so we're just gonna.
Speaker 5 (19:03):
Pop some hits and get the mission done. This is
a containment operation. Understand h w A K initiative.
Speaker 6 (19:10):
Has failed and now we need to contain it. Correct, correct,
let's go.
Speaker 9 (19:16):
Dismissed.
Speaker 14 (19:17):
I don't want any civilians harm, but if you need
to get rid of the mall, we want no witnesses.
This is a clear operation. Is this code Zeta blue?
As you understand this and I do too. This conversation
never happened, and whatever you do underfield never took place.
Speaker 5 (19:35):
Thank you.
Speaker 14 (19:36):
Everyone's dismissed, lieuten of Miller.
Speaker 6 (19:42):
I get one on the left, flank one on the left,
take him out of a silencer, please advice Mark, got it.
Speaker 5 (19:52):
Now, Good job.
Speaker 6 (19:56):
Acoustic disintegration opparatus model eight eighty three. And this is
catastrophic neural failure via supersonic vibrations, not a bomb. A
good job, by the way, no explosion, just everything stops working.
Speaker 5 (20:13):
Great.
Speaker 6 (20:13):
I love these mind Corp my blind corp, fucking mindgame manuals.
Speaker 7 (20:18):
It's quieter that way.
Speaker 5 (20:20):
They don't scream.
Speaker 7 (20:21):
Their brains don't know how he it shuts down, boom,
lights out, Like in Book of Mormon.
Speaker 5 (20:26):
You read the file.
Speaker 7 (20:27):
I didn't have to. I watched him in Seahawk Bay,
m yet I watched it, heard it hum through the
walls while I held my own aunt dound with a
coffee table. Yeah, this happened.
Speaker 6 (20:43):
Was Modular is designed for inconspicuous urban transit. Five point
six kilos of subtle murder. It comes in two cases,
so it looks like you're just gamping camps with lithium
nickel cobalt power cell.
Speaker 5 (21:00):
Is this fallout?
Speaker 7 (21:02):
I know? Uh, nerves of steal? What was the faction?
Never mind, that's the verification beacon seal for the Brotherhood.
That's the one that was the Brotherhood is steal like
a heartbeat?
Speaker 6 (21:15):
Then command, No, we're still here, still on schedule? What?
Speaker 7 (21:20):
Yeah, it's like a baby monitor for war crimes. Uh huh, great.
Speaker 3 (21:25):
Isn't it?
Speaker 5 (21:26):
You always talk this way? Only one.
Speaker 7 (21:29):
I'm around people who deserve.
Speaker 5 (21:30):
Honestly, all right, Aris Smith, let's go. What am I
to you?
Speaker 12 (21:34):
You're someone who's too smart to still be pretending this
mission makes sense and too kind to admit she's already
planning to go through with with it anyway.
Speaker 5 (21:44):
They said scene may be active.
Speaker 12 (21:46):
That's you.
Speaker 5 (21:47):
The Hawk initiative is still in there. That didn't say
what it is.
Speaker 6 (21:52):
It just that activating the ADA eighty three would make
sure no one would ever find out.
Speaker 12 (21:59):
A funny they keep building these weapons, but they never
ask what kind of person comes back from using them.
Speaker 5 (22:06):
We're basically a kleeck to watch out on your.
Speaker 12 (22:08):
Left, on your sixteen Yes, take him out, thing.
Speaker 7 (22:12):
Though, copy these questions you're This thing doesn't explode, It erases,
It vibrates you out of your own memories. It homes
like a lullaby when it stops. So do you I
need to know?
Speaker 12 (22:29):
Are you planning something?
Speaker 7 (22:31):
Of course I am. Have we met? Well, you tell
me what it is only if you promise not to
stop me.
Speaker 12 (22:40):
I can't promise that.
Speaker 7 (22:42):
Moon then I'll tell you when it's too late.
Speaker 2 (22:44):
The device kept humming, and for the first time in years,
Jackie Miller realized she was afraid not a failure, but
of what success might look like.
Speaker 12 (22:58):
Do you think you can grow in the potted field?
Shut the fuck up?
Speaker 7 (23:04):
Shot, Shut the fuck up?
Speaker 12 (23:06):
Oh well, I see Now that's the frequency.
Speaker 10 (23:09):
Okay, we're on side whenever you guys are done fucking
around the communications.
Speaker 15 (23:15):
Over Yeah, okigure, but this one's different.
Speaker 7 (23:50):
No, they're all the same. I like it. They're all
the same.
Speaker 4 (23:55):
No, this one's warmer, like it was made before all
the bad all the bad things.
Speaker 7 (24:01):
Happened, before everything went to hell.
Speaker 12 (24:03):
Yeah.
Speaker 7 (24:03):
I used to catalog bird calls, had a little journal, sketches,
time stamps, the good kind, good kind of stamps, all right,
made up names for them like, Yeah, I have one
what's called the red throated spiral ghost drap pepper, a
warbling liar.
Speaker 4 (24:24):
That last one sounds like Sean.
Speaker 7 (24:27):
I'm sorry, yes, accurate, it's accurate. In fact, you remind
me of someone I never met.
Speaker 4 (24:35):
Sorry, except you.
Speaker 7 (24:38):
Would listen more and you didn't could turn inside out
by a test run. I'm hoping, you know, hoping. Do
you think would have been your age right about now.
It's a compliment. It's a compliment. Okay, we're gonna make
(24:59):
it back, all right, Yeah, I think we're gonna make
it back. You out of all of us, I mean,
you will. Rules it is what it is. Rookie always
makes it back.
Speaker 12 (25:11):
You bet.
Speaker 4 (25:12):
Think about quitting, just walking off into the trees and
pretending this isn't your life.
Speaker 7 (25:17):
I did once, But when I got to the edge
of the forest, I realized I didn't know how to
be a person anymore, no different, And these gunners just
a tool that wasn't done being use.
Speaker 4 (25:33):
You're not a tool. You're one of the good ones.
Speaker 7 (25:37):
You think that.
Speaker 4 (25:38):
Now something goes wrong tomorrow, and I mean really wrong.
I want you to know I wasn't scared cheat not
with you.
Speaker 2 (25:51):
Around Sector nine Exterior Perimeter, Company BRABO arrives on schedule
nineteen minutes before the first firm casualty. They are not
to breathe from the nature of the outbreak. They are
told only secure the area. I wait for their orders.
No orders ever.
Speaker 5 (26:11):
Come, Lieutenant Miller.
Speaker 6 (26:13):
Company BRABO has established position Target structure, a retro fitted
themed fucking name is that this super awesome. Fucking are
you kidding me? Lights are on, no visual on civilians.
I know this fucking place, God damn it.
Speaker 16 (26:31):
Confound stand by, repeat stand by code veronica in effect,
I repeat stand by and await instructions like a code
veronica that's not a real part of car.
Speaker 8 (26:44):
Means things are going to get very weird, very fast.
Speaker 12 (26:48):
Keep your eyes open, Princess, Jake, Jackie, Jake, stay close
to me.
Speaker 4 (26:54):
My name's not Jake. Okay, okay.
Speaker 2 (27:00):
One hundred and forty seven hours and unidentified figure stumbles
from the woods behind the diner. Bravo response, heracle fails,
Instinct kick in, and someone hans.
Speaker 12 (27:14):
What was my conness? Connas? The circling round back, the
circling round back. Blood you, oh man, oh no, it's
just gonna be the wrong.
Speaker 4 (27:31):
God, what's that.
Speaker 12 (27:35):
Don't talk, don't don't don't talk.
Speaker 7 (27:38):
You're okay, You're okay, come on, you're okay, okay.
Speaker 12 (27:42):
Yeah, I'm leaving everywhere.
Speaker 4 (27:43):
Yeah, okay, you've lied again.
Speaker 12 (27:52):
They shut him. He wasn't even armed. We didn't see,
We couldn't. We couldn't. Okay, we we.
Speaker 6 (28:02):
Donkey poop all right to focus focus focus A similar
device Moon shot inside. Now now ride the buck now
it's gone, move.
Speaker 12 (28:14):
Past still more humm m hm hmm okay Hi.
Speaker 2 (28:25):
Just like that, the mission changes shape. One life gone,
one device, arming, one squad unraveling. Then casualty would not
be by accident. The Bravo unit reaches the diner inside
overturned chairs, ketchup packages.
Speaker 9 (28:42):
Burst like wounds.
Speaker 2 (28:44):
The air is thick with gas, stove heated, bloody odor,
and something far more wrong. There is no longer a mission.
It's a memory unraveling in real time.
Speaker 8 (28:56):
You clear the booth, chuckolate light, check of the lights.
Speaker 6 (29:01):
Oh and weapons understune on this you are sure it's
turned okay. If you're sure, then take him out.
Speaker 12 (29:07):
I'm sorry, I'm standing here.
Speaker 5 (29:09):
Your get up.
Speaker 2 (29:12):
Wit Wait no, no, no, wait wait wait.
Speaker 7 (29:13):
Wait whoa whoa, Kevin's gone.
Speaker 9 (29:18):
Holding hell, he's a parlor.
Speaker 7 (29:21):
Don't say you blew him off, not in a fun way.
Speaker 2 (29:26):
Outside.
Speaker 9 (29:27):
The cook had made his choice.
Speaker 2 (29:29):
A gallon of gasoline, a flare gun, larder ThM than
no one asked for.
Speaker 5 (29:34):
Fucking name it.
Speaker 9 (29:35):
That's well done, that was cook.
Speaker 7 (29:38):
Everyone fall back to the north wall, secure the eighty
A eighty three. It's all on rap and leka just
like last time. My god, you killed Jake kid or he.
Speaker 8 (29:51):
Rented the line of fire. You'll shut him, not just me.
Speaker 7 (29:56):
I saw you, you banick, you'd always.
Speaker 9 (30:00):
Mmmmmm don't get weird.
Speaker 8 (30:02):
Only now okay, we'll crackling a little bit.
Speaker 7 (30:05):
Jake respected me. You listen, when none of you would.
Speaker 9 (30:11):
You worship you thought you were some kind of tragic saint.
Speaker 7 (30:15):
And you kill them?
Speaker 8 (30:19):
What don't don't do this, don't.
Speaker 7 (30:22):
Do this, already done.
Speaker 5 (30:25):
Everyone stopped doing things.
Speaker 9 (30:26):
Jesus Christ, that's no.
Speaker 7 (30:30):
Big Daddy, don't need to know what little sister's doing.
Speaker 8 (30:33):
I have fu this.
Speaker 12 (30:34):
What do you mean?
Speaker 7 (30:34):
What do you think The most fitting way for you
to go is to feel exactly what you help create.
Speaker 5 (30:41):
Yeah, it's easy.
Speaker 16 (30:43):
Given no no, no no no no, no, no no no.
Speaker 2 (30:57):
The walls grown the eighty eight eighty three pulses, and
one by one, every lie gets closer to its detonation point.
Company Bravo was never trained to handle betrayal, emotion, or
setting bites to the neck. Nonetheless, they now had all three.
Speaker 17 (31:20):
This mad woman just killed the only person that could
synthesize a proper vaccine.
Speaker 7 (31:24):
She had it coming. Oh yeah, how many musicals have
we referenced it?
Speaker 1 (31:28):
What did she do?
Speaker 3 (31:29):
Sorry, I can't hear you. You kind of mumble when
you commit treason.
Speaker 17 (31:36):
She dragged doctor Susan Lee d d outside. Now now
she's been eaten alive, like badly stored leftovers. Yeah, and
she also killed that guy.
Speaker 7 (31:50):
That guy, he's not dead, he's just sleeping off. Yeah,
well whatever, Yes, sleeping off, a betrayal, hangover.
Speaker 12 (31:59):
A.
Speaker 5 (32:06):
Untolerated subordination in my troops or irony.
Speaker 9 (32:11):
Okay, that's that's where things are. Jesus, I can't take
this anymore.
Speaker 17 (32:15):
I'm freaking out me and your root. You're a horrible
You're a mean girl with a.
Speaker 9 (32:21):
Gun and no charisma.
Speaker 5 (32:23):
Kid breathe, don't.
Speaker 17 (32:24):
You kid me, you arrogant punk as diner demon. You
don't know me, you don't even like me. I'm a person,
damn it.
Speaker 5 (32:33):
I thank you.
Speaker 16 (32:36):
It was his face.
Speaker 3 (32:39):
I just wanted to punch it in put repeatedly, like
from the minute I saw him.
Speaker 7 (32:42):
Yeah, I just walked in.
Speaker 2 (32:44):
You know for me too, that's just I just want
to Wow, there's a lot of carnage.
Speaker 4 (32:50):
Sir, ma'am, Sir, Sarah, ma'am, Sir.
Speaker 10 (32:52):
The device is ready, fantastic, accepts, expect accept manual detonation
screen is busted, but I have this handed andy remote detonator.
Speaker 9 (33:07):
Yeah, I'm always prepared.
Speaker 10 (33:08):
M just one button, one button, elegant and lethal like
a poem chefs.
Speaker 5 (33:17):
I feel nothing about that. I'm a different person today,
you know what.
Speaker 3 (33:21):
I feel nothing about it.
Speaker 5 (33:22):
Correct responds.
Speaker 6 (33:23):
Nobody liked them except maybe the bending machine, and that's
just pure speculation.
Speaker 5 (33:28):
Then interfect me.
Speaker 3 (33:29):
I can move on.
Speaker 5 (33:31):
If you can't do this, Jah.
Speaker 6 (33:34):
Already dead, Bomb's arm NERD's dead. Very productive morning.
Speaker 3 (33:38):
I will say, I'm not gonna lead.
Speaker 5 (33:39):
Yeah, that's the Moon's gun. It's rigged, recalls a donkey.
Bell's crooked. Unless you're a private moon, It'll miss everything.
Speaker 3 (33:47):
I've always had, bad aim. I'm not scared of missing.
I'm scared of not trying.
Speaker 6 (33:53):
She got exposed to the red chemical. You know, Seahawk
Bay heard of it. Soul survivor allegedly.
Speaker 7 (34:00):
Shut up, shop shut shut it shut.
Speaker 5 (34:06):
Shoot, God damn it, my organs. I need those to live.
Just go, you stop, and you stop. I was in
love with you, you fucking idiot.
Speaker 9 (34:20):
Oh, both of them.
Speaker 2 (34:22):
Four in that sad predictable way people do when they
run out of backup plans.
Speaker 5 (34:28):
I know, no, yeah, okay, let's get this done.
Speaker 12 (34:44):
Shut six four three two two what sister?
Speaker 5 (34:58):
Excuse me? I'll don't keep book.
Speaker 3 (35:14):
This episode is made possible by listeners link you visit
our website at lifdesign dot net, forward slash excuse Us.
Speaker 2 (35:22):
For support or additional information, please visit our website or
Patreon page at Patreon dot com Forward slash.
Speaker 3 (35:29):
Block ule Art tonight's production of Excuse Us, a mystery
drama with delightful undertones of humor and eldertor.
Speaker 18 (35:38):
What's produced by Rebecca lake Pool and rodrigole Pool, Written
and directed and performed by rodrigal Pool in association with
R and R Side Audio Theater.
Speaker 3 (35:49):
Music and sound effects by Epidemic Sound. Some other sound
effects are recorded live on set.
Speaker 7 (35:55):
Voice modulation by eleven Mats.
Speaker 3 (35:58):
If you're enjoying this production, please make sure to review
or subscribe to our show. Wherever you listen to your podcast.
Speaker 2 (36:05):
Check out our Patreon page for bonus content.
Speaker 5 (36:08):
Until next time, this is Rodrigo
Speaker 2 (36:12):
Paul saying thank you very much for listening.
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