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Edgar said to the interviewer he was convinced that

0:56

the thing out there wasn't a vault. Yeah, I

0:58

know what he thought. Dr. Edgar's didn't think it

1:00

was designed to keep things out. I know what

1:02

he thought. He thought it was designed to keep

1:04

something in. Do

1:06

you even understand the difficulty trying to keep a

1:08

base like fathom at the bottom of the ocean

1:11

from killing everyone in it on a daily basis?

1:13

Oh my God. Everyone

1:16

hold on to something. I

1:20

think whatever is on the other side of

1:22

that door out there, it's not friendly. I

1:25

think it's trying to get out. That,

1:27

my friend, is a dire combination. That's a

1:29

bad sign. Get out of the door. It's

1:31

spreading like some kind of technological contagion. We

1:35

can either stop it

1:37

here or watch the world

1:40

burn. Fathom, the

1:42

first season of Derelict. Listen

1:45

wherever you get your podcasts or

1:49

learn more at derelictpodcast.com.

2:00

The Road of Shadows created

2:03

by Mark R. Healy, a

2:06

Beyond the Dark production. Season

2:09

3, Episode 2,

2:13

Hardware. Episode

2:16

3, Hardware. Okay,

2:29

so this is it, huh? Doesn't

2:32

look too bad, I guess. It's cheap,

2:34

and we don't need to take out a long-term lease. That

2:37

works for me. The lady

2:39

you went to see? Mrs.

2:41

Wilson. She owns this place. Yeah,

2:43

I rented another property from her the last time

2:46

I was in town, over on the east side.

2:49

As landlords go, she's pretty decent, as long as

2:51

you don't cause any trouble. Do you

2:53

want me to clear a space over here by the window,

2:55

so you can set up a chair?

2:58

You know me too well, Amber. Just

3:02

help me lift this thing. Yep, that's

3:04

it. There. You're

3:07

all set. Thanks. Do

3:09

you have a good angle on the street from here? Yeah,

3:14

this'll do fine. How long do

3:16

you think we're gonna need to stay? In Black

3:18

Ridge? Uh, I

3:21

don't know exactly. Hunting shadows isn't something

3:23

I have a lot of experience with. Well,

3:25

this has to be easier than Clifford

3:27

Springs, doesn't it? Most

3:30

of her time there was spent trying to find

3:32

Shilling's hiding place, but here? This

3:34

Susan Blake character is just walking around

3:36

in public without a care in the

3:38

world. To be honest, a part of me

3:40

wishes she wasn't hiding too. Why

3:43

is that? Because that would mean she's

3:45

scared of us. The way she walked

3:47

right by in the parade, that tells me she's

3:49

confident. Maybe she knows something we

3:51

don't. I think you're reading too

3:53

much into this. I mean, why on

3:55

earth would she be worried about anything happening in

3:58

the middle of a parade? It's

4:00

not like you're gonna jump off the sidewalk and plant

4:02

an axe in her face with all those people watching.

4:05

And... If I'd walked

4:07

out there and tried to lay my hands on

4:09

her as soon as the blood began to flow,

4:11

it would've looked like an assault. I'd be rotting

4:13

in a holding cell right now. And

4:17

after our other experiences with law enforcement of

4:19

late, I don't think we want that. Do

4:22

we? No. Not in the

4:24

least. She was perfectly safe the

4:26

whole time. And

4:28

she knew it. She probably enjoyed rubbing her

4:30

faces in it. But that still

4:33

leaves the question of why I had no reaction to

4:35

her when she passed. I mean... Being

4:38

that close to a shadow should've made me

4:40

sick. Even being

4:42

in the same town as her, I should

4:44

be sick right now. You don't

4:46

feel anything? Not even a twinge? Well,

4:50

the wound on my shoulder is a little...

4:53

tender, I guess, but that's just from being

4:55

hunched over on the motorcycle all day. Okay,

4:58

so... Maybe there's an explanation

5:00

for that. Yeah? I'm

5:03

listening. What if... that

5:06

sickness of yours isn't triggered by every single

5:08

shadow? Maybe you only have the reaction

5:10

to... I don't know... say,

5:14

the ones who bit you in the cabin back in Colton. Why

5:17

would that be the case? Shilling's toxin

5:19

entered your body that night. Maybe

5:21

that's why being around had made you sick. Some

5:23

kind of link between the two of you. No,

5:26

no, that doesn't fit. I got sick

5:28

in Mosquito Falls, remember? The

5:31

first day we left Colton and Shilling wasn't

5:33

there. It was the Emissary who made me

5:35

sick. Damn, you're right. As

5:37

soon as she was dead, you felt fine again. So

5:40

we need another explanation. Yeah,

5:42

I... um... What

5:45

is it? Okay,

5:48

I didn't want to go down

5:50

this path, but... What

5:54

if your assumptions about her aren't correct?

5:58

My assumptions about Susan Blum. Yeah. How

6:01

so? Look,

6:03

don't take this the wrong way. But

6:07

I think there might be some gaps in

6:09

your story about her and your friend Jimmy.

6:12

What gaps? Alright, let's

6:15

go back to the night Jimmy went missing.

6:18

You said he called you and told you to

6:20

come pick up the 50 bucks he owed you.

6:23

Right. And then you made

6:25

your way out of the homeless shelter and he

6:27

was gone. But you

6:29

sensed something was wrong and then you followed the

6:31

path out into the woods all the way to

6:33

the shack. Yeah, and like

6:35

I said, the bloodlust was overpowering. That was

6:37

the moment I heard Jimmy scream. Okay,

6:40

okay. You heard Jimmy. But

6:44

did you hear the shadow? No. Did

6:47

you see the shadow? Amber,

6:49

if you're going to sit there and suggest there was no

6:51

shadow inside that shack. No, no, no. I'm

6:53

not suggesting that at all. What

6:56

I'm saying is you don't

6:58

know the identity of the shadow for

7:01

certain, do you? It's

7:03

Blake. But Daniel,

7:06

you never saw the monster under her

7:09

skin, right? You

7:11

turned and ran from the woods and the

7:13

next time you encountered her, Susan

7:15

Blake looked normal. I didn't need to see her

7:17

as a monster. The look on her face

7:20

as she held out that $50 bill. That

7:23

was enough to tell me everything I needed to know.

7:25

I can see how you might arrive at that

7:28

conclusion, sure, but do

7:31

you think that maybe there's a

7:33

chance you read something into her

7:35

expression that wasn't really there? Like

7:38

you were projecting. I wasn't projecting anything, Amber.

7:41

I've spent years playing cat and mouse with

7:43

these things. I've come across dozens of them

7:45

and I'm telling you, Susan Blake

7:47

is a fucking shadow. Okay, okay. I'm

7:49

not trying to second guess you or

7:51

anything like that. If you say Blake

7:53

is the one, then I believe you.

7:56

I was just trying to make sense of the fact that things

7:58

seem... Off kilter here in

8:01

Black Ridge. Wouldn't you agree?

8:04

Yeah, I guess. So

8:06

let's just keep an open mind until we've put

8:08

all the pieces together. How does

8:10

that sound? Yeah,

8:13

sure. Sorry if I

8:15

got a little worked up there. It's

8:18

fine. It's been a long day. I

8:20

don't know about you, but I sure could use

8:22

something to eat. Sounds good to me. Let's

8:26

see what we can find around here. And then we'll

8:28

sit down and put together a plan about

8:30

what to do next. Okay. Daniel,

8:44

would you mind passing me another slice

8:46

of bread? Yeah, here you

8:48

go. Thanks. What

8:52

are you writing there? Just trying to

8:54

jog my memory from the last time I was here in Black Ridge. Clear

8:56

out the cobwebs. Things are a bit foggy.

8:59

Kinda. I think it's just

9:01

that I've been through so many small towns in my time exactly

9:03

like this one. Sometimes it's hard to

9:06

separate them. Okay. Let's

9:09

try to simplify this thing. Our

9:11

objective is to kill Blake.

9:15

In order to do that, we're going to need to

9:17

confront her alone. Just the three of us.

9:20

We can't attack her anywhere that's in

9:22

view of the public, including the homeless

9:24

shelter. If there are witnesses

9:26

who see us turning her to ash... Well,

9:30

who knows what could happen. We'd probably end up

9:32

locked in a glass cage at a government bunker

9:34

somewhere and experimented on for the rest of our

9:36

days. Yeah. So where's

9:39

a place she might end up being alone? That's

9:42

a good question. Okay. Take it back

9:44

a step. What are all the facts we

9:46

know about her? Well, she runs the

9:49

homeless shelter, obviously. She has a high standing

9:51

in the community. Yeah, that's

9:53

the way with most shadows though, right?

9:56

Do you have anything more specific? To be

9:59

honest, I... I didn't have a lot to do with her while

10:01

I lived in town. It was only

10:03

at the end that we crossed paths. So

10:05

you don't know anything about her routines? No.

10:09

Hobbies? Is she part of

10:11

any local clubs or groups? Don't

10:14

know that either. Okay,

10:16

what about where she lives? Can't

10:18

say I ever made any house calls, but that

10:21

one should be easy enough to figure out. What

10:27

are you doing? I saw a phone book over

10:29

here before. Where was it? Oh,

10:32

here it is. Bring it over. Let's

10:36

see. Batty

10:39

Benson Burns.

10:44

It's not in here. There's not a single

10:46

Blake in town. Oh, well I guess

10:48

we should have known she wasn't gonna make this

10:50

easy for us. It's a temporary setback,

10:53

that's all. I still know people in town. If

10:55

I ask around, I'm sure someone can fill in those details.

10:58

I guess that all depends on how secretive Blake

11:00

has been over the years. And,

11:03

well I mean, if no

11:05

one is willing or able to give us an

11:07

address, we could always start following her around, see

11:10

where she goes when she leaves work. Maybe

11:13

we can get inside her office at the shelter when she leaves

11:15

too. You really think she's

11:17

gonna have incriminating evidence lying around the

11:19

office in plain sight? Not about

11:21

her life as a shadow, no. But

11:24

there could be documents that list her home address,

11:26

for example. Sure, might be worth a

11:28

try if we can figure out how

11:30

to get in there unnoticed, but don't get

11:32

your hopes up, okay? Remember

11:35

Shilling's house back in Clifford Springs? He

11:37

didn't leave a trace in there. No

11:40

photos, no documents. Wait,

11:43

that's not exactly true. We

11:45

did find something, remember? Oh,

11:48

oh you mean the cave under

11:51

the house, his den. Den,

11:53

I mean, there's

11:56

no way Blake is going to dig a pit like

11:58

that right under a public place. A place like the

12:00

shelter is there? If

12:02

she has built one of those caves, it's

12:05

gonna be somewhere people are less likely to find it. The

12:09

shack. The place in the woods,

12:11

where your friend was attacked. Yeah. Yeah,

12:14

it was secluded, right? Off the

12:16

beaten track for sure. It's possible no one from

12:18

town even knows it exists. That sure

12:20

would be a good candidate for a hangout, I guess. Ah,

12:25

do you think Blake lives there? In

12:28

the shack? I suppose

12:30

it's possible. So, should

12:33

we make that our first target? Maybe.

12:36

Maybe we should go there right away, see if we can get

12:38

the jump on her. Walking through the woods

12:41

in the middle of the night? That could be a

12:43

bad idea, especially if Blake decides to kill our flashlights

12:45

as we close in. We could break

12:47

our necks stumbling around out there in the dark. So

12:49

we try it during daylight hours? That

12:51

would be safer. It's a good

12:54

point about the flashlights, though. Maybe

12:56

we should come up with some ideas about how

12:59

to neutralize the shadows' strengths, if

13:02

that's possible. What do you mean? Well,

13:04

their ability to shut off electricity and

13:06

kill flashlights, that always gives them an

13:09

edge in the dark. Do

13:11

you think there's a way to counteract it? Like,

13:14

I don't know, if we carried spare

13:16

flashlights or something? I don't

13:18

think that would help. The shadows will just keep shutting them off.

13:21

What about alternative light

13:23

sources? Candles, for

13:25

example? I tried it

13:28

years ago. They snuff those out,

13:30

too. OK, what about oil

13:32

lanterns or something like that, or some kind

13:34

of heavy duty flashlight that might be harder

13:36

for them to kill? I can

13:38

say I've tried every single option out there, but I

13:40

guess it's worth a shot. How

13:42

about we drop into the hardware store tomorrow and see what they've got?

13:45

Sounds like a plan. In the meantime,

13:47

let's put together a mud map of the most important places

13:49

in town so we can plan out our day. Right.

13:53

The homeless shelter, the shack, and a list of

13:55

people we can talk to as well. Could

13:58

be a long night. Yeah. In

14:01

that case, I think it's time for

14:03

coffee. Looking

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15:33

And next up on our tour of downtown

15:35

Black Ridge is the hardware store for all

15:37

your home renovation and monster hunting needs. If

15:40

only this whole deal was as simple as picking

15:42

up a few wooden stakes. Wouldn't

15:44

that be nice? We don't need wooden

15:46

stakes to make these bastards bleed. We've got you for that.

15:49

Oh come on, give me a break. It's

15:51

true, isn't it? You would have turned

15:53

shilling into a puddle back there at Clifford Springs if I'd given

15:55

you a few more seconds. I'm not

15:57

a superhero, Daniel. Maybe not.