 Dr. Sumerian stopped as he reached the Applebee's bar. His mind raced. The restaurant door was eight and a half meters away. It would take him maybe three, four seconds to cross the distance at a dead sprint if the floor was clear. The floor was not clear. A mass of people stood between him and the nearest exit. Some clad in costumes, some like Sumerian straight from working their lab coats. After last year's mix-up, the rule came down. No SCP cosplay, but right there, across the room, was a sexy plague doctor. Well, he hoped it was a sexy plague doctor anyway. Dr. Foster had asked him to come, then fucked off as soon as they arrived. Pretty research from the 20th floor dressed as Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz sat alone at the bar. He glanced over nervously. She smiled back. Yeah, this was gonna be just like last Halloween. A disaster. He could feel it. The pulsing sound of music began to hammer into his head. A headache was all this basically amounted to, but if he was gonna have a headache tomorrow, he might as well have it for a good reason. Hey, you got the bartender's attention. Can I get a seven and seven? She nodded and began pouring his drink. He turned back around and caught Dorothy eyeing him from the side. What's in that? Dorothy had said with a slight squint. A seven-up and whiskey. She blinked, smirked and nodded. Nice. Oh, it does the job. The bartender set the drink down in front of him and he took a long drag from the straw. He was trying his best to look cool while doing so, but given the straw, failing. So you're the ethics guy? I am. You work on the 20th, right? She put her right hand down. Yes, I'm Megan. Hey, shook her hand and finally sat down at the bar. Jeremiah, my friends and you can call me Jerry. We're not friends. She pouted a little. We'll see. He immediately undercut the line by drinking from the straw again. He got to know her a little bit better as the night progressed. She was a biologist with an expertise in pinnipids. She hadn't said, but he figured that put her on the 3213 team, which was nice. He dated people to the site before who had issues due to the seriousness of their jobs. It was nice to have a conversation with someone who didn't have that much baggage. She just needed to make sure that the seals didn't kill Carl and she could go home with a clean conscience. He told a joke. She laughed. She fired back. He laughed. It was fun, different, almost relaxing. The pulsing music and the dancing people seemed to fall away for an hour or two. The two of them didn't notice as most of the partiers left and the party wound down, and she was still nursing her first drink. When he ordered his fifth, the bartender gave him that get the fuck out look. And Samirian stood up. It was a little wobbly, too drunk to drive, but not much worse. I'll call an Uber. Y'all ride her. You need one, too. Megan looked disappointed, but shook her head. I barely touched mine. I can actually get you home if you want. You're off site, right? He told her where his apartment was as they walked out in the dimly lit parking lot. It was about 1 a.m. There were still monsters milling about. And as they got to her car, she pulled out her keys to unlock the door. A man in a zombie mask walked far too close and pulled something from the back was pants. Samirian pulled a Colt 1911 out of his shoulder holster and Megan pulled a Walther PPK out of a thigh holster under a blue dress. All three stood in silence. The zombie's pistol was still aimed at the ground. He hadn't even lifted it before theirs were pointed at his face. He dropped it and ran. The two of them stood there for another few seconds before putting their own weapons away. They laughed and got into the car, leaving the zombies gun on the pavement. They both already had one after all. Megan cocked her head to the side. Your place are mine. Mine is fine. If you liked it, please hit the subscribe button and the notification bell next to that to make sure that you get updated as soon as I upload new videos. If you'd like even more exact updates, you can follow me on Twitter at D. Samirian. And if you'd like to support this kind of content, please go to Patreon and support me at Patreon.com forward slash D. Samirian. Thanks for watching.