HSP Presents: The Timekeeper Ep. 4 "Win Or Die."

Summary

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Podcast Summary: Heart Starts Pounding – The Timekeeper Ep. 4 “Win or Die”

Date: October 24, 2025
Host: Heart Starts Pounding
Notable Cast: Judah Lewis (Charlie), Chandler Kinney (Zoe), Arjun Atelier (Gamma)

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Episode Overview

In this riveting series finale of "The Timekeeper," the story races towards a harrowing climax: can Charlie, Zoe, and their friends finally outwit the deadly game that's claimed so many lives? As truths come to light about the origins of the cursed game and those responsible, the group must make a fateful decision—play by the old rules and perish, or rewrite the game to save themselves and others. A haunting exploration of hope, obsession, and the high cost of survival, the episode seamlessly weaves horror, tragedy, and dark mystery.

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Key Discussion Points & Plot Developments

Descent into the Heart of the Mystery

• [02:53] The group explores the underground of Shady Pines, discovering evidence of past horrors and the phrase "tick tock" scratched onto scorched doors.
• Charlie relives the torment of game victims, describing what it was like to be lured into a deadly challenge:

  “Awake for days, weeks, reality breaking into little pieces... Pounding, pounding, pounding.” (Charlie, [03:36])

Confrontation with Susan Graham

• [04:23] – [10:05]
  • The group encounters Susan Graham, a haunted former programmer and administrator, who plans to destroy the facility with explosives to end the game for good.
  • She confesses:

    “We made a deal with the devil, so it was our responsibility, you understand?... To kill the devil.” (Susan/Charlie, [05:40], [05:50])

  • Reveals that Maria, thought to be a winner, actually took her own life, and the “game” always ends in death.

The Race against the Clock and the Supernatural

• [10:11] – [13:50]
  • Charlie and Zoe fight Susan and attempt to escape as the timer on the bomb counts down. After a physical struggle, Charlie is shot in the arm.
  • Susan’s true motivation emerges:

    “The only way to win is not to play... Maria didn’t win. She killed herself.” (Susan/Charlie, [06:08], [06:39])

  • As the bomb is about to detonate, they witness the supernatural manifestation of the Timekeeper—a terrifying, eye-covered figure that signals imminent death as the timer runs out.

Narrow Escape and the Aftermath

• [15:47] – [16:36]
  • With seconds to spare, their friends crash a truck through the entry, allowing Charlie and Zoe to escape before the building explodes.

Final Clues: Solving “456E”

• [18:20] – [24:09]
  • The cryptic last clue, “456E,” is deduced to mean 456 steps East into the woods.
  • There, the group discovers a pit filled with burnt human remains:

    “More bones. Burned tires. Blackened bones… This is where they burned the bodies.” (Charlie, [22:48 – 23:00])

  • They realize the final horrific truth: there was never a true "win," only death and cover-up.

The Philosophy and Futility of the Game

• [24:35] – [25:47]
  • Charlie reflects:

    “You can’t beat the game… that’s been the point since the beginning. Fairchild doesn’t want you to solve a puzzle and get to the end and win. The only way to win is if he decides you’ve won.” ([24:37 – 25:47])

  • Zoe refuses to relent, determined to keep trying for a real solution.

Rewriting the Rules: Beating the Game on Their Own Terms

• [31:17] – [32:40]
  • Charlie suggests changing the code to “let everyone who plays win,” by triggering the 13th key for all at a specific timer.

    “Everyone has died because they've played by Fairchild's rules. At least this way, we're playing by ours.” (Charlie, [32:27])

  • Zoe modifies the game, and they test it as Charlie's timer nears zero.

Bittersweet Victory, Aftermath, and Resolution

• [33:45] – [36:32]
  • As the clock ticks down, nostalgic memories and friendship surface, culminating in:

    “Congratulations. The 13th key is yours. Welcome to a new era.” (Game, [34:53])

  • They bring the game and its server offline, debating how to destroy it so no one ever plays again.

Epilogue and Final Haunting Insights

• [37:48] – End
  • Life slowly returns to normal; the group keeps the server locked away, monitoring it to ensure no one can ever play again.
  • A closing scene hints the story may not be over—a strange server login from a user long dead is discovered, hinting at lingering mysteries.

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Memorable Quotes & Moments

• On the futility and horror of the game:

  “The only way to win is not to play.” (Susan/Charlie, [06:08])

• On hope and human nature:

  “Hope is what keeps you playing... If you believe you can solve the puzzle, you believe there’s a way to get the next key and the next key and finally the last key.” (Susan, [08:57])

• Facing the supernatural:

  “The lights inside flickered, and I saw him just for an instant. A tall, thin shape with a face covered in eyes that looked in every direction at once.” (Charlie, [12:18])

• On changing the game:

  “At least this way, we’re playing by ours.” (Charlie, [32:27])

• Final release:

  “Congratulations. The 13th key is yours. Welcome to a new era.” (The Game, [34:53])

• Friendship in the face of despair:

  “Charlie, you're not allowed to die. I can't do a year here without you.” (Zoe, [15:20])

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Exploring Shady Pines and discovering “tick tock” ([02:53] – [04:20])
• Confrontation with Susan Graham ([04:23] – [10:05])
• Escape and supernatural encounter ([13:50] – [15:47])
• Final clue and discovery in the woods ([18:20] – [24:09])
• Philosophical reckoning and rewriting the game ([24:35] – [32:40])
• Climax and new beginning ([33:45] – [36:32])
• Epilogue: Life returns to normal, but mysteries linger ([37:48] – [End])

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Conclusion

The dramatic culmination of "The Timekeeper" cements its place as a standout horror audio drama—tense, thought-provoking, and ultimately, deeply human. The finale threads together the terror of the unknown with the agonizing need to find hope in darkness, even if that hope is nothing more than rewriting the rules of a rigged game. The episode ends with subtle chills, hinting at unresolved secrets just beneath the surface.

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For fans of cosmic horror, psychological games, and coming-of-age amidst unspeakable evil, this is a can’t-miss conclusion.

Transcript

[Narrator/Host]

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[Charlie]

So.

[Narrator/Host]

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[Charlie]

We stood at the top of the stairwell and listened. Nothing but the creaking of the old building. We started down the dark stairs. It was musty at first, but as we hit the first landing and started down, I smelled something familiar. The same thing I'd smelled in the break room at Funland lingered. Trapped down here. We reached the lowest level and opened the door into a dark hallway like the one on the first floor, only the inner wall was lined with rooms with open metal doors. Everything was scorched, and on the back of the doors were scratched two words. Tick tock. This is where they died. I could imagine someone showing up here, desperate, taken off street corner, signing up for the program and being led down the hall to the elevator with 13 floors and then locked in a tiny room to play the game, to earn a cent for every second, knowing if they didn't win, if they didn't find the 13th key, it would all be gone. Awake for days, weeks, reality breaking into little pieces. And I could imagine the night of the fire doors locked, the fists banging just like Blake. Pounding, pounding, pounding.

[Zoe]

Charlie, you hear that?

[Charlie]

Zoe pulled me back into the hall. We followed the sound around the corner to the front of the elevator. And there it was, just like the lowest level of the game. A long dark hallway that led to a single metal door with a keyhole through the center and. And shining through from the other side, a red light. You shouldn't be here. No one should be here. The woman had her back to us, stooped over, working on something we couldn't see. She had short black hair streaked with gray, and a long old denim dress with muddy hiking boots. When she turned and faced us with a pistol, her eyes were bloodshot, like she hadn't slept in days. She was recognizable, but only barely. Susan Graham. I'm sorry it has to be this way. We thought it was over, but this time we'll be sure. This time. You're S. Graham. Yes. And you're Charlie Dempsey. And you. I don't know who you are, dear.

[Zoe]

Because you're not playing the game. You locked him in here, didn't you? You're the one who set it on fire. It wasn't Fairchild.

[Charlie]

We made a deal with the devil, so it was our responsibility, you understand?

[Zoe]

Your responsibility to what?

[Charlie]

To kill the devil. She turned when she said it. And I could finally see what was ticking behind her. A detonator wired to barrels of what had to be some kind of explosive. The Timer was at 5 minutes, but this time will be sure.

[Zoe]

What is that? What are you gonna do?

[Charlie]

Make sure no one else dies. No one else dies. If you destroy the game, everyone playing is going to die. Everyone in the game always dies. That's the point. You can't beat it. The only way to win is not to play. It's funny, isn't it? It's funny. No. No, that isn't true. Maria won. Maria didn't win. She killed herself. But in the video, you thought she won, that. That it had worked. It did work, in its way. That's why we kept going. That's why we agreed, everyone with Jacob, that we'll cover it up. Nothing we did would bring Maria back.

[Zoe]

But the things we could do, we.

[Charlie]

Could for everyone, could give billions of people better lives. That's what we thought. If we just raised the stakes. Make them believe it was life or death. Because that's what he told us. And whatever Jacob told you, you believed.

[Zoe]

But it didn't work.

[Charlie]

We're just not ready. The human brain, sure, you can break it apart, you just can't do much with the pieces. So you killed them, the people who went missing. But then you decided you'd had enough. So you set the fire to make it look like Fairchild went crazy and killed everyone. You left them to die. We did what we had to do.

[Zoe]

Yeah? Is that why you killed Blake and Tim? Because you had to?

[Charlie]

No. Jacob killed them. I don't know how, but I know it was him.

[Zoe]

Bullshit. Fairchild is dead. You just didn't want anyone to really know what happened that night, what really happened to Maria. But they were figuring it out. Like we figured it out. So now you're trying to cover it up for good.

[Charlie]

456E. What's 456E? Nothing. It can't be nothing. It's the last clue Fairchild left in the game. The night you killed him. Jacob wasn't himself anymore. Whatever you think he was telling you, I promise you, it doesn't mean anything. No. No, that. That's how we win. That's how we beat the game. Trust me, child. I know the look in your eyes. I've seen it a hundred times. It's the look of hope. Because hope is what keeps you playing. If you believe you can solve the puzzle, you believe there's a way to get the next key and the next key and finally the last key.

[Zoe]

A way to win.

[Charlie]

That's what Jacob understood. That's what made the game work. But like I said, we're not ready.

[Zoe]

Charlie, come on. We need to go.

[Charlie]

Zoe, if the server goes, everyone playing dies.

[Zoe]

Charlie, the gun or the bomb. Those are the two things that are.

[Narrator/Host]

Going to kill us.

[Zoe]

Not a ghost, not a game. Isn't that right, Susan? Or why else would you have a gun?

[Charlie]

The gun is just to make sure nobody gets in the way of what has to be done. So she's telling the truth.

[Zoe]

The truth about what?

[Charlie]

Blake and Tim.

[Zoe]

Charlie, I know we haven't slept in two days, but see?

[Charlie]

Do you trust me?

[Zoe]

Yes. But.

[Charlie]

Then raise me.

[Zoe]

What?

[Charlie]

First to the wall. I'd never beaten Zoe in a race in elementary school. She'd be at the swings before I'd gotten out of my starting stance. I kept changing the distances, hoping to find something I could beat her at. Eventually, I got tall enough I could get close to a tie. Under six feet. About the distance to the back wall of the server room. I think it's about time you two left me alone. Susan had the gun in one hand and a chain in the other.

[Zoe]

To the wall?

[Charlie]

Yeah. Zoe let her eyes drift to the wall behind Susan.

[Zoe]

Fine.

[Charlie]

Zoe and I took a step backward through the door and then dipped low and launched ourselves across the room.

[Zoe]

Charlie, grab the gun.

[Charlie]

Got it.

[Zoe]

I think she's out.

[Charlie]

After they went over the wheelbarrow, Susan slammed the back of her head into the cement.

[Zoe]

Shit. Charlie, you're bleeding.

[Charlie]

I barely felt it when the gun went off, but now I felt the warm trickle of blood down my left arm.

[Zoe]

Are you shot?

[Charlie]

It's fine. It's fine Unless you touch it.

[Zoe]

You have to put pressure on it.

[Charlie]

Pressure is what hurts. Okay, forget about my arm. We have three minutes to get out of here.

[Zoe]

Well, I don't know how to defuse a bomb, but I do know how to eject a hard drive. So if you say we need it, we do.

[Charlie]

So we ran our hands down the server rack.

[Zoe]

Hey, there's only one drive that's not melted. That's the one Fairchild died protecting. So that's the one we take.

[Charlie]

Zoe pulled the drive from its slot, shoved it into the backpack.

[Zoe]

Come on.

[Charlie]

What about Susan?

[Zoe]

Charlie, we don't have time. Come on. We have to go.

[Charlie]

So we ran back toward the elevator and around to the door leading into the stairwell. We'd come down. But when we hit the door, it hit back.

[Zoe]

Open it.

[Charlie]

I can't. It's chained. We. Susan had kept saying, we made a deal with the devil. We are going to finish. Wasn't her acting on her own that night? It had to be everyone. Everyone who had worked at Shady Pines. Maybe she has the keys. We checked Susan's pockets. There was nothing. The detonator timer said two minutes, which meant Susan only had 30 seconds or so left in the game. She's almost out of time.

[Zoe]

We're almost out of time. Forget keys. We shoot the lock. Come on.

[Charlie]

We ran toward the elevator. And as we did, we saw the floor counter above it, counting down. It was fake, too. Lights for 13 floors, even though we knew there were only three. But still they went off, one by one, counting down to our floor.

[Zoe]

What's happening?

[Charlie]

Susan staggered into the doorway behind us.

[Zoe]

Who's here?

[Charlie]

The timekeeper. The elevator was dark, but I could smell the sharp stench of burned flesh and hair. The lights inside flickered, and I saw him just for an instant. A tall, thin shape with a face covered in eyes that looked in every direction at once.

[Zoe]

Charlie. The gun.

[Charlie]

The light shut off and the figure was gone. When they flashed again, he was 10ft closer.

[Zoe]

The gun.

[Charlie]

I let Zoe take the gun from me. She raised it toward the figure. And the next time the light flashed, he was there, right in front of us, staring. Zoe fired point blank through him, but there was nothing there. It's been a long time, Jacob. I could feel him moving past us, through us. The hair on my arm standing up like I was in a lightning storm. And the smell was so strong, it was like everyone is being burned alive right now, in this moment. We turned towards Susan and he appeared in front of her, his back to us. It ends tonight. Zoe, the elevator. Come on, come on, come on, come on. Work, work, work. Mint is still $15 a month for premium wireless. And if you haven't made the switch yet, here are 15 reasons why you should. One, it's $15 a month. Two, seriously, it's $15 a month. Three, no big contracts. Four, I use it. Five, my mom uses it.

[Narrator/Host]

Are you.

[Charlie]

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[Zoe]

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[Charlie]

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[Zoe]

What just happened?

[Charlie]

Zoey. Zoe. It's okay. Okay. He didn't care about us. You saw that her time was up. He only cared about her.

[Zoe]

But your time, Charlie. Your time is up next.

[Charlie]

Zoe grabbed my good hand and we stood there facing each other while the elevator climbed in slow motion.

[Zoe]

Charlie, you're not allowed to die. I can't do a year here without you.

[Charlie]

You won't have to. I'm gonna beat the game.

[Zoe]

Promise me.

[Charlie]

I promise. We were standing so close, everything was almost touching.

[Zoe]

We have a lot of things to do once we leave this town.

[Charlie]

Yeah, but first we have to get out of here.

[Zoe]

How much time do we have?

[Charlie]

I don't know. Maybe 30 seconds. We made it to the front door, but it was chained too. We could push it open just enough to see the old pickup truck was gone. Come on. We've got to find another way. It's Gamma. Hey, Charlie. There were flowers. Someone has to know, okay? Someone has to be watching, so be careful. Flowers? Where?

[Zoe]

In the cave.

[Charlie]

There were bones and the skull was all smashed in.

[Zoe]

And there were fresh flowers.

[Charlie]

Like someone who just dropped them off. Maria. What? Never mind.

[Zoe]

Charlie, We've got to find a way out of here.

[Charlie]

Where are you guys? Shady Pines. But we're stuck.

[Zoe]

What do you mean? Jesus fuck.

[Charlie]

Keep it on the road. I mean we're locked in and the whole place is about to go up. What do you mean go up? I mean boom. Where are you? Shady Pines. I already told you.

[Zoe]

No, I mean where are you exactly?

[Charlie]

Just inside the front entrance. The big gray door in front? Yeah. Wait. How do you know about the door then? Move out of the way, Buck.

[Zoe]

Punch it.

[Charlie]

Oh shit. Zoe, move. Zoe and I dove behind the reception desk just as the front of Tim's pickup widened the front entry by about six feet. We climbed over the desk and onto the hood of the truck.

[Narrator/Host]

Reverse. Reverse.

[Charlie]

The wheel smoked as the truck tried to free itself from the debris. Zoe and I gripped the front of the hood. I tried to squeeze with my left hand, but it was numb and tingling from the hole through my shoulder. The sound was like nothing I'd ever heard. Like being inside of a giant speaker stack. Like our bodies were being vibrated to put out the sound. We saw the fireball in the reflection of the road windshield as Buzz gunned it in reverse. Buzz slammed on the brakes, and the truck slid to a stop in the wet grass just before the tree line. Thick dust and tiny chunks of cement rained down on us. Are you guys okay? What happened? We caught each other up. They'd found Tim's keys on his body and took his truck from Al's. When they couldn't get a hold of us, we told them what we found inside and showed them the drive. It's real. The game is really cursed. It's almost like I was saying that the whole time and no one believed me.

[Zoe]

We believe you now, but it doesn't matter. What matters is beating it.

[Charlie]

Yeah, well, we can't hang around here trying to beat it, because A, we don't have anything to hook that drive to, and B, everyone in the county is gonna have seen and heard that explosion. Gamma was right. If we stayed, we'd be answering questions from police while the last of my time and everyone else's in the game ticked away.

[Zoe]

We have to figure out the last clue, but we need to get the game back online so we have more time.

[Charlie]

4, 5, 6, E. It has to be the order. The order of what? The order of the changes.

[Zoe]

Yeah, maybe, but we don't have time to figure it out here.

[Charlie]

She was right. But I knew I was close. I had to be close. The other changes all made sense, all led us to something. Why would the last one be different? Give me a sec, Buzz. Let me see Fairchild's watch. Yeah, I got you, bro. I took the watch from Buzz. The ticking made me shudder. The first clue. The login. The second clue. The grave. The video. He wanted us to know what happened to Maria.

[Zoe]

Any ideas?

[Charlie]

I looked around our circle, and everyone looked like they were dead. Cut, bruised, bleeding, covered in dirt and dust and mud and blood. And all because I wanted to play this stupid game. Because I wanted to know what happened to Blake. I had a little more than half an hour on my timer in the game. I could see it on the phone, counting down.

[Zoe]

Charlie, it's gonna take 20 minutes to get into town. I don't know how long to get the drive set up, but we can't afford to wait here.

[Charlie]

4, 5, 6, E. Maybe he just ran out of time. Maybe he was already insane like Susan had said. And there was no final clue. I stared at the second hand of the watch and imagined Fairchild holding it in the observation room. Ticking, ticking, ticking. Staring down at wasn't just a clock face. There was a compass on it, too. That still seemed to work. I spun slowly in a circle and watched the needle pointing north. Charlie, what are you doing? Good. Four, five, six, E. Yeah, we know. No, look, it. It's a compass. 456 E. 456 East. Maybe that's what he was trying to say. 456 East. I look to the east. Thick woods directly behind shady pines.

[Zoe]

Yeah, but. 456 what?

[Charlie]

Maybe it's 456 steps.

[Zoe]

Maybe. Yeah, maybe. But if it's not, we're not getting back here and into town before the clock runs out.

[Charlie]

So we split up again. You guys go into town and I check it out.

[Zoe]

What? No.

[Charlie]

Yeah, you're not going by yourself. You guys have done enough, okay? If the police show up, you don't want to be here. And we already know the timekeeper only cares about people in the game.

[Zoe]

Yeah, but we care about you.

[Charlie]

Okay, I'll go with Charlie. You guys get the game back on. You don't have to come. G. Shut up. You can barely hold the laptop, and I'm not even sure you can count that high.

[Zoe]

Remember what I told you. We're not losing. We'll call you from the school.

[Charlie]

Thanks, Zoe. Be careful.

[Zoe]

Yeah, you too.

[Charlie]

Well, into the woods we go. We walked around the smoldering facility and the construction equipment scattered around it. Flames still shot up occasionally from the center of the building, but everything was so wet, there wasn't a chance of it spreading. We stopped at the edge of the tree line and turned our flashlights on. All right, I guess we start counting. The woods were thick. You could tell there had been a path here a long time ago, but it was overgrown and had been reclaimed by the forest. We counted under our breaths, and by the time we reached 400, the tree cover was so dense we couldn't see the moon. But at 4:40, we entered a small rocky clearing where the moonlight broke through enough for us to see. Without the flashlights, there's nothing here. Well, let's just walk around. Gamma, watch out. You couldn't see it until you were on top of it. But there was a shallow pit as big around as a hot tub and about as deep. Thanks. It's a big Hole Reminds me of the fire pits we made at school for Thanksgiving. Light the match. What match? No, that. That was the line in the game that Fairchild replaced. The last change. Light the match. We shined our flashlights into the pit. There were chunks of wood, broken branches that had washed there over the years. And probably today, grass grew up through them. But there was something else. Something black and burnt. Are those tires? I stepped down into the pit and felt the uneven rubber under my feet. My dad would probably want these. Gama. What? Look. I shined my flashlight where Gama had just kicked. He thought it was a rock, but the rock had rolled over and was looking at us with empty eyes. No, no, no, no, no, no. More bones. Burned tires. Blackened bones. I remembered the pit from the field trip. This is where they burned the bodies.

[Narrator/Host]

What?

[Charlie]

No. I thought they died in the fire in the building with Fairchild. After Maria. The ones who didn't survive didn't. This is where they brought them. It's Zoe. Zoe, where are you?

[Zoe]

At the school. We're online. Check the game, but it should be running. Did you find anything?

[Charlie]

Um, yeah. Yeah, we found something. What? The rest of the patients.

[Narrator/Host]

What?

[Charlie]

They're bones. 456 steps in the woods.

[Zoe]

That's it.

[Charlie]

Then.

[Zoe]

That's what he wanted us to find. That's the last clue. The bodies. Everyone who died. That's it. This should have beaten the game. We know what happened. Maria was the first. It worked. But she killed herself and. And then covered it up. But it kept happening. No one could beat the game and survive. It was like Susan said. We weren't ready, our brains weren't ready. So they just kept it going.

[Charlie]

That's what had happened. And Fairchild had led us to everything. We needed to prove it. With the clues he'd left us just before he died. I took the laptop from gmo, But I already knew. Knew my game wasn't over. The clock was still ticking. It hasn't stopped. 15 minutes, but it's still ticking down.

[Zoe]

No, no, no. That shouldn't be right. Unless. Unless that wasn't the last clue. The last clue he typed led you there. But that doesn't mean there isn't another clue there. G. Look around while Charlie plays. See if there's anything else. Like. Like the watch at the grave. There has to be another clue there.

[Charlie]

And then another clue and then another clue. That's how it works. I understood now. Finally, I understood hope.

[Zoe]

Yeah, but that's how you beat the game.

[Charlie]

You can't beat the game. What? You've never Been able to beat the game. That's been the point since the beginning.

[Zoe]

We know that. But this is a different game.

[Charlie]

No, no, it's the same game. Fairchild is the timekeeper. He doesn't want you to uncover a mystery. He doesn't want you to stop, solve a puzzle and get to the end and win. I thought about the video, the talk he gave. A dolphin would drown. A bird would crash and die. Change or die. He started with money as the reward, but he always knew that life or death stakes was the only way to make it work. So he tried to convince people of that when they came to Shady Pines. That it was real. The buttons in the elevator, the mask he wore. But it was still just a game then. Wait. What are you saying? I'm saying the only way to beat his game is if he decides you've won now.

[Zoe]

You don't get to lose. That's not an option.

[Charlie]

Yeah, Charlie, come on. We're gonna figure this out. Susan was right. We have to destroy it. No one else can ever play.

[Zoe]

No. I'll go back through the game. I'll check the drive. We may have missed something. Okay? But just keep playing, okay? Charlie? Keep playing. We have forever. We'll keep you awake. We'll help. Right, guys?

[Charlie]

Come on. I imagined all the people telling themselves that in the program. And Fairchild and Susan and the others waiting, watching, hoping right along with them. Waiting for the patterns in their brain to change and stick, not change and then snap. But the time would always run out. And when the time ran out, the timekeeper came.

[Zoe]

Charlie, figure something out, okay? Just play.

[Charlie]

No.

[Zoe]

What do you mean, no? You can't quit.

[Charlie]

Yeah, come on. I'll climb into the bone pit and see if there's anything there. No, no, no. Fuck your game. You hear me? Fuck your game. The only way to win is not to play. Well, I'm not playing. Charlie, if you don't play, you die. And if you do play, you die. Either way, I'm done playing. His game.

[Zoe]

Gommel's vacation. Him play. Don't let him give up.

[Charlie]

Charlie. Charlie. Charlie, come here. Take the laptop, please. Just. Just move around. Just do something, okay? Keep the cock stopped. I didn't care anymore. I could see Fairchild grin when I closed my eyes. Like he was watching me in his observation room. Watching as my brain tore itself apart. Like he was waiting for a seed he'd planted to shoot through the dirt and turn into something real and alive. But I was already alive. I'd been alive before I ever started playing this his game. Was just a little slice of reality that I'd made my whole world. I'd chosen to spend every second thinking about his puzzles, his games, and following the clues he'd left. But I was done.

[Narrator/Host]

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[Zoe]

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[Zoe]

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[Charlie]

Skin Body Wellness.

[Narrator/Host]

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[Zoe]

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[Zoe]

Charlie, listen to me. This isn't a game. If we don't beat this. We have to beat this, okay? We have to get the 13th key and stop the clock. We'll find a way.

[Charlie]

Sometimes it doesn't matter if you quit or if you keep quit grinding, you just lose. Because that's the way it's coded. My mom never quit. But her code said, these genes will kill you. My dad was never going to quit working at Tasty Burger, but he was also never going to win. These were the rules that whoever set up the game decided he just followed them. But someone else always set them. Someone else always set the rules. Zoe.

[Zoe]

What?

[Charlie]

What if everyone who played won?

[Zoe]

What do you mean?

[Charlie]

Everyone who plays dies because their clock hit zero. Okay, the. The keys don't matter. The only key that matters is the 13th key, because that's the key that stops the clock. And Fairchild could trigger it no matter what else happened in the game.

[Zoe]

What are you saying?

[Charlie]

The code. You have the code. You. You have the game. He uploaded the game. We're all playing, right? Yeah.

[Zoe]

Yeah. Right.

[Charlie]

So. So can you make it so everyone who plays wins? How? By triggering the 13th key. How do you know that would work? We don't. But. But on the video, the one where Maria died, we watched Fairchild trigger the timekeeper in the game to open the last door. That was what stopped the clock for Maria.

[Zoe]

It would have to be an action. Everyone who plays the game does.

[Charlie]

Everyone who plays the game loses. Exactly. It. Exactly. When the clock hits zero, the timekeeper comes. Zoe, can you make it so that when the clock hits one second, it triggers the 13th key? One second. You want to give yourself one second? What if it doesn't work?

[Zoe]

One minute. That's what we set it to.

[Charlie]

Can you do that?

[Zoe]

I think so. But, Charlie, that's wasting a lot of the time you have left. What if we. What?

[Charlie]

Everyone has died because they've played by Fairchild's rule. Rules, right?

[Zoe]

Yeah.

[Charlie]

At least this way, we're playing by ours.

[Zoe]

Yeah. Okay. Okay. Just play Until I figure out the code.

[Charlie]

Plan.

[Narrator/Host]

Plan.

[Charlie]

Plan. I sat down in front of the laptop. I was on the casino floor. The same slot machine Blake had asked me to play. Waiting for it to come up. All keys. It was all I could do to keep my eyes open. Pressing to spin the slot over and over and over. Charlie. Charlie, stay awake. Come on. I've got you. Any luck? See?

[Zoe]

Yeah, maybe.

[Charlie]

Oh. What is it?

[Zoe]

I think the alarm was on a timer. Buzz, go make sure no one comes this way. Just distract anyone who shows up on that. Okay. I'm saving the change, but there's no way to test it.

[Charlie]

Sure there is. I took my hands off the key board and let the seconds tick away. Charlie, are you sure about this, man? We can keep looking. We've got. We've got the whole tri, the graves, all of it. We can go through. No. I'm done playing. No matter what happens, I'm done playing. Okay. Okay.

[Zoe]

Yeah. Okay.

[Charlie]

You guys remember when my mom would drive us into the city at like 6am so we could spend all day at Six Flags wandering around? And Gama would pretend he worked there so we could get 50 cent hot dogs?

[Zoe]

Yeah. Yeah, I remember, bro.

[Charlie]

My fake uniform was perfect.

[Zoe]

Except the patch kept falling off.

[Charlie]

Got too hot. That wasn't my fault. Besides, it's not like anyone really cared. Those hot dogs probably cost like 7 cents max. I think Zoe set the record for number of times a throw up in a single day.

[Zoe]

Hey, look, I don't let little things like motion sickness get in the way.

[Charlie]

Of a good time.

[Zoe]

But I was glad when we switched to the water park.

[Charlie]

And then we all got sick from whatever waterborne death virus. Respond. There.

[Zoe]

Oh, yeah. Your poor mom, Charlie. I think she had to pull the car over every five minutes on the way back.

[Charlie]

Yeah. Yep, she did. I remember she cried.

[Narrator/Host]

She.

[Charlie]

She laughed so hard when she told my dad that night.

[Zoe]

How much time?

[Charlie]

10 more seconds. Thanks, guys. For everything.

[Zoe]

Thank me in 10 seconds.

[Charlie]

I wasn't really watching the clock tick down. I didn't want to see it. I didn't want to think about it. 5. Congratulations. The 13th key is yours. Welcome to a new era. Welcome to a new era. To a new era. To a new era. And just like that, it was over. The clock stopped at one minute. My name was on the leaderboard just below Maria's. We didn't sleep that night. Gamma and I went back and took Buzz's truck. Since Zoe and Buzz had taken Tim's and drove into Borden, Zoe had made another change to the code. No new players could start a game. So we stayed up until the last players in the game hit one minute. And then their names showed up on the leaderboard, too. People in Borden talked about that night for a long time, but no one ever really knew what happened. We told the sheriff we'd been worried about Tim, so we went to look for him, that we'd split up to try and find him. Found the body and took his keys and his truck into town because our phones weren't working. Turns out no one was too worried about the alarm at the school with all the power issues from the storm. And on account of what happened at Shady Pines, we told them about Susan Graham and the bodies in the woods and Maria's body in the cave. We didn't tell them about the game or the server we'd found it on. That part was just for us. And we had to decide how to handle it. Kill it with fire.

[Zoe]

We can't burn it. What if someone else ends up playing it? We wouldn't be able to make any changes.

[Charlie]

No one can play it if it's destroyed, right?

[Zoe]

No one can play it if it's offline. And it is offline. It's not connected to anything.

[Charlie]

All I'm saying is I'd feel better if it was in a million little charred pieces. Oh, I've got a cutting torch. I'll burn it up. Charlie, what do you think? I think we lock it up where you have a gun safe.

[Narrator/Host]

No.

[Charlie]

Absolutely. 100% no. I am not keeping the cursed ghost game in my garage. So that's what we did. We kept it in a thick safe. And most days we forgot it was there. The first few weeks of school, all anyone talked about was Blake and Tim and Shady Pines and the manhunt for all the people who used to work there and how the whole place had to be cursed. There were even a lot of Shady Pines costumes for Halloween. But then it was done. My shoulder was back to normal. Gamma and Zoe and I were up all night every weekend playing video games and planning out trips we could take together from our respective colleges. And sometimes Buzz was around, even though he and Zoe had called things off before Thanksgiving. And every day, one of us would sign on and check the server address and make sure it was offline. And every day it. So what's the next all nighter?

[Zoe]

I've actually been modding the old amnesia since they released the source files so we could do a Christmas Eve playthrough.

[Charlie]

Gamma will love that.

[Zoe]

Tell him to restock his holy water.

[Charlie]

Come in. Hey, I brought dinner. I know you don't love Tasty Burger, but. No, that's great. I'm starving.

[Narrator/Host]

Oh.

[Charlie]

All right. Hey, I'm gonna go easy.

[Zoe]

Hi, Mr. Dempsey.

[Charlie]

Hi, Zoe. Tell your parents I said hello and Merry Christmas.

[Narrator/Host]

Will do.

[Zoe]

Merry Christmas.

[Charlie]

Later, it felt like things were getting back to normal. Maybe even a better normal. Come in. Hey, Was just going through the security logs from last quarter. There was a weird sign in. What do you mean? It was someone who hasn't worked here or even, well, been alive in, like, 10 years.

[Zoe]

What did they do?

[Charlie]

Dumped a bunch of files, like an automatic thing. Just came online and just transferred everything over.

[Zoe]

Okay, well, scan them, go through them, make sure there's nothing malicious. Probably just an old server bank that came back on for maintenance or something.

[Charlie]

All right, will do.

[Narrator/Host]

The Timekeeper Episode four features Judah Lewis as Charlie, Chandler, Kinney as Zoe and Arjun Atelier as Gamma. The Timekeeper was created, written and directed by Matthew A. Brown Sound design, scoring and mix by Jeff Schmidt. Original score composed by Joshua Zimmerman Additional dialogue editing by Marika Perlmutter Executive produced by Kaylin Moore, Matthew A. Brown and Judah Lewis. The Timekeeper is a production from Heart Starts Pounding Additional cast includes Guy Kent as Jacob Fairchild, Princess Elmore as Susan Graham Hugo, Pierre Martin as Stan, Matt Anspaugh as Buzz, Brian Wiggins as the man, and Darren Limu Emu.

[Charlie]

Here we have the Limu Emu in its natural habitat, helping people customize their car insurance and save hundreds with Liberty Mutual. Fascinating. It's accompanied by his natural ally, Doug. Uh, Limu is that guy with the binoculars watching us? Cut the camera. They see us. Only pay for what you [e-mail] Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty Savings Fairy Underwritten by Liberty Mutual Insurance Company and affiliates.

[Narrator/Host]

Excludes Massachusetts Revitz as the woman.

[Charlie]

SA.