The Weigh Station

THE NIGHT SHIFT STARTS AT SUNDOWN You've taken a job nobody else wanted: night inspector at an isolated weigh station. Trucks pull up one by one, and it's your job to clear them, or catch what doesn't add up.

READ THE ID The dark hides everything. Use your night vision camera to make out each truck's ID, then enter it into the system to pull up its manifest.

CHECK THE DETAILS Compare plate number, driver name, cargo, destination, date, and weight against the manifest. Discrepancies aren't always obvious.

RESCALE, ALWAYS The scale isn't always reliable. Hit rescale before every weigh-in to make sure the number in front of you is the real one.

MAKE YOUR DECISION Approve the truck, or reject it. Every decision is yours, and every decision has consequences.

MIND THE POWER The station runs on borrowed time and cheap wiring. CCTV, heater, terminal, booth door, all of it drains electricity. Burn through it carelessly, and you'll have nothing left when you need it most.

CLOSE THE DOOR Something moves in the dark beyond the checkpoint lights. Sealing the door costs power, so don't keep it shut out of habit, save it for when something's actually reached your booth.

WHEN THE POWER DIES If your power runs dry, there's only one option: step outside, find the transformer, and bring the station back online yourself. No cameras. No locked door. Just you, the dark, and whatever's out there with you.

As the nights stretch on, the manifests get harder to trust and the power never stretches quite far enough. Stay sharp. Stay charged. Just make it to sunrise.