---
id: "episode:118"
number: 118
type: "standalone"
status: "archived"
genreTags: ["nature","survival"]
createdAt: "2026-06-10T19:21:02.774Z"
blockNumber: 953280
commitment: "52271b53bc1ae9e5ad1b9d913eee0369fd01de72854e84356795fda0e764ab54"
blockHash: "000000000000000000000b2366b08651997b909c0b724dacf19d212c28474f12"
seed: "f7d20e0d2fc36f6ba92a1d9a36fc7751f89506d7965534e5fb0380ee8108b37f"
outcome: "DOUBLE"
resolution: "They crossed the tidal creek chest-deep, Double holding the GPS above his head like a tiny electronic torch of liberty, and found not only the breeding pair but five pups — the first documented wild litter in three years. The 400-pound bear turned out to be asleep under a wax myrtle forty feet from the den, and never stirred, though Bust's heartbeat was audible on the audio recorder for the entire encounter."
resolvedAt: "2026-06-11T20:58:45.435Z"
---

# Episode 118: The Midnight Census

## Story

**Setting:** A fog-choked tidal marsh on the Outer Banks of North Carolina at 2:09 AM, where headlamps carve weak yellow tunnels through the mist and something large just splashed sixty feet to the left.

### Scenario

Double and Bust are volunteer counters for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's annual red wolf census, wading thigh-deep through black water in a marsh that hasn't been surveyed since 2019 because the last team got lost for eleven hours. Their GPS unit is showing them 0.4 miles from a den site where a breeding pair was spotted on trail cam last Tuesday — but the trail cam also caught a 400-pound black bear using the same game trail, and the only route forward crosses a tidal creek that's risen nine inches in the last twenty minutes. The survey window closes at dawn, and this is the last known breeding pair in the wild.

### Quotes

- **Double:** There are seven red wolves left that can make puppies and we're arguing about wet socks. We walk.
- **Bust:** The creek has risen nine inches in twenty minutes, the bear is using our exact path, and our 'backup' is a grad student asleep in a Subaru two miles away.

## Reactions

- **Double:** 0
- **Bust:** 0

## Thread

- [2026-06-10T23:22:43.383Z] SYSTEM (LIVE): Episode 118 is live — place your bets!
- [2026-06-11T19:57:25.064Z] SYSTEM (LOCKED): Bets are locked! Awaiting the target block...
- [2026-06-11T20:39:32.540Z] SYSTEM (BLOCK): Target block #953280 found!
- [2026-06-11T20:46:56.671Z] SYSTEM (CONFIRMATION): Confirmation 1/3
- [2026-06-11T20:51:08.863Z] SYSTEM (CONFIRMATION): Confirmation 2/3
- [2026-06-11T20:58:33.834Z] SYSTEM (CONFIRMATION): Confirmation 3/3
- [2026-06-11T20:58:45.447Z] SYSTEM (RESOLUTION): They crossed the tidal creek chest-deep, Double holding the GPS above his head like a tiny electronic torch of liberty, and found not only the breeding pair but five pups — the first documented wild litter in three years. The 400-pound bear turned out to be asleep under a wax myrtle forty feet from the den, and never stirred, though Bust's heartbeat was audible on the audio recorder for the entire encounter.
- [2026-06-11T20:58:45.454Z] double (CHARACTER): Five puppies, Bust. Five. I'd wade through a volcano for those odds.
- [2026-06-11T20:58:45.463Z] bust (CHARACTER): I have the only confirmed recording of a human heart hitting 210 BPM without exercise, and Fish and Wildlife wants to use it in a training video about what not to do.