Dead Load

An empty service lift is carrying something.At County Bulk Stores, an empty service lift reports an overload. Then its floor bends beneath a weight no one can see.Facilities coordinator Vernon Wrobel wants a fault he can name and a repair he can arrange. Qualified lift contractor Eamon Breck takes charge of the installation, while Vernon's colleagues check the power, compare recordings, and keep the county's everyday work moving. Electrical isolation is essential. It does not account for the force.When an unseen force pulls a worker's arm against his will, a service call becomes something none of their training can fully explain. Old records offer a starting point, but a plausible story is not proof. Even stopping a movement may not mean the danger has passed.Vernon is used to making himself useful. Now he must trust people whose work he cannot do, listen when an account unsettles his own, and remember the life waiting for him beyond the yard.Dead Load is adult supernatural workplace horror about impossible weight and physical vulnerability. Its investigation unfolds through close observation and ordinary records, with a crew whose jobs and relationships are worth protecting.