The Corporate Hierarchy

The office building rose like a glass pyramid against the Seattle skyline, each floor a tier in the invisible hierarchy that determined who mattered and who didn't. Elena stared at it from across the street, clutching her coffee cup like a lifeline.

Three weeks ago, she'd discovered she was the office spy—not by choice, but because her boss had installed monitoring software on her work laptop. Every email, every Slack message, every private vent session with her work friend Marcus had been funneled into weekly reports she was supposed to compile without question. The burden of it was beginning to bear down on her, heavier with each passing day.

"You look like shit," Marcus said, falling into step beside her as they headed toward the building. "Rough night?"

Elena forced a smile. "Something like that."

Marcus was cunning in that way that got things done without stepping on toes. A fox in the corporate hen house, he'd survived three rounds of layoffs while people twice his tenure were shown the door. But Elena knew something he didn't: his name was on tomorrow's list.

Inside the elevator, they watched the numbers light up. Floor three. Floor six. Floor nine. Each stop deposited more workers—pale-eyed, coffee-fueled, moving with the shambling gait of the undead. The corporate zombies, Elena thought, and the irony tasted bitter. They were all dead inside, just moving through the motions.

"I've been thinking about leaving," Marcus said quietly as the elevator rose. "Maybe somewhere smaller. You know, with actual humans."

Elena's throat tightened. She could tell him. Could warn him. Could blow the whole thing wide open and watch the pyramid collapse from within.

But then what? Become another casualty? Join the ranks of the unemployed, wandering the streets like all the other corporate rejects?

"Yeah," she said, watching the doors slide open on their floor. "Maybe somewhere."

The truth would keep. For now, she'd play the spy, carry the bear on her back, and watch the fox run his final race. Tomorrow was soon enough to decide whether to save him or sacrifice him on the altar of her own survival.