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Old 03-11-2017, 09:08 PM   #92
Icelander
 
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Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Iceland*
Default ...And Miles to Go Before I Sleep

Cherry Bell is visibly startled when she hears that Taylor named one of his daughters 'Savannah Belle'. For a few moments, she doesn't seem to know how to react, but eventually smiles tremulously and places a hand over Taylor's hand.

Bell: "Do you ever see them, your girls?"
Taylor: "Uh, not for five years, six months, thirty days and 'bout twelve hours. But I write 'em as often as I can and their momma's been real good 'bout letting them write back."
Bell: "That's awful. I... I'm so sorry."
Taylor: "Hey, might could it's all for the best, anyhow. This way, at least, they's growing up with a good momma an' not with somebody... somebody done come home with blood all over his hands."

Not knowing what to say, Cherry Bell pats Taylor awkwardly and makes comforting sounds. Taylor hugs her closer to him for a while.

---

Meanwhile, Dr. Anderson expertly steers the conversation with Hayden Avery, the captured guard, so that he'll reveal information about Warden Tyrrell and the other guards without feeling like a traitor. Avery reveals that when Warden Tyrrell learned that agents from Homeland Security's Office of the Inspector General were coming to Jewell Island, he flew into a rage and started to speculate whether they had any specific knowledge about wrongdoing among the guards. When 'Special Agent' Berrocal turned up without any warning the day before the agents were expected, the Warden was already on edge and when Berrocal wanted to speak with Cherry Bell, Warden Tyrrell started accusing Berrocal of being an agent of the Shadow Government.

After that, Warden Tyrrell held back those guards who were supposed to go back to the mainland for leave by the rotation, so there are actually twenty four guards there now, not just twenty. Avery admits that all the guards knew about Berrocal being beaten and locked up, but maintains that Warden Tyrrell gave the orders and that he explained Berrocal wasn't a Homeland Security agent, he was an evil lizard person in disguise. Dr. Anderson asks him to clarify that and Avery tells him that Warden Tyrrell took guards to the cell in J Wing where Berrocal was kept and showed them his unatural, reptilian eyes.

Dr. Anderson gets Avery to tell him how Warden Tyrrell gradually uncovered evidence of the conspiracy behind the Shadow Government and the lizard people for the last few years. He first talked about it maybe in 2011-2012. Never with strangers, just with those he trusted. And he found a lot of evidence, especially once he started getting access to some old files from the research facility that used to be below Manhanock Asylum. There were also patients who had important pieces of the puzzle. Former scientists, test subjects and even black ops assassins for the Shadow Government, they all ended up in Manhanock Asylum sometimes.

There were those among the guards who didn't believe in any of it, even after Warden Tyrrell showed them documents and evidence. Some of them quit the guard force. Others came around. If Warden Tyrrell couldn't convince them, Cherry Bell could. She'd been invovled in real Shadow Government experiments and... well, somehow, when it came from her, it was hard to ignore claims of a government inside the government, doing what it wanted without any of the elected officials being the wiser. Some men were also convinced by Ms. Bell's doctor, Dr. Bruce Cotton, as he had been very involved in investigating the archives and could argue the Warden's case real convincingly.

Those among the patients who were unmanagable or still loyal to their lizard masters were put in special cells or sent for treatment to Dr. Cotton. Later, they found that there were infiltrators among the staff, too. Warden Tyrrell started preparing for the War, when the loyal Americans would rise up and throw off the lizard yoke. He said that as democracy had delivered the American Dream into the hands of inhuman monsters, there would be a vanguard of loyal men not subject to the whims of popularity. Knights, defending humanity, like King Arthur's Knight of the Round Table. And Tyrrell would be king of Jewell Island, a new Camelot.

Avery said that the Warden believed most Americans, even ordinary cops and soldiers, wouldn't stand for serving the lizards and their Shadow Government, not once they knew. So once the time came, they just needed to defend their island until the people rose against the evil puppeteers.

Dr. Anderson: "Uh-huh. And you believe all that?"
Avery: "Well, I'm not crazy about the 'King' stuff, to be honest. And I think Tyrrell is too optimistic when he thinks the people will all rise against the lizards. It will take some pretty convincing evidence. But I've seen the soulless eyes of the predators among us, man. After that, how can I not believe? How can I ever go back to being a peaceful little drone? How can I ever sleep again?"

---

After a long silence in the lobby, Taylor clears his throat to ask Bell a question.

Taylor: "Lynnie, that stuff you said you had to get from the Deputy Warden's office, how important is it?"
Bell: "Oh, it's real important. Trust me, you'll want us to get it."
Taylor: "Is anybody fixin' to die if'n we don't get it?"
Bell: "Well..."
Taylor: "That do sound like 'no'."
Bell: "Chase, it's my phone, okay!? It's got all kinds of personal stuff on it and I don't want cops or whoever you're working for to get it."
Taylor: "Uh, darlin', personal stuff that could getya killed or put back in a place like this if'n the wrong people saw it or jes' personal stuff that's real embarrassing an' might could let our handlers find Vargas in Mexico?"
Bell [colouring]: "Uh, that second, I guess."
Taylor: "Embarrassin' ain't really gonna matter now, Lynnie. An' even if we got it, we ain't gonna smuggle nothin' off this here island without our handlers gettin' it. Besides, we's gonna cooperate with them anyhow, talk with Vargas an' convince him coming to terms is the only way. They'd need the phone an' I figure givin' it to them is a good way for you to show you's trustworthy."
Bell: "We could hide the phone. Get it later."
Taylor: "Sherilyn Bell, I know darn well you's always been smarter than me. But there's stuff now I been trained in and you ain't, yet. When it comes to something like that, I's gonna ask you to listen to me an' I's tellin' ya it ain't worth getting that phone, not if'n we ain't got no other reason to go up yonder. Somebody could be hurt, kilt even, if'n we do. An' embarrassment jes' ain't a good enough reason to aim to kill somebody or to get kilt, for that matter."
Bell: "You sure it's not because who the messages on the phone are from?"
Taylor: "No! Awright, I done thunk Vargas was a grade-A toolshed even before he was caught dealing drugs and killed a friend of mine, but jes' 'cause I think you too good for him don't mean I's gonna interfere. If'n you think you kin be happy with him, if'n he a different man now, I'm a-gonna help you with that. An' the first step's gotta be gettin' Onyx Rain to trust us some."
Bell: "I actually believe you mean that."
Taylor: "'Course I do, silly. But the Lord help him if he ain't gonna treat you right, girl."

Cherry Bell gives a startled giggle and snuggles closer on Taylor's shoulder, but her smile slowly drains away as she looks away from him into the dark, leaving her thoughtful and a bit apprehensive. After another long silence, Taylor puts one hand on her shoulder, turning her face toward him. He looks deep inside her eyes.

Taylor: "Lynnie... you've had a rough time for longer than I wanna think about an' I ain't gonna ask you to talk about it if'n you ain't ready to. There's jes' one thing I gotta know, 'fore we go on. Do I want Warden Tyrrell dead?"
[Bell looks into his eyes, knowing exactly what he's asking about, and then looks down]
Bell: "Yes."
[Taylor tenderly brushes Bell's hair away from her eyes and raises her face up to look her in the eyes again]
Taylor: "I never wanna think you'd lie to me, not on somethin' like this."
Bell [heated]: "Well, I do want him dead. Not because of that, no, but he made me afraid and humiliated and helpless. He's been treating me like a prized possession for years, he's made me do things I didn't want to and I've had to tolerate him. Well, I won't any more! He had no right to keep me here and no right to call me his Queen. I hate him and I want him dead!"
Taylor: "Okay."
Bell: "Okay?"
Taylor: "I understan' why you want him dead. An' I cain't say that I find it in me to condemn you. If'n he doesn't survive the night, I ain't gonna be able to feel too bad about it."
Bell: "He can't survive the night! Not him and not Dr. Cotton! You said that these Onyx Rain people would kill me or lock me up if they thought I could do mind control. Well, Dr. Cotton and Tyrrell can tell them everything about it. They know enough to get me locked up forever or killed!"
Taylor: "I see. An' who might Dr. Cotton be?"
[Bell seems genuinely terrified and has started weeping]
Bell: "He's the one you want dead! He's the one who did things to me, tied me up, drugged me, experimented on me! He made me use my powers on the guards and when I tried to resist, I couldn't! Nothing I did could affect him... I was so helpless! He'd just do whatever he wanted, smiling, like I was a stupid little child and he knew better! And I'd always obey him! I hate him, but I'm so scared of him... Chasie, I'm afraid he'll tell me to get back in my cell, stop this stupid tantrum and I'll just go back!"

Taylor hugs her and pats her back, looking steadily toward the main complex in the darkness. In his unnatural gleaming silver eyes there is not a shred of warmth or humanity, just a cold emptiness.

Taylor: "Sssh, Lynnie. You ain't gotta worry 'bout him no more. He ain't never gonna hurt you again."
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Last edited by Icelander; 03-12-2017 at 09:35 AM.
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