While Hope's Lament was now down to five remaining prisoners, one former from the island sat in a solitary confinement cell. No, they didn't stay in this cell because of how dangerous they were or because they did something to get themself locked up in solitary, they were in there because they absolutely refused to be near anyone else. This prisoner was none other than the first eliminated prisoner, Romeo.
A guard opened the door to Romeo's cell, "Romeo MacFarland," The guard began, "We have some urgent business that's required for you to take care of. If you could please leave your cell and come with us."
Romeo shook his head repeatedly at the officer, "No! I'm only safe in here! If I go outside they're gonna get me... I know it..." Romeo backed into the corner of the cell.
"Nobody is out to get you, Romeo, just come with us already." The guard spoke with annoyance as he went into the cell and forced Romeo to his feet, "Grab you crutch and get moving already." The guard forced Romeo to move forward, "This man is completely insane, he breaks his own leg and then goes on and on about how someone took control of him to make him do it, what a lunatic." The guard rolled his eyes as he and Romeo made it outside, "Wait here, and don't move. If you do, well, you know you won't get far." The guard threatened, although Romeo himself now knew the consequences of trying to run away from something, he knew the guards on the watchtower were all watching him, and he wasn't gonna risk anything.
Romeo sat out in front of the prison for what felt like hours as the hot sun beat down on him, but throughout it all he was completely motionless, he learned well from his time in Hope's Lament, and he refused to test his luck again. Fortunately for Romeo, his waiting paid off as a truck parked right at the end of the prison's parking lot. The driver of the truck got out and was revealed to be none other than detective Lyre, who had called in to the prison a while ago.
Lyre approached Romeo and offered a handshake, "Romeo MacFarland, sorry about the wait, it was very difficult to get here on time thanks to traffic, can you follow me?" Lyre asked Romeo, who nodded his head and slowly followed him.
"What do you want?" Romeo asked making sure to look around at his surroundings. Romeo looked back up at his prison's watch towers to see that the guards were no longer watching him.
"Well, truth be told, I need the help of you and a few others." Lyre answered, "But we can't talk about that now, I need you to get in the truck first." Lyre opened the back door to the truck to reveal a few empty seats there meant for other passengers, "Oh and as an extra precaution, I'm going to have to blindfold you, sorry, but I need to be extremely careful doing this." Lyre took out a blindfold as Romeo looked at the back of the truck in horror.
"They're trying to bring me to another game... no... not this time, I'll die before I let them do that..." Lyre was about to tie the blindfold around Romeo's eyes when the farmer suddenly headbutted him to the ground.
Lyre held his nose in pain as he looked up, "Agh! what are you d-" Lyre was stopped by Romeo charging into him and knocking the two of them down a short hill that was at the edge of the parking lot. Despite the broken leg, Romeo surprisingly turned out to be a very tough person to fight. "Wait! Stop I'm not trying to-" Lyr tried to explain as Romeo managed to throw himself on top of the detective and began choking him out. Lyre struggled to keep the physically stronger Romeo off of him when he pulled out a taser from his pocket and electrocuted Romeo with it, successfully incapacitating him. Lyre held his throat in pain as he looked on at Romeo, "This is what I get for doing this undercover and not bringing backup. I can't say I blame him, I'd do the same in this situation... I still can't risk anything though, I have to be the only to interrogate these guys..." Lyre struggled to lift up Romeo as he put him in the back of the truck, blindfolded him, and put his seatbelt on. That was one Hope's Lament prisoner down, and five more to go.
Lyre was about to start driving away when he got a text on his burner phone. Lyre opened the phone to see it was a text informing him that the same odd even that happened with Aztaroth had now happened with another one of the missing inmates, Jacque Cortez Metoyer and that a different missing inmate, Rival Seizon had been found outside of a hospital with a stab wound... what was going on?