Chapter Ten – "The Script"
Previously: While Zendall and JR are still at Myrtle's Boardinghouse, Tad, Di, Adam, Krystal, Babe and Amanda have made their way to the Pine Valley Police Department, where they discover Ryan and the Recast Greenlee have given Chief Frye a script which may solve the Mystery of the Missing. Or it may not.
Glowing, Ryan handed over to Adam the script NuGreenlee had found in the Penthouse.
"You'll love this, Adam. It's what that maniac Slater has planned for all of us!" He eyed Babe, Krystal, Amanda, Di, his own Recast wife and Derek Frye. "Well, nearly all of us. Here I marked the scene you should read. It isn't my favorite, but it's pretty great."
First with disbelief and then apprehension growing on their faces, Babe, Krystal and Amanda stood on tip-toe and read over Adam's shoulder as he silently read and methodically turned the pages.
Scene: The basement of Zach's Casino. The leading citizens of Pine Valley are tied to folding chairs while Zach Slater stands before them outlining his Master Plan.
Zach: You all die and I take over.
Adam: You can't run this town by yourself, Slater. You're only one man.
Zach: Who said I'll be alone? I'll have the other Newbies and Recasts to help. Babe, and Krystal and Amanda and Lily and Jonathan and Erin and Josh Madden and Greg Madden and Di and whoever else gets hired to liven up Pine Valley after I dispose of all of you dead wood.
"I told you they were out to get us!" Amanda yelled out. "That phony baloney script implicates us Newbies!"
"In the first place, Amanda, you're not a Newbie," Ryan pointed out calmly. "You're a Recast. Like Greenlee."
NuGreenlee waved at Amanda.
"And in the second place," Ryan continued, "why would you assume it isn't genuine?"
"Why would you assume it is?" she shot back. "Because you're not a Newbie! Or a Recast! That's why!"
Adam shushed Amanda and continued reading.
Kendall: Zach! Have you gone completely mad? Why have you kidnapped everybody? Why are you planning to get rid of all of us?
Zach: I'd tell you, Kendall, but you're too stupid to understand.
David: I know why he's done it, Kendall. Power. The lust for absolute power. Something I understand all too well. Now nothing and nobody stands in his way. And yes, Kendall, you ARE too stupid to understand.
Aidan: You'll never get away with this, Slater.
Tad: He's right, Zach. The Fans will never tolerate an all-Newbie cast.
Zach: My Fans won't mind all that much. Besides, the cast won't be all Newbies. They'll be a couple of Recasts to keep the continuity. Such as your revamped wife, Ryan. The beautiful brunette recast Greenlee. The soon-to-be Widow Lavery. Who knows? I might give her a whirl. I always liked brunettes.
Kendall: What the --?
Julia: I'm brunette, Zach. Why not keep me in town?
Kendall: Tramp!
Zach: Julia, you know Maria would never forgive me for taking up with her sister.
Julia: You think Maria will forgive you for knocking off her sister?
Zach: I'm not gonna tell her. And neither will any of you.
Ryan: You'll never get away with this, Slater.
Zach: Tad and Aidan said that already. All three of you are wrong. Who's gonna stop me?
Brooke: But why get rid of us, Zach? We're no threat to you. You're front-burner all the way. I've been so back-burnered, I'm practically off the damn stove!
Zach: I can't take any chances, Brooke. Nothing personal.
"How do we know this script is the real deal?" Tad asked Ryan, still not convinced it was. "Anybody could have written this, including your Recast better half, who allegedly found it."
"Allegedly, my eye!" NuGreenlee cried out in her own defense. "I did find it! And as far as Ry and I know, it's absolutely genuine! Besides, why would I write such a thing? It makes Recasts and Newbies possible Suspects right along with Zach. Why on earth would I make myself a Suspect?"
"Who is she again?" Adam asked Krystal.
"Let's get back to that script," Krystal urged.
"Oh, the next part is about my family!" Adam said, choking up slightly.
Stuart: Zach, you've got to listen to that quiet voice inside of you telling you to do the right thing!
Zach: That isn't what the quiet voice inside of me says, Stuart.
Liza: Mother, what does Zach Slater have against Colby and me? We don't even live in Pine Valley anymore!
Marian: I don't know, Liza. But Zach's done more than his share of horrible things in this town. He seems capable of anything. Did you know he took Maria away from Edmund?
Simone: And denied his son!
Colby: Should I even be here? I thought they were going to SORAS me and bring me back as a teenager!
Meanwhile Ryan was finding it impossible to believe the others' disbelief. "You people floor me! This is the first real clue we've had! Why isn't Slater being picked up for questioning?"
Dereck spoke up at once. "Stop trying to do my job, Lavery."
"Somebody should." Adam said dryly. He went back to the script.
Joe: Don't be afraid, Ruth. Things have a way of turning out right as rain.
Ruth: Since when?
Myrtle: Zach, Dahlin', this is so unlike you. You've always been a bit of a bad boy, but not this bad! Come to your senses before it's too late.
Zach: Sorry, Myrtle. Not a chance. If it makes you feel any better though, I liked you the best.
Kendall: Her? You liked her the best? Zach, you swore you loved me!
Zach: I did love you. But I never liked you.
"Adam, don't turn the page so fast!" Krystal whispered to him. "Okay. Go ahead."
"Not yet!" Babe called out. "Okay, go ahead. Amanda, are you caught up?"
"I've read enough," Amanda said mournfully.
"Suit yourself," Adam said, turning the page.
Erica: Stronger, smarter, eviler men than you have tried to get the better of me, Zach Slater! What makes you dream you can succeed where so many, many, many others before you have failed so miserably and so frequently?
Opal: Come to think of it, what makes you think you can get the better of any of us? Have you even half an idea how much all of us have lived through on this Show? How much all of us have overcome? Palmer, you tell him!
Palmer: Slater, as Villains go, you measure up as less than a grain of sand on the Sahara. I have survived ex-wives, bankruptcy and worse. Ever work in a fast-food chicken place, Slater?
David: My own Mother turned out to be a Drug Kingpin! I mop for a living! You think you can beat me, Slater? You think you can beat any of us?
Zach: Definitely. For one thing I've managed to get you all here, tied up and at my mercy. And for another thing, as soon as I say "buh-buh" and take my leave, massive quantifies of carbon monoxide will be pumped in here through that grate over there. See it, folks? Yes, that one.
Jack: You'll never get away with this, Slater.
Zach: Yeah, that's what they all say.
"This isn't half-bad," Krystal mused. "It has a cliff-hanger and everything."
"Easy for you to say when I'm one of the ones hanging off that cliff," Adam said stiffly, handing the script back to Ryan, who was still glowing.
"Looks bad for Slater," Adam observed.
"And not too much better for us," Krystal added with a sigh. "It puts all of us Newbies and Recasts under a cloud!"
Tad had heard more than enough to send him toward the door and out of there.
"Where are we going, Boss?" Di inquired, following him.
"The basement of Zach's Casino," Tad answered her.
"Tad, you think your Mom and Dad are there?" Di asked him. "You believe that Script?"
Tad shook his head. "Di, I don't know what to believe anymore. And I haven't for a long, long time!"
"What happens in the rest of the Script, Ryan?" Krystal asked him after Tad and Di left. "We only read that one scene."
"The rest is standard JR/Babe love-hate-love. They aren't Zach's prisoners because Babe is a Newbie and JR is a Recast."
"In the Script, is anybody trying to solve the mystery of where all the people are that Zach is holding?" Babe asked.
"Another Newbie and another Recast begin investigating," Ryan replied with a smile that nobody understood..
"Which Recast?" Amanda demanded, hoping it was her.
"Sorry, Amanda," Ryan answered, guessing her hope. "Believe it or not, in the script, the two detectives hot on the case are Lily Montgomery and my brother, Jonathan!"
Jily are the on the case in the Script? Only in the Script? What (and who) will Di and Tad find in the basement of Zach's Casino? How will Zendall react when Ryan shows them the Script? For some of the answers to these annoying questions, please read on!