The Scarecrow, Part Two
Detective Tapp
As with all the survivors, Jim had a hard time accepting the position that he was in. It was only after another trial that Jim was brought up to speed. From Jim's world, ending up in a place like this was perfectly logical, but this does not mean that Jim was happy about it either.
Jim had volunteered for the trial following his first one, and he was sacrificed that time. The Doctor hung him from a hook in the Estate's basement. Jim hated the experience of being sacrificed, but it was better off that he knew what it was like. Tapp was there to comfort him when he came back. Only now Jim saw that this was for real. After a while, Tapp started asking some questions. Ace and Dwight were watching and listening to the exchange.
"So," Said Tapp. "do you know anyone in your life that would seem like a good killer here?"
For a moment, Jim sat quiet, then he erupted in laughter.
As per Dwight's policy, when there is a new survivor to the group, the trial cycle is redone. This mattered very little to Feng and David since they volunteered almost every trial. It was later determined that the next team would be Feng, David, Tapp, and Dwight. Tapp of course, did not like the fact that he had to go again so soon.
Jim was still coming to terms with his new existence, and from what Tapp could see, Jim's now reached the 'Bargaining' stage of grief. Jim was talking about some 'metahumans' who could track him down and save the people here. Tapp could only scoff at this. The Entity was much too powerful to be jabbed at by a mere human.
Jim wasn't even fully shown around the camp when the next trial was called for. The team was assembled save for David who had come to the campfire with a sachet of flowers in his hand.
"You can throw some things in the fire to help you during the trial." Bill said to Jim. "David just put in some flowers so he could get some equipment at the end of the trial."
Jim had been developing a friendship with Bill, with the both being military men it just worked out. "How does that work?" Jim asked.
"Sometimes when you're running to the campfire, you close your eyes and you find yourself in a dark room with podiums. On the podiums, first aid kits, you know." Bill took a drag of his cigarette. "A voice will tell you how many things you can take."
"How do I get things for the campsite?" Jim asked.
"The same way you get the equipment." Bill replied. "It's important to get a balance of things you need and things to keep you happy."
Jim smiled. "I'm glad that I came here with my pipe."
"We all came here with something from our life." Bill said. "I got my pack of smokes and a lighter."
Tapp had also developed a friendship with Jim, as the two were dedicated policemen while they were in the real world. Tapp continued to listen in to the conversation, up until the moment that he was placed in another trial. As was feared, he opened his eyes to somewhere new. Tapp was thankful to see that this place was an indoor place. That meant that the Huntress and the Bushmen would be at a disadvantage here. The first thing that Tapp noticed was the diamond symbol printed on many of the walls. In the middle of the diamond, the word "ARKHAM' written in bold black lettering. Tapp could quickly determine that this place was some sort of asylum for the insane. There were many padded cells, a few offices, and when Tapp looked up he could see that this asylum had a second story. Unlike the other asylum, this one was well maintained. That did nothing to negate the haunting air of this place. Tapp spotted Dwight on the second floor via the balcony. Dwight was trying to get David's attention.
Dwight then held his eyes wide open, and he ran his hands through his hair. That meant that this was the Doctor that they had to deal with. Tapp nodded, and he continued forward. He eventually found a generator in one of the padded cells. Tapp did not like this location, as he was cornered in this cell. As Tapp worked on the generator, his eyes drifted around the cell. There was a bed with straps on it, and a large poster on the wall. "DENT FOR MAYOR" said the poster, also brandishing a very handsome man with a suit. In the distance, Tapp heard David scream. Tapp assumed that hearing the screaming is what lead Dwight to determine who the killer was. Tapp pegged the screaming as odd though, it was prolonged, different.
Tapp heard a generator start, and it was not long after that when he finished the one he was working on. At the exit to the room, Tapp saw a small brown blur. He had barely noticed it, and it was quite an odd sight. Tapp took a deep breath in, and before he went to exit the room, he looked to the side. The electoral poster had changed to the front of a newspaper. "JIGSAW KILLERS STILL ON THE LOOSE, CULT GROWING". Seeing this of course unsettled Tapp, but what terrified him was the thing standing behind him. A giant brown bear, with blood and flesh covering its body. Tapp couldn't even scream as he froze. With every breath Tapp took in the feared beast got worse to look at. Finally, Tapp let out a scream. He barely noticed the pain that the scythe inflicted upon him.
Amanda
Amanda felt no remorse for the survivors, as she knew that they all ruined their lives in a way. Some sacrificed it for others, others lived in a way that left them begging for a fate like this.
Things were not to bad for the killers here. Each killer had just about every amenity that one could ask for, as well as a large room in this endless mansion. Amanda was good friends with Sally, the Nurse who lived one door over. One problem with the situation was the Entity's control over the killers. It numbed the killer's mind, removing most of their free thought when they were called to a trial. The killers could not even choose when they would go to a trial. They would get only an hour notice to the killer before they would be dragged to their trial. More sacrifices, more amenities.
The fellowship between the killers was rocky at best. A good amount of the killers were not capable of speech, either from the Entity's control or some sort of social autism. Sally and Amanda were both trying to teach the Huntress how to interact with them, but the progress was slow going. After what seemed like years the only progress made was to get her to stop humming that song for a few minutes when asked. Despite this, The Huntress is at least able to sometimes communicate through crude childlike drawings.
The other killers were kind of easy to live with. Many kept to themselves, especially the men. The only killer that talked with Amanda consistently was Mick, the Bushman. The hard part was getting him to stop talking. Amanda hoped that he would mellow out when the Entity put more control over him during the trials. The killers were mostly free to do as the choose while not in a trial, but during the trial their minds were narrowed on sacrificing the survivors to the best of their ability.
The Bushman was obnoxious, proud, and very rude to everyone he talked to. At first he was perfectly polite and even funny, but after about fifty or so trials he changed. From the communications of the Entity, there are still more killers coming.
Amanda was carrying some clean laundry to her room. She was among the few killers who bothered to change clothes while she was out of a trial. Walking down the hallway, she made sure to walk a bit faster when she was walking past the Nightmare's room. She could hear the lullaby as she continued forward, she hated it. Sometimes she would hear it when she was sleeping in her room. She had never seen the Nightmare, and she had never seen its room open.
Amanda had dropped the laundry off at her room. She knew that the Huntress was with Sally in her room, so she had planned on going to Sally's room shortly after putting away her laundry. Her room was tidy, but cluttered with mementos of her time with John. It was no place for a child, or the Huntress. The Huntress, despite committing the terrible atrocities, still had the mind of a child.
Sally, the blonde haired blue eyed nurse looked quite pleasant when not in a trial. She was dressed plainly, as Amanda and Kyra was. Kyra was the name that the two had given to the Huntress, as they were unable to determine her name. They could determine that she was Russian from her clothing however. Amanda entered the room, and her eyes drifted to Sally's wedding photo, her prised possession.
"I'm told that we have another killer coming in shortly." Said Amanda.
"Oh?" Asked Sally, who was dusting one of her desks in her large room. Kyra was still humming the same song. "Kyra, sweetie, can you please stop for a moment?" She said in a motherly tone.
The Huntress, who was sitting at a table towards the back of the room came to silence. She was drawing again.
"The Entity's growing faster than usual." Amanda remarked.
"Yes, the new bandland place, Australia I believe."
"Yeah, it's Australia. Mick was bragging about all the tourists he's killed for stepping onto his turf." Said Amanda. "He's the exact kinda guy that I would put into a game."
The Huntress started humming again, as she continued to draw. Sally sighed. "So, I asked Phillip over for some tea."
"Oh yeah?" Asked Amanda. "What did he say?'
"Nothing." Sally said with a shrug. She then looked to her wedding photo. "He just kind of looked at me, and he cocked his head." Sally giggled. "It's as if he finds it cute when he does that."
"So, are you going to go to his room sometime?"
"I don't know. You know that it's hard to get a read on what he's thinking with all that mud on his face." Sally looked over to see that the Huntress was still merrily drawing by herself. "Have you thought about talking to one of the men? I know Evan likes traps."
Amanda smiled. "No, if I'm interested in anyone it's Herman."
"The electrical one, huh?" Sally asked with a raised eyebrow as she heated up a pot of tea for her and Amanda. "Kyra? Would you like some tea?"
The Huntress replied with an absent minded grunt.
"Oh!" Amanda said in surprise. "That's new!" Clearly Amanda was happy with the sudden progress.
'Yes. I've been thinking that it would be wise to call in Doctor Carter to examine her. He is educated after all, perhaps he might know what to do?"
Amanda nodded her head. "You want to get him?"
Sally nodded her head, and she left the room. Even the hardened killers here would feel fear when seeing the Doctor, but some of the killers took a bit softer of a form when not in a trial. Amanda was looking through some of the Huntress' drawings when the door opened again. Doctor Herman Carter did not look that scary at all. Amanda knew that this man was capable of great evil, so Amanda made sure to keep a close distance to the Huntress. Amanda walked to Sally and the Doctor.
"I've taken a few psychology classes in university, but I wouldn't say that I'm an expert." He said, appearing as a regular black doctor with ripped sleeves on his suit.
"You're the closest thing we have." Sally said.
"And just see if you can give us advice on how to help her socialize." Amanda added.
Herman nodded his head. He held a clipboard with a pen, and he started towards the table that sat the Huntress. He looked back to the two women. "I must say again, I am not the man for this job." (Of course, none of them knew that in just an hour Doctor Crane would come to their mansion.)
The Huntress did not lift her head from the drawing as the Doctor sat by her. A full minute passed before the Doctor spoke. "May I see some of your drawings?" Herman asked softly.
The Huntress gave no response. Herman couldn't even see what the top half of her face was doing due to her rabbit mask.
Herman looked to the two women. Sally, the Nurse was preparing a tea set for the two. Amanda, the Pig, just stood there, watching him keenly. Herman sighed, and turned back to the woman. "Kyra, My name is Herman. I would like to talk to you." He said softly.
In response, the Huntress gritted her teeth, and pressed the crayon harder on the paper. Herman could see that she was drawing a crude picture of the new killer, the Bushman.
It was then that something just occurred to Herman. Kyra could probably speak better Russian than English. Herman knew a bit of Russian, enough to carry a full conversation. He debated even trying, as this could lead him to be asked to check up on that one killer that wears human faces as a mask. Shaking his head, Herman spoke in moderately broken Russian. "What would you like to be called?" He asked.
There was a long pause where the Huntress stopped her coloring. "Anna." She said abruptly.
Herman looked to the two stunned women. "We shall call you Anna." Herman said, still in rough Russian. Anna continued coloring the Bushman. Herman gently put his hand over the little pile of papers in the middle of the table. Most of the pictures were of the Bushman. "This man. Have you met him?"
Anna stopped coloring once again. "I do not like him." By now, Sally had delivered the tea to the table. Herman took a cup.
"Why?" Asked Herman.
Anna pressed the crayon onto the paper so firmly that it broke. She gave no spoken response.
Herman, after slowly taking a sip of his tea, looked further at the drawings. There was also a few pictures of the one old survivor in the green army uniform. Perhaps this would be a good time to establish common ground. Herman pointed to the crude drawing. "I do not enjoy this one." He said firmly.
Anna paused to look at her own drawing for a few moments. "He is slow. No fun." She said, a small smile on her lips.
Herman smiled back. "These two women. Do they treat you nicely?"
"They speak in a way I do not understand."
"That's because it's a different language." Herman said.
Of course, Anna never understood the concept of language because it was never taught to her. She just looked to the tea plate.
Herman sat quietly, observing every little movement that Anna made. He could see that she obviously had some array of issues, but how many was a question he could not answer. He was about to ask another question when he heard the obnoxious Australian shouting something in the hallway.
"Wake up ya poofas! New killa 'ere!" He yelled, jogging to the front of the mansion, where the Scarecrow found himself.
Yes, yes I know. If I put a villain in from Batman why could it not be the Joker? Well, my answer to that is that I do not know. Anyway, speaking of clowns, I know that there is one. He will be introduced soon. Don't you worry.
I know I said before that I did not quite care if I had reviews or not. I lied, I would really like some if that's okay. Suggestions would be grand as well. I know what you're thinking. 'Wow, this was a good story. I can't wait to see where it goes. I won't review or anything, because I'm sure someone else already did.' Newsflash kiddo, nobody else reviewed. Nobody ever reviews knucklehead.
Anyhow, this was a fun chapter to write. I know all of you have heard the Wraith/Nurse wombo combo, but are you ready for the Pig/Doctor pairing? Hold on to your butts, it will be quite grand.
Another thing, I would really like to make a rule for myself. I know some of you really liked the perks and items I did for the Bushman and Jim. I can't do that every time, mainly because I am lazy and I'm not even sure if you read it.
