Chapter 10: Greenill Section ID Day?

[nanocerancowboy]

[ACTION - A (BACKDATED TO MARCH 17, Anywhere in Mayfield, Morning to Evening, OPEN TO ALL)]

[See that six-foot android covered head to toe in some sort of armor, going about his business?]

[He's not wearing green. At all.]

[Try to pinch him. Go on, try it.]

[ACTION - B (BACKDATED TO MARCH 17, John Doe Park, Afternoon, OPEN TO ALL)]

[That same android now seems to have a couple of drones following him, even hanging on to him, desperately trying to pinch him—on the hard, armored parts of his body. Suffice to say, they're not having much luck—and the android looks a little annoyed as he tries to brush some of the drones off of him.]

What in th' hell are ya'll on about?

[ACTION - C (BACKDATED TO MARCH 17, Olney's Tavern, Evening, OPEN TO ALL)]

[Gat's noticed the sizable amount of patrons heading toward the tavern, both droned and undroned alike. Curious, he's come to the tavern himself, though judging from the way he carries himself and rubs the back of his helmeted head as he scans the tavern in a manner not unlike the Terminator, he's a little perplexed.]

Comments

[nanocerancowboy]

Huh ... so then it is true. Not all th' civil servants're united in keepin' us imprisoned here.

[Valuable information to be sure, but ...]

Th' Librarian's still around, right? They ain't done nothin' to her?

[a_gentle_boy]

She... should be. The only people I know of who are gone are... Jane and Officer Grady.

[nanocerancowboy]

Jane bein' ... th' special drone you mentioned a while back? Jane Smith?

[And he recalls the other name Lucas gave for her—Samantha Achewood.]

Then th' former chief of police was Officer Grady?

[a_gentle_boy]

That's right. Samantha. Grady killed her, then... the town killed Grady.

[nanocerancowboy]

[Gat nods, recalling the rest of Lucas' conversation from that time.]

An' that was th' first proof ya'll had that folks can selectively die for good in this town, I reckon, since he ain't been back, an' neither has Samantha.

[From his body language, Gat looks especially contemplative. He's pondering possible meanings behind the two killings, and the revival machine in the Dairy ...]

[a_gentle_boy]

It wasn't the first time it happened, but it was the first time we got to see the bodies.

...I buried them in the park.

[nanocerancowboy]

[It's truly a mark of how horrible this town can be, that finding and burying the corpses of the few who have permanently died is one of the less traumatic things one can experience—but Gat sets aside that indignation to consider what Lucas first said.]

It ain't th' first time?

[a_gentle_boy]

There was the Russian man. Sergei. ...Or. Boris.

They hunted him down and killed him.

[nanocerancowboy]

[Beat.]

I ain't heard of 'em before.

[a_gentle_boy]

It's a long story... That was when we first found proof that Mayfield was probably just an emulation, too.

[nanocerancowboy]

[Gat considers this for a moment.]

Y'mean somethin' was off about 'em? Behavin' erratically or causin' disruptions in th' town environment, like a computer glitch?

[a_gentle_boy]

[Lucas looks surprised again.]

...Yes! Actually... I'd forgotten all about that. Mr. Boris wasn't stable in Mayfield. He kept... disappearing and reappearing in other places. Sometimes, things would go right through him.

But the real proof was in a pamphlet he gave someone.

Um. Let's start a little earlier.

We'd all been invited to a party at the Smiths' place. Everyone took it as a chance to find out more about the Smiths, but it was actually just a distraction so that Grady could go out and... Oh. No, I might have to go even earlier than that.

[nanocerancowboy]

[Gat listens, nodding once or twice. Coffee would perfectly suit this conversation.]

You can start as far back as y'need.

[Gat does look like he's already got some questions, but ... maybe Lucas will be able to answer theme with the full story.]

[a_gentle_boy]

OK.

There was this one summer where we were all kidnapped by a different town - Not Mayfield. It was supposed to be a Russian town, and it was a lot worse in every way. They made us do factory work for them, and we actually had to wait to be saved by Officer Grady.

[nanocerancowboy]

I'm guessin' by th' whole Russian thing that this other town's based on a different country.

[A beat.]

An' if they kidnapped you an' treated you worse than this town does ... Then them Russians must be hostile to th' country this town's s'posed to be a part of.

That about right?

[a_gentle_boy]

Well. Not exactly. The Russians didn't really consider us from the United States; they just treated everyone who lived there that way.

But you're right; Mayfield and the Russian town didn't get along at all. That's why... During that party I mentioned. It was a distraction for Grady to go and kill everyone in the other town.

[nanocerancowboy]

[Gat rubs his chin as Lucas speaks.]

I wonder if them Russians got anything to do with th' USSR ...

Was Boris appearin' in Mayfield before they held that there party? Or after?

[a_gentle_boy]

The USSR...?

[Lucas blinks a little.]

Hm. I was always a little confused about that. But the textbooks say the same things about the USSR that people say about 'Russia', so maybe they're the same.

Boris appeared a little while after the party. He was the only survivor.

[nanocerancowboy]

[Gat nods.]

There was a neighbor livin' on my street who's from this country. Back when they subjected us to nuclear weapons after Thanksgivin', she told me th' most likely culprit woulda been th' USSR if this was takin' place durin' th' time th' town's takin' after.

[A beat passes while Gat considers what Lucas said about Boris.]

An' he was showin' up in random places here in Mayfield ... Normally I'd chalk that up to teleportin' powers, like that Viki girl.

[a_gentle_boy]

It definitely wasn't. He was hurt pretty badly, and he couldn't even stay still long enough for me to heal him. Over about a week, he kept appearing and disappearing to a bunch of people around time.

Mayfield went into lockdown. They looked for him everywhere. They went through a lot of houses... killed a lot of people. Lucy even brought back the hazmats.

[nanocerancowboy]

[Mayfield sure doesn't need much of an excuse to go killing its own, that's for sure. But it's what Lucas says at the end that makes Gat pull his head back in a "say what?" fashion.]

Hazmats? Hazardous material specialists? What would they need folks like that for?

[a_gentle_boy]

.....Um. So.

The year before that, something happened in a place called Westport. You really haven't heard about that?

[nanocerancowboy]

[—Oh, Lucas has to rewind further. Oops. Gat shakes his head, however!]

Naw, no one's told me about that there town before.

[a_gentle_boy]

...Westport's really a story of its own. The important thing is that there were these monsters in hazmat suits.

[nanocerancowboy]

[Gat's head tilts slightly to one side.]

They were monsters wearin' hazmat suits? ... Well, I reckon that's about as strange as anything else they like doin' to us.

[Though Gat wonders just what Lucas means by "monster." Considering everything he's personally seen and some of Mayfield's tricks, that could turn out to be just about anything inhuman ... but certainly vicious.]

Did ya'll get a good look at 'em out of th' suits?