Today, I give you the second episode. But... A warning. This one... Well, it got quite dark, so be awares of mature subject matter and dark dark dark content. I mean, seriously, I wrote the thing and even I find it disturbing...
Enjoy!
"Dog Days"
Teaser:
Palmer sits within his makeshift cell, having calmed down considerably. Though he had trashed the contents of the cage at some point before he did. Now he just sits there, staring at the window in the supply room door. On the other side, Garry and Childs watch him through the window. Childs insists that he’s going to get to the bottom of this whole mess, stating that there’s only ever been one murder on the continent, but that if there’s been a second, he’ll make sure that Palmer doesn’t get away with it. Garry tells him that he understands Childs has been working at the station the longest, but he asks who appointed him sheriff of the group. Childs tells him that his daddy was a cop, and he’ll be damned if he’s going to let any more people get hurt by some nut. As he walks away he insists that things wont get any worse on his watch.
Lars and Matias Fly the helicopter over the snow fields and jagged rocks that jut up from the terrain. Lars hangs out the side of the chopper taking pot shots at the dog as it runs. He curses under his breath and yells for Matias to keep it steady. Matias tells him it’s damn near impossible due to the heavy winds at this altitude. Lars tells him to take it down then. Matias asks if he’d rather be splattered all over the mountains instead. Lars glares at him and tells him that if they don’t kill that thing then everyone is dead anyway. Matias sighs but takes it down, mentioning that Lars sounds like a crazy person, and if it were any of the others, he wouldn’t have bought a single thing he was saying. Lars replies that the others were already dead, but he’ll make sure it pays.
As they continue flying Lars continues firing. He reloads and keeps going. Again. Again. And again. He is a man obsessed with killing this dog. Then BANG! The dog yelps as it rolls over in a spray of blood. Lars screams that he got it! He orders Matias to take the helicopter down so he can finish it off, grabbing one of the thermite grenades in the process.
As they touch down, Lars leaps from the helicopter and runs towards the body of the dog. He pulls the pin from the grenade and flings it through the air towards the dog. As the grenade lands in the snow, the dog leaps up and darts off again. The thermite explodes seconds too late, incinerate the spot where the dog had been laying only moments before. Lars yells in frustration as the dog darts through a rocky outcropping. Lars runs after it, unslinging the rifle from his back, Matias yells for him to wait but Lars ignores him.
Lars tries to follow the dog, but it’s already out of sight. He makes his way through the rocks, looking left and right, waiting for an ambush. As he enters a small clearing he pauses and lowers his rifle in surprise. Matias catches up to him, yelling for him to wait. When he sees it too, he pauses. The two men stand there staring at the Snowcat. Matias asks Lars if that’s one of theirs. Lars confirms that it is.
Act 1:
The Past. Suburbs. A school bus pulls to a stop at the curb allowing three early teenage boys off. They chat about various things ever important to them. One of the three boys breaks off and waves. They wave back and say good bye to their friend, calling him Keith. He passes a mailbox with the name “Childs” written on it as he passes through a short chain link fence. As he does, a rottweiler runs up to him. He bends down, petting and scratching the dog behind the ears. He asks the dog what he’s doing outside, obviously, the dog doesn’t answer. The young Childs looks over at the driveway to see the cop car sitting there. He smiles and continues up the walkway to the door.
As he enters, he tosses his book bag down and calls out to his mother and father. No one answers. Continuing through the house he heads to the kitchen. Checking the fridge, he makes himself a snack. A bit later, after polishing it off, he makes his way upstairs, finishing the last bit on the way. As he reaches the door to his room, he stops. He hears something from coming down the hall. He again calls out for his mom and dad. As he makes his way down the hall, the sound becomes clearer. Sort of a cracking/snapping sort of sound. Step by step, he gets closer to the source of the sound, his parents bedroom. As the cracking sound gets louder, another sound is mixed in, more high pitch, one he doesn’t recognize. The door to the room is open, just a crack. Slowly, he peeks inside, moving the door slightly to get a better look. His eyes go wide. His mother wears some sort of black and revealing outfit, he hands and feet are bound with a pair of handcuffs. She is leaning over the bed. A man in a leather outfit stands behind her. He holds a riding crop in his hand. He swings it forcefully, striking her ass with it, producing the loud crack. His mother squeaks in a high pitch then gives a deeper moan of pleasure, asking for more. The man complies. Striking her again and again and again. She moans how he knows just what she likes. The man in leather lifts her up and pulls her underwear down as he gets behind her. The young Childs stumbles backwards a step and slowly backs away from the door, a horrified look on his face as the man lets out a loud grunt. The young Childs scrambles through his bedroom door and shuts it behind him. Curling up on his bed, he begins rocking, the expression on his face one of horror. The sounds are muffled but can clearly be heard through the wall. His mother calls out about just a little more, she’s almost there. The cracking and moaning and grunting continue louder and more often right up till his mother lets out a screamed “yes”.
Outpost 31. Childs questions Bennings but doesn’t seem to be getting anywhere. He points out that Bennings’ and Windows’ room is right across the hall from Fuchs and Nauls’ room. Again asking him if he saw or heard anything. Bennings again denies knowing anything, telling Childs that he had been in the rec room playing foosball with Nauls. After a particularly crushing victory over Nauls, he gave the game up to Connant and said he was heading to bed. On the way there, he decided that he would stop in and check on Fuchs to see if his nose felt better. When he opened the door… he stops, his face going blank. The sight clearly running through his mind. Seeing the look on his face, Childs relents. He tells Bennings he’s going to see what the others know, Bennings distantly acknowledges him. Childs walks away, glancing back at him once.
Connant finishes assembling the laptop he had been working on, flips it over and turns it on. Childs looks through the door, and leans on the frame as he asks Connant if he knows anything. Connant glances up at him with his ever tired eyes before apologizing and telling him he doesn’t. Childs asks him if he knew where Palmer was all night. He mentions that Windows, Nauls and he were going to meet up with Palmer in the green house. Childs looks at him questioningly and asks why the green house. Connant smiles and tells him that he knows, as he puts his fingers to his lips and inhales. Childs nods distractedly. Connant shrugs and tells him that he and Nauls hung around, but Windows headed off first. The two played a round before getting bored. Before they could get to the green house, the commotion broke out. He admits he saw neither Windows or Palmer before it happened. Childs stares at Connant for a moment, before telling him to give the shit up before it fries his brain. Connant laughs and tells Childs it keeps him mellow, he should try it some time. Childs grunts a reply and walks off. Connant chuckles to himself and looks back to the computer.
Windows sits in the rec room, staring off into space. Childs walks up to him. Windows realizes he’s there, looking up at him. Windows then quickly looks away as if he doesn’t want to meet Childs’ eyes. Childs asks him if he saw anything. Windows instantly replies that he didn’t see anything. Childs looks at him suspiciously, Windows continues to look away. Windows says Fuchs went to his room after getting the busted nose and that’s all he knows. Childs then asks about Palmer. Windows tells him he didn’t see him the rest of the night after the fight. Childs asks him if he’s sure. Windows is again quick and frustratedly tells him he’s not Palmer’s keeper and doesn’t keep track of his every move. Childs then asks him about the green house. Windows claims to know nothing about it. After a moment of staring at him in silence, Childs speaks, telling him he doesn’t care what shit he’s got going on, he just wants to know what happened to Fuchs. Windows looks at him in surprise, then looks away again, saying he doesn’t know anything. Childs asks if he’s sure about that. Windows looks up and him and tells him he doesn’t know anything about Fuchs. Childs watches him for a moment and decides he’s telling the truth on this one. He tells him fine, but points at him. He informs Windows that he better not find out about whatever he DOES know about. Windows looks away in fear. Childs, feeling he’s made his point, walks away.
Childs walks down the hall. Norris calls out to him. Childs backs up and enters the room with Norris. Norris tells him he heard he was asking around camp about Fuchs. Childs asks him if he knows anything. Norris tells him that he saw Fuchs in the kitchen later, after he had gone to bed. He tells Childs he seemed frustrated. The last he saw he was heading to the lab. He tells Childs that Blair might know something. He asks him if he knows anything else, like where Palmer was. Norris shakes his head and says he didn’t see Palmer all night. Childs thanks Norris and heads for the lab.
Childs says Blair’s name. Repeatedly. Blair just continues working. Childs, having had enough, slams his fist on the table. Blair doesn’t just but does look up. Childs curses at him and tells him he needs to focus on something other than work for five minutes. Blair calmly explains that this stuff is very important, and he doesn’t have time to chit chat like the others. Childs informs him that a possible murder is pretty damned important. Blair frowns, but asks him what he wants. Childs tells him how Fuchs was seen heading into the lab after he supposedly went off to bed. Blair ponders this for a moment, then confirms. He believes Fuchs was in there for a time. He says no more. Childs presses him to go on. Blair thinks about it, telling Childs Fuchs was ranting about something. He assumed it was just the busted nose and didn’t bother giving it much attention. He goes on to tell Childs that while one of his PHD is in psychology, he’s not a psychiatrist, despite what some of the people around the station believe. He goes on to say he was working in the lab and focusing on his samples, that he needed to make another report in the morning. Fuchs came in, ranted, Blair gave him less than half an ear and told him to just set his mind to something else and cool off for a while. Fuchs seemed satisfied enough and left. Blair continued working right up till all the commotion. Then, after Childs locked Palmer up, he went back to work. He then asks Childs if that is all he needs, that he hasn’t gotten much sleep so he would like to finish his tests, make his overdue report and head to bed. Childs stares at him for a long moment, then tells him that’s fine. Blair returns to his work with little more words. Childs shakes his head in frustration and walks out.
Act 2:
The Past. Young Childs stands outside the arcade, just kinda staring inside. He doesn’t make a move to go in, nor does he make a move to walk away. He just kinda stares. The cop car pulls up behind him. The cop speaks, telling his son that the last person who should be playing hooky is the son of a cop. The young Childs apologizes, but doesn’t really look at his father. His father watches him a moment and tells him to get in, he’ll take him to school. Childs stands for a moment, then finally goes around and gets in the passenger side. As he and his father drive through town, he just stares out the window. The father checks on his son several times but says nothing at first. He speaks finally, asking his son what’s the matter. That he’s been distant, not himself lately. His son quickly tells him it’s nothing. His father laughs then tells him that it’s his job to know when someone is lying. He says that his son can talk to him. Tell him if there’s something wrong. Childs remains silent for a long moment. Then tells his dad to promise him that he wont get angry. His father laughs and promises. Childs is quiet for another long moment then slowly starts to speak. He tells his father that he came home and… he saw. His father asks him what he means. He tells his father that he knows, he saw he had come home early and he saw him with his mother. His father laughs and tells him that he still doesn’t get it, that his son knows he was working late. Childs shakes his head, insisting he saw the cop car outside and then saw the two of them in the bedroom… It takes a moment but his father finally puts it all together. He instantly gets the look of a furious man trying to hide his temper. Childs picks up on this immediately, insisting his father promised not to get angry. His father tells him not to worry, he’s not angry… at him.
Outpost 31. Childs smolders as he walks down the hall towards Fuchs’ room. He stops as he hears a commotion from within. As he continues forward, Nauls steps out of the room. He wears a pair of yellow rubber gloves, wiping his forehead with the back of his hand as if he’d been sweating. As Childs steps up to him, he glances into the room. The sheets from the bed are gone and the blood has all been cleaned up. Childs yells at him, asking him what the hell he’s done. Nauls insists that there’s no chance in hell that he’s going to sleep in the room with all that mess. Childs again yells, telling him that it’s a crime scene. Nauls looks at him, baffled. He stammers a moment, telling Childs that he asked Copper if it would be fine, and he said it would be. Childs curses and walks the other direction. Nauls glances back at the bucket of bloody water sitting on the floor.
Copper sits at his lab station looking through a microscope. Childs storms in and demands to know why Copper told Nauls he could clean up a crime scene. Copper looks up at him with a smile saying that he saw no problem with it, that there’s not any police around who could set up a proper cordon anyway. He then asks Childs that if his roommate was murdered, would he want to just leave the room as is. Childs curses and tells Copper that with the blood they could at least know SOMETHING of what happened. Copper smiles and informs him that’s the exact reason he took a sample before telling Nauls he could clean up. Childs looks at him in surprise. Copper then begins telling him how exciting he finds the prospect of a mystery. He tells him that Mac and Clark have already started looking for the body. But the very fact that Palmer managed to get it out of the room, assuming his guilt of course, but not only did he get the body out of the room, he left no trace of of evidence in the hallway. Never mind that someone SHOULD have seen something. Childs ponders over this and states that maybe someone did. He then asks Copper what he intends to do. Copper rambles on about comparing it the the sample of Fuchs blood they have, see if there’s anything amiss about it. Maybe some drugs or something that would keep Fuchs quiet. He points at that, was he being slaughtered, he might make a bit of noise in the process, asking Childs if he remembers any bloody screams last night. Childs confirms that he didn’t. He then asks Copper how long the whole thing should take. Copper considers, stating it shouldn’t be more than a few days. Childs tells him to let him know if he finds anything. Copper agrees and goes back to work as Childs leaves the room.
Outside Mac and Clark Debate possible places to hide a body. Childs walks up to them and asks if they found anything. Mac tells him that Clark checked the dog pens and found nothing, they already checked the garbage area and nothing. The snowmobiles are still locked up so he couldn’t have taken it out from camp either. He figures they’ll try the tool shed next. After that, there’s pretty much nothing else other than checking every nook and cranny inside the main building. Childs nods and tells them he’s going to look through Palmer’s belongings, see if he can’t find something there. He then walks off. Clark looks at Mac and points out that Childs just gave himself the job of looking around inside the warm building. Mac replies “Caught that too did ya?”
Inside, Childs enters Palmer’s room. He glances over the piles of junk and debris. He halfheartedly pushes a pile out of the way and watches it clatter to the floor. He mumbles about always telling Palmer to clean up his side of the room. He walks over to the dresser, pulls open a drawer and begins rummaging around. All he finds is clothes. He shuts the drawer and opens the next, again pushing clothes about. Still nothing. He opens a third and begins rummaging around. He grunts in pain and yanks his hand back. He holds his hand up and looks at the trickle of blood coming from his finger. He sucks it briefly and looks back at the drawer. More carefully this time, he moves the clothes aside. He pauses as he sees it. Reaching into the drawer, he slowly pulls out the bloody knife. He stares at it a moment, seeing the blood is mostly dried. As he glances into the drawer he makes another find. Setting the knife down for the moment, he pulls out the stack of magazines. He’s found Palmer’s porn stash. Flipping through them briefly, he sees they run the gamut. Straight and Gay. As he glances through the covers they begin moving towards the realm of S&M. Bondage, leather, whips, chains. Childs turns his lip up at them, seemingly growing angry as he looks through them. As he does an envelope falls out. He glances down at it, then chucks the magazines away in disgust as he leans down to pick up the envelope. Opening it, inside he finds a stack of photos. Much like the magazines, he finds the images depict men and women in various states of bondage. They go from mere bondage to images of wax and whips and crops and torment. The content getting more violent. Childs hands are shaking at the content, but he forces himself to keep looking. And then they get worse. The leather stops in the images, but the bondage continues. Only now the subjects appear to be wearing more forcibly removed attire. There are images of pants and shirts torn and ripped to expose flesh. They continue, moving on to bruises and blood. Childs looks pale as they continue and the subjects appear to be in pain and fear. There are tears on the twisted faces. They no longer look like consenting activities. Childs swallows hard.
Act 3:
The Past. Childs sits in his room, tears stream down his face. Downstairs two loud voices can be heard. Young Childs’ mother and father yell in fury at one another. He demands to know the identity of her friend. She yells back that she doesn’t know what he’s talking about. He asks he “no?” He then tells her that their son came home and saw what she was doing, he tells her what Childs said about the chains and leather and whipping. She gets a shocked look on her face, realizing what her son had seen. She tries to go upstairs, but Childs father stops her, grabbing her by the arm, telling her that they’re not done yet. She yanks her arm free. She looks at him in anger, then smiles. She admits it. She informs him just who it was with her. He is shocked when he realizes that it’s his old partner. But he’s confused because he hasn’t seen him in years and can’t fathom how they would know each other after that. She smiles and asks him when he thinks the whole thing started. He gets a looks of surprise that slowly turns to anger. She taunts him, telling him it’s been going for years and that maybe if he was more of a man, she wouldn’t have had to find a real one in the first place. He snaps and backhands her across the face. She stumbles back a step, holding her face in shock. He screams at her, asking her why she has that look, that he figured she’d like something like that. He smacks her across the face again, asking her if that’s the kind of thing that gets her off. He strikes her a third time. She screams and shoves him back. He raises his fist. She screams for him to just get out. He holds, his fist in the air, almost debating. He then drops his hand and tells her fine. He grabs his keys off the table and slams the door on his way out. Tears run down her face as she listens to the car pull out and drive away. She lets out a sob. She turns and sees Childs standing there at the base of the stairs, staring at her. The tears well up in her eyes again and she pushes past him and heads up stairs. Childs stands there in shock.
Outpost 31. Childs flings the pile of photos at the cage. He demands Palmer tell him what all this shit is. Palmer smiles as he looks at it. He tells Childs he thinks it’s pretty self explanatory. Childs snarls and calls him a sick son of a bitch. Palmer laughs and tells him to lighten up. He tells him that everybody has their kinks. Childs yells in fury, asking him if that’s what he calls this, just kinks. Palmer shrugs and tells him that shit happens. Childs asks if he means like what he did to Fuchs. Palmer shakes his head and reaffirms he didn’t do anything to Fuchs. Childs calls it bullshit. He then pulls out the knife and shows it to Palmer, asking him about the blood. Palmer smiles. Childs demands that Palmer tell him about the knife. Palmer continues to smile. Childs kicks the cage in his rage and screams for Palmer to explain it. Palmer sighs and slowly rolls up his sleeves. Holding out his forearms, he shows Childs the series of cuts and scars running all up and down the length of the inside of his arms. Palmer tells him it’s just a little something he picked up in his teens. To relieve the stress. Get rid of the bad juju. Tells Childs he should try it sometime. Childs snarls in disgust then flings the knife away, storming out of the room. Palmer chuckles, then looks down at the photos all over the floor, smiling.
Childs storms up and down the hall. Nauls and Norris watch him. Childs insists that Palmer did it as he paces back and forth. He KNOWS Palmer did it. Nauls tells him to take a breath. Childs tells him to fuck off. Nauls shuts his mouth and backs up a step. Norris says nothing. Mac walks in with Clark. Mac tells him that they’ve checked everywhere. There just isn’t a body. Childs looks through the window at Palmer. He insists Palmer knows where the body is. Mac tells Childs to calm down. Childs looks at him in anger and tells him that he IS calm. Mac tells him he doesn’t look very calm. Childs stares at Mac in anger. Mac holds up his hands in mock surrender. Childs scoffs at him and looks back through the window. Mac tries again, telling Childs that short of beating it out of him, there’s not much they can do to Palmer. Childs looks at him in surprise and then storms away. Mac curses under his breath and follows Childs.
Meanwhile. Lars and Matias slowly approach the snowcat. Matias walks up to the door. Lars points his gun at it. Matias reaches for the door. He grabs the handle and looks back at Lars. Lars nods at him, gun ready. Matias holds a moment and flings open the door. Lars is instantly looking inside, finger on the trigger. Nothing. The snowcat is empty. Lars shakes his head. Matias sighs in relief and asks him what the hell its doing out here. Lars shakes his head again and climbs out. Matias asks him “now what?” Lars slings the gun over his shoulder, pulls one of the grenades from his coat, pulls the pin and chucks it inside. Matias darts away and Lars walks after him, the grenade goes off, reducing the snowcat to slag. Matias curses at him. Lars just looks around the rocks. Matias says Lars name, almost in a whisper. Lars ignores him. Matias says his name again. Lars looks down at him. Matias is not looking at Lars. Lars turns, following his line of sight. He spots it instantly. The dog. It’s standing there, looking at them. Just staring. Matias slowly tries to crawl backwards. Lars ever so slowly tries to get the gun from his shoulder. The dog just stares. Slowly, Lars moves his hand to the gun. Slowly. Slowly. Inch by inch. The Dog darts forward. Matias screams. Lars curses and stumbles backward, grabbing for the gun. The dog is upon them. Lars fires and misses. The dog leaps. Lars falls backwards off his feet as the dog sails past. Lars fires, fires and fires again, still trying to hit the dog while laying on his back. The last two shots almost hit Matias, who ducks and yells in fear as the bulls hit the rock right above his head. Lars scrambles to his feet to give chase. He yells at Matias to hurry and helps him get to his feet, cursing at him the whole time. Once Matias is up, Lars runs after the dog. Matias follows Lars. The snowcat continues to burn. Lars charges out from the rocks and fires at the dog. He fires at the dog who runs off in the distance. The gun clicks empty again. Lars curses and reloads. He runs for the chopper, screaming at Matias the whole way. The two climb in the chopper and take off again. In the distance what appears to be a tiny cluster of buildings can be seen.
Act 4:
Outpost 31. Childs enters his room, reaches behind the door and grabs his baseball bat. As he turns to leave, Mac steps up in his way. Childs tells him to get the fuck out of his way. Mac holds his hands up again, telling Childs he doesn’t want to do this. Childs stares at him for a long moment. Mac tells him that they’ll find Fuchs and Palmer will pay if he’s guilty. All they have to do is keep looking and keep Palmer locked up till the turn over shift arrives. Childs glares at him for a bit then sighs. He tells Mac that he’s right. He lowers the bat and walks forward, past Mac. He tells Childs that he doesn’t blame him. Childs says “Good.” He then shoves Mac into the room, slams the door and shoves a chair under the knob. As Mac bangs on the door, Childs walks away.
Outside the supply room, Garry has joined the others. They watch as Childs walks up and holds out him hand. He tells Garry to give him the keys. Norris and Nauls look between the two men. Garry studies Childs’ hard expression, then looks down at the bat in his hand. Childs remains motionless, his hand out. Garry reaches down, pulls the keys from his belt and hands them to Childs. Childs enters the room and shuts the door behind him. Nauls asks Garry if he’s gone crazy. Garry shrugs and asks why. He then says he didn’t see anything, then walks away. Nauls looks at Norris in shock. Norris just shakes his head.
Palmer looks up at Childs. Childs slowly walks towards the cage. He tells Palmer he’s going to give him one more chance to tell him where Fuchs is. Palmer shakes his head and says he already told him, he doesn’t know. Childs calls it bullshit. Palmer shrugs and asks if he just wants him to lie about it. Tell him he ate him or something. Childs points at him with a snarl, calling him a sick bastard and telling him he gave him one last chance to be a decent human being. Palmer laughs out loud at the statement, repeating the decent human being part as if the statement is absurd. Childs tells him to have it his way as he unlocks the cage and flings open the door. The smile disappears from Palmer’s face as Childs grabs him by the collar and flings him out into the supply room. He stands over Palmer. Childs asks again about Fuchs. Palmer tells him to go fuck himself. With that Childs swings the bat down on Palmers stomach, knocking the breath from him. He rolls onto his side, curling up into a fetal position. Childs asks again, anger entering his tone. Palmer gasps for breath, but manages to say he doesn’t know. Childs hits him again, this time in the back. Palmer grunts loudly and grasps for his back. Childs asks again, getting angrier still. Palmer grunts out another denial. Childs hits him again, this time the shoulder. Childs asks yet again, nearly yelling. Palmers doesn’t answer, just groans in pain. Childs hits him again, this time the leg. He asks again, yelling now in a rage. He doesn’t wait for Palmer to answer. Immediately he hits him again. He asks and hits him once more. Again. And again. And again. Childs alternates his screaming question and savage blows. Palmer gets no opportunity to answer, only make noises of pain. As Childs continues the beating, he stops the question altogether. Simply alternating blows with more blows. Again and again and again the rage clear on his face.
The past. Childs’ mother sits on the bed, her legs pulled up to her chest and sobbing. Her husband asks her what the hell she has to be crying about. She looks up, startled. He stands in the doorway, a dark expression on his face. He looks horrible. She tells his to just get the fuck out. He tells her that it’s his house too. She gets up and goes to push him out and shut the door. He holds it open. She reacts in disgust to the smell, he has clearly been drinking. He can’t even look at him, she tells him to just go. He continues holding the door and steps inside, pushing her back. He asks her what the fuck is wrong with her. He tells her that he’s always been a good man to her. He asks her just why she’s doing this to him. Why she’s acting like some whore. She turns to walk away from him. He is instantly enraged. He grabs her by the hair and tells her not to fucking walk away from him. She yells in pain as he yanks her backwards and wraps his arm around her. He looks at her closely, asking her again just what the hell is wrong with her. Again pointing out how he’s a good man. He repeats this over and over and over again, getting louder each time. He screams once more in her ear about how he’s a good man, before he shoves her forward onto the bed. As she tries to get up, he grabs her again, flipping her over onto her back. She yells at him and tries to push him off, but he holds her down. He asks her if this is the kind of shit she likes before he smacks her across the face. He asks again and strikes her again. He calls her various names as the blows get harder and harder and harder. Eventually he’s simply beating on her. He looks at her, her face swollen and bloody. He says that she must be getting off on this and immediately rips her pants off. He head lulls back and forth as he fumbles with his pants. He’s immediately on top of her, grunting and forcefully thrusting. The daze on her face slowly turns to horror as she realizes what’s happening. He keeps repeating over and over again how much she must be loving this, that this is exactly what she deserves. She whimpers and starts to try and scream. She jumps with the loud bang as she’s splattered in blood. She stares dazed at the blank expression on his face and the new hole in his head. As he rolls off her, she looks up at the door. There stands Childs, his father’s gun in his violently shaking hand. An utter look of horror on his face. His mother’s expression nearly mirrors his own. She asks him what he’s done. Childs stutters, his voice wavering. He says he didn’t mean to. He just wanted it to stop. He didn’t mean to. He didn’t mean to. He didn’t mean to. His mother sobs, nearing a scream but the sound can’t quite come out. The young Childs repeats, shaking his head but unable to look away, that he didn’t mean to.
Outpost 31. Childs continues his assault on Palmer. He yells at him, calling him a perverse, rabid dog. He delivers one more blow to the side of Palmer’s face. Finally Childs stops. He stands there panting and fuming in his anger. Palmer makes a strange noise as he holds the side of his face. Childs stares at him, working back up to another round. That’s when he realizes what Palmer’s doing. He’s laughing. Palmer rolls onto his back, clutching his eye in pain, but he laughs all the same. He groans loudly and says Childs knows just what he likes. Childs blinks in surprise and drops the bat. Palmer continues to laugh, asking Childs if that’s it, that it was just getting really good. Childs takes a step back. Palmer continues laughing, telling Childs to keep going, just a little more, just till he gets off, he’s almost there as it is. Childs just stares at Palmer in horror. The same look he had on his face all those years ago. The door flings open as Mac rushes in. He looks at the sight of Palmer laying on the floor, laughing as Childs stares at him in horror.
Mac walks over to Childs. Keeping his eyes on him he reaches down slowly and picks up the bat. Childs just stares at Palmer. He slowly reaches out and touches Childs on the shoulder. Childs slowly turns and stares at Mac with his blank expression. He blinks slightly as if trying to come to his senses. Mac tells him to come on. He leads Childs from the room. He motions for Copper to check Palmer out as he moves past. Clark follows Copper in.
The past. The young Childs sits in his cell. He has aged several years and bulked up considerably. His expression is hard. A man in a suit discusses matters with him. Telling him he would have been out a long time ago had he kept his temper under control. Childs sneers and says they were bullies, leaning on the others. He only gave them a taste of their own medicine. The man in the suit sighs and reads off a list consisting of various injuries and broken limbs. Childs looks away in impatience. He then points out that he’s been behaving recently. The man points out that’s entirely because the other prisoners have taken to avoiding him entirely. Childs says that it suits him fine. The man it the suit goes on to tell him that because of it, he’s managed to finagle him a parole hearing. He tells Childs that he’s been trying to find a character witness and that he’s contacted his mother. Childs interrupts, correcting him that he doesn’t have a mother. The man stares at him in silence, but then continues. He states that with his mothers testimony that he was originally acting in self defense, and combined with his age when he entered the system and agreeing to visit a psychologist and take anger management courses, that he should be able to get him out. Childs shrugs. The man tells him that he even might be able to line him up with a job on the outside. Probably not much better than a janitor but it’s something to get him started. Childs continues looking away. The man sighs and gets up to leave. As he does, Childs calls out to him. As he turns back, Childs begrudgingly thanks him. The man nods and tells him to just keep that temper under control when he gets out.
Outpost 31. Childs sits in the rec room. He groans loudly as he rubs his face with both hands. Mac holds out a glass of jim beam for him. Childs looks up at him and takes it. He takes a swig of it and reacts in disgust. He tells Mac that he doesn’t know how he drinks that shit. Mac shrugs and takes a swig of his own, saying that the cold helps. He takes the glass and returns to the bar. Norris comes in and sits down across from Childs. He informs his that Copper says Palmer will be fine. He’s got a couple broken ribs and a fractured wrist, but other than cuts and bruises and a dislocated shoulder, he’s in perfect health. He smiles at Childs. Childs chuckles slightly and says that he learned a while back how to cause pain without causing too much major injury. Norris nods as if he understands. He then asks if he’s be okay. Childs nods slowly, saying he will be. Mac offers Childs another drink from across the room, Childs shakes his head with a frown. Mac offers Norris one. Norris tells him he doesn’t drink anymore. Mac nods and takes another shot his his drink. The three remain silent for a long moment before Childs sighs loudly. He looks up at Norris and asks him if he ever told him how he got this job. Norris shakes his head. Childs tells him that he was working as a janitor at St. Johns University out in Queens. While he was there, he became friends with one of the professors. He calls him a good guy, and says the used to go out drinking and bitch about their problems regularly. He tells Norris that one night out Childs was bitching about the shit he had to clean everyday. Literal shit. That college kids are some of the most disgusting groups of humans he’d ever seen. Well, as he was bitching about it, his friend pipes up and tells him that he still has a damned temper problem and that he needs to cool his head off. Well, he goes on to mention a friend of his was going to be heading out to work in McMurdo Sound in a few months. Childs asked him where that was, and nearly choked on his beer when he said Antarctica. Childs told him that he was crazy. His friend insisted that it might be good. Get away from people for a bit and they always needed people willing to work for a living. And the pay wasn’t supposed to be all too bad either. Childs says he thought it over a couple weeks and… that was that. He headed down here, got his first job and eventually moved out to work at Installation 4. He tells Norris there’s really nothing like the south pole to cool your head off. Mostly. Norris nods with a smile. He then asks Childs what he started out doing. Childs looks at him and tells him. Cleaning out the toilets. Norris stares at him. Childs smiles and the two begin chuckling. Mac has moved over to the window and looks outside. Childs concludes his tale telling Norris that he’s always tried to keep a cool head, fights damn hard to do it. But the thought of someone snapping and hurting someone… He just shakes his head. Norris nods, telling him that he understands. Childs sighs once more and sits there in silence. He then glances around as he hears a faint noise growing. He asks Norris if he hears that noise. Norris confirms that he does. Childs asks what the hell it is. Mac tells him It’s a chopper. Childs looks at him baffled and says they aren’t expecting anyone. Mac walks away from the window saying he doesn’t think it’s one of theirs. Norris and Childs look at one another, then jump up to follow Mac out.
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