Monday, January 22, 2018

Episode 53 : There Is No Asylum

Skeleton General Skull Kaiser
(The Dark)

Skull Kaiser, formerly one of Samhain's greatest generals, stages a rebellion against impossible odds. The fate of countless worlds rests upon his ability to protect the Loss Queen and beat back her assailants. Along the way he is forced to fight old friends and make new allies...

Episode 53 : There Is No Asylum

The episode opens with Shields busy trying to shoulder the door to his padded cell open. He stops for a moment, backs away and tries to loosen the grip of the straitjacket by shaking his body, pulling one arm as hard and fast as he can then the other, back and forth, over and over again. There is a brief ripping sound and he stops with a crafty grin on his face—he looks pretty crazed at the moment—but the arms have loosened slightly and he seems pleased with this. But the sounds of screaming come from the halls again, and he becomes concerned. He hears a woman cry out and he whispers Jennifer's name to himself. He again sets about butting the door open with his shoulder and after several tries, what looks like a black cloud gathers around him and the door bursts outward with one final blow.

As he stumbles through the doorway, he notes that the lights are low, that they're on the emergency generators. He as much as ignores the fact that the sleeves of his strait jacket have come completely free. The halls are empty, though there should be nurses and orderlies all over the place. He walks cautiously down the hall, paranoid of every noise he hears. There are screams and moans coming from all sides, but nowhere particularly near. He decides to head back to the offices, and as he goes, he begins to see blood smeared on the floor and walls. He sees things wrapped up in formerly white sheets, now soaked with blood. Focusing his eyes in the dark, Shields sees one of these things still moving, but it's too small to be a whole person. It's wrapped in more bloody sheets and attempting to drag itself with gnarled and twisted arms, reaching out from under the sheet to get past a swinging door along the hall. Focusing even more, Shields can see one hand raise up a dirty syringe and jam it into its other arm, fumbling to force whatever fluid is there into the remains of its body. There is a strange repetitive noise coming from beyond the swinging door and many moans can be heard on the other side. Shields allows the little thing to scurry far enough a way and then, taking a gulp, pushes the swinging door in.

The room is a mess, a desk is overturned, there is debris all over the floor. Also, a giant is sitting on an indistinct pile of something (something characterized by occasional movement and horrible inhuman moans) with his back to the door and he's working at something. He's bent over pulling at two opposite ends and that's the source of the repetitive, wrenching sound, with each pull there is a louder and louder grunt. From the right side, we can see that the giant is tugging on a pair of legs, somewhat indistinct in the darkness. There is a snap and the giant separates the two halves. He pushes the left-side half away and picks up the right-side half and carefully walks them to the wall where there are many like pairs standing up. We can see that there are things sticking out all over the giant's body, like fat, sparsely distributed quills. The giant bends down, and while holding the legs with his left arm, he removes the shoes. This posture turns the giant around somewhat, and he becomes aware of a presence at the door. Shields stands horrified as the thing looks at him, turning its head with animal curiosity. Its head is completely wrapped in gauze and so faceless. Shields can see that by the dress, this person must have been a patient and judging by his fixation, it seems to be Mr. Sabotini, but with the face covered he can't be sure. Evidence pointed to it being Sabotini, but Sabotini was never that big an individual. This man was fairly bursting out of his clothes. It's clear that there's no human reason left in the giant and then the brute's head drops as he notices Shields's shoes. Shields looks down and understands all too well. Sabotini looks up and Shields, with fear plain on his face, turns to bolt down the hall. Sabotini leaps over the obstacles in the room and gives chase. Shields runs and tries to beat back his fear. He asks himself if he's dreaming. Can this really be happening? Can he believe anything he sees anymore? His hallucinations are becoming more constant than his reality.

As he's running, Shields notes that the main exit to the care wing is just ahead and as he begins to feel the least bit relieved, he trips in the dark.

When he opens his eyes, he's looking at a twisted face frozen in a permanent, silent scream. Shields lets out with a very audible scream of his own and scurries back against the wall as best he can since his arms are still in the long, loose sleeves of the strait jacket. He sees that the floor here is littered with stiff corpses, all twisted into strange shapes. Then he notices an exact duplicate of the giant he was running from piling up twisted bodies before the exit doors. It's arranging bodies, creating some kind of sculpture, twisting bits here, curling things there, sort of like a non-functional gate, or maybe it's just trying to plug up the exit the best way it can (but it really thinks it's being artistic). It turns its head and looks at Shields with the same animal curiosity the other did. Now it's clear that the "quills" are countless syringes sticking out all over his body. The other giant can be heard approaching and its pace seems to have slowed. Shields stands up, laughing hysterically, saying that he gives up, if he's gone crazy, or the world's gone crazy, or some combination of the two, it doesn't matter anymore. None of this can be real, so why not play along. He says this as he shrugs out of the husk of the strait jacket and the other giant comes into view.

Season 3 : END (CANCELLED)

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