Part II: Long Night's Journey Into Death
Page 1 (5 panels)
This page will consist of a series of small panels within a large splash panel.
Page 1 panel 1
Quote: "What are the roots that clutch, what branches grow/Out of this stony rubbish?"
Closeup of the sword that was plunged into the Dream Lord's chest in the last chapter, surrounded by a bloody stain where it punctured his heart.
Page 1 panel 2
Quote: "Son of man, you cannot say, or guess, for you know only! A heap of broken images, where the sun beats..."
Medium shot of the Dream Lord, from the waist up; he is lying, exhausted, suffering, and near death, amid the twisted and decaying bodies of thousands of unknown soldiers. The Dream Lord is still dying on the endless battlefield where the Bogeyman defeated and stabbed him. This panel should be drawn at an angle, or upside-down.
Page 1 panel 3
Quote: "....And the dead tree gives no shelter, the cricket no relief! And the dry stone no sound of water! Only there is shadow under this red rock..."
A wider shot of the Dream Lord's sprawled body atop the limitless stretch of corpses, with a dead, scraggly tree needling up from the rubble near him.
Page 1 panel 4
Quote: "Come in under the shadow of this red rock! And I will show you something different from either! Your shadow at morning striding behind you! Or your shadow at evening rising to meet you."
Closeup of the Dream Lord's shocked, mesmerized face; he still wears his mask, but the long nose given him by the Bogeyman is now gone.
Page 1 panel 5
(The splash panel)
Quote:
"I will show you fear in a handful of dust."
—from 'The Waste Land' by T.S. Eliot
This final line is at the bottom of the splash panel. The panel itself is a wide view of the sprawled, agonized Dream Lord among the corpses and destruction. The scene is suffused with a harsh, orange light, like that from a desert sun.
Page 2 (10 panels)
Page 2 panel 1
Flashback image of the Bogeyman, from the last chapter.
Bogeyman: You stupid little fish...I have come to kill you!
Page 2 panel 2
Profile of the Dream Lord, still lying on the ground with the sword protruding from his chest.
Narrator: Death comes slowly in a dream. Time bends, distends, curls in upon itself like an armadillo. Facing a final precipice, minds retreat to safer ground.
Page 2 panel 3
Another flashback of the threatening Bogeyman
Bogeyman: I am your nastiest dream, Adams, your most awful nightmare! I have come to life to devour you!
Page 2 panel 4
Narrator: The borders of delusion and reality, already smoky from sleep, disappear. Logic and sensation spiral into the sky like kites.
The Dream Lord tilts his head back and looks up at the gray sky of the massacre plain.
Page 2 panel 5
Another flashback: the Dream Lord's memory is beginning to drift aimlessly back and forth.
Bogeyman: Say "pretty please."
Page 2 panel 6
Wide shot of vultures circling over the Dream Lord, winged silhouettes in the blazing orange sun.
Dream Lord (in a whisper): Pretty please.
Narrator: The sharp edge of extinction is muffled. Explosions become kisses. The frigid, sudden dives flow into sensuous ballet.
Page 2 panel 7
Bogeyman (in flashback): Go to hell.
Page 2 panel 8
Narrator: Death in a dream is kind.
Dream Lord (his face contorted and crying, tears running down into his ears): Leave me...alone... (His voice is broken, failing) ...please..
Page 2 panel 9
Narrator: There are, of course...
Bogeyman (louder, more of a closeup): Go to hell!
Page 2 panel 10
Narrator: ...certain exceptions.
Dream Lord (writhing and whimpering): No no no no no...
Page 3 (8 panels)
Page 3 panel 1
Closeup of the Bogeyman's screaming mouth.
Bogeyman: Go to Hell!
Page 3 panel 2
There is a memory image of a short, fat girl in her early 20's, yelling at the Dream Lord.
Girl: Go to hell, Emmett! You bastard!
Dream Lord (his monologue in a narrative box): Who is she?
Page 3 panel 3
Wider shot of the heavy girl, her face now turned away and hidden in her hand. She is sitting at a kitchen table, dressed in a bathrobe, holding a cup of hot coffee which spills onto the floor as it tilts in her shaky hand.
Girl (very upset, almost crying): You didn't have to do it this way.
Dream Lord (in narrative): I don't think I want to know.
Page 3 panel 4
Another disjointed memory, of somebody scaling and gutting fish on newspapers on a kitchen table. It is a flashback from his childhood.
Voice of adult (face is not shown; only hands, arms, fish are in panel): Come on, Gary. Use the knife to slit 'er open, right on back to the tail. Then we scoop out the guts.
Page 3 panel 5
Dream Lord (in narrative): When was that? I...look at all the rats! They're working their way to me. I hope I die soon.
Medium shot of 3 or 4 rats hopping around a nearby corpse, nibbling on the abdomen.
Page 3 panel 6
Dream Lord (whimpering, crying): Oh, God...please let me die...
He gazes over his chest at a rat which is watching him, sitting on its haunches in the foreground.
Page 3 panel 7
Dream Lord hears somebody shout, and he whirls his head around to see who it is. He is shocked by the familiar voice.
Voice (off-panel): Emmett! Emmett Adams!
Dream Lord: Huh? I thought I was..
Page 3 panel 8
Dream Lord (off-panel): ...alone.
A woman stands nearby. She is in her early 40's, tall and bony, with black hair pulled back in a bun. She wears a house dress and apron, and though she is not monstrous-looking or ugly, she has a stern, commanding expression. She stands over the heaps of corpses, her hands on her knobby hips, glaring at the Dream Lord.
Mother: Emmett! This is absolutely shameful!
Page 4 (8 panels)
Page 4 panel 1
Mother (off-panel): How many times do I have to tell you...
Dream Lord (whispering): Mother.
Page 4 panel 2
Mother: ...you have to start picking up after yourself!
She lifts an arm and a leg from the corpses, tidying up as if she were at home. She walks right on top of the bodies, seemingly oblivious to them. Mother: What a mess!
Page 4 panel 3
The Dream Lord weakly lifts a hand toward his mother, shocked and trying to understand what's happening.
Dream Lord: Mother...what are you doing here?
Mother (still picking up body parts): That's a silly question, isn't it? What does it look like I'm doing? I'm certainly not sunbathing at the lake! Why haven't you cleaned this room like I told you?
Page 4 panel 4
Dream Lord: Mom...I'm dying.
Mother: What a lame excuse! I told you four times to clean this place, and you still haven't done it! All you ever do is lie around on your back like a lazy bum!
(She points at him while she yells, her other arm full of severed limbs.)
Page 4 panel 5
Dream Lord (desperately): Please...help me.
Mother (tossing aside a load of bloody limbs and marching toward the Dream Lord): Oh, I'll help you all right, young man.
Page 4 panel 6
Mother (grabbing the Dream Lord's arm and pulling him up): I will help you get out of that bed...
Dream Lord (as he is lifted from the pile of bodies): Aaaaargh!
Page 4 panel 7
Mother (effortlessly yanking the Dream Lord to his feet): ...And start cleaning your room! Now get going!
Dream Lord (clutching painfully at the spot where the sword is stuck in his chest): Oh, God, it hurts!! Mom, no! Help me, please!
Page 4 panel 8
Mother: Don't be such a baby, Emmett! You put on such a routine, every time you get a scratch! I won't play along, you hear me? I won't give you the attention!
Forcefully dragging the Dream Lord along behind her, she walks toward a scraggly, dead tree, against which a broom leans. Rats scurry away before them.
Page 5 (8 panels)
Page 5 panel 1
Mother thrusts the broom into the agonized Dream Lord's quivering hand.
Mother: You've got to grow up, Emmett. You have to learn responsibility. Your father won't reprimand you, but I will! Your father doesn't care!
Page 5 panel 2
Closeup of the Mother's face as she suddenly and briefly becomes quiet. She gazes away from the Dream Lord, off into the distance, thinking about her husband. She looks sad and thoughtful.
Mother (quietly): He just doesn't care about anyone.
Page 5 panel 3
The Dream Lord can't stand the pain anymore, and stumbles away from his mother. He is screaming and clutching his chest, about to collapse to the ground.
Dream Lord: Aaaaggghh! Help!
Mother: Emmett? You get back here, you little ham! That won't get you out of your chores!
Page 5 panel 4
Mother (trying to grab him as he hobbles away): You're pushing your luck, mister! I still haven't forgotten what you did with the TV last week!
Dream Lord (a surprised look on his face as he notices something ahead of him): Where did that come from?
Page 5 panel 5
A swirling portal has appeared in a hill, in a space cleared of corpses.
Dream Lord (off-panel): A hole...a way out!
Page 5 panel 6
Dream Lord (now crawling desperately toward the portal, his mother beating him on the back with her broom): If I can... get home... to the Dream Base...my power...
Mother (angry and crying at the same time): Get back here, Emmett! Come on, you have work to do! Stop running away! Emmett!
Page 5 panel 7
The Dream Lord manages to heave his shattered, bleeding body into the portal, and with a flash, he disappears.
Mother (racing after him, as his torso vanishes into the hole): Don't leave me...
Page 5 panel 8
Mother: ...alone! (She tries to hurl herself after him, but the energy portal has already vanished, and she slams into a solid hill of dirt and rock and bodies.)
Page 6 (8 panels)
Title (across the top of the page): Long Night's Journey Into Death
Page 6 panel 1
Narrator: He slips through a sea of gelatin, cold and slimy and airless. Around him, he can see nothing, just reaches of featureless plasma. Gasping for breath, he fills his lungs with the stuff.
Show the Dream Lord, in his torn, bloody costume, with the sword still protruding from his chest, floating through a vast sea of a murky green gelatinous substance.
Page 6 panel 2
Narrator: Nothing is familiar here. He had hoped the portal would lead him home, to regain his power and somehow undo the pain. He hoped wrong.
The Dream Lord is plunging forward through the gel, smothering and beginning to lose consciousness.
Page 6 panel 3
Flashback of the Bogeyman from the first chapter.
Bogeyman: I am your dream, Adams! I am your Bogeyman! You have tried to forget me, to exile my memory as you set up your cotton candy kingdom in dreamland! But you could not...you never will!
Page 6 panel 4
Closeup of the Dream Lord's face as he chokes and turns blue.
Narrator: Once, he was almost a god, a king of dreams and guardian of life. Now, he prepares to die.
Page 6 panel 5
Flashback to Emmett's childhood. He is sitting, cross-legged, before a TV set (circa early 1960's), listening to his parents shout at each other while he watches Woody Woodpecker cartoons.
Mother (off-panel): ...and you aren't sick anymore! You can't always have your way around here!
Father: Shut up! I pay for you and the kid, every damn day! All you give me is grief! What's wrong with you?
Page 6 panel 6
Extreme closeup of cartoon image on TV, as Father shouts off-panel.
Father: Get out of here, if you don't like it! Get the hell out of here!
Page 6 panel 7
Bogeyman (in flashback): You can't even keep your own mind together, can you?
Page 6 panel 8
Flashback image of the young, heavy girl crying at a kitchen table. This is the same panel that was used earlier in this chapter.
Girl (very upset, crying): You didn't have to do it this way.
Page 7 (8 panels)
Page 7 panel 1
Suddenly, the Dream Lord is dumped from another energy portal. He falls from the portal, along with a gush of the gelatin substance, out of a brick wall. The first panel only shows him plunging out of the portal in the wall, followed by the gel.
Page 7 panel 2
The Dream Lord is on his knees on a dark, cobblestone street. He is dripping with green gel, spitting it out of his lungs and sucking in the air.
Dream Lord: Uk...ack...I'm out...bluh...still alive...but I don't...think I made it back...home...
Page 7 panel 3
The Dream Lord looks down the shadowy street, sees a crowd of dark and menacing figures racing toward him. A spotlight blazes atop a bulky jeep.
Dream Lord: No... this is definitely not the Dream Base.
Page 7 panel 4
Medium shot of the approaching crowd. There are 8 or 10 figures, dressed in black Nazi Gestapo uniforms with swastikas on the sleeves. They look like men, only they have the faces of wolves. They all carry machine guns and pistols, and there is a wolfman operating the spotlight and a large gun mounted on the jeep.
Nazi Wolf: You cannot escape, abomination! The Fuhrer has ordered your slaughter! You will die like a pig!
Page 7 panel 5
Wolf (off-panel): Kill him!
The Dream Lord just kneels where he has fallen for a second, stunned and sick
with pain, He is still dripping with slime, and the sword juts from his heart.
Dream Lord (again near tears): Oh God, no. No more, please. No more!
Page 7 panel 6
Wolf (still far down the alley): Fire!
The corps of Gestapo wolves fire their machine guns, and streams of bullets zing from the walls and floor of the alley. The Dream Lord struggles to his feet and half-runs, half-hobbles away from them. He is gasping for breath and crying as he tries to escape them.
Dream Lord: No more! I'm the Dream Lord!
Page 7 panel 7
The Dream Lord turns a corner and stumbles down another alley, as bullets flash against the walls behind him.
Wolf (off-panel): Slaughter him!
Dream Lord: No no no no...I want to go home...I want to wake up...
Page 7 panel 8
At the end of the new alley, another pack of Gestapo wolves suddenly appears. Sirens are blaring through the streets.
New Wolf: There he is! Kill him!
Dream Lord: This is a dream! It has to be a dream...
Page 8 (8 panels)
Page 8 panel 1
The first group of wolves comes around the corner, and opens fire on the Dream Lord. The other wolves fire at the same time, and the Dream Lord manages to stumble through a moldy wooden door out of the alley.
Wolf Leader: Get him! Blow his head off!
Dream Lord: It has to be a dream!
Page 8 panel 2
On the other side of the door, the Dream Lord finds a dark room. Huddled in a corner is a family of refugees from the wolves. The refugees are sheep, dressed in rags, clearly desperately frightened.
Dream Lord: Oh, thank God I've found someone! Please, you've got to help me!
Page 8 panel 3
Dream Lord: quick, they're trying to kill me! I need your help!
Mother Sheep: Who...who are you?
Father Sheep: It's him! The abomination!
Page 8 panel 4
The father sheep runs to the window and screams to the wolves in the street outside.
Father Sheep: Here! Kill him, he's HERE!
Dream Lord: No!
Page 8 panel 5
The Dream Lord runs and hobbles through another doorway, barely escaping the wolves' guns. Bullets rip up the wall and wooden door frame, barely missing him.
Wolf: Get him! Kill him now!
Page 8 panel 6
The Dream Lord emerges on the other side of the dark doorway, this time in a large nightclub. Nazi wolves are drinking beer and dancing with their women. The room is bathed in red light, a glitzy Berlin-style cabaret. The Dream Lord runs as fast as he can, clutching the sword which still juts from his chest, his face contorted with pain and animal terror.
Dream Lord: Help me! Somebody, please help...
Page 8 panel 7
Dream Lord: ...me.
Closeup of his face as he stops short, suddenly and horribly realizing that he faces a room full of enemies.
Page 8 panel 8
Medium shot of a crowd of Nazi wolves, all with hateful sneers on their faces. They all pull out their weapons.
Page 9 (8 panels)
Page 9 panel 1
The pursuing wolves burst out of the doorway behind the Dream Lord, all their guns trained on his body.
Wolf Leader: There! We have him! The abomination is trapped!
Dream Lord (bursting into tears, about to completely fall apart): Nooo!
Page 9 panel 2
Bogeyman (off-panel): Oh, Kubla, what in the world is wrong?
Dream Lord (looking in the direction of the voice): Wha?...
Page 9 panel 3
The Bogeyman, or an image of him, has appeared in the cabaret, leaning casually and snidely against a post. He is bathed in the club's red light.
Bogeyman: You're the Dream Lord! Make it go away! Ha ha ha ha!
Page 9 panel 4
Dream Lord (screaming): I can't! I can't do anything!!
Wolf Leader (approaching the Dream Lord from behind): We finally have you, monstrosity! You can no longer run from the punishment for what you have done!
Page 9 panel 5
Wolf (snarling and aiming his pistol): You stand accused of murder! The penalty is execution! How do you plead, bastard?
Page 9 panel 6
Dream Lord (backing against a wall, into a spotlight): I never...I didn't... do anything...I'm.. I'm sorry...
Wolf (off-panel): Liar!
Page 9 panel 7
Wolf: You are a murderer and a liar! The verdict is guilty, the sentence is death!
All the guns in the room are raised and cocked with a hundred clicks.
Page 9 panel 8
Wolf: Kill him!
Dream Lord (in a weak, helpless whimper): No!
Page 10 (7 panels)
Page 10 panel 1
The guns fire, riddling the Dream Lord's body with bullets, kicking up blood and sparks as they hit. The Dream Lord screams and topples backwards.
Bogeyman (off-panel): Poor Kubla.
Page 10 panel 2
Bogeyman (watching calmly): I'm afraid you deserve everything you get, little snake. After all, you really did break that sixth Commandment.
Page 10 panel 3
The Dream Lord tumbles to the floor, falling into an energy portal which has appeared there.
Bogeyman: "Thou shalt not kill," remember? Ah well, I know it's tough to memorize that sort of thing. Maybe you could tie a string around your finger next time. Or your neck.
Page 10 panel 4
Closeup of the Bogeyman's cool, sinister face.
Bogeyman: It would certainly save you a lot of trouble, hm?
Page 10 panel 5
The Dream Lord plunges into a drift of snow after failing through the portal. His body is full of bullet holes, covered with blood, the sword still in his chest. His uniform is in shreds. As he lands, blood sprays onto the snow. He is barely conscious, contorted with pain...yet he is not dead. He is going through a living nightmare in the Dream Zone, designed to make him suffer for a long, long time before dying.
Page 10 panel 6
In the snow, the Dream Lord weakly lifts his head and looks around.
Dream Lord: They're...gone. Where...am I?
Page 10 panel 7
Wide shot of the surrounding terrain as the Dream Lord scans it. He is high in a mountainous, snowy, frigid country, like the Himalayas. He is sprawled on a snowy slope, and beyond are towering, snow-covered peaks, broad snow clouds.
Dream Lord: Oh my God.
Page 11 (8 panels)
Page 11 panel 1
Medium shot of the Dream Lord as he gazes around at the sweeping, snowy vista.
Dream Lord: I'm going to die here.
Page 11 panel 2
Flashback of the fish-gutting scene
Voice (of adult who is cutting apart the fish): See, Gary, you just pull out the tummy, and the heart and the intestines, and feed 'em to the cat. Cats love smelly dead things.
Page 11 panel 3
Closeup of the Dream Lord's face, already covering with snow and frost. His eyes are half-closed, he's ready to die from the cold.
Dream Lord (hallucinating): Tally....I'm sorry...
Page 11 panel 4
Flashback of the heavy girl, tears running down her face.
Girl: You don't care about anything...you bastard...
Page 11 panel 5
Flashback: A dark-haired man in a lab coat is screaming, a helmet-like apparatus shooting energy into his head. The lab around him is in flames.
Man: Help meee!!!
Page 11 panel 6
Medium shot of the drowsy, freezing Dream Lord.
Dream Lord: Tom?
A huge, hairy, white hand reaches from behind him to grab his shoulder.
Page 11 panel 7
The hand gouges into his shoulder and he jumps and screams with pain.
Dream Lord: AAARRRGGHH!
Page 11 panel 8
A huge creature plucks the Dream Lord from the ground by his shoulder. The creature is about eight feet tall, with shaggy white fur and a bestial, crazed, apelike face. It is a nightmare version of the Yeti.
Dream Lord: No! Oh God, no more!! The beast roars savagely.
Page 12 (8 panels)
Page 12 panel 1
The yeti grabs one of the Dream Lord's legs and snaps it like a toothpick. The Dream Lord screams with pain, on the brink of a final breakdown.
Page 12 panel 2
The yeti hurls Dream Lord into a rocky outcropping, and the Dream Lord hits it hard.
Page 12 panel 3
Dream Lord (sprawled in the snow against the rock): This isn't...real...I'm...the Dream Lord...
Page 12 panel 4
Closeup of the Yeti as it lifts a huge stone over its head, bares its teeth, and prepares to crush the Dream Lord.
Yeti (bellowing): Murdererrrrr!!!
Page 12 panel 5
The Yeti throws the stone and the Dream Lord just closes his eyes and waits for death.
Yeti: Murdererrrrr!!
Page 12 panel 6
In mid-air, the stone flips around and phases into an energy portal like the others which have transported the Dream Lord around.
Page 12 panel 7
The portal whizzes through the air and hits the Dream Lord, enveloping his body and causing it to dissolve as the portal whisks him away.
Page 12 panel 8
The portal dumps him on the floor of a hut in the jungle of Vietnam. Vietcong soldiers are interrogating prisoners with branding irons and knives. Not a nice joint.
By now, the Dream Lord is just a whimpering puppet, decimated mentally and physically, in awful pain but unable to die.
Page 13 (7 panels)
Page 13 panel 1
Vietnamese (the lead interrogator, with a whip in his hand): Ahh, another American. This one is special, too! Quickly, tie him from the ceiling!
Page 13 panel 2
Two Vietcong soldiers lift the Dream Lord from the floor, and put his hands through two rope loops dangling from the hut's roof.
Viet Leader (standing close to the Dream Lord, watching): Hurry! This pig will not wait! Alone, he massacred an entire town in its sleep!
Page 13 panel 3
Viet Leader: He crept through their homes like a dream, unnoticed, and killed them all silently. He is a killer and a coward, the worst breed of capitalist madman!
Now, the Viet Leader is inches away from the Dream Lord, who is hanging helplessly from the ceiling thongs. The leader stares him coldly in the face. Dream Lord doesn't speak in his own defense, knows by now it's useless, he's trapped.
Page 13 panel 4
Viet Leader: We have him now, though. His terrible rampage is ended. Now, we shall repay him with the kindness he showed to our people.
The Leader slowly reaches for the hilt of the sword in the Dream Lord's chest. Terrified, the Dream Lord watches.
Dream Lord: Oh, please...don't...
Page 13 panel 5
Viet Leader: And we can be very kind.
Dream Lord: AAAGGGHH!!
Closeup of the Leader's hand, twisting the hilt of the sword.
Page 13 panel 6
Closeup of the Leader's hand as he sharply jerks the hilt downward. Dream Lord, off-panel, screams again.
Page 13 panel 7
The Viet Leader steps back and reaches for the handle of a branding iron which is stuck in a pot of hot coals.
Leader: We like to show our kindness to friends...
Page 14 (7 panels)
Page 14 panel 1
Leader: ...over and over again.
He jams the red-hot iron against the Dream Lord's abdomen, and the Dream Lord screams again.
Page 14 panel 2
Closeup of the Dream Lord's contorted face. He can't stand any more, but there is no way out. His mask is in shreds and his face is bloody and dripping with sweat. From off-panel, the branding iron sizzles as it burns him again.
Viet Leader: You see, we can be nice, too.
Page 14 panel 3
The Leader steps away from the Dream Lord, replaces the iron in its pot, and unfurls a barbed whip.
Viet Leader: Now then, killer, what do you think of our hospitality?
Page 14 panel 4
Closeup of the Leader's cruel face as he lashes Dream Lord with the whip. The Dream Lord shrieks off-panel.
Viet Leader: You don't enjoy yourself? Too bad.
Page 14 panel 5
Closeup of Dream Lord's devastated face as the whip hits him again. We only hear the sound of the whip, we don't see it make contact.
Viet Leader (off-panel): Next time, you should choose someplace else for your vacation.
Page 14 panel 6
Medium shot of the Leader as he lashes out again, hitting the Dream Lord off-panel.
Viet Leader: Untie him! Now, he receives his greatest reward, our deepest thanks...
Page 14 panel 7
The two Vietcong soldiers untie the rope thongs from around the Dream Lord's wrists.
Viet Leader (off-panel): ...Death!!
Page 15 (7 panels)
Page 15 panel 1
Silently, the Dream Lord crumples to the ground, where a new portal has opened up. As he falls, his body vanishes into the energy gateway.
Viet Leader: Grab him! He escapes!
Page 15 panel 2
The Dream Lord is dumped from the portal once more, this time into a scene from his flashbacks. He tumbles in a heap onto the floor of the kitchen where the fat girl sat and cried. Now, the physical punishment has ended, and mental torment begins.
Dream Lord: No more...no more...no more...
Page 15 panel 3
Dream Lord (quietly, as he looks around him, realizes he is safe from the torture chamber and in familiar surroundings): Unnh...no...where am...I? It...oh, God. I...know this place.
Voice (off-panel): Emmett, I was willing to try.
Page 15 panel 4
Medium shot of the heavy girl, sitting at the kitchen table, her hands folded in her lap, over her bathrobe.
Girl: I mean, I've done everything I could to make you happy, and you're still off in your own little world. It's like...you're here, your body's here, but the real you, the biggest part, is gone somewhere.
Page 15 panel 5
Dream Lord (still shocked): Tally! Oh God, it's you!
Tally (about to break into tears): All I wanted...was a good life, y'know? With you. I wanted us...to be happy. That's all.
Page 15 panel 6
Dream Lord (dragging his bloody, twisted body across the floor, reaching for the girl): Oh, Tally, I'm sorry. I never...realized...what...
Tally (thrusting her face into her cupped hands and crying): You just...didn't care. You didn't want to marry me. I talked you into it, and then you hated me and wanted out.
Page 15 panel 7
Tally (crying): You think I'm ugly, don't you? You can't stand...stand to touch me anymore...
Dream Lord: No...Tally, you're wrong! I did need you...I just got sick. Everything...went crazy...like me...
Page 16 (7 panels)
Page 16 panel 1
Tally (half-laughing, half-crying--delirious): You were so handsome, so smart, and I thought I was so lucky that you liked me...but you were a liar.
Page 16 panel 2
Tally (looking at the Dream Lord, tears running down her face): You don't care about anything...you bastard...
Page 16 panel 3
Dream Lord (desperately, crying himself): No, no, I'm sorry! Please, I did care...help me...
Page 16 panel 4
Tally (viciously): Go to hell, Emmett! You bastard!
Page 16 panel 5
Suddenly, the Dream Lord slides through a portal which has opened in the floor beneath him.
Dream Lord (as he is sucked away into the portal): Noooo!! Help me, Tally! I'm sorry!
Girl: You didn't have to do it this way.
Page 16 panel 6
Tally (sitting at the table, crying): But don't worry, Emmett. I don't need anybody.
Wide shot of the kitchen scene, emphasizing the girl's loneliness, the seeming hugeness of the empty room. A small curl of smoke rises from the spot where the Dream Lord and the portal disappeared.
Page 16 panel 7
Again, the portal pitches the Dream Lord in a new place. His body is still bloody and bruised, with the sword in his chest and scars and bullet holes everywhere. Obviously, he is in horrible agony, with no release.
He is deposited in a laboratory. It is the main lab from the UCLA sleep research project, full of monitors and computer banks and elaborate devices. A tall, dark-haired man in a white lab coat is hunched over a counter, working on a helmet-like device.
Man: Emmett? I think this is IT, buddy!
Page 17 (7 panels)
Page 17 panel 1
Man (holding up the shiny helmet, his back still turned to the Dream Lord): We've done it, damnit! Do you believe it? I think this crazy thing is gonna work!
Page 17 panel 2
Closeup of the Dream Lord's horrified face. He suddenly remembers this scene, though he has blocked it from his mind for a long, long time. What comes next is not a pleasant reverie for him, to say the least.
Dream Lord: No...not again.
Man (off-panel): The only way we'll know for sure, though, is to try 'er out. Time for a test drive, whiz kid.
Page 17 panel 3
The Man turns around to face Dream Lord, smiling. The Man is placing the helmet on his own head; he is revealed to be the spitting image of the BOGEYMAN, only a few years younger than he was when he attacked and hounded the Dream Lord.
Man (joking): How does it look, Emmett? They're all the rage in Paris, you know.
Page 17 panel 4
Dream Lord (waving weakly at the man, trying to stop him from going further): Don't...don't do it, Tom. Take it off. Take it off!
Man: Thanks for your concern, buddy, but we can't turn back now! We're on the frontier, about to make a discovery that will change the world!
The Man makes some final adjustments to the helmet and its control panels.
Page 17 panel 5
Man: When this works, and it will, we will be able to shape people's dreams! We'll be the first, Emmett, the pioneers! I'm initiating the process now!
Page 17 panel 6
Closeup of the Dream Lord's face as he screams at the Man.
Dream Lord: Tom! No!
Page 17 panel 7
A blue halo flares around the helmet and the Man's head. The device has been activated.
Man: Emmett? Emmett, I feel a little dizzy now.
Page 18 (6 panels)
Page 18 panel 1
Man (beginning to panic as the blue flares get brighter and bigger): Something's wrong! Emmett, it's feeding back into my brain! Turn it off, now!
Page 18 panel 2
The Dream Lord struggles to drag himself over to the control panel and hit the cut-off switch, but he can't make it. His body is too brutalized, the pain too great.
Dream Lord: I...I can't...make it!
Man: Emmett? Oh, it hurts! What are you doing? Don't just stand there!
Page 18 panel 3
The blue light surges from the helmet, the consoles explode and burst into flame, and the Man screams from the pain.
Man (trying to tear the helmet from his head): Why won't you help me? Help me! Emmett, come back!! You're killing me!!
Page 18 panel 4
Man: Help meeeee!!!
The device finally explodes in a shower of blue bolts, burning into the man's skull. The lab around him is now filled with raging flames.
Page 18 panel 5
Dream Lord (screaming at the top of his lungs): Tom!!!
Closeup of the Dream Lord screaming, surrounded by fire.
Page 18 panel 6
Similar closeup of the Dream Lord screaming, this time suddenly surrounded by cool, blue sky.
Dream Lord: Tom!!! Noooo!!!!
Voice (off-panel): Dream Lord, take it easy.
Page 19 (7 panels)
Page 19 panel 1
Same closeup, Dream Lord still screaming.
Dream Lord: No no no no nooooo!!!
A brown-skinned arm enters from off-panel, and a hand grips his shoulder. It is a small hand, that of a young black girl.
Voice: Come on, it's okay now.
Page 19 panel 2
Flashback of the Man being electrocuted in the fiery lab.
Man: Help meeeeee!!
Page 19 panel 3
Voice (off-panel): I'm gonna help you now.
Similar closeup of the Dream Lord's face, only this time, he has quickly turned in the direction of the voice, to see who's speaking to him.
Dream Lord: What? Oh God, no more!
Page 19 panel 4
Medium shot of the person talking to the Dream Lord: a 15-year-old black girl who is missing her right arm; she wears a green, Peter-Pan-style outfit, with gold braided trim and a green cap with a feather in it. She has short, curly, hair and a pixy-ish attitude, and is smiling comfortingly at the Dream Lord. She is the girl from the car accident in Chapter One.
Girl: Hey, relax! I toldja', there isn't gonna be any more! You're safe now, Dream Lord, I took you to a safe place. They can't get you here. This is my place.
Page 19 panel 5
Wide shot of black girl and the Dream Lord, floating in a blue sky full of fluffy clouds.
Girl: You like it? I call it "sky."
Page 19 panel 6
Medium shot of the Dream Lord talking to the girl. She is kind, smiling, wanting only to help him. He, in turn, is in physical and mental agony, afraid, completely broken down and torn apart as a human being. He desperately wants to believe that someone has rescued him, but is suspicious that she is a threat in disguise.
Dream Lord: Who...who are you?
Girl: Well, my real name's Stacy, but here, I call myself Lullaby.
Page 19 panel 7
Lullaby: I saw you were in trouble out there, so I took you away. I tried for a long time to bring you here, but he wouldn't let me.
Dream Lord: He?
Page 20 (7 panels)
Page 20 panel 1
Lullaby: You know...that creep who was pushing you around. Old big mouth; the Bogeyman. He's pretty nasty.
Dream Lord: This is...another one...probably...another attack. He's...conning me...setting me up...make me think I'm safe...and then...
Page 20 panel 2
Lullaby (insulted): Well, excuse me, buster! I pull your buns out of the fire, and all you can do is tell me I'm a bad guy! Look, I'm giving you the truth, Dream Lord! I got nothing to do with that big dork, I just wanna' help you out.
Dream Lord moans and grabs his chest; reeling from the excruciating pain.
Page 20 panel 3
Lullaby: And from what I can see, you definitely need some big-time help! You're in some kind'a shape right now!
Dream Lord (rolling onto his side and gasping-- away from the Bogeyman's influence, he is finally dying from his wounds): It hurts...I can't stand it!
Page 20 panel 4
Lullaby walks over to where the Dream Lord has rolled onto his side. She kneels beside him and puts her left (and only) arm around him.
Lullaby: Okay, okay, I know it's bad. Like I said, I'm gonna help you. It's gonna hurt, but you've got to hang on, okay?
Page 20 panel 5
Lullaby: See, you're hacked up real bad, and if you were on Earth right now, you'd be dead. That jerk kept you alive so he could beat you up more, give you more pain...so much pain you'd want to die, but he wouldn't let you.
Page 20 panel 6
Lullaby (passing her hand over the bullet holes on his body): You're still the Dream Lord, though. You've still got the power in this place. You can make it go away, you can help yourself.
Dream Lord: Ngh...I...can't...breathe...
Page 20 panel 7
Lullaby: I've got a little magic, too, but you have to do most of it. Now come on, think for a minute! Fight the pain, make it leave.
Dream Lord: ARRGGH!!
Page 21 (7 panels)
Page 21 panel 1
Closeup of Lullaby's hand as it passes over a deep, bleeding cut on the Dream Lord's chest.
Lullaby: Now take it a little bit at a time. Here's a big cut. Get rid of it. Wish it away.
Page 21 panel 2
Closeup of Lullaby as she talks and guides Dream Lord from the brink of death.
Dream Lord: Ack...I can't stand it...anymore!
Lullaby: Don't be such a baby! Stop whining and start healing! Come on, work on yourself!
Page 21 panel 3
Closeup of the deep gash, as it fades from the Dream Lord's chest. Lullaby's hand hovers above it, glowing with a faint yellow aura.
Lullaby: There...there, that's it! You lost the cut! Now keep going, get the bullets out.
Page 21 panel 4
Dream Lord: I...I'm dying. I...can't...
Lullaby (her face also contorted with effort and pain): Will you stop? I told you before, buster...it's up...to you! Come on! Bullets...out!
Page 21 panel 5
Three bullets emerge from different points on the Dream Lord's body and weakly wobble away into the sky.
Lullaby: Ah, Dream Lord, will you give me a break? You can do better... than that! Don't...wimp out on me.
Page 21 panel 6
This time, the Dream Lord makes a supreme effort, and about ten bullets pop out and zip away.
Lullaby: Yeah! All right! Now...concentrate...seal the bullet holes... and we move on... to the real bad stuff...
Page 21 panel 7
Lullaby reaches over and grabs the hilt of the sword in the Dream Lord's chest. Her eyes are shut tightly and she is struggling to help Dream Lord with her own life force.
Lullaby: We gotta' play...King Arthur...and you're the stone! Now this...is gonna hurt...but you have to help me! When I...pull this out...
Page 22 (7 panels)
Page 22 panel 1
Lullaby: ...you have to fix everything...it chopped up! No other way...to do this...so come on...
Dream Lord: No! Aaaaarrrr...
Page 22 panel 2
Lullaby: Okay, I'm pullin' the sword out! Hang on! I guess this makes me...
Her arm strains at the sword, her small muscles and veins bulging. The yellow aura envelopes both her arm and the sword.
Page 22 panel 3
Lullaby yanks the sword from the Dream Lord's chest, trailing blood in its wake. The Dream Lord convulses and screams.
Lullaby: ...queen of England.
Page 22 panel 4
Lullaby (tossing the sword away): Come on, Dream Lord! Do it! Put it back together, man! Use your magic!
A purple glow surrounds the Dream Lord's chest, sparkling and crackling as he fights to return to life.
Dream Lord: I can't!!
Page 22 panel 5
Lullaby: Like hell! You have to! Who else do you think...
Page 22 panel 6
Lullaby (off-panel): ...is gonna kick that Bogeyman's butt?
Closeup of the Dream Lord's eyes as they suddenly, briefly flare with rage.
Page 22 panel 7
With a final effort, the Dream Lord musters all his strength and seals the sword wound. His head is thrown back, his chest thrust forward, and the purple energy field is seething wildly.
Dream Lord: YAAAAAA!!!
Page 23 (7 panels)
Page 23 panel 1
Exhausted but alive, the Dream Lord falls back onto the cloud surface, gasping for breath.
Lullaby (cheering, elated): Way to go! I toldja' you could pull through! You are too tough!
Page 23 panel 2
Lullaby (putting her arm around the Dream Lord and hugging him joyfully): Now what was so hard about that?
The Dream Lord is alive, but completely exhausted. He is limp, drained, and sweated, and his mind is still far from recovery. He is still reeling in every way from the Bogeyman's nightmarish attacks and the personal revelations of his own visions.
Page 23 panel 3
Dream Lord: Th-thank you.
Lullaby: Hey, any time. What are friends for?
Dream Lord: Friends? I...don't even...know you.
Page 23 panel 4
Lullaby: Now what kinda' talk is that? I just saved your life, and you don't recognize me?
Dream Lord: I'm...sorry...I really don't...
Page 23 panel 5
Lullaby (laughing): Calm down, buster, I'm just pullin' your chain! I guess I'm sort of your secret admirer. I watched you, but you didn't know I was around.
Dream Lord: How...?
Page 23 panel 6
Lullaby: I ain't tellin'! Let's just say I'm too sneaky!
Dream Lord: What...whatever. I don't...understand anything...anymore.
Page 23 panel 7
Lullaby: Sure you do, buddy. You're just worn out right now, and a little mixed up. That boogey guy really slapped you around.
Dream Lord: Everything...hurts...like crazy. I feel like...I have...the worst hangover...of my life.
Page 24 (9 panels)
Page 24 panel 1
Lullaby (joking): Hey, that's your problem! I'm not gonna worry about your measly headaches after you've been out drinking all night! I'm not your nurse, buster!
Dream Lord: I'd laugh...but it wouldn't do me...any good. (He is still exhausted, but manages to smile a little at Lullaby.)
Page 24 panel 2
Lullaby: Oh, brother! A laugh is always good for you.
Dream Lord: Not after...the things I've seen. It'll...be a long time... before I laugh again.
Page 24 panel 3
Lullaby: Don't be such a party pooper, Dream Lord! Things are better already aren't they? You're still alive, right? You're safe from Bogeycreep. You've got a wonderful person like me to talk to!
Page 24 panel 4
Lullaby: And, you're still under 40! What else do you want, you big dummy?
Dream Lord (listening, but not laughing; he is still remembering his awful visions, the flashbacks he thought he had buried long ago): Nothing... is the same for me. I thought I was...the Dream Lord...a hero...
Page 24 panel 5
Lullaby: So? That's who you are.
Dream Lord: No. I'm...something...someone else. Things I've done...and never knew, until he...forced me to see. Awful things...
Page 24 panel 6
Dream Lord: I think there are more...but I can't...remember. I don't think... I want to remember.
Lullaby: You will.
Page 24 panel 7
Lullaby (looking solemnly at the Dream Lord): It'll all come back to you, and it'll be okay. Just stick with me, kid.
Dream Lord: Even worse...than that...I'm...I'm...
Page 24 panel 8
Dream Lord: ...going to be sick!!
He rolls over onto the cloud to throw up, and Lullaby jumps out of the way.
Lullaby: Hey! Just don't do it on me, buster!
Page 24 panel 9
Closeup of the Dream Lord's face as he hears someone talking to him, and turns around quickly to see them.
Voice (off-panel): Emmett Adams?
Page 25 (1 panel)
Page 25 panel 1
A full-page splash panel.
The Night Brigade has appeared on the cloud with the Dream Lord arid Lullaby, and the government dream agents are all ready for a fight. They have arrived to apprehend the Dream Lord and return him to reality.
There are six members of the Brigade:
NIGHT TERROR, a muscular, square-jawed man in his late 20's, with the power to create unreasoning, debilitating fear in victims.
CATNAP, a young, red-haired woman with the power to send people into brief, deep sleeps.
HANGOVER, a heavy, burly man in his early 30's with the power to create crushing hangovers.
SYMBOL, a thin, blonde man in his mid-20's who can change shape, represent anything.
SWEET DREAM, a beautiful, black-haired woman who can render victims helpless with pure pleasure.
COMA, a tall, thin, black man who has the ability to instantly plunge anyone into a deep coma.
Night Terror (the group's leader and spokesman): Come with us, sir.
CONTINUED....
END OF PART TWO