The Bullworth Never Ending Story

[BloodChuckZ]

“There it is”, Tony said, pointing.  “Look !”

They were back in the Industrial Area, on the road West of Red Star Industries.  Tony was pointing towards the windowless Warehouse building they had noticed before by the Rail Yards that had the two boxcars on the Spur Line right up against it.  But now, there was only one boxcar, and where the other one had sat, they could see a Loading Dock that inset into the side of the Warehouse.

“Well, I’ll be damned”, Nick said. “This has to be it....The main access point.”

“Let’s go check it out”, Tony said.  It was a cloudy night, but some moonlight illuminated the sky above, giving an eerie light of sorts.  The boys snuck to the building and squeezed past the boxcar, climbing up on the loading dock.  There was a rolled metal pull-down door, but it had not been closed, probably because some careless worker had forgotten to roll it down.



There were various items, crates and stuff, laying around on the inner platform.  Further back was a rather large Forklift for moving materials in and out of the boxcars.  The went deeper into the Warehouse, their flashlight beams probing the interior.  In a clear part near the center, they saw the open Freight Elevator.



They shined their light up above it.  Like many Warehouses, it had a high ceiling, but no second floor.  There was only one way this Elevator went, and that had to be down.  They went aboard, shining their flashlights around for the controls, which they easily found.  The power was off, but that presented no problem, as there was a large electric box with a knife switch on a nearby supporting beam.  Standing back on the Elevator, they punched the lower of the two buttons.  Electric Motors whirled to life, and the elevator made a show descent into the abyss.

When it thumped bottom, the Freight Elevator stopped.  It was black as tar, and the boys shined their flashlights ahead.  In front of them stretched a tunnel of undetermined length.  Nick shined his flashlight to the top of the tunnel.  It was large enough and tall enough to accommodate that Forklift they had seen.  Tony began shining his flashlight on the walls, and near the Elevator, he found something.  “Hey, look at this....It’s a Map !” 
 


The boys centered their Flashlights on it.  The Map showed a virtual maze of tunnels, branching off to many places.  There were small, scrawled notations of parts of it, nearly faded away with time.  Tony had to hold his Light at an angle to see most of them.  Others were too faded to read.  He could make out ‘swh’, ‘ssw’, ‘bss’, 'wmp', ‘isw’, ‘sif’, ‘gor’, ‘sif’, ‘rsi’, ‘cop’, ‘bcw’, ‘ihp’, and a few others of which he could only make out a letter of two.  The Map was inside a clear, though dirty, plastic folder, and was hung from the wall with a clip.  Tony was able to pull it down off the wall.

“What do you make of that ?”, Nick asked about the notations.

“Must be....Where the tunnels go, I guess”, Tony said.  He could guess at a few, others he had no clue.  “This must be East”, he said, pointing to the right side of the map, “And this West.  It must correspond with what’s above....These notations are probably the businesses and warehouses.”

“What about them little white squares ?”, Nick asked.  “Any idea ?”

Tony shook his head.  “Nope.  Guess we’ll just have to find out what they mean.”

“We’re going to have a hard time in the dark finding out anything”, Nick commented.  He began shining his light around.

“What are you doing ?”, Tony asked.  “Looking for something ?”

“These tunnels are underground”, Nick said, “So there has to be some lights.  Otherwise, whoever drives that Forklift would be running into walls....Aha, look there !”

On the opposite wall was another electric box, a smaller one, with a throw switch on it’s side. “Turn that on”, Nick directed.  Tony went to the box and threw the switch.  Overhead lights came on in the ceiling of the tunnel and stretched down quite a ways.  “I’ll bet there’s more boxes as we go along.  We’ll have to keep an eye out for them.” 



“I guess we better head out then", Tony said, and hesitated.  “We should come up with a way that we don't get lost.  This is a lot of tunnels to explore."

Nick flashed a rare smile.  “Got that covered", he said, and reached into his backpack.  He pulled out two cans of white spray paint.  “Here, we just mark our path every hundred feet or so...That way, we can backtrack when we have to, and know where we've been."

“Dude, that's brilliant !", Tony exclaimed.  “How'd you think of that ?  And where'd you get those cans ?"

Nick laughed.  “I took them from a couple of the Bullies who was tagging the Dorm walls a while back.  Stupid defacing bastards.  Place looks like enough of a shitpile without them doing that crap to it.  As to the idea, I saw it in a Video Game I used to play called ‘Androne'.  Your character picked up square ‘dots' off the floor as he went down corridors....We'll just do that in reverse."

Tony shook his head in admiration.  There was still a lot about Nick he didn't know.  “Sounds good....Let's do it, then !"

The boys headed down the first tunnel, hopeful it would be leading them closer to their girls.
_______________________________

[BloodChuckZ]

Bethany had her work cut out for her.  Armed with a sling-over shopping bag full of 100 poster copies of nude Ms. Phillips paintings, a roll of Duct Tape and a tube of Super Glue, she set out from her upstairs apartment around midnight not too far from the Bullworth Courthouse, on the street known as Theater Road, so named because of the Old Bullworth Theater, which was in the process of renovation.  The streets were empty of people.

In fact, that is where she started, at the Theater, taping up the first two posters, one on each side.  She stood back briefly, admiring her work.  Then, systematically, she hung, taped, and glued posters all about Bullworth Town, on store windows, power poles, brick walls, and bridge abutments.  When she finished there, she headed over to Bullworth Vale, repeating the process in the business and entertainment areas of the Town.  She hadn’t bothered with New Coventry because, frankly, nobody over there would be shocked by nude posters.  Her aim was to place them in areas where the townspeople would be outraged, generating protests and calls for her dismissal from the school.  Maybe even get her arrested and charged with corrupting the morals of minors.  Bethany doubted that those extreme measures would ever happen, but at the very least, it would embroil Ms. Phillips in a huge scandal.  She would be so busy trying to extricate herself and salvage her reputation that she wouldn’t have time to bother with anything else.

She saved the last two posters for the front of Bullworth Academy, using the rest of the glue to attach them to each side of the stone arch at the entrance gates.  As with the first posters, she stood back to admire her work.  At the top of every poster, she had copied on the words, DEDRIE PHILLIPS, BULLWORTH ART TEACHER.  In the center was her naked pose on the green couch, and beneath that was, POSES NUDE FOR STUDENTS IN HER CLASS.

A smirk came to her face as she scanned the posters.  It was past 4 AM now, and Bethany was going to take the day off from work today.  But she would only grab a few hours sleep, for when she awoke it would be time for her to put phase two of her plan into operation....Her second seduction of Mr. Lionel Galloway.
____________________________

[BloodChuckZ]

Weapons at the ready, in case they encountered any danger, Tony and Nick moved out into the tunnel.  About a hundred feet down, they came to a T-passage.  Nick sprayed a reverse arrow on the floor, pointing back the way they came.  Rummaging in his backpack, he pulled out a Compass and consulted it.  “That way’s South-West”, he announced, so this passage runs...North-West by South-East.”

Tony continued to be amazed by Nick’s foresight.  “How’d you think to bring a Compass ?”

“Got lost in some caves once when I was a kid”, Nick grunted.  “Was kinda hairy.  So, which way ?”

“Let’s....Go left here....Maybe check out those places we couldn’t get into”, Tony said.  “We can backtrack to here after, long as you keep on spraying them arrows on the floor.”

“Sounds like a plan”, Nick said, “Let’s move.”

The boys moved down the new tunnel, which was quite long.  Along the way, several other tunnels branched off from it to the right, but they kept going.  It finally terminated in a dark room.  The boys pulled out flashlights and shone them around.  There was another tunnel off to the other side of the room that continued on.  Tony found a smaller version of the freight Elevator, known as a Lift.  It was big enough to put a good-sized load on, but not a Forklift along with it.  The boys got on the Lift.  As before, they had to switch the power on.  The Lift moved up to reveal them in a Warehouse.  It was in semi-darkness, a portion of it was lit.  The boys moved toward the lit part and eventually came to a steel-mesh gate.

“Hey, look, it’s the Save Warehouse !”, Tony exclaimed, looking through the gate at the area they had just been in less than a hour ago. 

Nick consulted the Map.  “Least, that gives us a perspective on where we’re at.”

“Huh...Could have jimmed the lock and started here, if we had known”, Tony said.  “Well, let’s look around.”

They did a quick check of the Warehouse, but found nothing out of the ordinary.  Taking the lift back down, they went into the tunnel on the other side.  This one wasn’t as long as the other one, and and had only one other tunnel branching off it to the right.  It sloped upwards near the end, terminating at a damaged set of double doors.  They were able to push their way through and found themselves in a dark Warehouse.  Shining their flashlights around, they beheld an enormous amount of damage.  There was broken goods all over the place.  Giant Racks had been toppled over, and parts of the ceiling were littered in pieces around over the top of it all. 

“What place is this ?”, Nick wondered, scanning the Map.

Tony suddenly realized what it was, recalling the huge explosion that had knocked him off his bike as his group was biking past this place trying to reach the Save Warehouse in time before they ran out of Oxygen.  “It’s the Spencer Warehouse !”, he exclaimed.

“It must be what these scrawls on the Map means”, Nick said, his finger on the faded notations.  “This one, ‘ssw’ means Spencer Shipping Warehouse, and this one, ‘swh’ must be the Save Warehouse.”

“Wow”, Tony said, looking at the map under the flashlight’s glare.  “That’s....At least 12 places...Maybe others that aren’t marked, to check out.”

“Yeah”, Nick grunted.  “Not much chance they’d be here....I don’t hear anything.”

Tony shined his flashlight around.  “I agree, they can’t be here.  This place is trashed.  Let’s go back, and check out some others.”

The Boys retreated and decided to take the spur tunnel, which was the last one they had passed.  Nick carefully marked the floor at the junction.  The new tunnel went for a ways, until it too sloped upward.  This time, they were met with a solidly closed set of steel doors that appeared to be electronically locked.  Looking about, Nick saw another electric box, recessed into the tunnel wall.  It had a place for a padlock to be attached, but the lock was missing, a lucky break for them.  Nick pried it open and was able to activate the lock.  There was a buzz and a click, and the lock released, allowing them to enter.

They came into what appeared to be another Warehouse.  It was totally dark, and smelled of disuse and dead rats.  There was another smell, mixed it the air, but Tony couldn’t identify it although it seemed familiar, somehow.  The boys started moving around, shining their lights here and there.  There was plenty of crates sitting around, some stacked.  However, they had a newer look to them, as if they hadn’t been here long.  In contrast, this Warehouse was badly neglected.  Windows circling the top were broken out and the beams were so rusted it was a wonder the place was still standing.  Nowhere that they looked could they make out any kind of name for the building. 

It didn’t take long to search the place.  The boys came to what was the front.  Through busted-out windows covered with heavy mesh wire, Tony could make out the remains of Spencer Shipping in the distance to her near left.  He also saw that there was another indented loading dock and an empty rail car sat outside to his right.  Tony surmised that he was where the other rail spur line cut through.  Across the street was a smaller building, connected by an overhead walkway.  There was a faded sign on the roof that read, BULLWORTH PAINT SUPPLY.  The dilapidated building appeared deserted as well.

The girls weren’t here, so they decided to move on.  Cutting back to the tunnel, that strange smell assaulted Tony’s nostrils again.  “What the hell is that smell ?”, he wondered aloud.

“I thought you knew”, retorted Nick.  “That’s Cocaine.”

“Drugs ?”, Tony said, and then made a connection.  “Shit, I’ll bet this is where Spencer stashed those drug shipments !  Wonder why the Feds didn’t find this place ?”

“Probably cause it don’t look fit to store anything here, if the outside looks anything like the inside”, Nick commented.  “Com’on, lets get outta here.”

The boys retreated into the tunnel again, and headed back the way they came.  There were a few cross-tunnels, they noticed, but after a bit of discussion, they decided to stick to a plan of investigating the tunnels in a West-to-East manner, returning to a familiar spot each time and decreasing the chance that they could become lost. 

They retreated back towards the Save Warehouse.  When they were almost there, they took the other branching tunnel they had noticed earlier.  A couple hundred feet further on, they came to another lift.  Climbing in, the lift took them upwards as two steel plates opened above them.  When they reached the top, they were in the open night air, in-between to large round tanks, in a fenced in area all around. 

“Hey, this must be the Industrial Waste Treatment Tanks”, Tony said, spotting the side of the Save Warehouse through the fence across the street. 

“Yeah, then this must be the ‘isw’ notation on the map”, Nick said.  “Industrial Sewage Waste.  Too open to hide them here.”

“And, they wouldn’t be in those tanks”, Tony observed, and then shuddered.  “Unless...They’re...”

“No way”, Nick said, “Don’t think like that.”

“There’s been no ransom calls”, Tony said.  “They could’ve....”

“Yeah, but they’re not killers”, Nick said, “Now are they ?”

“One of them was”, Tony said, “That Big Darrell...”

“But...Wasn’t he a Punk to start off with ?”, Nick asked.

“Um....Yeah”, Tony said, “That’s right....Still....”

“Com’on....Let’s push on”, Nick said.  “We got lots to cover yet.”
________________________________________

[BloodChuckZ]

The tunnel continued on past the Industrial Waste Treatment Plant tanks.  The next Lift they came to and rode up in put them into the Westernmost building of the Spazz Industries Factory.  There was some work activity here, they could hear, so they only took a quick look around before departing.  Continuing on in the same tunnel for just a short ways, they encountered a large Freight Elevator similar to the one they had started this strange journey with at the end.   Although they had pretty much figured what they would find, they rode the Elevator up anyway and found themselves in the Easternmost building of the Spazz Industries Factory.  This time, they sent the Elevator back down right away, as they actually saw some workers about. 

“No way would they be holding them in there, with people about all the time”, Nick commented, and Tony had to agree with that.

“Guess that takes care of the 'sif’ on the Map, there”, Tony said.  “Let’s head back.”

Since they were at the end of this particular tunnel, they stuck to their plan and returned back to where the junction was, underneath the Save Warehouse.  Backtracking South-East past there, they tried the next T-junction, remembering to lay down the spray-paint arrow on the floor first.

It wasn’t long before they came to the next Freight Elevator.  Turning the power on and taking it up found them in still another Warehouse.  This one was smaller and shabby looking, but there was plenty of signs of recent activity here.  There were fresh crates of all shapes and sizes here, plus lots of merchandise, such as lamps, statues, and glass in wooden frame holders.  In fact, the place was packed.  They looked around and eventually located an Office.  From the papers there, they learned they were in Blue Skies Shipping. 

When they had thoroughly checked the building out, they returned to the tunnel and moved on to the next location, just a scant hundred feet away.  A lift was here, but it would not move at all, power or no power.  Shining their flashlights upward, they could see the Lift Shaft was clogged with debris.  No way were they going up there.  They left the lift, but wasn’t able to go much further...A few yards ahead, the tunnel was also caved in.

Nick consulted the Map.  “Let’s see....Last was Blue Skies Shipping.  That was the 'bss’ notation on here...This one is 'wmp’, so that’s.....”

“Wonder Meats Packing”, Tony said.  It got blown up in the bombings.  Only a little piece of the building survived, to the East.  We’ll have to backtrack, try the next tunnel.”

Again, they made their way back, ignoring the side tunnels so as not to get lost.  When they regained the familiar tunnel once more, they continued South-East.  The next T-junction they came to was the tunnel they had started with.  Nick laid down a fresh arrow on the floor, and they continued on.  It wasn’t long before they came to the next T-junction, going left.  They took this route. 

The first Lift they came to set them in the bowls of a rather large building.  In the course of their search, they were to learn that this four-story building was connected to at least two other buildings of shorter height, each with their own Lift Elevators.  It took more than an hour to scour all of the buildings before they returned to where they had entered.  In all that, they could find no clue to the building’s original functions.  The large one seemed like it was once a manufacturing plant of some sort, but there was no clue as to just what.  The buildings attached to it and sprawled out at odd angles appeared to be old storage buildings.  Neither of them were to learn until way later that it was the old Beam Cola Plant and storage facility.

They returned to the tunnel and plodded on.  It ended at a Freight Elevator, so Nick activated it and they rode up, coming to rest in what once was defiantly a Factory.  There was plenty of machinery around on each of the three floors, and even remanents of the products once made there....Plastic blow-up dolls, whips, chains, masks, and all sorts of S&M devices.  In the office they found the Red Starr Industries name on quite a few of the old invoices and correspondence there. 

“Guess that’s what they made at Red Starr....Sex Toys”, Nick remarked.  “Kinky.”

“That would be the 'rsi’ notation on the map”, Tony said.  “End of the line on this one, so we’ll have to check out the next Junction.”

The returned back down the tunnel to where it had T-junctioned.  Nick spotted his arrow mark, and the went left.  Only 60 feet more, at another T-junction led to the right.  They took this way, which proved to be about the same length as the original tunnel they entered, with an identical Freight Elevator at the end.  This Elevator lifted them into a large building as well, and they saw right away that it belonged to the railroad.  There were all sorts of extra Rail Car parts stored here, wheels, axles, brakes, couplers, and even sections of Rail Cars.  Towards the West end of the building were offices, a time clock, and a breakroom for employees, with vending machines. The building itself had a dilapidated look, but was still very functional.  They found more of the same on the other floors, offices and parts storage.

They re-mounted the Elevator and returned to the tunnels.  “Not much more to go”, Tony commented, glancing at the map.  “Maybe we’ll have more luck up ahead.”

“Sure hope so”, Nick grumbled.  “Been a long night already.”
_________________________________

[BloodChuckZ]

Not too far up the South-East tunnel, they came to another T-junction, but Tony elected to go to the end of the one they were in first.  There seemed to be brighter lights ahead.  Up ahead a good ways more, the area opened up into more of a room.  To the right was another Freight Elevator, to the left another tunnel, and straight ahead the tunnel sloped upwards to a set of large double doors. 

They trekked up the ramp to the double doors first.  These doors had windows in them, and Tony looked in on what surely was the Gloop Oil Refinery.





“Whoa, look at that....This place is huge !”, Tony said in wonder.

“Yeah....Takes a lot of Oil turned into Gas to drive around in circles in these towns”, Nick said, half-jokingly.

They could see workers about, doing whatever workers at a refinery did, so they didn’t go in, even though the doors were not locked.  Instead, they retreated back down the ramp and then rode the Freight Elevator up.

They were in the corner of what looked like a huge storage room, full of barrels of Oil of different colors.  A forklift sat nearby.  “Crude in, Gasoline out”, Nick commented, pointing to the different colored barrels.





It was obvious the girls weren’t being held at this busy location.  They took the Freight Elevator back down, then turned their attention to the other spur tunnel they had seen.  It went for about a couple hundred feet and ended in a Lift.  The boys took that up, thinking it would be another building, but it was still Gloop Oil, just a different section.  Various things were stored here, relating to the operation of the Refinery....Spare Pipes, Tubes, Pressure Meters, and electronic components.  Tony and Nick took a curious look around, then descended back into the tunnel.

“This whole section was Gloop Oil”, Remarked Nick.  “That’s the 'gor’ notation on the Map.”

“So what’s left ?”, Tony asked.  “Just that last T-junction we passed ?”

“Yeah...That should be it”, Nick said.  “Let’s get to it, I guess.”
__________________________________________

[BloodChuckZ]

Tony and Nick backtracked to the T-Junction they had passed.  Nick laid down a spray-paint arrow, and off they went.  This tunnel went North-East.  About a Hundred feet down, a short spur tunnel branched off to the left.  The boys took that branch on impulse, because Tony spotted another Lift at the end of it, which wasn’t too far away.

Nick noticed the floor here was dusty.  “Nobody’s been down this way for awhile”, he commented dryly.

When they reached the Lift, there was some trouble getting it to work.  It came to life after Nick had switched the power on, but groaned and squeaked as it rose, like an animal awoken after a long slumber. 

They came up into a building that gave no clue as to it’s function.  There were many crates scattered about, all with a thick film of dust on them, as was the floor.  Tony and Nick moved from room to room, finding the same thing.  There was a second story, and they checked that too, but with the same results.  Whatever this building had been, it hadn’t seen use for quite awhile.

Returning to the Lift, Nick coaxed it back down.  “Well, that was a waste of time”, he said.

“Not really”, Tony said.  “We have to check out everywhere.  At least, this is eliminated.  I wonder what this place was ?”

“Close as I can figure, it’s probably the spot marked ‘iwp’ on here”, Nick said, looking at the map.  “It’s in the same area, anyway.”  He sighed.  “Last place left is this one marked ‘cop’, whatever that means.”

The boys returned to the tunnel they had been traveling North-East in and pressed on.  After a time, they came to the terminal end of the tunnel, and were surprised to see both a Freight Elevator to the right and heavy steel doors straight ahead. 



There was a large steel bar across the doors.  To the left was an electric box with a card reader, and an input keypad with the numbers 0-9 on that.  Nick bent to examine the box while Tony inspected the door.  “I don’t think I can bypass this", Nick said, “It needs a card and a code.”

“It wouldn’t do any good anyway”, Tony said, “Look, these doors have been welded shut !”

And so they were, Nick saw.  Not only the doors, but the steel bar across it was welded to the door.  “These look like fresh welds”, Nick commented.  Once again, Tony wondered how he knew about such things.  “We’re not gettin’ through these.”

Tony turned and looked at the Freight Elevator.  “How about the the Elevator ?  Let’s check that out.”  They went to the Elevator.  It was similar to all the others they had seen, but with one exception.  “This one doesn’t go up”, Nick noticed, looking at the concrete ceiling over the top of it. 

“So...It must go down !”, Tony exclaimed.  “Another level !”

“Two other levels”, Nick grunted, looking at the control panel, which had buttons marked ‘1‘, ‘2‘, and ‘3‘ on it.  He looked around and located the power switch on the wall, and flipped it on.  “Let’s take a ride.”

Nick pushed the button marked ‘2‘, and the Freight Elevator began to move.  They descended into what was a bigger room.  There was no tunnel here, but it was large enough for a Forklift to navigate a load from the Elevator to another set of steel doors, set into their right.  They got off and examined them.

They were identical to the steel doors up on the first level, including the large steel bar across them.  There was an electric box with a card reader and keypad here too, but just like up above it didn’t matter....These doors were also welded shut.

Back in the Freight Elevator, Nick pushed the button marked '3', and they glided downwards to the third level.  It was an exact replica of level 2, down to the steel doors with the large bar across them, the electric box with a card reader and keypad.  These doors too were welded shut.

“Well, shit”, Nick said.  “End of the line.”

“Maybe not”, Tony said, trying to recall something.  Then it came to him. “Where is the place down low that can only be entered up high ?”

“Huh ?”, Nick said, a confused look on his face.  “What’s that supposed to mean ?”

“Something Mr. Riddle said to me”, Tony told him.

“Riddle again, huh ?”, Nick said unkindly.  “What’s he got to do with all this ?”

“I’m not entirely sure”, Tony admitted.  “But he said there are people trying to help us.”

“What people ?”, Nick scoffed.  “If that’s so, they’re doing a real bang-up job so far.”

“No, listen”, Tony said, “Every clue so far has led us closer.  What he said means something, don’cha see ?   We can’t enter here, we have to enter whatever this place is up high !  That’ll bring us closer !”

Nick shook his head doubtfully, but checked the Map anyway.  “Well....This probably goes to this ‘cop’ place, whatever it is.”

“We need to get topside”, Tony said, “And look at it from up there...We’ll be able to see it then, I’m sure of it !”

Nick never had placed stock in dreams and riddles, but recalling the bits of experiences that had suddenly came to him where he had heard the Ghostly Monk’s voice in his head, he had to admit that there were some things he just would never understand.  “Ok”, he said, “Let’s go take a look.”

Not knowing that they were closer to Karen and Melody than they ever had been, Tony and Nick rode the Freight Elevator up to the first level, and from there evacuated themselves from the tunnels back the way they had entered.
_______________________________

[BloodChuckZ]

Tony and Nick emerged from the dock at the Warehouse building and jumped to the spur tracks below.  “We need to go around the other way, if we can...There’s a gate blocking that road, remember ?”

Nick did recall that.  The boys moved around the Western side of the building, closer to the Roundhouse.  It was past 5 AM now, the Railroad workers would be showing up for work soon.  They moved around what they now knew was the Railroad Warehouse with it’s offices and breakroom, and came out on the other side of the gated road.  That road took a sharp turn here, running in front of the Gloop Oil Refinery.  As they moved down the road further, their way was blocked by two more gates that they could see.  Ahead of that rose the hulking round building of the Chem Plant.

“Shit”, Nick swore.  “What is that place, Fort Knox ?”

To their left was a building with a raised concrete platform running around it.  Tony spotted a switch mounted to the brick wall by the corner.  “Nick, look, a switch !”, he said, “Go try it out !”

Nick leapt up to the ledge and climbed over a low railing.  Reaching the switch, which had a big red button, he pushed it.  For a second, nothing happened, then Tony heard a whoosh from behind him, around the corner.  He ran back in time to see the gate across the road by the Railroad Warehouse sliding open.  He turned back to look at the two other gates, only to see them still blocking their way.  Like all the other gates around here, they were laced top with rolled barbed wire, making them hazardous to even attempt to Parkour.

“Fuck”, Tony muttered, as Nick jumped down off the platform and re-joined him.  “So much for that.”  A sudden noise from the Rail Yards made both of them turn and look back.  A Rail Car was being moved, meaning someone was around.  “We’ll have to come back tonight and figure out how to get in there”, he said, looking back towards the Chem Plant.

Nick was looking intently at the Chem Plant.  “Hey, look at that logo up by the top of it there”, he said.  “Can you read what it says ?”

Tony squinted.  “Um...Yeah.  Looks like....’Chem-O’ on the side.”

“Chem-O”, Nick repeated.  “That it’s real name ?”

“I guess...”, Tony said, uncertainly.  “I never heard anyone call it that, only just the 'Chem Plant’...”

“Well, that fits with the 'cop’ notation on the Map we saw”, Nick said.

“I heard, like, the EPA shut that place up, after the bombings”, Tony remembered.  “Might not be so easy to get in there.”

“If those Townie freaks can get in and out of there, there must be a way”, Nick pointed out. 

“Yeah, that’s right”, Tony agreed.  “And they’re probably in there, holdin’ the girls underground.  Those bombs probably trashed the insides up, above ground.”

Another set of noises sounded from the Rail Yards.  “We better boogie”, Nick said.  Tony nodded, and they walked around the corner through the now open gate on the road.  They had to take the long way out, as they had when they came in.  They went back to the Save Warehouse, and decided just to bunk down there instead of going back to the Dorm.  They were weary from the night’s activities, and it wasn’t like they were going to go to any classes today.

Tony took the bed and Nick curled up on the couch in the Save Warehouse, and they were soon fast asleep.  As they slept and the day began, all hell in the form of scandal was breaking loose at Bullworth Academy.
____________________________________

[BloodChuckZ]

Ms. Phillips arrived at the School Parking Lot in a near panic.  Driving past the front of Bullworth Academy on her way in, she saw a bunch of students gathered around the front gates, looking at the two posters of her naked body, stuck somehow to either side of the archway....The same posters she had already seen plastered about Bullworth Town when she begin her drive to school.  The first one she had seen, taped to a pole, nearly caused her to run right into the back of Ms. Isaac’s car.  From there, it had only gotten worse.  It seemed they were everywhere, on poles, sides of buildings, and in shop windows.  Worse, it seemed now that they were at the school !  She trotted quickly from the Parking Lot into the school, suddenly aware of some of the students whispering and pointing at her.

Ms. Phillips knew right away what the posters were.  They were copies of those paintings that a few of the male students had done of her, reclining on the green couch, as their final Art Class project.  She had not posed in the nude for those boys, the students had just elected not to paint any clothes on her.  Ms. Phillips had gently reprimanded them for doing that, while praising them for their free artistic spirit.  She had confiscated the paintings though, tucking them away in the bottom drawer of the Art Desk.  She had not destroyed them, as they represented ‘Works of Art’ to her.  Now, however, she was wishing she had.

At the first, she was at a loss to understand who would do such a thing.  Her first thought was that it was one of the boy students....She had plenty of experience with the male species, and knew the effect she had on them.  Teenage boy’s crushes on her were not uncommon, she had a sexy body and she knew it.  It wasn’t out of the realm of possibilities that one of them had developed an 'Unrequited Love’ syndrome and had decided to retaliate in such a manner.  But after arriving at the School Office and finding Bethany Jones absent, she began to realize that it may have had nothing to do with any of the students after all.  An hour later, when Bethany still did not show up, she was sure of it.

In fact, it was virtually confirmed when Christy Martin came into the Office and asked if she would have a Prefect in class today.  From Christy, she found out that it was Bethany who had been the one who assigned Edward to sit in on the Art Class yesterday and why.  More importantly, it was what Christy had related to Bethany, revealing the existence of the nude paintings to her to begin with.  After assuring Christy that she never had, in fact, posed nude for any Art Projects and calling Edward to once again accompany her to Art Class, Ms. Phillips sat back in the Headmaster’s chair, sure of the fact that Bethany was the one responsible for the posters.

Her problems that morning were further compounded when Seth the Prefect came to the Office, dragging an unwilling and totally morose Constantinos Barkus with him.

“Here’s the Book Thief !”, Seth announced grandly.  “Caught him myself in the act last night, stealing more books !”

Ms. Phillips knew only marginally about the book thefts.  She had just heard that quite a few were missing from the Library.  Putting aside her problem with the posters for the moment, she asked Seth to explain more about it.

“Where is Mr. Galloway ?”, Seth said, looking around.  “He is the one I need to report to.”

“He is out sick”, Ms. Phillips said.  “I’m in charge for the present, you will report to me.”

“Very well”, Seth said stiffly.  He proceeded to explain about the rash of thefts, and how Constantinos brought three of the Romance books back yesterday that he had previously checked out.  This had raised Mrs. Carvin’s suspicions of him, for it was right after Constantinos had checked those books out that the thefts of the Romance books had started.  Mrs. Carvin had asked Seth to stand guard in the Library last night, hidden in the shadows of the foyer, just in case another theft occurred.  And he had caught Constantinos red-handed, with a backpack full of books.

“All right, Seth....Wait in the outer office”, Ms. Phillips sighed.  “I’ll call you when I’m finished.”

Seth didn’t look too happy about being excluded, but he complied and left the room.  Ms. Phillips turned her attention to Constantinos, who was just standing there, saying nothing.  “Is this true, Constantinos ?  Have you been stealing all those books ?”

Constantinos said nothing, and just stood starring at the floor, his hands clasped in front of him.

Ms. Phillips tented her hands in front of her.  Ms. Phillips knew all about Constantinos’ history of being bullied here at school.  “Constantinos, I know you wouldn’t have done something like this unless somebody was making you.  Can you tell me who was forcing you to do this ?”

Constantinos was still looking at the floor, but mumbled, “No, Ma’am, I can’t.”

Ms. Phillips sighed.  “Can you....At least return the stolen books ?  That would go a long way to resolving this whole thing.”

Constantinos turned his head slightly.  “No, Ma’am, I can’t do that, neither.”

The silence spun out.  Obviously, Constantinos wasn’t going to reveal anything.  When would children ever learn that protecting someone else did them no favors in the long run ?   She shook her head.  Why did this have to happen today ?  It just wasn’t right.  She realized just why Lionel felt under so much pressure, and his misgivings about handling the job.  It could be tough.

She folded her hands.  “All right, Constantinos, you leave me no choice.  Pending the return of Mr. Galloway, you are suspended from school, and are to be confined to your room at the Dorm until further notice.”

“Yes, Ma’am”, Constantinos mumbled, still looking at the floor.  Ms. Phillips rose and went to the double doors to the outer office.  “Seth ?  Take charge of this young man....He is to be confined to his Dorm room, except for meals and going to the bathroom.  Do whatever is necessary to enforce that, until Mr. Galloway returns to make a final disposition.  Is that clear ?”

Seth’s lips curled up in a smile.  Now, this was more like it.  “Yes, Ma’am !”, he exclaimed.  He strode into the inner office and grabbed Constantinos by the arm.  “Come along, scofflaw !   Don’t even think about giving me any trouble !”

After Seth had taken Constantinos away, Ms. Phillips returned to her problem, the posters.  They had to be taken down !   The scandal and damage to he reputation would be great enough as it was, worse if she allowed those posters to remain up a minute longer than she had to.  She sat, lost in desperate thought.  She wished Jimmy Hopkins was still here.  Jimmy had done many discreet missions for both her and Mr. Galloway when he was at Bullworth.  But he was now gone, long gone.  She could trust only one with such a mission.  She went to the outer office, which was still empty.  Picking up the Intra-School Intercom, she depressed the 'talk’ button.

“Tony Calderone, report to the School Office !  Tony Calderone, come to the School Office Immediately !!”
______________________________________

[BloodChuckZ]

Tony woke in his dream in the Dome, looking up.  He was three-quarters across, he judged, maybe more, according to his position from the jagged hole at the top.  He had come far, but not yet far enough.  The Dome was not silent, a storm was brewing, a big one, by the sound of the winds.  He could almost SEE the wind as it eddied around him, nipping at his hair, his clothing, his soul.  Precious time was short, he felt with a shudder. 

A scream was carried on the wind.  He rose to his feet, disoriented.  Was that a girl’s scream ?  The wind positively howled around him now.  Tony looked around, shielding his eyes.  Where was he at ?  He squinted.  He was past the ridge, somehow.  Ahead of him was a plain, littered with obstacles.  Further, towards the wall of his enclosure, was a roundish Monolith, dark and foreboding.  It sat on the edge of a rim.  It was hard to make out exactly, the light, or what there was of it, had turned gray and dim.  A menacing fog swirled about the distant object, evil and vile.

That was his destination, he knew now.  He had always known it, he realized.  That Dark Tower would be his salvation from this Dome, the way out....Or it would be his curse, forever trapping him within the walls of this horrid, unyielding, place.  He started forward, eager to get on with it, to have it finished, done, over with.  He stumbled on something unseen, and fell.  Stabs of pain touched his legs.  He looked down to see rolled barbed wire wrapped around them, curling like a living Snake.

“TONY !!!!  HELP !!!!  HELP !!!!”  Tony whipped his head around towards the dark, roundish, Tower.  That was Karen !!  He felt his blood run cold.  The evil Monolith mocked him by it’s presence, putrid evil bleeding in giant flakes from it’s rusted sides.

HELP !!!!  TONY, HEL-L-L-L-P !!!!”, Karen’s screams came again, laced in fear and terror.  Tony struggled to free his legs.  He had to get to her !  He clutched the ground, dragging himself against the entrapping wire.

“KAREN !!!  I’M COMING, KAREN !!!  HOLD ON !!!!”, Tony yelled hoarsely.  He desperately lunged against his bonds as the sky turned black.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

“KAREN !!!  I’M COMING, KAREN !!!  HOLD ON !!!!”, Tony screamed himself awake, fighting against the blankets wrapped about his legs.  Thrashing, he rolled to the floor, whacking his head on the concrete.

Tony’s yells had awakened Nick, who was up off the couch in a flash, brandishing a weapon.  When saw was that it was just Tony, rolling around on the floor, seeming frantic to extricate himself from some harmless blankets, he was able to relax his tense stance.

Nick lowered his weapon.  “Have another dream, did’ja ?”

“Umm...Yeah”, Tony replied, somewhat dazed.  “Guess so....”

“Hmm...”, Nick observed, nodding.  “Any more....Revelations ?”

“Yeah”, Tony said, disentangling himself from the blankets at last.  “We’re on the right track.”

Nick just grunted, making no comment.  He had never been one to acknowledge the power of dreams, but there were so many strange and unusual things that had happened since he had been here that he could no longer rule out anything.  He moved towards Tony.  “Maybe we oughtta get back to the school.  I ain’t gonna be able to get any more sleep on that hard-ass couch, anyway.”

“Maybe you’re right”, Tony said.  “We need to get a plan ready for tonight, on how to get into that thing.”  Tony didn’t say, but Nick understood what he meant.  The Chem Plant.
________________________________________

[BloodChuckZ]

Tony and Nick biked back to school the way they had left, across the wooden walkway, through the Observatory grounds and the Football Field.  Putting their bikes away in the Bike Garage, they soon learned from Trent, who was skipping class, that Tony was wanted in the School Office some time ago.  It was a little before Noon.

“Want to come along ?”, Tony asked Nick.

“Sure, what the hell”, Nick shrugged.

They trudged to around to the school entrance, thinking it might be about missed classes or something. They saw nobody from the Parking Lot to the School Office.  When they got there, there wasn’t anyone in the outer office.  That wasn’t unusual, sometimes Miss Jones (and Ms. Danvers before her) was out of the Office for unknown reasons.  So, they sat down on the uncomfortable couch to wait.

A half-hour went by.  Tony and Nick sat dozing on the couch when Ms. Phillips darted from the inner office and snatched up the Intra-School Intercom.  ““Tony Calderone, report to the School Office !  Tony Calderone, come to the School Office Please !!”

That brought the boys out of their doze.  ‘Uhh...Right here, Ms. Phillips”, he spoke up.

“Oh, Tony !”, Ms. Phillips said, surprised.  “I didn’t see you there !  Where have you been ?”

“Oh, Umm....We overslept”, Tony said, and that wasn’t a lie.  “Sorry, we missed class....”

“I don’t care about that”, Ms. Phillips said dismissively. “Come into the Head Office...I have an important mission for you !”

“Um...Ok”, Tony said, standing.  “Er...Can Nick come along ?”

Ms. Danvers considered.  Two boys tearing down those horrible posters would go much faster that one.  “Yes....All right.  Both of you get in here now and I’ll explain what I need you to do...But hurry !”
______________________________

[BloodChuckZ]

Miss Jones awoke at just past 11 AM, and took a bit of time getting herself ready.  She dressed carefully in her sexiest outfit, a pretty pink blouse with matching short skirt.  She didn’t bother with panties, not after what had happened last time.  Instead, she just used a garter to hold up her nylons. She polished off her look with killer High-Heels.  It felt a little odd to be naked just under her skirt, but it would facilitate her planned seduction of Mr. Galloway.  She primped her short dark hair and applied her makeup with care.   

Last night, before she had hung all the posters, Bethany had gone to the Yum-Yum Store in New Coventry, the only outlet that handled liquor, and got a bottle of what she knew was Mr. Galloway’s favorite.  She slung her bag over her shoulder, the same handy bag she had used to tote around the posters she had hung about the towns, and now she slipped the bottle of Liquor into it.  With no time for breakfast and probably not lunch, she grabbed an Energy Bar to take along and eat on the way, and a can of Beam Cola to wash it down with.  Then she set forth from her apartment.

She walked the distance to the apartment that Mr. Galloway and Ms. Phillips shared, just a few blocks from her own.  She smirked as she munched on her Energy Bar along the way, feeling the lustful stares of every male on the street.  She laughed in her mind about just how easy it was to bend men to her bidding, to make them follow her, panting like sex-starved dogs.  A few well placed curves, a proper shake of the ass when she walked, a set of prominent melons, a slim waist, a cute face and a crown of beautiful hair was all it took to make them her slaves. 

She arrived at their apartment just before Noon.  Looking about, she didn’t see Ms. Phillips’ car anywhere about.  That was good, she smiled.  Ms. Phillips was going to be one busy bitch today, what with all those posters to deal with.  The apartment was on the second floor.  Bethany entered the building and climbed the stairs, polishing off her Beam Cola along the way.  At the door, she stopped to listen.  Hearing nothing, she rapped on the door, which opened slightly as she did so.  Ms. Phillips must have forgotten to lock it when she left this morning.  Bethany pushed open the door and entered the apartment.
______________________________

[BloodChuckZ]

It was really gloomy day for Constantious.  Caught as he was, Nailed in the act of thieving those books for his psychotic girlfriend, expelled from school, and confined to his room like a Rat on House Arrest, he wallowed in his bed deep in depression.  It wasn’t like he could do anything about it, though.  He was stuck here until a final decision was rendered, and he pretty much knew what that would be.  Permanent expulsion from this shitty school, arrest, trial, conviction, jail, Boy’s School, or maybe even Prison lay directly in his future. 

The worst thing of all was not being able to be with Tiffany.  He ached for her touch on his privates, her wild sensual body slamming him to the floor over and over, her desires and domination of him.  Oh, what was to become of him now ?  He couldn’t even go back to spying in the Girl’s Dorm for his jollies after this.  He would be in a cell, in a place with ugly others, who would pump his ass full of lead.  He could never again even get his kicks smelling panties or drooling over the images in Porn Mags.  Once one has had Clavier, going back to soup was impossible.  He may as well castrate himself, here and now.  Life without his girlfriend would be no life at all.  He would truly be in permanent Hell. 

“If she really WAS your girlfriend”, that Voice of Reason from the back of his mind pronounced.  “You KNEW she was Psycho the first time you met her, and STILL let her control you with your own frustrated, unsatisfied, and unfulfilled latent sexual urges.”

Constantinos’ eyes widened in fear and self-loathing.  The recrimination and doubt he’d been feeling had the effect of freeing the voice of reason he had managed to entrap all this past week as Tiffany had forced her obsessions on him and made him her slave.  “No....No...”, he gasped.  “That’s not right....She loves me, she must....”

The Voice of Reason snickered in his head.  “You’re just her Puppet.  She used you for her her own sick desires, and you went right along with it ‘cause she’s gettin’ your rocks off like no one ever has before.  You really think that’s what a NORMAL relationship with a girl is ?”

“Oh, I don’t know...”, Constantinos moaned.  “What do I have to judge by ?   I never had a girlfriend before, and you know that !”  Constantinos felt a lump rise in his throat, or maybe it was bile.  “Why don’t just leave me alone ?”, he choked.

“Look at yourself”, the Voice of Reason continued, disgustedly.  “Get your lazy ass up and look at yourself, right now.”  The mirror above the dresser next to his bed shimmered.

“I...I don’t wanna”, Constantinos pleaded.  “Please....Go Away !”

“DO IT !!....DO IT NOW !!!”, the Voice of Reason screeched, in an eerie imitation of Tiffany.

Constantinos threw off his blanket and stood up on the floor, as the voice directed.  He reluctantly looked up at his own image in the mirror, feeling ill and miserable.  But this Constantinos glared angrily back at him, LEERING at him in a mixture of pity and disgust.

“You’re EVERYONE’S Puppet”, the voice and the Image declared.  “Do you like what you see ?  WATCH.”

Before his eyes, his image was quite suddenly peppered with boils and sores, gooey whitish pus-looking stuff oozing from them, running down the face.  The image, along with the Voice, gave out a grisly laugh.  “Like like what you see ?  This is what you’ve done to me.  This is what you’ve done to US.”

“NOOOOO !!!!!”, Constantinos screamed, raising his hands up over the sides of his head in a strange parody of the kid in the ‘Home Alone’ movies.  “You’re Not Real !!  You....You....You’re...Just....Just.....”

“I’m just YOU”, the Voice and Figure in the mirror said, pus running down it’s face.  “I’m just what you’ve made us.”

“That’s....That’s not true !”, Constantinos whispered, pointing a shaky finger at his putrid image in the mirror.  “I’m not....Like that...”

“Don't Lie”, the Voice said and the Image snickered,  “I know everything. WE know everything.  Now, don’t we ?”

Constantinos sank to the floor, unable to gaze at his diseased image in the mirror any longer.  “Nooo....I....Don’t know anything.....Leave me alone, Please !!”

“Now, I can’t very well do that, can I, since we are one and the same”, the Voice of Reason continued. Then,it’s tone turned nasty.  “You’ve dragged us down, all of us, and we don’t have a choice....We have to go with you, SUFFER with you, all because one crazy psychotic BITCH grabbed your joystick and made you a Pussy.”

“All....Of us ?”, Constantios whispered.  “What....Are you....Talking about ?”

The Voice of Reason laughed sadly.  “The rest of Us.  You think there is just You and Me in here in your head ?  There are Others....Many Others.”

A sob rose in Constantinos’ throat.  “Noooo.....I’m going...Crazy !”, he sputtered. 

“No more crazy than anyone else”, the Voice of Reason said, and now it sounded a trifle soothing.  “But, we are all going to be crazy, and soon, where you have us going.  Soon, it will be too late.  You must do something.  There is little time.  You must redeem yourself.  It’s our only chance.”

“Oh, what do you mean ?”, Constantinos moaned.  “What can I do ?  It’s all over, my life is over, don’t you get it ?  There’s....Nothing I can do !”

“You can Stop being a Coward”, the Voice of Reason said.  “Stand up for yourself.  That little Cunt will sell you down the river when they catch her.  And, we all know she will get caught.  Now don’t we ?”

Constantinos moaned once more.  It felt like there was a war going on in his mind.  His hormones seemed to scream in protest, but the logic the Voice of Reason was telling him was undeniable and overpowering.  Finally, he capitulated.  “What do you want me to do ?”

“Come Clean”, the Voice of Reason said, “Spill the Beans.  Dump it all out.  Strike the first blow, for once in our miserable life.  Do it for us, for all of us.  Our salvation is up to you.  Only you can set us free.”

Constantinos curled up into a ball on the floor, thankful that he was alone and there was nobody to witness his shame.  The Voice of Reason continued, softer now, and fading.  “Defeat this vile she-monster who has disrupted our lives and threatens our future.  In time, you will come to know, as we all do, what evil she has intruded into our lives.  Save us....Save yourself......”

As the Voice of Reason faded, Constantinos sunk into the wells of depression and lay unmoving on the floor.
_____________________________

[BloodChuckZ]

Ms. Phillips directive to Tony and Nick was simple -- Take down or destroy all of the posters that could be found with the pictures of the nude paintings on them.  Tony’s first task was to check out the school itself, to see if any were hung in any of the rooms, hallways, or bathrooms.  Nick was sent out to eradicate the two posters Ms. Phillips had seen in front when she came in, which he was unable to peel them off the block archways, but covered them with black Spray Paint.

Then, the next to check was the school grounds and buildings.  Nick took the North part of the campus...The Dorms and the Library, while Tony checked the Autoshop and Harrington House.  They then met up and checked out the Pool, Gym, Observatory, and Football Field.

As they were coming from the Observatory, the Jocks were letting out of Gym Class and heading to Practice.  Laurent spotted Tony and Nick, and called to them.  “Heya, Tony...Nick...Wait up !”

They held up as Laurent trotted over to them.  Tony noticed his face looked a little pasty, as if he were in the process of having a hangover.  Laurent also had a very worried look on his face.  “Tony, mon friend, I am so glad to see you !”, he said, but Tony thought he looked anything but glad.

“Hey, what’s shaking, Big L”, Tony said, trying to be jovial.  “Been hearin’ you been off with Nina a lot lately.  No time for your old friends, is that it ?”

A look of sorrow mixed with chagrin settled on his features. “Oui, it is true, I have been with Nina much lately....But I have mauvais difficulté....There is a message, first of all....I must tell it en privé....”, Laurent seemed anxious, his eyes darting around.  “Over there, I will tell you all of it...”

He led the boys around the back of the East Bleachers.  Tony wondered just why he seemed so upset.  Laurent looked carefully around before he spoke.  “Last night, I was romancing the belle Nina....We went to ze Chef’s Restaurant, and had Cassoulet and Truffade, with Crêpes and Tripes à la mode de Caen, and Terrinée for a dessert.”

Tony didn’t know what most of those things were.  “Ok...So...You took her out on a date.  So what ?”

Laurent lowered his voice.  “We also had...Some Champagne and Vin Délimité de Qualité Supérieure....We became very....Intoxiqué....And went down le street to the Boar Inn...You hear of such place ?”  Tony nodded, and Laurent continued, “We rent room, go up the stairs and then make sweet rapports with each other....You know that what I mean ?”

Tony took that to mean that they had sex, and nodded.  Laurent paused, then went on.  “After, I went down the hallway to la salle de bain, and as I came out of la stalle, that Pinky girl...was IN there....”  Laurent got red in the face at this point.  “Elle m'a séduite !!” he proclaimed.

Tony thought Laurent must be really upset to be sprinkling so much French into his phrases.  "Umm...Translate, please ?”

“Oh...Sorry”, Laurent said. “It’s...How you say...She deduced me.”

“Seduced is what you mean, I think”, Tony said, hiding a smile, although a bit shocked at this piece of news. 

“Man, don’t that girl ever quit ?”, Nick said wirily.

“Is worse”, moaned Laurent.  “She threatened to tell my belle Nina that I was the one to do that to HER !!  I could not stop her because of my intoxiqué state, she attrapé me and made me !”

Tony could only imagine how that went down.  Although he could really feel Laurent’s distress, having been through that himself, at least it hadn’t been him this time.  Then, he remembered something else that Laurent said.  “You said something about....A message ?”  Tony wasn’t sure whether he wanted to hear it or not.

“Oh...Oui”, Laurent said, “This Pinky said....She would not tell sweet Nina about our....Rencontrer....If I were to have you go to her room, this very night !”

Tony facepalmed himself in the forehead.  “Oh...Mah...Gawd”, he said.  Now, she was using his friends to have her way with him ?  Pinky had gone too far this time.

“I am so sorry, Tony”, Laurent said fervently.  “It was my own drunkenness that is at fault, I know. I do not mean to bring troubles onto you !”

Tony gazed at his friend.  He could not blame his erstwhile French friend for something he himself had fallen victim to, and not just once.  “It’s all right, Laurent.  I know what a handful she is.  I’ve been trying to steer clear of her for months.  She’s not gonna pull my strings this time !”

Laurent’s face looked stricken.  “Oh, but you must go and see her !”, he exclaimed.  “She will tell my belle Nina otherwise, and our relationship will be ruined !”

Tony sighed.  The things he did for his friends.  “All right, Laurent, don’t worry.  I’ll take care of Pinky myself....Tonight !”
_______________________________

[BloodChuckZ]

After leaving a distraught Laurent, Tony and Nick continued their search.  Finding no other posters on school grounds, they headed to Bullworth Town on their bikes.  There were a lot of posters there, on power poles, sides of buildings, and in shop windows....Although some of the shop owners had removed them already from their windows.  Most of the posters they could just simply tear or cut down.  Those they stashed in their backpacks.  But the ones fastened to the sides of buildings seemed to be glued there with some strong adhesive, and couldn’t just be pulled down.  Those posters the boys covered over with the black Spay Paint that Nick had brought along.

“Y’know, this stuff would make a great weapon in close quarters”, Nick commented, hefting a can of Spray Paint.

“Hadn’t though of that”, Tony said, eying the Spray Paint can keenly. “That’s a good idea.  Where’d you get this stuff, anyway ?”

“At the Yum-Yum Store”, Nick shrugged.  “I though you knew they sell it there.”

Tony had seen it there, he recalled now.  “I’ve seen it, just never thought of it as a weapon before.”

“We might have to use it, if things get ugly”, Nick said.  “We need every advantage we can get.”

Tony had to agree with that.  They would be facing some stacked odds if they had to do battle with the Townies to try and rescue Karen and Melody. 

When they had scoured Bullworth Town and were sure that no other posters were evident, Tony and Nick biked into New Coventry.  But search as they did, they found no posters there.  Their next target was the Vale, and there was a bonanza of posters there.  Again, as with Bullworth town, some of the shopkeepers had taken down posters hung on their windows.  Still, by the time Tony and Nick judged they were done, they had a haul between them of 75 posters.

They had ridden further into the Vale residential areas and found nothing.  Their last stop was at the Carnival, but there were no posters there.  Except for the two posters hung outside the gates on the arch at Bullworth School, it seemed the poster-hanger had targeted only the business sections of the Vale and Bullworth Town. 

It was late afternoon by the time they were sure their task was reasonably finished.  The boys headed back to Bullworth Academy with their loads of posters, mission accomplished.  Their destination was the school’s basement, where the posters were to be thrown into the furnace and destroyed by fire, per Ms. Phillips’ orders.
__________________________________

[BloodChuckZ]

Bethany entered the apartment cautiously, peeking around corners as she went.  It wouldn’t do to unexpectedly run into Ms. Phillips, even though she was sure that the ole hag was busy with damage control because of the posters.  Bethany could only imagine the calls she must be getting from the outraged and upright citizens of the Valley right about now.

The hallway was short.  To the left was a living room area, which was empty.  To the right was a small efficiency kitchen, beyond that, another short hallway, where to the right was the bathroom, the left was closet space.  At the very end was a closed door that could only be the bedroom.  Bethany came close and listened intently.

Someone was talking beyond the door.  “That’s Right !  Good One !  Well Done !  Keep It Up !"  Bethany recognized the voice as Mr. Galloway, but who was he talking to ?   She turned the knob and eased open the door for a peek.

Lionel Galloway was lounging in bed in his nightclothes, covers askew.  He was alone, apparently just spouting dialogue into empty air.  His eyes were bleary and unfocused.  “Moby, yah Bastard, where are you, big white tub o’ whale blubber !”, he fired off suddenly.  Bethany eased through the door into the bedroom. 

“Um...Hello, Mr. Galloway”, Bethany said tentatively.

Mr. Galloway’s head swiveled around.  “Ah, what have we here, a statue wearing high heels ?”

“Ah, no, Mr. Galloway”, Bethany ventured, “It’s me, Miss Jones.”

“A wondrous apparition, provided by a magician !”, Mr.Galloway cried.  “Miss Jones !  Good to see you !  Come in, come in, fair lady !”

Bethany moved closer to the bed.  “I, uh....Heard you weren’t feeling well....So, I thought I’d bring you something.”  Bethany reached into her bag and pulled out the bottle of liquor.

“I say, Good Show !”, Mr. Galloway said, his eyes fastened hungrily to the bottle.  But then a fearful look came to his face.  “Hang on, hang on, I’ll be in trouble if she sees this !”

“No, no”, Bethany soothed.  “It’s really alright.  She’s quite busy today, so I let her know I’d be dropping by to look after you.” 

Mr. Galloway wavered, his watery eyes returned to the bottle.  “I was trying to get to the liquor store....Umm, yesterday.....I need a drink !”

Bethany uncapped the Liquor bottle and handed it to him.  Mr. Galloway’s shaking hands took it and lifted the bottle greedily to his lips.  Bethany watched as he emptied a quarter of the bottle.  It appeared that he remembered nothing about last Friday evening, due to his Binge Drinking episode.  It was obvious to Bethany that he was still in withdrawal....The shaky hands, watery eyes, difficulty concentrating, and apparent hallucinating, talking to phantoms in the room before she came in....And the big clincher, an overwhelming urge to drink.

“See, isn’t that better ?”, Bethany asked in a teasing voice.

“Really”, Mr. Galloway gasped.  “That’s...An interesting observation, Miss Jones... Sometimes, you can be quite perceptive.”

“Why don’t you just call me Bethany, like in the old days”, Bethany said softly, sitting on the bed and laying her hand on his arm.  “When we were back in class, and you were my Teacher ?”

“We...We should both be in class right now”, Mr. Galloway said.  “Things are so much simpler there....I feel like I have the weight of the world on my shoulders now.”  He took another chug from the bottle.

“What ever do you mean ?”, Bethany asked sweetly.

“There is so much....Pressure....Running a school, especially a place....Like Bullworth”, Mr. Galloway answered.  Bethany noticed he was starting to slur his words just a bit.

“You should have a drink or two, try to forget about it”, Bethany said. “There’s no harm in that, now is there ?”

“Not according....To that Mad Dog, Hattrick”, Mr. Galloway said.  “HE thinks he’s so high and mighty, but he cheats, sells test answers to the students !”

“But you fired him, didn’t you ?”, Bethany went on in a soothing tone.  “He’s gone now, and you can have a drink when ever you like.”

“Ohhh....Right....Fired thaa Asshole...”, Mr. Galloway said, and took another big swig from the bottle.  It was half empty now.  “But I’m still a failure !”, he moaned.  “I think my big mistake was graduating from Teacher’s College....I don’t belong here...”

“Oh, that’s nonsense’, Bethany coo’ed.  “You were the best teacher in the school !  All the girls just Loved you !  So Intelligent....So Manly.....We couldn’t wait to get to English class everyday, just to gaze at you !”

“I don’t see how anyone could see anything positive in me, I certainly don’t”, Mr Galloway choked out.  “I’m a disgrace.  Why do I even try ?”

“Because, you care”, Bethany said, moving closer to him on the bed.  “You are the one who can turn that school around, give it a fresh start, move in the right direction !”

Mr. Galloway’s eyes tried to focus on Bethany.  “You...You remind me of myself at your age...So full of hope....So full of vigor....”

“But I’m grown up now....Lionel”, Bethany said, crossing one nylon-clad leg over the other.  Mr. Galloway’s eyes waveringly followed her movements.  He took another large swig from the bottle. 

“I...I need you to help me...Miss...Bethany...”, he mumbled.  “The Staff....They don’t respect me....”

“We can fix all that”, Bethany said, scooting even closer.  “Once you really take charge, they’ll fall in line.”

Mr. Galloway took another large gulp of Liquor.  The bottle was getting close to empty.  “You...Really....Thinks so...?”, he said.  The slurring was more pronounced now.

“Yes...I do”, Bethany breathed.  She moved her hand to his upper leg and slowly massaged it, hiking her skirt higher in the process.  “If you finish your drink, I can show you how.”

Mr. Galloway drained the bottle, his wavering eyes fastened on Bethany’s sexy legs.  He could almost see her crotch, and he blinked.  “Miss Jones....Have you ever...Been infatuated...With a colleague ?”

“Like right now ?”, Bethany teased.  This was her chance.  Quickly, she moved her hand to his rising bulge under his nightclothes and began stroking it.  “I would say...I have.”

Mr. Galloway stiffened under Bethany’s hand.  The empty Liquor bottle fell from his grip and rolled to the floor as Bethany freed his bulge and quickly climbed on top of him, jamming her pelvis onto it.  Slowly at first, then with ever increasing speed, she ravaged him.

“Aaaaahhh !!!”, Mr. Galloway cried as Bethany continued to pummel him.  Fleeting thoughts of Deidre Phillips ran through his alcohol-soaked mind, but by the time Bethany brought him to completion, he would no more remember this than he had remembered what had happened last Friday evening in his Office.  He drifted off into a drunken slumber.
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