Mr. Sandman (8 page)

 

 

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:
H
elp 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)