Peter had been taken to the hall by the two deputies who had taken him to his cell, this time there was no fight, and the deputy’s showed signs of remorse, at the time Peter noticed their vulnerability, the look of defeat on their faces that they both showed, not comrades in arms, more like comrades facing defeat, surrendering from the last battle, wondering why they were fighting the war at all, Peter stood in his cage, staring down at the onlookers, and the eyes that he did meet always turned away, he gripped the bars tightly in an act of defiance as he looked around the hall, then his grip loosened and the tension running through his body released as he saw them and his heart sunk and he felt a knotting in the pit of his stomach, at the back of the hall stood beside Craig Jones was Peter’s family, Eileen, Nathan and Lily, he could see the fear etched on their faces, but at least they were alive and seemingly well, he just wanted to be with them, to reassure them, to protect them, he wanted to reach out just to caress their faces, most of all he needed to plan his way out of the crazy world he somehow found himself in, he wasn’t going to mess this up, he couldn’t, his family depended on it.
Craig had, as promised gone to look in on Peter’s wife and children, and it tugged at his heart strings to find them sat in the house shaking in fear, he could see the tear stains on their faces, a family that had simply walked into another world, a world not of their own, a world they did not deserve to be in, Craig had tried to assure them as much as he could that everything would be okay, but he hadn’t believed it himself, not for a long time had he believed it, and he knew the three he talked to believed not one word of his reassurance, and for that moment he put himself part of the blame for creating this horrible town. he hoped there would never be any new residents and they would all just die off and this world would disappear, but there had been, a family taken from their own world into the world of Underwood, with all its torment and horror, he had escorted them to the centre to where Peter would be, that’s all he could do, he just hoped he had done the right thing, to have a father and husband die is one thing, to watch them die was completely off the scale.
The two deputy’s stood in front of the large desk that sat on the stage, Sandra Skellam and Dylan Williams, the towns 2 deputy’s appointed by the sheriff, they bore no arms, handcuffs and a baton the tools of their particular trade, but they didn’t need anything else, the fear of the person they worked for would make most people think twice about committing any wrongdoing, the consequences were just too great, it wasn’t a job they chose, it was a job they were given.
In the field beside the centre lay a dying fire, where a funeral had taken place earlier in the day, where the body had been laid on the bonfire and set alight, there was no grace or respect, no words of prayers or comfort, no family to weep for them, as they too had died during the past years, any tears by those who looked on were hidden, it was just a body burnt like a Guy Fawkes on a bonfire, or what was remained of it, as it was found on the edge of the woods with the bottom half of the torso missing, just another person trying to flee the terrors of Underwood.
The hall stood silent and the air somehow grew cold as Philip Lenan, Underwood’s judge and jury took to the stage, Philip had been the judge in Underwood since it was created, along with the vicar and sheriff, they were the rulers of Underwood, they were the law, the creators, and the rule makers. The vicar and the sheriff were not in attendance at today’s hearing, the judge had never failed to do what was right, and he would do what was right this time, it would be short, sharp and decisive, there was no time for anything more, that was his style, there was no need for a jury, his word was final, they nicknamed him “the judge of death.”
Philip Lenan was of the same build as the other rulers of the town, he also gave off the same aura of fear, he was clean shaven and extremely well presented, underneath the wig he adorned for the courts, was a fine head of brown hair, and as the other rulers appeared to do, as he sat he rubbed his chin with his fingers and his thumb, he looked around he didn’t ask for silence for his presence demanded it, to the residents of Underwood he was the one they feared most, he was the one that determined who lived, who died, and the most fearful ruling, who would be sent to the woods, it had a sentiment of the town congregating for a hanging, except those that gathered did not want to see no hanging, they did not want to see anyone sent to the woods, they wanted peace and quiet, no longer wanting normality as no one could remember what normal was anymore.
Philip shuffled some papers in front of him, although he didn’t need papers, he knew the charge against the man in the Cage, he knew that insubordination could not be tolerated, his was a professional organisation and looking professional was paramount to him, it was only achieved by years and years of discipline and training.
His voice was deep and loud and could be heard at the back of the hall, some of the 200 or so people shivered as he spoke, not for the first time had they shivered at the sound of his voice.
‘Peter Ford, you have been charged with insubordination and striking a police officer, how do you plead’
His words ran cold to everyone that could hear.
His family huddled each other, unsure what world they were really in, if they were to ask someone, no one would really come up with an answer.
Every single eye in that room went towards Peter, and all Peter could think about was how the hell he had landed up in this kangaroo court, it still wasn’t real, he was somehow expecting it all to end and someone explain to him that it had all been a mistake, but here he was in an iron cage like a wild animal waiting to be sentenced for protecting his family, Philip’s stare was cold and challenging, he was expecting defiance, Peter scanned the room, wondering how the hell he had become a holiday maker to a caged man awaiting sentence, it felt like he had gone to sleep and woken up in the wrong century, he wanted to shout, scream swear and tell them how wrong they all were, and that someone was going to pay and as he glanced around his eyes locked on a man in his 50’s, he was stood no further than 3 feet from the cage he was kept in, no one stood by him, the man was alone, he appeared to want to attract Peter’s attention, the look on this man’s face was distinctive in a way that Peter felt drawn to, the man squinted his eyes and nodded, he mouthed the word Peter thought he wanted him to say, and he said it.
‘guilty’ said Peter as he faced the judge, as if the words were not his own, as if the words were given by the man who stared at him from the crowd, and the tension in the body of the man in the crowd seemed to lift, and suddenly there was relief on the faces of the people who stood looking at him, Eileen crumbled to her knees as Craig held her, Lily hugged Nathan, with tears streaming down her cheeks.
‘No’ she screamed, ‘he’s not guilty my dad hasn’t done anything’ she tried to make her way through the crowd until Craig held her back, all eyes fell upon the grief stricken teenager,
the judge eyed Peter, it had been their first resident in a long time, he looked in fine fettle, thought the judge, and the wenches that were with him looked in fine shape, particularly the young pretty one, it had been a good day for Underwood, the best catch they had for decades.
‘Is there any mitigation’ he asked Peter, again Peters eyes met the same man who whispered the words for him to say,
‘I apologise sir, I am new to the community and did not know any better, but I will learn from my mistake’, he sounded confident and convincing, if not scared.
Philip Lenan smiled, he liked it when they bowed down to his power, and ‘this one knows who is boss’ he thought, ‘and we need a good plumber’ he let a smile form on his lips, the next part was the bit he liked most.
‘I sentence you to 10 lashes’ he said, still grinning, the crowd gasped, they had never heard of this punishment before, who would administer them, Peter shook with dread and fear, he wanted to protest the man in his fifties put his hands to his head.