Grey Men Talk
Two grey men sat in the cabin of the pick-up truck as it bounced down the road. Ten others sat in the truck bed with the muppets.
The man who had talked to Miss Piggy seemed to be second in command. His short blonde hair kept blowing in his face, and his brown eyes glinted in the sunlight. He reached around and knocked on the driver's side window.
"Take the long way, Eric," he said, and then he turned to face the muppets. "We're really worry about what we've been putting you all through."
"Yeah, right," Floyd said.
"I mean it," the man said. "We never wanted to do any of it."
"Then why did you?" Fozzie asked.
The man hesitated.
"Just tell them, Brian," another man said.
"Be quiet, John," Brian said. Then he looked at the muppets. "Galt told us to do those things," he said.
"And why listen to him?" Rowlf asked.
Brian's face darkened as he looked at the dog. "We have families, you know."
The men all nodded. The muppets looked at them, amazed.
"You mean you're scared of him, too?" Robin asked.
Brian looked at the frog sadly. "Yeah, kid," he said. "We're scared of him."
"That's why we're trying to help you out," John said.
Brian nodded. "We have to bring you to Galt's house. But we're doing everything we can to keep him from hurting you."
The rest of the men nodded in agreement. But somehow, the muppets weren't quite convinced.
Back in the dungeon, Kermit had taken one of the rags from his pile and done his best to clean as many of Miss Piggy's wounds as he could reach. When she woke up again, he helped her to lean up against the pile of rags in her cell. Then he tried to clean some more of her wounds. She was still weak, but her strength was slowly beginning to return.
"Kermie?" She managed to say. "What are we going to do?"
He sighed, set the rag aside, and took her hand. "I don't know, Piggy."
"Kermie..."
"Shh," he hushed her, gentley stroking her cheek.
The door slammed open. Startled, they turned to see Galt standing there. He unlocked and opened the door to Kermit's cell.
"Come here," he ordered.
Kermit didn't move. There was no way he wanted to leave Miss Piggy's side. He did not release her hand, nor did he move his other hand from her cheek.
Galt stormed over to the frog, grabbed his neck, and lifted him into the air.
"Now," he said, and he started to carry the frog out.
Kermit was shaking He turned his head back towards Miss Piggy. She was petrified, trying to hold back tears.
"Kermie..." she whimpered.
"Don't worry, Piggy," Kermit said, still shaking.
Galt laughed as the door slammed shut behind him.
Miss Piggy sat up, alarmed. "KERMIE!!!" she shouted. Then she collapsed back onto the rags, slipping into the darkness once more.
She awoke to the sound of the heavy door creaking open. The twelve men bustled in and placed ten muppets in their cells. On the left hand wall, the first cell was given to Dr. Teeth, followed by Janice, Floyd, Animal, and Zoot, and Robin was put in the cage. The right hand cage was given to Camilla, and next to her was Gonzo, then Fozzie, and then Rowlf, with Miss Piggy still lying on her pile of rags, next to Kermit's empty cell.
Then the men left, with Brian staying behind, stopping in front of Miss Piggy's cell.
"I... I'm sorry... Miss..." he stuttered, before hurrying out the door with the others.
The muppets stared at Miss Piggy, with her knotted hair, her ruined clothes, and her cuts and bruises.
"What happened?" Rowlf asked.
She felt a little stronger knowing that her friends were there. "When they... They took me... They put me in... in this room, and... and Galt was there... and... and he... he..." She winced. The pain was starting to come back. She didn't want to think about what had happened. But she pushed on. "... he... tied me... to a... to a chair.... and he... he beat me..."
By now she was crying. They could see she was in pain, and they didn't want to push her any more.
"Shh. It's alright, Miss Piggy. It's alright..." Rowlf tried to comfort her.
"Yeah," Fozzie said. "It'll be okay."
But Piggy shook her head. "No," she said through her tears. "He took Kermit!"
Silence fell in the room as Miss Piggy's sobs trailed off. Robin gripped the bars of his cage, holding them tight, as though it would help to hold himself together.
He sat down, deeply concerned. "Uncle Kermit..." he murmured.
Fozzie looked around at them. Kermit was gone? Galt had taken Kermit? He looked at Miss Piggy, and how battered she was. Then he looked around again. Wasn't there anything he could do?
"We called Gina," he said in a very matter-of-fact sort of way.
Miss Piggy looked up, encouraged. "What did she say?" she asked.
Fozzie looked down. "Well... um...."
Miss Piggy looked around, confused. They each shifted their weight, none of them wanting to tell her.
Dr. Teeth spoke gentley. "Galt's men came and took us before she could really say much of anything," he told her.
Miss Piggy drooped her head and sighed. A feeling of despair settled in all of them as silence fell once more in the dungeon.
There was nothing left to do.
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