The Blood of a Tarnished Badge: Tracks to Nowhere

I. A Season of Changes

Driving to Sandy Creek, a small rural North Carolina town, 34-year old Tonya Bizzelle reminisces about her past. Her memories came flooding back as she travels back to the place she had once called home. She is headed to her very first undercover assignment as a Special Agent for the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigations. She hasn't set foot in Sandy Creek for nearly 20 years. When she lived there, to her friends and family, she was known by her birth name, Mikala Denise Richardson. At the innocent age of 14, she was threatened, assaulted, abused, and forced away from her family by a newly elected Sheriff, James Thomas "J.T." King, and his corrupted Sheriff's Department. Scared for the lives of those she cared about the most, she had to escape the wrath of Sheriff King by running far away and ultimately changing her identity. In the 1980s, she was once an energetic and spry little girl with pigtails, but now no one would recognize the woman she has become. With her past still fresh in her mind, Tonya recalls how she was forced out of town. Now is the perfect time for her to bring to justice the evil that plagued her for years.

Twenty years is a very long time to harvest a grudge and time has not healed her salt-filled wounds. In the end, Tonya has to determine how she's going to take Sheriff King and his group of "cronies" down. After all, no one recognizes her; therefore, Tonya is the only one who knows they have a dark history together. Tonya's life was stolen from her twenty years ago and now she is more focused than ever to take it back. She wants to face those who plagued her during the dark pathway she was forced to take. Isolation is a very lonely place and now it's time for her to get some payback. Her enemies are not ready, but her plans are to eliminate their power sending them down a putrid spiral straight to Hell. Her life had been a mess, but only by the grace of God, was she granted a second chance in life. Her only goal is redemption and a chance to make her enemies her footstool. However, she is hoping she's strong enough not to take matters into her own hands.

Traveling north on Interstate 85 just outside of Greensboro, North Carolina, Tonya begins to reflect on how she ended up in the position where she's holding all the cards. Her grandfather was born and raised in Warren County and he had a saying he would always tell her, "When you throw a rock at a bunch of stray dogs, the one you hit would holler". Now that she is older his saying finally made sense and had meaning for her. In her mind, there was only one stray mutt in her life, and she was intent on throwing more than rocks. Sheriff King didn't know it yet, but he is on borrowed time. It had taken Tonya a very long time to regain control in her life. She had many years of blood sweat and tears, but eventually lived a full life. There was just one more resolution needed to make her life complete. Right now, she is her own worst enemy. She will have to be careful and watch her every move. Time has been on her side and she's had to develop patience because it has not been one of her virtues. The years have slowly crept away and she hopes no one in Sandy Creek will recognize her, because her life depends on it.

When Tonya was fourteen years old, she lived life carefree as high school freshman, Mikala Richardson. The fabricated death of Mikala came when she was run out of town by one of the most inhumane monsters to walk the earth and unfortunately wear a 6-point gold star, Sheriff King. Her family's lives were at stake, so Mikala was left with no other choice but to turn her back on the only people that gave a damn about her. A number of things have changed over the years, but as the cliché goes, "The more things change, the more they stay the same". Since the age of 14, Tonya had developed confidence and she could tell you one thing, she was far from that same scared little girl that grew up in Sandy Creek. In fact, her earliest memories of her childhood that she hadn't completely blocked out seemed normal for her until the age of ten. Her childhood began like most did. At that time, Mikala had what one would call a typical family with a mother, father, three brothers, and a sister. Although dysfunctional, she even considered several extended family members and childhood friends as part of her family. At the age of 10, she was forced to grow up quickly. It's funny how your life can go from sugar to crap in the blink of an eye. In fact, her eyes were opened for her and she learned how to adapt to the many adversities in her life.