The Sheriff's Station (formerly a post office) is the residence of Sheriff Boyd Stevens and headquarters for him and Deputy Kenny Liu. The building includes sleeping quarters, a makeshift holding cell and office space for Boyd.
History[]
Season 1[]
After warning everyone to get inside as the sun sets, Boyd retires to his office, but not before checking the sign outside that reads “NIGHTS WITHOUT INCIDENT: 96."[1]
After the death of the Pratts, the arrival of two new cars, and the death of several more people in the Clinic, Boyd returns to the office, erasing the sign outside.[2]
Boyd wakes up in the morning with something clearly on his mind as he stares out his window at the Box outside his office. Boyd visits Frank in his cell and asks him if he’s hungry or if there is anything he needs. Boyd then tells him that it is important to understand that what is going to happen that night is not personal. Frank says he knows, and adds that Lauren liked Boyd because he was hard on people because he had to be, made the difficult decisions, and was going to be the person to get them all back home. Frank then says that he wasn’t always an alcoholic, and Boyd understands, and asks if there is anyone Frank wants to see or to tie up loose ends, and Frank says there is one thing.
While being given a tour of the Town by Father Khatri, Tabitha asks what the box-like structure near the Sheriff’s Office is, and Khatri explains that those who break the rules are sentenced to a night in the box, and that night would be the first time they’re using it. Meanwhile, Boyd continues to struggle with the idea of sentencing Frank to death. On his way back to the office, he stops by the Box and goes inside, trying to imagine what it must be like. Boyd then walks into Frank’s cell and tosses a talisman on the bed, and tells him that there’s a small shack a hundred yards beyond the tree line, and orders him to take the talisman and make whatever life he can there. Frank asks what Boyd will tell everyone, but the Sheriff walks away. Ultimately, Frank chooses to accept his death, citing the fact that everyone he loves is now dead. That night, Boyd tries to watch from his window, but is unable to.[3]
Outside his office, Boyd lugs a cart full of wood to repair the Box and finds Frank’s body. Later, Kenny shows Jade the map of all the locations the inhabitants of the Town were originally from before they became trapped. Jade was driving on the East Coast when he entered the Town, while the Matthews, who arrived on the same day, were driving in Arizona. Kenny lists several other examples, and explains that all the residents drove in from wildly different locations. Jade declares that impossible and begins laughing and says the difference between them is that he doesn’t accept the world as it is and won’t rest until he figures it out. Kenny tells him he’ll lose his mind that way, and that the people who don’t bend and adapt will break. Kenny adds that the hardest part isn’t the monsters, but it’s what it does psychologically. Jade then overhears the radio static and takes it with him as he leaves.[4]
In his Office, Kenny updates Boyd, who is studying the map, that Sara is okay, and brings him some food. Boyd asks him to hold down the fort while he stops by his wife’s grave.[5]
As it grows dark, Father Khatri waits on the porch of the Sheriff's Office for Boyd. When he returns, Khatri tells Boyd they need to talk in private urgently. Inside, Khatri notices that Boyd is preparing to leave, and remarks that they have even more to talk about.
At the Sheriff’s Office, Boyd concludes explaining to Khatri his plan to go out into the forest in search of a way out. Khatri then reveals the bag that he buried the day he arrived in Town and has Boyd look through the contents. Boyd gets frustrated and asks what is going on. Khatri says they have never discussed who they were before they arrived in Town. Khatri explains that there was a young, quiet and sensitive boy with very strict parents in his congregation. One day, the boy asked Khatri if he could stay for a while, but Khatri, not wanting the parents to worry, gave the boy a candy bar and sent him on his way. Later, Khatri went to his house to check on him, and found that the father had gotten drunk and beat the boy to death. Khatri then began beating the boy's father. Khatri, distressed, excoriates himself for failing to help the boy, and says that he contemplated suicide after drinking the bottle of alcohol in the bag, but heard the voice of God, who told him to return to the car, for there was another path to follow. That path led him to the Town. Khatri then reveals that he has Sara tied up in the basement of the Church. Khatri tries to explain that he knows there is a reason they are all trapped in Town but Boyd aims his gun at him. Boyd is shocked, angrily recalling how Khatri insisted that Frank Pratt go in the Box, but Khatri tells him that Sara may be the way they go home, and Boyd demands that he explain.
Boyd finds Khatri’s explanation of the voices Sara hears difficult to believe, but Khatri pulls out the drawing she made of the chocolate bar logo. Boyd tries to rationalize it, but Khatri insists that there is no way she could have known that story. Boyd asks if he thinks whatever is talking to Sara is trying to help them, pointing out that it ordered her to kill Bing-Qian and Ethan Matthews. Khatri says that it is part of the fabric of this place, and Sara’s connection makes her valuable in ways they do not yet understand. Khatri tells Boyd that it is not a coincidence that Boyd is about to go on his journey at the same time as this connection is revealed. Khatri suggests that he and Sara accompany Boyd on his journey and use her connection to their advantage.
Boyd and Khatri make plans for their journey. Khatri is excited, and believes that this is why he was told to get back in the car, so he and Boyd could help find a way home for those trapped in the Town. Boyd calls him a madman, but their conversation is interrupted by honks from the van. Boyd asks where his son as he and Khatri begin helping the passengers inside. Before Khatri can make it inside, his throat is slashed by a Creature. Boyd shoots the creature to no effect and helps Khatri inside. Boyd tries to stop the bleeding while Khatri gasps for breath and says that his path doesn’t end like this. Khatri asks Boyd to pray with him, and the two begin to recite the Lord’s Prayer as Khatri dies.[6]
As the sun sets, many Colony House residents head to the Sheriff’s Office, where they are temporarily staying. As Donna welcomes them in, she notices Eric looks glum, and tells him to get good sleep. Dale complains about living in a jail cell, and Donna reminds him that it is temporary. Dale expresses pessimism about the chances of the radio tower working, and Donna tells him to cut it out because the other people need something to feel good about. Dale declares himself happy to play make-believe and enters. Before Donna shuts the door, she draws a 1 on the NIGHTS WITHOUT INCIDENT sign. The next morning, a scream wakes up Donna, who comes rushing to the scene and finds that Eric had killed himself during the night. One of the Colony House people tearfully says that he had been saying he was fine and making jokes about the radio tower.
Kenny walks through Town ringing the warning bell to get everyone inside. As he finishes, he finds a despondent Kristi sitting on the stoop of the Sheriff’s Office. She explains that Eric was her friend. He had celiac disease, so he was a frequent visitor at the Clinic. Kristi fondly remembers how she always told him to stop eating bread, but Eric would make jokes, and how he made her adjustment to the Town easier when she first arrived. Kristi makes Kenny promise that if the radio tower does not work and he falls apart, he will go to her and let her help. Kenny promises her and hugs her, telling her it will be okay.[7]
In the Sheriff’s Office, Kenny finds Donna examining the map of where they all came from. Donna muses about how they call came from different places and roads, but they all ended up in Town. She asks if he really thinks the radio will make a difference, and Kenny optimistically answers that radio waves and travel in ways that people can’t. Donna leaves to get to work on the tower, and Kenny thanks her. Before he leaves, Kenny grabs the globe lamp on his desk.[8]
Season 2[]
After the chaotic arrival of the Grand Rapids Runner Bus, which coincides with the collapse of the Matthews' Home that traps several people, most of the bus passengers are herded at gunpoint into the Diner before nightfall, but several run away. After dark, Fatima, who made it to the Sheriff's Office with Ellis, tries calling out to the bus passengers outside to hide and be quiet, and Ellis gets her inside just as two Creatures round the corner. After they shut the door behind them, one of the Creatures says that they are spoiling all the fun. Fatima then sees two of the bus passengers emerge from their hiding place. She tries in vain to warn them. Ellis drags her away from the window as she sees them get surrounded by Creatures. Fatima continues to try and find a way to help them but Ellis tells her there is nothing they can do as they hear the screams of the passengers. Fatima returns to the door and begins shouting at the Creatures outside, who tell her that she will feel better if she comes outside. Fatima begins crying and saying she can’t do this anymore and collapses into Ellis’s arms.[9]
After he returns, Boyd looks in the mirror at his arm, trying to detect the worms. He then tells Ellis about going into the Farway Tree. Ellis asks him where Sara is, and whether she is alive. Boyd says he does not know, and Ellis continues to struggle with the idea of teleportation via tree. An increasingly irate Ellis asks if he is hiding something, reminding him that he went out to find answers but instead came back and they are right where they started. Boyd asks him what is going on, and Ellis calms down and explains that things were bad the previous night and it affected Fatima. Ellis worries that he is seeing Fatima slip away. Boyd tells him that Ellis has to be there for her so she has something to lean on, and that they will not let this place win. The two hug, and Ellis goes to help Kenny with the animal traps. Boyd tells him to get someone else to do it and go help Fatima, but Ellis says he was going to use it as an opportunity to gather some wildflowers that he knows she likes. Before he leaves, Boyd teases him about the ring, telling him to get a better one, and Ellis tells his father that he is glad that he’s back.[10]
Sara approaches Boyd in his office and says she wants to go back into the woods and continue to search for answers. Boyd does not think it wise, and Sara understands that he is needed in Town but she wants to help. At Boyd’s pressing, Sara reveals that she feels like an outcast in Town but going out into the forest is something helpful that she can do. Boyd says there is a difference between searching for answers and running away. Sara says she can’t sit and do nothing in the Church anymore, and Boyd offers to find a solution.[11]
After a new danger means that everyone has to stay awake, Sara and Kenny prepare to spend the night in the Sheriff’s Office. Sara thanks him for staying with her, even though he does not want to. Kenny gruffly replies that he is not doing it for her. Sara remarks that things now feel different and wrong, much like it did in the Forest. Sara asks him if Boyd ever told him what happened, and tells him that as they got further into the Forest, Boyd said it was like the place feeds on their pain, but she thinks it does more than that. Kenny is confused, and Sara reveals that Nathan used to be terrified of cicadas as a child because he thought they were monsters. Sara asks if the fears of the people that die in the Township become part of the Forest, and they are experiencing Nathan’s nightmare.
Later, Sara points out her pin on the map. She mentions how Tian-Chen used to say she was grateful her family got trapped all together before apologizing for bringing it up. Sara then tries to apologize for causing Bing-Qian’s death. Kenny stops her, and Sara says she knows it is painful for Kenny and his mother to see her every day. Sara continues to say that she tried to convince Boyd to let her go back into the forest but Kenny stops her. Kenny tells her that he does not care about her or her pity party, and that she is a murderer who deserves to go into the Box. Sara continues to try and apologize but Kenny tells her to shut up and stop talking about his father. Sara refuses, telling Kenny that he is not the only person who lost something as she has lost everything, including her sense of self, and that she is tired of being afraid and being Kenny’s monster. Kenny tells her that if she wants out, Boyd has an extra gun in his desk, and she can do what she wants before leaving the room.
Kenny returns to find Sara with Boyd’s revolver. Kenny tells her to put away the gun, but Sara says everyone wants her to die anyway, and Kenny even wanted her to go in the Box. Kenny repeats his order, but Sara muses about how if she went in the Box, the burden would not be on Kenny to kill her. Therefore, they will pretend she is in the Box and let this place decide for him. Sara then loads two bullets, spins the cylinder and points it at Kenny, telling him that he does not get to decide. Sara then puts the gun to her head, cocks it and pulls the trigger. Kenny grabs the gun and asks what is wrong with her.[12]
After they return from the Forest, Sara asks if they have buried Paula and when Boyd realizes he forgot, she offers to take care of it, and tells him that he is doing the best he can.[13]
Season 3[]
Three days after defeating the Music Box Monster, Boyd re-bandages the gunshot wound in his shoulder in his office. A vision of Father Khatri notes Kristi should be doing that, but Boyd responds that she is busy tending to Marielle. Khatri asks about Marielle, Randall and Julie. Boyd says they are doing fine, noting they’re all still alive. Khatri argues that one of his own people tried to kill him, half the Town is still afriad to try and sleep, there’s a food shortage, and the weather is getting colder. Boyd says he does not want a panic. He recalls how the Music Box Monster tried to taunt him with visions of Abby telling him to give up hope, but it was not really her. Boyd then asks what the vision of Khatri really is. However the vision says it cannot answer.
While Boyd and Kenny are walking, they see a something get thrown through the window of the Bar out onto the street. They find Jade Herrera drunk on the floor muttering to himself, and take him back to the Station to recover. That night, Boyd pours himself a drink, his hand shaking as he does. Jade wakes up, and accepts a drink from Boyd, who says it was Khatri’s. Boyd asks if Jade is ready to explain what is happening with him, and Jade says not yet grimly noting that they are not doing well. The two then notice the livestock wandering the streets and go outside to round them up, as they are the Town's last remaining food source.[14]