Danger Line

I couldn’t shake off the feeling of something undoubtedly bad happening as soon as I walk to the stage. Each time we started a show, something happened to me. First I broke my ribs, because someone had oh-so gracefully tackled me off stage, next – all of my guitar straps had been sabotaged so you have to understand my uneasiness, while I was biting my nails seeing Avenged Sevenfold perform their last song. I had suggested they play the first show so I’d feel better knowing they did well and nothing came crashing over them.

We had to open this show with a cover of Godsmack’s hit Love-Hate-Sex-Pain and even tho since the attack on the stage I had demanded more security either I walk, I still couldn’t completely relax.

„Raven?” The only person around here who addressed me by my stage name was our manager – Pat, so knowing my hatred towards the fellow, it was no wonder I ignored him. I just couldn’t... The scum was on the same wave with Paul as far as it went for the money, and lately the hatred only grew... he made us do songs which really wasn’t our bands thing. Sure I loved Godsmack, but to do a cover of it? Why the hell should we do that? We had plenty of our own songs, but somehow I got the feeling of it being Leroy’s idea.

„Megan fucking Hills!” I heard a female voice shout rather too excitedly. Oh my god, it can’t be... I hadn’t heard that voice for too long and I was a bit afraid to turn around. Hesitantly I let my eyes travel from Syn and to a very heavily tattooed girl.

„Oh my god! Alexis, you old bitch!” I exclaimed running for a hug. „What the fuck are you doing here? In fucking Bismarck?” I asked as I wrapped my arms around her neck.

„I live here,” She replied with a smirk, „Moved a couple years ago. But, hey enough about me, let me take a look at you, the big fucking superstar!” She stepped back, tugging a strand of her bright red hair behind her ear. „Jesus, girly, I haven’t seen anyone rocking those leather pants since Paul Stanley donated his last pair to charity!”

„Are we talking about the same Charity?” I giggled, remembering my favorite stripper.

„You kinky bitch,” She laughed, remembering our old days in that strip joint. Alexis Morley, I couldn’t fucking believe my eyes... We used to work together, she was the most badass bartender I ever had the luck of knowing.

„So how you’ve been? I hadn’t seen you since your bro kicked Stanley’s ass, what have you been doing all this time?”

„Nothing much, opened my own tattoo place... Quite frankly have been drinking, sleeping and tattooing. But what about you? I thought you were a teacher at that school...”

„I still am... sorta... I mean you probably know the story... Those guys back there needed a warm-up band for their Hail to the King tour and since then we’ve been kinda sticking to the scene...”

„You who?”

„You know - me, Bails, Chris—„

„No way, my Chrissy-baby is also here? Where is he?” Oh right, Alexis was the friend, who introduced me to Chris. At the very beginning the magic trio were a different bunch of alcoholics than from what we know now. At the very beginning there were Alexis, Chris and me. They were inseparable until one day Alexis just took off after the incident with her brother and our boss.

„Hey, Hills, you know what’s the deal with the Marshall, the shit’s sending me straight to hell as soon as I plug ‘im in,” Chris came our direction, his gun on him and ready to be played, while his eyes scanned the song list for tonight. Alexis looked at him and back at me with a cheeky grin.

„Did you check the cords?”

„Yeah, it does that thing where all the lights turns on and then he, just kinda—„ Finally he decided to grace us with his look, before his eyes grew wide, „dies... is she who I think she is?” She pointed to Alexis with that piece of paper he was holding. I just chuckled, nodding.

„Did you check with the roadies?”

„Fuck the roadies, Hills! Holly shit, man,” He threw his hands over her, „Alex!”

The Sevenfold's were coming off stage right at that crescendo moment where Chris was hugging all the shit out of Morley. „Lookin’ good, Achilles,” She smirked as soon as the Sevenfold's with Matt in the front came off stage, the crowd chanting their names.

„Where’s the fucking technicians?” Matt screamed looking really pissed.

„Where’re Barry’s?” Zacky came throwing his gun across the backdrops, not really caring if he smashed that beauty or not. „Hills, you’ve seen them?” He came up, a threatening look on his face. Holy shit, look at Zacky V, i’ve never seen him this mad. But then again, the backstage was kinda empty and Chris too was asking some questions that he’d normally ask the roadies.

„What’s up, V?” I asked, seeing Gates knock all the beer bottles off the speaker. Dad came running towards him and he just pushed his guitar in his hands, not saying a word, before he walked away, pushing everything that came in to his notice and right now it was one of our backup amps.You know, that costs money...

„Are you deaf, Hills, or what?” Deaf? Meaning...? „The guitars were zoning in and out for the whole show and at one point in our last song it seemed like neither me and Gates were even playing, what the fuck is happening here?”

„Zee, hold up!” Matt shouted as my dad was going to check over the amps. Don’t take this out on him, Sanders or I swear... „What the fuck just happened?”

„I don’t know, Matt, there’s something wrong with those amps,”

„Then why the fuck didn’t you switch to a different amp?” Zacky went yelling.

„Hey, hold up drag queen, didn’t you hear him say amps? As in amps in plural?” I came to my dad’s defense even tho I knew I shouldn’t be doing that.

„How much time do you guys have in between the shows?” Alex asked.

„Fifteen minutes, why?”

„Show me the amp...”

„It’s that Hellwin over there,” Dad pointed to the amplifier just a couple of feet from us. Without a single thought, Alexis went over and to look at the back of it.

„What are you doing?” I asked as she bent over, checking something ...I had honestly no idea what.

„Checking if the head unit isn’t loose, you know I used to be a roadie for Papa Roach.” What? She was... Well, that explains pretty much everything about her and her great taste in music, „Their gear had the tendency of just stopping to work way too often if I may add.. until we found the rat who was sabotaging the gear.” She pulled her phone out of her pocket, to illuminate the cords, before sparks went flying over the place. „Shit... the main cord’s cut... No wonder your guitars kept zoning in and out. What other amp do you guys have?”

„Cut?” I heard Matt exclaim, before he turned to Zacky with a frown over his face.

„The Marshall, but Chris said it’s not working either...”

„No, I meant an amp who you’re not using for shows, ‘cause I’m hundred percent sure none of these amps will be working.”

„Well, yeah, we have one on the bus, but it's not made for shows such as this...”

„Well, better get that, because with these you won’t have a show at all. We’ll think of something to get them to work, right mister Hills?” Dad smiled, suddenly remembering, who was the girl in front of him.

„Of course.”

Alexis’ POV

Okay those were the roughest fifteen minutes of my life. No wonder why I switched over to tattooing. I had completely forgot how it was to be a part of a band such as big as Avenged Sevenfold and Beautiful Wasteland. It wasn’t anything too surprising when suddenly all the guitars were string-less or the amps went out just like that. These problems were common, ‘cause even tho roadies were sort of close people, most of the hatred came directly from them, ‘cause they were the ones fetching drinks, sandwiches and what not for the artists and some times even the significant others if that was the wish of the artist.

I know, I had been there. Papa Roach were struggling for quite some time to figure out who was the scum inside their trust circle, before they found out him to be none other than their drum tech.

Even tho with the shitty amp, Beautiful Wasteland did an amazing show. And even tho I didn’t want to miss a single minute of that awesomeness, I was thirsty so I figured to fetch myself a drink, before I stumbled over a chick who looked like Selena Gomez and had a pair of silvery tongs in her back pocket.

A coincidence? Maybe... Most of the tech’s had tools in every of their pocket, but this chick was too clean to be a technician, even a roadie. Her arms were too skinny and her under nails too white. Obviously a merch chick. But not the one for Meg’s and Chris’s band, or she’d be fired in a heartbeat for not being in the merch booth in the middle of a show. So who the hell was she and what the fuck was she doing here? Call me skeptical, but she didn’t look like the kind who’d sneak in to hear Meg’s awesome solo’s or Chris’s heavy riffs.

„Excuse me,” I said squeezing through M. Shadows and Zacky Vengeance, seeing the chick going for the already shitty Marshall. „Girl, you’re messing with the wrong band,” I hissed as soon as she had bent over the amplifier. She raised her eyes to me. Oh boy, had I startled the poor thing?

„Wh-who are you?”

„I’ll be your worst nightmare if you won’t drop the tongs,” I crossed my arms, fixing my eyes on her hands and most important the silvery tongs.

„Yeah, we’ll see about that...” She laughed and it was just a single moment, before she had cut the coard and I heard Meg’s gun go out, since we hooked Chris with a different amplifier. Shit, I swear I’m a calm person by nature... That is if bitches like her don’t piss me off. I didn’t know what came over me, but I realized I was smashing her head against the amp and somebody was pulling me off her.

„You fucking bitch!” Nobody treats my friends like that!

„Alex... Alex calm the fuck down!” I heard Meg’s voice and saw heavily tattooed arms holding me by my waist. Suddenly out of nowhere Syn Gates came to the rescue, well of fucking course... I’ve never liked the dick, always choosing the wrong girls. I remembered him, Papa Roach were co-headlining with them back in 2007, an asshole by all standards – european, american and asian. Seemingly, not even these years had changed one’s nature. Still sticking to the homicidal bitches.

„I’m fine...” I hissed not ever turning my eyes away from the Gomez look-alike. I felt the arms that been holding me relax until they completely let go. I knew I couldn’t kill her right now when all these people were watching, but hell, I will. I’ll fucking poison her in her sleep... Well, maybe not, but I’ll do something.

I looked up to see who had been holding me. M. Shadows. But of course. Who else?

Meg’s POV

Well, this amp wasn’t the best to wish for, but hey, somehow Alexis and dad did their voodoo and made my playing audible. With all the hissing and howling noises, but we already apologized for that to the fans and they seemed okay as far as we were on stage and playing. But... It turned out as soon as I was finished with the intro for The Diary of Jane and this time we had included it in the set if I may add, my guitar went completely silent. How did I realize it knowing it was the part where Chris’s playing overran mine either way? Well, the station of my in-ear piece was strictly my own guitar and I didn’t hear shit. It was this clicking noise before everything went complete silent.

„Fuck...” I whispered realizing I won’t get the sound back. At one point I thought it would be okay to pretend like I didn’t know what was going on and just go with it, but then something caught my attention... The shit that was going down in the backstage. As I turned around I saw Matt hopping in to break a fight with Johnny and Zacky hot on his heels. Was that... Alexis?

Shit... I realized Paul had noticed what’s going on and I gestured for him to stall everything on stage, before I ran off, letting Chris take over.

„You fucking bitch!” Was the only thing I heard, as I tried to squeeze through Johnny and Zack. Matt was holding Alexis so she wouldn’t kill... Kathy? Well, what a fucking surprise. Brian was boosting Kathy and I’m sorry, but I felt a smile creeping up on my lips once I saw her forehead all in blood. Okay, let’s take a breath and calm down.

„Alex... Alex, calm the fuck down!”

„I’m fine...” She hissed, burning a hole in Kathy’s head with her eyes. Well, maybe she was fine, but hell, Kathy won’t be if Alexis will stay here with her.

„Sanders, can you take Alex to calm down somewhere? I think I saw a bar somewhere around here...”

„O’Brian’s tavern is just few minutes from here,” and she was cooperating already. Man, the Alexis I remembered didn’t calm down until someone had to call the ambulance or start digging a grave, those were fun times, but nevertheless, she was still glaring at the chick.

„yeah, sure. Vengeance, Johnny, let’s go.” Matt shouted, taking Alexis my hand just to drag her around Gates and Kathy. I gave them both a patient look, squinting my eyes on Haner for a moment. Something smelt fishy here and I’m not talking about Lance, ‘cause he always smells of fish. I decided to let it go... For now.

„Luke! You have five minutes to get that amp in air!” I shouted to my guitar tech not really having any idea of where the hell he was, before walking back to the stage. I still had my eyes on Kathy and Brian and I couldn’t miss the careful way he treated her, almost as if... „Hey, Pat?” I walked up to our manager, who was doing some probably unnecessary business over the phone. He covered the phone with his hand, before looking at me, „Get that Kathy chick out of here and do everything you can to get her off this tour.”

„Raven, I can’t... She works for Sevenfold's...”

„I don’t care if you’ll have to sit in the merch booth yourself, just get her the fuck out of here!”

„But—„

„Listen, don’t get on my bad side, amigo. I don’t know what kind of agreement you and Paul have, but I’ll make sure even he goes against you if you don’t do what I ask, and, pal, I know about your both scheme with the percentage, so please, don’t make me go through court... Now did I make myself clear?”

„Cristal.”

„Good,” I smiled, patting him on the shoulder, before I took one last look over Kathy and Syn. Oh, look at that... They had heard it.

Notes

Here come's Alexis!
Enjoy, people and thanks for all the feedback!