Waking the Fallen

The band were getting ready to play the last show of their tour. “You guys ready?” Matt asked. “Oh yeah! Can't believe this is the last show already!” Brian exclaimed. “Me too, but I can't wait to get home and sleep in my own bed.” Zacky commented. “We all do, but let's give them all we got.” Matt said. “I'm ready!” Jimmy shouted while jumping around.

As they make their way to the stage, they pass by one of their roadies, who looks very sick. “Whoa Randy, you OK?” Zacky asked.

Randy coughs and answers, “I think I'm coming down with a cold.”

“I think there's a couch in the dressing room, why don't you lay down?” Zacky suggested.

Randy replies, ”I'll be fine, I've worked through a few colds before.”

Zacky pats him on the back and says, “Don't work too hard, we'll be going home after this.” he laughs and says, “Thanks. Have a good show.”

Earlier in the day when Randy and the rest of the crew were setting up the stage and loading equipment in, Randy noticed what appeared to be a homeless man sleeping on the stage. He looked at him and saw that he looked asleep.

He pushes on his shoulder to stir him awake. “Hey! Excuse me sir, but you're gonna have to get up and leave.”

The guy appeared to wake up, but then started making groggy noises. “Come on, you're not supposed to be here.” He insisted as he shakes him harder. The man gets up but bites Randy's hand. “Ow! Son of a bitch! He bit me!”

Another roadie calls out, “You OK?” Randy shakes his hand out and says, “I'm fine.” then mutters, “Crazy homeless people!”

Before they could call the cops, the man walked away. “Yeah, you better leave!” Randy shouted.

A few hours had passed since then and Randy was growing paler and he noticed the bite mark on his hand was starting to swell.

“Hey Randy, do you have the picks that Papa Gates ordered?” a female roadie asked.

“Huh? Oh yeah, there in the boxes over there. “ Randy answered as he pointed with his bitten hand.

“Oh my God! What happened to your hand?” she asked in horror. “Oh this? That crazy homeless guy bit me.” Randy answered.

“Why don't you have Tina look at that. She is a certified EMT.”

He waves her off and says, “I will, right after the show. Did you find the picks?” She opens one of the boxes and pulls out one of the bags, “I got them, thanks.”

Meanwhile the show was in full swing and the audience was really getting into it. One of them included a veteran attender named Gina and her best friend Sasha, who wasn't a fan but got dragged to the show by Gina, who insisted that she would become a fan once she saw them live.

Sasha always rolled her eyes every time her friend gushed about the band or which members she would fuck if she got to go backstage with them. She had her celebrity crushes too, but she was a realist and tried to remind her friend to keep her fantasies a fantasy.

“Oh Matt, I love you!” Gina shouted.

“You do know he's married right?” Sasha stated as she had all the trivial knowledge of the band that Gina had rambled on about.

“Yes, and no need to remind me! Val can have him when he comes home, but right now he's mine!” Gina stated as she went back to screaming for Matt.

“Where you going?” Gina asked as Sasha walks away.

“I'm going to the bathroom, I'll be back.” Sasha said as she turned around.

“But you're gonna miss Beast and the Harlot!” Gina whined.

“I can hear it just fine. I'll get some drinks on the way back, OK?” Sasha said.

“Alright cool! Get me a margarita please? I don't like beer.” Gina requested as she hands her friend a twenty dollar bill. Sasha takes it and heads to the bathroom.

Synyster gates looks out to the audience and of course spots the people holding up the “I love Papa Gates” signs, so he grabs some picks and throws then out toward them.

One group appeared to be fighting, so he threw a few more their way as he shook his head. “Some people get too crazy trying to get these.” he thought. But his dad got a lot of picks to make sure enough fans got one.

One of those fans with the sign had caught one right in his hand, but then he got bit by another fan. “What the hell man!” he shouted at the biter, and he proceeded to punch him.

A few more picks were thrown their way, but the guy who bit him didn't bother to catch them.

A closer look at the biter showed that his eyes were red and blood was coming out of his mouth. That fan screamed as he and the others around him were being bitten.

As the show went on, the screams from the audience seemed to get louder, and Jimmy looked out at the audience, but instead of screaming joyfully, they were screaming in agony.

Jimmy focused on one audience member, who looked like they had just risen from the dead.

He shook his head and thought he was hallucinating. “I really need to quit everything!” he said to himself about his drinking and drug use.

Despite his close call to death, he still drank and did some drugs. he believed he had it under control this time. He brushed it off and continued with his drumming.

Meanwhile back at the Sander's home in Huntington Beach, Val was sitting on her couch gasping at the news reporting on the epidemic that seemed to be spreading.

It had started with five states, but now seemed to be spreading as there were now reports of it in Los Angeles.

There were emergency broadcasts saying to evacuate to the big cities. But Val didn't want to leave yet as Matt would be coming home soon.

She did pack their things, including pictures, but she also made sure to pack the essentials. She was getting scared and worried about Matt and his band mates on the road.

The phone ringing brings her out of her trance. Val answers and it's her sister Michelle.

“Val, did you pack yet?” Michelle asked.

“Yes I did.” Val answered.

“We need to go now!” Michelle ordered.

“Not without Matt!” Val stated.

Michelle then says, “Alright, but why don't you come over here then.”

Val replies, “Sure, I'll be right there.”

She hangs up and grabs the suitcases and bags of supplies. She grabs her newest baby Cash and calls out to her oldest son, “River!”

He comes running in and asks, “Yes mommy?”

Val asks, “Do you have your things packed up?”

River holds up his bag, but also a big bag of his toys.

Val sighed and said, “River, you can only take what we can carry.”

River whines and says, “But I wanna take them all!”

Val explains, “It's only going to be for a while, they'll be here when we get back.”

So he picks out his favorite action figures and follows his mom into their car on the way to his Aunt Michelle's and Uncle Brian's house.

Back at the venue, Sasha was just finishing up her business in the restroom by washing her hands when she sees a sick looking girl approaching.

“What the...? Oh shit!” she gasped. No, this couldn't be happening! She thought.

She had been warned by her uncle from Atlanta about this sickness. She had received a call from him a month ago warning of these things and told her what to do if she sees one. At that time she brushed it off thinking the epidemic wouldn't reach here, but now she realized her uncle wasn't crazy.

She was brought out of her thoughts when the walker tried to bite her, but she kicked her back and the walker was knocked back into the bathroom stall. That gave Sasha enough time to get away, but the moment she stepped out, she could see more of them attacking the audience.

Then a rain of bullets came down upon them, including the people who weren't bitten. Sasha ducked and saw where the bullets were coming from. She didn't notice that the band had stopped playing, but was only worried about her friend Gina.

After the screams got louder and more agonizing, Matt stopped singing and peered out at the crowd.

“What the hell is going on?” As he thought at first it was a few rowdy fans spoiling everyone's good time as that sometimes happened at their shows. But what they saw instead was horrifying.

Some of the people were bleeding and there were some that appeared to be chewing off their faces. Then Matt saw what appeared to be a group of soldiers swooping in.

“Matt! What's going on?” Zacky asked after he had stopped playing guitar.

“I don't know!” Matt answered.

Then the soldiers shot up their audience members.

“Whoa! Whoa! What the hell!?” Matt shouted in the microphone.

Brian grabs Matt's shoulder and yells, “Let's get out of here!”

Matt looked back at the screaming audience feeling helpless over not being able to help them, but he followed the guys to the backstage area.

On the way to their bus, they run into their roadie Randy, who now looked like he was dead.

“Randy? Oh my God, what happened to him?” Then another roadie runs into them screaming and they see that half his face was ripped off. “ Jimmy screamed as he pushed him away.

When Randy tried to bite them, they see a sharp instrument pierce through his forehead and he falls down, and they see Tina, their roadie and on road medic with a microphone stand in her hand. They looked at her with stunned expressions.

She looks at them and says, “I'm sorry guys, but that wasn't Randy anymore.”

Matt speaks up, “You...you didn't have to kill him!”

But Tina says, “He was already dead.”

Zacky speaks up, “How could he be dead when he was walking around?”

She explains the best she could, “Haven't you guys watched the news? This has been happening all over the place! The dead rising up and walking around again.”

They didn't look convinced, so she explains further, “One of my colleagues helped with studies on the infected. Whatever it is, it somehow reanimates their bodies, but not their minds. They're just empty shells of what they used to be.”

Before they could ask further, they are interrupted by a Soldier shouting ,“Hold it right there! Drop your weapon!” he yelled to Tina while pointing his gun at her.

Tina sets the microphone stand down gently and puts her hands up over her head.

“Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! What are you doing? Who are you guys?” Matt demanded.

“We're with the National Guard, and this area is under quarantine!” he answered.

“Under quarantine? What do you mean?” Matt asked.

“Nobody leaves here!” the guard answered.

“What!? You can't keep us here! We gotta get home! I have a wife and two kids waiting for me!” Matt shouted.

“Sir! Back up, or we'll cuff you!” the guard ordered.

“Matt, just do as he says. Don't make this worse.” Zacky said.

“Fine! But I wanna know what's going on!” Matt spat.

“The infected have spread here and we cannot let it spread outside. We had to take steps to contain it.” the guard said.

“Oh you mean like shooting up our fans!?” Matt yelled.

“I'm sorry, but there were too many of them and we couldn't tell which ones may have been bit. But we're rounding up the survivors as we speak.” the guard explained.

Matt and his band mates were escorted to the quarantine tents that were being set up. When they arrive, they see some of their fans who had been rounded up.

Sasha was one of the first people that were rounded up. Right after the shooting, she tried to go into the audience to look for her friend Gina, but a national guard grabbed a hold of her.

“Hey! Let go of me!” she had shouted.

“Ma'am, you can't go in there.” the guard said.

“But I need to find my friend!” she said and shouted toward the audience, “Gina!”

“We'll find your friend, whether she'd dead or alive.” the guard told her.

Then she was escorted to the tents. She kept her eyes opened for Gina as more fans were brought in. Now she sees the band themselves being escorted in.

Back in the audience, Underneath a pile of bodies was Gina. As soon as the shooting had started, she quickly ducked, and then bodies began to pile on top of her as they were shot down. Gina was crying as the bodies shielded her from the flying bullets.

She crawled out once she felt safe enough and that was when they found her.

“We got a live one!” a guard had shouted after spotting her.

“No! Get away!” Gina shouted as she tried resisting.

“Ma'am! It's OK, we're not gonna hurt you. Have you been bitten?” he asked.

“What?” Gina asked.

The guard lifted up her arms and looked her body over. “Hey!” she shouted at the violation of being touched.

"I'm sorry ma'am, we have to make sure.” he told her, then shouted to the other guards, “She's clear! Take her to the tents!”

Once she was brought in, she was so happy to see Sasha there, that she actually missed Avenged Sevenfold being in there.

“Sasha!” Gina shouted as she ran toward her.

“Gina! You're alive! Thank God” Sasha exclaimed as she ran up as well and they both embraced in a hug.

The guys saw the two friends reunite, and Zacky was glad to see something positive happen. He then saw Sasha pointing toward them.

“Well at least it's good to know what a friend you really are. Look who you passed by!” Sasha said as she pointed at the band.

“Huh?” Gina said, then looked over and saw them. “Oh my God! I don't believe it! How did this...”

Zacky decided to greet them as he figured it would lighten the mood. The other guys hesitated, but decided to join as well.

“Hello.” Zacky greeted.

“Hi!” Gina greeted back, and smiled really big when she finally got to meet Matt, but then her smile faded.

“What's wrong?” Matt asked.

“This isn't the way I pictured meeting you guys, not that I'm not glad I did.” Gina said.

“Well we didn't want to meet this way either.” Matt said. Then he asked, “What's your name?”

“I'm Gina!” she said as her smile came back and shook Matt's hands.

“Nice to meet you. And who's your friend?” he asked.

“Hi I'm Sasha.” she greeted casually.

The guys looked a bit puzzled at not being greeted with enthusiasm. Sasha noticed, so she added, “I was dragged here. I wasn't really a fan, but...before all this happened, you guys did great.”

“Well thank you.” Matt said with his charming dimpled smile.

They continued to talk for a bit and they went around to greet more fans who were brought in. they even autographed the merch that the fans had on hand with them.

Notes

I hope you guys like this so far. I'll try to keep up with updating with new chapters. Update: I just edited this chapter by spacing the dialogue more and made a few adds. Also fleshed out the character descriptions. Will add more characters as story progresses.