The Corkscrew

The Opening Band

Backstage was a dingy, well lit room without windows or fresh air. Alfred carefully shut the splintering wooden door, making sure the flimsy knob didn't snap, before taking a quick look around. The wooden walls were short and windowless, and there was a pile of clothes shoved into the corner beside an empty clothing rack. To the left was a decrepit set of drums missing a cymbal and with one drum ripped open from heavy use. Behind this kit was a row of guitars upon display stands, all dusty and worn, a few missing strings or dials, only a lonely socket where it had once been. A pile of guitar straps lay beside them.
Alfred stepped further into the room and found a couple posters upon the walls. He studied them, finding that he knew none of the men and women playing instruments and screaming down upon him. Despite himself, Alfred found himself smirking at the surreal stupidity.
Suddenly, the door behind him opened, and Alfred swiveled around to see another person enter the room, and immediately his face crumpled in disgust. This new person had black hair that was half shaved off, but the rest of their hair was wild and unruly. Long, wavey strands of thick, unwieldy hair died purple that was unnurtured and stood up in all directions like a bush. His person raised a hand adorned with a fingerless, spiked glove, and grinned, their glittering blue eyes shining brightly. "Heya! So I assume you're Danny?"
"No." Alfred replied, "I'm Alfred. I take it you were also called by Elena?"
"Yup!" They skipped over and raised a hand to Alfred, "I'm Ronnie! Nice to meet ya!"
Alfred wished he had a pair of disposable gloves in that moment.
He forced a smile and tucked his hands into his pockets. "Pleasure." His voice drawled.
Ronnie's face fell, and they stared back incredulously before sighing. "It wouldn't kill you to be a bit nicer to me you know." Ronnie said as politely as possible.
"And it wouldn't kill you to give me a bit of space," Alfred's voice began to raise, "We're not all here for shits and giggles, believe it or not, and I'm not trusting my paycheck to someone with the mental age of a kitten on Ketamine!" Alfred sighed, catching his breath and turning away from Ronnie, who was in awe.
"Who hurt you?" They whispered.
Alfred found a stool beside some bass guitars and sat upon it before asking to the open air, "So when the fuck is Danny going to show up?"
Ronnie would a have replied, but a voice answered from within the pile of clothes in the corner, "I'm here."
Alfred spun around again, and this time he found another person, knee deep in clothing. They were short with large eyes and long hair tied into a ponytail over their shoulder.
Alfred turned back to Ronnie, "Has he been here the whole time?"
Danny responded from behind, "She."
"Sorry, has SHE been here the whole time?"
But before Ronnie could open their mouth, Danny added, "but I'm genderfluid so that might change."
Alfred slumped, frustrated and defeated, "Thank you!" He yelled, his voice dripping with sarcasm, "I will keep that in mind when I need to patch up your shape-fucking-shifting genitalia when you get injured trying to do our fucking job, cause you were to busy fussing over how our hit refused to acknowledge your fucking gender!"
Alfred was done with everyone around him. However, Danny was not happy with Alfred either, but rather than express her frustrations by yelling sarcastic comments, she instead lunged forward with a switchblade.
Aldred was thrown into the wall by Ronnie, who proceeded to take a knife to the abdomen when Danny couldn't stop in time.
The room went eerily still as Alfred suddenly grasped exactly what had happened and grasped his chest as sweat slid down his face. He choked on words, hardly breathing.
Ronnie looked down at their entry wound as Danny slid the knife out. She tried to turn back to Alfred, but she was stopped when Ronnie grabbed her shoulder. "You don't just stab me," They said, face shifting into a grin, "If you aren't expecting a fight, lassie."

Elena jumped, clutching a hand to her chest when she heard thuds coming from backstage, and picked up the pace, quickly opening the door just in time to watch Danny stab Ronnie in the forearm and drag the blade up into their shoulder, spraying blood over herself, Ronnie, and of course, Elena, and her freshly bought £100 suit.
"You shitheads!" She yelled, to no avail. Danny was now on top of Ronnie, aiming for the eyes, but Ronnie slammed her into a wall above Alfred, who was frozen in fear upon the floor. Sighing, Elena pulled a handgun out of her jacket, ignorant to Alfred's attention as Danny took a heavy elbow to the jaw with a visceral crack.
Alfred stood up gently, as if the floor was made of ice, and crept over to Elena. She noticed him as she removed the magazine and emptied the chamber, "Oh, hello Dr Gillian." She chimed calmly. Alfred watched as Elena added a new magazine to the gun. "Are those blanks?" He asked optimistically.
"Well I'm not gonna waist real bullets am I?" Elena replied, waving the old magazine, "This by itself costs more than a house if you don't know where to look." She shoved it into her jacket and cocked the hammer while Alfred took a knife to the face, chest, and thigh without flinching, before grabbing Danny by the wrist and pulling her into a dangerous arm lock. But before they could snap Danny's arm, Elena fired the blank, and both fighters stopped immediately. Alfred, already overwhelmed, sat down on a stool beside his new boss as she shouted, "You idiots! What the actual fuck? What are you doing?"
Ronnie quickly pointed at Danny with the arm that wasn't holding Danny's wrist, "She stabbed me."
Danny glared at Alfred, "The goth is a bigot. I'm going to kill him."
Alfred rolled his eyes. Wearing a suit your first day on the job didn't make you a goth.
Elena pointed her gun at Danny, "no you aren't, because Archie put him on the team."
Alfred furrowed his brow, "Archie?" He asked.
"I was also put on the team," Danny replied quickly.
Elena interjected, lowering the gun, "Congratulations, have a gold star, have a medal. It says "you're stupid!" I'm not keeping you on the team if you try to kill Alfred, so the way I see it, you have two choices." Elena shrugged, gesturing to one side with the gun. "One. Stay on the team and don't kill anyone. Or two," She gestured to the other side before aiming at Danny again, "You come for my team's medic," she let the tension hang, "And I blow your brains out like puss from a pimple. Pretty fucking simple really."
Danny continued to glare, but said nothing. Eventually, she sighed, keeping her eyes off of Alfred. "Fine." She sighed.
Alfred was not completely convinced, still shivering slightly.
Danny looked back up Ronnie and tugged at their grip. "Let go." She demanded. Ronnie let go quickly, and Danny retreated away from everyone else back into the pile of clothes, sitting down cross legged.