Steel Disciples

CHAPTER FOUR: EXPOSURE

They arrived at the cinema within a very short amount of time. They rode on two bikes; Marc and Michelle on one and Brandi and Jason on the other. Thankfully the bikes were large enough to carry a passenger, or one of them may have had to walk. Marc pulled up to the cinema first, his front tire over the curb and his back to the shining blackness of the still ocean. The lights were still on in the building, making it stand out on the street where most of the shops and locations were already closed or getting ready to. It was painfully bright, and considering the body inside it was lucky that Jason had thought to lock the door before they'd arrived. It wouldn't have been good if someone had walked in and found it. Jason threw the keys to Marc from the back of Brandi's bike as he spotted him moving towards the doors, and with a clink the older man caught them. Singling out the key for the specific lock, he was able to swing the glass door open and stood to one side to let the other three through into the building before him. The red carpets spanned out before them, trailing off into various corridors and rooms. It was wide and spacious. Directly opposite the front door was the serving counter; little scraps of tickets lay in various locations across the floor in front of it and the stocks of fresh popcorn were starting to look a little empty at this point. Jason led them further into the room, alongside a wall lined by multiple, large, brightly coloured posters advertising the latest movies. There were those that were currently screening, like The Witches of Eastwick and The Living Daylights, and then as they moved further into the building there were advertisements for upcoming movies. Out of the four of them, not a single one took notice of those posters. Jason was slow in leading the pack towards the room. In fairness, he didn't particularly want to go anywhere near it again. From the top of the corridor, a little ways past his manager's office, he could see the lights outside of the projection room flickering on and off. That was when he chose to stop in his tracks, but Marc didn't stop moving. He passed Jason whilst momentarily patting his shoulder when he was close enough to do so, and he then lead the group towards the door. It was still wide open, and as Marc's eyes settled on the woman lying slumped on the floor his lips parted with an ounce of surprise. He wasn't shocked; he fully expected to see a dead body on turning the corner, but he hadn't expected her to look quite so bruised. He'd seen death before. The sight of it wasn't anything new, this was simply something worse. As he stepped in he saw the way that dark lines had been etched into her skin in forks, forming paths all the way from her head to her toes. Her clothes were burnt and had formed into holes all across her body. The smell of the burning flesh and hair was impossible to ignore, and reeving his nose up in response he glanced over his shoulder to the others. Jason was at the back. Brandi had just entered the room and seemed near nonchalant about the death in front of her; that came as a surprise to Marc. He was sure that she'd react a lot worse than this. Michelle stood in the doorway, leaning back with her arms folded across her chest, and her eyes on Jason. Though she didn't seem to be judging him or questioning him. She seemed to be waiting for him to say something, or at least start to explain a little more in depth what had happened. She'd missed his rant earlier. Marc watched the way he took a deep breath, swallowing back his nerves, and then moved into the room. He'd always been a brave kid. Ever since Marc had known him, he'd always pushed himself as hard as he could. He'd been nervous the first time Marc introduced him to the Steel Disciples, but had convinced himself to continue to put one foot in front of the other regardless. Now, he was making a one armed gesture towards the back of the room. Marc stepped to the side to let him past, and eyed up the location of his signal.

"After the bulbs blew... over here I noticed this blue light. When I looked at it, there was electricity sparking from here," he spoke, pointing directly at the cut in the rubber.

He continued to explain the sequence of events as best that he could, and Marc followed everything that he said. He listened intently. He wanted to help Jason; if not by settling his nerves then at least by finding an explanation or resolving the situation in some way. During that time, Brandi and Michelle had taken to looking over the body on the floor. Brandi was starting to look sicker by the minute. Whether that was because of the sight or the smell was left up for interpretation. She hadn't ever seen death before, not in anything more than a movie or a book. She wasn't supposed to be prepared for something like this, not since she was so young. Somehow, she was still staying strong, regardless. Michelle seemed to be handling it the best of the lot of them. She was unshakeable at the best of times, and she took to looking over the body with a studious gaze than any amount of sorrow or disgust. Crouching over the body from the opposite side that Brandi had done so, she listened to the story as it was told. Yet her mind seemed entirely focused on a specific part of the dead woman's body. On her left arm--just beneath the damaged and discoloured skin--was a faded blue flickering. It was like a billion little glowing lights dancing under her epidermis. She didn't interrupt the story, but instead caught Brandi's eye and gestured with a single pointed finger to what it was that she was seeing. Brandi's response was a frown; her brow creased, and her eyes narrowed. Clearly, confusion had overtaken the disgust that had worked its way onto her features before. She, unlike Michelle, did not hesitate to interrupt the others.