The Midnight Within

Chapter 54

Kate was sick of getting pushed around and having to defend herself and took refuge under a table as fights continued to break out all around her. She didn't see Zakk at all and when she looked around she spotted Shatter moving slowly through the crowd. What she needed was a weapon of some sort but was afraid to come out from under the table.

Steeling herself she crawled out, staying low as she made her way towards a wall hung with old machinery and tools. It would have been a picker's dream. Quickly scanning the wall she chose an old rusty scythe. It felt good in her hands and might give her a tiny edge if she was going to help Zakk get out, she just needed to find him now.

" Going somewhere? " Black was behind her his strong fingers like a steel band around her wrist. The scythe clattered to the floor as he turned her to face him.

" Go to hell. " Snarling Kate raked her fingernails across his face. She could feel her own change as everything became clearer and decided to embrace it.

" Already there. " Laughing at her, Black shoved her hard into the wall full of tools and other antiques. They rained down on top of her as part of the old wood ceiling gave way. He moved towards her unmoving from ready to make sure she was take care of when his head exploded in pain, He grabbed for his eye, falling backwards onto the straw-covered floor. There was nothing but pain as he felt what Broken was feeling and for a moment he could even see the blurry image of the little girl running into the corn.

" Don't ever underestimate a woman, Asshole. "

Using all her strength Kate drew the rusty blade she had in her hand across his neck. Blood spurted, drenching them both as she used the small blade to stab him as many times as she could before she lost consciousness.

~ Suicide~

That was the thought that ran though Zakk's head as he looked around at all the faces of people he knew. He should turn around and run as fast as he could, jump into the Stanger and get the hell as far away as he could go.

He could feel his heart pounding away inside his chest. Everywhere he looked, people were having a good time, eating, drinking, talking, dancing and singing along and then the fighting had begun. Kate had pulled her vanishing act again and he didn't see Britt at all which was a bit of a surprise since he could track her by the shrill tone of her voice.

It was starting to feel warm in here and he grabbed another glass of champagne from someone's empty table. He left his mask next to the empty glass and wadded into the thong of dancing bodies. He thought he saw Kate trying to break up a fight but it was hard to tell as he tried to push forward and found himself blocked by the mosh pit. Normally he would have dove right in but there was no time for that now. He needed to get to the stage so he tried to move around the pit but the girls in front of him began to scream at each other.

Dodging a flying bottle he moved off to the side getting only so far before another fight broke out behind him, as a huge Indian guy wearing sweats began flipping tables. It was getting ugly pretty fast , even the band was fighting up on the stage as Aaron put Eric in a headlock and Steve swung his guitar at Andy.

If he wanted to do something then he needed to do it fast. Dodging a full bottle of Jack Daniels he apologized before stepping onto the back of a fallen woman, using her to lift himself up onto the lip of the stage. He ducked a swing from Andy before pushing him off the stage on top of his brawling band mates.

" Sorry, dude. " He was going to owe a lot of people drinks if they got out of this.

Alone on the stage he fought to catch his breath. He wanted to use the mike to get their attention and realized that a bomb going off would not have stopped the fighting. He ducked another thrown bottle and spotted a tall white haired shape walking calmly towards him, shoving people out of his way as he went.