My Piece of the Action

In the Jungle

A couple of weeks had passed since Guns N' Roses debuted at Gorilla Gardens. They had started to hang around with a few of the seedier rock n' roll guys, and rehearsed at a space out in Silverlake at a studio owned by Nicky Beat, who was a drummer. That day was the day she would meet Beat and once again attend a Guns N' Roses rehearsal, which she was always up for. Slash rang the doorbell at ten that morning. She answered it, happy and excited, ready to go.

"Alright, you ready?" Slash asked as she opened the door, grinning.

"Yup!" She nodded, popping the 'p'.

"Okay..." he scratched the back of his head full of curls. He was wearing the usual dark cowboy boots and jeans with the leather jacket. His t shirt was white and had some sort of blocky green pattern on the front of it. She wasn't really paying that much attention. He led the way back to the car, which was Duff's silver Toyota Celica. She slid in beside Axl in the back, and once Slash climbed in and closed the door they were off to Silverlake.

Upon arrival, Nicky Beat greeted them casually, shaking hands with Raven. He seemed nice enough, and didn't seem too seedy, not compared to some of the people the band had been hanging around.

They got to the little studio, and it was fairly clean and had powerpoints in the walls and was just... well... a big difference to the usual stains and threadbare couch. Nicky even dragged in a loveseat for Raven to sit on. It was red and comfy and Raven felt super content, just watching the guys do their thing.

"Alright, so what's some stuff we could play?" Axl questioned the group, who were stationed at their instruments. Izzy sat down, a joint nailed to his lip and a bottle of rum by his side.

"There was a little one I was working on myself, dunno if it's any good." He said, then began to strum. The sound of his guitar filled the room.

"Yeah, yeah!" Slash nodded along to the tune.

"I have lead parts and a few lyrics." He stated. It took twenty minutes and the song was written.  Raven was hearing 'Think about you', the first time it was ever properly played. That was an amazing, ecstatic moment for her as well as the band, which only got better; Slash and Izzy revisited 'Don't Cry'. They played it so soulfully, and the lullaby of the acoustic instruments the band had chosen for this particular song sounded amazing in the small room they were rehearsing in. She grinned. Then Izzy grabbed his electric and began to play this amazing tune, Slash caught on, and Raven realised 'Out ta get me' was being created before her very eyes and ears. She thought of all the people that would be so jealous of her at the moment, and a smug grin spread over her face. She was in total wonderment at the speed they were going. They wrote songs so easily!

"Hey, what about that one you played for me a little while ago, Slash?" Axl asked

"Which one?" Slash responded. Axl began to hum one of the main riffs for 'Welcome to the Jungle'

"You know, da da da- da da da da?!" Axl finished.

"When you were staying with me?" Slash asked.

"Yeah, it was good, let's hear it." Axl said. It certainly was  good. He began to strum out Jungle.

Immediately Steven came up with the beat, Duff began to play a bassline and Slash just kept throwing out more parts, adding to it. The chorus, the solo. Duff came up with the wild, rumbling breakdown, and Axl began making up lyrics while Izzy provided the texture. The song was finished in about three hours. The band exchanged happy glances, and Raven smiled too. Guns finished up their practice and packed up. They thanked Nicky so much, and happily jumped back into the car. Slash was on the left hand side In the back, behind the driver's seat, in which Duff sat. Izzy was in the back on the passenger's side, Axl was in the passenger seat, Steven was in the middle seat with his feet stretched out between the two front seats and Raven sat in the far back, in the extra seven seater seat, which was pretty much in the boot. They took off in the car together, and had been on the road for five minutes, just having random small talk for the most part, when, as Duff made to take a left turn, a black car came barreling out of the intersection and connected with the Toyota's right side. Axl's seat flew sideways, into Steven's outstretched legs, Raven heard shouting from everyone, Duff's foot slammed on the brakes, the window shattered, cracks streaking through the laminated glass panes on that side. One window fell inwards, on Izzy, the other stayed fairly intact, but was still severely cracked. Raven was vaguely aware of her own shouting. Everything seemed to be in slow motion, all of it was happening at once, but Raven was aware of everything. The way everyone was thrown sideways, Slash's hair flicking out as he closely avoided smashing his head into the window pane. She felt her own neck flick sharply sideways, hurting it. The sound of the glass shattering, the side of the car being dented in, the scrape of metal on metal, the sheer force, the smell of the rubber creating friction against the road. The car came to a sudden stop, and Raven was shaking from the shock. Steven was whimpering,  Izzy was quiet, as always, and had some cuts along his arms and face from the window. Duff cussed loudly from the driver's seat and Axl's chin rested on his own chest. He seemed to be breathing, but was unresponsive.

Slash got out of the car in a dazed fashion,  and she heard him talking to somebody. He must have called 911, because not long at all later, the sirens sounded and Raven stayed put while they carefully checked Slash, Duff and Steven for injuries. Slash came out unscathed, Duff had a concussion from his head slamming into the window,  and Steven had a broken ankle. Izzy crawled across the back seat, bleeding a little but okay. He had a mild whiplash, and so did Steven, so they were pretty sore. Raven's neck felt sore too, her head felt too heavy for it. She placed a shaky hand against it, tears streaming down her face, and then her eyes found Axl in the passenger seat and she let out a sob and clambered over the back seat to reach him. Her hand landed on his chest as she leaned over the front seats. The passenger seat had moved across by alot, and it created a gap on one side  for her to lean through. His chest rose and fell shallowly, and she sighed in relief, hugging him and the chair awkwardly. She managed a weak smile and then climbed out with the helping  hand of one of the emergency officers. She looked around, the little intersection was bustling with the activity, and she noticed a little phone box about four or five feet away, which must have been where Slash had called from. She stood, dazed, holding her neck. The other driver had passed out, and the ambulance officers were tending to him. He had cuts all over him from the broken glass, and his face stood out clearly in the dim light of dusk. The firemen arrived quickly, and spent a careful twenty minutes cutting open the passenger side door to get Axl out without hurting him further by dragging him over the other seat. The ambulance officers jumped in, and pulled Axl onto a stretcher, taking in the whole group in two ambulances. Raven had minor whiplash and was in shock. All she could think as they drove away was how lucky they had been.

Soon enough, they reached the hospital. Izzy had his cuts treated, Steven got a cast for his ankle, Raven had shock treatment and everybody but Slash and Axl had pain killers, because Axl was still out and Slash was honestly fine. He was a bit shaken up, obviously,  but he was okay otherwise. It took fifteen minutes for Axl to come around. He lifted his head from the pillow and the doctors and nurses tended to him and told them to get out to the waiting room. It was another fifteen minutes before they were allowed to see him.

They walked in and he smiled weakly.

"Broken collarbone, mild concussion and whiplash." He answered their unasked question.

Raven thought again of how lucky they were. That could have been a tragedy. The band dying together after they'd only just formed; the car had been totalled and they easily could have too.

She caught herself wondering that if she was here, being a big difference in the original way the story went, what else might be different? She was never part of the original guns. How would the band go? What would happen? Would she be a burden or would she help lift the little band off the ground? Nothing was certain.