Chapter Ten

Soft, randomly placed lights illuminated the otherwise bleak theater lobby. Cones of yellow tapering off somewhere near the oddly colored cream ceiling extended from the thinner, smaller black Maglites that had been gathered from the police station, their tops removed and placed on the bottom as bases. Dust filtered through each stream as the movements of the people now occupying the abandoned space almost constantly disturbed the layers covering not only the floors but also everything else. Just like in the store, everyone had wandered off to random ends of the expansive lobby, though no one had dared to enter any one of the showing rooms that lay behind several heavy black doors.

For the most part a heavy, worried silence pressed over the room, although every few minutes said silence was destroyed by a certain bassist who was putting up quite the fuss at having his wound attended to. Sitting on the concession stand counter while two flashlights-turned-battery powered-candles sat on ether side of him, he would snap and curse at Russel whenever he felt even a second of discomfort from his leg wound, eventually causing the larger man to stand and grab him by the back of the neck, press together on a pressure point roughly, and bark at him angrily.

"Either shut yo' mouth an' quit complainin' or yo' gonna do it yo'self!"

Murdoc narrowed his oddly hued eyes at his younger band mate, but said nothing in response or retort, simply turning his head to the side in an indication that he wouldn't speak anymore. Giving a rather irritated noise at him, Russel returned to applying pressure to the deep, jagged wound that ran down Murdoc's right shin. Blood soaked in to the already stained towel that he'd picked up somewhere in the mini mart.

2D stood off to the side, a cigarette unlit between his lips, hands shoved in his pockets as he watched his two male friends with a rather blank expression. Feeling the young man's glassy black eyes on him, Murdoc turned and gave a rude scowl to him.

"What're you lookin' at, Faceache?"

"…'leas' I didn' complain as much as you, princess," 2D snapped back in a clearly irritated tone, his eyes narrowing before he turned and walked away to where Kara was sitting before Murdoc could even think to sputter out an insult in reply. Kara was currently leaning against a wall near the barricaded door, knees pulled tight to her chest and messenger bag still slung over her shoulder, her completely tangled crimpy red hair covering most of her facial features as she stared at the patterned carpet at her feet. He stood over her for a long moment, remaining as silent as ever. Eventually he dug through one of his pockets, fingers pushing away his useless cell phone and a few other random items he had stashed in there until he located his trusty silver Zippo lighter.

The soft click of the lighter opening seemed to garner Kara's attention as her head shifted position slightly, though it was impossible to tell where she was staring thanks to various shadows, both from her hair and from the inadequate lighting around them. 2D struck the flint and brought the lit flame to the tip of his smoke, sucking in a long, relaxing breath before pocketing the lighter once more and taking up the spot next to the redhead, shifting his long limbs in to a comfortable position. Letting smoke roll out from his lips, he offered her the lit cigarette, to which she gave a small shake of her head and went back to staring at the floor.

"…yer no' okay, are you, luv?" he asked, concern knitting his eyebrows. Kara gave another shake, the hair laying over the vinyl fabric of her jacket giving soft 'wooshwoosh' noises, "..we'll find a way ou', Kara," 2D continued, reaching over to place his free hand on her shoulder, "We will. We can' jus' sit back an' let these…these freaks kill us, yehknow?"

"Still scared," Kara mumbled, her voice slightly muffled and distorted as she seemed to have her mouth pressed up against her arms, "Terrified. I thought…I really thought that was it back there. Either Murdoc would die, or Sam would die…or Noodle…or Russel…even us…I thought for sure that some one wasn't going to survive through that. And…" her voice trailed off, cracking at the end. Whether or not she was in tears at that moment was hard to tell, but 2D winced regardless at the emotion her tone had suddenly taken.

"Bu' we didn'. We survived, an' 'ats jus' one step closer t' bein' ou'a here, yeah?"

"…or one step closer to being dead," Kara rebutted, shifting her head so that her face was clearly turned towards him, though she seemed determined to keep her red locks over her eyes and glasses. 2D sighed with a frown, taking another long toke off his smoke. Holding the burning stick away from her, he reached with one hand to carefully pull up some of those long chunks of hair away from her face. He was greeted by one red, puffy eye and tear streaks staining her pale cheek. Leaning forward, he gave off his trademark goofy grin and attempted making horrible, childish faces until Kara finally caved and let out a slightly choked, thick-with-tears chuckle at him.

"'ere. Yer smilin' now," he told her matter of factly, as if it were the answer to life, the universe, and everything in it. Shaking her head at his antics, she sat up enough to push her hair from her face, showing that she was indeed smiling, even if it was a tiny bit and through a tear streaked face.

"Thanks," she said softly, sniffling quietly, "Weird, that I can find humor in something so silly during this insanity."

"No' really," 2D mused, leaning his head back against the wall as he continued to burn more and more of the tobacco product down.

"You're just a little bit crazy, aren't you?" Kara managed to tease with a weak grin.

"'ey, 's no' to'ally my faul'. Muds makes jus' 'bout ever'one 'round him mental," 2D defended, gesturing with cigarette in hand to the individual still being tended to on the counter. Kara smiled and agreed quietly, slipping back in to silence a few seconds later.

For a long moment the two of them remained introspective and quiet, seeming to enjoy nothing more than each other's company and the knowledge that, while they may very well have been in their own circle of hell, they weren't alone. 2D was the first to break the silence once more after his cigarette was finally finished and extinguished by reaching down to his ankle and pulling up his pant leg, showing that he had tucked a thin switchblade in to his sock. He removed the item and held it out to Kara who could only stare at it blankly in confusion.

"I's no' much, bu' 'leas' you'll 'ave sumfink," he said, gesturing his hand towards her in a sign to take it. Kara turned her confused look to his face, lips parted slightly in surprise as she reached to take the item from his hand. She looked the ebony and metallic handle over in the light, watching as the yellow cones from the flashlight cast odd shadows and reflections on its surface. Her thumb slipped to the button on the side, applying pressure until an equally thin but sharp looking blade popped out of the handle, causing her to give a small jump.

"…I can have this?" she asked uncertainly, turning to him once more. The blue haired singer nodded slowly, head canting to the side.

"I'll find sumfink else t' use for a weapon. I's no' fair t' expec' yeh t' jus' go 'round defenseless. I be' yeh can take care of yerself jus' fine. No need t' rely on us guys, yeah luv?"

Carefully Kara slipped the blade back in to the handle and pressed it down, slipping the object in to her jeans pocket. Smiling, she wrapped her arms around 2D in a tight, thankful hug before jumping up and dashing over to where Sam was standing, staring at some movie posters baring titles and images that he'd never even heard of or seen before. He turned when he felt Kara's light hand on his shoulder, offering her a tired smile as she hugged him tightly.

"Hey. You feeling any better?" he asked as he put a hand on her head then wrapped a friendly arm around her shoulders. Kara nodded, turning her head to look at some of the posters he'd been gazing at earlier.

"Yeah. Wha'cha looking at?"

"Posters. Ever heard of these movies?"

Kara's eyes wandered slowly over three of the framed posters closest to them, noticing that the pictures on each seemed to resemble something out of the nineteen fifties, sporting over dramatic, washed out art work depicting scenes of human figures standing before a shadowed city, a snowed in town, and a strange glowing portal respectively. The titles, "The Teleporter", "Silence in the Night", and "Summoning of the Six" were definitely three films that Kara had never even heard of, let alone knew anything about. If Sam didn't know anything about them, as he was quite the old movie fan, it led Kara to believe that they were quite possible fake.

"No," she answered after a while, shaking her head and stepping away from the embrace to get a closer look at the faded pictures. She touched the dusty glass, her fingers leaving streaks through the grime that only seemed to marginally improve the oddness of the posters.

"Yehknow," Sam drawled as he also looked over the posters a second time, "I've been thinking a lot about this place,"

"Yeah?"

"What if we're not in Portland anymore?"

Kara blinked a few times and looked over her shoulder, a few waved sections of crimson hair falling over her eyes as she stared quizzically at her friend.

"...sure looks like Portland to me. The MAX, the police station, the roads...it all looks like the same town I was in yesterday. Only...different. But I suppose being deserted and covered in fog would do that to a town," she responded, straightening up as Sam moved closer, tapping his finger against the glass that held the poster.

"Think about that for a second, Kara," Sam said in an even tone, "Movies we've never heard of, places looking so old and worn down when just yesterday they were normal, monsters in the street...none of it adds up, unless you factor in the theory that this isn't Portland, the Portland that you know that is."

"...what are you saying, Sam?"

Turning his gaze completely to the girl, a thoughtful and serious frown set in to his lips, Sam narrowed his eyes and said in a hushed voice, "I can't explain it, and something in me doesn't even really want me to figure it out completely. We're in already in a messed up situation as it is and trying to analyze it, well quite honestly that scares me," Kara's expression changed drastically, turning in to something akin to disturbed surprise at his words, "Something happened when we were on those MAX trains, Kara. Something-"

Clicka-clicka-clicka-clicka...

"What's that?"

CLANG!

Every head in the lobby turned and stared at the closed theater door near where Kara and Sam were standing. The loud metallic noise of heavy hitting the door had drawn their attention, and now in the verbal silence that rang afterwards, all could hear the soft clicking that sounded like a movie reel running somewhere above. Kara's face drained of color as her eyes locked on the door, instinct telling her that it wasn't a human behind the controls of whatever machine was currently powered up.

"...something's here," she hissed, her heart fluttering against her rib cage.

"'ow are you so sure i's not some 'ne?" Murdoc asked, though his voice betrayed a hint of uncertainty. Sam didn't wait for her to answer the British man's question. Instead he motioned 2D and Noodle over from their respective corners. 2D untwisted his limbs and rose from where he sat, joining Noodle as she came around from the other side of the concession stand to speak with Sam.

"Check outside the door, make sure there's nothing out there that's going to give us trouble," he told 2D first, turning to Noodle secondly, "Gather everything up and help Russel get Murdoc out. Make it quick,"

Both nodded and moved to do their individual tasks, Noodle simply gathering what few items had been taken out during their short time there silently despite the questioning looks of her other two companions. 2D went to the front door, slowly pulling it open until there was a small enough crack that he could peer his onyx eye through.

Sam turned to Kara, ready to say more, but was cut off as she crossed her arms defiantly over her chest, looked him square in the eyes, and said "No."

"..no?"

"I know what you're going to say, and the answer is no. I'm not going with them, I'm staying with you," Kara explained, though her voice gave away that she wasn't entirely without fear. Sam stared at her for a long moment, his expression neutral as he attempted to read past her own set facial features. She was afraid and she wasn't about to hide it, but her determination to not let herself continue to be controlled by the fear far outweighed whatever terror was in her heart.

"Whatever happens, stay either behind me or at my side. I know what you're doing, but I'm still going to protect you. I have a promise to keep," he told her, neither his tone nor his face betraying any sort of emotion about the issue.

"I know," Kara said with far more confidence than she truly had. Sam looked up to see 2D returning his gaze from across the lobby. He gave a single nod, indicating that everything was clear outside. Sam took the cue and moved it to Noodle, giving her the same nod as a sign to leave. Russel, still curious as to what was happening but unwilling to argue against the same logic that had already saved their lives several times since the accident, put his arm underneath Murdoc and helped him off the concession stand, forcing the man to put most of his weight on the good leg and use him as a human crutch. The three joined 2D at the door and were ushered out in to the foggy depths of the city once more a few seconds later. 2D hesitated, glancing worldly at Kara and Sam.

"Go," Sam said in a voice that was much quieter and forceful then he'd intended, "We'll be out in a minute. If we come out running, head for Couch Street. I saw a hotel down there somewhere," 2D gave a hesitant, slow nod, turning his dark gaze on to Kara.

"Be careful, luv," he said, ducking out the door and letting it close with a soft click, which in turn left Kara and Sam standing in near darkness and silence, with nothing but their breathing, their rapidly beating hearts, the strange noise coming from the theater next to them, and the glow of a single flashlight to break the heaviness of it all. Sam turned said flashlight off for just a moment, long enough to give them a clear view of a flickering gray light coming from the crack at the bottom of the door. He turned it back and pointed the cone at the door, glancing to Kara with something that nearly resembled nervousness. Wordlessly she placed her hand on his arm and gave a short nod. Swallowing the lump in his throat, Sam yanked the door open, a momentary bright, large rectangular light nearly blinding the two of them.

When their eyes adjusted, they were both mildly surprised to see what appeared to be some sort of old, badly done Nineteen-fifties film playing through a dust-swirled haze from the completely lighted projection booth above and coming down on the giant movie screen on the other side of the large expanse of the showing room. A woman on the screen let out a terribly over acted shriek as some monster or another came to devour her in that campy B-rated 'horror' of its era. Both companions could only stare at the screen in some sort of abashed awe that all they'd been scared of was an old movie playing. Already under the impression that strange things happened in whatever place they'd managed to fall in to, they chose not to question why the movie was playing and simply dismiss it as nothing more than a fright tactic by the town.

Sam looked down at Kara with a sheepish smile, ready to tell her that they should leave and join their companions, when a strange noise that clearly wasn't from the movie began to float over the darkened showing room. It was faint, soft but musical in some strange way, and it slowly rose in volume as the two looked to the ceiling for the source of the noise. As it became louder, it became obvious that it was a high soprano singing in a language that wasn't English. A lone violin accompanied the voice.

"Sam..." Kara muttered, her voice trembling as her grip tightened on his sleeve. His gaze remained locked on the ceiling, unable to shake the feeling that the song was coming from somewhere above them, rather than playing through the speakers mounted in to the walls. Unfortunately with his attention so set on this thought, he didn't realize that Kara's own gaze had gone down to the seats in front of them.

As the woman's voice faded out in the song, more instruments joined the original and the song suddenly was driven in to a much harder, staccato driven tune.

"SAM!" Kara shrieked loudly, yanking roughly on his arm to get his attention. He jerked his head down just as the song launched in to a deep, frightening male voice speaking in a completely different and guttural sounding language.

"What!" Sam snapped, jerking his head down to look at Kara, only to see exactly what she was panicking over. Hunched on the backs of the seats, nearly blended in to them due to the lack of light from the movie playing on the screen, were a set of about seven or eight large creatures that seemed to resemble pallid skinned humanoids with gangly, thick muscled arms that draped over the backs of the seats they were perched on much like gorillas sat atop branches in a dense jungle. When the two of them had walked in the monsters had been crouched so low on their seats that they'd seemed to simply be large extensions of said objects. Now their heads were turned, scraggly white hair hanging in to eyeless faces, which seemed to only amplify the frightening effect of them essentially staring at the two humans in the theater.

"Oh shit," Sam hissed, feeling his heart sink in to his stomach. The song continued to play, the male voice continued to speak over the driving music. Slowly Sam stepped backwards, reaching over to grip Kara's arm to ensure that she walked with him, "Maybe if we move quietly..." he said in a hushed tone. Kara nodded and moved her feet back with him, the two of them carefully sliding their bodies backwards towards the door. Kara kept one hand out, the other on his arm, fingers groping blindly for the door, while Sam attempted to keep the flashlight that was pinned between his hand on Kara's hand pointed towards the floor. The figures began moving slowly, swaying from side to side as they straightened up in anticipation of attacking what had disturbed them.

Kara's hand brushed over the rounded cold metal top of a trashbin that had been set about a foot from the door. Unfortunately the heel of her shoe also connected with the bin and before she had a chance to stop it from falling the half-sphere lid dropped to the ground with a loud, echoing clang. Both froze, their eyes trained on the creatures that now seemed taught and tense with irritation.

"Not good," Sam muttered.

"You think?" Kara whined as the two of them continued their frighteningly silent and strange stare down with the eyeless creatures upon the seat backs.

For a long, stretched out moment, everything seemed frozen, even the constantly moving image on the screen. A thick, sudden silence enveloped the viewing room as the song that had been mysteriously playing shut off mid-note. Then, as if an unseen explosion propelled them, the creatures all leapt off the backs of the chairs in unison, all propelled forward by amazing speed and agility and all aimed directly at the two frightened humans. Their inhuman, feminine ape-like shrieks mixed with Kara's shrill scream that cut through the air and rang through the empty building.

Within seconds of the movement Sam released the flashlight and snagged Kara by the shoulders of her ripped jacked, shoving her back through the open door, causing her to roll on the ground to a stop a few feet beyond. As the door swung closed, she caught just enough of a glimpse of Sam going down beneath a shower of pale bodied monsters to know that he was in trouble. She scrambled to her feet, securing the switch blade that 2D had given her in to her hand, and slammed back through the door, thrusting the sharp blade at the first thing that she could possibly come in to contact with.

Goopy, greenish liquid oozed over her hand as the knife dug in to the pale, ashen flesh of the creature closest to her. It let out a shriek and tumbled backwards, landing rather hard on the ground as it had been in the air when Kara had managed to strike, loosening the knife in its fall. She shoved, pushed, kicked and punched at anything that grasped at her, screaming in fury as tight hands gripped her clothes, her hair, and attempted to get at her throat. Through her thrashing she could see Sam on his back doing the same, attempting to keep the surprisingly strong beings away from his neck.

She went to reach for him, but before her arm could even manage to push through the mass of squirming bodies, several were thrown back as one in particular found itself at the mercy of Sam's grip. He'd wrapped his arms around the thick neck of the creature, and, through its flailing and thrashing, was able to twist around and use the thing as a sort of bodily whip, swinging the screeching being in to several of the others. One was even hit so hard that it slammed in to the back of a row of seats and splintered them with a deafening crack.

Distracted and thrown off their guard, the rest scattered enough for Sam to leap to his feet, snag Kara by her jacket once more, and run full tilt out of the theater, followed closely at the heels by at least two of the now chittering and angry beasts.

The two of them burst through the door, Sam turning to slam it shut just as the creatures rammed themselves in to it from the other side, causing him to nearly bounce off as he pushed his shoulder and weight in to it. A gnarled, pastey hand managed to get through the crack, flailing and groping around for anything it could possibly latch on to.

"Sam, move!" Russel bellowed from behind him, getting Sam's attention. He had retrieved a large metal and wood bench from somewhere and was standing behind him with it, ready to use it to block the door and prevent the horrible monsters from escaping. Sam nodded and quickly dove to the side, giving Russel just enough time to use his own girth to bash the door closed with the bench, shoving the edge of the object beneath the metal handle of the theater door in order to wedge it in place.

Kara went to Sam's side, attempting to help him to his feet. Growling angrily, he shoved her hand aside and glared up at her from his knelt position, ignoring the fact that the creatures were now causing quite a loud ruckus on the other side of the door, banging and screeching in irritation at their lost kills.

"Why'd you come back for me?" he snapped at the girl as she recoiled from him.

"I wasn't going to leave you!" she defended, unaware that she was still gripping the gunk covered knife in her hand and that a small trickle of blood had snaked from beneath the sleeve of her jacket on to her fingers.

"You got hurt! I would have been fine, but you came back and got hurt!" Sam yelled back at her, his voice cracking a bit. Kara's eyebrows raised high as she stared at him in confusion, a hand slipping over to where she was beginning to feel a slight sting on her upper arm. She pushed back a new tear in the jacket to show three deep gashes oozing crimson down her arm.

"...its just a scratch. Those things would have killed you, Sam," Kara said, her voice soft as she stared at her arm, more surprised at his behavior than what had actually happened. Sam stood, brushing his jacket off in an attempt to feign indifference to the whole thing.

"We need to keep moving. Come on," he ordered, walking away from Kara and going past the other three as they stared in silent wonder at what exactly had just transpired there.

"You okay, girlie?" Russel asked quietly, gently putting a hand on Kara's uninjured shoulder. Her teal gaze focused on Sam's figure receding in to the fog, the girl simply shook her head, pressed a hand to the wound, and followed her friend, trying hard to ignore the tears burning in the corners of her eyes.

What's so wrong with me wanting to protect you