Roger found a safe place to park this "baby", which meant a long walk for everybody. The place was huge, and for Anna this was a new experience. People were everywhere, guys selling the fake shirts , and others making those last minute drug deals before heading in. There were cops at the door, but they were just checking for weapons, there's not enough jail cells in the tri-county area to hold all the people that were holding. Once inside, Anna's buzz was really kicking in, and the atmosphere was electric. The warm-up band had not started yet, and the guys were trying to decide where to sit. Anna's geeky side was coming out and a smile finally lit up her face as she heard it. The PA system was barely audible, but every time the kick drum hit with whatever they were playing, it would just go kaboom!, and echo off the walls.

This would be a display of extreme power . Speakers and lights were suspended from the rafters in large arrays, hoisted up by large winches. Anna just sucked it all in, Brian then grabbed her arm and drug her off to the seats they picked out. While Elsa wanted to get backstage to screw band members, Anna fantasized about the stuff that made all the gear up front work.

The warm up band was so-so, and it was obvious to Anna they were intentionally holding back all the good stuff for the main act. then the lights when out. Elsa said to Anna, "Lets go to bathroom, OK?, see you boys in a minute!" The guys would never see them for the rest of the evening, and frankly, they didn't care. Their favorite band was taking the stage in five minutes.

In the bathroom it was crowded, girls bathrooms always are, unlike the trough across the hall. Anna and Elsa were jammed elbow to elbow with the other girls putting those last minute touches to their makeup, and teasing those bangs up. While Anna's didn't need much, Elsa looked like she was repainting a house.

"Alright Anna on three, one,...two,...three, Ditch the Losers!" Elsa and Anna yelled out while high five-ing each other, time to carry out the master plan.

The lights were still low when Anna and Elsa started their trip down front. Then the assault started. They began playing back stage, big power chords pounded across the arena, and it was much louder this time around. Fog rolled off the stage, and then they appeared, looking just as insane as their album cover. Anna had never quite experienced anything like this, sure she had heard loud music, but you could feel this in every bone in your body, practically blurring her vision. Such absolute power, and the lights, it was like being in the summer sun.

The crowd was going nuts, Anna and Elsa were continuously being bumped around like pin balls. Then Anna made eye contact with KK, and the whole night changed. She couldn't stop staring at him, and KK wouldn't stop staring at her. The other band members would occasionally look at each other, just to keep time, or look down at the fret board to see where that chord is at, not KK, he just buried his eyes into Anna's. When several of the guys standing around her noticed this locked gaze, KK motioned to them to pick Anna up and body surf her his way."Go get him girl, woohoo! and show some titty!", it would be the last time she'd see Elsa for the evening.

"Hey!, watch it, asshole!"

Anna was totally creeped out by all the hands underneath her, as several pairs of hands groped her on the way down in front of the stage where KK had his monitors. Anna could get a good look at him now, and he had that typical rock star, livin' on cocaine and vitamin C physic. Anna figured he must have poured his legs into those leather pants, and if he bent a certain way they'd explode. Anna chuckled at that thought, she'd heard once of a rocker who had a "wardrobe malfunction" with his pants, and a roadie basically had to duct tape his package back in. The show must go on.

Now she was right in front of him. He kept his gaze on her, she was his sole focus for the rest of the show.

He had the whole rock god thing going on, sweat just pored off of him, long hair that would wave like the ocean as he banged his head to the beat. He'd put a leg up on the monitor making sure Anna got a complete eyeful of his junk.

Down here in front of the bass bins she was given some space, and she swayed to the music like a belly dancer, hers hands over her head. the pot smoke was even thicker down here, and there were plenty of joints making the rounds. As one passed by her she finally gave into the temptation,"Oh, fuck it!" she yelled and took a long hit, it was a real groove down here now, might as well roll with it.

The main show was over, and the arena went dark. While the crowd was calling out for an encore, she seen KK go over to his guitar tech to exchange guitars for their radio hit power ballad "Into the Fire". He was talking to the security detail and pointing at her, at the time she didn't know what to make of all this, was she going to end up in the "Perp Walk"?

A few more minutes passed and then it started, this song was grinding, heavy, and slow. Anna was dancing completely oblivious to the crowd, her eyes closed most of the time. She completely missed the fact that the lights were very low except for one spotlight, that was on her. The crowd was hooting at her, and when this fact dawned on her she tried to sneak out of the light, but it just followed her. She felt kinda' embarrassed at first, but when eight thousand people are cheering for you, you should probably just go with it.

Then they played the title track to their new album, and the place just exploded. During the drum solo, they wheeled out the virgin sacrifice and did the fake blood bit, which sent the crowd into a frenzy. But KK and Anna paid attention only to each other, she assumed he was as turned off by this crap as she was. She'd be right.

"Thank you, Indy!, Good night!" And with that the arena lights started their flickering warm-up and coming on, with the crew starting the tear down immediately. Their job was just beginning. Anna started making her way to the exit when two rather burly security guards scooped her up. "This way, please." Such strange dichotomy from these two to be so polite while they dragged her backstage.

Curiosity would just get the best of her, Anna decided not to fight it. She wondered if Elsa had made it back here, she could really use a friend right now, even a crappy friend like Elsa.

Anna was petrified, she was way out of here element here, but she did get to see part of the backstage equipment, large banks of amplifiers in rolling racks the size of refrigerators, monstrous cables going everywhere. She thought about all the work it would take to pack it all away, load it on a truck, and drive off into the night, just to put it all back up again in some other town, anything to push back the fear. The two guards took her to Green Room 6, where they let her in and said, "Wait in here please, he'll be right down". Then they closed the door, and she was all alone.

The room had the typical backstage shit, drink dispensers, donuts, and some fruit. The odd thing was a single red rose in a vase. Anna wondered where the bowl of all green M&M's were, they're supposed to be a green room staple. She was starving, but her stomach wasn't going to let her eat. The door opened and the shot of adrenaline it caused made her feel like she got electrocuted.