THE RED WAKE

Chapter 13-Interlude

     “Ladies and gentleman...please...” 

     But he was immediately silenced as another explosion rocked the theater. Then he was knocked to his knees by the next detonation. Emergency lighting flickered to life, illuminating the floor of the auditorium as the generator kicked on in the basement.

     With a loud crash, a section of the ceiling came down as something blasted through the roof. The falling debris struck two people standing in the aisle on the stage- right side of the house. Alan saw the couple disappear beneath the rubble even as people began to scramble for the exits. 

     But the frightened mob was stopped by the wave of terrified people that were suddenly streaming into the auditorium. A mad struggle ensued as the people trying to get out collided with the newcomers, who were trying to move toward the stage.

    The outer doors of the auditorium exploded inward as approximately thirty more people stormed in shrieking from the street. The people already inside the theater immediately began fighting. In an instant the crowd transformed into a mob.   

     Greg Margolis, the tech director for the show, rang down the curtain and brought up the house lights. 

     Onstage, Horgan was stunned by the sudden chaos.

     “What’s...what...?” he stammered.

     He stumbled around the set like a blind man. While all around him, people fought and screamed for help. But Horgan ignored them all. Mumbling to himself, the actor parted the curtain and wandered off backstage.

     Purnell Radhi jumped up onto the stage and tried to shout over the sudden pandemonium. 

     “What’s happened?” he cried. “Excuse...me... WHAT’S GOING ON?!!?” 

     Alan had run into the crowd to try and help the couple that’d been struck by falling debris. The man was unconscious, and in need of serious medical attention with a head wound that bled profusely. Alan thought the middle-aged man might also have broken his neck. His head lay at an odd angle and Alan was afraid to move him. Next to him, the screaming woman was begging people in the aisle to help them. Her right leg was pinned beneath the debris. 

     Alan and a few others pulled the hysterical woman free of the wrecked ceiling. But he could see that he would need more help to free the unconscious man.  

     Racing to the stage, Alan grabbed one of the actors’ microphone headsets. 

     “Ladies and...”

     He stopped. Catching Margolis’ attention in the booth he gestured for him to turn his microphone on. The tech director nodded as the hum of feedback rang out in the auditorium. 

     “Ladies and gentlemen...please... please we need to...”

     But the mob ignored him as they desperately fought and struggled for safety from whatever was happening outside.

     “PLEASE BE QUIET!  SHUT UP!!!” 

     Alan’s amplified shout caught the people’s attention. 

     “We need a doctor,” he said. “There’s someone very badly hurt over there. Is anyone here a doctor?” 

     A gray-haired middle- aged man stepped forward, waving up at Alan.

     “I’m a doctor,” the man said. “I can help.” 

     The doctor shouldered his way through the crowd over to where a group of rescuers were struggling to move the large pieces of masonry that pinned the injured man to the floor.