The dressing room of Corpus Delicti is silent. Ricky and Skeezer finish getting ready for the show without a word said between them. The silence shatters as Mona bursts into the room, holding her head. Blood streams from a wound.
Ricky jumps to her aid immediately and helps her lie down on the small couch. She eventually waves him off and sits up on her own.
“What the hell happened to you?” Ricky asks.
Mona groans and removes her hand from her head, checking the amount of blood.
“The North Side Kings, they jumped us.”
Skeezer moves toward the door, a grimace splayed across his face. “I’m gonna kill those guys!”
Ricky manages to stop Skeezer before he can go on a holy war. “Hold on, we have to make sure Mona is okay.”
“I’m fine, no thanks to you guys.”
Ricky, chastised, shrinks back.
“Where’s Mikey?” Skeezer asks.
Mona’s eyes grow wide as if remembering something for the first time.
“I don’t know! There were four of them.”
“Fuck!” Skeezer heads for the door. Ricky goes to help Mona up. She shakes off his arm and stands on her own.
“Go and help him you ass! You owe that to Michael at the very least!”
Ricky heads out of the dressing room, his head hanging in shame. Mona tentatively stands, testing the waters of her head injury, and follows.
Skeezer bursts into the backstage area of the night club. He looks around for the other band, but doesn’t find them. He doesn’t notice Michael’s leg protruding from a pile of boxes and musical gear heaped in the corner.
Ricky and Mona catch up but don’t notice Michael, either.
“Looks like they split.”
Michael moans loudly. The three of them turn their attention to the corner and scan the area trying to discern the darkly-clad Michael from the darkness of the room.
Mona sees the leg.
“Michael!”
The three of them rush over and dig Michael out from the debris. Milk crates, cables and booze boxes fly as they uncover more and more the young singer. After a moment of digging, they manage to sit him up. He is bruised and battered, with a few cuts, but nothing looks too desperate.
“You all right?” Ricky asks.
Michael regains his focus enough to glare at his former friend. “Fuck you.”
Michael allows Mona to help him up. With some effort, she gets her arms underneath him and he manages to stand. Wobbly at first, he steadies quickly.
“Anything broken?”
Michael takes a deep breath. “I don’t think so.”
Ricky steps forward and Michael takes a defensive stance like he might have to fight again. His fists ball up and Michael glares.
“Whoa. Dude. I just want to apologize.”
Ricky turns and slaps Skeezer upside the head. Skeezer rubs the spot and turns to face Michael.
“We want to apologize. We didn’t know it’d be so bad, man, seriously.”
Michael nods his head. He doesn’t exactly look at Ricky and Skeezer. “Yeah.”
The door at the end of the hallway slams open and the stage manager, complete with clipboard and headset, stands in the doorway. She is frazzled, worked to the bone, and glares at the band members.
“There you are,” she manages to get out, furious. “You’re on in five.”
Ricky looks around to Skeezer and Mona, they nod. He lands on Michael and tries to hold his gaze but falters.
“We good?” Ricky manages to sneak out.
Michael takes a deep breath and nods. “For now. We’ll talk about this after the show.”
The stage manager nods and marks it down on her clipboard. She spins and starts to exit but things twice and turns back around. “You guys seen Da North Side Kings anywhere? They’re up after you.”
Michael shakes his head. “No, but trust me, when we find them we’ll let them know.”
The stage manager nods again and exits.
Ricky, as if a large weight has been lifted, nearly bounces toward the door. “What happened with those guys?”
Michael shrugs and indicates the dump of boxes and gear in the corner. “Dunno. I don’t remember much after Tom decked Mona.”
Ricky is taken aback, truly shocked. He had thought that Mona may have been caught in the crossfire, but not targeted by the Kings.
“Now I’m really gonna fuck those dudes up!” Ricky said, complete with puffed chest.
Mona snorts as she laughs. “Thanks, Lancelot.”
Skeezer steps up. He fishes a vial of cocaine out of his shorts and holds it up, grinning from ear to ear. He cracks it and dumps a bump on his fist. He quickly snorts it up and holds the vial out. “Friends?”
Michael, Ricky and Mona all pass on the pick me up.
“Sure. Friends,” Michael says.
Skeezer shrugs his shoulders pulls the werewolf mask down over his head. He howls and smacks his own forehead. “WOOOOOO! Corpus fucking Delicti!”
Still howling, Skeezer bolts for the stage area.
Ricky looks at Michael and waits a moment, just long enough to defer to Michael’s lead. Michael nods his head and slaps Ricky’s shoulder. Ricky follows Skeezer out to the stage.
Mona looks Michael up and down. “You ready for this?”
Michael nods. They take one another’s hands and follow Ricky. Showtime.