“I don’t need much,” I said, earning a scoff from Jordan.
“When you have unlimited credit, you don’t buy things you need.” She shook her head. “What a waste.”
Olivia walked through the door ahead of us. “Don’t mind her.”
“I don’t.” I was not going to let Jordan spoil my day out.
The twins dropped us off in front of the movie theater. “You should be able to get enough zombie gore in four hours,” said Niall dryly. “We’ll pick you up here at five. Decide where you want to go for dinner and remember, we like big juicy steaks.”
“You mean you’re going to trust us to be on our own that long?” I asked in feigned shock.
“Even you couldn’t get into much trouble in a movie theater in the middle of the day,” Seamus replied with a snicker. “And we’ll be out here waiting for you.”
We loaded up on popcorn, candy, and drinks at the concession stand and found four seats in the back row just in time for the start of 28 Days Later. I’d watched it at Roland’s with him and Peter two years ago, but it was way creepier on the big screen in a dark theater. I even jumped once or twice when Olivia did, and we laughed at each other. It felt so good to do something as normal as going to a movie.
It got to the scene where the car breaks down and the girl gets under the car to fix it and you want to yell at her to not be so freaking stupid. All of a sudden there are rats and zombies all over them. Down in one of the front rows a girl shrieked and people twittered. I shook my head. Please, like you didn’t see that coming.
A man screamed and people laughed even harder. A second man cried out. The laughter died. I leaned forward in my seat to try to see what was going on down front, but it was too dark. People started to stand, and there were more screams.
A few seconds later, pandemonium broke out and people began screaming and shoving and climbing over each other to get to the exits.
“What the fuck?” Mark uttered as the four of us jumped to our feet.
Olivia moved closer to him. “Guys, this doesn’t look good.”
“No shit, Sherlock,” Jordan growled, her eyes wide and glowing with excitement while everyone else screamed in fear. She nudged Mark who was next to her. “Move it! We’re sitting ducks here for whatever is down there. We need to get to the aisle where we can fight.”
“Fight?” Mark shoved me and Olivia toward the stairs. “We don’t even know what it is. And in case you haven’t noticed, we didn’t exactly come dressed for battle.”
“Fucking amateurs.” Jordan pulled off her leather jacket to reveal a short thin sword strapped to her back. From her boot she pulled a long silver knife, which she handed to Mark. “Always come prepared,” she said with a wicked grin when she saw me trying to figure out how she had hidden that sword under her coat without cutting off something vital.
Even more surprising was the silver-tipped whip that Olivia pulled from her purse and uncoiled with a snap and a practiced flip of her wrist. I watched her move to a spot a few feet from Jordan with her feet apart and the whip in front of her. Mark gripped the knife and stood on Jordan’s other side. The three of them were suddenly transformed from teenagers enjoying a day out to young Mohiri warriors prepared to do battle.
I stared helplessly at my empty hands and kicked myself mentally for getting caught without a weapon. It wasn’t so long ago that I wouldn’t leave home without a knife inside my jacket, a knife that had saved my ass on more than one occasion.
“Stay behind us, Sara,” Jordan ordered sharply. “We’ll try to get to the exit on this side. Keep your eyes peeled everyone.”
None of us questioned her orders and, as one, we moved down the stairs. Below us it was utter chaos, but I was less frightened by the screams than I was by whatever was causing them. What the hell attacks people in a crowded movie theater in the middle of the afternoon? Most supes, even the dangerous ones, hide from humans and don’t show themselves in crowded public places like this. Even Eli had pulled me into a dark alley before revealing his true nature to me.
Whatever it was, it was apparently going after anything that moved, so we tried to go as quietly as possible down the stairs. By the time we hit the middle landing, we were the only people on our side of the theater except for two teenage boys who were crouched behind some seats. I motioned for them to come with us, but they just shook their heads and huddled closer to the wall. All I could do was hope they would be safe there until we dealt with the threat or someone came to help.
In a matter of minutes, the theater had all but emptied except for our small group, the two boys, and a few stragglers limping for the door. People yelled outside, but inside the theater the only sounds were the zombie moans from the movie, which in our current situation didn’t seem quite so entertaining anymore.