Blayne headed to the kitchen. He filled his plate and went to sit at the table next to Ethan, who had already bitten into an egg roll.
“What were you watching?” Blayne asked.
“Nothing,” Kira said as she clicked off the television.
Blayne looked at her, narrowed his eyes, and said, “Kira, don’t. Don’t think you’re protecting me. Just tell me.”
“Are you sure?” she asked. Blayne nodded, so she turned the television back on.
The first thing on the screen was the flashy headline that read ‘The Pennington Massacre’, images from that afternoon with what sounded like stock horror movie audio filled the screen.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Blayne said. “It was bad enough being there live. Did they have to add the extra theatrics?”
“It’s RTN,” Ethan said as he speared a piece of shrimp into his mouth. “Of course, they must make it more dramatic. It’s what they do.”
“Tonight, we have a special edition ofIn Touch with America, hosted by Tom Dulce,” an announcer said. Tom Dulce filled the screen. He was sitting outside. Heater lamps were placed around Dulce and his guests, who were lit in the night sky.
“Good evening, America,” Tom said. “I’m Tom Dulce. Tonight, I stand before you with a heavy heart, for we find ourselves confronted with a story touching the depths of our collective soul. Over the next hour, we will delve into the tragic events unfolding this afternoon on this campus. The tragic events of the Pennington Massacre have left scars on this campus, the city and the conscience of our nation.”
“Oh dear God,” Ethan said. “Could he be more melodramatic?”
“Faced with darkness, we have witnessed the indomitable spirit of humanity. Over the next hour, we will remember the lost lives and celebrate the heroes who put their lives in harm’s way to stop this massacre from becoming much worse. Even amid sorrow, we must find solace in our collective humanity. Tonight, we start the long road of drawing strength from our shared experiences and our collective determination to heal and rebuild.”
“Wow,” Ethan said. “He makes it sound like he was there.”
“How did they even get him to Houston this fast?” Blayne asked.
“Oh, he said that in the previous show, which was all about the arena.”
“Wait! This is the second show of the evening?” Blayne asked incredulously.
“Of course, it is. You know the old saying, ‘if it bleeds, it leads’—and RTN got a twofer with this.”
“I now turn it over to Stephen McNeil.” The camera feed changed to the internal studio of an RTN affiliate in Houston, the city’s skyline visible behind McNeil.
“Thank you, Tom. With me in the studio tonight is one of the brave souls who witnessed the tragedy at Pennington University today firsthand. The camera zoomed out, and a shot of a blonde woman sitting beside Stephen filled the screen. “Emma, how are you feeling?” The name ‘Emma Davis, Pennington University Student’ scrolled across the screen.
“She’s one of my students,” Blayne said.
“Isn’t she the influencer?” Ethan asked.
“That’s her.”
“Emma,” Stephen began, his voice rich and soothing, “you were in the right place at the right time to capture something few could have imagined. Tell us about today.”
“Well,” Emma began, her voice shaky but quickly growing confident. “I was taking selfies and live streaming from the rally, you know. Then, well…everything just happened.”
“Where were you when it all started?” McNeil asked.
Emma spent a few minutes talking about how she had run, where she’d hidden and how she’d watched someone die right before her. RTN played the footage.
“That’s disgusting,” Kira said. “They didn’t even bother to blur anything.”
Blayne looked at Ethan. Neither of them needed a reminder of what the carnage had looked like at the rally.
“Then what happened?”
“I figured out where the guy in the belltower was with the gun, so I started live streaming that. I hoped the police could use the footage as evidence,” Emma said.
