Ollie nodded.“I got it.”
“Fuck ’em up, Rem,” Liam said.
Remi sprinted back out to the front of the stage and hopped onto one of the amps.
The sound and light guys were just going to have to improvise this one.
West and Ollie shredded the opening, and Liam pounded out the beat as Remi nodded and jumped in rhythm.Recognizing the song, the crowd started bouncing in time with him and the music.
Remi dug deep as he unleashed his growl into the microphone.The crowd cheered along as he sang the opening verse.
A pit opened up in the middle when Remi sang the chorus.The metalheads were flinging themselves into one another.Remi cringed as the girls in the front got slammed into.The security guards weren’t doing anything to help them.
The girls moved from the center of the stage to the side, away from the worst of it.Remi made a mental note to try to find them after the set.Give them free t-shirts or something.Jillian could message them, and they could do a meet-and-greet.
Remi was thinking all of this while screaming the bridge of the song.Someone climbed onto the barricade and dived into the crowd.He watched the person go down and take a lot of people with him.The girls included.
“Hey!Fuckers!Knock off the stage diving,” he yelled instead of singing the next line of the song.His bandmates kept playing.
The crowd booed, and from the glares leveled at him, he knew they weren’t booing the stage divers.The pit grew more violent.The security guards were standing by and doing nothing.
He sang another few lines of the chorus and then broke off again.“I fucking mean it.Can’t you motherfuckers enjoy some goddamn music without needing to hurt everyone around you?”
The booing intensified.A second beer can was thrown on stage, and then more garbage was hurled at him.Remi tried dodging it at first but gave up and started picking it up and throwing it back.
“You’re fucking animals!Fucking pigs!Show some respect to your fellow concertgoers,” Remi yelled.He was just antagonizing them now though.Indignant rage pulsed through him.
Remi had been to metal concerts.He’d been in mosh pits.He’d gotten busted lips and bruises from throwing himself around, but there was always a code of honor.You picked up someone who got knocked down.You got hurt, but the purpose wasn’ttohurt someone.It was to enter into the collective consciousness of the music, goddamnit.
And when he saw one of the girls getting manhandled and tossed to the ground, he snapped.
He dropped his microphone and jumped off the stage.The screech of feedback through the mic emanated a bloodcurdling cry.Everyone held their ears, and for a split second, there was peace, and just as quickly, it turned into pandemonium.Yelling, screaming, and chaos took over.
Remi jumped over the barricade.West had shed his guitar and left it on stage to join him in the mayhem.
Remi grabbed a girl from the ground and lifted her over the barricade to West, who settled her on the other side and pointed to the edge of the stage so she could get out of the cacophony.
Remi kept helping the other girls escape over the barricade.They were screaming and crying, and the crowd’s anger exploded.Beer cans were flying.He was pretty sure he heard a bottle shatter, even though glass wasn’t allowed at the festival.
Remi and West were getting soaked with booze.From the corner of his eye, he saw Ollie and Liam jump into the crowd, trying to help people.
The madness continued, and Remi didn’t know what was happening.He and West worked together to get as many people as they could over the barricade and out of the violent stampeding crowd, except then someone grabbed Remi’s shirt and socked him in the eye.
“Oh fuck no!”Remi yelled.He wasnotgetting two black eyes in one week.He lunged, fists first, into the guy.West hopped over the barricade and was right there with him.
“Remi!”Skye’s voice filtered through the shouting.His heart sank.No, no, no.Skye could not be here.She needed to be safe.
He ducked out of the guy’s next punch and then grabbed West’s shirt, and they both ran back to the barricade.
“Get the fuck out of here, Skye!”he yelled as she started climbing over the barricade.
“Not until you come with me!”she yelled back.
Her stubborn refusal infuriated him, but his racing heart wasn’t from anger.Skye’s cheeks were red from exertion, her hair wild and her eyes fierce; the red of her irises blinked in and out like she was barely holding on to her powers.
“I’m not standing by while my band gets hurt,” Skye said over the noise.“Either get out of the way and let me in there, or come with me, but you aren’t getting rid of me.”
A hand curled into the back of Remi’s shirt, and he lost his balance, but West was there to knock the guy off him.Skye jumped over the barricade to steady Remi before he tumbled.
