Beacham Cinema

[Micheal Rhoads]

Micheal had been running for a few hours now.

He had to get away from that bar. Too damn weird. By now he had ditched the mask, and was making his way through Stanbury Village, when he came upon something that he had not thought of in a long time. On a high up billboard it read: 'Beacham Cinema, Now Showing:' under which some joker had sprayed: 'my penis'.

Micheal looked inside through the door. The foyer was in darkness but was still reasonably intact. Posters for films long outdated where strewn across the floor. Their were three doors leading to different showing rooms.

Micheal carefully drew his pistol and stepped slowly inside. Moving cautiously through the foyer, he checked behind the ticket counter and the snack counter. Finding nothing (apart from some stale popcorn) behind either, he moved over to door number one.

Kicking it open, he waited by the door frame. Nothing. He called out "HELLO!?". He heard a rustling from one of the other rooms. Turning and going back out into the foyer he saw a single zombie shuffle out of room two. Dispatching it with a shot to the head, he called out again. This time, nothing stirred.

Checking the maintenance room, he saw the reason for the darkness. The generator was still in good condition with plenty of power left. The plug was out. Connecting it back in, the foyer lit up.

After checking out the rest of the cinema to make sure it's zombie free, Micheal discovers there are only two ways in. The main door and a fire escape. This gives him an idea. The fire escape ladder can be pulled up, to keep zombies out, and put down to let other humans in. Before barricading the main door he goes outside and sprays on the board: "In this cinema, reality reigns true". Micheal then goes inside, barricades the door, pulls up the ladder and goes upto the projection room to choose a movie. Putting in an old film called The Crawling Eye; he goes down to the cinema, with a fresh bag of popcorn and a cola, to watch.

[Prisonner Of Today]

A few blocks away, there is a loud crashing, follwed by alot of swearing, as Priz kicks down yet another door in the police department, only to be greeted by the smell of rotted bodies. The room, like all the others, is dark, but Priz can make out the outlines of rotting corpses spread out on the floor. Cautiously, he leans down, and lighting a flare, inspects one of the bodies. It, like every other corpse in the building, has been shot multiple times in the chest, and it's head severed and nowhere to be found. Looking around, he notices the heavily damaged walls, and the odd way the barricades are set up, as if they were being used as shelter from gunfire rather than the undead.

Knowing that this room is also most likely devoid of anything usefull, Priz still stops to poke through a pile of smashed electronics, and to his luck, manages to dig up a small, undamaged radio reciver. Pocketing it, he exits the building the way he came in, using a small hole in the roof cause by some unknown disaster.

Climbing out, he stands up and streaches. It's getting pretty late out, and from what he's seen, this isn't a friendly place to sleep. Suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, he catches the lights of a near by building go on. Looking around at the almost completely dark suburb, he decides that it might be in his best interest to check it out. Picking up his backpack, he sets off at a good pace towards the cinema.

[Padre Romero]

The film rolled on ...
at the tense moment when Jim was about to fall off the cliff to his untimely death, the film stopped momentarily. A voice echoed over the theater sound system...the voice of someone who could not have been there before (After all, Michael had looked EVERYWHERE...hadn't he?).
The voice belonged to a man of indeterminate age, and sounded a bit bored..much like an announcer at a film would sound. It had this to say:

"Attention moviegoers...we interrupt your nostalgic trip back to the roots of science fiction horror to bring you this message from the theater management: we concede that our concession service is a bit concerning at present, but better fair can be solicted for small change in the lobby...thank you, and pay no attention to the man behind the curtain."

For a moment, the "Lets all go to the lobby" soundtrack played...then the film resumed.

[Prisonner Of Today]

After reaching the cinema and looking around a bit, Priz manages to find his way inside via the fire escape. Standing on the balcony section of the theater's second floor, he gazes down at the lone and slightly puzzled looking individual seated in the theater below. Drawing his pistol, he slowly works his way down to the lobby, and waits outside the theater's doors.

[Micheal Rhoads]

Micheal looks around, puzzeled. He was sure he looked everywhere?

Getting up and taking up his pistol from the next seat, he looks up and sees a person just moving off the balcony. "HELLO?!". No answer.
The film played on as Micheal walked over to the door. Looking through the peephole he sees another person outside the door. Breathing a sigh of relief (and forgeting about the mysterious voice), he opens the door. "Come in, watch the movie with me!"

[Prisonner Of Today]

As the door opens, Priz cocks the big automatic's hammer and brings the gun up, pointing it at the stranger's head. Although slightly surprised by the confused looking man's friendly attitude, he still manages to keep his face blank and his voice monotone.

"I'd love to," he says coldly, "But after some of the things I've seen in this area, I'm afraid I'm going to need to take your weapons first. Hope you understand, I'm just not too keen on getting halfway into the show and getting a hole or two in me."

Keeping the gun up, he holds out a small canvas bag.

"Just put them in there, slowly please. I'll give them back after we have a friendly little talk. Provided you still need them afterwards that is."

Priz smiles grimly. "And please, no funny stuff. Your just going to have to... trust me. After digging through dead bodies all day to find some ammo, I'm none too keen on wasting some bullets on you."

[Micheal Rhoads]

Micheal looks confused. Why has this guy been so violent to react to his friendly offer.

"Umm...okay, i don't want trouble"

Micheal drops the gun into the bag. He looks slightly upset as he walks back to his seat.
Sitting down in his seat he begins eating his popcorn and watching the movie again.

[Prisonner Of Today]

Priz uncocks and lowers his weapon. He is slightly suprised at the other fellow's willingness to give up his weapon so easily, and the confused look on his face. Obviously, this guy is ether new to the neibourhood, or pretty naive Priz thinks to himself.

Following him into the theater, Priz takes the seat behind him.

"So, do you have a name friend?" He asks, slightly less anxiously.

[Lachryma]

Lachryma walks slowly and carefully down the shadowy street, trying to avoid making any sort of sound and generally keeping a low profile.

She ducks behind the burned wreckage of a compact car and takes the time to survey the dim street, something she stops to do every few meters. With her paranoia slightly assuaged, she continues her slow progress down the street.

Until she sees the harsh light of a cinema lighting up the night. With a frown and a general sense of uneasiness, she enters the unsecured doors after pausing outside to listen for hostile noise.

[Prisonner Of Today]

Priz hears a small noise as someone rattles the doors to the outside of the cinema, his pistol is out again. Looking at the man in front of him, he sees that he appears to have fallen asleep. Priz ducks down behind the seats, and slowly works his way back to the lobby doors. Crouching around the corner, he sits, gun ready, and waits for whatever is coming.

((OCC: Sorry to contradict your entrance, but Micheal says he barricaded the doors in his first post.))

[Lachryma]

(((Oh, duh, for some reason I thought they were unbarricaded)))

Lachryma casually pushes on the seemingly open doors. They don't open, so she glares at them while occasionally glancing over her shoulder.

With a sigh, she slumps against the doors, facing the street, and accidentally bangs her head on the doors. She doesn't notice as she is busy mentally breaking the street in front of her into sections and then methodically scanning each section for danger.

[Prisonner Of Today]

After a few minutes, Priz realizes waiting is not in his nature, and moves out into the cinema's lobby. The doors are still shut tightly, and the empty spaces where the large front windows once were are still boarded over. Peeking through a crack in the windows, he can just see someone standing outside the cinema. Failing to see any heavy armament, he puts his pistol away once again, and makes his way to the fire escape. Once on the balcony, he picks up his rifle and some shells from his bag, and exits. With a little difficulty, he manages to hoist himself onto the roof, where looking down, he can clearly see the woman outside.

"Hullo there. Looking for something?" He says, making sure the rifle is visible, and pointed in her general direction.

[Lachryma]

Lachryma gives a sharp glance up at the roof. Very carefully, with no quick movements, she steps away from the cinema to get a better look at the armed man.

With a quiet yet expansive voice framed by a clipped Russian accent, she says, "Me? Looking? For shelter, yes." She waves languidly at the cinema doors with another backward glance at the empty street.

[Prisonner Of Today]

For a moment, something in Priz tells him to just walk away, go back to the theater, lock the fire escape's door very tightly, and enjoy the movie.

After all, this isn't the time to be a humanitarian. This is survival of the fittest!

Priz, slightly shocked at himself, pushes back the idea, and with a slight nod, points the rifle away from the newcomer and motions in the general area of the fire escape.

"You can get in over there, up the fire escape." He dissapears for a moment, and returns with a rope with a small dufflebag attatched. "I'm afraid I'm also going to have to ask you to put everything your carrying into here. It's just a precaution, you understand. I'll return everything except the weapons. And I'll return those when you move on, or if a situation arises where you might need them."

Throwing the bag down, he hears a small "clink" eminate from one of the nearby buildings, which looks to be a burned out apartment. From the doorway, a corpse emerges. It looks like it may have been a tenant who was killed in the fire, as it's skin is very black and very peeled.

"And I'd recommend you hurry. If I shoot that one, more will come."

[Lachryma]

Lachryma regards the shambling horror for a moment, then reaches for the duffel. She quickly places a large black purse into the bag, and then she adds some misplaced gauze and syringes taken from her nondescript jeans' pockets and from her short, tight-fitting dark jacket.


With this done, she quietly walks to the fire escape, jumps to grab it with a small gasp, and climbs up while placing her feet on the rungs with care as to be silent.

She smiles slightly at the armed man, like she recognizes him from somewhere, then she leans from the roof to spit on the zombie below.