Chapter 12: Slipknot

                                    

                                          
Band members were approaching the stage at this point, and Sallie was intrigued, watching them. She seemed to be the only one watching them, seeing their black boiler-suits and masked faces. She looked up and saw the Rudel Clown Masked figure, knowing it was Shawn. He stalled, seeing Sallie watching from the front as everyone else around her, including Corey were gathering and talking to each other. The Clown tilted his head at Sallie, and for a pressing moment, Sallie thought she was staring at someone completely different.
                          
Then he lifted a hand, and waved at her creepily, playing along with his stage-character.
                          
That strangely amused Sallie. She laughed and waved back at him. The Clown on stage leapt towards Sallie and squatted before her. At this point now, the waiting headbangers near the front looked at the scene. A few girls, evidently terrified of clowns, screamed and backed away. But Sallie was unfazed, smiling like a fucking idiot as the Clown leaned down to her, hands on his knees, and perched at the front of the stage, staring back at her. Sallie played along, staring back at Clown, pulling an expression of mock-anger, and the two rockers had a stare down. A few bystanders were laughing at the scene in genuine amusement.
                          
"You better have a great time, Sal." The Clown spoke, his grinning lips unmoved, but his mask shifted slightly as he spoke, and Sallie nodded.
                          
"I will!"
                          
And with that, the Clown stepped back, approaching his unique drum-set. Sallie watched. He wasn't the drummer. He was a Percussionist, with a make-shift drum and a pair of sticks ready. This was different, and it captivated Sallie.
                          
Making sure she wasn't alone, she glanced at the corner of her eyes to see Corey talking to a few rockers further ahead. It was okay though, Sallie felt safe being near the stage, with Shawn watching her. Something told her that he was instinctively protecting her, giving Corey space.
                          
Finally, a man approached the stage, and the fellow rockers roared in approval, sensing that the band was about to start.
                          
But something really bothered Sallie about the man. Her brows furrowed as a shirtless man approached the stage, black electric tape attached over his face in a form of a cross, mirroring the pattern of electric tape on his chest, wearing some sort of animal fur skirt that looked like ancient Viking attire.
                          
The man snatched the microphone and turned to the waiting crowd.
                          
"You fuckers ready to rock?!"
                          
Sallie winced at the shriek suddenly, her eyes hardening in disappointment and frustration when Jay stood there.
                          
Why did he had to fucking ruin this?
                          
Then again, Shawn mentioned about replacing their vocalist...
                          
Sallie subconsciously looked at Corey, who was further ahead and hollered in unison with the crowd, holding a pint up in the air, cigarette in his mouth. Corey caught Sallie glancing and he smiled back, almost reassuringly that he was nearby, and simply catching up with old friends. Giving Corey a brief smile, she turned back to the stage.
                          
The drummer had a blank, white mask, emotionless and eerie, his long brown hair draping down. There was a tall guitarist, wearing a metallic mask that reminded Sallie of primeval knights, a grille over his fearsome markings. Beside him was the bassist, a rubber-faced pig with a lock tied at his nose, like a fanciful nose piercing, and every time he turned his head, it would jangle against his rubber nose.
                          
Their first song, as Jay announced as Tattered and Torn, began to play and the band promptly got into character, headbanging furiously as the music began. Sallie was swept away by the sheer power behind the music, how the towering speakers took the whole room by storm, and everyone was screaming in joy, devil-horns held in the air, bodies bouncing and dancing to the music, which was naturally aggressive and harsh. Just...perfect.