Page 94 of The Interview
Chastity appears and quickly works her magic on the three of them, so they don’t look like corpses beneath the harsh lighting.
“We arrived early at the stadium for the boys to do a meet and greet. Where the cars dropped us off meant there were fans behind barriers we had to walk past. Marley and Ash were in a different car from us and had already arrived. Jim and Len went next. Len had Jimmy in his arms, so Milo was covering them, and then there was me, Sean, and Dave—one of the bands other security. I sort of held back while Sean signed autographs. The screaming was insane, and I remember wondering how Jimmy was coping with the noise, when the barrier suddenly collapsed. It was chaos, I was knocked to the ground, literally trampled on by fans wanting to get to Sean and Marley. I kept trying to get up but was constantly knocked back down again. The venue had its own security, and they were trying to push the fans back, but it was like they’d got that close that nothing was going to stop them. Then Milo appeared. He was literally bowling people over to get to me. Marley appeared next…”
“He’d run Jim and me inside, then gone back,” Ash adds.
My mouth is dry, and not because of my hangover.
“I honestly thought, when I was on the ground and I couldn’t breathe, that I might die,” I admit.
“We have footage. You okay to watch it?” Daniel asks.
I give a quick nod. I knew there was footage. It had made the news, and I do vaguely remember seeing it after it happened, but I didn’t really pay attention.
Lennon, who’s sitting on one side of me, takes my hand the moment the screen lights up.
Two large SUVs pull up at what then was a relatively new venue.
“We were the first really big band to play there,” Len says. “It was built as a baseball stadium, and I just don’t think the security staff had any idea what they were in for with our fans.”
They’re at least ten deep, lining the walk we had to take up to the entrance, which was about two hundred metres from the cars.
I don’t recognise the first two security blokes who climb out of the first car, but they flank Marley and Ash as soon as they step out. Ash keeps her head down, Marley waves to the crowd, and the screams grow louder. Tom and Billy climb out next, and again, the screaming intensifies.
“Even now, that sound gives me anxiety,” I say quietly.
“Far out. Me, too,” Ash admits.
“Me three,” Jim states.
Marley jogs over to the crowd and starts shaking hands and signing whatever’s shoved in his face.
“Look at the barrier,” Lennon points out. “It’s already under pressure, and Maca hasn’t even got out of the car yet.”
Marley moves swiftly along the crowd. Grabbing Ashley’s hand, he moves her along with him. We all watch as he throws his arm over her shoulder, pulls her in, and says something in her ear.
“Aww, look at you two,” I say.
“I think Marley was saying that they kept trying to grab him, and he didn’t trust the barriers to keep them back,” Ash recalls.
“He wasn’t wrong,” Len says. “What were they thinking, letting that many get so close?”
Tom and Billy didn’t have their wives with them, and they move along the crowd swiftly, doing much the same as Marley.
The door to our car opens. First, Milo steps out. He has an earpiece in and a mic attached to his jacket. He looks around atthe crowd, says something into his mic, then puts his head back into the car.
“Mi’s not happy,” Jimmie says.
“I think he said something like ‘I’m gonna get Jimmie, Len, and the baby through fast. This crowd don’t look friendly,’ then told Dave to stay with me and Sean,” I explain.
“He did,” Jim agrees. “I had to tell him to slow down. He moved us so quickly I thought my legs were gonna give out from under me.”
“Good job he did,” Len says.
“Oh, my God. Just look at Jimmy,” Ash says when we see Len climbing out, holding on to him.
When Jim gets out, she puts a piece of muslin over his face to cover him. Milo puts himself between them and moves them towards the entrance. They’re about halfway through when Sean climbs out, and the crowd go insane. The noise is like a roar. It’s not a sound you’d expect humans to be capable of making.
Sean waves at the crowd, then turns back to the car. His hair is short, which was unusual, but the weather was hot and humid where they’d been touring in Asia, and I remember he just buzzed it all off one night. Don’t get me wrong, with that beautiful face of his, he could pull it off, but I still preferred it long.
