Blood at the Premiere: A Day One Undead Adventure by RR Haywood Page A

This is it. This is the moment to make that step.
    She nods intently at the tirade of words spewing angrily from Dolan. Poised and ready to interject when the natural flow ends.
    ‘Make no mistake,’ Dolan says, nodding and jabbing the air with his hand emphatically, ‘I will use every researcher and every investigator to find out exactly how this bloody mess started and then…then I will shred apart every decision the authorities have made that resulted in me being in danger…’
    Now. Speak now.
    She snatches a breath. ‘I think the public have a right to know,’ she says seriously, ‘and especially from someone who witnessed it first-hand…’
    ‘A job,’ Dolan says, giving hope to her heart. ‘I will do a bloody job on the lot of them. Mark my words, I will dedicate my life to ruining every career of every bloody incompetent idiot that played a part in this debacle…’
    ‘Definitely. I completely agree and I think to fully reflect the, er…the intensity of the experience we are currently, er…’ She stops to think, biting her lip in thought, ‘experiencing. There should be someone presenting it who was actually here…’
    ‘Good idea,’ Dolan says quickly. ‘It needs that passion of someone tortured by the sheer barbarity of what I have been exposed to.’
    ‘I was exposed, too.’
    ‘Ha!’ Bennie laughs. ‘I wish.’
    ‘Bennie, not now,’ she says, giving him a hard glare before looking back to Dolan who nods magnanimously.
    ‘Someone who was here from the start to the finish,’ Dolan says, ‘recreating the walk we’re taking now and the valiant fight for survival as I led you to safety in the theatre then out down that side alley.’
    ‘I’d tell them how valiant you were,’ Henrietta says, looking up with hope evident on her face.
    ‘Yes,’ Dolan says gravely, deeply, full of gravitas. ‘Oh yes, this needs a special touch from someone who can portray the emotions of the event and translate that to the viewers…’
    ‘Yes,’ Henrietta says, lowering her voice a notch to portray the emotion of the event. ‘I am very expressive.’
    Dolan stops to fix Henrietta with a look of intense purpose, his dark eyes blazing with self-righteous anger. ‘You are right.’
    ‘I am?’
    ‘I will present this programme.’
    ‘Thank you…what?’
    ‘Me. I am the only person that can tell the British public exactly what has happened. I’ll go in front of the camera…’
    She pauses, holding breath and hardly daring to show any reaction. ‘You could,’ she says carefully. ‘Or perhaps someone else? Someone the British public already know…’
    ‘Like who?’ he asks with a puzzled sneer.
    She shrugs, nonchalant, treading carefully on the ice so thin and ready to crack but sometimes you have just got to take that leap of faith. ‘Me,’ she says, holding eye contact. ‘I could do it.’
    ‘You?’ Dolan asks, pulling his head back and ready to dismiss the awful idea with a caustic comment but for once his tongue holds still. A brief, deep silence. His eyes narrow with a minute movement and she watches him closely, reading the thoughts showing so clear on his face. She got him out of the theatre. She saved him once and this night isn’t over. They have no idea where they are or what’s going on. No access to phones, police or a way out. It’s all there. His thoughts gauging and assessing. An executive at work deciding the best course of action to suit his own needs. ‘Interesting,’ he says, purposefully quiet. The challenge is there. The deal ready to be struck and he speaks openly, ‘Get me out of here safely and we’ll see.’
    Her response is instant. ‘I will.’ No hesitation. No thinking needed to be done or terms discussed. A chance of a lifetime to present something of such magnitude with the backing of the industry’s most influential person in the field of serious programming. A moment in time captured with Henri and Dolan staring at each other intently with subtle