Ash Return of the Beast

CHAPTER 20



A Few Hours Earlier…

Jason put his guitar down as Cowl came in through the back stage entrance. “About time you showed up. Where the hell you been? We’re all set up. You hear what happened here today?”

Cowl unloaded his guitar and plugged it in. “No. What happened?”

Billy Cox grinned and knocked out a few thumping bars of the Peter Gunn theme on his bass. “Murder, dude!”

Cowl moved up to the center microphone and tapped it a couple times. “Check…check…”

“Yeah,” Jason said. “At least we’re guessing it was murder. Cops aren’t saying much. Anyway, that preacher who was gonna lead the big protest thing tonight was found dead in the men’s restroom.”

Cowl tuned his low E-string and echoed a couple of Billy’s Peter Gunn riffs. “Serves him right for thinking he was gonna mess up our concert.”

Jason was a bit taken aback by Cowl’s response. “C’mon. The guy died, for Christ’s sake.”

Cowl grinned. “I doubt he died for Christ’s sake.”

Rick, the drummer, picked off a rim shot.

“Thank you,” Cowl said.

Jason rolled his eyes. “Very funny. You know what I mean.”

Cowl was getting irritated. “What the f*ck, man. The a*shole had it comin’.”

Billy rested his bass on the stand and lit up a joint. “I can’t believe they didn’t cancel the concert.”

Rick laughed. “Are you kidding? There were already hundreds of fans lined up around the block by noon and a thousand more on the way.”

“Damn right,” Cowl said, reaching for the joint. He took a toke and passed it back to Billy. “Nothing can stop Mega Therion. You oughta know that by now.” An odd grin crept across his face. “So, you guys ready to rock?”