AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I did a weird, graceless spin and took off after Eric. His stride was longer than mine, and I scurried to catch up. He turned to look for me just as I caught him, and I slammed into him, and we went down in a tangle. I thought Berg would yellcutthen, but my earpiece crackled.
“Good, help her up. And Lacey, you’re hurt. I want you to cling to him, limp for a minute, then when the first bomb goes off, sprint through your pain.”
I clutched at Eric, at his tattered sleeve. He helped me up and dragged me along. I thought when the bomb went off it would just be a flash, but when it came, it wasloud, and my scream was real. I flung myself flat, then scrambled up, sprinting. A volley of blanks fired over my head, and I dropped down again and crawled through the mud.
“Shield her,” yelled Berg. “Keep her alive!”
Eric flung one arm over my head. I wriggled on, blinded, and missed our first mark.
“Get back, get her back!”
Eric grabbed my belt and jerked me back against him, clutching me to his chest as shots popped overhead.
“Stay down,” he said.
“We need to go back.” I buried my face in his chest as an extra crashed by, straight into a burst of flashing gunfire. He did a jerky death-dance, like the bullets were hitting him, then crumpled on top of us and rolled on his back.
“Now, go. Go,” yelled Berg, and we took off running. I crawled through a puddle teeming with flies, and gagged as a drift of them flew in my mouth. Still I kept running, sneezing and spitting, sweat down my armpits and the back of my neck. I caught our next mark and Eric spotted our last one, and we finished our run breathless, staggering out to the beach. Berg shoutedcutand I dropped to my knees, but he ran toward me.
“No, no get up. Both of you, up. I need you still puffing.”
Eric wiped his face. “What?”
“For the beach scene, I need you still sweating and panting. We’re bringing our gear around, just run on the spot.”
I did as he said, jogging in place. Eric made a snorting sound, but he did the same. The crew was using a snowblower to rid the beach of footprints. By the time they got through, I was lightheaded from running.
“All right,” said Berg. “Lacey, you ran out first, so you’re ahead for the beach scene. Eric, you catch up and you’ll run side by side. She steps on the landmine around where that shell is.”
I squinted and found it, a shiny pink shell.
“Don’t think too hard. Just feel it.Action.”
I started to run. Eric caught up, panting. We blundered, half-falling, up to the shell, and I stopped dead, swaying, as Eric ran past. My guts plunged. My heart leaped up into my throat. Real fear swept over me, even though the landmine was fake. Fear I wouldn’t be good enough. Fear Eric was right.
I whispered, “Lock,” and I heard my voice break.
Eric slowed, then he turned. “Kate? What…?”
I looked down at my feet, then back up at Eric. “I heard a click. I think— oh, Lock…”
Eric folded like he’d been cut off at the knees. He made a gut-punched sound, almost a sob. “Kate, don’t move. Don’t move. I’ve got you.”
I shook my head, swallowed, and… forgot my next line. I’d had it, Iknewit, but I froze and froze hard. It was Eric, his eyes brimming with tears. Eric’s knees buckling with shuddering shock. His performance was too real, and I couldn’t match it. I was a hack, like he said. Stiff. Overrated. Berg had said it himself; I’d been cast for my drama, not for my talent. Not for—
“Cut!”
The second Berg yelledcut, I remembered my line.
“Sorry,” I said. “I just need—”
“More pain. More despair. You had your whole life ahead of you and you’re dying right here. Go back and keep running while we snowblow your tracks.”
We jogged back and did jumping jacks till Berg called action. Then we took off running, and Berg yelledcut.
“Lacey, you’re exhausted, not constipated. Loosen your lips, go on,pthbbbt, pthbbbt.”
Our next try, we made it as far as the landmine, then Berg decided my arms were hanging weird. I was too loud on our next take, then too sad. Too maudlin. Too melodramatic, not dramatic enough. Between our tenth and eleventh takes, I flopped flat in the sand, arms and legs splayed like I was making a snow angel. Eric crouched beside me and held out a bottle of water.
