Scandinavian Heartstrings, in Drop D.

Chapter 5.0 Silent killer

Nathan and Skwisgaar gawked at the Toki in front of them; His eyes were wild, his veins were bulging against his skin, and his teeth were bared. If they hadn't already been stone cold sober, watching this would have made them. He was screaming down at some straight-edger as he stomped his face into the concert hall floor of the Sober Town show. Neither of them dared try to restrain him, this was beyond a beating; This was raw, unbridled brutality.

Murderface stormed up to them, pissed as hell about the counterfeit Planet Piss website he'd just discovered, and looking to Toki for answers.

"Whats de fuck do you wants, motherfucker!!!" Toki screamed at the interruption, chest heaving as he stood over his victim.

Murderface backpeddled and tried to join ranks with the other two as pandemonium ensued all around them. Blue, phosphorescent snakes shot out from every orifice of Snakes N' Barrels on stage then began jumping from person to person, spreading like an infection through the crowd. Their bad-trip hallucinations rose above the audience and solidified into real life monsters, hacking and tearing at anyone within grabbing range.

Pickles had gotten onto the stage and was administering his own arse-kicking on Rikki Kixx. Nathan's focus oscillated between an out-of-control Pickles up there and an out-of-control Toki down here.

"FUCK!" He said and forced himself to choose between the two. "Okay, Murderface, go grab Pickles, I'll deal with this." He discretely pointed to Toki.

"Fuck that! I'm getting out of here!" Murderface said and ran back the way he came.

"You asshole!" Nathan called after him. He turned to Skwisgaar who had not taken his wide eyes off Toki this whole time. "Skwisgaar! Get Pickles. Now!" Nathan barked, snapping him out of it.

Skwisgaar did as he was told and called out to the drummer as he ran toward the stage. Eventually, Pickles saw Skwisgaar beckoning him from the guardrail and stopped punching. He looked around him as his fog of anger retreated, and he saw what was happening to Snakes N' Barrels. Chaos continued to whirl all around them. When the blue light struck people, they began finding anything and everything they could to get high. Although he generally approved this, getting the fuck out of the Sober Town show now seemed a great idea, even after he'd expended so much effort sneaking in. He jumped down from the stage and followed after Skwisgaar.

Toki still hadn't moved. The bloodied guy on the floor wasn't moving either; if he wasn't already dead, he would be soon. Nathan didn't dare try to touch Toki. He just stood guard over him, in a sense. Skwisgaar finally returned with Pickles in tow.

"Toki! Come on! We gotta..." Pickles stopped mid-sentence when he saw the bloody mass of straigh-edger on the floor and Toki's equally bloody, clenched fists. He moved towards him but Nathan held out his arm as a barrier. Nathan then walked around Toki slowly, staying out of striking distance, as if he were a wild animal.

"Toki?" Nathan said as a substitute for holding his hand out for him to sniff. "Toki, we've gotta>" He was cut off by a familiar nasal voice he hated so much.

"I DO COCAAAAAAAINE!!!!" The freshly drugged-up clown screamed over the crowd before running off to find his next bump.

The familiar voice seemed to bring Toki back to reality. He finally looked at Nathan then off to each side, re-establishing where he was.

Nathan tried again, a bit more desperately. "We need to leave right now and you need to come with us, alright?"

Toki's shoulders lowered and he nodded once in recognition. When he turned around to follow them out, Pickles saw what had their fearless leader shaking in his boots. The little guy looked like he'd fallen onto a blood-filled hand grenade! Trying to find a spot on Toki's front that wasn't covered in red was a totally futile search. Pickles looked to his own hands with the small patch of blood from face pummelling Ricky Kixx and felt rather outdone.