System of the Dead

Act 1: John's Sweet Revenge

"You guys havin fun!?" Serj yelled out to the crowd of people before him and his band. The crowd went wild again, making Serj smile. This had always been what he wanted, his dream since he was young. Now it was all layed out before him. Thousands and thousands of adoring fans of him and his bands creations. The show had been going very well, on this hot summer day of 2018. There had been a few mishaps here and there, but that was somewhat of a consistent thing these days, all the band members were beginning to grow old. But there was smiles, laughs, and jams from all sides nonetheless.

Although... There was something more going on here that none of the band members could place. There was an uneasy feeling... Something that was not right but just out of sight. Everytime something went wrong, this feeling only became larger. It was soon apparent what the feeling was. It was a genuine, deep running anger. Serj had been having terrible dreams the night before the show, dreams of the band members getting into fights on stage, anger and distrust ripping them apart. Unbeknownst to Serj, the rest of the band had been having the same dreams too. The dreams felt too real, and it seemed that their anger was spilling over into the real world. The band tried to push on though, not wanting to ruin the show.

They had just started playing Question!, and it was going good so far, but as they got to the last chorus, John had got his timing wrong and started too late, thus messing up everyone else, and the ending of the song very quickly fell apart. Serj turned around to John, something was not right. Serj usually got a little annoyed, but nothing like this. As he looked at John his fists balled up, he felt his higher thinking fading as he began to go into a rage.

"What the fuck are you doing back here? You can't even fucking play the drums right, the only fucking thing you are good for!" Serj lashed out, his voice in a shout. He had already dropped the microphone, the crowd was in a silent disbelief, the show directors and security guards watched in confusion. Daron and Shavo stared, looking at both with a face rooted in anger.

"I'm not fucking perfect, you dumbshit! At least I can still do what I am supposed to, unlike you, with your shitty 'singing'! You should fucking retire already, old man!" John lashed out back.

"Hey, both of you are fucking pricks, we are trying to play a goddamn show here!" Daron interjected, his voice furious.

"You know, I really can't fucking stand you guys sometimes. I couldn't have gotten any fucking worse band mates." Serj said, slightly taken aback by his own words. He didn't even believe that, but some force was pushing him to go much further then he had intended.

John slowly raised himself from his drumming position, walking forward towards Serj. John's face was a stone cold wasteland devoid of emotion, yet still he radiated nothing but anger. His drum sticks still in hand, now felt like weapons. For John, everything had faded out, nothing but him, Serj, Daron, and Shavo... and his two drumsticks. These "friends" of his had always just abused him for the slightest mistakes, never giving him any of the same appreciation they all got. John was fed up, and out of control. Out of nowhere, he brought one of drumsticks forward, stabbing it directly into Serj's abdomen.

The crowd gasped in fear, Daron and Shavo already rushing over. Serj looked at John with a face of disbelief and shock, as he fell the the ground a few short seconds later, his old body not able to stand against the damage. John turned to Daron and Shavo, who looked like they were ready to kill him too. No suprise, he always knew they hated him. He charged torwards Daron, slamming his drumstick into Darons throat, impaling his windpipe and causing Daron to make a terrible wheezing noise. All those stood against him now was Shavo, who came up behind him, knocking him as hard as he could in the back of the head. John recoiled in pain, somehow still standing how ever. He turned around dazed as Shavo tackled him onto the ground. Johns vision cleared once more to see Shavo on top of him, attempting to strangle John. John still held one drumstick, almost rolling out of his hand. He caught it right at the tip of his fingers, gripping it tightly as he brought up the drum stick to the side of Shavo's neck.

It went clean through. Shavo fell limp off of his body a mere few seconds later, but not before John realized something. He couldn't breathe anymore. Shavo had crushed his windpipe. He layed there, on the stage, gasping his final breaths. His face turned blue, his vision spotty, before suddenly, it all went black.

"You guys havin fun!?" Serj yelled out to the crowd of people before him and his band.