Welcome to the Family

Rebecca ran through the streets with a small smirk on her face. She loved to hear someone chasing her because it gave her the thrill that she always searched for. Rebecca was a thief at heart, but only because it was all she knew. She couldn't remember much from her childhood. All she could remember was waking up in a dark alley at the age of five completely lost and confused. Since then she's been running from the law and stealing to stay alive. This time she went a little too far though. She stole some rich man's briefcase for fun, but apparently he didn't think it was all that funny.

"Stop, thief, get back here," the man yelled from behind her.

She turned down an alley and found herself stopping behind a dumpster to catch her breath. When she was able to breathe normally again she placed the briefcase at the edge of the dumpster and took off in the other direction without being seen at all. She heard the old geezer trying to catch his breath. She slowed to a walk and adjusted the straps of her backpack that she wore over the thin hoodie she had on.

When she was younger she would steal some expensive things because then she could sell them back to a pawn shop and get some money in order to stay alive better. Her clothes were all ratty and torn from living on the streets all the time, but she didn't care about her appearance at all. She wasn't one to really care for the simple things in life. Sometimes she'd sneak into hotel rooms and take a shower, but that was only if she was near one and rather lucky to sneak into someone's open room.

Rebecca continued to walk down the street until she heard running footsteps and barking dogs.

Shit she thought breaking into another run. She heard the barking dogs and hated to think that they were after her, but kept running for good measure. She saw some large venue up ahead and decided to hide in there. She was rather good at hiding without being caught so she took her chances and ran towards the venue with its crowded parking lot. As she got closer she heard the distinct sounds of music playing and people screaming in pure joy at the band or person playing.

Rebecca wished that she could be a part of that too, but knew that it would always be a long shot. She'd been running from the law for ten years of her life. She had no money to pay for anything like a concert or to even go see a simple movie at the movie theater. She thought about sneaking in, but always thought better of it because she knew that there were people who checked for ticket stubs all throughout the movies.

Rebecca sighed as she ran closer to the venue. She was about to enter it when she saw a rather large bus off to the side. She took one look at the gates and realized that no one would let her in without some sort of ticket so she changed course and headed for the bus. Rebecca climbed on and ran towards the back. She found an area where it looked like people slept. She took her backpack off and flung it underneath one bunk while she dove under another.

She breathed heavily as she tried to still her heavy beating heart. She waited underneath the bunk for what seemed like a good two hours when she finally heard footsteps coming onto the bus. She held her breath as she waited patiently.

"She's not here; she must have passed the venue. Let's go before she gets away," a gruff voice sounded as they walked up and down the bus.

Finally they left and Rebecca let out sigh of relief when she heard the footsteps disappear. Rebecca waited for another twenty minutes before she thought it would be safe to leave the bus. Just as she was about to crawl out from her hiding space loud voices came up the steps of the bus and she froze. She quickly repositioned herself under the bunk and then stayed as silent as she possibly could.

*******

Avenged Sevenfold had just finished with their final song of the evening. The crowd was screaming in joy and happiness. Just as they were about to walk off the stage they were all yelling encore because they wanted more of their raw talent. The crowd loved them. Avenged couldn't give an encore though because they were running late for their final show in Long Beach, California. They were due there in three days time and were already a little behind schedule.

After they signed some autographs and took pictures with some fans they headed back towards the bus. Jimmy clambered onto the bus nosily as usual, which made the others laugh. They were all loud and happy from the success of their show. Once they were all settled and they knew that the roadies had picked up the equipment and loaded it into the other bus they were on their way to Long Beach.

As the journey to Long Beach continued the guys ended up getting drunk and passing out. The driver of the tour bus stopped at a little diner so that the guys could eat and settle their upset stomachs from their hangovers the next morning after they had driven quite awhile over the border of Nevada and California.

"Hey, everyone get your asses up and let's eat," Jimmy yelled since he had been the first one to wake up.

The other four woke up slowly, but surely. They yawned and then took their aspirin before they left the bus to get something to eat.

*****

Rebecca had ended up falling asleep when she felt the bus start to move. She was a little peeved that she didn't get off before hand, but she knew that she would have been caught if she had. The noise of the yelling men finally died down and she could hear loud snoring. Surprisingly, the snoring put her into a dreamless sleep for once.

Rebecca was woken up though a few hours later by loud yelling. She was just glad she didn't smack her head from the shock. She heard groans of pain and annoyance from the others on the bus. Rebecca held in her laughter because she found it quite funny.

"Jimmy, what the hell are you yelling about?" she heard someone ask sounding very disgruntled.

"I'm hungry, come on, we've stopped to have breakfast," he said sounding very childish.

Rebecca heard movement from the people on the bus. Then the bus was engulfed in silence. Rebecca sighed and then she groaned. She had to use the bathroom. She crawled out from her hiding space and found the little bathroom on the bus. She didn't want to get noticed so she tried to be as careful as possible. When she was done using the restroom she started crawling around on her hands and knees so that no one could see her from the windows. She found a small refrigerator and opened it. It was stocked with a lot of beer. She found cupboards near the floor and opened them. She sighed again when she was able to find something to eat. She hadn't eaten for the last few weeks and she was starving.

After she finished eating she realized that if she left the empty bag out in the open she would be caught. She tucked the bag underneath her shirt and then crawled back to the bunk area. She looked underneath the other side and found her backpack. She was about to grab it when she heard the voices of the guys again. She barely managed to slip back under the other one before they came up the steps.

******

Avenged Sevenfold felt more alive and full of life when they climbed back on the bus, since the food they ate filled them with more energy. Jimmy was crazier than he usually was and the other guys couldn't stop laughing at his stupidity. Things were going very well for them. When they got to Long Beach they would have a couple of days of rehearsal since this was one that they were filming for their fans. It was something different and something very new, but they were headstrong about their idea. They wanted to give their fans something to remember and always want to watch in the future.

"Guys are we ready for Long Beach?" Jimmy asked.

"Hell yeah we are," Brian answered just as excited.

Matt chuckled at his friends. They could all be crazy sometimes and that's how they liked it. It kept their lives interesting and fun in so many different ways. They were all kids at heart and they didn't give a shit if anyone thought badly of them. They knew who their fans were and that's all that mattered to them.

"So how is this going to work exactly?" Zacky asked.

"Well, we have to meet with the film crew and the director, and then I guess go from there.
We'll have the sound check videotaped as well and then of course the whole concert," Matt answered.

"Sounds fucking awesome," Johnny said from the floor.

All conversation stopped then. Instead they all sat around the TV and started playing video games. They yelled at each other when they thought someone cheated. They laughed at each other's stupidity and just had fun. They always loved each other's company, which made the band a whole lot stronger than most.

******

Rebecca had fallen asleep again. The noise of the guys somehow put her to sleep. She enjoyed it though because she could never get this much peaceful sleep for very long. She was always plagued with nightmares that she couldn't understand. Since she was basically a fugitive to all things law she couldn't go somewhere to ask for help. She wanted to figure out what these nightmares meant, but she couldn't bring herself to give up her freedom that she loved so much.

The bus stopped again and the boys cheered with delight when it stopped. Rebecca woke up and realized that they must be in Long Beach. She'd never been to California, but she knew of its existence and its beaches. She'd always wanted to go to the beach and not freeze her ass off just sitting in the sand, but she never managed to get that far until now. She was actually excited to be in Long Beach.

She listened for the guys and realized that they had already left the bus. She sighed in gratitude that she hadn't been found yet. She wouldn't really know how to explain herself to these guys. She didn't know them and she didn't trust anyone even if she did happen to know them. They sounded like rather big kids, but she could tell that they weren't teenagers.

If she was going to make her move to escape it would have to be now. Rebecca crawled out from under the bunk area and then crawled over to the other side. She lifted the skirt and saw her backpack. She reached underneath for it, but it was too far for her to reach. She didn't want to be caught so she left it there. She found a sweatshirt and snatched that. She put it on and liked how it was too large for her frame. It smelled pretty good too. She darted off the bus and then started walking. She pulled the hood up to hide herself as she walked away. She wished she didn't have to leave her backpack, but she didn't have the time to crawl under the bunk and get it without getting caught by any of the guys.

******

Jimmy Sullivan had stepped outside of the venue for a little fresh air before they talked with the director about camera placement for the upcoming concert. As he was about to turn back into the venue though he stopped short because he saw a shadow move out of the corner of his eye. He furrowed his eyebrows together and continued to stare in the direction of the shadow. He kept his eyes trained on the spot until the shadow passed under a street light in the parking lot.

He saw someone pull a hood up over their head, but not before he caught a glimpse of her dark brown hair. He shook his head to rid it of any kind of confusion and headed back into the venue. He had to have been seeing things. He rejoined his friends where they animatedly started talking about the concert that was approaching rather fast.