Mark had two long-awaited tickets. “Pompeii” had been in the city for two weeks already, but absolutely every self-respecting person wanted to get to the show, so it was not so easy to get the cherished passes. But Mark was incredibly lucky, his boss could not go with his wife, for reasons unknown to him, and he gave them to the young man. Two scraps of paper with a volcano and Roman numerals indicating the date and time of the ballet. The young man first called Alice to please her, because the girl was also among those who wanted to get to this performance. She spent a week planning what she would wear. “You can’t hit your face in the mud” - she said - “All the cream of our society will gather there,” the girl lamented, to which Mark jokingly assented to her. He himself was going to dress nondescriptly. "Just think, cream, what do I care about them, and they care about me" - the guy thought.
The clock rang out at 19:00. At the same second, Mark looked into the bathroom to rush Alice and froze. The girl stood as pale as death. "Darling, what happened?" But instead of answering, the guy heard sobs, and tears fell from the eyes of his chosen one. "Mark, let's not go anywhere, I don't want to, let's stay at home, I pray you!" she whined. “But you wanted to get there, all week you kept repeating about that. Now what? Are you afraid to look ridiculous in front of these front row snobs? Calm down, please. Let them just try to look askance at you, I'll give them right there and then, ”Mark jokingly shook his fist. The girl succumbed to panic for a second, but then she pulled herself together and began to wipe away her tears. “Okay, let's go, but I have a very bad feeling,” Alice squeezed out of herself. "Do not be afraid, I will not leave you a meter, everything will be fine." Mark kissed his beloved on the forehead like a father.
It was the second act of Pompeii, the people around sat with smart faces, or at least tried to make them so. Mark began to yawn openly. He was never a lover of high art, let alone ballet. Anyway, he dragged himself here, just to please Alice. But the guy in the tight leotard did not please him at all, rather, on the contrary, confused him. The young man did not understand what these snickering pigs who surrounded him found in this perversion. But when the soloist Pompeii suddenly had an erection, after very close contact with a pretty ballerina who had a rather lush breasts, Mark could not help laughing. He burst into such a sincere cackle that the snobs sitting next to him, surprisingly, also burst out laughing.
During the break, the couple stood around the corner of the theater, smoking another pair of cigarettes. The young man immediately began to discuss a small, but as it seemed to Alice, quite an impressive incident that stood between the soloist and the ballerina in the second act. There was no one on the street except them, so the girl, without wasting a moment, clung to her lover and concluded him in a sweet kiss, hoping that after that Mark would finally shut up and stop joking about the dancer. Mark was quiet for a moment, apparently digesting something, and then he laughed again right in Alice's face.
The ballet was drawing to a close, and the young man was overjoyed at this. For the last twenty minutes he looked only at Alice, admiring her greenish-gray eyes, chubby cheeks and silvery-white hair. How suddenly the whole room was enveloped in darkness. Mark decided that this is a good chance to kiss the girl, "Now there will be a surprise kiss" - he uttered in his head, but as soon as the young man's lips touched the gentle, familiar lips, the whole hall was flooded with bright light. There was a deathly silence. The young man tried to open his eyes, but they were so accustomed to the semi-darkness of the ballet that the dazzling white rays of the searchlight seemed to cut his retina. Turning his gaze to the stage, the guy noticed a group of silhouettes that appeared near the outer seats of each row. He still couldn't see a clear picture due to the sudden bright light. Suddenly, clarity returned to his eyes, and the guy was horrified to see incomprehensible people in white robes, with rifles and gas masks, which were made in the form of animal masks. The one who was in the mask of a monkey and stood on the stage, brought the microphone to his face, which bared his teeth and, as it were, shouted "Come on, come here, and I will tear you to shreds." An elephant and a tiger stood by him, rifles on alert. Suddenly from the speakers came "Dear ...", there was a loud laugh, even more sudden than the voice that echoed throughout the room. “So, ladies and gentlemen, you probably guess who I am. If not, give a hint ... Michelle Todd ... ". A short pause in the terrorist's monologue was interrupted by the scream of a woman, but they were instantly drowned out by the sound of a shooting rifle, and then by the dull thud of a fallen lifeless body. “If someone else wants to scream, then you shouldn't. Better just raise your right hand, and my boys will relieve you of this desire, as they saved this lady. " Another attack of venomous laughter. “Oh yes, you’re probably asking yourself why we are do we do it? Why you? But the answer is obvious. Self-righteous, selfish, pompous turkeys gathered today here at Pompeii, where the ticket price was sky-high for ordinary citizens who are forced to work hard in mines and other deadly dangerous jobs in order to somehow feed their children. You vile, immoral pigs, mired in sin and narcissism. Today We are a Brotherhood without banners, we will administer justice over you. You will no longer be able to steal, rape, kill and abuse the poor people that swarm the city. " Another piercing scream immediately interrupted the rifle's shot. Another body collapsed to the floor. "So, I just want to tell you that you yourself are to blame for everything." Mark's leg was chilled and looking down, the young man saw a greenish-pink smoke that began to come out of the ventilation located right next to his leg. And suddenly a razor-sharp and terribly frightening realization collapsed on the guy - “They are wearing gas masks because they are going to poison us with gas. Shooting at that many people would be difficult. Given the intensity and sounds of the shooting, sooner or later a national squad would have arrived here, and then the terrorists would not have been able to get out alive. But why am I so calm, why don't I want to scream or run? " The terrorist's voice faded into the background, and Mark continued his reflections - “Is this all because of the gas? Well, of course! It acts as a tranquilizer to prevent mass panic from happening. Otherwise, a dozen guys, shrouded in horror, could have piled on one of the terrorists in a crowd and took away the rifle, and then the matter is small. The sudden shot interrupted Mark's thoughts. His face was flooded with something warm, and bits of some slimy-snotty substance stained his clothes. He turned his head with terrifying calm, and saw a dead man, who was sitting in a chair with his head thrown back. Another corpse.
The terrorist continued his monologue for more than 15 minutes, and the gas continued to fill the hall. Most people either died or convulsed, foaming at their mouths and making inarticulate sounds. One guy tried to get out on stage, but immediately got a bullet in the forehead. Another man relentlessly banged his head against the wall until he was stopped by a bullet. Alice and Mark sat on the floor, huddled together. They were not afraid. Gas dulled the instinct of self-preservation and young people kissed each other in all accessible places. They felt the same symptoms. The head gradually became heavier and heavier, thoughts became turbulent, and concentration disappeared completely. Feeling the last strength leaving Mark, he tried to kiss Alice, but there was no response, since the girl had been dead for several minutes. Her glassy eyes stared into nowhere, and a second later the dead guy fell on top of her trying to say "I love you."
