Chapter 042

“You are going to hear a lot of explosions, but don’t be scared. Just keep running until you get the signal.”

Lincoln explained, staring at Aiden and Aaron, who were standing close to each other. As it was one of the most prominent scenes in the movie involving the two, the director was explaining it to them at the same time.

“What if I hit somebody while running?”

Aiden asked. This scene was one of pure chaps with the British soldiers running away from the large ambush of the Germans. The German soldiers would start to bomb the whole town with explosives to top it off.

“Even then, don’t stop running!”

Lincoln made a serious expression, and by his tone, Aiden knew that if he messed up this scene, he would be in a lot of trouble.

‘Aaron might even try to punch me in frustration.’

Aiden chuckled in his mind, glancing at Aaron, who was listening to Lincoln with a focused expression.

On the set, he was not someone who would take it easy.

“The explosives are very expensive, and the crew has planned this scene for a long time. So try to give your best in it.”

Saying that Lincoln patted Aiden’s shoulder and left to talk to one of his assistants. When he left, Aaron turned toward him and glared.

“Don’t mess it up, rookie.”

He replied with a nod in that rude tone. Satisfied, Aaron went to his stylist to get his blonde hair fixed for the scene.

‘He seriously doesn’t seem to like me.’

Aiden thought and frowned. He has not liked his attitude throughout the filming, but if he tried to say anything against him, he was going to be thrown out due to arguing with the main lead.

Zero International wouldn’t care a lot about a newbie that they could replace even with the contract already signed.

It was unfair, but Hollywood was a pretty hierarchical society. If he wanted to stand up against Aaron, he at least needed to have some popularity.

‘At least I won’t have to see his face from tomorrow.’

Aiden thought and decided to just focus on the scene for now. He had already memorized most of his lines and wanted to make the scene more memorable as it was his character’s death scene.

For that, he had a way.

‘Breakout scene.’

His special skill was going to help him in this.

***

[Shadows of War|July 28-2015| Act 9| Scene 4| Take 1]

Hearing the sound of the slate clapping together, Aiden’s surroundings change to a war zone as his immersion levels cross all boundaries.

Because of using the Breakout scene skill, he felt much more this time.

It was like he was really in World War 1, with all the old-style buildings. The atmosphere that would be best described as destruction and chaos was all around him as his ears were constantly hit with the sound of explosions.

“Run!!”

Suddenly, he heard a shout from Ethan and looked behind him. A large group of German soldiers was coming toward him. Some have already started fighting.

Seeing that, Aiden started running with Ethan just a bit ahead of him. Around them, more British soldiers were running as the Germans were just too big in numbers to fight against.

Some who tried to shoot back would fall to the ground in the next second.

‘I feel like I’m in hell.’

Aiden thought and found it very fitting. The battlefield he was experiencing was just that – A hell created by humans.

As he thought that, one of the soldiers suddenly jammed into him, and he fell down.

Dirt entered his eyes, and he felt like one of the rocks had bruised his knees as a sharp pain overcame him.

Ethan stopped to pick him up, but Aiden quickly got up from the ground and said, “Don’t stop no matter what!”

Both of them ran and ran, but as they were just turning around a corner to enter an alleyway, away from the German soldiers, Aiden suddenly felt something hitting his back, and he fell down.

Putting his hand on his back, he saw blood.

“You okay? Get up!”

Ethan quickly came towards him and tried to put his body on his back so that they could run away.

But Aiden shook his head.

“No, I have… been shot.”

“Don’t be a fool. We need to just get out of here. Then you will be fine. Be alive, for god sake!” Ethan screamed, looking at him with bloodshot eyes.

The expression on Aiden’s face was one of sadness and shock, as he felt his vision getting blurry, and even his mind felt a bit foggy like he had forgotten things.

“No, I will bleed out.”

He said, then looked down at one of his pockets. Ethan quickly searched it and took out a letter which was a bit bloody.

“Send it to… India. The address is on it. Please… do that.”

Aiden said, his face going paper every second. Ethan could see that he wouldn’t last much longer and quickly replied.

“Yes, I will. Anything else?”

“If you can… send some money too. Just a bit. And…”

Aiden tried to say, but he felt his vision going black. Still, he held on for one more while. Just for a bit more.

“Try to hope… Don’t di-“

As he was saying that, his eyes became still. His body had gone completely cold, and he had lost his life just like that.

Ethan’s eyes turned moist, seeing the death of someone he had started regarding as a friend. But at that moment, he heard gunshots and realizing that he couldn’t stay here longer, he started running.

“Cut!”

The director’s voice came out at that moment. This time, it was a bit solemn.

***

There was pin-drop silence on the set as the scene ended. It had gone without any trouble, with all the shots being very clean.

They won’t have to reshoot it, but the silence was not about that. It was more about the performance that they had seen. Something that no one in the crew, not even Lincoln, had expected.

‘This is what I wanted!! A scene like this!”

He thought excitedly in his mind and quickly moved towards the monitor where Jeremy was standing with a shocked face.

Lincoln played the scene again on the monitor. They have shot it with a long shot during the running scene with the camera coming together to do a close-up when Aiden’s character gets shot.

And watching the scene on the monitor, Lincoln was sure that it was the best that they had gotten during the whole shooting.

“Jeremy, I think we got the scene that would elevate the movie’s status.” He smirked at his friend.

“Yeah, that rookie had serious acting chops! Unfortunately, he never showed it until now!”

“No, he was good in all the scenes. But this is something different. Some actors just give out breathtaking performances in some particular scenes. This was one of them.”

Jeremy agreed with that statement. Throughout his career, he had seen many actors do something similar, and in all the cases, it had become the talking point of the movie.

Thinking of something, he suddenly said, “I think we will be able to use this scene in promotions a lot. It will attract a lot of attention on MeTube and other social media sites.”

Lincoln quickly shook his head and refuted those words.

“No, I don’t want anyone to know that Aiden is in the movie. He won’t even get a still during the trailer and promotions.”

“Why?”

“I want people to experience it directly in the theatres. I’m pretty sure it would be a surprise and later spread due to word of mouth.”

After analyzing the idea, Jeremy also felt that Lincoln was not wrong. These scenes are widely talked about by the audience, and word of mouth is good for any movie.

Even the first movie Lincoln directed had only worked because of word of mouth. Otherwise, it would be an addition to the list of flop movies.

‘The audience will surely cry their hearts out in the theatre.’

Jeremy silently made a prediction.

***

‘I thought I died for real.’

Aiden thought, sitting down on a chair. After coming out of the acting zone, he was sweating hard, and his body was colder than the normal body temperature.

The immersion level had made him feel like he had actually died for a second.

And it wasn’t a good experience. His heart was still beating fast, and one of his hands shook slightly.

“At least it seems like my performance was good enough.”

He muttered, looking around the set. Lincoln seemed to be in discussion with Jeremy, and most of the crew and actors were strangely glancing at him.

Leo flashed a smile at him, like saying that he had done a great job. On the other hand, Aaron couldn’t be seen anywhere.

‘He left abruptly somewhere after the scene ended.’

Aaron had left like this because he felt like a rookie had overshadowed his performance. He felt frustrated with himself, especially because he couldn’t ask the director for another take.

Ignoring all that, Aiden focused on the system notifications in front of him.

[You have performed a scene that has broken your limits. You have gotten a lot of experience.]

[The skill ‘Breakout scene’ has been used.]

[You are one step away from breaking into Intermediate Grade 1.]

…

//DreamNote//

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