His last thought before they made their way to the death house was that Jen had a point. They couldn't really trust Sheriff Clay, but they probably couldn't trust Archie either. Danny of all people should know better. He had trusted and look where it had gotten him.

The previous night in the cave he'd fallen asleep while he was suppose to be keeping watch. Luckily, he'd woken up before Jen did so she had no idea, but looking back on everything that had led him here had been like some sort of ghost hiding in the back of his mind ready to jump out. He knew it was there, but what could he do about it but wait for it to return?

------------------------------

Danny made his way to the address Tyrone had given him. This wasn't the AirBnB house, it was a different address entirely, but unlike last time when he needed careful directions now he needed none at all. This was a place he knew well: The Kirby Theater.

It was an old, historic theater that 10 years earlier someone had restored and reopened for business. It only had two screens: one for new releases and one for classics. It had been where Danny had went before the Alamo had opened in town. That and the season pass had pretty much taken the steam out of The Kirby and he hadn't been there in at least three years.

It had still been operational until the virus but like every theater in the country it was becoming all but a certainty it would never reopen again after so many months having to be shut down.

As instructed, he pulled into the parking lot around back. It was a private lot and once you were back there no one could see you from the street.

Danny headed towards the back emergency exit as he'd been instructed and was about to knock on the door when it flew open and Tyrone greeted him.

"Hey man, what's up?"

"Not Mu..."

"OK, a couple of things real quick: One, there's other people here, not just me and ScarLo. But don't worry, they all have immunity too and are cool. Second, they think you have immunity, so just go along with it so they don't freak. Cool?"

"I..."

Tyrone quickly ushered Danny through the door and shut it behind him and led him down a dimly lit hallway.

"I don't know about this, man" Danny whispered.

"Relax" Tyrone said, trying to calm him.

"What if they ask... you know, how I got the virus?"

"Oh, they will, but just make something up. Consider this practice".

"Practice?" Danny asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, for when we go to Maine. Gonna have to lie a lot to get to the other end of the country..."

Danny hadn't even made up his mind about Maine, but a few seconds later they turned a corner and they were in one of the two theaters. This was the smaller of the two, where they showed classic movies. It was so weird to be here again. To be in a movie theater and especially to be the only ones there. He'd missed this so much and this theater, with its amazing art deco design was really something special.

"We're here!" Tyrone announced and suddenly he saw a group of 5 people, ScarLo among them, stand from the best seats in the house.

"Danny!" ScarLo shouted and rushed over to hug him. Danny embraced her with a confidence. Damn she smelled good.

Everyone else came over and introduced themselves.

"Welcome to the Immunity Club" Tyrone joked.

The "Club" was pretty diverse: Peter, who looked to be Danny's age with messy brown hair and a scruffy face and looked vaguely familiar. Carlos, a slightly overweight bald middle aged Mexican fellow. Finally, there was Jack and his wife Carol. Jack looked to be in his 50's, which was surprising since the death rate of the virus was very high for anyone over 50. He also had an Australian accent. Carol, on the other hand, looked to be about 10 years younger than Jack and was petite and youthful for her age with straight dirty blonde hair. She looked like she was probably a cheerleader in high school.

There were hand shaking and a hug from the Carol.

They then went around introducing themselves by telling their stories of survival. Danny instantly felt awkward. This felt like sneaking into a cancer survivor's support group and pretending to be a cancer survivor.

Carlos was a delivery truck driver who wasn't sure how he'd contracted it.

"I was in contact with so many people everyday that it could have been anybody" he said. "This was before the no contact mandates, so things were different".

He described severe symptoms and said he had to be put on a ventilator.

"I almost died".

Peter was next.

"I used to work here, actually" he said.

Shit, that's where I know him from.

"I was the Assistant Manager and I got the virus early on when things were less bad. It was the last week before we closed down when we were doing the 'every other seat' social distancing bullshit that didn't do anything and I went home one day and it just hit me like a ton of bricks. I never went to the hospital, though. Like I said, it was early. The strains weren't as bad then. I didn't officially get declared immune until a month ago when they called me up for one of them antibody tests. Anyway, because I got sick I never got a chance to turn in my keys before we closed so here we are".

He smiled and jingled his keys in the air.

So this is how they were able to be here.

Jack, however, was by far the most interesting. He'd been a prop master for the movie industry. He named off a whole list of incredible movies he'd worked on and it was really impressive. He was also, understandably, a movie buff who would come here a lot and that's how he knew Jack and meant the rest of the group.

Jack's story was the most incredible because he had died and had been dead for 2 minutes before they brought him back.

"Glad I didn't sign that piece of paper" Carol said, punching him in the ribs.

Jack had then been in a coma for two months before one day, he'd just woken up. In the meantime, Carol had gotten the virus from Jack and was also in the ICU, but she recovered much quickly.

"So how about you?" Carlos asked. "How'd it happen?"

It was the moment Danny had dreaded but he saw it coming so he'd been mentally preparing.

"I travel a lot for work, or at least I did" he began, trying to keep as much truth as possible in place with the lie. "And, like you Carlos, I really don't know who gave it to me. One day I after one of my trips I just felt a little hot and I went to lay down and I woke up a few hours later burning up and then the coughing started. I never had to go to the hospital. This was really early on, but it took me a couple weeks to even start to recover. The worst part was the day after I first knew I had it work called and told me they were shutting down until further notice. Can you believe it? Anyway, I didn't officially get declared immune until I got one of those antibody studies too".

Danny looked at their faces. He wondered if they'd call bullshit, but no one did. In the back, Tyrone and ScarLo looked on. Tyrone winked and nooded and ScarLo smirked and crossed her arms, looking impressed.

"What line of work were you in?" Carlos asked.

"You're going to laugh but... I sold health insurance to other companies..."

Everyone busted out laughing.

"You're fucking kidding, right?" Jack said, snorting.

Danny shook his head. The thing was it was one part of his story that was 100% true.

They hung out and talked while Peter disappeared. Danny had felt bad for lying, but he was really having a good time... this felt... normal.

A few minutes later Peter came back with a tray packed full of tubs of popcorn and boxes of candy. There were also beers, which he knew The Kirby did not normally serve.

"Some of it is, uh, expired" he said, handing out the boxes of candy. "But I'm sure it's still good".

"You guys ever done this?" Danny said, scooping up some of his popcorn and sprinkling Milk Duds inside. "They all melt in there"

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

"You're a fucking genius" ScarLo claimed.

They all sat and using a remote control Peter fired up the projector.

"You're going to love this" Peter said to Danny with a wink. "Although you can thank Jack for it..."

"Oh it's no biggy" Jack explained. "I did the prop work for this movie up in Canada. It never came out because of the virus and they were going to just drop it on one of the streaming services, but you remember what happened the last time they did that?"

Danny did. They had dropped three major motion pictures that were suppose to go onto the big screen at once a few months back and it had completely crashed the servers.

"Well, I don't know what their plans are now but I know people and was able to get this unreleased copy..."

"What is it..." Danny began but then he saw the title screen and almost shit his pants.

"No. Fucking. Way".

"Who you going to call, mate?"

Danny couldn't believe what was happening. He was a lifelong fan of the original films and had been so excited for this proper sequel but then the virus hit and it was pushed back at first and then there was no news. But here he was, in this abandoned theater watching it when the rest of the world hadn't and couldn't. It was a little thing about the virus that pissed him off. He'd even told Dante a few weeks ago it was the one postponed film he'd wanted to see the most and now he was going to get to see it.

Halfway through the film ScarLo took his mostly empty popcorn tub. Danny paid no mind, thinking she was out and wanted some of his, but a few minutes later it was back in his lap and her hands unzipped his fly, pulled out his dick and stick it inside a hole she'd made in the bottom.

He got to watch his most anticipated film and got a handjob. Life had suddenly become awesome.

Right become she let him cum she whispered in his head: "This could be life all the time in Maine, you know?" and as he came to orgasm he swore he saw an outline of the state of Maine appear on the screen for a split second.

It was a surreal experience and after it was over they all had beers and talked about the movie and life in general.

"Hey Danny" Carol asked and her tone changed the mood of the entire room. "Have you experienced any... well, discrimination or hate because of your immunity?"

"No?" Danny asked, caught off guard. "Why?"

"Oh good" she said. "It's just..."

"It's a growing problem" Jack said, shaking his head. "We've mostly been lucky, but Carlos here. Well, you tell him, mate..."

Carlos shook his head mournfully.

"Yeah, my neighbor lady knows I got sick and got better, so I have immunity. She told some people in my neighborhood and they were messing with me pretty hard. Calling me a 'sell out' and that 'Immunity Nazi' shit. Like, what am I suppose to do? Feel bad I got sick and didn't die? Like I wanted to be on a ventilator?"

Carlos looked visibly upset and Jack slapped his back to comfort here. Tyrone was stone faced, no emotion. ScarLo made an uneasy smile.

"It's okay, mate" Jack said. "That's why us immune folks got to stick together".

He looked at Danny as he said this, addressing him directly. "We're glad you're here, Danny. Welcome to the Immunity Club".

They all toasted and embraced Danny. Danny suddenly felt like shit. These were good people and he had lied to them.

He glanced in Tyrone's direction. His face was one of concern. It said don't fucking do it.

Danny didn't. Instead he changed the subject.

"Well, I mean, if we all go to Maine we won't have to worry about that stuff anymore, right?"

The room got unusually quite.

"You guys... aren't going?" Danny asked. He was confused. He just assumed they'd all be going too. Why wouldn't they? It made a hell of a lot more sense for them to go where they'd be embraced than him.

Peter shook his head.

"Yeah... not really for me" he said. "I've got family here".

"Yeah, same mate" Jack said. "Me and Carol did talk about it but eventually things will go back to normal here and this is our home".

"Can't leave my Abuelita" Carlos said. "Plus, it'll eventually get better. It has to..."

Danny looked at Tyrone and ScarLo who said nothing. He decided not to mention their plans in case they didn't know but Jack noticed Danny's gaze.

"Ah" he said, smirking. "Been talkin' to ol' Tyrone and ScarLo. Yeah, they want to go up there. Been telling us we should be doing the same for months, but it just ain't in the cards for us I'm afraid".

For whatever reason, the conversation had completely soured the mood and Danny felt like he had ruined the party, but after a few minutes the conversation had shifted and it was like nothing happened.

It got late and as it neared 8 pm Tyrone made the announcement that he and ScarLo better call it a night.

They said their good byes.

"Danny, come walk us to our car" Tyrone said.

"Actually, I should get going too" Danny said and they spent a minute saying their goodbyes and exchanging information before Danny followed Tyrone and ScarLo out the door.

"Man, I didn't realize it was so late" Danny said.

"Yeah, that's why I did that" Tyrone said. "For us, being out past curfew is no big deal with our passes, but for you..."

"Yeah..." Danny said.

"Wouldn't be like that in Maine" ScarLo said, winking at him.

They ended up walking to Danny's Crosstrek.

"Why don't they want to go?" Danny asked plainly. "To maine?"

It was something that had bothered him since the topic had come up.

"Because Danny..." Tyrone said with a sigh. "They're pussies. They're not like me, you or ScarLo. We get it, they don't".

ScarLo grabbed Danny's right hand and held it. Tyrone put a hand on Danny's shoulder.

"Did you listen to them in there? They're delusional..."

"Fucking crazy..." ScarLo said with a snicker of pity and a headshake.

"All that 'things have got to get better' and 'when it's over' bullshit. They're living in a fantasy world, Danny. There is no getting better. There is no when it's over. Things will never be the same, but in Maine, there's a chance. Come on dude, you read Dante. You're in the know like me. You telling me you think this will ever just blow over?"

"No" Danny said shaking his head and he meant it.

"Exactly" Tyrone continued. "Their problem is because they got better they think the world will, but that don't mean shit. The world will just keep crumbling around them. They don't see that. They'll be cured in a world that's forever sick and me and ScarLo want to be cured in a world that's not. We want to be immune somewhere it means something..."

"Look Danny" ScarLo cut in, squeezing his hand. "They're nice people, all of them. We like them a lot. But they're just not like us. You are, though and that's why we want you to come with us. They're weak and you're not".

ScarLo casually stepped closer, squeezing his hand again. Danny was under her spell.

"Come with us" she whispered.

"You don't have to decide for sure today" Tyrone said. "Just tell me I can go ahead and start making arrangements to make it happened".

Danny paused for a second. He didn't know what he meant by that, but after a moment he said it:

"OK".

Tyrone smiled and slapped him on the back. ScarLo gleefully hugged him and gave him a soft peck on the lips. Tyrone didn't flinch at this.

"Well, alright" Tyrone said. "I'll get started".

He then pulled out his phone and looked at the clock.

"Shit, you better get rolling, man". Danny checked the time for himself and cussed.

He hurriedly got his keys out, jumped in his car and started it.

"I'll be in touch" Tyrone said and ScarLo blew a kiss. Danny nodded and drove off, making it home safely just a minute before the 8pm curfew.