[Audition Room]
The audition room felt much smaller by the time the thirtieth actress walked out through the side door. A folding table sat near the back wall with bottled water, coffee, headshots, and stacks of short scene pages spread across its surface. Christopher sat in the center with a clipboard, while Emma sat beside him and made notes whenever someone gave them a performance worth remembering.
Jack had a legal pad in front of him, though most of the page had turned into tired little sketches of zombies, coffee cups, and what looked suspiciously like a gravestone with the words “RIP MY ATTENTION SPAN” written under it.
In his past life, Jack had been the person waiting outside a room like this. He had held scripts in sweaty hands, tried to guess what casting directors wanted, and walked in hoping his nerves would not ruin the first thirty seconds.
Sitting on the other side felt strange.
It also felt more exhausting than he had expected.
Some of the actresses had been great. A few brought real humor to the scene, played the fear naturally, and understood that the character needed to feel like a real person before the zombie part happened. Others spoke every line like they were giving a speech at an awards show, with huge gestures and dramatic pauses that made the small audition room feel like a high school theater class.
Then there were the actresses who had clearly arrived with a different plan.
The last woman had walked in wearing a dress that belonged more at a nightclub than a morning audition. She had spent most of her reading leaning across the table, smiling at Jack, and tugging at her neckline whenever she forgot the dialogue. At one point, she had started pulling down the front of her top until Christopher calmly stopped her and reminded her that the role required acting.
She had looked offended, finished the scene with a fake scream, and walked out without even collecting her résumé.
Jack watched the door close behind her before he leaned back in his chair and rubbed both hands over his face.
“Are auditions always this exhausting?” Jack asked as he looked toward Christopher. “And that girl was trying to flash us. What the hell is wrong with people? I’ve heard stories about controversy related to auditions before, but this whole thing feels insane.”
Christopher put his pen down and gave Jack a tired smile that suggested he had seen far worse during his career.
“People get bad advice all the time,” Christopher said as he tapped the clipboard against the table. “Some of them think confidence means acting like the room owes them a job. Others think looking sexy will make everybody forget they cannot read a page of dialogue. Hell, it works sometimes depending on the director or the producer.”
Emma glanced toward the closed door, then took a sip of water before looking back at the two men.
“She did not even know the character’s name,” Emma said with a small frown. “She kept calling her ‘the hot zombie girl,’ and I think she only read the sides once in the lobby.”
Jack looked down at the page in front of him, where the role description had been written in simple black letters: 406
The character only appeared in a single scene, but she mattered. She had to feel charming enough that Columbus would let his guard down and unsettling enough that the audience believed the sudden turn.
“We need someone who can make the character feel human before everything goes wrong,” Jack said as he turned the script page toward Emma. “The whole joke falls apart if she walks in acting like a monster from the first second.”
Christopher nodded and checked the next headshot in the stack.
“That is exactly why we are still here,” Christopher said. “The right person makes a small role memorable, and the wrong person makes it feel like a scene people skip when they rewatch the movie. And it'll become a permanent stain in the movie.”
Emma smiled as she looked at Jack’s legal pad.
“You wrote ‘RIP MY ATTENTION SPAN’ next to a zombie wearing sunglasses,” Emma said as she tried to hide a laugh. “You are taking this process very seriously. Nice pic by the way.”
Jack looked at the drawing, then slowly covered it with his hand.
“Thanks. I am taking it very seriously,” Jack said with a straight face. “I am also trying to survive the eighth person today who thinks screaming louder counts as emotional range.”
Christopher laughed quietly, then pressed the button beside his chair to call the assistant outside.
“Send in number thirty-one,” Christopher said as he straightened the next stack of pages. “We still have a long morning ahead of us.”
The next several auditions passed in a blur of different accents, nervous smiles, missed cues, and awkward attempts at zombie movement. One woman gave a surprisingly funny reading that made Emma laugh out loud. Another delivered every word with so much intensity that Jack wondered whether she thought the role involved saving the entire human race.
A few actresses were good enough to make Christopher circle their names. Two received stars beside their headshots. One received a note from Emma that simply read, “Great face, wrong energy.”
By the time they reached number forty-three, Jack had stopped checking his phone and started paying attention again. The better auditions had reminded him why the process mattered. Every actor brought something different to the same two pages, and sometimes a small change in delivery made the whole scene feel alive. But he still hasn't found the girl he thought would come to this audition.
'Haaa... Did you really miss this chance, Penny?' He thought.
The audition continued...
The assistant knocked lightly on the open door and stepped inside with the next file.
“Number forty-seven is ready,” she said as she placed the headshot on the table. “Her name is Penny.”
Jack looked down at the photograph. 'Finally, you're here.'
Jack sat up straighter in his chair.
Emma noticed the shift in his face immediately.
“You know her?” Emma asked quietly as she looked from the photo to Jack.
Jack picked up the headshot and stared at it for another second.
“I met her before,” Jack said. “She was at the Harry Potter event."
Penny walked into the room with a nervous smile, holding her résumé folder tightly in both hands. Her eyes moved across Christopher, Emma, and then Jack. She paused when she recognized him sitting behind the table.
Jack looked up from Penny’s headshot and smiled. “Hi, Penny.”
Penny’s smile grew as she stepped farther into the room. “You remembered my name?”
Jack leaned back slightly in his chair. “It’s hard to forget your group and Sheldon.”
Penny laughed softly as her nerves eased. “That’s true. Sheldon always makes a strong impression wherever he goes.”
Christopher then explained the scene to her and gestured toward the marked spot near the door. “Whenever you’re ready, Penny. Start from the entrance and take a second to settle into the scene."
Penny nodded and walked toward the door mark. She set her folder down on the empty chair beside her, then took a slow breath while looking at the pages one last time.
Emma watched her carefully, pen resting against her notebook.
Penny nodded again, then closed her eyes for a moment. When she opened them, the nervous smile was gone.
She grabbed the imaginary door handle and stumbled into the room like she had barely made it inside. Her shoulder slammed against the invisible door as she pushed it closed, and her hands moved quickly as if she were locking it.
Penny pressed her back against the door while trying to catch her breath. Her eyes moved around the room wildly before she looked toward the table.
“There was this homeless guy outside,” Penny said, her voice shaking as she tried to explain herself. “He looked sick and... and...” She took deep breaths in between, looking terrified. "...and I was walking home from after my shift. I was talking on my phone..."
She swallowed hard and rubbed her arm as if she could still feel what had happened.
“And then... he came sprinting towards me.” Her breathing became heavier as she shook her head. “I... I mean, not running, sprinting.”
Penny paused for a second, staring at the imaginary door behind her.
“And, and I thought maybe he was running from someone..." She made hand gestures while maintaining her panicked expression. "...or after someone... but he was still out there going crazy..." She took a couple of deep breaths.
Jack decided to do a little improv and join her. She was saying the lines from the exact movie with slight changes, but somewhat the same line, which made it really fun, and her expression and tone were perfect.
"Drugs, maybe?" He said.
Penny's eyes widened a bit, but she somehow managed to stay in that character.
"I didn't even tell you the worst part," She said.
Jack gave a nod. "Yeah," He said softly.
"He tried to bite me," Penny said.
"You're right, that's the worst part," He said with a little nod.
"Sorry. I'm just so scared..." She finally stopped shaking and looked a little relieved.
"No, no, no, you should be scared. A homeless guy just tried to eat you. That's the right kind of scared. That's the reasonable scared. I get scared of things that don't make sense at all like clowns with red noses, or like the rags they use to wipe down tables when you finish eating like a chain restaurant," Jack said with a serious expression.
"Really?" Penny asked. And that 'Really' sounds like more of a real question than acting.
"Oh, yeah. And not to mention those eight-legged creeps," Jack shivered a little. "You go for a cold bath after a long day, and there it is... right under the shower knob, waiting for you... watching you with those creepy eyes."
"Okay, are we still in the scene, or is this an improv?" Penny asked, breaking her character.
"Your scene is done, and it was perfect. Your expression was spot on. And well, getting into the scene made me remember not-so-good memories. The spider part," Jack said.
He then looked at Emma and then at Christopher.
"We got our 406," He said as he stood up. "We can take the remaining auditions and have them as zombies and those small Zombie Kill of the Month cameos."
"Yeah, I like her too," Emma said with a nod. "That sprinting, not running part was hilarious."
"Okay, you two," Christopher chuckled a bit. "We don't actually reveal the results in front of the actress." He looked at Penny. "You're hired. We'll mail you the information and the contract in a week. So, see you on the set."
Penny stood there with a baffled expression. She couldn't believe she got a chance in an actual movie where Jack Preston and Emma Stone are acting. She expected a side role, but this... This was beyond her wildest imagination.
"Umm... You alright, there?" Emma asked.
Penny nodded. "Yeah. I'm okay. I'm good. So, I got it?" She pointed at herself.
"Yes," Christopher nodded. "But when you go outside, try to act normal, yeah? We don't want the other actresses to think we've already decided on who's playing the role."
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