"So when does Kaitlyn get here?" Sarah asked Jordan. Sarah Lowell, Kaitlyn Ashton and Jordan Vaughn were friends since elementary school. It was late in the evening, and Sarah had gone to visit Jordan at his job. Since he started working at the new burger joint that opened up in town, Sarah went there to hang out and wait there for him most of the time, because she had nothing else to do now that school was over. Graduation had just taken place at Kemper Falls High, three nights ago, and everyone had fun going to the post-graduation parties. "I don't know," Jordan said, wiping the counter with a rag and giving his head a small shake, which swept the brown bangs of his hair out of his green eyes. "She said she was going to pick Toby up on her way over. Maybe she's running late." Sarah sighed, rolled her eyes and ran a hand through her red hair. Ugh, she said to herself. Toby Mattheson was Kaitlyn's new boyfriend and Sarah hated him. Sure, if he were a nicer guy, his clean cut blonde hair and sparkling blue eyes would have made her take a second glance maybe, but he was the complete opposite of a nice guy. At the post-graduation ceremony party they all attended, Toby got drunk and threw up all over Sarah. Kaitlyn apologized profusely and took Toby away, all the while Toby laughing like a retarded hyena. Definitely not a charming guy, Sarah thought to herself. She looked into the reflective glass window by the restaurant doors and studied herself. She was twenty years old and didn't even look it. She looked more like she was sixteen, some people said. She had straight red hair, brown eyes, and pale skin, with no freckles, which surprised everyone, since they always assumed that "gingers" had freckles.
As she looked at the window, her gaze shifted out and saw Kaitlyn's pink Volkswagen beetle pull into the parking lot. Sarah smiled, even though she knew Toby was with her. Smart Kaitlyn, with her wavy black hair and funny hipster glasses that, despite the fact they were prescription, everyone made fun of. How she fell for Toby, Sarah would never know. As she watched them get out of the car, Jordan started whistling and went back to wiping the counter. Sarah was looking out the window still when someone bumped into her from behind by accident. "Sorry. Oh hey, Sarah," the person greeted. She turned to see Mitch Ross. Mitch was a dorky Quentin Tarantino film fan who dreamed of becoming a filmmaker one day and made everyone laugh. "Hey Mitch, how've you been?" Sarah said with a smile. "Pretty good," Mitch beamed running his hand through his short blonde hair. "I got to film the graduation ceremony the other day and I was given a scholarship for film school by the principal herself." Sarah smiled happily and said "wow, that's great Mitch! So your dream came true huh?" Just then, Toby came up behind them and said "If you mean being the biggest nerd in school, then yes, he has finally realized his dream." Toby grinned at Mitch and shoved him forward. Mitch fell against the counter, knocking over a container of ketchup and accidentally squashing it with his elbow, sending a squirt of ketchup onto the floor near the deep fryer. "Toby, seriously, can't you just act like a civilized human being just for once?!" Kaitlyn said angrily, punching him on the shoulder.
"Nah, he's too busy being a show-off to understand us smart people," someone called from the kitchen. Everyone looked in and saw Darel Thompson, another one of Toby, Sarah and Jordan's friends, turning the stoves on. Darel's short buzz-cut dark brown hair shone softly with light perspiration, and his light brown eyes sparkled as he grinned and, setting both stoves to 350 degrees, said "no one's gonna go off and have fun 'till I get off my shift. I clock out in ten minutes." He set down a small pot of oil next to the sizzling deep fryer and pointed to the clock. It read ten to midnight. "Come on, Darel, that's not fair." Darel turned around to face Aiden Welch, one of the other guys working the kitchen, who walked up to the meat processor with a big chunk of what looked like ham. Aiden was the school outcast, with black spiky hair and piercings on his bottom lip and ears. He placed the meat onto the machine, set the speed to 400 rpm and started it up, then got busy cutting meat. He sighed and said, "I thought you were going to help me out this shift. I don't get out 'til two a.m and Ted and Leo don't get here 'til one. I'm gonna be by myself without help for a whole hour. " Aiden slid the blade over the meat and slices fell away from the chunk neatly onto a small pile next to the machine, the blade buzzing. Darel laughed and said "What, you don't think you'll be able to handle it? Nah, bro, I ain't plannin' on stayin' here all night with your creepy ass." He reached up to the shelf above him and turned on the radio, which began blaring loud rock music. As Darel fumbled with the volume knob, he accidentally knocked over a container with kitchen utensils in it. One of them, a small knife, fell off the shelf, blade first, and was buried in a small rubber hose that was connected from the stoves to the gas tanks outside the restaurant.
As he struggled to turn the volume down, Aiden laughed, and Darel finally managed to turn down the music. Sarah started to feel a bit uneasy and felt a small, cold draft, as if someone walked past her and lightly brushed her. She shivered and saw the meat fall away from the meat cutter Aiden was working, the machine making a slight whir each time the blade cut into the meat. "Aiden, you said you were going to get off early so we could go home together," a girl from one of the tables had spoken. Sarah looked over and saw Tammy Willis, Aiden's punk girlfriend sitting in one of the booths near the window. "I know," Aiden grumbled, "but the manager said I gotta work part of the graveyard shift tonight." Darel snickered. "Goody two-shoes," he muttered and started walking back to one of the stoves, unaware of the ketchup on the floor. As Aiden kept slicing the meat, he felt a small droplet of water fall on his head. He looked up, wondering where the drop came from and saw a small trickle of water streaming out from one of the air condition vents, falling onto him and the meat cutter. "Ah, damn it… just what we need. A faulty air condition system..."
As he studied the ceiling, Darel stepped onto the ketchup. Just as he did, there was a loud pop from Aiden's machine and it suddenly sped up. The blade began spinning at a very high rate, sending meat flying all over the kitchen. "What the hell?!" Aiden cried. He had both hands on the handle of the cutter, trying to get it under control. "Aiden!" Tammy cried and got up from the table, running to Aiden. "What the fu-" Darel started as he jerked his head towards Aiden, startled by the pop, then slipped on the ketchup and fell backwards, his head falling right into the vat of scalding grease, which had been boiling in the deep fryer. "Darel!" Kaitlyn screamed. Jordan spun around and, shocked, gaped at Darel thrashing his arms, trying to pull his head out of the deep fryer, but to no avail, due to the ketchup on the floor, making slick. As he thrashed around, his thick chained necklace got caught in the grillwork at the bottom of the deep fryer, preventing him from lifting his head. Jordan ran to help Darel and yelled back, "Call nine one one! Kaitlyn, come help me!" Mitch and Toby were stunned. "Holy crap!" Mitch shouted. Toby ran to the phone on the counter, trying to dial the emergency number. Darel was still thrashing, his throat sputtering and gurgling sounds of pain escaping from him, as the grease slowly melted his skin. Just then, his arm knocked off the pan of oil from the counter, spilling it onto the floor and over the other stoves, as Kaityln was running over to help. The two stove tops suddenly went up in a blaze and startled Kaitlyn, causing her to slip on the oil and fall sideways. As her her chin connected with the edge of the counter, there was a sickening crack from her neck snapping. On her way down, her right hand fell onto the knife holder near the edge of the counter, flinging the knives into the air and towards the front counter. Sarah screamed and ducked as the knives flew over her. Mitch dropped as well.
Toby, who was speaking frantically to the dispatcher, looked up just as the knives struck him. The flying knives buried themselves in his chest and face, sending him stumbling back a couple of steps, and then down to the floor with a loud thud. Sarah screamed and Mitch, frozen at first with a look of horror on his face, ran to Sarah, got her to her feet and pulled her away from Toby. Meanwhile, Aiden and Tammy fought with the meat cutter, trying to get it under control. Just then, the meat cutter gave a sudden jerk to the left, causing Aiden bump into Tammy, which sent her flying into one of the burning stoves. As she fell forward, the flaming stove top exploded, the blast catching her directly in her face, obliterating it completely. "TAMMY!" Aiden yelled, watching her lifeless body slump to the floor, and held on as the meat cutter jerked back and forth wildly.
The blast from the stove sent a shard of metal flying. Mitch, who was trying to console Sarah, never saw the sharp metal coming. It sliced through his neck, completely severing his head from his body. As his blood spurted onto Sarah, who was now shrieking in horror, Aiden slipped on the oil on the floor as the machine jerked him once more, and fell forward onto the meat processor, the spinning blade tearing into his chest and sending chunks of human flesh and meat into the air. Aiden screamed in agony as the machine began to make a high pitched whining sound. There was a sickening spluttering sound as the blade ripped into Aiden's body, an intense fountain of gore splattering all over the kitchen floor and the counter in front of Sarah. He squeezed his eyes closed in pain, and cried out, blood pouring from his mouth. Jordan, who was knocked onto the floor, saw all this in horror. Darel's body had finally fallen on the floor, after the chain broke, his face completely melted off. His skull had browned slightly due to the heat of the grease, his eyes now pouring out of their sockets in a milky, white ooze. Jordan got up as the flames began licking the walls and turning the kitchen into a hellish inferno. Sarah, sobbing uncontrollably, saw him as he stepped over Darel's body and shouted "GET OUT! THE FIRE IS GOING TO MAKE THE GAS TANKS EXPLODE!" Jordan, trying to avoid the flames, made it as far as the second stove, just as the back of the kitchen exploded and sent one of the small refrigerators flying towards him. He turned to see the fridge sailing through the air and yelled as it land on him, crushing him against the front counter. Sarah screamed once more, as she scrambled over the counter and tried to roll the fridge off of him. Just then, there was one final explosion, as the gas tanks caught flame and blew. Sarah looked up just in time to the see the flames rushing towards her, felt the intense heat, and squeezed her eyes shut. She screamed one final time.
"Sarah!" Sarah opened her eyes. The kitchen was normal. There was no fire or debris, no body parts flying anywhere. She spun to her right and saw Kaitlyn standing next to her, a worried look on her face. "Are you okay? I was calling you. Me and Toby are here." Sarah, wide eyed and breathing hard looked around. Everyone was alive still. She saw Mitch walk in through the other door and Tammy sitting at one of the booths, texting someone on her phone. "Hey guys, guess what?" Mitch said, after spotting Sarah and the others near the counter. He walked over to them excitedly. Sarah peered into the kitchen and saw Darel turn on the radio. The station began playing the same song, and Sarah watched as Darel knock over the container by accident while fumbling with the knobs on the radio and began shivering. "Hey what's the matter?" Kaitlyn said, putting her hand on Sarah's shoulder. Sarah turned and looked at Toby and Mitch, who were arguing lightly. She turned and saw Aiden walking to the meat cutter with the chunk of meat. She looked up at the ceiling and saw a small drop of water fall from the vent and onto the meat cutter. Sarah yelled "AIDEN, DON'T TURN THE MACHINE ON!" Toby and Mitch were startled by Sarah's sudden cry. Aiden, startled as well, slipped and bumped into the machine, dropping the meat on the floor. He cursed softly and looked at Sarah with a glare. "Now look what you made me do," he said bitterly. "The manager is gonna freak when he finds out we wasted a whole bunch of meat." Tammy, who looked up startled when Sarah shouted, started laughing and said, "The girl's got a screw loose in her head." Sarah looked at her, now with tears in her eyes and fear holding her in a death grip. "We're all going to die! We have to get out of here right now!" she cried.
Jordan looked up from cleaning the counter and said "What are you talking about, Sarah?" Sarah was shaking and sobbing quietly. "We all have to leave right now or we'll die! The restaurant is going to explode, and all of us are going to die here!" Toby, who had stopped arguing with Mitch when she yelled, turned to her and said "Hey, chick, calm yourself, nothings happening, look." He pointed to the kitchen and suddenly yelled "Darel, watch out for that ketchup!" Darel stopped in midstep and looked down at the small bit of ketchup on the floor. "Oh, crap man, that's dangerous! Thanks for the heads up." He bent down and wiped up the ketchup, then looked at the clock. "Five 'till midnight! Boo yah, Time to clock out!" He strode over to the time puncher and clocked out. "Hey hey hey!" Aiden started, as he was cleaning up the meat from the floor, "Come on man, hold up, you can't just leave me by myself to work tonight!" Darel slid off his apron and hung it on one of the hangers near the time puncher, ignoring him. "DAREL!" Aiden was yelling angrily as he walked out of the kitchen. "Let's get going," Darel said softly as he walked out of the kitchen and past Sarah and Jordan. "GODDAMNIT, DAREL, WAIT!" Aiden angrily threw his apron on the counter next to the deep fryer, unaware that it fell on the pan of grease, and slowly started sliding off. As Darel pushed open the doors to the entrance, Aiden followed him out angrily. "What the hell is your problem?!" Aiden shouted after everyone walked into the parking lot. "You cannot just walk out on your shift, you idiot!" Darel turned around angrily and said softly "What did you just call me, you freak?" Aiden stood defiantly in Darel's face and said "You ain't def, retard. I said-" At that moment, the restaurant's windows blew out and everyone was knocked to the ground from the blast, as glass and debris fell around them. Sarah looked up as the restaurant exploded, the flames leaping into the night sky, bathing everything close by in an orange glow. Everyone was on the floor staring at it, stunned, then looked at Sarah. Sarah, speechless, turned and looked at everyone, then slowly started sobbing. Jordan Silently pulled her to his chest and she started crying harder. As the night was aglow with the orange light from the flames, police sirens and ambulances were heard, howling through the night, like a wounded animal.