Chapter 9

Hanna

A squeak called my attention to the swinging door as Jason entered. I rolled my eyes. "Let me guess, I need to return the money?"

His eyes shifted from me to the ceiling above and then back to me. He pointed above. "Well it looks like there are cameras, so you might want to in case cops check them."

"Wait cameras?" I looked up and noticed four black domes built into the ceiling.

"There's got to be an office with a system back here somewhere." Jason nodded toward the back of the kitchen that was out of view behind a few storage units.

I took the lead past the right side of the prep table and we headed toward the back. Only a few feet from the end of the prep table, Jason pulled me to a halt just as a metal utensil clanked against the floor, and a grunt followed. My eyes fell on the tip of a pair of rough brown work boots that poked out from just behind the opposite side. We stepped backwards with Jason's hand still on my left arm and my hands slipped along the top of the prep table and cooking surfaces on either side of me. A groaned filled the air as a large tattooed man stood just at the end of the prep table and stepped before us. His head almost grazed the lights, and his muscular bulk made even Jason look like a mouse. The man wore the same contorted expression as those I'd faced earlier.

"Dude, were you sleeping on the floor?" I arched an eyebrow. "Because that shit is nasty!"

"Hanna!" Jason's grip tightened on my arm, almost like he was trying to pull me backwards.

The man advanced on us. His legs were so long, he didn't even have to run to be almost directly in front of us. I grabbed a metal bowl off the prep table and threw it at him, and he swatted it away like it was a fly. I pulled everything off the counters on either side of me and threw them at him one by one.

"Jason, run!" I yelled behind me as I tossed a basket of fries at the beast continuing to advance on us.

"What? Are you crazy?" He shouted back.

"Well duh!" I spotted a knife block just out of the corner of my eye on the right, and I stretched to grab one.

"I'm not leaving you!" He yelled over a growl emitted by the other man. The door squeaked open and I knew the others had entered after hearing everything.

"Oh my god!" Aria screamed.

"Guys, get out of here!" I shouted back. Jason must've noticed me reaching for the knife block because he jumped out and grabbed it and pulled two knives out of it at the same time as me. "What are you doing?" I shouted at him as he left me and ran around the prep table.

He didn't respond.

I kept backing away from the monstrous man and I took my knife by the blade and tossed it at him like I'd seen done in the movies countless times. He caught the knife in his hand and grinned with his sharp fangs barred down. He stepped toward me but then halted and let out a loud roar and reared back. He twisted and I spotted two knives dug to the hilt between his shoulder blades, and Jason stood just behind him. The man twisted and swung out towards Jason with the knife in his hand, nicking him in the arm.

"Jason!" Everyone of us girls shouted at once.

I acted almost too quick for my brain to think. I grabbed two more knives from the knife block, and I charged toward the man as he was mid-turn. I leapt up onto the prep table and ran toward them. As I approached, I motioned outward and sliced through a chunk of flesh in his neck. I jerked the same knife upward and stabbed it into the side of his head to the hilt, and I used brief lapse of time that I had to twist and launch myself at his chest, putting myself between him and Jason, and I stabbed the second knife into his chest. The man still remained whole. His thick hand wrapped around my throat and picked me up even further in the air.

A smile spread across his face. "Close but no bite."

He reeled back and launched me through the air with enough strength that I lost my breath. I could distantly hear the others shout my name, but sound peeled away at such a fast rate that for a time I swore I was deaf. Then I crashed into the top of a metal shelving unit and it collapsed under the force, and I lay in the rubble. If I was out long, I have no memory of it. I saw the creature continue to swing out toward Jason, who managed to dodge most of the attacks, and I looked around me to the debris from the shelves. Toilet paper, paper towels, gloves, and other supplies littered the floor. I noticed the broken posts of the shelf and felt a light bulb switch on in my head. I grasped one of the broken posts and I army crawled across the floor to the edge of the opposite side of the prep table. I continued while the bestial man's attention was focused on Jason until I reached a few inches adjacent from where they fought. I leapt up and slid across the prep table and when I landed behind the man, I raised my post to stab him in the back. The man swung around on me and block the post. He swung out at me, facing me entirely with his body, and I blocked him as best as I could with help of the post and dodging his blows. I launched an attack, and he caught the post in his hand. He lifted me up off the ground once more as I clung to the middle of the post, but then a nearly identical broken post pierced through his chest from his back and stopped only inches from my stomach. The man fell away to dust without even a cry of defeat, and I fell to the ground with a clank from the post I still held. Jason stood only inches from where the demon became dust, and his chest heaved while he regained his breath.

"Thanks for that," I said between deep breaths of my own while I remained on the floor.

He gave a single nod and stepped toward me with his hand outstretched. "I thought you were going to yell at me for saving your ass."

I smirked and took his hand, and he helped pull me up to stand. "Well I could've done it on my own, but I appreciate the help."

He rolled his eyes and shook his head, though I swore a faint smile played over his lips.

"Are you guys okay?" Emily asked and rushed towards us, followed by the others.

I shrugged. "I'll be fine."

"Jason," Alison pushed past me to her brother's side. "You got cut. It looks bad."

He waved his hand. "It's fine. Let's go check the cameras."

"Cameras?" Spencer chimed.

I pointed up. "It's darker in the bar area, so we didn't notice them in there. Jason pointed them out to me in here, you know, the giant decided it was hungry for flesh."

"Come on." Jason turned and led the way behind the storage areas and a door to the right stood propped open, showing a small office. A screen with multiple sections hung off a wall, and Jason stepped forward to reach behind it to use the mouse sitting on the box behind it and navigate the system. He rewound the system and set it so we could watch from the bar area. We all watched in silence with gaped jaws as we watched the bikers and tattooed men lay down on the ground and what appeared to be blood pool around them just before I'd turned around to face off the men who attacked me, and then we watched the same men, after we walked out of the bar, stand back up and clean up the blood before going to the kitchen and seemingly disappearing after grabbing the bartender and dragging him with them.

"Fuck!" I shouted.

"Wait! So those guys are part of it?" Aria asked.

"I don't get it." Spencer shook her head. "You were way outnumbered and you don't know what you're doing. They could've killed you if they wanted."

"So why didn't they?" Emily's dark eyes remained locked on the video.

"Maybe there's more to this prophecy thing," Alison looked level at me.

I sighed. "Fine. I'll go listen to what she has to say." I pushed out of the office and back into the kitchen and continued walking. "Come on, before I change my mind."