Chapter Eighteen

Party on the Dance Floor

"Who turned off the lights?"

"What's going on!?"

"Something's wrong!"

As the dance floor was plunged into darkness, the goons started to panic. They didn't have much time to, though, before the lights suddenly flicked back on but this time they were as bright as they could go. The intense lights crashed down upon the open eyes of the people on the dance floor, causing them to yell out and cover their eyes in pain.

Then something harsh and loud burst out over the speakers set up around the club. It was dance music that pumped and pulled at the atmosphere, causing the disorientation to increase to an almost painful standard.

With the music and the lights of the club bouncing back and forth, Ethan Mayfair could only clutch his head in pain, beckoning towards the control booth. "TURN THAT SHIT OFF!" He roared, his voice nearly disappearing under the loud volume of the music. It was turned on to full, smashing their eyes with harsh noise. Ethan turned to look back at the three visitors and didn't even have time to gasp before a sharp elbow made contact with his nose, dropping him with ease.

Bridge stood over the gang leader, seemingly unaffected by the lights and the music. He quickly fished in the jacket of Ethan, pulling out the pistol and throwing it as hard as he could into the corner of the room. He made to move towards one of the bigger goons, but something hard hit into the back of his leg. Bridge cursed as he fell to one knee, the word lost amongst the torrent of sound.

Samuel Mayfair was swinging his pipe around wildly without seeing where he was aiming. To his drunk mind, the music must have felt like it was splitting his skull around. The hit to Bridge's knee had only been a lucky one – if not a painful one.

While Bridge was forced to avoid wild pipe swings, Sabrina had made her way to the first of the two females. One had taken out a small penknife but had her eyes squeezed shut to avoid the intense light. Sabrina grabbed the shoulders of the woman and threw her across the nearest table, sending her and the knife sprawling. The other female had managed to get her eyes open and she spotted Sabrina, a grimace crossing her face. It was clear the pounding music was hurting. However, she still raised her fists to Sabrina. Sabrina just stood across from her, trying to filter out the lights and the music, although that was a task in of itself.

Ruby, on the other hand, had been half-blinded by the music and she couldn't hear a single thing. She had been to many a rock concert but she was worried her eardrums had finally ruptured. Despite this, she crawled forward towards where Corey had been tied. The sound had obviously woken him judging by his pained and confused expression on his face, his eyes wide open. Ruby managed to get behind the chair and worked at the ropes.

Then all of a sudden the music stopped and the lights dimmed down. The silence was almost painful in its own way after all that noise. Nobody moved. Well, nobody except for Sabrina and Bridge, who acted with ruthless efficiency. Bridge went for Samuel, Ruby saw, with a slight limp. However he weaved by an errant pipe swing and clocked Samuel hard on the nose, the same way he had knocked down the leader. The drunk man collapsed and Bridge grabbed the pipe with his long slender hands, clenching it tightly.

As the remaining woman grimaced at the sudden silence, Sabrina took a step forward and grabbed the woman's arm, twisting it behind her back and wrenching it hard. The woman cried out in pain but Sabrina showed no sympathy as she grabbed a fistful of hair and slammed the woman's head hard on a nearby table. Ruby was shocked. Why could these two just be like this? This was real life, people didn't act like this, right?

One of the larger men let out a roar and reached for Bridge. Bridge just swung the pipe with brutal effectiveness, shattering the man's knee in one strike. As soon as the man dropped to his knees, Bridge bashed the pipe across the man's head. Seeing such a big man go down just like that honestly scared Ruby. Bridge wasn't just a musician – he couldn't be. He was a monster.

The remaining three gang members on the dance floor decided to gather together, drawing out crude weapons. The big one had a scary looking pair of knuckle dusters, one weasel had a sharp looking knife and the other had what looked to be a screwdriver. They had finally gotten some measure of control over their senses and started towards Sabrina, who they deemed an easier target than Bridge.

Ruby gulped. What kind of people were these? No-one really carried around weapons like this, did they? She was extremely worried about Sabrina but forced herself to focus on the tight knots binding Corey to the chair. She had to make sure he was safe. Since she couldn't fight it was all she could do. Nearly there, Ruby didn't even realize Ethan Mayfair had stood up until his arm drew tight across her throat. Ruby was lifted up, her breath cut short.

"Everyone stop!" He roared, his face covered in crimson from Bridge's blow. Bridge merely glanced at Ruby as if he wasn't too affected, but he did stop moving to help Sabrina. The three goons looked at their leader with smiles, staying surrounded around Sabrina. Samuel slowly stood up in a drunken stupor, anger carved into his face. Sabrina could only stare at Ethan with Ruby in his arms, a chill running through her chest. "You, girl, and you, big man. Stop! Or I'll kill this girl!"

"Don't-" Sabrina started but Ethan tightened his grip, causing Ruby's eyes to widen.

"SHUT IT!" Ethan panted after yelling, his shoulders heaving. "I don't know who you think you are… But I've had enough! You two think you're some kind of action heroes, huh?" Ethan spat on the floor. "Samuel, feel free to do what you like with that guy. I don't care what you do." Ethan stared at Bridge as Samuel started moving. "You react in any way, I snap this scrawny neck as easy as a twig, you hear me?"

Bridge frowned but didn't move. He just stared at Samuel and true to Ethan's words, didn't move a muscle as Samuel sent a heavy fist into Bridge's stomach. Bridge gasped in pain but remained standing. Samuel drove another fist and yet another into the stomach before Bridge finally collapsed to his knees, wheezing.

"How'd you like that, big man? Huh? Think you're all that!?" Samuel grabbed the pipe from where it had dropped to the floor, testing its weight. "Have this!" He swung the pipe like a bat, hitting Bridge hard in the arm. This time Bridge actually cried out as the weapon smashed into him, the pain running over his body in sharp electric jolts.

"And you three," Ethan continued, his grip loosening slightly on Ruby. "Give her a lesson."

With that, the three men converged on Sabrina. Sabrina gritted her teeth staring at Ruby and her pleading eyes. She knew Ruby wanted her to fight but Sabrina couldn't do that, couldn't risk Ruby's life like that.

When the fist of the big man hit her, knuckle-duster and all, Sabrina fell to the floor, blood already welling out of her mouth. Ruby let out a horrified shout but Ethan quickly tightened his grasp again, cutting off the sound. With Sabrina down on the floor, the three men started viciously kicking her. It was all Sabrina could do to curl up into a ball and protect her head, taking the brunt of the blows to her legs and back.

Samuel gleefully watched this before turning his attention back to Bridge. "Let's see what you're hidin' under there!" He grabbed a fistful of bandages and tore them straight off Bridge's face. As soon as the bandages were gone, Samuel stepped back in revulsion. "JESUS! What the hell happened to you!?"

The skin on the right side of Bridge's face had gone stiff and a low red from where he had been burned. The right side of his lips curled up into an almost freakish smile, the muscles stretched and taught. His right eyebrow was completely gone and the hair that remained on that side was fused to his skull. Bridge looked absolutely horrifying, but he just smiled at Samuel. "Scare you that easy, do I?" He spat on the floor, clutching his arm in pain. "Do what you will, coward."

Samuel hefted the pipe over his shoulder. "I'll crush your skull into powder for what you did to me!" Much like Ethan, Samuel's nose had broken, blood running down his jaw and the skin around the top of his nose already turning blue and black. Just as he started to swing, something stabbed hard into his back. He let out a scream of pain, the pipe dropping with a clatter.

"What-?" Ethan started to say but was distracted but a sharp pain in his leg. The pain was shock enough to cause him to let go of Ruby, allowing her to collapse to the floor, coughing. Ethan turned to find Corey with a mouthful of jeans and leg, his arms loosened but still tied. He had thrown himself off the chair but was evidently still feeling the effects of the blow to the head he had taken. "Get… the… fuck… off!" He slammed his fist hard on top of Corey's head. Corey cried out in pain, falling away from Ethan. "Jesus…"

He turned to see the situation with Samuel and took a step back, aghast. Samuel was on the floor, a pair of long scissors sticking out of his chest. Standing over him like a demon was the blood-drenched figure of another young girl with a black jacket. She was breathing hard, her eyes wide. The blood, strangely enough, didn't seem to be from Samuel or the girl. But wait… where had Bridge gone?

The answer came from the side as the metal pipe was swung low, catching Ethan Mayfair right in the groin. He collapsed with barely a groan to his knees. Bridge watched Ethan for a moment before swinging the pipe again, this time aiming the long screw end at Ethan. It caught the man right in the eye, causing him to fall backwards and scream, blood gushing down his face. Bridge dropped the pipe and turned towards Sabrina but it seemed he needn't have worried.

When Ethan and Samuel had been attacked, the three had taken their eyes off of Sabrina and that had proven to be a mistake. She had knocked both little ones out by cracking their heads together, hard. The big man was also on the floor, his back against the wall with wild eyes flicking back and forth as he clutched a screwdriver that was stabbed into his neck.

Sabrina limped over to Ruby, betraying how much her body must have been hurting. She offered a hand to Ruby. "I'm sorry… about all of this."

Ruby shivered and shook. "What… What did you do?"

"I did what was necessary."

Ruby just grew pale and shook her head. "This is too-too much. Just… this is crazy… you and Bridge and… and even Lily…" She looked to Lily who was back to her carefree self, looking over Bridge as if she wasn't covered head to toe in blood. "How can you do that?! How can you just… be like that?"

"…You killed… some of them…" Corey croaked out from beside Ruby. "How could you… that's just…"

Sabrina didn't say a word. Ruby couldn't read if she regretted what she had done or not. She did know that she did it to protect Ruby. It was just that Ruby didn't know what to feel over those actions.

"…Who?" Corey slowly stood up, one hand clutching his head while the other used the bar to help himself up. "Who are you people? I mean..." He took a look around the room again, feeling sick. "…What have you done…?" He looked to Sabrina in his quest for an answer.

However, Sabrina wasn't able to answer in time.

Little did Lily know when it happened but when she had sent the music pulsing at full volume throughout the club, it had loosened old bolts on a particular speaker, standing above the bar. At the point Corey had stood, using the bar to help himself to his feet. And asking his question, the speaker was finally defeated by gravity, snapping from its loosened bolts. It fell hard and quick – but didn't hit anybody. Instead, it smashed through the shelves of alcohol lining the back wall behind the bar. As the bottles shattered into thousands of pieces, a good amount of the alcohol splashed against Corey's chest and face.

When the speaker smashed hard on the floor, it cracked in two, the electrical component tearing apart and sending sparks into the air. These sparks caught hold of the alcohol and without warning burst across the floor of the bar, spreading across the liquid. Then the alcohol on the bar caught fire, and in turn hit Corey's hand that was still on the bar. The fire travelled up his arm and engulfed his chest and head in flames.

Corey could only scream, stumbling back, batting away at his chest and face in a futile attempt to put out the fire.

No-one could do anything. Sabrina was clutching her leg, obviously in pain. Ruby was still on the floor, her eyes wide open in shock. Lily was supporting Bridge, who seemed more affected by the injuries to his arm and legs than he let on. Bridge's eye looked at the fire and he actually drew back, something Lily didn't fail to notice.

The screams of Corey grew shriller and louder before finally they shut off as if a switch had been turned. Corey fell to the floor, still burning, but deathly quiet.

The four survivors inside the club could only watch and listen as his flesh crackled and blackened. Ruby could feel her stomach heaving and turned away, trying to keep it in. Bridge stumbled backwards and fell heavily down into a nearby chair, surprising Lily.

"Bridge? What's wrong?!"

But Bridge didn't answer, just stared at the fire as if enraptured by the flames.

"Hah… Hah…" Ruby finally opened her eyes to look at Sabrina, who was panting heavily. "…Hah…"

"S-Sabrina…?"

"…I can't… do it… not again…" Sabrina wasn't talking to Ruby. Ruby wasn't exactly sure who Sabrina was talking to. "I can't!" With that final exclamation, Sabrina suddenly ran off at a full sprint, leaving Bridge, Lily, and Sabrina alone with the burning corpse of Corey Walker.