Terror in downtown

"Too bad the cat ran away." The teenage girl sighed, rolling her pencil between her fingers while starring into the air. "I would have loved to give the cute one a home. He would have been a good match for our Milagro."

Her companion rolled her eyes in exasperation. "Do you still think about it, Claire-bear? Yes, it was cute and funny too that the cat wore glasses. But you said you wanted to practice the lines for the audition. And until now you haven't really done so."

"You're right," Claire admitted. "But I..." She trailed off.

Having waited for several moments, Darci asked, "Yeah? What's got you tongue-tied?" She leaned forward, scrutinizing her for a while, before leaning back again. Pointing at the plate in front of Claire, she asked with big pleading eyes, "By the way, do you still want your fries? I'm afraid I'll have to eat yours too."

"It's those days again, huh?" Seeing Darci nod bashfully, Claire slid her plate to her without comment, smiling.

"Are you sure?"

"Go ahead and eat. I'm not hungry anymore anyway." While Darci eagerly cleared the food, Claire sullenly glanced at her watch, then sighed. "Mom stood me up again. I'm curious what excuse it will be this time - a meeting with a colleague that wouldn't end, an urgent call over which she forgot about our dinner date, an emergency with Enrique that papa couldn't solve on his own..."

"I hear you, sister. Parents can be quite cruel. I mean, I'm really not like Mary when it comes to boys, but when my dad has his way, I won't be allowed to date anyone until I'm 21. The other day he showed me a statistic about how many boys our age are delinquent and already in juvie, have a drinking and or drug problem, and are unlikely to graduate."

"Carajo!" Claire exclaimed, unable to stifle a grin. "That's some heavy artillery he's bringing out to scare you away from the opposite sex."

"Oh yeah." Laughing, she shook her head. "But what about Mr. Shakespeare now? You-"

"Good evening, Miss Nuñez, Miss Scott," an even voice interrupted her, and she looked up in surprise at the person who had appeared at their table.

"Oh, hello, Mr. Strickler," she greeted her teacher. "Are you eating out as well?"

"Ah, no, Miss Scott. I was merely out for a walk. I wonder, though, if you should be here so late. After all, tomorrow is a normal school day."

"Don't worry, Mr. Strickler," Claire placated him. "We won't be here much longer. My mom was going to join us, but something came up for her."

"Well then. I recommend you hurry home," he replied before looking at their bikes parked nearby. "In the dark, you never know if someone is lurking around the next corner."

'Okay, that's a little creepy,' Claire thought. She didn't know why but a cold shiver ran down her spine at his words. Seeking reassurance and warmth, she hugged herself and tried to rub her arms. Glancing at Darci, she saw that her friend was still looking at Mr. Strickler while shoving the last fry into her mouth. And Claire was honestly glad about that, because now they had every reason to really pay and go home. The day wasn't getting any better, after all. Sure, seeing Jim again after their brief conversation in front of the school had been unexpectedly pleasant. He always looked at her with such a gentle smile and dreamy gaze...That he had pressed this unusual cat into her arms with an absolutely charming and totally innocent looking smile was... also unexpected. But what was especially odd was that the cat had felt funny. Well, not the cat itself, but the feeling she had had when she stroked the cat. As if many small electric flashes were passing from the tips of its fur to her fingers. And Claire could have sworn that the animal had been looking at her with eyes that were far too intelligent for a common feline.

Ever since then she had felt strange. And the fact that her mother had stood her up again hadn't lifted her spirits one bit.

"Come on, Claire. Pack up while I go pay."

"Yeah." With a quick nod, she slipped Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet and her pencil into her bag.

Mr. Strickler, who was still hanging around, watched her. "I see you're practicing for the audition," he commented. "I assume you'd like to audition for the role of Juliet?"

"Yes, I would, Mr. Strickler. Last year my best wasn't good enough for the female lead, but after Miss Janet's model student moved away, I believe I have a real chance this year." And it just had to work this time if she didn't want to see the disappointed look on her mother's face again.

"Well, I certainly wish you good success there," he replied amiably.

"Thank you." All packed up, she fully turned to look at him, but his gaze was elsewhere, darting steadily back and forth as if searching for something outside the cone of light cast by Mr. Benoit's lighting.

Frowning, Claire turned to also look at the slowly darkening shadows. But she could see nothing suspicious either in the direction of the movie theater, in the park in front of the museum, or in the street turning to the right.

Why was her teacher so nervous?

Then she remembered the statistics Darci's father had shown her. Maybe Mr. Strickler hadn't had overly nice post-sunset experiences in other cities and was now simply projecting his fears onto Arcadia as well.

'Well, at least one adult cares about me this evening...' she thought and waved to Darci when her friend came back outside, stowing her purse in her bag while walking.

"Next time I'll pay, don't forget it," she called to her, then turned to their teacher again as she pulled the key to her bike out of her jacket pocket. "Have a nice evening, Mr. Strickler. We'll see you tomorrow."

"I wish the ladies the same. Have a pleasant night's rest," he replied. But as he turned and slowly strolled away, he stopped in mid-motion after just a few steps.

"Mr. Strickler?" Claire was about to ask, but a noise like trash cans being knocked over in quick succession interrupted her before she could open her mouth. She glanced in the appropriate direction and saw glowing eyes coming toward her. Reflexively, she reached for Darci's arm.

When the eyes were joined by long thin arms, legs and pointed fangs flashing in a wide mouth, she let out a blood-curdling scream.

And she wasn't the only one; screams of terror abruptly ended the peaceful evening. A mere heartbeat later, there was indescribable chaos. People were fleeing in all directions, falling over each other or roughly pushing others aside in their panic to get away. The creatures kept coming, pouncing on everything that was moving. The ever-increasing crescendo of human screams and the hissing and growling and taunting cackles of the creatures kept Claire rooted to the spot. Not even the instinct of escape could make her move.

How long she stood there frozen like that, only ducking her head with startled yelps whenever one of these monsters got too close to her, she didn't know. Any sense of time had vanished along with the ability to think logically. Only when Darci disappeared from her view with a piercing shriek she managed to break out of her stupor. Quickly turning around to where her friend had last stood, she saw how one of these creatures had sat on her stomach and seemed to be sniffing at her shorts.

"Ew, that's gross!" screamed Darci, knocking the creature off herself with her helmet. "Don't sniff me, you gremlin! My shark days are something very personal!"

She was quickly back on her feet, but by then the creature was already leaping at her again - this time with a grim, murderous expression.

"DARCI!" shouted Claire, grabbing the first thing she could get her hands on. And so, without thinking, she swung a chair from Mr. Benoit's cafe and slapped it at the creature. With an ugly splash, all that was left a blink later was a green slimy puddle. Disgusted, she dropped the chair and backed away.

Suddenly, she was grabbed hard by the arm and pulled away. With a gasp she wanted to tear herself away, but the panicked sounding voice of her teacher made her forget this thought quickly.

"Listen to me, Miss Nuñez, you have to get away from here! Quickly! Drive away as fast as you can. I'll try to distract them."

"Mr. Strickler-"

"Run!" he shouted at her resolutely. But when his gaze drifted from her eyes to something behind her, and she could read nothing but naked panic in his eyes, it threatened to paralyze her again too. When the murderous hissing sounded directly behind her, her teacher pushed her away with more force than she would have ever given him credit for.

The impact on the street hurt like hell, but immediately, Darci was with her and helped her to her feet, so she couldn't even think about what abrasions she had received and where.

When the girls turned away to run, she heard screams of such agony that they would be forever etched in her memory. Not even needing to fight Darci's hold on her, they both turned around simultaneously. What they saw appeared very much like a horror scene: Mr. Strickler was lying on the ground, his arms crossed defensively in front of his face. Two creatures had already bitten into them. Three more were ignoring his cries of pain and feeble attempts at defense and rammed their fangs into his legs.

Suddenly, out of the blue, the air around her shook with a thunderous rumble that she could feel even in her feet. A long-drawn-out, rapidly growing cry filled with angry fervor enveloped her. A moment later, she was blinded by something very bright running around her. Claire needed a moment for her eyes to recover. Carefully squinting into the light, she tried to discern what was happening. What she then saw made her tune out everything happening around them.

A knight of sorts had appeared before her - a slender human-shaped figure, clad from head with two imposing horns to foot in silvery armor and a black material underneath, wielding an equally imposing truly broad broadsword and gliding it through the ranks of creatures with the smoothness like cutting through butter.

As if that knight's appearance had opened the gates to hell, they were now coming from all sides. When the creatures let go of her teacher and pounced on this knight, Claire rushed to Mr. Strickler who was also staring at the newcomer with wide-open eyes.

Before she could reach him, however, something heavy hit her in the back. Her momentum and the force of the impact caused her to stumble and fall. She felt her knees and palms getting hot and knew she had scraped them bloody on the hard surface. Darci called her name and Claire couldn't hold back the tears. But the pain was nothing compared to the terror she felt when, suddenly, a blurry hand with terribly long fingers pressed her head to the asphalt.

"Waka Chaka!" a voice that no doubt sounded gloating purred in her ear, and everything in Claire contracted fearfully when she saw the fangs approach her face.

"Waka Chaka yourself!" she heard a new voice shouting. From one moment to the next, with a startled yelp, the creature on top of her was gone and she was yanked up again.

This was a hug she knew. It was Darci's hands and arms embracing her from behind. But she had eyes only for the newcomer - she knew him!

Soft spoken, handsome and as flirty as ever - waiter Douxie from the cafe. Only there was nothing soft about him now. Wielding a broom like a sword, he took position in front of her and Darci with a grim face. And could this be the possibility? Next to him, she saw the glasses-wearing cat again which had bared its fangs with an even grimmer expression, as if it were about to breathe fire.

A strange feeling jumped up and down in Claire's chest; if she wasn't in such pain, she might have laughed out loud at the absurdity of the whole situation.

"Is there a really bad movie being made or what have we gotten ourselves into?" Darci shifted Claire's thoughts to reality and she knew she was only moments away from a hysterical fit as the weird feeling spread throughout her body.

"Hey," a somehow familiar sounding voice stole into her thoughts. Exhausted, Claire looked up and saw how the knight in shining white armor was just helping Mr. Strickler up and taking the few steps with him to their group thrown together by this chaos. Around them, the street was flooded with slimy puddles, but none of the creatures could be seen anywhere anymore. She then also noticed the silence that had fallen around them. Still, the fear-filled cacophony kept ringing in her ears.

"Who are you?" Mr. Strickler pressed out. He was breathing heavily and clenched his teeth.

Their rescuer turned to him but wasn't answering. Seconds dragged into a long moment before the knight slowly let go of her teacher, as if to make sure he could stand on his own. On the one hand, Claire found it fascinating to trace the barely visible lines on the visor that looked like eyes with her gaze. But on the other hand, the sight disturbed her because she didn't know who or what the knight was looking at!

"Thank you for helping the girls," the masculine sounding voice finally said. Then, he turned to Douxie, Darci and lastly Claire in turn. "Now you all need to help each other. The way is clear for now. Get to the hospital as soon as possible to get your injuries treated. I don't know if another horde will attack."

"What are these creatures?" Darci asked, hugging Claire a little tighter. "And yes, who are you? I want to know that too!"

At this question, a knot suddenly clenched in Claire's chest, making it hard for her to breathe, and at the same time threatening to burst with rage. As if that information was important right then and there. They were all safe for the moment, wasn't that all that mattered? Silent tears streamed down her cheeks and all Claire wanted to do was curl up in her bed and shut out the world. Never before had she felt so helpless...

"Who I am doesn't matter," the knight spoke and his head then turned toward Douxie, who was standing two steps away from their group. "Get them safely to the hospital."

Without another word, their rescuer limped away and Douxie stepped forward, eyes widening. Claire heard him mutter something that sounded like buckets and wondered if he felt sick and was going to throw up.

"Trollhunter!" another deep voice yelled from far too close, sounding like two stones grinding against each other.

They all turned at the same time to this new growling and when Claire saw who - what! Definitely what! - the voice belonged to, she thought for a second that she would now feel sick. But instead, her body slumped in Darci's arms when her mind couldn't take it anymore.