Its 11 o'clock and the Sloonerville Diner has now closed, and the after shift party has just began. Drinks are being poured for those over 21 and all the stress from work is starting to go away.

There's a counter infront of the bar with a large room for tables. Many parts of the walls have big glass windows in which the sunset is barely showing through to the west. The kitchen in the back has only one door that leads into the diner's main room.

All of the employees are present, plus one or two regular customers.

---

Charlie stood behind the counter, and grabbed as many drinks as he could in both hands. "So, whose up for some drinks!" Putting the drinks on the counter, Charlie turned on the jukebox and sat down to enjoy a coke and rum.

Taylor looked up from over his apron, a stack of bills in his hand. "Not yet, cowboy. I still gotta count my tips." He held his hand out in front of him and obsessively began to turn all the bills to be in the same way. "Pass em' round. I'm sure some of the other kids want a taste."

Lewy washed his hands and left the bathroom, his top button to his shirt was unbuttoned after the day of working. He walked out to the almost empty diner. He walked in to the room that Charlie was in just as he asked if anyone wanted a drink. "I'll have one." He said, walking up to him.

Charlie nodded his head and slid over a glass on the counter. "So how was your shift Lewy? Any good tips?" Taking a sip of his drink, Charlie leans against the counter and starts to relax.

Lewy picked up the glass, and pored some coke."some good ones, couple of cheap people today though."He said with a small laugh."But, yeah it was pretty good."He said, taking a sip of his drink.

Whitney rubbed her eyes as she tugged off her nametag, having just recently escaped from the backroom. She wasn't exactly tired; rather, Whitney was covering up an annoyed look. Her phone bill looked like it was going to be late again, so she couldn't help getting a little grumpy at the waiter counting his tips in front of her. Hopefully they'd actually promote her from hostess one of these days. "Charlie, you wouldn't mind ignoring my ID for once and giving me something good to drink, right?" she asked, her voice bordering on a whine.

Sarai leaned around the corner and took off her apron with a sigh. She hung it on a peg as she called out, “I hope that I don't overhear anyone asking for something that they're not supposed to have.” Sarai ducked into to the walk-in fridge and pulled out a pitcher of virgin pina coladas that she'd prepared earlier just in case a similar situation arose. With the flair of a professional bartender she prepared the drinks for the younger members of the group.

Lewy looked over at Sarai."What you make?"He asked.

Taylor pocketed the tips and pulled his apron off tiredly. "Most of my customers were cheap today." He said, quietly, and pressed his index finger and thumb to the bridge of his nose. He stopped though, and pushed his hand to his neck, pulling his hemp necklace with a peace sign charm and the african coin on a leather cord out of his shirt. He let them drop on his chest and he grinned. "Now that I'm in my own element..." He reached for a drink.

Surpressing a grumble by biting her lip, Whitney took the proferred pina colada. She was the only underage worker there at the moment, the remaining customer wouldn't care, and she didn't see the problem with just looking the other way. But she quickly shrugged it off and sat at the counter, sipping her drink and listening to the conversation. "Where'd you get that?" she found herself asking Taylor, pointing to his necklace.

"I am gonna get some fresh air."Lewy said, standing and headed for the door, he opened it and shut it behind him when he exited, leaning against the door, not going anywhere, watching the people walk by. His sleeves were rolled up and tie was untied around his neck, as the night time breeze hit his skin. It wasn't cold, and it wasn't hot, it was the perfect temperature, But he had a chill in his spine, like something was wrong. He just shook it off ignoring it. He took out a cigarette, but then put it away, deciding to head back inside."It is to cold."He said, getting the strange chill again. He walked in tot he bathroom and ran some hot water, splashing some on his face feeling the work day hit him."Damn overtime."He said, heading back out and leaning against a wall in the room everyone else was in.

Taylor picked up the longer necklace and held it out to Whitney. "My mother used to travel to third world countries. She was the type of person who would 'adopt' the children from Africa, as seen on T.V. She made me do it, too." Taylor was grinning, looking at the necklace and then to Whitney. "She went to Africa, and met the children we had 'adopted'. One of the mothers carved this for me." He smiled, and then looked up at her again. "Why the upset face?"

Charlie sighed when Whitney asked for a real drink but still had a slight smile on his face. Thinking about the very low probability that she would get caught, Charlie motioned for Whitney to come to him when Sarai wasn't looking. Not to attract the attention of Sarai, not because she was his boss which she wasn't but because Charlie didn't want any drama tonight, he took a clean washing rag over the liquor, waiting for Whitney.

She smiled at Lewy after he came back inside and answered, “Virgin pina coladas. Though I don't think they are going to be virgins for much longer.” Used to multitasking in the kitchen Sarai saw what Charlie was doing. She decided against snatching the drink away from the younger girl. Instead she just sighed and exited from behind the counter with a diner mug. She collapsed into one of the vinyl booths near the front door. Curling up with the herbal tea and settled her back against the window.
While she waited for the hot liquid to cool to a drinkable temperature Sarai removed the elastic band that kept her honey brown hair in a tight French braid. She shook it out so that it cascaded in waves down to her shoulders. As she did so she felt the hair stand up on the back of her neck as if she were cold. A shiver ran through her body and all her senses sharpened. “I'm going to go check the back door, I don't think that anyone locked it tonight.”
Sarai extracted herself from the booth and went to check it. When she entered the kitchen she noticed that there were goose bumps on her arms and chafed them in an attempt to make them go away. To her relief she found that the door to the back had indeed been closed, though someone had forgotten to lock it completely. Pulling out her set of keys she fumbled for the correct one. Finally she found it and locked the door. Even after she did so the uneasy feeling did not go away.
As she returned to the dining room Sarai made sure to grab her jacket. In the midst of doing so she failed to realize the Lewy was trapping one of the sleeves against the wall. Seeing that he was sensing the same things she quietly confided, ”Something isn't right. I don't know exactly what, but it's giving me the creeps.”

"Hm?"He said realizing he was on the sleeve, and moved off it."Yea, it feels somethings a miss, but maybe its the workday finally catching up, was pretty busy today."He explained, even though she probably wasn't so naive to believe that."Hey,lets see whats on the TV."Lewy suggested and he walked over to the table the remote was sitting on and turned on the small TV that was hanging on a corner closest to where they were sitting. He hit the power button but nothing went no."Hm?"He turned it around, seeing the back of the remote was missing and one battery hanging halfway out."Oh."He said, almost in a relieved tone, as the chills still crept his spine. Lewy pushed the battery in and clicked power again, this time you heard the TV turn on and there was a football game on.The announcer talking in the background indicated it was just highlights."That was a good game."Lewy said, trying to distract his mind from the feelings.

Charlie looked over to Sarai and Lewy, wondering why they were acting a little strange. "Everything alright over there? Are you guys cold?"

"Yeah, im ok, a little chilly..."He said, pulling his sleeves all the way down and buttoning them."Just a long day."He sat down in a chair and watched the TV.

"Strange, I'm not cold." Taylor muttered, standing and walking closer to idly watch the highlights of the football game. "But I worked hard tonight, I just might not have cooled off yet."

Whitney was getting a little tense. People were acting creeped out for absolutely no good reason and she was trying her best to not let it rub off on her. Grimacing slightly, she decided that maybe a drink was not the best way to go, so she shrugged at Charlie and acknowledged defeat to Sarai by sipping her virgin colada. "Guess I'm just tired," she said, finally answering Taylor. "Are we done cleaning up?"

"I hear you on that one." Taylor said, pushing the base of his palm on his jawline to try to pull his neck out of the kink it felt like it was in. He glanced around the room and nodded. "Look's like it." He smiled. "Loosen up, whatever's bothering you is sure to pass at some point, right?"

"As soon as I get away from here, yeah," Whitney muttered, too low for anybody to be able to hear. She sighed and rested her chin on the counter, colada almost forgotten. Whitney felt generally disgruntled at this point. She looked outside, checking the weather for her ride home, remembering that she needed to get the brakes on her bike checked.

Taylor sat lightly on one of the bar stools and leaned back, one of his elbows on the counter. "What is it that's bothering you? Other than a long day at work, and Sarai shooting you down from Alochol.."

Whitney bit her lip from her head's position on the counter. She didn't really want to say anything, because the people she was talking about might take offense. Or even take notice. "I dunno, kind of tense around here right now, that's all," she muttered, avoiding any sort of eye contact with Taylor. "'s just kinda weird."

Taylor noticed that she wasn't making eye contact with him. He sort of frowned and felt bothersome. "Well, if you ever... Y'know, need someone to talk to, or need help or anything; Let me know." He patted her on the shoulder and got up, leaving her alone so he wouldn't bother her too much. He settled him self in one of the chairs and sipped the drink he had managed to get.

"Yeah are we finished? I need a nap." Lewy said wanting to go home and get this weird feeling out of his system with a good nights rest, and a shower.

A timid, soft knock sounded from the front door, interrupting with a barely audible sound. In the darkness beyond the door Cara stood, slightly trembling in the shadows. She wasn't afraid of the dark, but being outside at this hour frightened her. She knocked on the door, more urgently this time.

Charlie got up and answered the door as he finished his glass of coke and rum. "Oh hey Cara, how are ya doing? Come inside, the party just started."

Lewy stood up and followed Charlie, curious to who was at the door. His curiosity sometimes got the best of him, and he saw it was Cara. "Hey, You alright? You're shaking." Lewy noticed, he had a good eye for things like that.

Fingering the peace sign around his neck, Taylor watched Cara. He suddenly got a chill up the back of his neck, but he figured it was because the door just opened. He laid his head on the back of the chair he was sitting on and closed his eyes.

Sarai shrugged into her jacket and stepped back behind the counter. "Cara dear come over here and let me get you something. Coffee, tea? My goodness girl you look like you need to warm up." After that she began to bustle around to conceal her own rattled nerves.

"Ooh, make me a coffee too!" Whitney said, standing up and raising a hand as she was once again tempted by her new addiction. She hadn't started even liking coffee until working at this place. "And, if you want to, feel free to make it an Irish coffee," she said, daring to tease Sarai a little.

"Um..." She dragged her toe across the floor before following Charlie, her eyes downcast before she looked up finally at the list of soda, "I'll... just take a Dr. Pepper..." Cara edged over there with a cup, still not making eye contact with anyone lest she should blush. Since it was Charlie that had opened the door she was already slightly flushed. However, she managed to get some courage once she had gotten her soda and made her way over to Charlie, flashing him a small, sweet smile before looking around to everyone else.

"So..." Taylor was still fingering his peace sign, and he looked at everyone. "I kinda-sorta haven't had the chance to say hello to everyone yet." He waved jokingly through the room. "Hello everyoneeee."

"What did you have to drink?" Whitney asked Taylor, now suddenly suspicious that it was something alcoholic.

Sarai rolled her eyes and sighed with exasperation. What is it with these guys and alcohol? Shaking her head she poured a cup of coffee and gently slid it down towards Whitney. Noting Taylors odd behavior she muttered under her breath, “Boys! Is just me or as they get older they act younger?”

Taylor pouted in Sarai's direction, and said "I haven't had anything to drink. I just noticed that I'm sitting in this chair all by my lonesome and everyone's got some one to talk to." He laughed. "No drinking for me."

Whitney snatched her coffee and swung her leg up and over her chair, so she was sitting in it backwards. But instead of looking at Taylor, her eyes were drawn to the outside. "Sure is dark out," she muttered to nobody but herself. She wasn't afraid of the dark, per se, just what she couldn't see in it. Her nightvision wasn't the greatest.

"Seeing that it's nighttime, I assume so." Taylor said, noticing that she hadn't said anything to him other than assuming that he was drunk. He bit the inside of his lips, finally prying his fingers away from his peace sign.

Whitney sighed and turned her attention to Taylor. She just felt jittery, like she couldn't focus on one person for a very long time. "Long day, huh," she offered as some sort of peace offering, sipping her coffee before pulling a face and turning slightly to put more sugar and cream in it.

Charlie was about to say something to the whole group, a toast to working with them, but the tv all of the sudden shorted out. The football game ceased to show and there was only a blue screen with every channel.

Looking to the tv, Charlie had a puzzled look on his face. Grabbing the remote and changing the channels, his wondering only grew. "That's odd."

Taylor wrinkled his nose in wonder at the Tv. "Probably one of those testing things they do, late at night." He said, but the hair on the back of his neck stood up. He drew in a deep breath to steady his wandering mind.

Lewy stared at the V for a moment."That is strange...They would tell you if it was an emergency, and i wouldn't go blue it would show the multi-color screen...Maybe theres a power problem, Ill check it out."Lewy stood up and started heading o he back, where he power was."Maybe he cable went out, or someone hit a post and some power went out or something."He said, feeling more strange then when he was outside before.

There was nothing wrong with the power cables that Lewy was going to check out, nothing that seemed out of place.

Lewy walked in the back, looking at the over and all he cables, but nothing was out of place."So strange...whatever, maybe its just he TV."He said to himself, then walked back out."Everything is normal back here, I'm thinking its just the TV."

"Wouldn't be a power problem," Whitney murmured, hugging her chair. "I mean... It wouldn't be on if that was the problem. If anything, the broadcasting is out, and that's on their end, not ours. Were we picking up local stations through that thing?"

Cara's eyes slid to the darkness outside, suddenly feeling very out in the open, being the only place with lights on in the area... except for the street lamps of course.

"This is strange, ah well, it will probably be back to normal by tomorrow, two days tops. I think its nothing to worry about."Lewy said, though he was worrying on the inside, he didn't wanna show it.

Rationalizing Sarai said to nobody in particular, “Well, we don’t exactly get the best reception here on the valley floor. I mean come on, this place has got to be one of the few buildings in town that doesn’t have a satellite dish.” She poured another mug of tea for herself as another small shiver went down her spine.

Whitney's eyes went to the floor again as she fell silent. These guys are being real downers, she thought to herself. They were jumping over nothing and acting like everything was just a lead-up to some horror movie. "Jumpy much?" she asked aloud, not even realizing she'd spoken until a second later.

Charlie heard Whitney's comment and laughed a little bit inside. Standing up and walked towards one of the windows Charlie did note that it was starting to get darker, but the street lamps and usual car that comes by keeps the area generally lit. 

Just then a car that was veering to each side, swaying across the street ran into one of the lamp posts, making a loud noise in the crash. The lamp post, of course, stopped working and started to fall towards the car, but missing the driver's door by a few feet. An electrical wire was cut and started to bounce around, sparks spraying from it whenever the wire connected with somethig new.

"Sh-shit!" Whitney said, jumping up. She hesitated, though, not really wanting to be the hero. Plus, there were bare wires that could cause serious burns. Maybe she'd wait a little.

Cara jumped at the sound, then at Whitney jumping up as well and backed against the wall, her chest heaving, "...What happened?"

Sarai whipped out her cell from her back pocket and dialed 911. After 3 attempts she realized that she could't get a signal. "Hell's Bells! I can't get a signal to report this"

Charlie waited for a just a second to assess the situation. Seeing that the driver was in a very bad predicement, Charlie swore out loud. Turning to both Taylor and Lewy, he pointed to both of them and said, "I have a plan but I need both of you guys to help. I'm going to rush the loose cable and secure it while you guys get the driver out and into here. Got it?"

"You should at ;east put on some sort of glove."Lewy suggested, trying not to cause another injury."Dont need two hurt people out there."He continued."Ah, theres no time to search for anything, lets hurry then!"He said, walking up to Charlie."If we dont further injury could be headed for tha driver, and there might be a passenger, or passengers."

Sarai gave up on dialing. "Someone else try 911?" She turned her attention to the guys. "You're absolutely right, no one should touch those power line directly. Hey! Do you think that those heave duty oven mits that I use might work?"

"Hm, they might work, go get em the least they could do is protect a little bit!"Lewy replied, to the idea Sarai suggested.

Sarai reached under the counter and found 2 pairs of oven mits. She quickly tossed them to the guys and then began to pray silently.

Whitney just stood back, at the window, a safe distance away from the bare, charged wires. She couldn't think of a reason to stop the helpers without sounding like a complete ass, but she definitely wasn't going out there, too. Besides, maybe Sarai's cell phone was just messed up. She took her's out, hoping it was still paid up, and checked her signal.

Unfortunately for Whitney and everyone present, her cell phone was operational but strangely there was no signal coming from it.

Charlie caught one pair and charged outside to help whoever was inside the car.

Watching them with wide eyes, Cara froze, her hands folded under her breasts tightly against her body and the Dr. Pepper forgotten.

Sarai finished her prayer and kissed the cross that she wore around her neck. For once she was glad that 13 years of Girl Scouts was going to pay off. "All right, we're gonna need all the first aid that we have I think. Thank God that Charlie's a paramedic. I'll get the fire blanket and kit from the kitchen. Do we have a kit here in the dining room as well?"

Charlie was already outside when Sarai asked the question about the first aid. There was also a first aid kit in the diner as well, but both were very simple; just band-aids and wrapping bandages.

Lewy ran out with Charlie, having cought the other oven mit, and put it on, when he saw an opening he quickly ran to the passenger side and opened he door, seeing someone unconcious in the drivers seat. He quickly un buckled the man as the line was being tamed by charlie,hopefully he still had it by then,and he unbuckled the man and started pulling him out, hopeing he didnt get hit by the wire if Charlie failed at holding it.

As Sarai got the first aid kit and fire blanket from the kitchen and burst out the front door she thought, It's a good think I make sure this thing is stocked well. After all you never know when some part-time idiot will chop off the end of his finger or burn himself by not paying attention to what is on the stove. No matter how many times lecture them about kitchen safety it dosen't seem to sink in. It's a good thing that I used to be a nursing student and I know how to handle these things. When she neared the accident and saw what was going on she gasped.

Whitney shrugged, clicking closed her phone. She was worried about everybody, but if she went out there she'd just be in the way and totally useless. It's not like she could catch a wire or perform CPR. Might as well stay inside and just be... available if anything should happen.

As Lewy was dragging the conscience into the diner, Charlie was wrestling dangerously with the wire. Once he saw the man was a safe distance away, Charlie flung the chord as far away as he possibly could. 

Once all three of them were inside, Charlie helped the man onto the counter so he could lie flat on his back. "How are ya doing buddy, still with us?" Charlie asked, quickly checking the man's pulse. The man, other than the bruise on his head and a bleeding arm wound from something else than the car crash, seemed to be in relative order. 

Charlie surveyed what he could see about the man and ordered for someone to get ice in a bag and hand him the wrapping bandages to work on his arm.

Whitney furrowed her eyebrows, now deciding to maybe make herself useful. She got a napkin and soaked it in water, delicately patting the wound on his arm. She quietly thought there might be the risk of a concussion, with the bruise, but she wasn't the paramedic. And with small wounds, you just had to try and get them clean, right? And put hella antibiotic on them, and... She looked at the wound as she cleaned away the blood, frowning as she studied it. She didn't know if it was from the crash or not, but it didn't look like it. She looked at it closer to see what it was.

When Whitney wiped away most of the blood, an outline of the injury could be seen. It was almost like an oval marking but not completed. Several places the marks seemed jagged, almost as if it were bites marks from an animal.

Lewy was watching them clean him."Ice? Alright."He quickly moved to the kitchen and got some ice from the freezer and put some in a bag and tied the bag tight. He gave the pack to Charlie."Thats a strange cut, there."He pointed out."How was that from the car accident?"He asked curiously."Well he did crash really bad."

Sarai snapped back to life as the guys passed the with the accident's victim she trailed after them still clutching the kit. She winced as the man was placed on the counter. His injuries now apparent in the light. She opened the kit took rolls of bandages and pads. Sarai went to the sink and scrubbed her hands like she had been taught in nursing school and returned to the counter. As Whitney attempted to clean the wound on his arm she too notice the stange patteren of the injury. While she opened the packets of bangages she said, "It's been almost 6 years since I learned about wilderness first aid in Girl Scouts but I'm almost sure that this wound has been caused by a fairly large animal." 

"I haven't had any Girl Scouts but I can tell it's an animal bite," Whitney said. However, she stepped back. Charlie and Sarai were both way more knowledgeable in this than her. She'd definitely still get in the way.

The man was groaning throughout this whole situation. Charlie grabbed a small flashlight and shined it into the man's eyes, checking to see if he was under any influence that caused him to crash. After seeing there was none, Charlie started to try and talk with him. "Hey buddy, whats your name?"

Throughout the groans, he replied, "My name is Steve." Coughing with each breath, Steve tried to figure out where he was. 

Charlie told him where he was, and after examining Steve he found there was no mortal danger to him, though Charlie thought he should still get to the hospital pretty quickly from the injury on his arm. "How did you get that bite mark Steve, I don't recognize it as any animal in this region."

Steve shook his head, starting to calm down a bit. "It wasn't an animal, I was comign home from the bar and some drunk on the street thought it was funny to bite me."

"You were bit by a drunken man? Strange people out here...So, Steve, How did you crash? Breaks went out, are you sick?"Lewy asked, curious as to what the hell was up with him.

Cara scratched the goosebumps along her arms as she watched them all, thinking about edging to the door and running home. This was all about too much for her, she was never any good when dealing with people or stressful situations.

While the others questioned steve about what had happened Sarai continued to work. With enough pads and rolls of gause she was able to bandage the bite sucessfully. "That will hold you for awhile but I agree we should get you to a hospital soon."

"I could drive em' if ya guys want? It would be no trouble, and I need some air anyways..."Lewy suggested so the others could relax.

Steve looked around and tried to convince everyone there that he was fine, when getting up from the table he tripped and fell. After that Charlie said, "No man, we're definitely taking you." Looking to Lewy, Charlie stated, "We can all fit in my jeep if everyone wants to go, or who ever wants to stay behind is certainly welcome."

"Count me in," Said Sarai. "After all Steve you are stable at the moment, but there is the slight possibility that you could start bleeding again." She washed her hands completely and dried them. Making sure to grab her purse.

"So, uh, I don't think there's room in the car," Whitney said, crossing her arms across her stomach. "Does this mean this is the end of the day?"

"I'm sure only 3 of us need to go, I will go also. Someone to drive, and 2 to look after Steve over there."Lewy suggested.

Charlie looked to Whitney, "Well, its still relatively early. I'm sure we'll be back in no time and continue the party if no one's mood have been killed. Any others that want to come with Lewy and myself though I'm sure we can take care of it." With that Charlie put his arm around Steve and started to help him to his jeep.

"Lets go, be back later guys."Lewy said, following after Charlie

Sarai meekly left after the two guys. Stopping to turn around and wave good bye. She then inquired, " So who is driving?"

Whitney sighed just a little as she took her coffee and flopped on the couch. She had been hoping they'd just tell her to go home, but with those words, if she left now it would be rude. She just wished the television was working.

Charlie turned to Sarai as he helped Steve along the way, "I'll be driving. Anyone else coming?"

Lewy opened the door for Steve and shut it when he was inside. He walked around and got in the passengers side."We should hurry, we dont know what could happen, something may have gotten in to his system or something. Maybe injuries we cant see from the outside." He suggested.

"Alright, lets get out of here," Charlie said as Steve was finally into the jeep. "We'll be back pretty soon, back to the party." With that they started to leave. Now it was just the rest of the people minus Charlie, Lewy, Sarai and Steve.

The party began to start again, but the mood was still low from the car crash that happened earlier. A few employees decided to leave early. Not ten minutes later they were running back inside with the look of terror on their faces.

"Shit...shit..shit...everyone hide right now!" One of them said as he flicked off the lights while another one killed the music. "They could be here any second!"

"They?" Whitney asked, alarmed, but heading to the back room. "Who's they? Shit, is there a murderer out? Um... group of them?" She was pretty sure the door to the back room locked from the inside.

Cara let out a quiet "Eeek!" and hid under a table, holding her skinny legs to her chest as she waited silently, fearing the worst. I should have gone home when I had the chance... She thought to herself, surprised she could even think at this moment.

One of the employees looked to Whitney, "We have no idea what they are. These people, gotta be at least five of them, must be on some drug or something. They were bleeding from the mouth and running after us." The employee was still shaking from recounting his tale. "These people starting to chase us and we just ran back here. This family was walking together and asked us why we were running but we didn't even stop we were so scared. Last thing I know the the coked up people started to attack the family and we heard their screams all the way back here."

Whitney shuddered. "All... alright," she said. She had seen enough coke-heads growing up, sadly, to know that these people were probably not on cocaine. Didn't even sound like any drug she knew of. But if they were out for blood, she wasn't going to to outside right now. "I... I think we should go to the inventory room," she said, mentioning the back room. She was pretty sure it locked from the inside, but there were plenty of heavy things to pile against the door. Plus, there was some food. It wasn't anything to live on, but it was something. She knelt down. "Cara, it should be safer in there," she murmured.

The employee agreed with Whitney about moving to the back room. "Ya, we should go...oh crap, everyone get down!" He ducked behind the counter and as loudly as he dared whispered to everyone else to find cover. For outside were the attackers with blood stains over their clothes and mouth. The people outside seemed to be looking for something as they mindlessly looked through the windows. It wasn't just five people now but two adults and two children with them; blood still running down injuries on their necks.

Whitney's mouth hung open as she looked at the attackers from her position behind the counter, where they kept some pies, so she could see from behind the glass. Adrenaline pumped through her body as she tried to absorb this, fighting the urge to run the hell away. Fight-or-flee. Oh god, this was right out of a horror film. She didn't move; from here, they would be able to see her run to the back room. They weren't on drugs. No drugs did that to a person. Just... Oh god, please make them move along.

Whimpering almost inaudibly, Cara crawled along the floor in the darkness to join Whitney behind the counter, covering her eyes with one hand, "Have they gone yet?" The girl shivered before looking over the counter herself, but lost the courage just before her eyes were able to look over the edge and closed them again.

"Shhh," Whitney said to Cara, her words half reassurance, half warning. She pointed to a slot behind the counter that let her see through the glass that held the pies the customers could buy. She could just barely see the people outside.

A few of the people outside started to walk away, looking as though they were on a constant search for something. Only one stayed in the general area, hobbling apparently no where. Just then, one of the employees that came running back slipped while trying to stay on his hands and knees and caused a salt and pepper shaker to fall. After the loud crash it was spilled salt and pepper for a few feet and the man outside caught the show. Immediately it rushed against the glass doors and once it was pressing against it, the man was clawing and biting at the door looking around for who made it to drop.

Cara let out a shriek; good thing the pitch was so high it only was heard as a sharp out-take of breath.

Whitney jumped at that sound and gripped Cara's hand tightly, trying to make sure the girl wasn't freaking out. Not that she hadn't almost screamed herself. Her mind should have been racing at this point to find a solution, but it was frozen. They couldn't move from this spot unless they wanted to be seen, and Whitney didn't want to go outside. Oh thank god somebody locked the back door before everybody left, Whitney thought with gritted teeth, shaking slightly.

Some of the other attackers that started to walk away heard the noise from the guy who was biting and scratching the glass and started to come near him as well. In full there were four of them, all clawing the glass and growling, apparently trying to find something they were looking for. Even though the door handle was feet away, none of them reached for it; just trying to find the straightest path inside.

Lowering her head, Whitney tried to think. Crazy people were all over the place outside, and she didn't know if they were getting in any time soon... But she didn't want to wait to find out if they could figure this whole 'doorknob' thing out. She looked around for something to throw. If she made them focus on the other side of the restaurant, she could possibly sneak with Cara and whoever else wanted to follow into the back room, lock the door, and wait for the others to come back. Because hopefully they were coming back... right?

While she was at it, Whitney decided to keep an eye out for any kitchen knives, in case it came down to having to protect herself.

"What are they doing?" Cara mouthed to Whitney, fright evident in her eyes and on the brink of hysteria.

"Well, uh... attacking us," Whitney replied almost silently. "Or... wanting to. Calm down," she added, emphasizing the words on that as she mouthed them to Cara.

She nodded, trying to calm herself and come up with the courage of her characters that she would play online.

Whitney rocked back on her heels as she watched the zombie-like people... because of course they weren't zombies. Human regeneration doesn't exist; dead is dead. But they weren't getting anywhere and she felt no immediate need to move. Also, if they did manage to get inside, there were some people between the girls and the door. Whitney hated to think of them as meat shields but it's about as high as they registered to her right now.

"Should we try to lock ourselves in the back...?" Cara all but squeeked, her eyes darting to the back, then to the people that Whitney had been watching.

"I dunno," Whitney breathed, asking the same question herself. "They might see us. Right now I dunno if they can get inside. They might give up and go away." She sat down, still looking around for a weapon she could use.

---

The way to the hospital was quick and suprisingly there was very few cars on the road. The mist was starting to get thicker in the air. The hospital from the outside seemed vacant, except for a few blinking lights. The door was open and slowly swinging side to side.

Charlie looked around, wondering why the hospital seemed to foriegn and very quiet. "Hey Steve, how are ya holding up?" Steve replied with a nod of his head; he had been pretty quiet along the way to their destination. Charlie turned to Sarai and Lewy, "Do you guys feel weird about this? This place usually is busy all the time."

"I know what you maen," Sarai replied. "Usually it's like an over turned ant hill but now it's a ghost town." A shiver ran through her body and she pulled her jacket closer around her.

"Well, lets go on in. I'm sure there's doctors in there, after all it's still a hospital," Charlie said to Lewy, Sarai and Steve.

A red Mercedes jolts to a stop in front of the emergency room doors. A college-aged guy hastily gets out of the driver's seat and helps an older man out of the passenger's. The older guy was clearly bleeding and needed the younger guy's assistance to walk.

Charlie looked to these two new guys, "Hey, need any help too?" It was only polite to say that because Charlie still was supporting Steve with one arm. "What happened to him?"

The younger guy paused a moment not sure whether to entertain the question or continue with his business. He paused anyways. "I'm not sure, really. Some guy just came up and bit my dad. Must have been drunk or something. I don't know, didn't see it."

Sarai's face blanched white and the hair on the back of her neck stood on end. "Now that's just plain spooky. The same thing seems to have happened to Steve." She jestured to the bandaged man. "We managed to patch him up a bit and get him here. Why don't we all get out of the night air and see if we can find someone in the ER to help.?"

"Yeah...it is creepy how empty this place is right now, I agree there has to be doctors."Lewy looked over at the man helping the old guy"I dont think there is a rabid drunk guy roaming around biting people.."lewy said, trying to make sense of things."No way it could be the SAME guy..."

"Really? Someone bit him too? Oh my gosh, how random." He continues with the older man hanging off of him towards the automatic doors.

Charlie agreed that it was really strange that two people got bit by drunks on the same night. "Well, these guys won't get any better while we're just standing out here. By the way," Charlie said to the younger guy his age, "whats your name?"

As the group started to walk into the hospital, it didn't seem any less disturbing inside than it did outside. The halls were vacant and there were no employees behind desks to greet them or anything.

"This is strange...Where the hell is everyone?"lewy said, looking around."Something must have happend..."He suggested

"Clive." Clive said. "And this is my dad, Howard." Howard gestured towards the group, trying to be cordial, but not succeeding, considering the circumstances.

Sarai smiled a bit weakly, "It's nice to meet both of you. My name is Sarai." Suddendly a thought popped into her head. She still had the key card from her nursing rotations. This could possibly open the doors to let her an Charlie in and open the supply closet to get what they needed to fix Steve and Howard up. Sure it wasn't the most honest thing to do but She doubted they would get into trouble if she filled out all the paper work and documented everything. She sat down on a uncomfortable waiting room chair and began to dig through her purse.

"Hey, sarai, what are you so eager to find?"He said, curiously.

Sarai looked up with her hair covering her face She brushed it back behind her ear and explained about her key card and thought that it might work. At long last she pulled a plastic card with a black strip on the back and a photo of her onthe front from the depths of her purse. She went to the door and slid the card through it and waited for the result.

"Great idea."Lewy said, watching, hoping the door would open.

---

Trouble in SLO
SLO Characters