Demon Hunters by JKMelby74 Page A

eaten.”
    “I know, but I think this is a bad place to
be.”
    “Why? What happened?” Before I was able to
tell him about Sam, the sound of wood breaking shot out. A large,
black tentacle whipped up and snagged one of the customers around
the neck. Soon, other tentacles started sprouting up and with great
force. We dove from our booth and soon Snootch’s had transformed
into a jungle of wild, snapping tendrils.
    People tried to get away, but their panic
prevented them from acting fast enough to escape. Ivar and I weaved
through the chaos to the front door, but as I reached it, a pang of
conscience came over me. I pulled out Ivar’s guns and I turned to
see people pleading and screaming for help. I aimed quickly and
blasted. Black flesh flew up onto the walls and as one tendril
fell, its victim was freed and dropped to the floor and scrambled
toward me.
    “Thank you!” The woman uttered as she passed
by. The tendrils started to shift and move. I heard more cries from
others in the back and despite every instinct of self-preservation
I had, I forged ahead, tearing at the dark growths that were
writhing all around me. I pulled at them; freeing one person at a
time.
    I fought my way to the back of the dining
room and began wrestling with two tentacles that had an older woman
cocooned. I pulled one bit free to expose her mouth. Her eyes were
terrified but before I could say anything she screamed.
    “There!” She called out and turned her head
to the right. I followed her eyes and saw a little baby crawling
along the floor, seemingly invisible to the tentacles, at the other
side of the room. “Save her! Save my baby!” I finished tearing
through to release her.
    “Run,” I said as I pointed toward the front
door. More tendrils began breaking through the walls. She looked
over to her baby and I saw a pain and yearning in her. “I said
go!”
    “I can’t leave her!”
    “I’ll get her!” After only a moment of
hesitation, the woman hurried out. I turned around and saw the
tendrils begin to swirl around the little baby. I leapt up and
landed hard on one particular tendril and flattened it. It seemed
they knew what I was doing. The dark things began darting and
jabbing at me like spears. As I tumbled forward crushing several
tables and chairs on my way, I landed before the baby, who was then
being held up by a long tentacle. Others began to form around it
and soon it began to cry. I never paid much attention to baby
cries, but I could tell that one was a cry of pure fear. I jumped
up and tore away at the dark flesh and pulled the baby out and held
it tightly to my chest. The tendrils all began moving toward me. I
stooped down and charged forward with the baby held tightly in my
arms. I bulldozed through the oncoming hostiles and pushed through
and out to the parking lot where I was greeted by a very grateful
crowd of diners. I delivered the baby back to her mother and as I
did, it stopped crying.
    “Thank you. Thank you so much.” She said
through a torrent of tears. Soon the whole crowd was closing in on
me, smiling and thanking me for their rescue. I caught a few of
their eyes and I started to feel some kind of warmth inside that I
hadn’t felt before, or at least not very often. A fire truck and a
couple police cars came roaring up. The fire truck parked at the
other end of the lot and the fire fighters got their gear ready.
The police stopped close and hurried over to the crowd.
    “What the Hell is going on here?” He asked
with a hint of anger. I slinked through the crowd toward him, fully
prepared to describe the situation, but before I could, the parking
lot began to quake. Everyone ran for their cars and hurried away. I
heard the unsettling noise of asphalt tearing apart. I turned to
see all of Snootch’s wrapped up in a giant stalk of black tendrils.
It was pushed up high into the sky and towered over us like a
monument. The police pulled out their guns and fired at it and the
firemen were quickly