Accessory Wars

Chapter 2-Ki

            Reagan leapt out of his seat and caught me as I fell off my chair. I could hear screaming and the sound of glass breaking, making the situation feel all too familiar. I wanted to leave. I wanted to throw up. I wanted to wake up in my bed and find it ended up being just another terrible nightmare. Reagan called out to me, his voice faint in my ears. He slapped my face a couple of times, pulling me from my daze. I noticed Reagan had shoved the table over to act as a barricade to whatever was happening on the other side.

"We need to get out of here," Reagan said. He peeked over the table and gave me a nod. "The door's not too far. Just try to stay calm. I'll be right here with you."

Key word in that statement was try. There was no way I was going to be calm in our current situation. I mentally kicked myself for drinking all that caffeine. My nerves felt more frayed than Kaylee's favorite pair of jeans. Reagan ducked and shoved me onto the floor as the top half of our table wall sliced clean off with the sound of grinding gears. From my position on the floor, I got a good look at what was happening up front.

The man who grabbed the barista now held a spiked bat and wore some softball style cleats and knee pads. Only one big difference: they were made of metal. The other man stood with a full set of armor and a mini chainsaw on the end of a chain. He spun the chain in his hand, the chainsaw going round and round. Then he threw it and the chainsaw cut through one of the coffee machines before the other man stopped it with his bat. The manager from before was nowhere to be seen. Cue the vomit coiling up my throat.

Reagan pulled me to my feet and half carried me towards the door. I struggled to keep my feet underneath me as I stumbled along. We ducked behind a trashcan, the chainsaw whirring past our heads again. One wrong move and I wouldn't have to worry about the caffeine rushing through my head anymore. The garbage sprayed plastic cups, napkins and remnants of coffee drinks onto us, making me smell like mint and cinnamon. Good thing I was already nauseous because I threw up all over the floor. Reagan grabbed my shoulder, helping me to my feet when his body froze up. My eyes shakily shifted down to my friend's chest where a shimmering anchor grabbed a hold of him.

"Ki, run!" Reagan shouted as he was pulled back, turned into raw energy.

"Rea!" I screamed. I watched my friend turn into a silver ring and a business man slip him onto his finger. I watched as the man's body glowed and the light began to morph as their energies combined. Then the light died, revealing a set of leather pauldrons and vambraces on his arms and a small hatchet in his hands. I felt sick again but managed to keep the bile from bubbling out of my throat. The third man raced to join the fight in what I could only assume was an attempt to stop it.

I whimpered as the chainsaw bounced off the wall above my head, knocking a picture down. Glass rained into my hair and clothes, making any amount of movement cut my skin. I tried to get my body to work properly but every muscle trembled like a 9.0 earthquake. My vision saw black spots and my breathing started to go all over the place. I had to get out. I watched the three men fight, the two lesser ones overpowered by the man with the crazy chainsaw. The whirring blade slammed into the spiked baseball bat, sending it flying.

Flying straight at me.

It maybe took a second for it to fly towards my face, spikes flashing in the fluorescent lights overhead, but it felt like a minute. I couldn't move. I just watched as it sailed across the room towards me. Then I felt a huge weight slam into my side and I heard a sound I never want to hear again. Sort of like meat getting sliced at the butcher shop with an extra clang of metal against plastic when the bat hit the remains of the trashcan. I forced my eyes to focus and found my face full of blonde hair. It took a moment to realize someone lay on top of me and, for the record, they weren't exactly light. In combination with my struggling to breathe, I felt like someone had buried me alive.