I decided to get on my knees and hunch next to Daggett. Because we were in the dark, we only had the one singular lamp by the gas pumps outside for us to see. I could see Max’s parked car and the pavement, but that was all. I was gonna ask Daggett if he was sure that something was coming, but he was the one with the animal senses, not me, and I guess I was just gonna have to trust him.
“What’s coming?” I whispered.
He stared outside for a minute and then leaned close to my side, his eyes still on the window. “A werewolf. I can smell it. It’s lurking around outside somewhere.”
“Oh, Christ.”
“Don’t panic. We’re gonna be all right.”
“How?” I asked. Daggett looked at me but had nothing to say. “We’re gonna die, aren’t we?”
“No, we’re not. It might get scared off when Max comes back.”
“He’s been gone, like, five minutes. He’s not gonna get here anytime soon.” Daggett’s tan face went white and I regretted ever saying anything. I knew we were fucked.
There was a loud bang that sounded like something was throwing its weight against the brick wall of the building. My hands were shaking as I placed them over my mouth to keep quiet. Under my breath, I said, “I can’t believe I’m gonna die in the chip aisle.”
“We’re not gonna die,” he weakly and quietly assured me.
“I work in a dumpster fire just like this one and now I’m gonna die in it. This is probably karma for me laughing at that old lady with the spoon.”
“Huh?”
I dismissively waved my hand. “It’s a long story.”
“If we make it out of here, you can tell me all about it.”
“That’s cute how you think we have a shot,” I said sarcastically. Why were we talking? That thing could probably hear us. Though, I think it knew we were in here already.
Daggett could see that I was shaking, and he took my quivering hand into his. I didn’t pull away, because I was sure this was the last moment I was ever going to have. A little comfort couldn’t hurt. If there weren’t a block of ice around my heart I may have even found the gesture cute.
BAM.
It happened so quick, so loudly. The glass windows didn’t just get broken, they were shattered, and a million shards of glass came flying over the display cases and landing in my hair. The light from outside was blocked because something was standing in the path of it. Something that could throw its body through a window and not even stumble.
A high-pitched howl ensued a few feet away from us. Jesus Christ! With it this close, it sounded absolutely monstrous. My eardrums rattled inside my head and I felt dizzy. There was a weight to this thing’s vocal cords, because the candy bars were vibrating and bouncing out of their boxes and then falling to the floor.
I thought I was going to throw up again. I was too terrified to even peek to see what this thing looked like. Rookridge was enough. I didn’t want to experience that again. If it was going to kill me, it was gonna have to do it with my eyes closed.
A hand grabbed me by the arm and before I could shriek, Daggett put his hand over my mouth again. He gestured for me to follow him, and I watched as he got on all fours and crawled low to the ground, just below the display cases and out of the view of the werewolf. I didn’t know what else to do so I went along with his plan. But what the fuck was his plan? This monster was standing at the doorway, and we were stuck in here with it.
We got to the end of one aisle and sat. Against the wall, I could see the blackness of the werewolf’s shadow slowly taking over. It was standing on its hind legs and it was massive. Fucking massive. Completely freaked out, I accidentally let out a tremble. Daggett whipped his head in my direction, his glossy eyes now the size of tires, and I knew I fucked up.
The end of the display case suddenly slid out from behind me and the entire thing was lifted into the air. We skidded across the floor with our asses in an attempt to run and get to our feet, but it was like we were in slow motion. I turned and saw the beast. It felt six foot, seven foot, I don’t even fucking know, and it was holding the entire row of chips and candy bars in its hands, as if it were as light as a beach ball. It was brown with a white stripe going down its face, and the ugliest, most fucked up yellow eyes I had ever seen.
This wasn’t a wolf. This was some kind of demon. Its mouth hung wide open with a row of pointed teeth covered in dripping saliva. It wanted to eat us.
We were about to die. I knew it.
Just as we got to our feet, Daggett threw himself in front of me and yelled, “Run!”
“Have you lost your mind?!”
“Go! Now!”
I wasn’t about to hesitate and play selfless hero. I ran as quickly as my legs would let me, literally leaping through the busted open window and sliding across the shards that had spread all over the pavement. I could hear Daggett screaming from behind me. He was in pain. He was dying.
The only place I knew to go was the car. I ran, ran, ran until I was wheezing and could barely keep going. I picked the wrong day to take up smoking again.
I hopped into the driver’s seat
