Jeremy struggled to his feet. He'd managed to hang onto the gun from the force of the shockwave. The girl was also back on her feet, pale-faced and looking worried. If that girl's worried… shit.

  Her friend Zack looked like he'd given up on standing. He started crawling for the back as fast as he could, refusing to look over his shoulder for any reason. As Jeremy looked up at the front door, blinking away dust and grit, he saw it.

  A seven foot tall, blank-faced human-like thing. It seemed to be made of asphalt and concrete, without a head or anything resembling legs. It had torn the front off the building. As Jeremy stared, his mind simply not comprehending what he was looking at, the monster slid over the threshold, plowing debris out of the way like it was nothing.

  "What the fuck is that thing?"

  "Just don't get near it!" the girl shouted, backing up a few steps. She turned and grabbed the nearest table by the edges. With a grunt and a heave, the girl tore the slab of wood clean off of its steel foundation.

  Jeremy gawked at her. The girl couldn't be more than a hundred and thirty pounds. She had muscle, sure, but this was ridiculous.

  She hurled the table straight at the monster. It struck directly in the center with a sickening crunch. The impact drove it back a dozen feet through shards of glass and wood splinters, straight outside and into the street.

  "Get everyone out through the back, now!" she shouted. Jeremy didn't need to be told twice.

  He thumbed his radio. "We're bringing the hostages out the back right now. Hold fire."

  "Copy that, holding fire. Over."

  "Ashe, what the fuck is that thing?" screamed the lieutenant.

  "Get off the net, you ass-wipe motherfucker!" Jeremy snapped.

  The monster was slowly making its way back inside. Jeremy ran and grabbed the person nearest the door, who'd frozen in terror. After a few moments' attempt to shock her to her senses, he gave in and lifted her. Thank god she's light. Carrying the woman on her shoulders, Jeremy bolted for the back door, while the girl stood her ground in the center with another table at the ready.

  A drumline of gunfire echoed from the front door, peppering the monster from behind. Most of the bullets simply struck it and fell down to the ground, if they didn't ricochet off at terrifying angles. Jeremy clicked his radio back on awkwardly with one hand, trying desperately to hang onto the woman he was carrying at the same time.

  "Stop fucking shooting it! You aren't doing anything!"

  The gunfire continued heedless. Motherfucking amateur Tacoma P.D... Jeremy made it to the back door, where a few of the other former hostages took the woman off his hands. He shouted a thank you as he turned around and went back to the main room.

  He returned just in time to see the girl slam the monster with another table, driving it back once again. "Can you kill that thing?"

  "No!" she shouted over the continuing gunfire. She was staying well out of the direct line of fire, just in case, but they both winced as another bullet bounced off and struck a bar stool. "Can you get those idiots to stop shooting?"

  "I tried!"

  "Is everyone out?"

  "Yeah!"

  "Then screw it! Let's bail!"

  The girl reached down and scooped up her friend with one arm, as easy as if she were lifting up a feather. Jeremy wasn't even surprised anymore. As the monster relentlessly pursued them through the bar, they sprinted for the back, leaping over the groaning would-be gunmen still laying about the place. As the impromptu trio made it out the backdoor, they emerged into chaos.

  Another one of the monsters was in the middle of the barricade the police had set up. Unlike the first one, it didn't seem to be attacking anyone in particular. In fact, it was going out of its way to avoid hurting the many, many cops firing their guns pointlessly at it. Jeremy wondered why they'd even bothered to shoot it in the first place, until it reached the nearest car in its line.

  The monster picked up the car like it were a toy in its two blocky hands. Without a single sign of strain, it launched the cruiser into the air, sending it flying off into the distance. It crashed down into an empty stretch of road.

  "What are they doing?" Jeremy asked the girl, leaning close and shouting to be heard over the rapid staccato of gunshots.

  "Making an escape route, I think."

  "For you?"

  "For them," she shouted back, nodding back at the bar. "I don't think he knows we won in there."

  "Who the fuck is he?"

  "Sorry. I'm taking my chance here while no one's looking." She shot him an apologetic look. "See you around."

  She reached over and grabbed her friend in a tight bear hug. Jeremy started to move, but she coiled her legs and jumped. His eyes widened as she bounded a good fifteen feet into the air, no problem.

  Jeremy watched with bemused dismay as his one good lead literally flew out of his hands.

  I give up.

  A second later, his eyes widened even further. They were flailing around in midair, and not in a good way.

  Shit. Shit shit shit shit shit.

  They were coming back down. Jeremy sprinted to where they were falling. He dove, managing to catch them just before they landed. The girl shouted out in frustration as they collapsed in a painful heap.

  She rolled off him with a groan. After pulling herself together and getting back up to a sitting position, she coughed out a sentence. "Well... that... didn't work."

  The gunfire was finally slowing, as more officers realized they couldn't do a thing to the monsters. They continued to stroll through the barricades, clearing them away while avoiding the men entirely. Jeremy reached out a hand and helped the girl back to her feet. From where they'd landed, they stood in the shadows of the alley.

  No one was likely to see them unless they came back into the bar, and with the still-active monster between them and the police, no one was coming through any time soon. Jeremy was panting from all the running and carrying. The girl seemed even more exhausted than he was. They both took a moment to recover in the relative safety of the shadowy alleyway.

  "What… the fuck… is going on?" he panted.

  "I'm more tired than I thought I was." The girl opened her bag and started digging through it. "Oh god, I forgot to pack it."

  "I mean all of this!" Jeremy growled, gesturing back out at the street where the monster was throwing another empty car through the air. The police were forming a wide circle around it, but no one seemed to have any idea what to do about it yet. Jeremy half-expected the national guard to show up at any moment.

  "Someone wants to kill me, and all my friends, and they're willing to do a lot to get us." She rolled her shoulders, squinting from the strain. "I think I pulled my wing. Can an imaginary wing muscle be pulled?"

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  "A… what?"

  "I'm gonna be honest, I'm really trying not to think about what just happened," she continued, as if he hadn't asked. "I've never hurt someone before. Not like that. I don't know what I'm doing."

  Jeremy realized, finally, how young she was. She was probably just out of college, if that. He'd been under fire before. He'd been in fights, both as part of his career or just at random. She had no clue how to deal with the aftermath.

  "You're doing a hell of a lot better than I did," he answered, trying to sound comforting.

  She shook her head. "I couldn't have gotten us out without you."

  "No, I mean my first time gettin' shot at. I was fucking terrified. Couldn't move a fuckin' muscle."

  "Oh." She frowned. "You mean back when you were in the Seattle police?"

  "Christ, everyone knows my story now don't they?"

  "Perks of being famous." She sounds like she's speaking from experience.

  "...Who are you?"

  She hesitated. "Were you really Jackie's partner? We didn't see anything about that when we researched you."

  "Why were you lookin' me up?"

  "You're the guy in charge of investigating us, of course we're gonna look you up."

  Well there it is. Confirmation. "Tell me what happened there."

  "I mean, if you don't have a pretty good idea by now, I'm disappointed in you." She gestured out at the monster in the street. It had now completely cleared a path to the bar. A second monster emerged from somewhere down the street, joining the first. They moved to block a path to the bar and stopped, staring down the terrified cops with blank faces.

  Seeing no further movement, the gathered officers started resuming normal activity. Except for the faint chatter, the constant squawking on Jeremy's radio, and the sound of vehicles squealing around, the scene was surprisingly quiet. The hostages were loaded into ambulances and quickly evacuated. None of the officers seemed to be willing to approach the bar yet, with the monsters standing guard, so Jeremy and the girl were yet undiscovered.

  "Those things are what killed everyone?" Jeremy asked.

  "Not exactly, but close enough." She shrugged.

  Her friend groaned. Zack, if Jeremy remembered right. He crawled to the wall and collapsed against it, curling up into the fetal position. "Shit," he murmured.

  "Hey, Zack?" the girl whispered. He didn't answer, shivering in place.

  "He's in shock," said Jeremy. "He's gonna need some time."

  "We don't have time though."

  "Well, whatever the hell was going on out there seems to be done."

  "They're just waiting for their backup, same as me."

  Jeremy looked at her sharply. He'd forgotten she'd called in backup. "What happens then?"

  She gave him a weak smile. "Nothing good."

  The smile gave her away. She could change her hair and her face as much as she liked, but the structure underneath didn't change. He'd seen that smile hundreds of times, among the thousands of photos they'd pored over for the case. "Hailey Winscombe."

  She sighed. "It's about time."

  "So if you're from Rallsburg, and your backup's coming from Rallsburg… is everyone left on our list still alive?"

  "I dunno. Who's on your list?"

  Jeremy got to his feet. "I can't let you leave."

  Hailey shrugged. "You couldn't actually stop me."

  "You want to fucking go?"

  "Dude, I just beat up a seven foot golem with a table, then flew into the air right in front of you. Take a hint. You're out of your league."

  "You can run, but he can't," Jeremy said, tilting his head at Zack. "He's not going anywhere any time soon."

  Hailey was getting angry. "Why won't you people just learn already? Stop trying to force us into this crap."

  "What?"

  "This isn't the first time someone's tried to use Zack as leverage. You wanna know what happened last time?" Her eyes flashed with fury. "A whole town got wiped off the map." She leaned over and shook her friend. "Zack, come on."

  "No. Not again," he groaned.

  "Zack, we gotta go. Now."

  "Where is she?" Jeremy asked. His hand hovered near the pistol he'd grabbed up, holstered and ready. He didn't dare grab it yet, but he was ready to at a moment's notice.

  "I told you, I don't know." Zack was coming back to his senses as Hailey helped him to his feet. "I'm sorry."

  Jeremy took a step toward her. Hailey shook her head apologetically. She whispered something he couldn't hear.

  They both vanished into thin air. Jeremy was looking at nothing but the concrete wall of the alleyway. He dove forward, reaching out desperately, but found nothing at all.

  They were gone.

  Squealing tires brought him to his senses. He looked up, half-expecting to see Hailey and Zack on the back of a truck or something, but it was quite different. A truck was barreling down the road at him. More precisely, at the two golems blocking the road to reach the back door. Officers dove out of the way as it sped through, and at the last possible moment the golems slid to either side to let it past. The moment it crossed the line, they reformed, blocking out the officers once more and leaving Jeremy alone with the truck.

  Jeremy watched dumbstruck as the gunmen emerged from the bar and piled into the back. He half-heartedly lifted his stolen pistol, considering taking a shot from the shadows. What's the point? There's too many of them, and I need them alive. They'd just get away with one more wounded. As the last one got into the truck, Jeremy realized his opportunity. He lowered his aim for the rear tires.

  The ground surged upward in front of him. A monster, another golem, was growing directly out of the pavement. It emerged as if the ground were being stretched out to create it, though the surface beneath was left unaffected. Just as Jeremy pulled the trigger, the golem solidified to block the bullet. Similarly, another golem had blocked a gunshot from the front, as a sniper on the police line had a similar idea.

  The truck gunned its engine and took off. The golem in front melted, crumbling into dust in a second as the truck blew through. A few remaining intact cruisers squealed away after it, but it was futile. As soon as any vehicle began to close the gap, a golem would emerge underneath it, either grinding the car to a halt or sending it careening off to the side of the street. The truck turned a corner, without a single car pursuing it, and vanished into the night.

  Jeremy fell down against the wall. He dropped the gun on the ground and rubbed at his eyes, letting out a deep breath.

  Now what the fuck do I do?

----------------------------------------

  "Good morning. It's Saturday, October 27th, and this is the news. Three dead at the scene of a horrific standoff last night between the Tacoma police department and an unnamed group of armed men—"

  "Three dead!" Aderholt growled, pausing the video. "Three motherfucking dead, you asshole. What the fuck were you doing there last night?"

  Trying to find some answers. "My job, sir."

  "Like fuck you were." Aderholt jumped ahead in the video.

  "Heavy criticism was leveled at Special Agent Jeremy Ashe, who arrived at the bar minutes after the first call and subsequently took command. Against the advice of the ranking officer at the scene and breaking protocol, Ashe entered the building as the negotiator."

  He paused it again. "You're not a fucking hostage negotiator."

  "I've been trained, sir."

  "Like twenty fucking years ago? Fuck you, Ashe. And what the fuck was this?" He jumped ahead again.

  "Was this related to the Rallsburg investigation in any way?"

  "No. I just happened to be in the area."

  "Do you have any comment on the video of Hailey Winscombe from this area? Are the two connected?"

  "That video was determined to be a fake. Miss Winscombe is still believed to be deceased."

  "Why did you take over for the trained police negotiator?"

  "One of the hostages had already died before I entered the building. I felt the situation would continue to escalate and that we could not wait for further support."

  Aderholt paused it again. "That was not your fucking call to make. You should have waited. Your blank check doesn't cover jumping in on every random crime you feel like, Ashe."

  Just doing what you told me to do, jackass. "If I hadn't gone in, I'm fairly certain the rest of the hostages would have been killed, sir."

  "Still not your call. You've given me a shit-ton of paperwork."

  "Sir, if I may ask—"

  "You may not, you ass-fuck, but I know you're going to anyway."

  Again, my fucking job. Jeremy shrugged. "What have we learned about the golems?"

  "The what now?"

  "The monsters, sir."

  Aderholt shook his head. "What the fuck are you talking about?"

  "I'm sure you must have a dozen reports from the officers on the scene, in addition to my own."

  "Look, I read those fucking looney-bin reports from the Tacoma P.D. Giant fucking road monsters. But all you've got to back it up is a few shaky dash cams of cars getting rolled over, not to mention the cameras that were straight up destroyed. No one got hurt. The only deaths were gunshots we can trace back to the terrorists. No other witnesses, no evidence. I'm calling mass fucking hysteria."

  "Do I seem crazy to you, sir?"

  "Yes, you goddamned motherfucking asshole shitstain. You seem crazy to me. We just went over that. That's why I'm fucking sidelining you."

  Goddammit. Not now. "Sir?"

  "I can't fire you, and I can't put you on leave or suspend you, as much as I'd fucking love to. But I can take you off this case, and you bet your worthless ass I'm pulling you. You're going to sit in your office and stay there. You come in at nine, you leave at five, and you do not move an inch outside this building without clearing it with me first. Do you have that down, or do I need to ram it so far up your ass it reaches your tiny brain?"

  Come here and try it. "Yes sir."

  "Dismissed." Aderholt turned back to his monitor, still fuming.

  Jeremy immediately went back to his office. Lani's desk still sat dishearteningly empty. As soon as five o'clock rolled around, he'd go visit his partner and fill him in on the whole debacle. Jeremy leaned back in his chair, closing his eyes.

  A phone buzzed in his jacket pocket.

  Jeremy sat up with a start. His phone was sitting on his desk in front of him. Not in his jacket, which hung off his chair back. He'd taken that jacket off last night, after dragging himself in from Tacoma in the middle of the night to write up his report before going home to sleep.

  Gingerly, he reached into the side pocket. There was a small, cheap burner phone in it. He flipped it open.

  360-555-9926: Thanks for what you said about me. I passed on your message. No promises.