Tables exploded into wood chips and bar stools were sent flying into the liquor bottles behind the counter. Shattering glass showered Sage as she screamed, tucking her head and feeling it scatter over her hair.
"I thought you liked this place," the man mocked, following behind her with slow steps as if enjoying himself. "Why are you letting it get beat to hell?"
Sage gritted her teeth at the reminder of where they were. This was her home, her favorite restaurant with a sweet bartender who was probably traumatized now.
"You're the one doing it!" she yelped, rushing forward so he picked up the pace toward the back of the building.
Only to double back and slide underneath the man's tree trunks for legs, using the momentum of grasping his thighs for purchase and polished wood floor to her advantage. The man froze at her touch, shocked or unsure, Sage couldn't tell which.
On her way through, she punched the prick square in the balls as hard as she could. He exhaled sharply, staggering and dropping the mace so fast it broke through the floorboards as easily as snapping a carrot in half.
Sage winced, but didn't police the hot, pulsing fury that radiated from the center of her chest outward as it forced her to stand. Muscles rigid and quivering, she slammed her heel down on the handle of the mace. It flew through the air, flipping over itself once, twice, before she caught it with both hands, green eye blazing as the hazel one remained reserved.
"Get out of my city, you fucker."
Then she wheeled the weapon back like a baseball bat and swung. It connected with the man's stomach with a loud squelch, blood spraying across her legs and arms. He gasped like he'd been hit by a mere fist instead, eyes squinting against the pain. Sage let go, the panicky feeling in her chest cooling the longer she stared and stared at the gushing hole through the man's stomach.
I did that. I DID THAT—
*Record screech and freeze frame*
You're probably wondering how we got here, and, to be completely honest, Sage would like to know, too. An hour before this fateful meeting, she was on stream with her followers finishing up a nostalgic playthrough of Sinister Evil Six. The game that shot her to new heights on MeTube and grew her Concord server to a whopping six hundred thousand members. Thanks to them, she didn't have to leave the comfort of her home to live a normal day-to-day life.
Therefore, Sage was filled with a ruffled irritation as she confronted her tormentors, only to discover her city teemed with more monsters than most humans realize. Things that go bump in the night are real, and they're after her.
...but why?