Al felt the little creatures smack into her and turned to look in shock at the waterfall of roaches.  She pulled her feet up onto the bar and stomped the biting swarm.  She saw Louie with the bat and shrieked as the bat came at her, destroying the phone just after she'd ducked out of the way.<br/><br/>"What in the name of all----?"  Her question ended on a gasp as a rough hand tangled in her hair and pulled her off the bar.  She flailed and found herself staring into a pair of glowing eyes.<br/><br/><strong>"You know Gerry,"</strong>the glowing-eyed...man?...said.  Her brain couldn't formulate another name for the speaker.<br/><br/>And, then she was airborne, flying and gliding over the bar to land on Louie behind the bar.  She shrieked as she saw his mouth filled with the bugs, his arms flopping around...he seemed to be choking on the things.  She retched, but fought back the reaction, pressing up, feeling the bugs crunch under her hands, and then under her back as she rolled off of Louie.  Al bounced to her feet, kicking the baseball bat Louie had dropped.  She turned to grab the bat then tried to help Louie to his feet, though it seemed a wasted effort.  And, then the bugs started to bite.<br/><br/>Al shook her arm and flung off one of the blood-thirsty creatures.  But, there were more, always more.  She clambered onto the bar, hating the wet crunch of the bugs beneath her as she first sat and then stood up on the bar.  She turned back towards the one who'd grabbed her, shocked to be nearly on an eye level with another figure at the center of the room.  Her grip tightened on the bat as the other figure howled.  Al's mouth went dry and gooseflesh rippled over her body.  It felt like her heart stopped until the sound fell away.  And, then her heart pounded.<br/><br/>Mr. Glowing eyes was not far away.  As the front door erupted in fire, Sam reflexively swung the bat at the glowing eyes, missing her mark when she stepped back as gunfire erupted; one of the patrons had a gun.  She stumbled in surprise, her ears ringing from the sound of the gun, and fell back on the bar, the dismaying crunch of bug bodies beneath her.  The roaches that managed to crawl on her arms bit on the bare flesh and she slid the bat down her arm to wipe the things away while still lying on her back.  She was gasping at the adrenaline dump, too wet from the rain to know if she'd peed at the horrific sound—and not really caring one way or the other.<br/><br/><strong>“You know Gerry,”</strong>the thing had said...Gerry the thing which had killed her mother.  And, that meant that this glowing-eyed thing knew Gerry, too.<br/><br/>Al lurched to her feet, stomping on the bugs.  She held the bat out to the girl (Sam).  “Come on, grab it, climb up,” she said as the girl was the closest to her.  Al glanced towards the back storage area, the way to the back door...possibly an escape route.  Then she looked back at the rest of the patrons.  She couldn’t run again.<br/>