Lin blinked then rubbed her eyes and shook her head. She had stayed up late studying and was exhausted. "I am so sorry!"

She reached down to help the young lady she had just run into. "Are you okay?" The woman just sat where she had fallen to the ground in a daze.

"Hey?" Lin said and crouched down to the lady's level. "Are you alright?" The lady blinked then looked around.

"L-L-L-I-I-I-N-N-N!" Lin turned around to see her friend waving her arms and running towards her.

"Hey! Trish, be careful!" Lin yelled back when her friend crossed the street without looking to see if it was safe. Lin was standing by the time her friend crossed the road.

"What were you doing?" Trish asked when she got to Lin.

"OH! I was–" Lin spun around, ready to apologize to the dazed woman again, but she was gone. "Where did she go? I hope she's okay."

"Who?" Trish asked, looking around.

"I accidentally knocked someone over. I think I startled her...A lot."

Trish shrugged. "Oh well, let's go! I don't want to miss the movie!"

"You know they show like ten minutes of previews before a movie, right?" Lin asked still looking around for the dazed woman.

"I know, but I like to watch those too," Trish said and grabbed Lin's arm then tugged her towards the theater.

~

The sound of shattering glass made Lin whip her head up just in time to see two figures jab at each other before disappearing back into a room of broken windows high above her.

Warm golden sunlight shone through the glass and steel tower that surrounded her and made the broken pieces of glass look like a rain of golden glitter when it fell, in slow motion, all around her.

Another glass window broke and a wave of water came spilling down the balcony from two stories up.

Lin glanced around in confusion, the building she was in had a circular shape to it and was made entirely of glass and steel with a single column in the middle that rose up about twenty stories high. Trees and bushes circled the center of the tower in an orderly chaos with smooth white stoned paths weaving in between them. It reminded her of a sort of greenhouse, the type one might see at a botanical garden.

There was a crash to her right which made the young woman jump and swirl around to see what had made the sound. To her horror, a disfigured and bloody person rose up out of the various broken and burnt things around it.

'How could anyone with injuries like that be walking? Let alone, stand?' She thought. She knew she shouldn't simply stand there and stare at him. She knew she should go and try to help the person out, but there was just something wrong about the way he looked.

The injured man took another staggering step closer. His features twisted into a cruel sharp toothed smile as his hand reached out to her. "Found you."

~

Lin jerked awake when a loud boom shook her theater seat and almost knocked her drink out of its holder. Trish turned to her then shook her head and snickered.

When the movie ended Trish slapped Lin hard on the back. "I can't believe you fell asleep!"

"What? I stayed up really late last night!"

"Let me guess, you decided to count all the little bumps on your ceiling?"

"What? No, why would I do that and where do you get these weird ideas? I was studying."

Trish shrugged. "It's almost as boring. Do you ever go out and have some fun? And I don't mean going to a bookstore to read."

"Hey! There's nothing wrong with that and besides I came to the movies today!"

"You slept through half the movie!"

"But I came, didn't I?"

"That doesn't count! So, as for punishment..." Trish paused for a second and looked around. "We're going to go clubbing!" She put her arm around Lin's and started pulling her towards the nearest club.

"What!? No! Wait!" Lin protested when her friend dragged her down the sidewalk. Despite the cold night, the streets were crowded with people and soon enough Lin's friend had lost her grip and they became separated. 'I wonder how long it'll take for Trish to realize that she lost me,' Lin thought to herself.

Lin shivered as a cold chill ran down her spine. She stood in the middle of the sidewalk watching the people trudge past her.

Suddenly, she stiffened, holding her breath when she locked gazes with a young man. His silvery blue eyes held her hazel ones then were gone in an instant. She lurched forward trying to get a better look at the man just as something came crashing down on the spot she had been standing.

Startled passer-byers jumped, screamed, or cursed then looked around for the source of the noise. Lin had jumped and whirled around to see a smashed flower pot a few feet away then quickly looked up and almost screamed.

There on one of the balconies, two stories high, was a shadowy black figure with glowing red eyes, twisted horns, and sharp claws. It had a human-like head, the body of a canine, a spiked lizard-like tail, and weird feathery bat-like wings.

Lin stood there, frozen with terror, until a hand clasped her on the shoulder and she jumped. She screamed, trying to get away from the grasping hand.