Chapter 2 - The Unseen Force
Total darkness consumed the diner as the glass bulbs shattered into a thousand pieces. Noah crouched behind the front counter, his heart pounding erratically in his chest. He could hear the bikers cursing loudly and stumbling blindly in the pitch-black room. "Somebody grab the old man before he runs!" Viper roared furiously over the chaos. A heavy thud echoed through the room, followed immediately by a sickening crunch. One of the massive bikers screamed in absolute agony, crashing into a table. Noah scrambled blindly toward the kitchen door, desperate to find the backup generator. The distinct sound of bones breaking filled the tense, terrifying air. Someone was moving through the darkness with impossible speed and lethal precision. Noah finally found the breaker box on the wall and threw the heavy red switch. Flickering emergency lights instantly cast a sickly yellow glow over the ruined dining room. Three of the hardened bikers were laid out on the floor, groaning in severe pain. The old man was still sitting in his booth, calmly taking a bite of a warm roll. Viper and his one remaining thug stared at the elderly man in sheer, unadulterated terror. "Who the hell are you?" Viper stammered, frantically pulling out a heavy black pistol. He aimed the dangerous weapon directly at the center of the old man's chest. Noah knew he had to do something before a brutal murder happened in his diner. He grabbed a heavy cast-iron skillet from the stove and crept silently up behind Viper. Noah raised his makeshift weapon, praying he could knock the biker unconscious. But before Noah could swing the pan, the front windows of the diner exploded inward. A massive, matte-black armored truck rammed right through the brick wall. The vehicle crushed Viper underneath its smoking grill in a shower of broken glass.
