[i][b]A RECAP:[/b][/i]

[i]POW![/i] D's 'laser' gun shot with a noise that momentarily deafened the diner; a cartridge (attached to the gun with a rainbow-shimmering wire) shot out of the weapon and embedded itself in the wall with the high-pitched [i]ratatatatatatatatatat[/i] of pulsing electricity. The vines immediately surrounding the cartridge shuddered and smoked. With a small [i]fwoom[/i], the vines caught fire.

Flames reached brightly along the crisscross of leaves and stems; they flickered in the blackening leaves and smoldered in the old wallpaper.

Luckily, Gary had the fire extinguisher at-hand.

David flung open the door with little warning to the rest of those gathered. While the tiger inside lowered its head and pressed its ears back against its skull, David proceeded to take pictures.

The photo inside the bathroom showed that it was aged and decayed; the walls were brown and broken, the tiles shattered by creeping vines and roots. In the photograph, where the tiger should have been standing was only a white smudge. A trick of the light.

The photo of the diner showed just the vacant booths, tables heavy with half-eaten meals, and the same dragonfly still perched on the lampshade.

Reis, using the little table as a shield, shoved his way through the narrow door with a snarl and a roar that surprised even the tiger. The beast took a few steps back toward the sinks. Taut muscles moved beneath deadly stripes; power coiled in its haunches. It bared its long fangs in the light of Jeremy's torch. Its eyes glowed bright, reflecting the flames, while Cheri howled ridicule from behind them.

A low hissing noise announced Gary had pulled the trigger on the fire extinguisher. While he shouted, a pressurized stream of white foam gushed and smoked over the edge of the table, effectively putting out Jeremy's torch.

The tiger, struck in the face, snarled and rushed to the far side of the bathroom, out of reach of the foam. It slunk along the wall there, its fur stuck and crackling white and dripping, its jaws open.

It was enough for Jill to make a dash out of the stall and through the crowded doorway -- safe.

[right][h3]The Fed Zone[/h3]11:23 am, Saturday
November 6th[/right]

The decay -- the vines, the roots, the weeds and bramble -- was spreading rapidly. All around our heroes, the diner was falling into a state of disrepair as if it had been vacant for decades: crumbled leather seats choked with matted stuffing, tables broken and scraped, old dishes shattered on a warped and cracked floor. The ceiling was crisscrossed with creeping vines; the walls were split and rotting. The cool November wind drafted through the room. The diner's comforting aromas of bacon and eggs and coffee had been completely replaced by the sharp smell of decomposed wood and cold mist.

From the front of the diner, where Cheri stood, she could see the aged disintegration swallowing the diner; it approached her rapidly, heralded by twisting vines. Behind her, the MISSING posters on the corkboard drifted and trembled in a cold draft; the door still led outside into a perfectly normal parking lot, where the evacuated diner patrons were getting into their cars.

Police sirens wailed in the distance, fast approaching, flashing red and blue through the diner windows.

The tiger bared its long teeth and snarled a deep, terrifying [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DzXVMjsZloE]roar[/url] that shook the broken bathroom tiles.

[i][B]CRASH![/b][/i]

In an explosion of dust and brick, the wall of the bathroom -- beneath the window where Cheri had stood only moments before -- collapsed. The tiger skidded hurriedly out of the way of rubble spilled across the tiles, broken crumbles of brick and shards of ceramic; dust billowed everywhere. Left behind was a big ragged hole in the wall, and dim sunlight filtered by the cloudy sky outside.

Outside the hole was a forested, ghostly decay of broken asphalt and overgrown cement where roads and sidewalks once had been.

"C'mon, c'mon, hurry up!" someone called from the other side of the hole. It was a thin boy in shorts and sandals, standing with a scrawny hand against the crumbled brick, leaning in. His eyes were completely white ... and five-point antlers grew heavy from his head. He glanced at the bathroom door and startled to see people standing there -- he disappeared around the corner.

The tiger scrambled quickly -- and without a second glance, bolted over the rubble and out through the newly created doorway.