[hider=Silent Shadows by Peder B. Helland][youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTFLYCMkyiM[/youtube][/hider]

Several passersby turned as Henry began to shout. A cloud of confusion formed, people stopping and looking at Henry and at the crack in the sidewalk. Mumbles floated around: 

“earthquake? Not here certainly;” 

“Eh, probably just the ground shifting;” 

“Shit construction. That’s what’s wrong with America- we have no standards. Back in my day…” 

In short, few folks heeded the words of a giant teenaged lizard, especially when they didn’t feel any tremors themselves. A few people stood in a crowd, though, watching and listening. One man knelt down and pressed his hands onto the ground to feel for anything. He squatted for a long time, people’s gazes darting between him and Henry. A weird look appeared on the man’s face, like he could feel something very faint. He cocked his head and, hesitantly, pressed an ear to the ground. 

“Hold up,” he said. “Actually, I think I do hear…” 

The ground rumbled. The crowd leapt back in panic. Several screams sounded from the street, but then things went quiet again, like a shadow had fallen over it. That faint crunching sound Henry had heard before vanished, and then transformed into something else, a squelching, bubbling noise, like the concrete was boiling. The cracked sidewalk block suddenly turned very dark, as if it had reverted to wet cement, and from it bubbles trickled. People began to stagger backwards. Several folks took off running. From below the ground, there was a twisting, groaning noise, like metal bending. 

And then the ground exploded. 

[hider=Iron Golem - Dark Souls Soundtrack][youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EC1N-1SMAXQ&t=5s[/youtube][/hider] 

People freaked out. The crowd was sent flying backwards. A car parked on the side of the road was ejected into traffic, colliding with the side of a Prius and shoving it into the wrong lane of traffic, causing a pileup. Henry was sent soaring backwards, crashing through the front door of Saturday Comics as the glass in the windows shattered, sending down razor-sharp shards The rumbling could be heard by everyone now, but it was different; it sounded less like rocks were breaking and more like two stones grinding against each other, or maybe...something slithering?

As the dust from the explosion cleared, a humanoid figure could be made out in the middle of it. They were gargantuan, nearly twenty feet tall and broad-shouldered. They towered over the whole rest of the street, dwarfing people and cars and even the light posts. As the dust settled, the silhouette turned to being, and the creature’s skin came into focus. It was a light grey, with the color and porousness of concrete, but seemed to move with the flexibility of flesh. It had no features besides this: no clothing, no face, no hair. Where it should’ve had legs, its body instead melded together into a serpent-like tail thick as a man’s torso that stuck into the ground from the spot where the sidewalk panel had been . As the crowd began to panic and people ran for their lives, the creature bent down wordlessly and grabbed a light post by the base. It ripped the post out of the ground with the ease of a blade of grass and, holding it two-handed like a baseball bat, smashed it into the front windows of the boutique next to Saturday Comics, smashing them and denting the metal doorframe.
 
People poured down Main Street in a panic. From the windows of Mooncash Coffee, the explosion and figure could be seen half a block down. Confusion swept the crowded room. Some people instinctively dove beneath tables and counters for cover, while others ran for the door, running out into the night. Still others took out cameras or early iPhones and began to take pictures. Helen stood stock still behind the counter, face flushed white and eyes locked on the figure. She seemed stunned, like a deer in headlights. The golem turned towards Mooncash, light post in hand. Its head tilted, and then it lifted the post and hurled it towards Mooncash like a javelin.

“GET DOWN!” somebody in the room yelled. People at the windows dove to the floor, covering their heads to prepare for a deluge of glass. 

Helen still stood frozen.