CRASH!
Something heavy smashed through the window and slammed into the bar floor.
Before my brain could even catch up, before I could understand what I was looking at, another object flew past me and crashed into the wall near the entrance.
Then something massive hit the front door with a dull, bone-deep thud.
Kazuo rushed toward it, tried to push, but the door didn't move.
Someone screamed.
Thick smoke began to spread around us, fast and aggressive. Every breath burned my lungs.
Another crash.
Something came through a different window.
It hit the floor and then ignited.
For a heartbeat, I couldn't move. Then everything broke loose at once: shouts, the crash of chairs overturning, the stampede of bodies surging for the door.
"Kazuo!" I shouted, spinning toward him.
His eyes were already darting around, calculating. "Back door!" he barked, grabbing the nearest customer and shoving them toward the rear.
I bolted, lungs filling with smoke, heart hammering. My hand wrapped around the cold metal handle of the back door—locked.
"No! Come on!!!" I yanked and slammed my shoulder into it.
Nothing.
My pulse roared in my ears.
"Move, Luka!" Kazuo was beside me, coughing, grabbing a chair, and slamming it against the frame.
Again - nothing.
The heat bit at my skin. Panic clawed its way up my throat as flames started to climb the wall, devouring shelves and bottles, glass bursting in sharp pops.
The smoke and fire spread insanely fast.
People screamed. Coughed. Ran into each other in blind panic.
Glass crunched underfoot.
Someone fell.
Someone cried out.
The air filled with the sickening smell of burning fur, clawing straight into my lungs. I couldn't get enough air, no matter how hard I tried.
Strong hands grabbed me by the shoulders and shook me hard.
"Hey. Look at me!" Kazuo shouted over the chaos. "Now's not the time to freeze."
I barely managed to focus on him.
"We need to get everyone out," he said. "Find towels, rags, anything. Soak them. Give them to everyone. There's too much smoke—"
He broke into a cough mid-sentence, raising his hand to his face. His hand was badly burned. Skin raw and red.
My stomach dropped. The fear twisted deeper, tighter.
"Move!" he barked, shaking me again.
I snapped out of it and ran, grabbed whatever I could find, bar towels, rags, napkins, anything. I soaked them, shoved them into people's hands, pressed them into coughing mouths.
When there was nothing left to give, I pulled my own shirt up over my face, trying to filter the air. It barely helped.
The mask was making it worse.
I couldn't breathe in it. I was suffocating.
"Fuck—" I ripped it off and threw it aside.
I coughed so hard my vision blurred. My ears slipped free. My tail pushed out, got in the way, and knocked things over when I moved. I didn't even try to stop it.
"Back up! Back up!" Kazuo shouted, grabbed one of the big beastmen. "Help me break it!"
A sharp pop went off right next to me.
For half a second, I didn't understand what it was, then a liquor bottle exploded. Glass burst outward, followed by a piercing scream.
I ran toward the sound.
A woman was on the floor, curled in on herself, surrounded by shards. She looked frozen, eyes wide, shaking. I reached for her, trying to pull her up—
My hand slipped, and I went down hard, palms slamming into the floor, straight into the glass.
"Fuck! Fuck! FUCK!" I swore, biting the words through clenched teeth.
Pain shot up my arms, white-hot and nauseating, but I didn't stop. I forced myself back up, grabbed her again, and helped her to her feet. Someone else rushed in and pulled her away, wrapping an arm around her shoulders.
People were moving now, running toward Kazuo.
I looked down at my hand.
Glass was sticking out of my palm. Blood ran down my wrist.
My stomach lurched. I thought I was going to throw up.
No time.
I grabbed the biggest pieces and ripped them out, one after another. It hurt so bad that tears welled up in my eyes. I wrapped my hand in whatever fabric I could grab, pressed it tight, and ran.
We had to get out.
"Luka!" Kazuo barked, his own eyes red from the smoke. "Don't just stand there!"
The window they tried to break was tall, its frame thick. The glass was already cracked. A heavy chair slammed against it again. Shards flew in all directions.
The moment the glass gave way under the pressure, cold air rushed in from outside, and the flames flared up even stronger, fed by a fresh rush of oxygen. Everyone started coughing and panicking even more.
I staggered toward the window, clutching my bleeding hand against my chest. My other hand grabbed the nearest chair and started knocking the remaining glass out of the frame. The broken pieces flew off and cut my hands and face, but there was no time to worry about that.
Kazuo found a rag and threw it over the frame.
"Go!" He shouted, hauling someone through the opening. The woman scrambled out, stumbling into the night air with a cry. "Next! Keep moving!"
One by one, people climbed through, coughing, weeping, desperate. I shoved another stool under the sill, helping a small hybrid up and out.
Then, a sudden burst of fire along the left wall. The heat slammed into me like a wave. My fur and tail—caught.
I screamed.
The smell of burning hair and flesh filled the air, acrid, choking.
"Luka!" Kazuo was there in an instant, ripping off his jacket and slamming it against the flames on my side. "Stay still, damn it!" He beat down the fire, his face twisted with fury and fear.
My knees buckled. The pain seared through me. I bit my tongue to keep from crying out.
Kazuo growled, yanking me up by the arm. "Move!"
He dragged me toward the window, but I shook my head, coughing hard. "The last ones… there's still—"
"Got it!" he snapped. "Out! Now!"
I couldn't. Not while I saw two more people still frozen in fear at the far side. I stumbled back into the smoke, ignoring Kazuo's curse behind me. My body screamed in protest, every nerve lit with agony, but I grabbed the man's arm, dragging him forward.
"Come on! Move!" My voice was hoarse, broken.
He stumbled after me, the other one following. Kazuo grabbed them both, then pulled toward the window.
By the time the last of them climbed out, my strength was gone.
"Luka!" Kazuo shouted. His voice felt distant. "Get your ass out of here now!"
I forced myself to move forward. The world tilted, heat and smoke closing in. My knees gave out as I reached the window.
Kazuo dragged me up and pushed me through the opening. Glass bit into my skin as I tumbled out onto the wet street outside.
I coughed violently, choking on smoke, body curling on the pavement. Around me, the others were gathered, some crying, some coughing, some lying flat with burns or cuts. Kazuo climbed out after me, his own arms bloodied, his face streaked with soot.
The bar roared behind us, flames bursting from the roof.
And then I saw it.
Scrawled across the outer wall, painted in big, ugly letters that glowed in the firelight:
WE WARNED YOU. BURN!