A car, practically on two wheels, came smashing through the side of the restaurant wall and landed on top of a table of six with a thunderous, smoking crash. There was blood and smoke and screaming everywhere. I yelled for someone to call an ambulance.

As we moved through the unnatural dark, the entire city was in chaos. There were screams and crashes everywhere. In the sky I heard helicopters, but couldn’t see them. People were running into the streets and getting struck down by cars. It was horrible.

Though we wanted to, we didn’t allow ourselves to stop and help. I looked over at Sam as we drove toward the park. There was a horror in his eyes I’d never seen before. Maybe the ghouls had been right all along. The floodgates had opened. The day of the monsters was upon us, and it was all that little fucker Billy’s fault.

Maybe, if we hurried, we could do something about it. If not, we were in for a long period of darkness, and most likely, the end of life as we knew it.

I drove through the darkness like a madman, from Sherman Oaks to North Hollywood, but just as I prepared to make the turn to the observatory, I saw a nightmare. Just ahead of us, a woman was being dragged from her car by a red, winged creature identical to the one I killed. I slammed on the brakes and came to a sudden stop, catching the woman and the creature in my headlights.

As I ran toward the action, the creature stopped, and tried to take flight. I lowered my .45 and aimed.

BLAMM! The shot tore through the side of the demon’s face. It released the woman, who wisely ran away in a screaming panic. I shot again. This time I hit it square in the forehead. It dropped to the pavement like a big wet rag, but I didn’t get two seconds to enjoy the victory. Sam tapped my shoulder and pointed up. The black sky filled with flying creatures.

“You have an extra piece?”

I handed him my .38 snub-nose.

“What are we gonna do?” I’d never heard that tone in Sam Burnett’s voice. It was fear, plain and simple. Fear and helplessness.

“I don’t have a clue.”

But I knew whatever we could do had to start at that rip in the air. Somewhere in that black hole was the answer. As we got back to the car, three demons landed and stole away the body of their fallen comrade. Before they flew off again, they looked at me and hissed.

I reached for my gun, but Sam grabbed my arm. “Don’t waste your time, son. Let’s get to the observatory.”