Things get worse

The crowd was still blocking the main entrance back into the restaurant as we stood in the chill air of the night. Gunshots from across the water still occasionally rang out, and the classic sounds of screams that you think you wouldn't hear in an actual crisis showed up. The sound of a helicopter was drawing nearer now, and my gaze headed out towards the ship once again. While I had been distracted, it appeared that the vintage old bird that I'd spotted earlier had gotten into the air and was drawing closer.

"Your Uncle's as well?" I asked Nikki, who was still tugging on the doors.

"Yah, but there's no pad up here." Nikki pointed out as the helicopter drew nearer to the coast. Much nearer. Hell it was practically coming right at us.

"Brent?" Maria asked, edging away from the crowd. "You got as bad a feeling as I do about this?"

A loud sound of hissing streaked through the air, accompanied by a cloud of what I knew damn well wasn't smoke. My reaction was instant, grabbing at Maria and twisting my body to immediately position myself between her and the explosion I knew was coming. Nikki gazed at me with a shocked expression before the detonation behind us shocked her out of her reverie, and she too took cover with the two of us near the door.

The whumping sound of the helicopter's blades seemed to become erratic, and I could barely make out the airframe of the vehicle through the acrid cloud of black smoke that emanated from it. The crowd was pushing back now, desperately trying to get back from the hurtling vehicle, which was clearly no longer under human control. The laws of physics had it now, and an object in motion had been acted upon strongly by an outside ****.

The sound of splintering wood and screams along with crunches of metal and rock echoed through my ears as I sheltered in the corner of the overhanging balcony. The motion of the helicopter carried it directly into the restaurant, and twisted fragments of glass blew past us, along with shattered spines of wood and brittle husks of concrete pieces. I felt a sharp pain in my leg, and clasped my hand over a minor slash that had developed in my jeans. It didn't feel deep, but there was definitely something that could at least use a little pressure.

I don't think any one of us had words as the continued motion of the rotor blades dug into the side of the cliff underneath the wooden and glass wreckage of the restaurant. The sight of one of the patrons hanging on to the edge of the balcony, before the rotor blade neatly snapped it off sank into my eyes, and the poor victim fell, causing me to close my self from the sight. The rapidly moving blade seemed to dig once, before catching against an unmoveable object. The buckling metals sound shrieked, and the vehicle's momentum against the building stopped, before beginning to tumble down the cliff after the poor soul that it had so recently condemned.

Below us the sound of car horns could be heard as the wreckage plummeted onto the highway, rotating around several times more as the other rotor blades came in contact with the asphalt. The sound of screeching tires could be heard, and I carefully, stood, noting that much of the building had been completely obliterated by the impact of the craft. Small fires seemed to burn about the area, and across the bay I could hear the sound of a ships horn sounding twice.

I picked my way across the debris, noting that the door that had been locked was now hanging from the door handle, the red rope the only thing keeping it attached as it limply hung. I reached out and undid the knot, and the door fell, landing solidly on a piece of rock, before bouncing merrily down the hill and onto the highway, where traffic had already started to back up in both directions because of the small incident with the helicopter.

The door swung open to reveal the five star restaurant from earlier, now accompanied by large hole in floor and roof. Balcony temporarily out of service.

Nikki's hand came up to cover her mouth as she looked at the devastation. She seemed unable to comprehend what had happened, and Maria didn't look much better. They seemed untouched, so there was that at least. I took my hand away from my leg, and noted a small patch of blood on my palm. Nothing to get too worked up about, but probably a good idea to clean it at some point. Priority though was taking stock of the situation.

I was a little stressed when I noted that the hole in the floor was neatly blocking our exit from the restaurant, and that I had exactly no idea how much structural integrity the spot we were currently standing on had.