REMNANT : Buffy, the Vampire Slayer meets Batman and the Red Rider

REMNANT: Buffy, the Vampire Slayer meets Batman and the Red Rider - Chapter 9.

Xander backed away from the violent crowd. "This is not good."

The teenagers at Hooligan's began closing in on them in their hysteria, forcing Buffy, Xander, Willow, and Jonathan against the wall behind the bar counter. They had all apparently drank some of Ethan's non-alcoholic concoctions, surrendering themselves to the nightmares it produced. Each person looked around in unbridled fear at unseen enemies and monsters, unaware of their actual surroundings. Let alone the real people they were clawing and swinging at, in their attempts to fight off the invisible attacks.

Behind Buffy and the others, Ethan had locked the rear door, blocking their only escape.

"We need to find a way out of here," Willow said, breathless.

"Right," Buffy said. "These kids were all infected with Ethan's drugged drinks. They don't know what they're doing. We don't want to hurt them."

A girl screamed at Buffy, running straight at her. "Out of my way! They're after me! They're after me!"

Before the girl could sink her long fingernails into Buffy's face, Buffy slapped her hard, knocking her to the floor. Buffy shrugged with an embarrassed pout. "Doesn't mean I won't."

Xander grabbed a nearby chair to ward off flailing arms and fists from a couple of teenage boys. They were terrified, kicking and punching toward him aimlessly in defense. "I'm thinking we look like monsters to these guys," he said, focusing on deflecting their blows. "And not the kind on Sesame Street."

Buffy grabbed the round table behind Xander, lifting it like an enormous shield and pushing the crowd back with it, toppling over several of them like bowling pins.

Willow looked from one crazed face to another. "Isn't there some kind of emergency exit?"

Buffy still saw no way to guide them all safely to the front door, before the panicked mob seized them. "We need to make one, because this is an emergency."

She turned and saw a fire extinguisher on the rear wall near the locked door. She snatched it up and pummeled the doorknob with it, then jammed it against the door, cracking it open. "Everybody out!" she ordered.

Xander hesitated, giving Willow and Jonathan room to leave first. Then he tossed the chair aside and ran, as Buffy picked up the heavy table again to block the frightened pack struggling to fight their way through her.

"Run!" Buffy shouted, hurrying after the others as they rushed through the dark storage area, filled with shelves of glass bottles and a walk-in freezer. They continued through a dimly lit area in the rear, filled with the ancient statues and demonic paraphernalia that Ethan was known for. Buffy scowled at it as she ran past, following the others out the open exit door that led outside. She only hoped Giles would be all right out front.

Giles turned at the sudden uproar from within Hooligan's. Even the Chinese bouncer jerked toward the unnatural sound, like a howling of disorganized wolves. He turned toward the door, his hand hovering over the doorknob for a moment as the strange din increased.

The door burst open suddenly and the crowd poured out of the bar. They hit the bouncer with such force that they drove him backward over the railing, to flip over it and hit the pavement hard with his gut.

"Get back!" one boy shouted, shoving against those nearest to him. "You're not gonna bury me! Stay back!"

"The bees!" a girl shrieked from the platform, swiping at her head frantically. Then clawing until her nails connected with the face of another girl beside her.