The Monster Hero

Chapter 38 - Tavern

I walk into the tavern, and all eyes turn to me. I gulp. I walk up to an empty table and sit down. Everyone is silent. I wish Fred was sitting with me. He would say something that would be awkward and funny. A big bulky man, with tattoos covering his arms, walks over to my table.

"I've never seen you around here before. Who are you?" he asks.

I pull my sweatshirt's hood farther down my face.

"Who wants to know?"

"I do. I'm Spike. We don't get many girls around here. What are you doing?"

I look up, just a little.

"I don't think that it's any of your business," I say as I cross my arms over my chest.

Spike's eyes spark. Some men at other tables start laughing.

"Quit it!" Spike yells as he flings a bottle at a man's head.

The man falls to floor with a thunk. The laughter dies out.

"What's wrong? You getting laughed at?" I ask.

The laughter starts up again. The sparks in Spike's eyes turn into a full fledged fire.

"Quit it! Stop! Don't laugh at me! No one laughs at the great Spike!"

The laughter continues. Spike looks at me.

"You did this to me. You thought that just because you're a girl that you could get away with it! You idiot!"

Spike rears his fist back. He lets it lose. I dodge just in time. I crawl under the table and kick him in the shin three times. He looks under the table and tries to grab me. He misses. I run through the laughing men.

Spike runs after me and traps me in between a table and him. He tries to punch me, again. I duck and the man who is sitting at the table catches Spike's fist.

"No one should try to hurt a lady," he says.

The laughter stops and suddenly, every man in the tavern is walking toward Spike. Spike looks scared. He runs out the tavern door. I stand.

"Thanks," I say.

The men nod and go back to what they were doing. I lean on the wall next to the door.

"Psst. Elliott, you there?"

"Yeah, I'm here. Everything okay?"

"Yeah. I think it's your cue, now."

I push away from the wall and go back to my table. Elliott walks in. Fred walks in after Elliott, but when he sees me, he runs over to me.

The tavern is silent once more. This time people start reaching towards their weapons. They know wolfums are trouble.

"Don't draw your weapons. I come in peace," Elliott says.

Everyone points their weapons at Elliott. I get up and walk in front of Elliott.

"Move. I'm gonna shoot him. Why are you standing in front of him anyway?" the man says.

"He is my friend. He is a good guy who is helping us defeat the other wolfums," I say.

"Prove it," The man says.

Elliott opens the door and some people from the villages that united with us step inside the tavern.

"It's true. He is helping us. But we need more recruits. Will you help us?" the old doctor says.

The men in the tavern look at each other. Then they nod. I smile. Now we have an army worthy of beating Slash.