A Glimmer of Hope (The Avalon Chronicles #1)(17)
She got up from her desk and walked to the opposite end of the office, pushing open the only working window—the rest remained locked at all times. The second she put her head out, allowing the noise of the depot into the office, there was more movement on the bridge. Something was on top of it. For a second, Layla couldn’t quite work out what it was. It was too bathed in darkness for her to make out. Then it stood up.
Layla’s mouth dropped in shock as a near-eight-foot-tall figure stood up on top of the bridge. She stepped back from the window, tripping over the cable that ran behind her. She fell to the floor just as the window and surrounding wall in front of her exploded, raining down bits of glass and brick all around her. She rolled under the nearest table, covering her head with her hands.
After a few seconds, Layla scrambled to her feet, ran for the door, and almost launched herself through it in one motion. Coughing as the cloud of brick dust surrounded her, she caught a glimpse of a huge twin-headed battle-ax imbedded in the wall further down the corridor. Whatever had thrown it had been strong enough to send it not only through the outer wall and window, but also through the internal wall. Layla knew she didn’t want to meet its owner, and sprinted in the opposite direction.
The door at the far end of the corridor burst open and a monster stepped through. He had dark green skin with brown splotches across his bare arms and wore some kind of leather armor with two spikes across each shoulder that reminded Layla of something out of a fantasy film; all black and foreboding. The creature’s long black hair was tied in plaits, as was his long beard, and two horns jutted out from either side of his head, nearly touching the ceiling. He smiled at her, showing fearsome, razor-sharp teeth. He looked like he could crush steel in his frying-pan-sized hands.
Layla backed up toward the door behind her as the beast grabbed hold of the ax’s haft and ripped it free, dragging a portion of the wall with it. Layla turned and bolted through the door, sprinting down the stairs and out into the main shed, straight into Marcus, almost knocking him over.
“You okay?” he asked, concerned.
Layla was about to tell him to run when one of the shed windows shattered as the creature leaped through, landing on the path next to one of the trains. He roared, and for a moment after he finished there was no other sound. The beast turned toward Andrew, who had left the ground-floor office to check out what was happening, and then to the technician, who had unfortunately opened one of the train doors right next to the creature.
He whipped the ax up with ferocious speed, catching the man just below the ribcage, cutting him in half. Someone somewhere screamed, as Layla stood transfixed with shock. She forced herself to run, turning and sprinting away, feeling the reverberations of the creature’s massive feet on the ground as he gave chase.
Marcus cried out in pain, and Layla stopped running and turned to find the beast with one hand around Marcus’s head, holding him several feet off the ground. He looked between Layla and his prey, before flinging Marcus head first into the nearest train, sending him right through the body of the train, leaving only a bloody smear in his wake.
Another technician left the office at a run, but the creature grabbed him, threw him up against the train, and flung the ax at him. It cut through him as if he were made of paper, the ax lodging itself in the train’s body. Layla ran toward the train, dropping down into the pit beneath it, hoping to find some form of sanctuary. She landed awkwardly and shock went up her leg, but she pushed the pain aside and ran on under the train, ducking beneath any parts that jutted out.
Layla’s instinct was to find a way to fight back, but that was against people who weren’t capable of crushing steel in their hands. She knew she had no way to fight this monster, and her hatred of him grew. People were dying, and she couldn’t do a damn thing to stop it. She was angry at her lack of options, and the position she’d been put in. She knew her only choice was to get as far away from the depot as possible and hope that the creature followed. She’d figure the rest out later.
The monster retrieved the ax and tore one of the trains apart, throwing huge pieces of metal around as if they were nothing, until he’d created a hole big enough to drop down into the pit. The pit wasn’t wide enough, so he launched himself into a carriage, sprinting through it, tearing it apart from the inside out. Nothing could stop him: gangways were destroyed and doors were smashed as if they were hardly there.
Beneath the train, Layla continued running, while people scrambled to get out and find shelter. Eventually she made it to the steps at the end of the pit and charged up them, as the creature burst through the fly doors at the front of the train, destroying the driver’s console in the process. He landed beside another technician, who was frozen with terror, and kicked him in the chest so hard that Layla could hear the bones shattering from the impact as she resumed running toward the shed exit.
She burst through the doors and found herself standing in front of a young woman. She had a shaved head, a pleasant, almost friendly, face, and several tattoos on her bare arms. She wore similar leather armor to the monster, although it was considerably smaller. She looked at Layla and smiled.
Four men lay dead at her feet and a fifth, whose back was toward her, was impaled on the sword that seemed to be a part of her arm. The sword vanished, showing no sign it was ever there, and it was only then that Layla noticed the dead man was Aoki.
“He was smoking,” the woman said. “Terrible habit. It makes you stink for the rest of the day.”