A Glimmer of Hope (The Avalon Chronicles #1)(25)

Layla found the cell keys on the floor and ran out of the room, closing and locking the door behind her as she went. She stopped. Elias had told her that those people who had survived the attack on the train depot were going to be brought here. She needed to figure out if she could save them. But she didn’t even know where to start looking.

She kicked the door with the toe of her shoe. What if he’d been lying? What if she found them and they were already dead, or couldn’t make it out of here? Right there and then she knew that she couldn’t spend time looking for anyone else that might be trapped here. Elias and his people would just capture her again. She needed to get to the police, to tell them what had happened so that they could come and deal with it. Somehow.

Layla kept hold of the sword and searched around the cavern she found herself in, looking for any incoming threats. Instead, all she found were several stalagmites and a small stream.

It wouldn’t be long before her captors realized she was missing and went looking for her, and Layla wanted to be as far from here as possible when that happened. Where here was, she had no idea, but there had to be a way to get back up the stairs toward the lift and her freedom.

She walked down the stream, following several lights that had been set up around the area, until it took her into a gigantic cavern. Stalagmites and stalactites fought for numeric supremacy, leaving little space for her to get around without walking through the middle of the stream. Occasionally, she saw movement out of the corner of her eye, and wondered just how big the insects got this far under the earth. She increased her pace.

After walking through several more chambers, Layla eventually came to a set of brick stairs leading up toward a tunnel. She walked up the stairs and into the tunnel, following its incline for several minutes until she arrived at a steel door. There was no lock, or even a keyhole, and she pushed it open with a squeal loud enough to wake the dead. She stepped through into a corridor, although this one reminded her of the cell where she’d been kept, all concrete slabs and gray brick.

She followed the tunnel until it opened out, showing her three new paths to take, but with no clue as to which one was actually the escape she desperately needed.

“He’s been gone too long,” a voice shouted from one tunnel. She counted that tunnel as a bad idea, and ran down another. It snaked for a few minutes, and then she smelled blood. She stopped walking, flattening herself up against the wall, moving slowly along it. Lights hung from the ceiling every few dozen feet, but about halfway between each one was a patch of darkness. Metal boxes and stacks of building supplies were left all over the tunnel, and Layla used them to cover herself as best she could.

As she moved further down the tunnel, the sounds of crunching and slurping echoed around her. She began to see thick metal bars on one side, with a huge space behind them. The bars stretched along as far as she could see, each bar twelve feet high and a foot in diameter. She continued on, until she could no longer use old boxes for cover, and looked into the darkness of the cavern behind the metal bars.

What had once been a sheep was lying on its side in the center of the floor. The sheep’s head and legs were missing, as was most of the flesh around the section of the ribcage that Layla could see. She ducked back and took a few deep breaths, before turning back to the sight before her.

Behind the remains of the sheep was the ogre. He had part of a sheep leg in one hand and was ripping lumps of flesh off with the other and putting them into his waiting mouth. Occasionally he made a noise of contentment.

There was no chance the ogre wouldn’t see Layla coming out from behind the large crate she was crouching behind, and there was fifty feet of open tunnel before she could make it past the creature’s cage. She studied the bars, hoping they would hold if he tried to do something. The door to the cage had a huge lock on it, and Layla wondered whether it would work. She took a deep breath and stepped out into the open, walking steadily toward the end of the cage.

“Hello, little one,” Brako the ogre called out. “I could smell you.”

Layla froze as the ogre tossed the sheep’s leg aside. “Be on your way.”

Fear gave way to confusion. “Why aren’t you going to chase me?”

“I’m locked in here. I couldn’t even if I wanted to. Besides, you’re not going to get far, and I’ve just eaten. I didn’t eat your friends, by the way. I killed them, but I don’t eat people. Don’t like the taste.”

Anger bubbled up inside of Layla.

“Want to kill me, little one?” Brako asked. “Bet you do. You can’t, though. You’re just a little human, barely capable of doing much aside from breeding and dying. Run along, little one, they’ll find you soon enough, so you might as well give them some sport before they do.”

Layla turned and sprinted away from Brako and the stench that surrounded him. She eventually came to a flight of metal stairs, which she ascended slowly, hoping she wasn’t making too much noise, wincing with every step that brought unwanted sound.

When she reached the top, she found herself in an identical tunnel to the one she’d just left. A moment of despair hit her. She had no idea where she was going, or where this new tunnel would lead; she was just running, and sooner or later she’d come across those hunting her.

She forced the thought aside; she could be upset later, when she wasn’t in danger. Now was the time for keeping it together and forging on. A few minutes later she came to another fork in the tunnel; she picked the turning closest to her, running down it until she passed a door that was standing ajar. Hearing noises up ahead, she ran into the room in a panic, closing the door behind her.