Horsemen's War (The Rebellion Chronicles #3) - Steve McHugh Page 0,45
the same railings as his victim. The group below fell silent.
“First person who steps forward,” Layla said.
It took six seconds for the first of them to step forward, a large man with a huge beard and an ax in one hand. He crumpled to the floor a second later, a hole where his forehead used to be.
Layla turned back to Judgement. “War’s coming.”
Judgement smiled and hit herself on the chest with one fist. She was ready.
“Anyone who moves first, take them out,” Layla said.
“I have twelve rounds left,” Chloe said. “It’ll be like shooting fish in a barrel.”
Layla walked away as shot after shot rang out over the night. She ignored it, walking to the far end of the apartment building and stepping over the makeshift ramp to the building beside it, where Piper greeted her.
“How’s Chloe?” Piper asked.
“Taking out her frustrations on mass murderers,” Layla said.
“She’s good at that,” Piper said. “We’re as ready as we’ll ever be.”
Layla took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I’ll go make a big wall, then.” She ran to the far edge of the building opposite and looked down over the APC in the middle of the road. It wasn’t much of a hindrance, if she was honest, even with cars on either side of it. That would soon change, though.
Layla reached out with her power and took control of the metal in the car directly beneath where she stood. She concentrated and twisted her hands, and the car tore apart. It took her a few seconds to do the same to two more cars, by which time the horde had full on charged toward their position. Layla worked quickly and moved all the metal into a sizable structure, wrapping it around lampposts and other cars to make a wall that stretched across the street. It wasn’t going to stop anyone who was determined, but it was seven feet high, sharp, and unpleasant and would hopefully ensure that their attackers didn’t continue further into the city.
“Jinayca,” Layla said, touching her earpiece. “When those reinforcements get here, there’s a metal wall just beyond us. They’re going to need me to move it.”
“I’ll let them know,” Jinayca said. “Layla, be careful.”
The first part of the horde arrived, with the rest not far behind. They stopped next to the APC and looked at the wall. Several Molotovs were thrown, and they opened fire on everything around them, but the structure held, and to Layla’s eyes, they were just making a dangerous climb even more so.
Layla walked away from the edge of the roof, back toward Piper, who dumped four large bags in front of her. “Shrapnel,” she said.
“Thank you,” Layla said.
Piper placed a hand on Layla’s shoulder. “We will be waiting for you.”
Layla nodded and opened the bag. Hundreds of screws, nuts, pieces of random metal, and what appeared to be knives and forks. Each bag probably weighed fifty pounds. That was a whole lot of shrapnel. She looked over at Chloe, who had taken up position with an MP5 at the edge of the roof, looking down over the kill zone. On the opposite side were the soldiers from the APC, both with identical weapons. Several windows on the top two floors of the apartment buildings were open, and Layla knew that more of her team were inside, waiting for action.
Layla took control of dozens of the pieces of metal and lifted them out of the bags, content to keep them hovering beside her as more and more of the gang arrived. Several of the group were already pointing at the apartment blocks and shouting obscenities; Layla ignored them.
The mass below—emboldened by numbers—turned toward the three apartment buildings and began lobbing Molotovs at them. The exposed walls caught fire, and a few hit the windows of the lower levels, but Layla had spent time going from room to room of the lowest floor, covering the windows in sheets of metal she’d removed from the hoods of cars at the front of the building. She hoped it would be enough. The last thing they needed was a fire.
When it became apparent that the buildings were not about to burst into uncontrolled flames, the crowd charged between the three buildings toward the front entrance, which, like all three other entrances, was now blocked with furniture. It would take them a while to get through.
It wasn’t a smart plan of attack, Layla thought as the screaming