Soul Lines (Completed)

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Chapter Twenty-Nine
Elle's POV

'Who is it?'

We could hear horrific sounds from the hallways, cries and war calls that caffeinated our hearts. The lights flickered, the generators whirling, and then they died, plunging the room into darkness.

We'd moved Lachlan over to the corner of the room, out of the way, where he cowered, bent over and trembling. His eyes were wide as he muttered nonsensical things to the shadows in the room. His breakdown had scared Kendra enough that she helped me move items across the room, the furniture scraping and squealing as we crafted a blockade against the door.

'Lachlan!' Kendra snapped, 'Don't just sit there. God, you're useless.'

I pushed her aside, crouching beside him so our faces were level. 'Lachlan,' I placed a feather-light touch on his arm. 'I need you to listen for a moment. Kendra and I need to know who is coming. We need to be prepared.'

'I can smell them.' He whimpered, staring at the ground, rocking on his heels. 'They smell of hatred and death.'

'Who is it, Lachlan?'

He looked up, his eyes drowning with fear. 'Hunters.'

A bang on the door ricocheted through the room.

I gasped, looking sharply towards the sound, my heart matching the thundering echo of the door.

The assault kept sounding. The clang of metal was like thunder across the room. Lachlan turned his eyes away, humming a haunting tune to drown out the noise.

'There's a back door!' Kendra cried, ducking as the door rattled with a bang. 'One of the hinges has broken off. I couldn't get through alone, but maybe if we try together.'

Lachlan groaned, his face paling. Kendra and I, without words, hooked him over our shoulders and dragged him into the backroom, ignoring his pain. 'I don't want to go.'

I pressed my mouth into a flat line, sharing a look with Kendra, 'You'll die if you don't.'

His body was limp, and his feet trailed along the ground. 'I'll die either way.' He croaked.

'God,' Kendra sighed, 'I'll just shoot you now if that's what you believe.'

The noise sounded louder in this room, each bang sending tremors through my bones. The silence was worse, anxiety flooding my veins, sweat slickening my body. I held my breath, listening for signs they had gotten in.

I removed the pipe from the sink in the bathroom, and Kendra tore a loose plank from the floor. Together we huddled by the door, trying to break free so we could escape into the corridor.

'Hang on,' I snapped, staring at the hinge. 'This isn't a security hinge, Kendra!'

'A what?'

'We had them installed in the hotel staff rooms last year. They're designed with special pins that make it impossible to break them.' I snagged Kendra's wood piece, studying the edge, 'These are standard hinges. They haven't been replaced in decades.'

'So what?'

'You can break them, pop them loose.' I snarled, pushing her out of the way. 'I was curious when they were being replaced, I asked the handyman what the difference between them was, and he showed me how to break a standard hinge. I just need to get in between the pin and the hinge so I can force it up.'

'Elliot?'

I looked back at Lachlan. His eyes were focused on the other room, his mouth opening and closing without sound, like a fish out of water. I heard it then, the scrapping of furniture across the wooden floorboards.