Starlight Blaze

Destruction III: Carbon Fiber

The world jolted to life with a skitter of claws and a jostled elevator door. The there turned and  sprinted as fast as their legs would allow. Thick and suffocating, Maya's face was warmed by each exhale that blew right back onto her.  

'THE EMERGENCY EXIT!' Maya yelled, almost slipping as she came to a stop in front of the emergency exit door due to sheer intertia, holding the door open for the other two 'GO! GO! GO!'

'Where are we going?' Jagruti asked as the three ran up the stairs, taking three steps at a time.

'The Entrance hall,' Maya panted 'The others might still be there. That's our only way out. it's the last place that-that thing would think to look for us.'

Maya skidded to a stop.

'What are you doing!?!' Abhimanyu exclaimed 'Keep running!'

'We-We have to throw that thing off our scent,' Maya panted, fishing out her crushed up phone 'Give me something of yours'.'

Both handed Maya their blazers. Maya threw the three items into the nearest room just as they heard the door they had came through be crushed just as the reached the entrance hall. A gruesome howl. The thing was coming for them.

The three up the stairs twice as fast, jumping flight of stairs at a time. The three were running at such a ferocious speed that they had to jump through the door to the entrance hall to make themselves hault.

There was sounds of furniture being obligated about fifteen floors below them. 

'We have to block the door,' Maya said shakily. She tried to get to her feat, but she was trembling so bad she fell back onto the floor. 

Abhimanyu, however, was calm as ever. He haunched over the automated  door and flicked his wrist. To maya's shock, A tiny screwdriver popped out of his bracelet. Abhimanyu remove the screws not he control panel of the door and with an other flick of his wrist, conjured a pair of tweezers. 

Another ferocious roar shook the building. Whatever Abhimanyu was doing, he had to do it fast.

He cut a wire here and reattached another there and not only did all the doors to the entrance hall sealed themselves shut, but bars came down on each door. Abhimanyu must have activated some kind of emergency lockdown on the building. Well, that bought them some time at least. But Maya knew, and Abhimanyu knew, that no amount of mental could keep that thing at bay forever. They needed a plan. A trap of some sorts. 

Shakily, Maya clutched on to a large trolly with about 50 boxes on it to heavy herself to her feet, but she ended up crashing head first straight into the boxes. Maya groaned. Could this day get any worse? She was being chased by a monster that most defenetley wanted to kill her. The entrance hall was deserted, debris had blocked their way out of the building and now she had completely and utterly embarrassed herself by falling into boxes full of....Carbon Fiber? Maya clutched a piece of the black fabric, the cogs in her head turning. Maya remembered that carbon fiber was both soft and flexible, yet incredibly strong – as tough as steel. The Gale corporation must have ordered these sample pieces for some construction project and they had been abandoned here when the evacuation started. 

A spark of realization lit up in Maya's eyes as she connected the dots. 

'Say...' Maya got to her feat, this time steady as a rock 'What do you think are the dimensions of this room?'

'What!?!' Jagruti exclaimed, still shivering 'Maya! This no time for math-'

'7.5 feet wide and 10 feet tall exactly.' Abhimanyu said, his eyes scanning the room as his mind calculating, his gaze asking "So what?"

Maya smiled cunningly at the black silk in her hands. The symbol of their salvation 'That thing is going to come down here some time or the other. We can't just sit around and wait like lambs ready for slaughter. We need to set a trap...And I know just how to do that.' 

Jagruti had called Maya's idea overly complicated and insane but Abhimanyu had agreed at once. He calculated exactly how much carbon fiber they needed to use and where to make a trap of just the right side and strength. The boy was a mathematical genius, even by Maya's standards. Jagruti perched her phone on the reception desk so it could record them working for her movie project. Maya silently thanked her grandma for making her attend summer camp every year where she had learned to weave as she flawlessly finished the long strips of fiber and braided them together as per Abhimanyu's calculations. Maya worked diligently, bringing the strands together with Jagruti and Abhimanyu's help who followed her instructions to the T. Soon, the structure was done. At the once glamorous entrance to the skyscraper now lay a braided cylinder of carbon fiber, seven feet in diameter and ten feet long, the black surface glistening like an abalone shell.

'Done!' Maya breathed, her face sweaty and red.

Not a moment to rejoice. This time, the roar was only a floor below them. The monster was onto them. They had no doubt been able to throw it off for a while but it was here now and it was showtime. Well then, Time for the bait.

Maya snatched Abhimanyu's phone from his pocket 'Hey! What do you think you're-'

'I need this as bait,' Maya said as she snatched Jagruti's phone out of her hand 'Hey! You can't do that! I was filming-'

'What's more important, you movie or your life?' Maya snapped as she took off her tie, unravelling it and tiring one end around Jagruti's phone. She opened the dial on Abhimanyu's phone and entered Jagruti's number. This was it. Everything was set.

'Okay,' Maya took a deep breath and turned to the other two 'I will stay here and lure the beast into the trap. While the beast is distracted by me, I need you both to go to the top of the tower and signal for help.'

'No way!' Jagruti shook Maya by the shoulders, here eyes red and filled with tears 'You can't face that thing alone, M! I won't leave you here alone!'

'She's right, Bhosle.' Maya felt here stomach do summersaults when she heard Abhimanyu call her by her last name 'That thing shook the tallest building in the city bust by a roar. No human could take that thing down.'

Maya's ears perked 'No human? What do you mean no human? You say "human" as if....' Maya caught her breath 'As if you're not...You-You know what that thing is, don't you?'

His golden irises gave her all the answers she needed.

At that moment, the whole room shook as if it were a saltshaker by the force the creature's roar. It was only a few steps away. The three were flung to the ceiling and to the side like rag dolls and would have certainly met their demise if they had not landed on the carbon fiber. They gingerly got onto solid ground, careful not to be caught in their own trap and ran to hide behind a mountain of debris. It was time. The incredibly tremor had resulted in the door they had come through to be demolished. aAnd standing in the debris, was the monster.