Dreams Awakened

Chapter 3

Glass shattered slicing Layla in the face before she had the chance to cover it. Her senses were distorted, but she knew this was going to be her only opportunity to escape. She pulled at the thick leather straps on her left wrist with all her might willing it to tear and finish Lucian’s job. It didn’t budge.

The door burst open allowing more people to enter the fight, whose side they were on she didn’t know. Why they were fighting, she didn’t care as long as it held off long enough to escape.

Layla’s blood started boiling. All she wanted was to be free from this nightmare. It sounded as if bombs were going off around her, ear deafening sounds so close to her it shook her to the core while shards of concrete sprayed everywhere and blood was flung all over her from the slicing she heard. She screamed suddenly as a knife came bearing down towards her. It began cutting through her wristbands freeing her from captivity. She hopped off the table, her savior already back in the array of the fight. Black clothes covered half of the fighters, what appeared to be lightning flashed around the room. Knives were swinging in the air, blood splattering the ground and walls as Layla turned a full circle. And then she kicked into action. She ran for the door swerving around the fighters at full speed, sliding on the blood that littered the ground. As soon as she hit the door way she was pulled back with a fierce snarl. Lucian whipped her head around and forced Layla to face him, his saliva pouring from his wanting fangs. Layla instinctively kicked Lucian in the balls forcing her neck from his grip as she ran again.

Layla ran from hallway to hallway searching for a way out as if a huge red “exit” sign would be hanging from the top of a door. Her legs were sore and she was slipping all over the floor from the blood soaked into the bottom of her bare feet. Sharp pains littered her chest and her breath was shallow and icy. As she turned the next corner she slid right into a hard black chest. The sweatshirt zipper caught in her hair as she slid back almost falling to the floor before two hands grabbed her arms and hoisted her in a more sturdy position. It took only a few seconds before Layla’s brain kicked into gear and tried running again only to be thrown over the pair of shoulders. She kicked and screamed at the black clad man, she assumed it was a man due to the shoulder width, until he finally threw her off his back and grabbed her by the neck. Layla couldn’t breath as the hands tightened.

“If you don’t bloody shut up, I’ll kill you now!” A strong masculine voice yelled to her. She stopped moving.

“Now be quiet so I can save your ass, unless you want to be here when the bomb goes off?”

She was breathing heavier now, “What bomb? Didn’t you guys already do that?!”

He laughed which frightened her. He took a deep breath, “Not even close” and picked her back up throwing her over his shoulders once more running for a door.

It was a whirlwind outside just as much as inside, people fighting, blood everywhere. It must have been the SWAT team coming for her. Yes, that’s it! They knew she was missing, surely Phoebe would have reported it by now. The guy was breathing heavy now, perhaps her weight finally catching up to him.

“So… what’s your name?” She questioned him cocking her head to the side trying to see his face as they ran through the mass of bodies to the tree line. He took a deep breath, “Hayden, love.”

“Okay Mr. Hayden Love, well why are we running to the trees and not to one of those lovely vans parked outside?” Layla questioned him knowing full and well the love was directed towards her and was not apart of his name. He chuckled, “Well because of you darling.” Layla scrunched her nose up and pushed her eyebrows together in confusion, “What do you mean because of me?” He smirked, “That’s a very complicated question that I do not have the breath for.” This time it was her turn to chuckle, “Well, you do understand that I can run, right?” He bellowed out laughter, “Not nearly as fast as I can. Now if you don’t mind, please do shut up!” Layla was taken aback by his rudeness, then realized that he was running extremely fast. He must have been a track star in school or something because his stamina was like an overgrown mammoth ready to travel for days.

He finally stopped and plopped her down on the surrounding forest. “Hey! Ouch that hurt,” Layla said as she started rubbing her bottom, “Think you could have set me down gently, I am a lady you know!” By now he was breathing heavy, hood still covering his face. He took out a walkie-talkie and started fiddling with it, his black leather gloves stretched tight on his huge hands. “What’s that for?” She questioned trying to peak at his face. All she wanted was to put a face to the name, but he was sneaky. “Just a tracking device to signal the pick up.” Layla’s eyes shot wide open, “You mean you’re kidnapping me too?! Oh this is great, this is just lovely. I go from being prisoner of my worst nightmare mind you; to being another one to a man I can’t even see! Typical, this is so typical.” Layla continued rambling and pacing as Hayden continued working with the GPS device. He started chuckling, “What I look like doesn’t matter, what matters is we get out of here. And, no, you aren’t going to be a prisoner I’m trying to get you to safety if you would stop all that damn babbling I could focus.” He growled at her frustrated. Layla stopped pacing. Her cheeks flamed up, “Oh, sorry. I… I didn’t realize,” but before she could finish an explosion happened lighting up the sky to purples, blues and yellows the ground shaking beneath her feet. Layla hit the ground and covered her ears too shocked to do much else but attempt to protect what little hearing she had left.

It felt like forever, the after affect of the bomb. “What in the hell!” Layla yelled once the sound died down a bit. His shoulders moved, he must have been laughing, “Well I did warn you about the bomb.” Layla got angry and began seeing red. A buzz forced its way through her veins and it felt as if steam itself was coming off of her body. Who did this man think he was? She wasn’t some little girl and really disliked being laughed at. Genuinely hated being kept in the dark. She walked up to him and grabbed his neck and squeezed. As she did that the hoodie fell off and she gasped, all of the previous words gone. Hayden stared at her, his bright silver eyes alert. “I told you what I looked like didn’t matter. Now get up, they’re here. Just as he said that two packs fell from the sky and Layla looked up, another gasp escaping her mouth for the second time in a row.