Excerpt: Strangelet

They made it down the stairs, crouching now to avoid being spotted above the railing. Right as they were rounding the bend to get around the last landing, they ran smack into the solid body of a man. “Hey! What are you doing here!”
Niu whimpered, and Mattie used the distraction that provided to introduce the man to the broad side of her crowbar. The screech the man made as he fell down the half dozen stairs onto the lobby floor was loud enough that it could have been heard from the 60th floor. The nearest man ran towards them, grabbing Aless’s leg and trying to drag her down. She swung wildly with the wrench, and battered him several times in the head before he finally fell, taking both of them down a few stairs.
Aless landed with a thump on the lobby floor, scrambling to her feet quickly and looking around. Even with the two they had taken out, there were still three men standing in the lobby. One who was crouched behind the security desk shot a Manip bolt at them, smashing the marble banister on Mattie’s left. She shield Niu in time to protect, and the two of them leapt down the stairs to join Aless on the ground floor. They tried to make a dash towards the rear exit, their only probable escape route.
A woman stood in their way, wielding a baseball bat. She took a swing at Mattie, and connected to her thigh with a sickening thud. She slid along the marble as she fell, coming to rest angled crookedly against the stairwell. Niu cried out in horror, running to where her friend had fallen, but the man Aless had clunked with the wrench was up and grabbed her around the waist. Clenching her eyes tight, Niu again powered a slight shock, and the man flinched, but didn’t let go. He must be a Manip, since he resisted her shock. The manip from behind the security desk took another shot, narrowly missing Aless while the woman who had struck Mattie started pawing through her bag.
Aless hesitated, alone, surrounded. She knew what she had to do, but found it even more detestable now that ever. She sucked in a deep breath, when she noticed more men pouring out of the hallway to her left. Three new people joined the fight, and two of them were wielding blades. It was now or never. Her heart raced in her chest as she surveyed the placement of the bandits. She noticed the man who held Niu doing something…he…He drew out a knife! He was holding it to the tiny, crying girl’s throat.
Aless’s vision went white. A thick bolt of lightening, dazzling white to the eye shot out from her. The men watching her were temporarily blinded, crying out in the brief moment between seeing the bolt and getting shocked. The first to fall was the man holding Niu. His eyes were opened and faint smoke drifted from him. The woman, the Manip behind the desk, the men by the hallway. All of them were down and silent. Nothing moved for a moment, when suddenly Niu rolled over towards Aless and started to cry.
“Shh, honey. It’s okay. You’re alright.” Aless lifted the girl’s chin gently…although the man had threatened, there wasn’t so much as a scratch on her. Holding the girl’s hand, she dashed to where Mattie was lying. She was dazedly waking up, surveying the scene. She had hit her head on the staircase as she fell, and prodded her leg, but nodded that she was alright. Aless quickly and silently collected the food that had been taken from the back, shouldered both packs, and gestured to the door. Mattie was looking at her in a kind of suspicious awe, and Niu was still sobbing, though silently. They hurried to the emergency door, though not quite quickly enough that Aless didn’t detect the faint stench of burning flesh.