A black, armored giant was coming along the freight road, its head level with the traffic lights. The hammer held against its chest looked large enough to flatten the car parked beside the forecourt.
More bodies followed around the bend. Their footsteps shook her placard against its handle, and her son pressed into her leg as she stared at the procession filling the road.
She dropped the sign and scooped him up.
"What?"
She was already hurrying toward the gap the officer indicated, her boy clamped against her chest.
"Ma'am, get behind the barrier."
"Kaiden Grey!" she gasped, squeezing through beside the police officer and carrying her son farther onto the forecourt.
The man on the bench lowered his loudspeaker halfway through a sentence. Behind her, the chanting broke into cries as the first giant passed the office entrance, its hammer rising above the protest banners.
"Skreeee!"
