Justin sliced a third set of suspender ropes, then leaped forty feet in the air, rising to the graceful arc of the main cable.

The power!

The main cables were made of 27,572 wires, woven together and covered in cladding. Each main cable supported tens of thousands of tons of steel and concrete, cars and trucks and pedestrians.

“No!” Erin screamed. “Noooo!”

Justin heard her, but her screams were irrelevant. A part of him noted that it was itself a cliché, an outdated one: the screaming, helpless pretty girl and the superhero. Superman and Lois Lane.

At the top of his rising arc, as gravity seized him and again asserted control, he swung his sword arm down and chopped through the main cable in a shower of sparks.

The effect was immediate and drastic. The massive cable whipped back in both directions, yanking Justin with it, spinning him like a wobbly Frisbee. The support ropes snapped or twisted; the road surface sagged sharply to the right and stalled cars slid toward the rail, as frantic drivers gunned their engines and tires spun and burned rubber.

Monster, Chapter 11