Finally the motion ceased and Sarah felt herself lowered to the ground. Still captivated in fear, she looked up into burning blue eyes. A sound to her right made her turn to see another demon appear from the ether. And then another behind that. She looked left as more glowing eyes hovered in the black, and light blazed forth to blind her.
Blinking against the sudden illumination, she saw tendrils of lightning ripple over the entity before her. A tall figure materialised, his body encased in black armour and bristling with weaponry. Either side of him, more of these dark knights emerged from the shadows.
The being reached up and removed its helmet. A man, with a jaw like granite and a wicked scar down the centre of his face, stared down at her. He reached out a hand and Sarah let him remove the gag from her mouth.
‘Who are you?’ she said in wonder.
He didn’t reply and Sarah glanced down at an emblem on his chest which bore a single word:
And close to that were two more words, spelt out in white block lettering:
Cmdr. HILT
Chapter Twelve
Sarah stared up into the impassive eyes of the man before her. Standing well over six foot, his Olympian physique bulged beneath his armoured suit, the overdeveloped muscles reminding her more of giganthropsis than that of sapiens.
Movement to the right drew Sarah’s focus. Two more black-clad soldiers appeared out of the gloom and deposited next to her the struggling forms of Trish and Jason.
Her two friends were wild-eyed and spoke with muffled voices through their respective gags. When they saw Sarah their volume increased.
The man lent towards them. ‘Quiet,’ he said, his deep voice full of power, ‘or I’ll put you back where we found you.’
Jason and Trish fell silent and huddled closer to Sarah.
He studied them for a moment and then switched his penetrating gaze back to Sarah. ‘Deep Reach, S.E.D.,’ he said, touching the emblems on her arm. ‘U.S.S.B. Sanctuary.’ He slid a large knife from his armour and held it before her.
Sarah watched the point of the blade hover in the air … and then drop down to slice through her bonds. She rubbed the circulation back into her wrists. ‘What about my friends?’
‘In time.’ He beckoned forward a female soldier. ‘Search them.’
The masked woman hauled Sarah to her feet and patted her down. First she removed the Anakim parchments and passed them to her leader. Then she found the Anakim orb, Trish’s locket, and finally she located the glowing crystal.
‘Sir.’ The woman held up the blue rock.
The man’s brow furrowed as he took the crystal. Turning it over in his armoured gloves, he held it up to Sarah. ‘Where did you find this?’
Sarah stayed quiet. She had no idea who these people were, but they were armed to the teeth and stank of authority, and while they were a welcome respite from the wilderness of Sanctuary and the thing that hunted them, they were also two things Sarah couldn’t abide.
‘Who are you?’ The man slipped the glowing stone into a concealed pouch on his belt. ‘How far is the base?’
Sarah remained in silent defiance.
The man’s eyes narrowed. ‘What do you know about the light – the creature?’
Sarah felt her throat tighten in fear and she looked around into the dark. ‘Are we safe?’
He followed Sarah’s gaze. ‘No,’ he said, his eyes searching the pitch-black beyond, ‘… no one’s safe.’
Sarah’s anxiety increased.
‘What do you know of it?’ he said, turning back to her.
‘Release my friends and I might tell you.’
‘Answer my questions and I will do.’
The female soldier, who’d been searching Sarah, noticed her pendants. ‘Sir.’ She parted Sarah’s jacket and held out the chain with its two pentagonal discs.
Sarah tried to keep calm as the man stepped forward to study them. He glanced at her with calculating eyes. He can’t know what they are, Sarah thought, there’s no way.
He let them drop back against Sarah’s chest with a clink and she relaxed.
He gave a nod to the woman. ‘Take them.’
‘What?!’ Sarah said, alarmed. ‘No!’ She grasped the pendants as the woman tried to remove the chain from her neck. Sarah continued to resist before the woman grew angry and pinned Sarah’s arms behind her back. The leader grasped the pendants and gave them a sharp tug to break the chain.
‘Start talking and you get these back.’ He pocketed the pendants and the woman released her hold.
Sarah glared at her captors, but there was nothing she could do except comply. She glanced down at Trish and Jason, who looked back at her with worried expressions while the woman searched through their coveralls.
‘My name’s Sarah, Sarah Morgan.’
The leader’s expression remained unchanged.
‘We’re exploring Sanctuary. That’s what we do; we’re an SED Deep Reach survey team. Do you know what that is?’
‘Where’s the rest of your team?’ he said. ‘Where are your supplies?’
‘We got separated.’
His eyes bored into hers. ‘You’re lost?’
‘You could say that.’
‘How far is the USSB?’
‘A long way. A hundred miles, as the crow flies – with Sanctuary’s terrain, maybe three times that.’
‘The light?’
‘We don’t know what it is.’
The man considered her anew and moved her face to one side with a finger. ‘How did you get these burns?’
‘Lava.’
‘Commander,’ another soldier said, ‘we’ve reacquired the target.’
‘Heading?’ he said, still looking at Sarah.
‘Due east.’
‘Saddle up!’ He straightened and pulled on his helmet.
The black-garbed soldiers shouldered heavy rucksacks and readied weapons, and one by one they activated their camouflage and disappeared into the gloom.
‘Wait!’ Sarah said.
The leader’s face appeared as his helmet’s mask retracted and visor rose.
‘You can’t just leave us here,’ she said.
‘Why not?’
‘Our helmets are low on power, mine’s stopped working. We have hardly any food and no climbing gear,’ – she pointed to Trish and Jason – ‘and my friends are injured.’
He remained unmoved.
‘Because we’ll die,’ Sarah said.
‘Sir, we need to go,’ one of his men told him.
The commander acknowledged him with a grunt while holding Sarah’s gaze.
‘I told you what I know,’ she said. ‘At least give us our things back.’
He turned to his subordinate. ‘Cut them loose and see to their headwear.’
The soldier looked like he was about to dispute the order and held his commander’s gaze. Something seemed to pass between them and he gave a nod and went about his tasks.
The leader approached and held out his hand. ‘A gesture of good faith.’
Sarah caught Trish’s locket as it fell, and Trish and Jason were released, while another soldier chucked them some ration packs before attaching a device to their helmets.
The commander moved past Sarah and grasped Jason’s hands and turned them over to inspect his palms. Apparently satisfied he wasn’t in any immediate danger, he moved to Trish and manipulated her arm which made her cry out in pain.
‘Stop!’ Jason tried to pull him away.
The leader turned to him. ‘I have to reset the bone.’ He looked at Trish. ‘This is going to hurt.’ He grasped Trish’s arm and she closed her eyes as he nodded to the soldier who’d been seeing to Sarah’s helmet.
The man positioned himself behind Trish and held her tight while covering her mouth with his hand.
With a sharp twist, the leader pushed the bone back inside her body. The corresponding crunch and Trish’s muffled scream made Sarah feel sick.
The Darklight commander sprayed the bloody
wound with a cleansing anaesthetic, which he also used on Jason’s hands. He then injected Trish’s arm and applied a special battlefield wrapping to it before lowering his visor. ‘We’re moving out,’ he said from behind his glowing mask, ‘keep up, or get left behind.’
The leader and his remaining soldiers melded into the gloom as they activated their armour’s cloaking devices.
Sarah pressed a button on her helmet and she was relieved to see it power up, its battery back to quarter charge.
‘What do we do?’ Jason said, coming to stand next to her.
‘Can you move?’ Sarah asked Trish.
Her friend, looking pale, gave a tremulous nod.
Sarah kissed her forehead and gave her a hug. ‘Then we follow.’
The three friends, weary, reunited and patched up, activated their visors and followed the warriors into the realm of night.
Chapter Thirteen
Commander Hilt, private contractor and operations leader of Darklight’s North American Division, strode through the abandoned ruins of Sanctuary. Behind, the three explorers from the USSB hurried to keep pace. As Hilt listened to incoming messages from his reconnaissance unit, another part of his mind ran through a myriad of questions. What is this Sarah Morgan hiding? She’s a good liar, but not when she’s under duress. And if they aren’t exploring, what are they really doing in Sanctuary Proper? Have they been sent to find Goodwin and his civilians? Where did she find the blue crystal and does she know more than she thinks she does? He vaulted over an obstruction and continued his advance. Do they know the crystal attracts the creature? Obviously not, he thought, considering she was waving it around like a sign saying ‘free all-you-can-eat buffet’. And her English accent is out of place. Hilt knew USSB Sanctuary was U.S. citizens only – or at least ninety-nine point nine nine per cent were U.S. citizens, according to Sergeant Alvarez, anyway. Despite this, something about her seemed, what is it? he thought, unprofessional? No, desperate, perhaps, emotional? Something …
A garbled message from one of his men made him pause. He sent out a signal for his unit to halt and for line of sight transmission to be recalibrated.
Hilt scoured the close quarter terrain with his rifle scope and glanced back as the three civilians rejoined them. ‘Say again,’ he said.
The message came through once more, still distorted, but coherent. ‘Target has stopped,’ said the operative, ‘I say again, target has stopped.’
‘Any sign of secondary?’ Hilt said.
‘Negative.’
‘Distance?’
‘Ninety yards.’
‘Activity?’
‘I’m not sure, it seems to be—’
The signal cut off.
‘Talk to me, soldier,’ Hilt said, adjusting his radio.
The crackle of static buzzed through his helmet’s speakers before the voice returned. ‘Target gone, target gone!’
‘Fall back and regroup,’ Hilt said, ‘we’re coming to you!’
‘Roger, that.’
‘RV on point,’ Hilt said through the com, ‘boost power to signal relays, roving spectrum UV gamma, move out!’
The unit broke into a loping run through the never-ending labyrinth.
After leaping over a drop, Hilt passed two of his men who’d stopped to cover a T-junction. ‘Protect the civilians,’ he said as he ran past.
The operatives nodded and hung back to allow them through.
♦
Sarah pursued the ghostly outline of the Darklight leader round a bend and over another deep drop. Trish and Jason followed and now, behind them, two fearsome, blue-eyed demons shadowed their every move.
Sarah leapt over another obstacle and marvelled at the agility of the man in command. He carried a massive backpack, an arsenal of weapons, and yet he was still able to move with a cat-like fluidity that belied his size. Coupled with his measured demeanour, he exuded strength like some god of war. But considering what they were up against, Achilles, or even Ares himself, would have been hard-pressed to fight off the thing from the deep. Just thinking of the monstrosity made her legs go weak and she almost stumbled and fell.
Willing herself forward, she couldn’t help but wonder if they’d be safer on their own. These people seemed hell bent on chasing the thing they feared the most. It was a feeling Sarah could relate to, but not one she wished to replicate. The only problem was, their leader had the one thing they needed to return to the surface.
Sarah’s views on the pendant hadn’t altered, but her faint hope of getting out of Sanctuary alive had resurfaced at the same time as her friend’s miraculous return from the dead. She glanced back to see Trish doing her best to stay close and Sarah held out her hand and helped her on.
♦
Hilt saw his unit secure the area ahead – a small plaza overlooked by multiple levels. Not the best defensive position in the world, but far better than being stuck in a narrow passageway.
Hilt slowed and moved to the centre of their formation. He knew they could ill afford any more losses. They’d started out as seventy-five; they were down to fifty-two. Fourteen MIA, presumed dead, the rest KIA. He thought back to the confrontations and wondered if he could have done anything differently, if there was something he’d missed that might help him combat the beast that seemed destined to end them all.
He breathed deeply, sucking in Sanctuary’s dank, musty air, and expelled his negative thoughts with a slow exhale. Professor Steiner tasked me with protecting Steadfast’s civilians and that’s what I’ll do until they’re safely tucked up in a USSB, be that Sanctuary or otherwise.
Hilt had never let the professor down before and he wasn’t about to start now. It helped that the man he now took orders from was someone he liked, not just because he was the professor’s friend and protégé, but because he was principled and would do anything to help those under his care. What’s more, he was one of the few that didn’t do it to boost a fragile ego. And since Richard Goodwin was Steadfast’s director, that made him Hilt’s director. But so far he knew he’d been a disappointment, a feeling he was unaccustomed to. A feeling he loathed. Hilt had let the entity take the girl through incompetence. He’d been lax when it came to defending the camp and he’d also failed to locate Sanctuary’s USSB. Goodwin had been vigorous in Hilt’s defence, but Hilt knew it was up to him to redeem himself. Goodwin had told him to find Susan and bring her back, and that’s what he was going to do – or die trying.
Hilt glanced round as the civilians moved into his unit’s ring of steel and weapons. He’d known they would follow, what choice did they have? And he hadn’t enjoyed taking their possessions, either, but time had been of the essence and Susan was more important than three strangers. He’d needed information and he needed it quick, and so he’d acted accordingly. Plus, he had bigger things to worry about. Bigger things like killing the creature and finding the woman it had taken. Susan – that poor woman – mentally disabled and taken by some thing beyond a nightmare and beyond understanding. He couldn’t imagine the terror she must have endured, and not for the first time he wondered if she still lived. They’d seen her tracks six days ago, but nothing since.
Why the creature hadn’t killed her long before he didn’t know, but it was one of many worrying aspects about the thing they hunted – or was it hunting them? Hilt wasn’t sure, but he had a strong suspicion it was outthinking them at every turn. They’d set up traps, mines, ambushes … none had worked, the creature using an eerie sixth sense to avoid all danger. And yet, was that what it wanted them to think? That it was vulnerable when it wasn’t? On the two occasions they’d got it cornered, their weapons had been ineffective, regular rounds and even beam weapons having little impact. They’d still to hit it with their limited supply of high powered missiles, but he held out little hope of even a direct hit causing much damage. And even if it did, such a blast could bring the crumbling ruins of Sanctuary down upon them. Of course, they still had a small number of thermal swords, but getting close enough
to use them was one thing, inflicting any damage was a whole other ball game.
A piece of falling masonry hit the ground twenty feet away and Hilt looked up, rifle trained.
‘Stay alert,’ he said, scanning the area, ‘this thing might have decided to stop running.’
♦
Sarah heard another rock hit the ground with a dull, crunching thud. And then another to the left.
Tense moments passed as silence reigned.
The Darklight leader moved forward to stand outside of the defensive ring. His massive rifle glowed with suppressed heat, its power cell humming quietly with stored energy as he swept it in slow, sweeping arcs. ‘Watch the flanks,’ he said to his unit, ‘all elevations.’
‘I’ve got a bad feeling about this,’ Jason said, from close behind Sarah.
A sudden roar of sound echoed through the ancient buildings and Trish grasped Sarah’s arm with a trembling hand.
A glimmer of light appeared above and the Darklight soldiers unleashed their weapons.
Sarah put her hands over her ears to block out the deafening noise before the commander shouted, ‘Cease fire!’
The onslaught ended and the fall of empty shell casings tinkled to silence.
A second later a large section of the structure gave way, falling with a muffled crash onto the plaza’s periphery.
Nothing else moved except for the dust that now hung swirling in the air.
A soldier who knelt on one knee sprang to his feet. ‘There!’
The roar of gunfire thundered out once more, muzzle flashes sending shadows cavorting through the dark.
Eventually the barrage ceased and more stonework collapsed into rubble.
Hollow silence fell again and Sarah felt Trish tug at her sleeve.
Her friend was looking down and Sarah followed her gaze. A few feet away, stones and dust vibrated across the ground. The tremor increased and Sarah took a backward step.
2041 Sanctuary (Genesis) Page 8
