‘A way to the surface,’ – Goodwin’s face was a mask of inner torment – ‘it was there all along … I was so close.’
‘You can take us to this place, this temple?’ Riley asked Goodwin.
Winter waved his unit forward. ‘He’s taking you nowhere; you’re all coming with me.’
‘I can take you there,’ Goodwin said, ignoring the soldiers that moved to encircle them, ‘if you help me free Rebecca.’
‘Free her,’ Sarah said, ‘from what?’
Goodwin was about to reply when the sound of fighting increased in volume and Captain Winter grasped his arm. ‘Time to go, Director.’
‘I think there’s someone out there,’ Jason said, still looking at the strange light, ‘it looks like … a woman.’
Sarah returned her attention to the glowing vision and adjusted her visor to see a figure moving before a small obelisk. ‘It’s Susan.’
‘What did you just say?’ Goodwin shrugged off Winter’s grip. ‘Susan?’
‘Short woman,’ Jason said, holding out a hand, ‘yay high, doesn’t say much – monsters for friends.’
Goodwin’s expression froze as he looked at Winter.
Lightning blazed across the heavens and the crack of thunder boomed loud.
The captain shook his head. ‘Sir, no—’
Goodwin leapt forward to knock aside one of the soldiers before sprinting off into the darkness.
Winter swore and Locke and Jefferson launched into action, fists swinging.
Riley grabbed Sarah’s hand. ‘Let’s go!’
Chapter Thirty Five
Sarah and Riley ran after Goodwin, who sped away like a man possessed.
Locke and Jefferson followed behind them, with Captain Winter and his unit in hot pursuit.
An explosion made Sarah glance back to see the battle erupting from the ruins in a mass of gunfire. Stray bullets whizzed overhead and she ducked.
Captain Winter’s unit slowed as they turned to face the threat while Trish and Jason, who’d been lagging behind, veered around them to carry on after Sarah.
Ahead, Goodwin closed in on the glowing light while Sarah ploughed on, her eyes fixed on the man that held the key to their survival.
Riley began to lag and Sarah dropped back beside him.
‘Go,’ he said, ‘we can’t lose him!’
Sarah stretched out her legs as adrenaline surged through her.
A hundred yards away, a bolt of purple lightning struck the obelisk, followed by another and then another.
Silhouetted against the blazing light, Goodwin raised his hands to ward off its intensity.
The lake’s edge neared and the electrical storm sent down a wave of scything strikes that flowed out across misty waters.
Seconds later Sarah reached the stone protrusion. The glowing runes that encrusted its surface faded back to black and she looked around for her quarry.
Goodwin ran down a shallow slope to the lake’s edge and Sarah followed.
Reaching the shore, she skidded to halt on the stony beach to gawp at the sight before her. Goodwin had carried on, and even as she watched, he walked across the water’s surface like the Son of God himself.
‘Where is he?’ Riley said, wheezing to a stop beside her.
Still gazing at the spectacle, she raised her arm to point and his expression turned to amazement.
Locke and Jefferson arrived, and soon after so did Captain Winter.
‘Director!’ the Darklight officer called out. ‘Come back!’
Goodwin glanced round. ‘I’m not entering the lake, I’m on it!’
‘He’s not wrong,’ Jefferson said.
Locke adjusted his visor and squinted. ‘How’s he doing that?’
‘There’s a causeway.’ Winter turned on his rifle’s torch and moved out onto the inky surface.
Jason and Trish, who’d been struggling to catch up, appeared over the rise behind them, while Winter’s Darklight unit was a further hundred yards back fighting a rearguard action.
Sarah glanced round at her friends to make sure they were still with her and then followed the captain onto the water.
♦
Colonel Samson swung his sword left and right, cutting down Darklight soldiers in a spray of blood and bone. The images of his torture stung his mind. Each cut – each THRUST – eased his torment, each death vicious payback against those that had sought to crush his spirit. He gripped the handle tighter and cleaved another man in two.
A rocket whooshed past his visor. He turned to bury his blade into an enemy’s chest and let go of the weapon to produce his rifle in one smooth motion and fired.
A single shot whistled through the air and a distant soldier with a rocket launcher toppled to the ground, dead.
Movement to the right made Samson raise his rifle. Bullets ricocheted off the weapon and a glowing light sliced towards his head. He swayed back and dropped his gun. Spinning on his heel, he avoided a second strike and slid his sword from its human sheath to parry a killing thrust. The weapon fired again, but Samson’s blade flicked out to slice his attacker’s pistol in two.
The Darklight officer discarded his crippled gun and retreated before circling back towards him, thermal sword in hand.
Samson eyed the glowing weapon that mirrored his own, and glanced at his opponent’s chest armour. ‘Major Offiah – I hear you’re the leader of this rabble.’
The Darklight officer didn’t respond.
Samson dropped his guard and Offiah struck.
Their swords rang as they met – once – twice – three times before Samson feinted right. Offiah ducked and Samson delivered a crunching left hook that sent the Darklight man sprawling.
He swung his sword, but the blade bit into stone as the major rolled aside and regained his feet.
Samson drew a knife to complement the sword in his other hand. ‘Is that all you’ve got?’ he said, advancing.
Offiah aimed a strike at his head, but Samson blocked the blow and punched his knife into the major’s arm before pulling him into a vicious head butt, shattering his visor.
Offiah stumbled back and Samson launched into a series of overhead blows that forced the mercenary down onto one knee.
With a final strike, Samson powered his sword through Offiah’s defence and down through his arm.
The Darklight officer screamed in agony as his severed limb gushed blood.
Slapping aside a despairing thrust, Samson rammed his knife into the man’s visor, crunching it through glass and bone and on into his brain. He gritted his teeth and drove the blade deeper, twisted it for maximum damage, and then kicked the twitching body to the floor.
A rush of exhilaration coursed through Samson’s veins as he savoured the sight. He’d never enjoyed killing in the past. He’d enjoyed the sense of power at vanquishing a foe, but he’d never lusted to kill – to feel pleasure at the thought … to savour the moment his enemy died by his hand. He wondered why when the feeling was this good.
The fighting around him continued east and Samson sheathed his knife before picking up the dead major’s blade. He held it up beside his own, the two glowing swords shining in the dark.
He glanced round. The strange lights that had decimated hundreds of his men had vanished back into the night, leaving bloody carnage in their wake.
Movement to the left made him zoom in his visor. Beyond the fighting, running figures disappeared into the distant gloom. He switched off his thermal blades and his eyes narrowed. ‘Goodwin,’ he said, before switching his gaze to the figure giving chase. His voice dropped to a growl. ‘Morgan.’
Samson sheathed his swords and broke into a run.
Chapter Thirty Six
Out on the narrow causeway, Sarah picked her way through shallow water while closing in on Captain Winter, who in turn had caught up with his single-minded director. As she drew closer she could hear the two men arguing as they edged further out onto the misty lake.
‘What did you tell me before, C
aptain? You told me you believed in me, you told me to believe in myself!’
‘I didn’t mean this!’ Winter looked down at his feet. ‘And how did the causeway get here? Something’s not right.’
‘I don’t know how it got here!’ Goodwin said in frustration. ‘Perhaps it was Susan.’
‘I don’t like it. Why is she out here at all? Where did all this mist come from?’ Winter shone his torches back to shore. ‘We should at least wait for my unit.’
‘Rebecca’s waited long enough,’ Goodwin said.
A splash of water made Sarah glance right to see a large, scaly fin break the surface. She stepped back and then slipped. Her arms flailed before an armoured hand grasped her arm.
‘Trust me,’ Winter said, helping her regain her footing, ‘you don’t want to fall in.’
Sarah nodded and then turned as Riley came up behind her, closely followed by Trish, Jason, Jefferson and Locke.
She looked back at the dark waters where more black shadows glided past. ‘Be careful,’ she said, pointing.
Riley gave a nod before a flash of lightning lanced into the lake. Thunder cracked and the chamber’s heavens rumbled and flickered.
‘Have you seen anything like this in Sanctuary before?’ Sarah said.
Riley shook his head as another rumbling boom echoed out. ‘Never!’
The chamber’s skies continued to simmer with light and Sarah glimpsed an island through the fog bank that hung thick over the lake’s centre. Movement through the cloud-like shroud caught her eye. ‘I think I see someone,’ she said.
Goodwin looked over his shoulder. ‘It’s Susan!’
The director increased his pace as more lightning cascaded down.
The causeway beneath their feet shuddered and Trish screamed.
‘Keep moving!’ Locke said.
Waves lapped at Sarah’s feet as their walk turned into a teetering jog.
Precarious moments passed and then they made it to dry land and relative safety, but before Sarah had time to catch her breath Goodwin was off again, heading towards a gaping hole in the ground.
‘Sir, wait,’ – the Darklight captain grasped his arm – ‘my unit’s at the causeway.’ The sound of muffled gunfire came from the shoreline and a garbled message came through his radio.
Winter pressed a button on his helmet, listening. ‘Sergeant, hold the beach!’ he said, before pausing. ‘Do you copy?’ He waited for another response. ‘Say again … who?’
Goodwin took the opportunity to slip from Winter’s grasp and he disappeared from view.
‘Wait! DIRECTOR?!’ Letting out another curse the Darklight captain followed Goodwin down into the pitch-black.
Hot on their heels, Sarah stepped onto a narrow slope that spiralled down round the edge of a wide, circular shaft. A deep drop yawned on the left and Riley shouted a warning to those behind.
Sarah moved with care over wet stone, but on the opposite side of the shaft the light from Goodwin’s transparent helmet moved down at speed, with Captain Winter in close attendance. She picked up the pace; they couldn’t afford to lose them now.
A number of spirals later they reached the bottom of the giant shaft. Ahead, Goodwin’s light vanished into thin air, as did Winter’s seconds after.
Sarah rushed forward to pass into a dark entrance surrounded by crumbling stonework. Uneven ground made her trip and stumble, but she managed to keep her feet to scramble over loose rock.
As she emerged from the opening, a stone staircase appeared through the gloom and lightning lit up the foreground of a vast hall shrouded in mist. Sarah gazed up to see ethereal forms through the haze, their gargantuan bulk revealed by the flickering storm like titanic gods of myth.
Captain Winter stood twenty feet away. He turned and signalled for her to stop. A few yards ahead of him Goodwin crept towards a distant figure.
Susan’s shadowy form stood stock still a hundred yards in front of them, staring back at the approaching Goodwin. Sarah felt a shiver of unease spread through her as the small woman was lit up like a ghoul in the night.
Thunder cracked and Susan was off and running once more, disappearing into the mists.
Goodwin and Winter leapt forward and Sarah followed, Riley by her side.
A strong wind swirled through the hall and an avenue of enormous statues emerged through the parting fog. Goodwin vanished into the dark between the two rows of towering sculptures and a spine chilling howl cut through the air. Sarah looked up into the snarling face of an Anakim warrior. Purple lightning blazed across the chamber and the statue’s massive eyes glowed bright with the same dazzling hue.
Sarah quailed at the sight, but carried on as the figures’ howling grew louder and the winds gusted more fiercely.
‘What is this place?’ Riley said, over the noise.
Sarah glanced up with fear at the gruesome spectres that appeared like demons in the clouds. ‘It’s Tartarus!’
‘Tartarus?’
Sarah looked into his eyes. ‘Hell!’
‘There she is!’ Goodwin pointed to the small figure of Susan running ahead of them, passing beneath a winged monstrosity that spanned the hall’s end.
Sarah splashed through a pool of water, dodged round a spine-chilling statue of an Anakim woman being dragged to her doom, and ran on.
♦
Colonel Samson fired his rifle into the Darklight soldiers, his mask lit up with the flash of gunfire. More Terra Force arrived from the south and ploughed into the retreating mercenaries.
A flash of lightning lit up the nearby lake and Samson spied a hidden path leading out into the mists and a Darklight unit moving across it. He unclipped a device from his armour and launched it into the fighting masses. The cluster grenade exploded, severing limb and bone on both sides.
Samson leapt forward and several carnage-filled moments later reached the shore. Scanning the water, he located the causeway and worked his way out onto the lake.
A hundred feet out, he glanced back through the mists to see Ophion and four of his team emerge on the shoreline to cut a swathe through the Darklight ranks. S.I.L.V.E.R.’s leader was a blur as he leapt and spiralled through the air, killing and maiming with unholy precision. Samson took aim at the assassin’s visor, tracing his every move. Ophion somersaulted over two soldiers and landed on one knee beyond them, arms outstretched. The two men keeled over dead and Samson fired.
Ophion’s arm came up and the bullet deflected off his armour. S.I.L.V.E.R.’s leader turned his chrome mask in the colonel’s direction and gave a slow shake of his head.
Samson unleashed a barrage of shots sending Ophion into evasive action before his armour shimmered and the assassin vanished from view.
The rest of S.I.L.V.E.R. drifted into invisibility as they headed towards the causeway and, with a snarl, Samson secured his rifle to his back and moved into a run.
Chapter Thirty Seven
Chased by the howling winds, Sarah entered a twisting tunnel full of horrific carvings and surfaces that oozed with foul-smelling, black oil. She glanced back to see Locke and Jefferson following, but Trish and Jason were nowhere in sight.
Knowing her friends would catch up, she kept up the pace and Riley grasped her hand as the running figures of Goodwin, and then Captain Winter, disappeared round a final bend and into the thickening mist.
Sarah splashed through another puddle of water and felt a deep chill as they entered the white wall of vapour. Behind, the howling statues continued to wail and Sarah gripped Riley’s hand tighter as flashing thunder solidified the surrounding fog. They slowed their flight to a walk and Riley squeezed her hand in reassurance.
‘Susan!’ someone ahead shouted. ‘It’s Richard, where are you?!’
Sarah fiddled with her visor, which had failed to auto-adjust to the dense cloud, but try as she might the technology refused to penetrate it.
A dark figure emerged from the gloom before them.
Captain Winter held up his hand as they approached and
put a finger to his lips. His rifle was raised and he scanned the way ahead with his scope.
Sarah’s anxiety spiked. What has he seen? One of the lights?
As the fog cleared a little, Sarah saw Goodwin looking this way and that into a dark expanse.
He turned around in anguish as they approached. ‘I can’t find her.’
Captain Winter moved past him to scan the area as Jefferson and Locke arrived behind, but as yet there was still no sign of Trish and Jason.
Sarah let go of Riley’s hand and turned to go back.
‘What’s that?’ Riley pointed into the distance.
‘Fire,’ Locke said.
Sarah paused and zoomed her visor in to where an orange glow spread and grew higher. Lightning continued to flicker high above and she realised they must be in some vast basin inside the lake, although the standing water and wet surfaces made her wonder if it was always thus. She looked down at pale weeds lying limp between stone cracks before noticing vast pools of slimy, black tar which lurked all around.
‘The fog’s clearing,’ Riley said.
A powerful wind rippled her coveralls before dying away, and Sarah turned to see the vapour behind thinning. Soon after, Trish and a limping Jason emerged from the tunnel.
Sarah felt a hand slip into hers and she looked round to see Riley by her side, still staring into the beyond.
Jefferson stepped past him to look in the same direction.
The ground trembled and Sarah took a step back as small stones tumbled past.
The tremors built before, with a loud roar, fires exploded upwards all around them. Sarah stumbled back in shock. Napalm-like clumps rained down and everyone took evasive action. Sarah dodged and weaved as more pools of tar burst into flame to light up massive, stone monoliths that towered through the mists.
Forced back by the heat, Sarah gazed in astonishment at the weathered standing stones, which stretched out to either side in a great arc.
‘Is everyone okay?!’ Winter said as the fires died back to lower levels.
2041 Sanctuary (Genesis) Page 18
