Rebecca fought back more tears, while stroking Joseph’s hair. ‘He drowned in the lake,’ she said, keeping the sight of Goodwin’s corpse from Joseph.
The lieutenant felt for a pulse.
‘We tried CPR,’ Walker said, ‘for a long time.’
Manaus looked to Rebecca for confirmation and she nodded her head.
The Darklight officer stood up. ‘So, what’s your plan now, gentlemen? Hide out here until Offiah’s teams find you? You won’t last a week.’
‘There’s a way out,’ one of the men said.
‘And he’s going to find it.’ Priest pointed at Walker.
Manaus glanced in the corporal’s direction and understanding dawned on her. ‘So it’s everyone for themselves, is that it?’
‘Something like that,’ Priest said, ‘and if he fails, you’re next.’
‘Is that so?’ The lieutenant stood her ground as some of the men closed in around her.
A cry of anguish drew everyone’s attention as Joseph squirmed out of Rebecca’s grasp. The handicapped man fell to his knees and grabbed Goodwin’s shoulders. He shook the lifeless body and his cries of fear and loss increased. Rebecca moved to his side to try and pull him away, but Joseph pushed her off. He drew Goodwin to him and rocked him back and forth like a child with a doll. The director’s head lolled to one side and a trickle of black fluid ran from his mouth, and then Lieutenant Manaus was there, pushing Joseph aside.
‘Someone take him!’ Manaus said, struggling to hold Joseph at bay.
Rebecca grabbed Joseph and hauled him away while the lieutenant rolled Goodwin onto his side and pounded on his back.
A gush of thick ooze burst from his mouth, the inky slime flickering with tiny glimmers of blue lightning.
Manaus lay Goodwin onto his back and opened an eyelid. The same flicker of energy swept across his iris. His dilated pupil contracted and Manaus restarted the chest compressions before breathing two rescue breaths into his mouth.
The director’s body spasmed in response.
‘Come on, damn it!’ Manaus said, restarting the compressions. ‘Come back to us, Director!’
Chapter Sixty Three
A million fish swam in the deep blue seas of eternity, tiny minds living and breathing as one. Sweeping arcs of colour shimmered through the ocean blue as the shoal ducked and weaved like a three-dimensional spirograph of life. Patterns infinitesimal and grand merged and exploded into a chaos of nothing while the wonder of the sunlight shone bright through the waves above. The ultimate essence of beauty in a ’verse of dark, the light of a single star pulsed vibrant, a life source of energy unlike any other in the system of creation. Seasons came and went. Stars scudded across changing skies, black to blue, red to black. Plants grew, bloomed and died before the transitions slowed. A summer dawn broke against a beach of universal energy. At its heart a single burning light throbbed with a spark of life like the passion of Christ, the desire for resurrection vast. Unquenched by the fires of dark, the mind returned as the air-filled lungs recovered their might. A steady pulse beating in time to another’s. Pulse, pulse, pulse …
‘Come back to us, Director!’
‘They’re calling you,’ said a deep voice that echoed through time and space.
The consciousness that was, felt confused. ‘Who are you?’
‘Who are you?’ his voice echoed. ‘… are you … are you … are you?’
‘You know who I am,’ the voice said, its rumbling resonance shaking his soul. ‘It is you that is without self. Who are you?’
The mind pondered the question, but the answer remained elusive. ‘I am no one. I am lost.’
‘Lost … lost … lost,’ said his echo.
The voice boomed out again. ‘We are all lost.’ It paused. ‘None of us is perfect.’
‘Except you,’ said the mind.
The voice laughed, the pitch turning human. ‘So you do remember me.’
A vision of a preening bird flared before him. The animal paused as if listening before using its beak to beat a tap tap tap in rhythm to his thoughts.
‘But who am I? Where am I?’
The voice sounded pleased. ‘You are nowhere, as am I.’
‘Is this real?’
‘As real as real is now.’
‘That’s not an answer.’
The voice chuckled. ‘I know, but I cannot answer what I do not know.’
Another voice made the mind twist its perception.
‘You should go,’ said the voice, ‘they’re waiting for you.’
‘What about you?’ The mind felt scared. I don’t want him to go!
‘Don’t be frightened,’ said the voice as if reading his thoughts. ‘We will meet again.’
The sound of fluttering wings resounded in his mind and a small bird flew away into the light.
‘Professor, wait!’
A tsunami of light and sound swamped his senses and Richard Goodwin opened his eyes, emerging from the strangest of dreams like a newborn child from the forbidden canal of death.
An angel spoke to him. ‘Can you hear me, sir?’
‘Richard, can you understand us?’ another being said. ‘Say something.’
Goodwin reached out and touched the face of a smiling man, the innocence of spirit powerful in its purity.
The man grinned and a flood of memories ignited Goodwin’s scrambled mind.
‘Joseph,’ he said, looking from the young man to Rebecca. ‘I had the oddest of dreams.’
‘Sir, can you sit up?’
Goodwin switched his attention to Lieutenant Manaus. He gave a nod and the Darklight officer helped him into a sitting position before nausea and coughing doubled him over. A pressure built in his stomach and he retched up a mixture of water and oil. Wiping his mouth, he tried to stand.
‘Slowly, sir,’ Manaus said, helping him up, ‘you’ve been through quite an ordeal.’
‘How long was I out?’
Rebecca held onto his other side. ‘You were unresponsive for a long time.’
‘How long?’
‘Long enough that you shouldn’t be walking and talking,’ Walker said.
‘Which was?’
The corporal shrugged. ‘Fifty minutes, maybe longer.’
‘Fifty minutes?’ Goodwin turned to the Darklight officer. ‘But I feel fine, great even.’
‘I don’t know what to say, sir.’ Manaus prodded at the black ooze with a foot. ‘Maybe this material had something to do with it. It gave off some sort of electrical charge when it came out of you.’
Goodwin thought back to his time in the lake and the wall of oil beneath the surface, the sea within a sea, and the nightmarish visions that had struck at his sanity, and his fight for life. ‘How did I end up here?’
Walker gestured at himself and the suit that mirrored Goodwin’s own. ‘I came to the rescue.’
‘Only because you wanted the director’s escape route,’ Manaus said, ‘otherwise you’d have left him for dead.’
Walker put his hands up to Goodwin. ‘She’s not wrong. What can I say? I’m a survivor.’
‘Where’s the rest of your team, Lieutenant?’ Goodwin indicated to the two women he was able to stand under his own steam.
‘Sorry, sir, I’m on my own.’
Goodwin looked around at the armed men of Walker’s decontamination team. ‘But they’ll be arriving soon?’
‘Offiah has despatched a team led by Captain Winter,’ Manaus said, ‘and yes, they’ll be here soon.’
‘And if you believe that you’ll believe anything,’ Walker said, ‘isn’t that right lads?’
Goodwin saw animosity on the faces surrounding them, with no small amount aimed Corporal Walker’s way.
The man Walker referred to as Priest stepped forward. ‘It remains to be seen if the rest of Darklight are turning up,’ he said, ‘but if they do we’ll be ready for them and you’ll be back in that lake searching for your way out.’
Rebecca grasped Goodwin’s arm p
rotectively. ‘He can’t go back in there; we’ve only just brought him back!’
Priest glanced around at his men. ‘I can’t help that, and besides, he said he’s fine, feeling great, which means he goes.’
Walker held out his headwear to Goodwin with a smile. ‘Godspeed, Director.’
‘And that goes for you, too.’ Priest tapped the corporal’s helmet with the tip of his rifle.
‘What?’ Walker’s smile fell from his face, his nervous tics roaring to the fore. ‘You don’t need two of us in there; if we both fail then you won’t have any more equipment unless you go back to camp.’ Walker looked round at the soldiers. ‘Surely you can all see that?’
Priest shoved the corporal towards the lake, making him stumble. ‘Twice the manpower, twice the chance of success.’ He gestured to Goodwin. ‘Now suit up, both of you.’
Goodwin hesitated.
‘Now,’ Priest said, raising his gun.
Goodwin sighed, retrieved his helmet and transparent breathing mask, and joined Walker at the lake’s edge. Bending down, he washed out the black filth that had nearly killed him and looked at Walker who was ready for the off. ‘Do you ever have bad dreams, Corporal?’
He gave Goodwin a funny look. ‘Sometimes, why?’
‘Because where we’re going your mind will be tested to its limit.’
Walker held his gaze before Manaus moved forward to help Goodwin secure the breathing apparatus and to check all its systems still functioned. While she was doing this Walker used the pause in proceedings as an opportunity to press home his needs to Priest.
‘I don’t give a damn what’s down there,’ Priest said, ‘you’re not having a gun.’
As the two men argued, Manaus helped Goodwin with his mask.
‘Does Major Offiah even know you’re here?’ Goodwin whispered.
The lieutenant gave a small shake of her head. ‘No one knows.’
‘Why?’
‘I saw Walker and his men had taken Darklight kit. I couldn’t risk them intercepting the transmission.’
‘So they’re not coming?’
‘They’ll find us … eventually.’
‘Why are you helping me?’
‘Because I believe—’
Manaus fell silent as Priest approached.
He pushed the Darklight woman aside and finished preparing Goodwin for submersion. When he’d completed the process, clicking the final latches of the helmet into place, he pressed the hilt of a large knife into Goodwin’s hand. ‘For protection,’ he said, standing back.
Walker rejoined him and brandished his own serrated blade. ‘Better than nothing, eh, Director?’
Goodwin noted the bitter irony in the corporal’s tone. He had to admit he shared his scepticism, especially after seeing what lurked down in the depths. They might as well have given him a toothpick for the good it would do. But, unlike his reluctant companion, Goodwin knew a greater power was at work and a divine mission could not be stopped, no matter what stood in its way.
Stowing the blade, he accepted a fierce embrace from an emotional Joseph followed by another from Rebecca. ‘You don’t have to do this, Richard. Please, there must be another way. This isn’t worth your life.’
Goodwin placed his hand on hers. ‘I have to go, and not just because they say so, but because I must. I’ve seen what’s down there now. I’ve seen many things. There’s a barrier under the water and it’s there for a reason.’
Rebecca’s expression grew worried. ‘Reason?’
Goodwin touched her cheek. ‘You’ll see.’
His words didn’t seem to ease her nerves, but Goodwin had regained his focus. He had a job to do. She’ll soon see. They all will. He’d been spared and now it was time to repay the debt. God had spoken and he would answer.
Chapter Sixty Four
Rebecca watched Goodwin enter the lake, the pain of desperate emotion an onslaught on her mind, her heart yearning beyond the ties of friendship past. Joseph held her hand tight and waved farewell to the man they’d grown to trust and love.
Step by step the two men waded deeper until they submerged beneath the surface and only the light from their helmets could be seen swimming through the ripples.
Lieutenant Manaus stood tall and strong by Rebecca’s side, the Darklight officer a powerful presence with her fierce eyes and black armour. Behind, Priest and the leering beasts that called themselves men skulked in the shadows, prowling the fringes of light. Unlike before, however, this time Rebecca had the lieutenant and Joseph for company during her tense vigil. Will that deter the soldiers from enacting their base desires? she wondered. She prayed it was so, for the alternative brought back memories from a time far darker than the world they now inhabited, a time of shame and pain. She recalled the words her friend Julie had said to her on one of the few occasions when she’d been able to bear acknowledging the event. ‘They defiled themselves, Becca,’ she’d said, ‘they embraced the dark. No one can ever take your light, your power. You may think they have, but you need to let your body heal, to feel.’
And her friend was right, when she’d allowed herself to enter her senses to feel the fear, she’d wept until she thought her heart would burst, but afterwards she felt a power unlike anything she’d ever felt before. ‘What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger,’ her dearest pa used to say, and now she knew how true those words were.
The lieutenant broke the silence of Rebecca’s introspection.
‘I’ve just realised where we are.’
‘Where?’ Rebecca said.
‘Do you remember before Susan was taken by the light, the entity?’
How can I not? Rebecca thought. ‘Yes,’ she said.
‘This place isn’t far from where I saw the light enter the lake,’ Manaus said, raising her voice for everyone to hear.
Rebecca looked at her. ‘Are you sure?’
‘Positive.’
A few of the men swore and Priest approached the Darklight officer. ‘If you don’t keep your mouth shut, woman, I’ll shut it for you.’
‘I thought you’d like to know.’
Priest glared at her before shoving a communication device into her hands and stalking away to shout out commands for his unit to double the watch.
♦
Moving through dark, misty waters, Goodwin tapped Walker on the arm and pointed in the direction he wanted to go.
Walker gave him the thumbs up. ‘Lead on, Director,’ he said, his voice distorted by his mask and coms system.
Goodwin continued on his path down into the lake with the corporal following close behind.
Lieutenant Manaus’ voice came through his helmet’s speakers. ‘How are you doing, sir?’
‘Okay so far, Lieutenant.’
‘Where’s Priest?’ Walker said.
‘Otherwise engaged,’ Manaus replied. ‘It seems he didn’t like the thought that this is near where I saw the entity enter the lake.’
‘And is it?’ Goodwin said, scouring the water for signs of any movement.
‘Is it what?’
‘Is it true the light was seen near here?’
‘I’d like to say no,’ Manaus said, ‘but that would be a lie. Be careful down there, Director, it might not be just fish you need to contend with.’
Goodwin felt his sense of invincibility retreat at the news.
‘And you didn’t think of telling us this before?’ Walker said, sounding angry.
There was no response until the lieutenant said, ‘I only just realised.’
‘Great,’ Walker said, ‘fan – fucking – tastic.’
Goodwin pressed ahead. ‘It changes nothing.’ He moved past the ancient water-bound sculptures that rose up around them while Walker muttered curses and objections under his breath in equal measure.
After a few more minutes of traversing the lakebed, the two divers neared their destination as the black wall emerged from the murky gloom like the Devil’s shade.
‘Is that it?’ Walker said, look
ing up at the forbidding barrier with anxious eyes.
Goodwin didn’t reply. He touched the thick, black ooze as he’d done before, sending ripples across its inky surface.
‘What’s your progress, Director?’ Lieutenant Manaus said over the radio.
‘We’ve arrived at the obstruction,’ Walker said.
‘Any sign of … anything else?’
‘Not so far,’ Goodwin said, distracted.
‘We have no idea what this is,’ Walker said, drifting closer to Goodwin, ‘the Anakim could have designed it to kill for all we know.’
Goodwin pondered the corporal’s words. An ancient security measure. Perhaps he’s right. The dark creation could easily be mistaken for being the veil that separated the living from the dead. And such were the terrors it inflicted on those who dared enter its hidden halls anyone could be forgiven for believing it to be the river Styx made real.
Walker touched the oil with tentative fingers before quickly withdrawing them.
‘It protects what lies beyond,’ Goodwin said, staring into the viscous obscurity.
‘A way to the surface?’ Walker said.
Goodwin nodded. ‘But I know its secret. I know how to defeat it.’
‘And how do we do that?’
‘I’ve solved its riddle.’
‘Riddle? I thought it was just some weird fluid?’
‘No, it’s much more than that. It sees into the darkest part of your mind. It turns you inside out and outside in. It’s like the ancients told us, as the Bible says, it’s a test, a test of faith.’
‘Good luck, Director,’ Manaus said over the com. ‘We’ll listen for your radio contact when you reach the other side.’
‘If there is another side,’ Walker murmured.
Goodwin glanced at his companion. ‘Are you ready, Corporal?’
Walker looked anything but, fear etched across his features like a gaping chasm.
Knowing what to expect should have made Goodwin’s knees tremble and hands shake, but he felt calm, because he knew the truth within.
2041 Sanctuary (Let There Be Light) Page 40
