He landed on his injured ankle and cried out in pain as he collapsed to the floor. In agony, he rolled onto his back and stared up at the cave’s gloomy ceiling. ‘FUCK!’
‘Fuck … fuck … uck … uck … ck,’ said the echo.
‘Jason?’ a voice said.
He peered up from his prone position to see the upside down figure of Trish emerge from the dark.
He sat up and turned towards her in relief.
She rushed to his side and embraced him. ‘Where’s Sarah?’ she said, anxious.
‘She wasn’t with you?’
Trish shook her head. ‘I woke up on a stone plinth a hundred yards that way.’ She pointed back the way she’d come.
Neither voiced their deepest fear that Sarah might not have survived the journey.
‘The device must have separated us for some reason,’ Jason said. ‘If we’re both here, she must be close. Come on.’ He struggled up and hobbled forward to go in search of their lost companion.
After a few minutes of walking they rounded another bend in the rock formation to enter a narrow passage. Up ahead the ceiling had collapsed, but a small opening at the top of a steep mound of dusty earth gave them the opportunity to keep moving forward. Jason scrambled up and wormed his way through. He slid down the other side and Trish joined him moments later.
A metallic dampness permeated the air and Jason licked his dry lips as they surveyed the scene by the light of their helmet torches.
Trish pointed to the left. ‘There!’ she said, and sprinted forward.
Jason chased after her as best he could and soon found himself kneeling down beside a glistening ceramic platform and its single occupant.
Sarah lay on the pale surface of the transportation device, unmoving. Her chest remained scarred with congealed blood and her palms were a bloody mess.
Trish leaned in to listen for a sign of life.
‘Is she …’ Jason felt his stomach clench tight and he reached out to feel for a pulse, ‘alive?’
♦
Sarah opened her eyes to blinding light. She blinked against the glare. The intensity of the radiance shimmered and pulsed like an ethereal being. Gradually the outline of a blurred figure emerged from the white and she reached out to it.
‘Mother,’ she whispered.
‘Sarah, can you hear me?’
The voice sparked recollection and Sarah fought for clarity. ‘Trish?’ she said, through cracked lips.
Her eyesight cleared and she focused on her friend.
‘Yes, it’s us,’ Trish said, and Sarah felt water touch her lips.
She coughed and swallowed as the glorious fluid flooded her mouth.
‘Can you sit?’ Trish said.
Sarah felt her strength returning and gave a tremulous nod.
Jason helped her into a sitting position and Trish fed her more water from a small canister to quench her thirst and soothe her parched throat.
Able to sit up on her own, Sarah looked into her friends’ concerned faces. ‘Did we … did we make it?’
‘Yes.’ Trish touched her cheek. ‘We made it, thanks to you.’
Sarah looked round to see the form of a crumbling statue a few feet away from the platform on which she sat. Its shape seemed familiar, but she couldn’t quite place it.
She looked down at the wound on her chest and remembered the agony when the pendant had seared through flesh and into bone. Horrified by the sight, she brushed the area with the tips of her fingers.
‘I don’t understand,’ Jason said, ‘she’s stronger now than when we left.’
Trish glanced at him. ‘We don’t have to understand it, just be thankful.’
He gave a nod and squeezed Sarah’s hand. ‘Can you walk?’
Sarah sipped some more water and pondered the question. ‘I don’t know.’ She struggled to rise before dropping back, out of breath.
Trish turned to assess their surroundings. ‘It doesn’t matter if she can, there’s no way through.’
‘You didn’t see any other way out before you found me?’ Jason said.
Trish shook her head. ‘No, we’re trapped here, wherever “here” is.’
He pulled off his rucksack and delved into its contents to produce a circular case. ‘Then it’s just as well someone came prepared.’
‘What’s that,’ Trish said.
Another flash of recollection entered Sarah’s mind, a recollection of a structure made of glass and steel: Sanctuary’s Exploration Division. ‘It’s a shaped charge,’ she said.
Trish shook her head in amazement. ‘I thought you’d lost that days ago.’
‘Give me some credit; I’m not a total idiot.’
Trish leaned in and kissed him on the cheek. ‘I know that.’
Bemused, Jason opened the case to read the instructions. ‘This says we should be at least one hundred feet away before detonation.’
‘That’s if we’re close enough to the surface for it to work,’ Trish said.
Jason stood up and moved to the far side of the dark cave, where a mass of old tree roots hung down from the ceiling. ‘Trees don’t grow underground,’ he said, giving them a tug.
‘Unless we’re still in Sanctuary,’ Sarah said.
‘No, those were dead, these are alive.’
‘There’s only one way to find out.’ Trish looked at Sarah before gesturing to him. ‘Do it.’
He nodded and secured the device to the ceiling of the cave, entered a code into a digital display on the reverse, and then snapped shut the case and rejoined them.
‘This doesn’t look like one hundred feet away,’ Trish said.
‘It’s as far as we can get from it in this part of the cave,’ – Jason pointed to the steep mound of dirt where they’d entered – ‘or we manhandle Sarah up that incline.’
‘We could wait until she’s got the strength,’ Trish said.
Jason gave her a meaningful look, his expression grave.
Sarah knew they were worried about her condition. She was, as well, but Jason obviously thought her life was still in immediate danger.
‘I’m fine.’ She tried getting up again and dizziness swamped her.
Trish grasped her shoulder to keep her upright. ‘We’ll stay here,’ she said, giving Jason a nod of approval.
They carefully moved Sarah as far back as they could to gain a few more precious feet of room between them and the shaped charge. Jason then discarded the shattered helmet given to Sarah by Goodwin and swapped it with his Deep Reach headgear. When Trish and Sarah had deployed their breathing masks, Jason dialled another code into the case, which doubled as the wireless detonator. A red light appeared on top and a transparent cover slid back to reveal a red button.
The light switched to green and Jason looked at them. ‘Ready?’
‘No,’ Sarah said. ‘You two go, there’s no point all three of us being this close.’
‘Not a chance,’ Trish said, and positioned herself over Sarah to create a protective shield with her body.
Jason did the same, linking arms with Trish to form a joint barrier against the blast.
Sarah looked up into the faces of her friends as they huddled over her and felt an upswell of love for them.
Trish smiled at her and Jason gave her a wink before holding out the detonator.
Sarah lowered her visor and raised a shaky hand. ‘Here goes nothing,’ she said, and depressed the button.
Chapter Sixty-Four
A massive blast thundered through the cave. The ground shook and a dense cloud of dust enveloped the three friends. Small stones ricocheted around them before the air cleared and the aftershocks dissipated.
Jason shook the debris from his hair and retrieved his helmet from Sarah so he could survey the damage.
‘Well?’ Trish said.
Chunks of rock continued to thud to the floor of the cave, but eventually the area stabilised, allowing Jason to take a closer look.
The section of shattered rock appeared to be qu
ite small in size, dashing Sarah’s hopes that their endeavour had been successful.
‘It’s gone higher than I thought it would,’ Jason said, peering up, ‘and I can feel warm air.’
‘But can you see a way out?’ Trish said.
‘I’m not sure; there’s a hole, but if it’s the surface it’s night time as I can’t see any light.’
‘What about the dust cloud?’ Trish said.
Jason muttered a curse. ‘I forgot about that.’
He returned to Sarah’s side and with Trish’s assistance, helped her up.
‘Does that look like a sphinx to you?’ Sarah said, gesturing to the statue she’d noticed before.
‘A little,’ Trish said.
‘That was amazing wasn’t it,’ she said, her speech slurring.
Trish shot Jason a look of concern.
‘What was?’ Jason said, as they moved towards the newly formed hole.
‘The sphinx, the standing stones, everything … it was like a dream.’
‘I’ll go up first,’ Trish said, propelled by a sense of urgency and she left Jason propping up Sarah.
Trish climbed up through the hole and a moment later she dropped a short rope back down to them.
‘Can you see anything?’ he called up.
‘It looks like the inside of an Anakim building.’
‘We’re still in Sanctuary?’ Sarah said in dismay.
‘Let’s get her up,’ Jason said to Trish.
He secured the rope to Sarah’s harness, and with great difficulty, they wrestled her through the crumbling opening.
When they reached the top Sarah felt a strange sense of light-headedness, almost as if she was floating beyond her body.
They rested her against a wall and Jason shone his helmet’s torches around the building. ‘There’s an opening,’ he said to Trish, ‘help me.’
Sarah squinted through the dark. A curtain of dead branches blocked a half-collapsed entrance and Jason and Trish hacked and pulled at it in a frenzy.
When they’d cleared it, they returned to Sarah and carried her through the gap.
As they squeezed through the tight space, Sarah reached out a hand and touched the carvings on the wall. ‘May—’ she said, finding it hard to speak, ‘may—’
‘I don’t think she’s got long,’ Trish said, on the edge of tears.
‘Keep going,’ Jason said.
Sarah felt herself slipping back into the dark. Her vision narrowed and she grasped Jason’s arm.
‘Hang on, Sarah,’ he said.
She reached out as they entered a narrow passageway and her hand brushed against more carvings.
Trish glanced down at her. ‘Oh, God, she’s bleeding from her eyes.’
Sarah swallowed and cleared her throat.
‘Jason,’ Trish said, ‘stop – STOP!’
‘We need to get help!’ he said, sounding desperate.
‘There is no help, we’re still trapped underground!’ Trish looked down at Sarah. ‘What is it, sweetheart? What are you trying to say?’
Sarah summoned her last ounce of strength and pointed a shaky finger at the wall. ‘May … may … Mayan.’
♦
Jason looked at Trish in shock.
‘She’s right;’ Trish said, ‘these inscriptions aren’t Anakim, they’re Mayan!’
‘We’re on the surface?’ Jason said.
Trish got them moving again. ‘There’s an opening.’
Moments later they rounded a corner and emerged out into fresh air.
Jason stared out at the dark scene before him in disbelief.
‘It’s the Copán ruins,’ Trish said, ‘we’re back in Honduras.’
They stumbled down a set of stone steps before Jason halted their advance. A strange flickering light had appeared two hundred yards away and it glided across the ground towards them at high speed.
A second later the shimmering vision veered left and Trish let go of Sarah and sprinted into the dark to intercept it.
‘What are you doing?!’ Jason said, but Trish had already disappeared into a grove of trees.
He lowered Sarah to the ground as the strange light continued its course and Jason realised he wasn’t looking at the horror of a Pharos, but a set of headlights. It was a car!
‘It’s okay, Sarah,’ he said, looking down at his dying friend, ‘help’s coming.’
♦
Light flared and the sound of an engine roared loud. Doors banged shut and raised voices drew near. A babble of activity engulfed Sarah’s senses and she was lifted from the ground.
‘How far is the nearest hospital?’ someone said.
‘El hospital, ¡¿hasta dónde?!’
Another voice responded in a rush of words before doors slammed and wheels spun.
‘They’re taking us to the airport,’ Trish said.
Sarah’s head rolled sideways as they bounced over uneven terrain.
‘What!’ Jason said. ‘Why?’
‘The nearest hospital’s a hundred kilometres away.’
Sarah felt Trish take her hand.
‘Oh, Jas, we’re not going to make it.’
Sarah drifted into the dark and a moment later she opened bleary eyes to see she was being carried across a floodlit field of grass. Blood trickled down her cheeks like tears and her chest rose and fell in ragged bursts.
The person who held her adjusted their grip.
‘Keep fighting, Sarah,’ Jason said, ‘keep fighting.’
Sarah wanted to do as he asked, but she had no more energy left to give.
Moments later the whir of a helicopter sent vibrations pounding through her head and they were airborne. Sarah managed to open her eyes again, and she could feel the end draw near. Another light emerged from the dark, its yellow glow appearing before her eyes like the spirit of God. The blinding brilliance blazed so bright that she could feel its warmth beating down upon her skin.
‘Sarah, look,’ Jason said, pointing, ‘we made it to the surface. Look, it’s the Sun, the dust cloud is clearing.’
Sarah gazed out of a window into the glory of a breaking dawn. Below, swirling mists parted before a light breeze, and shining blue rivers glistened and shimmered in the morning light. A flock of exotic birds flew up from the canopy of the forests below, where vibrant greens fought back the withered limbs of an embattled ecosystem.
The dust cloud still encircled the planet, but gaps were appearing in its thinning shroud.
For now the darkness was in full retreat and Sarah smiled a small smile as the beauty of life gifted her one of its greatest sights. Her friends were safe at last. And she knew, somewhere … out there, beyond the black, her mother and Riley would be waiting for her on the other side.
Finally at peace, Sarah’s eyes fluttered closed and her consciousness passed into the wonder of a dreamless light.
Chapter Sixty-Five
‘What do you make of it?’
The man coughed into a handkerchief and wiped away a string of blood-laced spittle. ‘Fascinating,’ he said, his voice rasping and breathing laboured, ‘our attempts at replicating the design always met with failure.’
‘It doesn’t look much different to the dome.’
‘To the casual observer I can see why that would be the case, but believe me,’ – he paused for breath – ‘when I say this is a marvel beyond measure.’
General Stevens scratched his bulging stomach and glanced at the man next to him. Dagmar Sørensen, the director of the GMRC’s secretive and highly classified Research and Development Division, was a sallow-faced individual with pockmarked, sunken cheeks and an expression that had probably never felt the touch of a smile, let alone a grin. With the majority of people, it was easy to incorrectly stereotype personality based on looks; however, in this case, the initial presumption of the man’s internal nature – by any outside observer save the blind – would have been correct. The man looked … wrong – evil even – and it wasn’t just his features or manner, but something
in his eyes, those dead, bulging, unblinking eyes. And from what Stevens had heard about the R&D director’s experiments, such a label was fully justified.
Perhaps it’s because I know what he’s capable of, Stevens thought. Would he creep me out so much if I hadn’t heard the stories? Dagmar turned his gaze toward him and Stevens looked away, unnerved. Yes, he decided, suppressing a shudder, he would. Trying to dispel the gnawing unease at being in such close proximity to the sickly R&D director, he concentrated on the vision before him.
High up in Tower Central, USSB Sanctuary’s soaring Anakim edifice, the lush greens of the New Park district of the subterranean base’s uppermost tier – the Dome level – lay sprawled out far below like a patchwork quilt. Above this scene of beauty, the great dome itself blocked out the rest of his view as the tower intersected its convex twenty mile wide expanse.
In front of and above General Stevens’ position, massive supporting cables tethered the immense weight of the dome below to the ceiling of the even larger chamber that housed it. And it was this sight that was unusual. While the dome created simulated skies, sunlight and weather for the many millions of people living out their days as productive Sancturians, it didn’t shed its illumination outwards, thus the exterior was always shrouded in darkness – that was, until recently. The last twenty-four hours had seen a catastrophic failure throughout the USSB’s power grid after a strange wave of energy had swept through the entire chamber and the human construct nestled within. Plunged into the pitch-black, the whole base had been in turmoil ever since, with engineers rushing to reboot the dome’s mass of systems.
Those with a keen mind would ask, if the illumination in the base had gone out, then how could the level below be bathed in such a radiant light? Stevens gazed up at the chamber’s ceiling which shone bright with clear, blue skies. The answer was astounding, unbelievable, and one he was still having trouble accepting. The ancient ceiling, which must have been nearly a million years old, had somehow reactivated and even through the glass window before him, he could feel the power of its rays warming his skin.
Ancient Origins: Books 4 - 6 (Ancient Origins Boxset Book 2) Page 27
