Ancient Origins: Books 4 - 6 (Ancient Origins Boxset Book 2)

by Robert Storey

  ‘Mother have mercy,’ Avery said, drawing the sign of the cross on his chest as he stared past Sarah.

  Sarah wiped the blood from her face and turned to see a small island covered by a mound of twisted bodies.

  Something slipped into the disturbed water and Sarah stood frozen in terror as a shape bobbed to the surface and floated toward her.

  ‘Sarah,’ Avery said. ‘Get out of the water.’

  But Sarah couldn’t move. She watched as the dead eyes of the corpse stared up at her, the dead eyes of her friend: the dead eyes of Jason!

  Sarah screamed, and someone jumped into the pool and grasped her from behind.

  Major Lanter dragged her onto dry land and released her, water pouring down from his armour.

  Sarah slumped to the ground and looked back at the corpse. She blinked blood from her eyes and realised it wasn’t what she’d thought. ‘It’s not him,’ she said, letting out a whimper of relief. ‘It’s not him.’

  ‘Not who?’ Avery said.

  ‘It’s not Jason.’ Sarah stared at the unknown corpse as it rolled over and slid beneath the surface.

  ‘Who are they?’ Chen said.

  ‘The missing expedition.’ Lanter shone his flashlight over the monstrous sight.

  ‘She killed them all,’ Chen said.

  Sarah looked up at the grim expressions of those who stood around her. She wiped more blood from her face and wondered what she must look like.

  ‘She’s a monster,’ Farish said. ‘Kill her now, before we’re next.’

  Two of the soldiers turned their guns on her.

  ‘How could she have killed them?’ Avery said, confused. ‘The first expedition was gone before we got here.’

  ‘She couldn’t have done,’ Ruben said. ‘The cave hadn’t been excavated.’

  ‘Then how did they get in here?’ Zinetti looked at the carnage.

  ‘There must be another way in,’ Avery said.

  ‘Or she led them in last night,’ Farish said. ‘And did ... this.’

  Sarah recalled the vision and touched the blood on her jacket. Was it a premonition? she wondered. It can’t be, what I saw was the past. Unless, she thought, it was a memory of actions I’ve forgotten? She looked back at the bodies and a memory of screaming men and women filled her senses. A memory from a dream. ‘They tried to escape,’ she said. ‘They knew what was coming.’

  ‘She remembers,’ Zinetti said. ‘She’s tried to bury her evil, but faced with it, she cannot deny what she is. What she’s done.’

  ‘One woman couldn’t do this.’ Lanter looked down at Sarah. ‘Could she?’

  ‘You forget her possession,’ Zinetti said. ‘She’s capable of anything.’

  ‘Sir,’ one Swiss guard said. ‘There’s a way round the edge.’

  Everyone looked in the direction he pointed.

  Lanter held out his hand to Sarah and helped her to her feet, but no one moved past her.

  ‘You lead the way,’ Lanter said. ‘We’ll cover you.’

  Sarah eyed the looks of fear, anger and abhorrence on everyone’s faces; all except Ruben, whose expression remained cast in the shadow of his robe.

  Sarah wiped more contaminated water from her hair and clothes, her hands trembling as she did so. ‘Take the drugs,’ said the voice. ‘Inject the drugs. You need the drugs. Don’t turn your back on them,’ it said as she walked forward. She glanced back. ‘They’ll kill you. They hate you. They fear you!’

  Sarah stumbled and nearly fell onto the pile of bodies as she drew alongside the small strip of land at the centre of the pool.

  ‘Keep moving,’ Lanter said from behind.

  Sarah did as she was told and reached the other side, where another tunnel beckoned her onwards. Rather than wait for those who followed, she pressed ahead, ignoring the calls for her to wait.

  ‘They don’t need me,’ she muttered as her walk broke into a jog. ‘They think I’m a killer.’

  ‘You are,’ said a voice.

  Sarah spun round with her flashlight. ‘Who said that?’

  No one was there. Only a faint light behind her signalled the approach of the others.

  ‘Sarah, wait!’ Avery called out.

  ‘They’re coming to kill you, Sarah,’ said the voice.

  Sarah spun back round. ‘Who are you?!’

  Laughter filled her mind and she stumbled forward and broke into a run. ‘Trish!’ The tunnel forked off into three ways. ‘Jason!!’ she said, taking the left tunnel.

  The voices continued to haunt her as she ran deeper into the dark: deeper into nightmare. Her friends were lost in the abyss, and soon she would join them.

  Chapter One Hundred Eighty-Eight

  ‘You shouldn’t have waited for me,’ Avery said, catching his breath. ‘I’m fine.’

  Major Lanter looked at the three openings and scanned the ground with his visor. The image fuzzed and he banged the side of his helmet. ‘I can’t tell which one she took. We’ll have to split up.’

  ‘We’ll take this one.’ Chen wiped a spot of blood from the floor with her foot before anyone noticed. Anyone, that was, except for Farish, who gave her a nod and set off down the tunnel, his flashlight held high and knife at the ready.

  ‘Meet back here in ten minutes,’ the Major said. ‘Be careful, she’s not what she seems.’

  Chen drew her pistol, cocked it and followed Farish, the Malaysian, into the dark.

  Major Lanter waved to two of his men to take the right opening, while he and the remaining Swiss Guard accompanied the two cardinals and Ruben into the central passage.

  The hunt was on.

  Chapter One Hundred Eighty-Nine

  ‘Trish!’ Sarah shouted ‘Jason! WHERE ARE YOU?!’

  Her voice echoed down the tunnel, which had narrowed even further. Dust sifted down from above and a tremor rumbled beneath her feet. She stooped down and pressed ahead, but a shout from behind made her pause.

  A light appeared behind at the far end of the passage she’d just passed through.

  Farish appeared around a corner and stopped dead as he saw Sarah ahead of him.

  She looked at the knife in the Malaysian’s hand and the madness in his eyes, and started forward again; Farish followed.

  Sarah glanced back to see him gaining and she felt a seizure coming on as her hands shook harder and fingers curled inwards. ‘Not now,’ she said, struggling to maintain her grip on the flashlight. The tunnel narrowed even further, the roof sloping down, too, forcing her to crawl on her hands and knees.

  She passed through a tiny opening and out into a larger cavern.

  She stood up on shaky legs and shone her light around.

  It was a dead end!

  Something grasped her ankle and she screamed and staggered forward as Farish wormed his way through the hole behind her.

  ‘There’s no way out,’ the Malaysian said, getting to his feet.

  Sarah stumbled towards an enormous rectangular stone block and then turned and put her back to it. ‘I didn’t kill those people,’ she said, despite the voice in her head telling her otherwise. ‘I didn’t kill your friends.’

  ‘You mean you don’t remember killing them,’ Farish said, advancing.

  Sarah dropped the flashlight as her hand cramped into a fist. Her breath came in ragged gasps and she felt behind for something, anything, to get her away from the man before her.

  Farish raised his knife to strike and Sarah felt something give beneath her touch. She pressed harder and a stone square ground inwards inside the giant stone block.

  The ground shook beneath them and Farish looked around in shock.

  Sarah collapsed, her body fitting. Dust and stones fell from the ceiling above and Farish put the knife to Sarah’s throat as she convulsed on the floor.

  ‘Time to die, you twisted bitch.’

  ‘Farish!’

  The Malaysian looked round as Chen squirmed out of the opening and into the cavern.

  ‘What are you doing?!’<
br />
  He kept the knife at Sarah’s throat. ‘I’m going to do what should have been done from the start!’

  ‘We need her,’ Chen said, looking up at the ceiling as the ground continued to shake. ‘Just find out what she knows.’

  The massive stone block ground in towards them, pushing Sarah’s semi-conscious body across the floor as Farish jumped back out of the way.

  More dust cascaded down like a waterfall and Chen dragged Sarah to safety, as the stone block continued its outward pivot until it stopped against the cavern wall with a dull boom.

  The air cleared and the two explorers peered into the gloom. The light from their flashlights reflected back from a shiny surface and Farish took a step forward. ‘What is that?’

  Chen stepped past the Malaysian for a closer look.

  Another chamber could be seen beyond the one they stood in, and its far wall gleamed like glass and reflected back a dark image of the two people who stood before it. But, rather than a mirror image, the black glass-like wall showed a slightly altered scene. There were two people holding flashlights, two people the same size and shape as Chen and Farish, but their bodies writhed with a strange dark vapour that distorted their faces.

  With Sarah forgotten, Farish moved towards it.

  ‘Don’t touch it!’ Chen said.

  But Farish ignored her and reached out to run his hand over it.

  It rippled beneath his touch.

  Sarah groaned and opened her eyes and Chen tore her gaze from the strange phenomenon and looked down at the English archaeologist.

  ‘What happened?’ Sarah said, sitting up.

  ‘You had a fit,’ Chen told her, looking less than concerned.

  Sarah grimaced at the pain that pounded through her head and then she saw the strange, mirrored wall. She struggled to her feet and held onto the stone block as she stared at her distorted reflection.

  She frowned and waved her hand to see the reflection make the same movement. She touched her face and the reflection did the same. Sarah couldn’t help but notice that, apart from her eyes, the image of her face in the reflection was not her own, but a mass of black writhing mist.

  ‘It feels cold,’ Farish said, continuing to caress its surface.

  Sarah approached the oddity and noticed another square stone on the wall to her right, much like the one that had activated the large block, moments before.

  Feeling less than well, she reached out to it, but Chen grasped her wrist and said, ‘You don’t know what it will do.’

  ‘I need to find my friends.’

  ‘Everyone’s dead,’ Chen said. ‘You saw the bodies. Any number of them could have been your friends.’

  ‘My friends aren’t dead,’ Sarah said.

  ‘Yes, they are,’ said the voice in her head. ‘You killed them, like you killed the rest.’

  ‘I know Anakim technology,’ Sarah said, trying to shake off Chen’s grasp. ‘What do you know? Nothing!’

  ‘I know you’re not yourself,’ Chen said, her face hardening. ‘I know you’re dangerous.’ She looked up at the ceiling above them and a strange latticework of large interconnected stones. ‘I’ve seen something like this before. It’s a booby trap. Push that lever and you’ll bring the whole ceiling down on us.’

  ‘This is Anakim stonework,’ Sarah said. ‘You’ve seen nothing like this before. NOTHING!’ She pointed at her Deep Reach jacket. ‘See those emblems? They mean I know what this is. They mean you know jack shit.’ She shoved Chen away. ‘And my friends aren’t dead. They’re lost.’ Sarah placed her hand on the stone that sat flush with the wall and glared at the woman before her. ‘And I’m going to find them!’

  ‘Don’t!’ Chen said, and lunged for her, but it was too late; Sarah pushed, and the stone sank into the wall.

  Nothing happened at first, but then more dust drifted down from above.

  Chen took a backward step and Sarah laughed. ‘You have no faith.’

  ‘Farish,’ Chen said. ‘It’s time to go.’

  A crack appeared in the wall and crept up toward the roof of the cavern.

  ‘Now, Farish.’ Chen turned to see Farish standing stock still as he looked in the mirrored wall. She touched his arm. He looked round at her and she gasped. His eyes had glazed over and his lips curled back in a snarl of hate.

  ‘Farish?’ Chen said, uncertain.

  He opened his mouth and hissed, and Chen took another backward step. ‘Sarah, we need to go, now!’

  Sarah wasn’t listening. She was watching the crack in fascination as it worked its way up to the ceiling towards one of the interconnected blocks.

  A second later, crack met block and Sarah suddenly realised her mistake. Oh shit! she thought, and turned away just as Farish launched himself at Chen.

  The two explorers hit the ground hard. Farish bit into Chen’s arm and she cried out in pain.

  His animalistic attack continued while blocks rained down from above and Sarah leapt forward to drag the crazed Malaysian from his friend.

  ‘Go!’ Chen said, as the ceiling collapsed near the mirrored wall. The Australian kicked Farish away and scrambled for the opening they’d entered by.

  Sarah didn’t need telling twice; she also dived for the exit as more of the ceiling came crashing down.

  A cloud of dust exploded around her and Sarah struggled back into the tunnel. She turned to see Chen following her. The Australian reached out a hand and Sarah grasped it to help her through, then a trickle of blood ran down from her mouth and she looked at Sarah in shock.

  Farish appeared over Chen’s shoulder, the Malaysian squeezing through the tightest of gaps to pin Chen to the ground beneath him.

  Sarah stared into his unseeing gaze and watched in horror as he yanked Chen’s head back and drew his bloody knife across her throat.

  Sarah screamed as a spray of blood covered her face.

  Chen let out a gurgling sigh, then a deafening roar of noise forced a cloud of dust into the tunnel and the cavern ceiling collapsed in a shower of stone.

  Chapter One Hundred Ninety

  Sarah staggered back down the tunnel, which was collapsing behind her, a vision of Chen’s shocked expression as blood gushed from her throat seared into her mind.

  Moments later she rounded a bend and careered headlong into Major Lanter and his men.

  ‘What happened?’ he said, peering past her at the dust cloud, which was settling in the destroyed tunnel.

  Sarah shook her head in shock.

  ‘Look at her face,’ Zinetti said, appearing beside the Swiss Guard’s leader.

  Avery stepped forward and grasped Sarah’s shoulders. ‘Where’s Chen,’ he said. ‘Where’s Farish?’

  Sarah shook her head. ‘Dead, both dead.’

  ‘She killed them!’ Zinetti said. ‘Look at the blood on her face, it’s fresh.’

  The rumbling in the tunnel continued and more of the ceiling collapsed.

  ‘We need to get out of here!’ Lanter said over the din.

  The others didn’t need any encouragement; they turned tail and ran back the way they’d come.

  Sarah struggled to keep up and stopped at the tunnel’s three-way intersection.

  Avery turned round and pointed at her. ‘Get the girl!’ he said to Ruben.

  The monk ran back towards Sarah. He scooped her up into his arms and she found herself carried back down the tunnel and past the pool of bodies and blood, as the whole complex caved in behind them.

  A dust cloud gained on them and Sarah could only watch as it chased them down the passageway.

  More frantic moments passed, then they emerged back into the cave with the frieze.

  ‘Keep going!’ Ruben shouted, as everyone ahead of them slowed.

  Avery and Zinetti stumbled onwards, the Swiss Guard at their heels, and Ruben followed with Sarah in his arms. A second later they burst out into the open. A cloud of dust erupted behind them and the ground caved in behind it, sealing the cave, frieze and everything else in a tomb
of rock and dirt.

  Avery, his hands on his knees, wheezed as he caught his breath.

  ‘That’s it,’ Zinetti said, ‘it’s over. There’s no going back. That excavation machine was our only one.’

  Ruben placed Sarah on the ground and she knew what the Italian cardinal said was true. The excavator was gone, and with it the frieze, tunnel complex and any chance of finding Trish and Jason alive. She hung her head as the truth of her actions hit home. ‘It’s all my fault,’ she said. ‘I caused the collapse. It’s my fault.’

  ‘Then you just sentenced billions to death,’ Zinetti said, ‘as that was our only chance of finding the gate. You’ve gone from being a killer to the biggest mass murderer in history.’ He looked at Avery. ‘We never should have told her, she’s sabotaged everything! EVERYTHING!!’

  Avery glared at Sarah, the fury on his face saying it all. Sarah had just lost the last friend she’d had, on top of the two people she loved above any other. Her ignominy was complete; her failure, all encompassing, but rather than dwell on the past, she struggled to open her drugs pouch and pulled out a needle. The people around her started to walk away, and she was left alone in the cold dark of the Mongolian plateau, a brain damaged junky who’d just sealed the fate of the human race.

  But Sarah no longer cared about any of that. Her mind might not have been her own, but she still had one last pleasure left. One last thing to keep her sane, to make life worth living. The drugs seeped through her veins and she lay back on the cold earth, her mind awash with relief as pleasure filled her body. It was still good to be alive, as long as she didn’t think, as long as she didn’t dream, as long as she didn’t remember ...

  But despite her stupor, try as she might, Sarah couldn’t shake the truth of her visions, and not just those in her dreams, or that she’d experienced when she’d placed her hand upon the frieze’s circular indent. The one about Chen had come true. Her throat had been cut by Farish soon after Sarah had a vision of Chen slitting her own throat while she was standing right next to her. It was an omen of what was to come, that much she knew, for it hadn’t been the only thing she’d witnessed at the frieze. An image of an asteroid ploughing into the surface of the Earth filled her drug-addled mind and she knew she could never hope to stop the inevitable. It was as everyone had suspected all along: she was sent to prevent mankind’s salvation, and she’d succeeded in her task.