by Ian Williams
The Sentient Corruption
Ian Williams
Copyright © 2016 by Ian Williams
Ian Williams has asserted his rights under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work
This novel is a work of fiction. Names and characters are the product of the author’s imagination and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental
Cover design by: http://www.selfpubbookcovers.com/RLSather
This book has been professionally edited.
Table of Contents
Prologue: Lost and found
Chapter 1: Rise and shine
Chapter 2: Revelations
Chapter 3: New beginnings
Chapter 4: Relapse
Chapter 5: The Ring
Chapter 6: The fallen
Chapter 7: Plan C
Chapter 8: Nothing but numbers
Chapter 9: Follow the leaders
Chapter 10: Incursion
Chapter 11: Conversion
Chapter 12: Battle worn
Chapter 13: First impressions
Chapter 14: From darkness
Chapter 15: The forgotten
Chapter 16: A brighter tomorrow?
Chapter 17: Double trouble
Chapter 18: The road not taken
Chapter 19: Final exam
Chapter 20: Inside job
Chapter 21: Friends and allies
Chapter 22: Convergence
Chapter 23: Two steps back, one step forward
Chapter 24: Time to think
Chapter 25: Need to know
Chapter 26: Go time
Chapter 27: Face to face
Chapter 28: End game – part one
Chapter 29: End game – part two
Chapter 30: Two weeks later
Epilogue: 10 years later
About the author
Other books by Ian Williams
Connect with me
Prologue
Lost and found
Loose plaster crumbled and fell from the wall as the front door of their small farm house swung in at speed. It left a neat doorknob-sized dent in its wake as Elliot burst into the house and continued through to the lounge. His entrance was anything but welcomed by the early risers, each of who had only just sat down to start the day with a watery bowl of cereal.
All except for Jane – Graham’s wife – were there.
“Elliot!” a heavily pregnant Ruth said bluntly to her wheezing husband. “Not all of us are morning people like you. Give us some time to wake up before you start crashing and bashing.”
Out of breath and sweating profusely from his rushed journey home, Elliot could only nod to acknowledge his inconsiderate and overly loud entrance. The oafishness he had been endowed with at birth had gotten him in trouble before, but this time he had a good reason. He had a message to share that would soon get them all moving faster.
“I… I just…” he began to gasp for air now, the excitement had him ready to pass out.
The others all stopped mid mouthful, their spoons hovering inches from their mouths.
Ruth stood, placed her half-full bowl on the arm of the chair and took him to the side. She rested her hand against his chest to calm his breathing. “Start slowly, what’s up?” she asked.
A single swallow added extra emphasis to the serious tone of his coming news. By now everyone was ready to hear it, even if Elliot had not yet found the right words. He tried his best regardless; the right way was not worth the extra thinking time. “It’s Phoenix.”
He took another long breath.
“You’ve heard from my sister? Is she OK? Where is she?” The young-faced Sean almost dropped his own breakfast as he spoke.
“She’s fine,” Elliot paused to consider adding something else. “At least she was when she left the message. She’s still somewhere in the city.”
“Shit, is she trapped in that bubble thing?”
“I don’t know.”
“What did she tell you?”
Taking his wife at arm’s length, Elliot stared into her eyes and said it without another wasted breath. “She’s found G.”
He knew dropping such news into a heavily pregnant woman’s lap was never advisable. Unfortunately, he had neither the time to spare nor an eloquent enough grasp of the English language to break it to her gently. ‘Head first’ remained his preferred way of tackling a problem.
“No,” a frail sounding voice said from the other end of the room.
Jane had entered from the kitchen, unnoticed and unseen by the others. Everyone turned to see a sickly white replace her usual healthy pink. She did not stay there for long, choosing instead to run for the backdoor and out into the crisp morning air.
Elliot went to chase after her when he was stopped by the smaller, but nonetheless unavoidable, figure of Ruth standing before him. She held him in place and unable to pass by.
“Where is he, Elliot. Where’s my brother?” she said.
He thought over his reply for a second or two, then answered with a question of his own. “Do we have any digging equipment here, Sean?”
Sean returned a confused look. “There’s probably a spade around here somewhere, why?”
“That won’t do it.” Elliot’s attention had slipped as images of industrial sized equipment came to mind. The biggest and most powerful boy’s toys floated about his mind’s-eye like a mobile hanging above a baby’s bed. He began to salivate at the thought of getting to use something so awesome to save his best friend. Then the reality of the situation hit him; where could he possibly find that sort of tech?
“Any chance you could tell us what you’re talking about?” Sean insisted.
Elliot snapped out of his quickly-building fantasy of saving the day and focused once more. “Graham’s buried at Sanctuary.”
The questions soon began again in earnest after that.
* * *
Sitting atop a small grassy ridge, raised up to see at a distance, Elliot surveyed his night-time surroundings. From his vantage point he could see right across the remains of the farming tower that had once stood proudly over a hidden realm. Now – and as he had seen it the last time he visited – it sat broken, and only slightly suggesting anything other than ruins had ever resided there.
Whether the place was still guarded by an unknown team of mercenaries had played on his mind all throughout his journey here. Before, he and Phoenix had encountered them head on, and had defeated one of them too after a quick struggle. He hoped the guards had since moved on, something he found to be incorrect the moment he and Sean arrived. To get what they wanted they were going to have to again face them.
Or at least that would have been the case if not for the hired help the two were waiting on.
September had yet to wave goodbye for another year. Still, the air now carried the hint of coming cold snaps. His best estimate of the wait for the wintery drizzles was another week or two. Until then he would be glad for a prolonged dry period. That way his current task could proceed unaffected by adverse weather.
Both were prepared for a long night, with warm clothes and enough snacks to get them through without a single drop in blood sugar levels. Sean had padded out a little more than necessary before leaving and now looked prepared for a blizzard. Elliot, on the other hand, made do with his preferred level of dress; namely a thin jumper over a thin t-shirt and a soft beanie to keep his skinhead warm. His bulky presence required less material overall to keep itself warm.
Out to the side of him, and a good few miles away, a dull purple gloom hung above the distan
t cityscape. The force-field, now covering the city like a semi-transparent umbrella, no longer allowed the nights to fully form this close. Instead they were ever so slightly tinted. The sight of it gave Elliot a chill, the kind that the ambient temperature would struggle to replicate.
Raising his small binoculars to his eyes, Elliot took another look around. Scanning the brightly lit area a hundred or so metres ahead of them, he could once again make out all that told of what had been there before. Sections of metal girder stuck out of the concrete floor as if the destroyed skeleton of Sanctuary had been reanimated and had tried to climb itself out of the ground. The rest of the farming towers’ structure had long ago been removed.
He had been in almost exactly the same position only days before with Phoenix, Sean’s missing sister. Her recorded message had brought them back to this place, this time to save a friend rather than simply follow a trail. Things had changed so quickly, and now she could no longer be reached.
Feeling the onset of Deja-vu caused him a sudden jolt of nerves. Every time their situation had been altered by another unexpected revelation, someone else had been claimed. They could not risk losing anyone else, not when their numbers were beginning to dwindle.
“Hey, anything yet?” Sean asked.
The question stirred Elliot back to the present vista that he was idly staring at through small lenses. Sean had obviously noticed that the search had stalled. The binoculars had not moved an inch for a while. In any event, the perimeter appeared clear for now. The last patrol had passed by over ten minutes ago, and apart from a pause to check the darkness that he and Sean now hid within, the guy had not stopped.
Elliot lowered his binoculars to the grassy mound he lay upon and addressed his spying companion. “They’re not here yet,” he said. “You sure they’re coming?”
The voicing of doubt appeared to anger Sean slightly, as if his own reputation depended on the hired help turning up. He tutted, as if to say ‘I said they would be, so they will’.
“I’m just saying, we don’t know anything about these guys. They might have decided not to come,” Elliot added.
“Just wait. These are exactly the kind of people we need for this.”
“But can they be trusted?”
Another tut from Sean. “Listen,” he began to say as he took the binoculars for himself. “When me, Phoenix and Dillon worked for that Anthony prick these were the type of people he had us find. They didn’t grow up in a city like you - and pretty much everyone else. They started out here. Some of them will probably be assholes. But money is money, and to get some, these guys won’t second-guess the one that’s paying.”
“I get it. We city people are lucky to have had such a good start in life. That doesn’t mean we’re all afraid of getting stuck in.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes, it is.”
“Then go down there and deal with those guards yourself.”
Elliot thought it over and then rejected it a moment later; his pride would have to take a hit on this one, he realised. They were not there to fight, that was part one of the hired help’s job – if they decided to show.
The two became silent again, as they generally both preferred that whilst in each other’s company. Sean had become a useful member of Elliot’s little group over the course of a year-and-a-half, and yet neither cared for each other’s personality, which sat at opposing ends of that particular spectrum. Their pasts were too different, and both struggled to understand the other’s perspective on life.
When it came to protecting their own, however, they were very much in agreement; actions were worth more than any amount of words. This shared ideal was all that made their time together even remotely bearable.
Sean raised himself up an inch or two to see further. His sudden movement warned of another approaching patrol. They had observed as the same guard wander by at least three times now. Each time he appeared again, Elliot became sure that no-one was coming to help. He was dealing with criminals for nothing.
The time had come to call it a night.
Elliot said, “We’ve got a long walk back to the car, Sean, we should get going.”
“You seriously giving up that soon?” Sean said, still raised.
“I’m not giving up. I’m just facing facts; they aren’t coming.” Elliot stood, brushed himself down, then turned away. At which point he heard a whistle. Whoever it was they were announcing their arrival like a chirping bird. Elliot then realised the message had not been one intended for him and Sean, but for someone else.
“Get down,” Sean ordered, dragging his companion into the dirt. “Look, the guard.”
The unexpected noise had caught the patrolling guard’s attention, drawing him into the dark. Then, once far enough off his own path, he tripped. Only he did not return to his feet a second or two later. Instead a ghostly figure in black stood and began to circle around the rear of the lit perimeter. The person stuck stealthily to the night, never allowing the light to touch him.
Help had finally arrived.
“Is that our friends?” Elliot asked.
Sean laughed. “Told ya they’d come.”
The hidden man disappeared from view shortly after dealing with the loose patrol. But he was far from alone. Two more walked casually from the veil of night and into the middle of the area. They were not at all concerned with being seen.
“Sean, what are they doing?”
“They’re clearing the place out.”
Once by a man-sized hole in the concrete – the same hole Elliot had lowered Phoenix through only days before – the two men stopped. One knelt and peered down the hole, while the other began digging around in a backpack on his friend’s shoulders. Now convinced that the top level was free of more guards, the first team member reappeared and joined the other two. They were not messing around.
“Do they know there’re more guards below?” Elliot said.
Sean simply shushed him.
There already appeared a plan in place to deal with the remaining security hidden below ground. Not only had the first man taken care of the single patrol, he had also robbed his unconscious – or dead – victim of his radio too. His short message was simple and one Elliot could easily decipher by lip reading alone: “Help!”
A blast of fevered exclamations and demands from the radio for more details made the three standing by the hole share a nod. Their process eluded Elliot right up to the point when the man searching the backpack finished. He then produced a blinking device made of two metal tubes taped crudely together. It had to be a bomb.
“Are they nuts?”
“Chill, Elliot, they know what they’re doing.”
Without the least bit of concern for the chaos they were about to unleash upon those poor souls rushing toward their doom, the last in the trio to wander away from the hole held out the device and released it. The blinking device fell through the ground and descended into the underworld, its distance marked by the lessening of the clicking sound coming from it.
Elliot ducked down below his grassy mound hiding place and waited for the coming explosion. It did not disappoint either. The earth shook beneath him as the shockwave passed by. When he turned back, it was the rising cloud of smoke that really told him of the damage inflicted below.
There was nothing left to hide from any longer. Sean was first to leave the safety of darkness. He raced over to the three rough looking men, his face beaming with excitement and ready to tell them so. Elliot could not bring himself to feel anything but slightly nauseated. He followed behind Sean soon enough, although not before he had composed himself first.
“You the one in charge?” the, up to then, silent assassin asked. His friends stayed a few feet behind their leader.
Looking the thin faced man over, Elliot considered his options for a moment. He was out of his depth, and he knew it. Best sound confident, he thought. “That’s me.”
“Awesome.” The man nodded to his hooded friends, who took his poin
t and walked away. “You helping or just watching?”
“I guess we’re helping.”
“Then get your ass to the front gate and let the others in.”
“The others?” Elliot asked with a scrunched up face.
“Yeah, the others. You want this thing dug up quickly or not?”
“Sure.”
“Then move it or lose it, buddy. We ain’t got all night. Once the equipment’s set up we can start this treasure hunt of yours.”
Sean led the way, walking a few feet ahead of Elliot; the reluctant follower. These people were certainly fast workers. Elliot just hoped they would be able to find Graham and dig him up just as quickly too. Of course he would probably need to tell them exactly what they were trying to find before they got started. He had yet to mention that the treasure was expected to be an adult human.
* * *
Mid-afternoon passed by in a blur of kicked-up dirt and dust, and an occasional shout of excitement from one of the hired-hands brought in to dig. So far each time someone thought they had found something it turned out to be a false alarm. Each false start cost precious time after the diesel powered digger was forced to halt its monster sized bucket hauls of earth, only to be restarted seconds later.
Where was Graham buried? Phoenix’s recorded message had been light on details and heavy on emotion. Now Elliot, Sean and their band of diggers faced an uphill struggle to locate and retrieve him from beneath the Earth. Feelings alone did not amount to results, despite the high levels of both anticipation and worry racing around Elliot’s mind. And with each failed attempt to locate the hidden prize, those feelings only worsened in intensity.
He sat upon the dry ground, rubbing his hands together to encourage the dirt off of his skin. He had not shied away from the hard work and had been beside the others throughout most of the night, digging test holes to find Graham’s tomb to no avail. Success was overdue and sorely needed too; they were unsure the area would remain only theirs for the entire day.