‘Let’s keep moving,’ he said.
She nodded in agreement and they set out at a faster pace.
Reaching the bottom, they clambered over a fallen statue and followed a narrow stream into another warren of tunnels.
The signal got stronger and Sarah pressed a button on her helmet. ‘Trish, is that you?’
She waited a moment before a distorted reply came back.
‘Well?’ Jason said.
Sarah shook her head. ‘I don’t know, it’s still breaking up too much.’
They carried on a little further before the signal grew much louder and a high pitched feedback whistle made Sarah wince in pain. The torches on top of her helmet stuttered to life before her visor also blazed forth, it’s plethora of digital dials and readouts lighting up like a fighter jet’s head-up display.
Stowing the crystal in her coveralls, Sarah’s elation at being able to see properly again took a back seat as a familiar voice came through her internal speakers.
‘Can anyone hear me?’ the voice said. ‘Is anyone there?’
‘Trish,’ – Sarah glanced at Jason, her eyes widening – ‘is that you?’
‘Oh my God – Sarah?!’
Sarah felt like her heart would explode with joy. ‘Trish, yes, it’s Sarah! Are you okay? Where are you?’
‘I don’t know,’ she said, her voice breaking with emotion, ‘I’ve been following you for ages. It’s so good to hear your voice. I thought I was going to die down here, alone in the dark.’
‘Is your helmet working?’
‘Yes; it’s pretty smashed up, one torch doesn’t work, the other blinks a bit and the visor’s cracked, but yes, it’s been working ever since it dried out.’
Despite Sarah’s soaring spirits at her friend being alive, she frowned, stopped and held up a hand to Jason who smiled while wiping away tears from his cheeks. ‘What do you mean, you’ve been following us?’
Trish didn’t reply for a moment and Sarah thought she could hear her friend crying. ‘I’ve been following the light from your torches,’ Trish said, sniffling, ‘but you’ve always been one step ahead. Why didn’t you hear me calling you? Why didn’t you—’
‘Trish, stop. How long have you been following the light?’
‘I don’t know, it seems like forever. Hours, days maybe, I don’t know.’
Sarah glanced at Jason. ‘Is it a faint blue light?’
‘No, it’s quite bright, and more green than blue. I can see it now. Why?’
‘Trish, I don’t want you to panic, but whatever you’re following … it’s not us.’
Silence ensued before she replied, ‘What?’
‘My torches haven’t been working for a long time and Jason’s are down. That light isn’t us.’
‘Then what is it?’
‘Don’t worry about that, just walk the other way. Describe where you are.’
‘It’s that thing, isn’t it?’ Trish said, her voice wavering. ‘I’m following that … that thing.’
‘Trish, calm down.’ Sarah gestured for Jason to keep moving. ‘Where are you?’
‘I’m … I don’t know. It all looks the same. Tunnels. There’s a river next to me.’
‘Good!’ Sarah said. ‘That’s good. Did you just see a statue of an Anakim warrior?’
‘I think so; there was a statue that had fallen down. I had to climb over it.’
‘Yes,’ Sarah said, increasing her pace to a jog, ‘you’re close. We’re behind you. Follow the stream back to the statue.’
‘Okay, keep talking to me.’
‘Where are you now?’
‘The stream’s on my right,’ Trish said before letting out a shout.
‘Are you okay? Trish? Trish?!’
‘I’m fine, I fell over. My light keeps going out.’
‘Okay, don’t worry; we’ll fix it, just keep going.’
‘I heard something behind me!’
‘Keep going sweetheart, keep going!’
Sarah ran faster and Jason sped up too. ‘What’s happening?!’ he said.
‘It’s following me,’ Trish told her, ‘oh, God, I can see the light!’
‘Trish, run! Just run!!’
A surge of adrenaline flooded her body and Sarah flew down the stone clad tunnel with Jason on her heels. Moments later they turned a corner and saw a flickering white light appear round a bend fifty feet away.
‘I see you!’ Trish said.
Sarah ran forward and her torchlight revealed an out of breath Trish, leaning against a wall with her arm in a makeshift sling. But before Sarah could say anything, something moved in the dark behind her friend. Sarah shone her light in its direction and a white shape skittered away into another tunnel.
Trish screamed and Jason cried out in alarm.
‘What the fuck was that!’ he said.
They ran forward and grabbed Trish.
‘I don’t know,’ Sarah said, ‘let’s move!’
They ran back the way they’d come and Sarah glanced back to see the glow of light growing brighter in the dark. ‘Faster!’ she said.
They ran down the tunnel, but Trish’s injured arm slowed them down.
Another light appeared ahead and Sarah skidded to a halt.
‘Jesus Christ.’ Jason looked behind as the other glow approached. ‘There are two of them!’
Sarah froze, incapacitated by terror.
Trish grabbed her arm and pulled her sideways. ‘In here!’
They entered a narrow passageway and ran through it in single file with Sarah leading. A myriad of turns and bends led them into a labyrinth full of leering statues and hidden drops. Sarah jumped over a deep fissure and ran on. A terrifying screech echoed through the maze. Sarah looked back to see Trish and Jason dropping behind and she stopped to encourage them on.
Moving off once more they rounded another bend and Sarah screamed.
‘What is it?’ Trish said, terrified.
‘I saw something!’
Another fearsome noise made Jason glance back. ‘Keep going!’
Sarah ran forward, forced to follow whatever she’d glimpsed. Jumping over another fissure, she hurtled round a bend and fell tumbling into a deep pit. She hit the ground with a thump and her visor and torches blinked out
‘Sarah!’
Dazed and hurting all over, Sarah looked up with blurred eyes. Twenty feet above, Trish’s visor glowed in the dark and the single light on top of her helmet flickered in and out of existence.
Sarah groaned and sat up. ‘I’m okay, but my helmet’s stopped working.’
‘Use the stone,’ Jason said.
Sarah struggled with her coveralls and withdrew the glowing crystal and shone it around to see she’d landed on soft clay.
‘Can you climb back up?’ he asked her.
Sarah stood up. ‘No, it’s too high and there’s no hand holds.’
A strange clicking noise made Trish and Jason look round.
‘Go,’ Sarah said, ‘there’s a tunnel down here, I’ll find a way up.’
They hesitated before another horrific noise echoed out.
‘GO!’ Sarah said.
‘Be careful!’ Trish jumped across the hole.
‘We’ll find you!’ Jason said and followed.
Sarah moved off into the tunnel in the same direction, the crystal held aloft to light her way. A wall loomed before her and she stumbled left and then right into yet another passage. Time passed and she found herself climbing up a slope. Up and up it went, higher and higher until she came out into yet another strange Anakim building. To her left the floor disappeared into nothing and on her right tall pillars led into shadow. She crept forward, listening out for Trish and Jason and anything else that might be following.
Minutes passed before she heard a curious clicking noise echo up from below. Pulse quickening, she paused to listen. The noise ceased before a guttural growl sent spine-chilling tingles rippling through her like a wave. She shoved the crystal into a pocket, plungin
g herself into total darkness.
She waited, ears straining, eyes wide and breathing shallow. Her heart felt like it was beating out of her chest.
Down on the next level, a familiar, shimmering light grew brighter, its curious blue-green glow bending and bulging as it moved.
It’s stalking me, Sarah thought, hunting me down!
The light floated forward, before pausing. The clicking grew louder before its illumination vanished and a nightmarish bark made Sarah tense. It barked again, once, twice, three times, and her senses screamed at her to run, but, like before, she couldn’t move. Fear held her rooted to the spot. The creature’s barks echoed once more and she managed to step back from the edge before a noise behind made her freeze.
It had come for her and she couldn’t move!
She wanted to scream, but her mouth wouldn’t work. Paralysed, she saw a dim glow of light appear out of the corner of her eye. A shadowy form reached out around her, its dark mass visible in the faintest of lights. Sarah knew the end had come, but instead of peace, she felt pure, unadulterated terror.
The cast of death closed in and a powerful force clamped over her mouth. Something else grasped her body and she was lifted off her feet and sucked back into the void.
Chapter Eleven
Sarah waited for the final blow that would end her life, but the sensation never came. The thing that held her was keeping her alive. For how long, she didn’t know, but whatever it was, it was far too strong to escape from. The hold on her mouth was unyielding and her body hung suspended in mid-air.
She whimpered in fear and struggled. It squeezed harder, its limb constricting like a snake. The grip on her mouth tightened and the faint glow of light she’d seen before grew closer to her face. She managed to turn her head a little and her eyes widened in horror as two fearsome blue eyes turned to look at her.
‘Quiet,’ a deep voice whispered, ‘it’s down there.’
The blue eyes turned to look into the hall below and Sarah followed its gaze. The shimmering blue-green light had reappeared and the clicking sound began again as it moved along from where they watched.
The light stopped and coalesced into something transparent that glowed from within. Its form twisted and expanded, rippled and contracted. Whatever it was, it wasn’t stable. It had no single shape – at least, not then. More clicking echoed out and the strange vision dissolved back into the oscillating light and continued away into the dark.
Minutes passed after the light had disappeared from view before the thing that held Sarah relaxed its hold and she was lowered to the floor. Something was tied around her mouth and then her arms and legs were bound. Hoisted into the air, the darkness transported her through silent halls and down hidden stairs.
Finally the motion ceased and Sarah felt herself lowered to the ground. Still captivated in fear, she looked up into burning blue eyes. A sound to her right made her turn to see another demon appear from the ether. And then another behind that. She looked left as more glowing eyes hovered in the black, and light blazed forth to blind her.
Blinking against the sudden illumination, she saw tendrils of lightning ripple over the entity before her. A tall figure materialised, his body encased in black armour and bristling with weaponry. Either side of him, more of these dark knights emerged from the shadows.
The being reached up and removed its helmet. A man, with a jaw like granite and a wicked scar down the centre of his face, stared down at her. He reached out a hand and Sarah let him remove the gag from her mouth.
‘Who are you?’ she said in wonder.
He didn’t reply and Sarah glanced down at an emblem on his chest which bore a single word:
And close to that were two more words, spelt out in white block lettering:
Cmdr. HILT
Chapter Twelve
Sarah stared up into the impassive eyes of the man before her. Standing well over six foot, his Olympian physique bulged beneath his armoured suit, the overdeveloped muscles reminding her more of giganthropsis than that of sapiens.
Movement to the right drew Sarah’s focus. Two more black-clad soldiers appeared out of the gloom and deposited next to her the struggling forms of Trish and Jason.
Her two friends were wild-eyed and spoke with muffled voices through their respective gags. When they saw Sarah their volume increased.
The man leant towards them. ‘Quiet,’ he said, his deep voice full of power, ‘or I’ll put you back where we found you.’
Jason and Trish fell silent and huddled closer to Sarah.
He studied them for a moment and then switched his penetrating gaze back to Sarah. ‘Deep Reach, S.E.D.,’ he said, touching the emblems on her arm. ‘U.S.S.B. Sanctuary.’ He slid a large knife from his armour and held it before her.
Sarah watched the point of the blade hover in the air … and then drop down to slice through her bonds. She rubbed the circulation back into her wrists. ‘What about my friends?’
‘In time.’ He beckoned forward a female soldier. ‘Search them.’
The masked woman hauled Sarah to her feet and patted her down. First she removed the Anakim parchments and passed them to her leader. Then she found the Anakim orb, Trish’s locket, and finally she located the glowing crystal.
‘Sir.’ The woman held up the blue rock.
The man’s brow furrowed as he took the crystal. Turning it over in his armoured gloves, he held it up to Sarah. ‘Where did you find this?’
Sarah stayed quiet. She had no idea who these people were, but they were armed to the teeth and stank of authority, and while they were a welcome respite from the wilderness of Sanctuary and the thing that hunted them, they were also two things Sarah couldn’t abide.
‘Who are you?’ The man slipped the glowing stone into a concealed pouch on his belt. ‘How far is the base?’
Sarah remained in silent defiance.
The man’s eyes narrowed. ‘What do you know about the light – the creature?’
Sarah felt her throat tighten in fear and she looked around into the dark. ‘Are we safe?’
He followed Sarah’s gaze. ‘No,’ he said, his eyes searching the pitch-black beyond, ‘… no one’s safe.’
Sarah’s anxiety increased.
‘What do you know of it?’ he said, turning back to her.
‘Release my friends and I might tell you.’
‘Answer my questions and I will do.’
The female soldier, who’d been searching Sarah, noticed her pendants. ‘Sir.’ She parted Sarah’s jacket and held out the chain with its two pentagonal discs.
Sarah tried to keep calm as the man stepped forward to study them. He glanced at her with calculating eyes. He can’t know what they are, Sarah thought, there’s no way.
He let them drop back against Sarah’s chest with a clink and she relaxed.
He gave a nod to the woman. ‘Take them.’
‘What?!’ Sarah said, alarmed. ‘No!’ She grasped the pendants as the woman tried to remove the chain from her neck. Sarah continued to resist before the woman grew angry and pinned Sarah’s arms behind her back. The leader grasped the pendants and gave them a sharp tug to break the chain.
‘Start talking and you get these back.’ He pocketed the pendants and the woman released her hold.
Sarah glared at her captors, but there was nothing she could do except comply. She glanced down at Trish and Jason, who looked back at her with worried expressions while the woman searched through their coveralls.
‘My name’s Sarah, Sarah Morgan.’
The leader’s expression remained unchanged.
‘We’re exploring Sanctuary. That’s what we do; we’re an SED Deep Reach survey team. Do you know what that is?’
‘Where’s the rest of your team?’ he said. ‘Where are your supplies?’
‘We got separated.’
His eyes bored into hers. ‘You’re lost?’
‘You could say that.’
‘How far is the USSB?’
&nb
sp; ‘A long way. A hundred miles, as the crow flies – with Sanctuary’s terrain, maybe three times that.’
‘The light?’
‘We don’t know what it is.’
The man considered her anew and moved her face to one side with a finger. ‘How did you get these burns?’
‘Lava.’
‘Commander,’ another soldier said, ‘we’ve reacquired the target.’
‘Heading?’ he said, still looking at Sarah.
‘Due east.’
‘Saddle up!’ He straightened and pulled on his helmet.
The black-garbed soldiers shouldered heavy rucksacks and readied weapons, and one by one they activated their camouflage and disappeared into the gloom.
‘Wait!’ Sarah said.
The leader’s face appeared as his helmet’s mask retracted and visor rose.
‘You can’t just leave us here,’ she said.
‘Why not?’
‘Our helmets are low on power, mine’s stopped working. We have hardly any food and no climbing gear,’ – she pointed to Trish and Jason – ‘and my friends are injured.’
He remained unmoved.
‘Because we’ll die,’ Sarah said.
‘Sir, we need to go,’ one of his men told him.
The commander acknowledged him with a grunt while holding Sarah’s gaze.
‘I told you what I know,’ she said. ‘At least give us our things back.’
He turned to his subordinate. ‘Cut them loose and see to their headwear.’
The soldier looked like he was about to dispute the order and held his commander’s gaze. Something seemed to pass between them and he gave a nod and went about his tasks.
The leader approached and held out his hand. ‘A gesture of good faith.’
Sarah caught Trish’s locket as it fell, and Trish and Jason were released, while another soldier chucked them some ration packs before attaching a device to their helmets.
The commander moved past Sarah and grasped Jason’s hands and turned them over to inspect his palms. Apparently satisfied he wasn’t in any immediate danger, he moved to Trish and manipulated her arm which made her cry out in pain.
Ancient Origins: Books 4 - 6 (Ancient Origins Boxset Book 2) Page 7