Sarah remembered something. She gently released herself from Susan’s hand and delved into her coveralls to withdraw Trish’s locket. ‘I think this is yours.’
Trish looked amazed as she opened it up. ‘I thought this was lost for good.’
‘I never knew you were religious,’ Sarah said, swapping looks with Jason.
Trish must have heard the accusation hidden in her words, but instead of being angry she just smiled. ‘All religion isn’t bad, Sarah. People like to think it is, but if there wasn’t religion people would find other ways to make war, it’s what they do. Besides, the fundamentals of religion are sound, it helped create our civilisation, after all. It’s when people misinterpret it for their own gain that things go wrong. As to me being religious – I’m not.’
‘But the cross,’ Sarah said, ‘the picture of Christ.’
Trish removed the gold cross and held it up to the light. ‘Religion doesn’t own faith,’ she said. ‘They like to think they do, but God – the light – is for everyone if they want it.’ She held out the cross in the palm of her hand. ‘My grandmother gave me this when I was six years old. She always told me it would protect me from the dark and if I ever found myself on the wrong path, all I had to do was to hold this and God would show me the way back to the light.’
Sarah looked at it with undisguised scepticism.
‘Take it,’ Trish said, ‘I want you to have it.’
‘I can’t.’
‘Sure you can.’ Trish pressed the cross into her hand.
‘Does it burn?’ Jason said.
Trish gave him a withering look while Sarah turned it over in her hand, a myriad of thoughts running through her mind.
‘Where are your pendants?’ Trish said.
Jason adjusted his splint to increase its support. ‘She doesn’t want to use it anymore.’
Trish looked at Sarah in surprise. ‘Why not?’
‘Because it’s brought us nothing but bad luck.’ Sarah removed them from her pocket. ‘The chain’s broken, anyway.’
Trish took it from her and passed it to Jason.
Grumbling, Jason sat down to see if he could repair it.
‘Well?’ Trish said.
He waved Sarah over and she got up and knelt in front of him, while lifting her hair to one side.
‘This will hold,’ he said, ‘but you won’t be able to take it off again without breaking it.’
Trish took the cross back from Sarah and opened its clasp to secure it to the chain.
Sarah mustered a weak smile before positioning the pendants inside her coveralls, the gold cross bright against the grey of the pentagonal artefacts.
Sarah stood up and Trish gave her another one-armed hug.
‘So,’ Jason said, ‘what now?’
‘We look for another transportation device,’ Trish said, before removing food rations from her backpack and handing them out.
They devoured the meagre fare in seconds before the waif-like figure of Susan moved closer to Trish and tugged at her arm.
‘I think she’s trying to tell us something,’ Trish said.
Jason looked around in fear. ‘Perhaps her friend is near.’
Sarah, her heart suddenly racing, put her helmet back on and activated her visor. ‘I can’t see anything.’
‘Neither could those Darklight soldiers and look what happened to them. By the way,’ – Jason lowered his voice – ‘should we even be staying with her? If she attracts that thing, perhaps we should …’
‘Should what?’ Trish said, turning angry. ‘Leave her all on her own in the dark?’
‘I’m only saying.’
‘Perhaps we should just wait here,’ Sarah said.
Jason avoided Trish’s fierce glare and turned to Sarah. ‘What? Wait here, why?’
‘To let those soldiers take us back to the base,’ Sarah said, ‘if we stay here they’ll find us eventually.’
‘They’ll lock you up,’ Trish said, ‘lock us all up.’
Jason shook his head. ‘They’re more likely to shoot first and ask questions later.’
Susan continued pulling at Trish’s arm. ‘I think she knows where to go,’ she said, looking at the mute woman’s earnest expression.
‘Straight to that thing, probably,’ Jason said.
‘Well, we can’t use the Anakim parchment,’ – Trish held her ground against Susan’s persistence – ‘there’s no point of reference. We could be anywhere.’
Susan stamped a foot and gave a squeal of anger, and Trish gave in and allowed herself to be dragged forward.
‘What are you doing?’ Jason said.
‘Following Susan,’ Trish called back.
‘That’s a bad idea!’ He turned to Sarah for support, but she didn’t know what say. Trish had told her to let go, so that’s what she was going to do. Offering her shoulder to Jason for support, they followed Trish and the waif into the beyond.
Chapter Twenty-Four
‘Great,’ Jason said, ‘she’s led us to a dead end.’
Sarah helped Jason over to a wall, where he propped himself up against it. The Darklight splint enabled him to put his full weight on his injured ankle without major discomfort, but there was no point damaging it any further if they could help it.
They’d been walking for hours and they’d seen no sign of the creature, but equally they’d seen no sign of any Anakim structures, either, let alone a transportation device.
‘Shall we rest here?’ Trish said, looking to Sarah.
‘I don’t know, I suppose it’s as good as place as any.’
Tired, they settled down on the damp soil that made up the floor of the network of caves they now traversed.
‘I’ll keep watch,’ Sarah said, fearing the nightmares that waited in sleep.
No one argued and Sarah soon found herself sitting on her own while Trish, Jason and Susan breathed in silent slumber.
Wondering where Susan was taking them, and then realising she no longer cared, a distant noise made Sarah start. Focusing her visor, she scanned for signs of the fearsome light. Moments passed and she relaxed. It was nothing.
More time slipped into history and Sarah found it increasingly difficult to stay awake, the sound of her friends’ slow, rhythmic breathing lulling her towards sleep. Without realising it, her eyelids drooped closed and she glided into the unresisting land of dreams.
♦
A strange noise made Sarah stir awake. She could feel something digging into the palm of her hand. Releasing her grip, she realised she’d been holding onto Trish’s cross. She heard the noise again and cracked open an eye. A few feet away, Susan stood staring down at Trish, her fingers, as ever, scratching at the rash on her wrist.
But where’s that noise coming from? she wondered. It sounded like … she felt her eyes drawn left and her heart rate skyrocketed as they fell upon a massive translucent form.
Stifling a scream, Sarah froze.
The beast flowed through the shadows towards Susan and the sleeping Trish. Its skin rippled and shimmered along its indistinct frame like a nightmare made real. Inside the hideous body, veins and arteries pumped black blood and lungs billowed in and out like vast bellows. Something resembling a head extended before it and, as with its body, it expanded and contracted in time with its sibilant breath. It had no eyes by which to see, and rows of jagged teeth, dripping with black mucus, appeared and disappeared as it continued to move with an abnormal gait.
Sarah found herself captivated in horror.
A shimmer of light flickered through the beast’s skin and a clicking sound made the hairs on the back of her neck prickle. A sudden glow of light drew Sarah’s attention back to Susan. The woman was now holding Sarah’s orb aloft. The Anakim artefact glowed bright as Susan spoke into it with low tones and the wall before her trembled, sending eons of sediment crumbling to the ground.
The creature closed in on Trish while Sarah remained frozen in fear as her panic built to a crescendo. I have to do something
. She willed herself to act. Get up, Sarah! Her mind screamed, GET UP!
The translucent body reared up over Susan and its head extended into a snake-like form that inexorably bore down on Trish.
Still unable to move, Sarah felt a scream building.
‘What’s that noise?’ Jason said groggily. He sat up next to her and turned on his helmet’s lights.
The creature shimmered into light and Jason cried out in terror. A shriek of noise broke the silence, the light vanished and Sarah scrambled to her feet.
‘Trish!’ Jason ran over and pushed Susan aside.
‘What was that noise?!’ Trish said in shock as Jason hugged her to him.
Sarah looked at Susan, whose pupils shone with an eerie glow. But as she watched, the woman’s eyes faded to normal and her posture slumped as if she’d been released by whatever possessed her. The Anakim orb fell from her hands and hit the ground with a dull thud.
Sarah scanned the area for the light, but there was no sign of it.
‘What the hell is going on?!’ Jason said.
Trish looked scared and confused. ‘What happened?’
‘That thing was here, right over you.’ Jason pointed at Susan. ‘I told you she would lead us right to it!’
Sarah bent down and pocketed the orb, while giving Susan a wide berth. ‘He’s right,’ Sarah said, as Trish looked to her for confirmation, ‘it was here.’
Trish put a hand to her mouth and looked at Susan in shock. ‘Oh my God.’
‘We have to get out of here,’ – Jason helped Trish to her feet – ‘and away from her!’
Susan shied away from Jason’s anger and Sarah felt a pang of sympathy for the poor girl. ‘I don’t think she knows what she’s doing. I think it’s controlling her, somehow.’
‘I don’t give a toss, she goes or we go!’
‘But why isn’t it trying to kill us, like those soldiers?’ Trish said. ‘Why are we still alive?’
‘It wants us for something,’ Jason said, ‘food, who knows. I don’t care. I just want to get as far away from it as possible.’
Sarah saw something glint in the dark behind them and she switched off her visor to increase the power of her helmet’s torches.
‘What are you doing?’ Jason said, as she walked past him. ‘We have to go!’
Sarah ran her hands over the wall. ‘There’s something here.’
‘Who cares?’ Jason pulled her away. ‘Let’s go – now!’
Sarah shrugged him off and brushed away the dirt to reveal a dark metal surface beneath. The more she unearthed, the faster she worked, while Jason ranted and argued with Trish behind.
Sarah looked up. ‘It’s a gate,’ she murmured to herself. She glanced back. ‘It’s a way out!’
‘To the surface?’ Trish said, moving to her side.
‘No, but look,’ Sarah pointed up at head height, ‘I think it can be opened.’
Trish reached out and touched the outline of a large indented shape. ‘It’s not a circle.’
‘It’s the right size, though.’
‘I think I see something,’ Jason said.
Sarah looked back and saw Susan pointing into the darkness towards a shimmer of light.
‘It’s coming back!’ Jason took a step back, and then another.
‘Open it,’ Trish said.
Sarah grasped the pendant that hung at her neck and hesitated.
The light grew closer.
‘What are you waiting for?!’ Jason said, joining them.
Sarah remembered the promise she’d made to herself and held the pendant out to Trish. ‘You do it.’
‘Are you crazy?!’ Jason said.
Sarah looked back to see the light was almost on them. ‘This might be what it wants.’
Trish grabbed hold of the pendant and put her hand on the wall, and Jason tore off his glove and grasped her wrist.
‘Sarah,’ Trish said, ‘nothing’s happening!
The light filled her vision and Sarah placed her hand on top of Trish’s.
‘Time to die,’ Sarah whispered.
Chapter Twenty-Five
The ground beneath their feet rumbled and Sarah looked at the wall, waiting for a death blow that never came. She turned round to see a figure emerge from the blazing light.
The man reached up and removed his Deep Reach helmet and she felt her legs go weak.
‘Hi there,’ Riley said, a half smile playing across his lips, ‘are you lost?’
Stunned, Sarah’s hand dropped from the wall. The words echoed through her mind like a dream. Hi there, are you lost … are you lost? They were the same words he’d said to her when they’d first met back at the SED, which seemed like an eternity ago. Images from the past flashed through her mind and she felt the world spin.
Powerful arms caught her and she found herself gazing up into a pair of familiar, dark brown eyes.
Riley’s expression became intent. ‘You’re a hard woman to find, Sarah Morgan.’
They stared into each other’s eyes until the earth shuddered again.
Riley glanced up and frowned. ‘What the—?
Sarah regained her feet as a series of intricate symbols glowed to life across the wall. The glittering lights expanded into a pattern that spiralled out from the centre. More chunks of sediment rained down to the ground, forcing Trish and Jason to jump back as clumps of rock and earth thudded into the soil around them.
‘What have you done, Morgan?!’ said a powerful voice.
Sarah looked past Riley to see Dresden Locke shining a torch at the scene ahead.
With a thunderous sound of stone on stone, the whole wall ground backwards before pivoting to one side on a hidden hinge. Dirt and dust poured down from above, the shower turning to a trickle as the tremors subsided and the glowing symbols faded back to dull.
A massive entrance loomed black before them.
Locke took a step forward and Riley and Sarah followed.
On the threshold, Sarah peered into the void while her emotions lurched in turmoil at the presence of the man standing so close beside her.
‘Turn off your lights,’ Riley said, switching off his own, ‘everyone, turn off your lights!’
The twenty men and women of Alpha Six did as their team leader ordered, the lights behind blinking out one by one. Riley reached out to Sarah’s helmet and held her with a lingering look before plunging them into darkness.
As Sarah’s eyes adjusted to the gloom, she realised they weren’t in total darkness at all. A steady source of light emanated from the void before them, and warm, sweet-smelling air tickled her senses. Her expression changed to wonder as she realised what she was looking at. Spread out before them, a vast, misty landscape stretched down into the Earth’s crust, a living world full of fluorescing plants and trees, and glistening rivers chock full of luminous algae.
Sarah took a step forward. ‘So beautiful,’ she whispered, captivated by the vision.
Something fluttered through the air towards her. She held out her hand as a small butterfly, its wings glowing dark red, weaved away, up over her head and out into the wasteland beyond.
Locke turned on his lights. ‘You two,’ – he gestured to a man and woman – ‘plant a waypoint beacon.’ He turned to Riley. ‘We need to go back; we don’t want to be here when the colonel finds us.’
‘You want to go back now?’ Riley said, ‘after finding all this?’
Locke shepherded everyone away from the entrance. ‘Morgan was our priority; we’ve found her. And from what we’ve just seen, now we know why they want her so badly. If we cut west we can work our way back to charted routes, bypass Samson and meet up with the second expedition coming from the north.’
‘And will that be before or after the creature finds us?’ Jason said, as everyone else switched their helmet torches back on.
Locke studied Jason for a moment and then turned to Jefferson. ‘Church, give these people the once-over. We move out in two minutes.’
Jefferson no
dded and moved towards Sarah.
‘Wait,’ Jason said, limping forward, ‘didn’t you hear me? Don’t you know? There’s something out there, and this woman,’ – he looked around – ‘where did she go?’
Sarah spun round to see Susan was nowhere in sight.
♦
Riley looked at the confusion – or was it fear? – on Sarah’s face. He studied her appearance. Her Deep Reach coveralls were stained and torn. Dark scars blackened her jacket’s sleeves and what looked like angry burns reddened her neck. Dirt clung to her hair, and her face was covered in varying layers of dust. Tracks in the grime made it look like she’d been crying. She looked exhausted and afraid and he sensed something about her had changed; that spark in her eyes had gone and defeat hung over her like a cloud. He frowned, wondering what had happened to reduce her to such a state. She caught him looking and failed to hold his gaze. This wasn’t the Sarah who’d fled the base, the bold explorer; this was a timid shadow of the woman he knew.
Jefferson moved to check Sarah’s kit, but Riley motioned to her two friends. ‘See to them, I’ve got this.’
Jefferson nodded and moved away. Riley wanted to know what had happened to Sarah to bring about such a transformation. He could understand that three people travelling on their own in Sanctuary was tough, tougher than tough, but Sarah was as tough as they came, at least when it came to exploration she was. And I should know, he thought, I helped train her. He checked the front of her harness, tugging at the straps to make sure they were tight.
He removed a container of water from his backpack and handed it to her. ‘Are you hurt?’
She shook her head and gulped down the water.
‘How long since you’ve eaten?’
She shrugged and he handed her an energy bar which she consumed in seconds.
He opened a panel on her helmet. ‘Your battery’s low and you need a reboot.’ He pulled a cord from his belt and hooked it up to the charging port. ‘How did you activate that wall?’
She passed the canister back to him. ‘Does it matter?’
Ancient Origins: Books 4 - 6 (Ancient Origins Boxset Book 2) Page 14