2041 Sanctuary (Genesis) (24 page)

‘Susan!’ someone ahead shouted. ‘It’s Richard, where are you?!’

Sarah fiddled with her visor, which had failed to auto-adjust to the dense cloud, but try as she might the technology refused to penetrate it.

A dark figure emerged from the gloom before them.

Captain Winter held up his hand as they approached and put a finger to his lips. His rifle was raised and he scanned the way ahead with his scope.

Sarah’s anxiety spiked.
What has he seen? One of the lights?

As the fog cleared a little, Sarah saw Goodwin looking this way and that into a dark expanse.

He turned around in anguish as they approached. ‘I can’t find her.’

Captain Winter moved past him to scan the area as Jefferson and Locke arrived behind, but as yet there was still no sign of Trish and Jason.

Sarah let go of Riley’s hand and turned to go back.

‘What’s that?’ Riley pointed into the distance.

‘Fire,’ Locke said.

Sarah paused and zoomed her visor in to where an orange glow spread and grew higher. Lightning continued to flicker high above and she realised they must be in some vast basin inside the lake, although the standing water and wet surfaces made her wonder if it was always thus. She looked down at pale weeds lying limp between stone cracks before noticing vast pools of slimy, black tar which lurked all around.

‘The fog’s clearing,’ Riley said.

A powerful wind rippled her coveralls before dying away, and Sarah turned to see the vapour behind thinning. Soon after, Trish and a limping Jason emerged from the tunnel.

Sarah felt a hand slip into hers and she looked round to see Riley by her side, still staring into the beyond.

Jefferson stepped past him to look in the same direction.

The ground trembled and Sarah took a step back as small stones tumbled past.

The tremors built before, with a loud roar, fires exploded upwards all around them. Sarah stumbled back in shock. Napalm-like clumps rained down and everyone took evasive action. Sarah dodged and weaved as more pools of tar burst into flame to light up massive, stone monoliths that towered through the mists.

Forced back by the heat, Sarah gazed in astonishment at the weathered standing stones, which stretched out to either side in a great arc.

‘Is everyone okay?!’ Winter said as the fires died back to lower levels.

If anyone replied Sarah didn’t hear them as the storm bellowed through the heavens and lightning lanced down onto the megaliths. The winds returned, and with the way ahead revealed, Goodwin moved towards an arch in the stones.

‘Director, please … wait!’ Winter went to follow, but gunfire behind made him pause and look back the way they’d come.

‘I have to go,’ Goodwin said, ‘Susan and Rebecca need me.’

Winter looked back at him, his expression torn. ‘It’s not safe!’

‘It’s not safe here!’ Goodwin gestured towards the sounds of more fighting. ‘It’s not safe anywhere, that’s the problem. It’s time for us to leave Sanctuary, Captain, and this is our way out.’

Goodwin turned and passed beneath the ancient stones and disappeared into the glowing mists.

More lightning blazed down and the fires multiplied.

Gunfire echoed again and Sarah looked back through the building flames to see Winter’s Darklight unit emerge from the tunnel as its walls ignited into flame. The soldiers walked backwards in tactical formation while continuing to fire back into hell.

Sarah suddenly realised the fires had cut her off from everyone else and she ran back towards the tunnel as Trish and Jason passed her going the other way. They slowed and she waved them on. ‘Keep going, I’ll catch you up!’

‘Everyone, go!’ Winter ushered Trish and Jason through the stones. Locke went next, and Riley helped Jefferson brush off flames that clung to his back as they followed behind.

Sarah doubled back round the growing pools of burning pitch and sprinted back.

The storm overhead sent more bolts hammering into the ground and, on either side of the stones, two trails of flame closed in on the entrance.

Bullets whizzed past and Riley called out, ‘Sarah, hurry!’

She neared the stones and Winter waved her past as he remained on sentry. Feet away from her friends, the ring of fire completed and Sarah slid to a stop and raised her hands against the heat.

Beyond, Riley moved back in shock, not realising what was happening until it was too late.

Sarah retreated and looked through the shimmering flames into Riley’s eyes.

More gunfire made everyone duck and Captain Winter stepped forward and raised his weapon, searching for a target. ‘Darklight,’ Winter said through his radio, ‘I have your six.’

One of the men turned to acknowledge their leader. ‘Copy that, sir, reinforcements are en route.’

Sarah crouched down as the Darklight unit spread out to wait for the unseen enemy.

Muffled gunshots echoed from beyond and the sky continued to flicker before thunder cracked loudly.

A figure burst from the black, guns blazing. Colonel Samson dived forward as Darklight unleashed their weapons.

The colonel raised a black shield to deflect the bullets, while firing at five shadowy forms that were chasing him.

Sarah’s expression turned to horror as the chrome-clad assassins spun into being and tore into the Darklight unit.

Seconds later, more black-clad soldiers surged from the tunnel; their battle cries making the assassins re-camouflage as they turned to face the new threat.

‘Sarah,’ Riley called out, ‘come on!’

She looked round to see Riley had removed his jacket to create a narrow bridge through the flames.

Sarah stood up and moved closer, but the heat was too great. ‘It’s too hot!’

She retreated again and looked back to see the colonel cutting a path towards her on the left. One man went down, and then another. Her friends called out to her from behind, but Sarah remained rooted to the spot in detached fascination as Samson smashed aside another Darklight soldier.

Captain Winter leapt to meet him, but Samson deflected his onslaught and heaved him into flame. Terror seized her as the killer loomed large. Sarah wanted to run but her legs wouldn’t move, and she stumbled backwards to the ground.

And then Riley and Jefferson were there, rushing past her only to be knocked aside by the unstoppable colonel’s brutal blows.

Sarah scrambled away, knowing she couldn’t escape, knowing that she wanted to live – so desperately wanted to live. She looked at Riley in despairing horror.
I don’t want to die!
Her mind screamed inside.
NOT NOW!
A whimper of fear escaped her lips as Samson bore down on her.

‘There’s nowhere left for you to hide, Morgan.’ The colonel raised his sword aloft and its shining blade reflected in Sarah’s terror-stricken eyes

Riley shouted and Trish screamed. Time slowed as the glowing weapon plunged towards her head …

… and shuddered to a stop with a resounding CLANG and a shower of sparks.

A tear rolled down Sarah’s cheek as she stared at the pulsating blade an inch from her face.

With a screech of metal on metal, the sword was knocked aside and Samson was catapulted backwards.

A hulking figure emerged from the ether, glowing sword in hand. The formidable mask turned towards her, its eyes burning like a demon.

‘Go,’ it said, its voice deep with power, ‘I’ll handle this.’

Sarah shook her head. ‘I saw you die.’

Commander Hilt raised his visor as Riley and Jefferson helped her away. ‘Things,’ Hilt said as he turned back to face Samson, ‘are not always as they seem.’

Chapter Thirty Eight

Colonel Samson shook his head and climbed to his feet. The powerful figure of the Darklight leader turned towards him, visor raised and Samson flexed his arm and picked up his sword. ‘Still alive, Darklight?’

‘I’m a hard man to kill.’

Samson gave a quick glance round to see S.I.L.V.E.R. holding their own against overwhelming odds. He turned back to Hilt, who slid his large rucksack to the ground. The man’s black armour was dented and scarred as though a building had fallen on him.

‘It’s about time you stopped running,’ Samson said, retracting his helmet’s face-plate and moving away from the stones for more room. ‘You fled Steadfast like a coward, leaving better men to fight.’

Hilt followed, his black armour reflecting the pools of flame between them. ‘And you massacred them with no offer of surrender.’

‘Surrender is for the weak.’

Hilt loosened his sword arm with three cutting sweeps of his blade. ‘And the sane.’

Samson’s grip tightened on his sword and his armoured glove creaked under the strain. He withdrew his second blade and activated the thermal device. The weapon glowed white hot and he held it up to Hilt. ‘I got this off your Major. He fought badly. He died … badly.’

Hilt’s eyes narrowed as he removed his shield from his back-plate and lowered his visor. ‘Tell me,
mad man
,’ he said, ‘what’s it like in hell?’

Samson bared his teeth and closed his face-plate. ‘I don’t know,’ – he surged forward as Hilt leapt to meet him – ‘TELL ME!’

Chapter Thirty Nine

Sarah jumped over smouldering jackets before the fires flashed over them in a pall of smoke and flame.

Glancing back at the Darklight leader, Sarah felt a rough hand turn her face.

Riley kissed her. ‘I thought I’d lost you.’

Sarah stared into his eyes before looking down at her feet.

He raised her chin with a finger and kissed her again.

‘Err, guys,’ Jason said, ‘we’ve got a problem.’

Reeling from the heights of terror to giddy love, Sarah gave Riley a shy smile before turning to see a network of paths leading through pools of bubbling tar, many of which had already caught alight.

The flames spread and black smoke merged with the fog to create a toxic cauldron.

‘Deploy your masks,’ Locke said.

Sarah pressed a button on her helmet and the breathing apparatus slid over her face to produce an airtight seal.

‘There’s no way we can get through that,’ Jefferson said as the heat built, ‘it’s a furnace.’

But as they watched, the oozing fluid sank into the ground, sucked down by gravity into unseen voids. In its wake, gaping holes revealed the paths were in fact a lattice of narrow bridges that spanned the flaming tar pit beneath.

The inferno decreased in intensity, but the fires persisted as the burning pitch clung to the walkways’ sides.

Trish pointed at some of the bridges. ‘It’s too dangerous, look; some of them are ready to collapse.’

‘She’s right,’ Sarah said, over the noise of the storm, ‘it’s too risky.’

‘We can’t go back,’ Riley said. ‘And we can’t stay here.’

Locke strode forward. ‘Then we move.’

Riley stayed where he was and Locke looked back. ‘You may not like my methods, Riley, but when has my judgement in the field ever let you down? I take care of my own, you know that.’

Riley held his superior’s gaze before relenting and, one by one, they followed the SED commander out onto the fiery lattice.

But as Sarah reached the first path, the heat made her recoil.

‘What’s wrong?’ Riley said from behind.

Sarah shook her head. The vision of flame and smoke captivated her soul, dredging up scenes from nightmares past.

‘Sarah,’ Trish said, waving her forward, ‘come on!’

Stepping out onto the first span, Sarah flinched as the flames licked at her feet. Steeling herself, she moved with haste towards the next junction where respite from the fires beckoned.

Safely past the first obstacle, the six explorers, bedecked in their Deep Reach gear, pressed on, working their way deeper into the infernal pit as they sought the man ahead and fled from those behind.

Chapter Forty

Hilt raised his shield as the strikes rained in. Deflecting a scything blow, he spun sideways, ducked another killing thrust and advanced. Powering forward, he drove Samson back with blow upon blow. The ring of steel on steel sang out, the glowing blades weaving arcs of light through the air as the two men clashed and clashed again.

Samson rallied and it was Hilt’s turn to defend against a ferocious onslaught that forced him towards a deep pit of boiling tar.

Wheeling away, Hilt parried a cutting slice and sent a riposte whistling past Samson’s visor.

The colonel retreated and opened his mask as they circled one another.

‘Your men are dying,’ Samson said.

Hilt glanced past him to where his team struggled to contain the chrome-clad assassins. ‘And you’ll be joining them,’ Hilt said, ‘sooner than you think.’

Samson laughed as lightning lit up the skies. ‘You can’t kill me, Darklight, I’m already dead.’

Hilt gazed into the man’s insanity and adjusted his grip on sword and shield.

‘Do you know who I saw in Hell?’ Samson said, advancing.

Hilt sidestepped a pool of fire as he let Samson stalk him.

The colonel smiled. ‘Your beloved professor, the all-powerful director general. He’d been scheduled for termination by lethal injection.’

Hilt continued to back away, drawing the madman on.

‘The old man’s already six foot under. And do you know who put him there?’ Samson’s smile broadened into exultation. ‘ME!’ The colonel closed his helmet and launched forward.

Hilt blocked a series of strikes before Samson connected with a jarring kick that sent him tumbling back through a wall of flame.

Rolling to his feet beyond the standing stones, Hilt glimpsed Morgan and her team disappearing into the fiery mists. He inched out onto a narrow bridge and Samson’s wavering form appeared through the searing flames like an avenging spirit, mask and swords aglow.

‘Had enough, Darklight?’ Samson said.

Hilt brought his sword and shield together to signal his defiance and Samson leapt forward once more.

♦

The sound of distant fighting made Sarah glance back through the thickening smog to see the Darklight commander still locked in single combat with the fearsome colonel. Praying for Hilt’s victory, she turned back to the path ahead. Trish and Jason had already made it to a position of relative safety on the next intersection, but as the storm’s winds increased, the crackling flames grew higher.