2041 Sanctuary (Dark Descent) (55 page)

‘No, I don’t. But I think when we came to Sanctuary, humans I mean, we disturbed something down here, something that was better left alone. Not Anakim, but something, something else—’

‘That’s why you kept pestering me for your weapons for all those months, isn’t it?’ Hilt’s voice was full of fettered rage. ‘Isn’t it?!’ he bellowed. 

Walker nodded in confirmation.

‘Sir,’ Major Offiah said to Hilt, his tone attracting Goodwin’s attention, ‘we’ve lost touch with three of our men in one of the western reaches of the city.’

‘How long have they been out of contact?’ Hilt turned from Corporal Walker to give Offiah his undivided attention.

‘Five hours. They were scheduled to report in two hours ago.’

‘Two hours,’ Goodwin said, ‘and you’ve only thought to tell us now?’

‘Normal protocol, sir,’ Offiah told him, ‘we give our recon teams more leeway as they travel further, often underground where communication is difficult or impossible. It was flagged up when they failed to submit their report, but many of our teams get caught out similarly on a daily basis; this one is the first to breach the two hour window, however.’

‘Sir, an emergency flare has been sighted two miles west of the city,’ a Darklight communications operative told Hilt.

‘That’s our missing team,’ Hilt said, ‘they must be out of coms range. Major, secure the camp; reinstate all Darklight personnel returning with the civilian search teams to form a secure perimeter. I want weapons hot, visors down, combat systems activated.’

‘Yes, sir!’ Offiah got to work on his orders.

Hilt looked to another soldier. ‘Lieutenant, tell all recon teams in the vicinity of the flare to converge on its location.’ Hilt, shrouded in his matte black suit of armour, picked up his helmet and slid it over his head, the visor up, his face visible inside it. ‘Sir,’ he said to Goodwin, ‘I’m heading out to my men; emergency flares are only to be utilised as a last resort, so they’re either in difficulty or they’ve found something, maybe both. I’m bringing this situation back under our control, you have my word. If I fail, I recommend you replace me with another officer of your choosing.’

Goodwin looked at Hilt, lost for words. He nodded his head as Hilt waited for his response.

‘Thank you, sir. You men,’ Hilt gestured to three Darklight soldiers who’d been poring over some maps, ‘with me.’

And with that, the Darklight leader and his men left the tent, vanishing into the subterranean night.

Chapter Thirty Three

Goodwin paced the edge of the camp’s exterior, waiting for the imminent arrival of the Darklight leader. Hilt had only been gone six hours, but the unexpected speed of his return had set Goodwin’s nerves jangling. For some reason only discernable to the Commander, he’d declined to comment on his findings during his brief communiqué, just saying, ‘You need to see it for yourself.’

He didn’t have to wait much longer before the hulking figure of Hilt emerged out of the gloom, accompanied by a large unit of soldiers, all similarly garbed in black armour, an array of formidable weapons on show.

Goodwin fell into step beside Hilt. ‘What news, Commander?’

‘I’m sorry to keep you waiting, sir,’ Hilt said, his mood grave. ‘The flare drew us to an area where we found a previously undiscovered tunnel system. We wouldn’t have found it at all except the entrance, concealed beneath the ruins of an ancient monument, had a curious symbol embedded into its rock surround.’

‘Anakim symbols are two a penny down here,’ Goodwin said, as they made their way into camp and towards their hub of operations, ‘why was that one so special?’

‘It glowed, bright blue.’

Goodwin looked sharply at the Darklight man. ‘Bright blue?’ He pulled up his sleeve to reveal his bracelet, which emanated its faint radiance in the half-light. ‘Like this?’

Hilt peered at it. ‘Exactly like that. I recommend you take that off. If that’s what drew the creature to Susan, it might return for you.’

‘Creature?’

Hilt glanced at him. ‘Sir?’

‘You said,
drew the creature to Susan
; what have you found, Commander?’

Hilt looked at him once more, his expression unfathomable. ‘A turn of phrase, but one that may yet prove accurate.’

‘Tell me.’ Goodwin led the way as they cut left and onto the main thoroughfare of the campsite.

‘I had a few hundred men at the scene when I arrived,’ Hilt said, resuming his narrative. ‘Once we’d found these new tunnels we entered, seeking the three man recon unit we suspected had preceded us. It wasn’t long before we found a locator beacon, no doubt left by one of the team for us to find. A little further in, we found another and then a … trail.’

‘Trail of what?’ Goodwin asked, the command tent now in sight ahead.

‘Blood.’

The evocative word flooded Goodwin’s mind with all manner of images, many of them distinctly unpleasant.

‘Following this,’ Hilt continued, ‘we arrived at a cylindrical structure with a high vaulted roof, where we found this.’ He held aloft a helmet Goodwin recognised as one worn by Darklight’s reconnaissance personnel, the shape narrower and more streamlined than the bulkier, combat orientated headgear sported by Hilt and the rest of his

mercenaries.

‘It looks in bad shape.’ Goodwin noticed one side of the helmet had been crushed. ‘But, there’s more that you’re not telling me, isn’t there?’

‘There’s no point telling you any more,’ Hilt said, as they walked inside the tent. ‘It’s better if you watch.’

‘Watch what?’

‘You may remember, all Darklight helmets have an array of tech integrated into a comprehensive combat system.’ Hilt placed the battered helmet down next to a portable computer on one of the desks. ‘Which includes solid state memory chips, cameras and perhaps most advantageous in this instance,
automated
recording protocols.’

Hilt connected the helmet to a port on the computer, positioned the screen so Goodwin could see it and then streamed the video file. ‘Take a look,’ he said, moving back to stand alongside Goodwin, ‘but be prepared, it’s hard to watch.’

Goodwin swapped glances with Major Offiah, who’d been by Goodwin’s side during Hilt’s excursion.

‘Captain,’ a man’s voice said, the sound coming out of the screen’s speakers. ‘I think I just saw something, two towers down.’

‘You think, or you did?’ another man’s voice replied.

‘Did!’

The pale blue image on screen showed a bright light gliding quickly across the ground some way away, between an avenue of Anakim structures.

‘I see it too, Captain,’ a woman’s voice said, her armoured shape creeping into view on the right side of the screen, rifle in hand.

Another person strode into frame, the slits in the helmet glowing like demonic eyes as the man looked at the camera’s owner. ‘Don’t just stand there, Dixon, you idiot,’ the captain said, sprinting off, ‘after it!’

The woman followed her CO, and Dixon, the director of this production, swore and started running as well, the image on screen moving up and down in response, rhythmically attuned to his gait.

The crew of three sprinted through the ghostly city at speed, their agility impressive considering the armour they all wore. Further ahead, the ethereal light Goodwin was all too familiar with flew onwards, the Darklight recon team in hot pursuit, the gap between them increasing.

Rounding a corner, Dixon all but knocked over his female colleague who’d pulled up behind the captain, standing a few yards ahead, his weapon raised as he scanned the area, now devoid of any movement or light.

Dixon was breathing hard. ‘Fucking hell – that thing’s quick.’

‘Quiet,’ the captain said, and then walked forwards, rifle still at eye level. ‘Activate visor-radar, echelon formation on my six.’

The two Darklight soldiers moved out in front of Dixon; he brought up the rear, completing the short, diagonal column. Goodwin watched the image as it rotated this way and that, Dixon’s rifle scope in shot as the man surveyed the terrain around them.

‘Command, this is Recon Delta Two Six, over,’ Dixon, said in a hushed voice. ‘Still no signal, sir.’

‘Copy that,’ the captain replied. ‘Keep calm, we knew this section might be a dead spot.’

The recon team moved as one towards the crumbling structure of a huge plinth, on which stood a colossal statue that looked like it had once resembled an animal. Across the ground, to one side, another large section had collapsed, its shape no longer easily determined; the ravages of time masking what might have been the figure of an Anakim warrior. An object twenty foot in diameter and resembling a head had detached from the rest of the fallen stone monument and lay at the furthest reaches of the debris, as though it had been severed from its body by the powerful swing of an equally immense sword.

The scene changed as Dixon’s attention was drawn towards a dark hole at the base of one the walls. The display on the screen darkened as he scrolled to a different type of spectral image; now visible within the pit was a dim glow. ‘Captain, look at this.’

The Darklight officer came to a halt. ‘Henderson, cover us.’

‘Yes, sir.’ The woman dropped to one knee, her rifle at the ready.

The captain moved back to Dixon’s side. ‘I don’t see anything.’

‘Try T.I.I.,’ Dixon said.

‘T.I.I.?’ Goodwin looked to Hilt for an explanation.

‘Thermal Image Intensifier.’ Hilt’s eyes were fixed on the screen.

‘Good job, Dix.’ The captain held out a hand. ‘Drop me down.’

Dixon grasped the captain’s hand and lowered him down into the hole.

‘I see an entrance,’ the captain said, almost disappearing from view. ‘Henderson, stay topside; Dixon, get your ass down here.’

Dixon switched back to the pale blue visual image and the picture on the display lurched as he turned and dropped down into the hole, aided by his colleague beneath. Now below ground level, Dixon and the captain walked a few paces along a tunnel, the floor littered with rubble and the walls wreathed in cracks. A wide archway, ten feet high and the same in width, came into focus. Around the arch an inscription had been carved into the stone, its meaning lost long ago to time’s unyielding embrace. In the centre of this text a large symbol glowed with a brilliance Goodwin knew to be as blue as the stones on Susan’s bracelets.

A faint noise, seemingly far away, could be heard through the speakers.

‘Jesus wept.’ The captain traced the symbol of the cross on his chest. ‘Did you hear that?’

Dixon’s camera moved up and down. ‘Yeah, it sounded like a girl’s scream.’

The captain hung his head for a moment as if in deep thought. ‘We have to go in.’

‘But we’re off the grid.’ Dixon sounded worried. ‘We’re almost at the two hour cut-off.’

‘Fuck that!’ the captain said. ‘We may never get another chance at this; if that poor girl’s down there, we have no choice. Henderson, do you read me?’

‘Yes, sir,’ came the response.

‘Send up an e-flare and follow us down; Dixon, lend a hand.’

Dixon walked back to where he’d entered the hole and looked up to see Henderson firing a projectile high into the firmament above. A trail of smoke streaked out behind it until, seconds later, a small detonation was followed by a piercing bright light that filled the screen. Stowing her weapon, Henderson climbed down into the hole, helped by Dixon, and the pair rejoined their leader, who waited at the gateway into the newly discovered tunnel complex.

‘Okay, movement sensors on.’ The captain checked his weapon and ammo clips. ‘Switch to your combat spectrum array. For God’s sake don’t shoot at anything that moves; there’s a civilian down here and I don’t want her killed by friendly fire, understand?’

‘Copy that, Cap,’ Henderson said. ‘Lock and load.’

‘That’s an affirmative, Captain.’ Dixon cocked his own rifle and the image on the screen changed to a multi-layered, multi-coloured feed.

‘Right,’ the captain said, ‘I’ll take point; Henderson, the rear.’ The captain blew out a whoosh of air, psyching himself up, then put his assault rifle to his shoulder and ghosted through the arch. ‘Let’s go.’

Goodwin watched as the small unit made their way through the tunnels, which branched off in all directions. After a while, the captain ordered Dixon to place a small locator beacon on the ground; the device had a small lamp on the top and pulsed out a bright light once every few seconds. Pressing on further, the team located a central passage that all other paths converged on. A second beacon was laid down and then another; fifty feet on, the captain stumbled upon the first drops of blood.

‘Is that what I think it is?’ Dixon said.

The captain, squatting on his haunches, dipped a gloved finger into a droplet that was part of a distinct trail leading off into the darkness ahead of them. Opening the visor on his helmet, he looked at the smear before rubbing the substance between his thumb and forefinger. ‘Yes, it’s blood alright.’ The captain stood back up, lowered his visor and advanced more warily. ‘Stay sharp, people.’

A strange high-pitched sound reverberated through the tunnels, making Dixon freeze in place. ‘What the fuck was that!’

‘Dixon, man-up and move your ass,’ Henderson’s voice told him as the captain moved ahead.

Dixon, scurrying forwards, soon halted again as the captain put the flat of his palm in the air, signalling for them to stop. In front, the tunnel turned a sharp left.

‘Henderson, get up here.’ The captain waved her forwards.

The form of the Darklight woman passed by Dixon, who shot a look back at the emptiness before shifting sideways against the wall, ensuring nothing could creep up on him from behind.

‘Moving,’ the captain said, as he and Henderson, covering each other in tactical formation, edged around the kink in the passage.

Dixon, rounding the bend behind them, could see they were now in a weird, cylindrical shaft. Instead of rock, the walls glinted like dark metal. The surfaces had been deeply engraved and sculpted, creating miniature labyrinths beneath, almost as if the abnormal construct consisted of multiple layers, one inside the other. These fantastically intricate and abstract carvings glowed from within with a curious wavering light. In the centre sprawled the body of a man.