2041 Sanctuary (Dark Descent) (43 page)

‘What’s that?’ she asked, holding his arm up, their hands still clasped.

‘It’s my new bracelet.’ Goodwin stopped to let her examine the stones which had been faintly glowing before he’d turned his torch onto them. ‘It’s lovely isn’t it? Susan gave it to me earlier.’

Kara eyes narrowed. ‘Who’s Susan?’

‘One of Rebecca’s patients, I’ve mentioned her before.’

‘Rebecca,’ Kara said, attaching a strange emphasis to the name.

‘It glows really brightly in the dark,’ Goodwin told her. ‘Look.’ He turned off his torch and reached over to click the switch on hers. Now cast into darkness, the bracelet radiated powerful shades of gleaming blues, strong enough to highlight his skin around it.

Kara ran her fingers over the stones, seemingly unable to stop herself from being interested in their vibrancy. ‘I don’t like you seeing that woman,’ her disembodied voice said out of the dark.

‘She’s a friend,’ Goodwin told her a tad too defensively for his own liking, ‘nothing more.’

‘You’re always saying how resourceful she is,’ Kara said. ‘How she’s so amazing with how she copes with everything.’

‘Well she is amazing—’

‘What?! You’re not supposed to agree with me, you idiot!’

‘I’m not actually agreeing with you,’ Goodwin said, pointing out her imprecise semantics, ‘just confirming my previous position.’

Kara turned her light on, gave him a filthy look and stormed away into the dark.

‘Kara, wait, you’re going the wrong way!’

Cursing, Goodwin flicked on his torch and jogged after her. Unfortunately the bouncing movement sent his light blinking out, just as it had earlier that day.

‘Not again.’ He halted his advance and whacked the side of the torch’s tubular metal shroud with his hand. Glancing up, he saw Kara’s silhouette striding further away, taking with it his only source of light. ‘Kara wait, my torch has broken!’

Kara didn’t stop, however. Hurrying to catch up, Goodwin stumbled over the uneven terrain as he tried in vain to dim the strength of the torch, to bring it back to life like he did before. This time though, it was totally dead.

After nearly sprawling flat on his face on numerous occasions, Goodwin caught up with an irate Kara, who’d stopped, presumably to enable him to rejoin her.

‘Thank you,’ he said as he came to stand in front of her.

Kara glared at him and then grasped his arm to hold up his wrist with the bracelet on, the homemade jewellery still glowing brightly, her torch light aimed away at the ground.

‘You do realise this could be radioactive,’ she said, still holding onto his arm. ‘Its glow is too strong, you should take it off.’

‘What, you can’t be serious?’

Kara didn’t respond, her expression difficult to read as over half her face was in deep shadow.

‘Look, Kara, I’m sorry but—’

‘What’s that?’ she said, before he could finish his apology, an apology he didn’t think he needed to say but one he thought he’d better, just to keep the peace.

‘What’s what?’ he asked.

She shone the light away to one side. ‘That, over there.’ She gestured with her torch in the direction she wanted him to look.

Goodwin couldn’t see a thing.

Kara switched her light off and as they adjusted to the pitch blackness, she grabbed his upper arm, her fingernails biting into his flesh. ‘There, do you see it?’ She sounded excited.

‘I’m not—’ he began and then he did see something, barely visible, an indistinct blue-green light hanging in the air, shimmering in and out of existence. It was difficult to tell how far away it was in the dark, there being no point of reference against which to measure it.

Kara switched her torch back on and trotted off in its direction. ‘Come on,’ she said to him over her shoulder, their argument apparently forgotten, ‘let’s go and see what it is.’

‘I don’t think that’s a good idea.’ He stayed where he was in the hope she would return. ‘Kara, I don’t have a light, come back!’

Kara didn’t stop. She just called him onwards, her voice becoming fainter as she ran away into the void ahead.

‘For pity’s sake,’ he said and ran after her into the dark.

Up ahead, Goodwin could no longer see the ethereal light they’d both spotted, but Kara apparently still followed something as she didn’t slow or stop despite his calls for her to do so. The outline of Kara’s compact figure continued to shrink with every step before her light blinked out.

Goodwin swore. ‘Kara, come back!’ he yelled out at the top of his voice. Looking around he could no longer see any light, not from the lake, the camp or Kara. He was lost and blind, totally turned around and without direction.

‘Richard, over here!’ Kara called back, her voice sounding far away.

Looking in the direction of the sound, a light appeared off to his right. Kara’s torch! Moving with care Goodwin closed the distance as Kara came back to meet him.

‘You ran off and left me in the dark!’ he said as they reunited.

‘Sorry, I thought you were right behind me. I tracked the light into the city; I think it went into one of the towers. Come on.’ Still buoyed by the chase, she trotted off once more.

A little out of breath, Goodwin didn’t have the chance to argue and, not wanting to get left behind again, he ran to stay close to her.
Is she trying to prove a point?
he wondered,
maybe trying to compete with Rebecca somehow by hunting down some mysterious light?
He didn’t dare ask. He might put his foot in it sometimes, but he wasn’t that stupid; at least he hoped he wasn’t.

Around them and at the very limits of the light from Kara’s torch, the shadowy forms of long dead trees appeared only to slip from view back into the darkness, indicating they were indeed close to the edge of the ancient, abandoned city. Their indistinct cone of light splayed out like a fan to reveal the lay of the land ahead, eventually lit up the side of one of the huge Anakim edifices. The purplish stone structure reared up out of the gloom like the prow of some great ship, sliding through the fog on a becalmed high sea. The corner of the building soon hove into view, its strange architectural nuances testament to the fact that human hands had not been responsible for its fabrication.

They slowed to a walk. The enormous entrance of the tower appeared on their left, its interior barely encroached upon by the light from Kara’s small torch.

‘Where did you say it went?’ Goodwin said.

‘Down here somewhere.’ Kara moved her head this way and that, her eyes intent on scanning the area. ‘I lost sight of it when I came back for you.’

His good sense prevailing, Goodwin didn’t rise to the inference that it was his fault they’d failed to keep track of whatever it was they’d seen. He actually wanted to point out it had been Kara who’d left him high and dry in the middle of no man’s land. ‘We should go back,’ he said instead.

‘What? No way.’ Kara’s South African inflection strengthened along with her resolve. ‘It could be someone from the USSB searching for us; we should at least have a look around.’

‘I don’t think it’s someone from the base,’ Goodwin said.

‘Why?’

‘Just a feeling.’

‘What do you think it is then?’

‘Some flying insect, perhaps.’

‘Hmm, could be I suppose,’ she said. ‘A group of fireflies, it would account for the inconsistent light.’

His hopes rose. ‘Shall we go back then?’

Just when it looked as if she was about to agree, the weird fluctuating light appeared once again, its shimmering luminescence gliding along a hundred yards ahead.

‘Look! There it is again!’ She darted forwards once more with Goodwin in tow.

Half a minute later, when it looked like they were gaining on it, the light vanished.

‘I think it’s entered a building,’ Kara said as they closed in on where they’d last seen it.

Another huge tower had eased into view on their right. This one’s surface appeared almost translucent, as Kara’s torchlight reflected from its great bulk. The ground on which they trod was hard, uneven, compacted earth. When the doorway emerged from the shadows, their footfalls echoing in the oppressive silence, Kara paused beneath the great arch. Narrowing the beam of light with a twist of the torch’s mechanism, she traced the entrance from one side to the other. Standing fifty feet across and the same high, the great opening dwarfed their tiny figures.

Kara made to go inside.

‘What are you doing?’ Goodwin grabbed her hand and pulled her back.

‘Taking a look around. Whatever went in here can’t get out again without coming back this way. According to Commander Hilt’s teams, all these towers only have one way in and one way out.’

She was right; Hilt had told Goodwin the same thing. He didn’t let go of her hand, however.

She looked up into his face. ‘You’re not scared are you?’

‘No, we just—’

‘Excellent, come on then.’ She pulled him forwards through the cavernous aperture.

Goodwin let himself be led along while Kara shone her light around, the two of them moving deeper into the blackest of blacks. Goodwin’s throat tightened, his anxiety spiking as he looked into the light ahead, fearful at what it might – at any moment – unveil.

He tugged on her hand. ‘Kara, I’ve got a bad feeling about this, let’s go back.’

At his words, Kara’s torch flickered and Goodwin held his breath, praying that her light didn’t fail like his had. The beam regained its power and Kara looked at him, her eyes betraying her own disquiet, the reality of being without illumination in a large unearthly structure that something else had just entered hitting home for the first time.

Goodwin’s eyes widened and his grip tightened on Kara’s hand. ‘Did you hear that?’

‘What?’ Hear what?!’ Kara said, her voice quavering as she swung her torch around.

‘Shh.’ He moved closer to her.

On the edges of his hearing, Goodwin thought he could hear something, something that sounded a lot like … breathing.

Goodwin pressed his mouth to Kara’s ear. ‘I think there’s something else in here with us,’ he whispered. ‘I can hear it breathing.’

Kara gave a small nod, her fingers clenched around his. Silently they moved back, step by step, the way they’d come. As they retreated, Kara kept the torch moving in a continuous three hundred and sixty degree sweep. Something touched Goodwin’s back and he shouted out in terror, making Kara scream.

Spinning round, his heart in his mouth, Goodwin felt the cold smooth surface of a wall with his hand. ‘It’s just a wall! Just a wall!’

Turning back Goodwin wondered why Kara hadn’t answered him. The reason soon became apparent. She stood transfixed by the ghostly light which had reappeared in what must have been the far corner of the high vaulted room, a hundred feet away. A bone-chilling screech rang out into the darkness and the light sprang forwards, heading right for them.

Pure unadulterated terror gripped Goodwin’s heart like a vice, freezing his legs in place.

Kara’s shrieks brought him back to life as the light bore down on them with terrifying speed. Scrambling back, hand in hand, they fled through the giant doorway, sprinting with a swiftness only those being chased can muster.

The next moments were lost to Goodwin. His breath came in great gulps as he pumped his legs for all his worth. He was just conscious of Kara to his right, her torch light flailing ahead of them as her hand rose and fell as she too pushed herself to her physical limit. They were out onto the uneven plain now, free from the city and beyond the dead trees; the bumps and dips making them both stumble. Kara was the first to trip and fall, their wild flight impossible to maintain. Goodwin slid to a stop and went back to pull her to her feet. Without a word they ran once more, hand in hand again, until Goodwin could take no more and slowed to a canter, then a jog and finally a walk; his energy depleted, lactic acid filling his muscles and his breathing coming in hoarse, drawn out gasps.

Looking fearfully behind them, back towards the city, nothing stirred. No apparition dogged their footsteps.

Kara aimed her light in all directions. ‘Let’s – keep – going,’ she said, each enunciated word punctuated by gasps for air.

Goodwin nodded and they set off again, at a slower but consistent pace. Whatever had chased them might still be following, just no longer visible. Goodwin looked back over his shoulder yet again, searching for any sign of pursuit.

When they finally reached the camp, they both collapsed underneath a beautiful and welcome floodlight. People nearby looked over at the couple, curious as to why they were so out of breath.

It took the two of them a few minutes to regain their composure when, at Goodwin’s insistence, they headed straight to the command tent. Once there Goodwin informed Hilt about their brief excursion into the city, much to the interest of some of his officers, who worked alongside him.

‘And you didn’t get to see whatever was holding this light?’ Hilt asked them both, not for one second doubting the information they relayed to him.

‘No,’ Goodwin said, as he accepted a cup of steaming water prepared for him by a Darklight soldier, ‘we didn’t get close enough, thank God.’

Kara shook her head, taking a sip from her own hot beverage before moving to lean against the rear wall, close to Goodwin.

Hilt grunted an obscure affirmation and walked over to the communications desk, picked up a small device and put it to his left ear. ‘This is Commander Hilt, broadcasting on all frequencies, Code Yellow. I repeat, Code Yellow alert. Hostile contact of unknown origin sighted two clicks north-north-west of base camp. I want weapons ready and eyes on at every location, further orders to follow, Hilt out.’ The commander discarded the earpiece and called over one of his men.

‘Sir?’ the Darklight soldier said to his commander.

‘I want roving patrols around this camp in five minutes. Make it happen.’

‘Yes, sir!’ The man saluted, spun on his heel and rushed off to carry out his orders.

Hilt got back on the radio, connecting to his executive officer, Major Offiah. ‘Major, I need a security detail, to and from the lake, set up immediately. I also want our units at the beach doubled.’