Jack gave a quick nod and sprinted out of the room. Sam took one last look around the badly damaged laboratory, checking for anything that might be helpful before sprinting back across the courtyard and into the infirmary. He ran straight to the storeroom and hastily filled a pack with basic emergency medical supplies. There was no way of knowing what condition Will and Anne would be in when they found them. He could only pray that they had avoided the same fate as Liz. He felt a swell of panic in his chest and took a long, deep breath, thinking back to the combat training he had received.
‘Process later,’ Sam whispered to himself, ‘focus on the objective.’
He ran back out of the storeroom and across the courtyard to the accommodation block, where Stirling was lying on a cot that had been dragged out of one of the bedrooms, still unconscious and deathly pale. Nat stood beside the bed, looking shocked as the Servant continued calmly to assess Stirling’s condition.
‘How is he?’ Sam asked the Servant.
‘Doctor Stirling’s prognosis is not good,’ the Servant replied. ‘His vital metrics are diminishing rapidly.’
‘Can you help him at all?’ Sam asked. ‘Don’t the Voidborn treat any medical problems with the Sleepers?’
‘Humans who are injured or infirm are viewed as surplus to requirements,’ the Servant replied calmly. ‘The Voidborn simply dispose of them. The whole concept of trying to repair what is broken is meaningless to them. It is much more efficient to simply replace the malfunctioning components with new ones.’
‘That’s not how it works for us,’ Sam replied, glancing over at Nat, who was wiping tears from her soot-stained face. ‘I’m going to find Anne and Will. They might be the only ones who can help Stirling. We’ll be searching at street level, but I want you to dispatch a drop-ship to shadow us for a quick pickup and return journey once we find them. OK?’
‘Understood,’ the Servant replied. ‘Should I dispatch drones to investigate the object that landed?’
‘Yeah, OK,’ Sam said with a nod, ‘but don’t poke the hornets’ nest.’
The Servant tipped her head to one side slightly, as she always did when some unknown human idiom confused her.
‘I mean, don’t get too close,’ Sam said. ‘Observation only until we know what we’re dealing with. Put both Motherships on full combat alert.’
‘Done,’ the Servant replied.
Sam gave a quick nod and then hurried back out into the central courtyard, where Jay and Mag were clearing the last few pieces of wreckage off the armoured exterior of the military vehicle.
‘Good to go?’ Sam asked as he approached.
‘Yup, just going to fire her up,’ Jay said, opening the driver’s door.
‘Hey!’ Jack ran over to them with an assault rifle slung over his shoulder and another in each hand. ‘The mags are full and there are spares in my pack, along with some slightly heavier ordnance if we need it.’ He handed one of the weapons to Sam, who pulled back the bolt and chambered a round before engaging the safety. Suddenly the truck’s recently installed custom power plant sprang into life with a deep, throaty roar that was mixed with the high-pitched whine of a drop-ship engine.
‘Let’s go,’ Sam said, hopping into the passenger seat. ‘Do we have any idea where to start?’
‘I know they were heading to St Paul’s. We should go there first,’ Jack said as he climbed into the back of the truck and stood up, his top half protruding from the roof turret. He quickly checked the belt-fed heavy machine gun mounted in front of him and gave a small, satisfied grunt. ‘Good to go.’
Jay dropped the truck into gear and gunned the engine. The vehicle leapt forward with a speed that belied its enormous weight, skidding across the courtyard as Jay wrestled with the wheel, steering the behemoth through the gates of the compound and out on to the roads surrounding St James’s Park. The street was filled with abandoned cars, still standing exactly where they had been left by their brainwashed owners on the day of the Voidborn invasion. Jay swerved through the immobile ghost traffic, aiming for any open areas of tarmac he could see. Fifty metres ahead of them the road was blocked by a car and a taxi which had somehow ended up nose to nose in the middle of the carriageway.
‘Hang on!’ Jay yelled as he floored the accelerator, aiming for the half-metre-wide gap between the two cars.
Sam grabbed the handle mounted on the dashboard in front of him and Jack ducked down inside the cab, bracing himself against the sides of the turret opening. Seconds later, the reinforced bull bars on the front of the truck slammed into the two vehicles with a deafening crash, sending them both spinning aside without even seeming to slow the truck down.
‘Now that’s what I call a congestion charge,’ Jay said with a grim smile.
‘Let’s just hope we don’t run into anything bigger,’ Mag replied. ‘Literally.’
Sam glanced down at the display of the implant tracker. There were three red blips tightly clustered in the centre of the display, but beyond that there was nothing.
‘Any sign?’ Jay asked, frowning with concentration as he flicked the large steering wheel left and right, fighting to avoid the obstacles that lay scattered across the road ahead. Driving was made more dangerous by the debris that was still falling from the buildings around them after the landing of the ominous black cylinder.
‘Nothing,’ Sam yelled back over the roar of the engine. ‘Keep heading for St Paul’s. We need to get as close as we can for the scanner to pick them up.’
Jay gave a quick nod and sent the truck swerving left to avoid a toppled double-decker bus, mounting the pavement and demolishing a bus stop in the process. The impact barely slowed the heavy military vehicle as it barrelled down the road towards the familiar dome of St Paul’s Cathedral.
‘Something’s happening to the cylinder!’ Jack yelled down through the turret hatch. Sam turned and looked out of the driver’s side window and immediately saw what Jack had noticed. The giant black column seemed to be disintegrating, roiling black clouds rising from the base as the top half crumbled away, slowly vanishing out of site behind the distant rooftops.
‘What’s it doing?’ Jay snapped, unable to take his eyes off the road even for a second.
‘I have no idea,’ Sam said with a frown. ‘It looks like it’s just falling to pieces.’
‘Which is a good thing, right?’ Jay asked, with a quick sideways glance at Sam.
‘Ask me in ten minutes,’ Sam replied, his frown deepening. The black cloud that had formed as the column disintegrated was rapidly expanding to cover the surrounding buildings, and the way it moved was odd, almost as if it were moving with purpose. Sam suddenly felt a rush of energy course through his body, just as he’d felt in Scotland before the Vore had attacked him. He knew now what it meant: the Illuminate nanites within him were responding to a threat. What exactly that threat was might not be entirely clear, but Sam was willing to bet that it had something to do with the cloud that was now racing across the city towards them.
‘OK, starting to think that we might need to go faster!’ Jack shouted.
The cloud wasn’t just getting closer, it was moving more quickly. Long tendrils of thick black smoke were shooting out from the main body of the cloud and almost seemed to be hooking on to the buildings ahead, as if pulling the roiling mass forward at greater and greater speed.
‘I think Jack might be right,’ Sam said nervously, feeling a sudden tight knot of animal fear in his gut.
‘This isn’t an Aston Martin,’ Jay snapped back, ‘and in case you hadn’t noticed –’ Jay wrenched the wheel to one side, swerving hard and sending a compact car flying across the pavement and smashing through a giant plate-glass shop window – ‘traffic’s a bitch.’
Sam glanced down at the implant detector. Still nothing. St Paul’s was now clearly visible ahead of them, less than a mile away.
‘It’s crossing the river!’ Mag yelled, and this time even Jay risked a glance over his shoulder. The seething cloud seemed to h
alf leap, half climb across Waterloo Bridge. As it reached the opposite bank, it twisted unnaturally in their direction, gathering speed as it gained on them.
Sam tore open his pack and pulled out a pair of compact high-powered binoculars that he always carried. He unbuckled his seat belt, made his way back through the bouncing, rattling interior of the armoured personnel carrier and peered out through the glass panel set into the rear hatch. It took a second to bring the cloud into focus, but what he saw when he did made Sam’s mouth go dry. It was no cloud of gas that was chasing them; it was a seething swarm of tiny black objects. It was impossible to make out at this distance exactly what they were, even with the binoculars, but he had to assume it was some sort of Voidborn weapon they’d not encountered before.
‘Sam!’ Mag yelled from up front. ‘We’ve got a hit.’
Sam scrambled back into his seat and scooped up the gently pinging implant detector.
‘Hard left!’ Sam yelled and Jay wrenched at the steering wheel, almost tipping the massive vehicle over as they screeched around the corner and roared down the narrow side street. Jay slammed on the brakes as two figures stepped out of an alleyway just ahead of them. Will had his arm around Anne’s shoulders and she supported him as he limped towards them with a grimace on his face.
‘What the hell’s going on?’ Anne yelled as Sam hopped down from the cab of the APC and ran over to them.
‘Tell you when I know,’ Sam said, turning to Will. ‘What happened?’
‘I was halfway up a fire escape, trying to get inside a locked building, when that explosion hit,’ Will said with a wince. ‘It wasn’t a graceful landing.’
‘OK, come on, we need to get back,’ Sam said, jerking his thumb towards the APC and placing Will’s other arm over his own shoulders. They hurried towards the vehicle and Sam pulled the rear door open, helping as Will carefully climbed inside and dropped into one of the seats that lined the walls of the passenger compartment.
‘Thanks for coming to get us,’ Anne said as she climbed inside. ‘I thought that . . .’
Her voice trailed off, her eyes widening with fear. Sam spun around and saw exactly what had suddenly struck his friend dumb. At the far end of the side street a thick, black tendril was snaking around the corner, its slick dark surface seething and bubbling in a repulsive way. The tentacle seemed to pause for a moment as it twitched in their direction, before unleashing a hideous, unearthly hiss and slamming down on to the surface of the road. The tendril shattered into millions of tiny skittering black dots that raced towards them in a wave, covering every surface like a shadow.
‘GO!GO!GO!’ Sam yelled as he dived into the rear of the APC, Anne slamming the hatch shut behind him.
‘What was that thing?’ Anne yelled over the roar of the engine as they raced away down the road.
‘Nothing good,’ Sam replied, watching in horror through the rear window. The seething swarm gathered speed in pursuit of them, crashing down the street like an oily, black tsunami. From above them came the staccato thud of the heavy machine gun mounted on the roof as Jack opened fire at the monstrous swarm. The heavy calibre rounds punched grapefruit-sized holes in the seething mass, but the impacts didn’t even seem to slow it down, much less stop it. Sam climbed into the passenger seat next to Jay and braced himself as his friend threw the heavy vehicle sideways around the tight bend at the end of the street. The swarm had almost surrounded them; the roads leading back towards their compound were blocked with twisting black clouds that seemed to be slowly cutting off all their avenues of escape. Sam glanced in the opposite direction, towards the looming dome of the cathedral.
‘Head for St Paul’s,’ he shouted. ‘We’ll transfer to the drop-ship there.’
Jay gave a grunt of agreement as he steered them in the right direction. Sam glanced in the wing mirror of the APC and immediately wished he hadn’t. The swarm was even closer now and still gaining.
The heavy machine gun’s ammo ran dry and the hammer fell on an empty chamber with a final loud click.
‘Pass me my pack!’ Jack yelled down through the turret hatch. Mag grabbed the pack and shoved it into Jack’s outstretched hand, watching as her friend pulled it up into the turret and frantically searched through its contents.
‘Gotcha!’ Jack said with a grin, pulling out a large block wrapped in duct tape. ‘Let’s see if this slows you down.’ He tossed the package into the road behind them, waiting just a couple of seconds before hitting the radio trigger in his other hand. The road behind them erupted, a giant red ball of fire filling the street, obliterating the leading edge of the swarm and shattering every remaining window in a three-hundred-metre radius. Jay hung on to the steering wheel as the rear wheels of the APC left the ground for a moment, the road beneath them buckling wildly with the shock wave from the massive explosion. A split second later the vehicle’s heavy tyres slammed back on to the tarmac, squealing in protest as they bit into the surface.
‘Little warning next time!’ Jay yelled, fighting to bring the powerful vehicle back under his control.
‘Is it still coming?’ Sam shouted up at Jack.
Jack peered into the cloud of smoke and dust behind them, watching as more black tentacles began to emerge from the cloud, moving more slowly at first, but then picking up speed again.
‘Yeah, that just slowed it down,’ Jack said as one of the tentacles slammed into the wall of a nearby building with an enraged hiss, sending the structure’s facade crumbling into the street below. ‘And possibly made it angry.’
‘Great,’ Jay muttered, stamping harder on the accelerator pedal, which was already flat against the floor.
Sam watched the seething black cloud begin to gain on them again. He could feel the Illuminate nanites fizzing inside him as they responded to this bizarre new threat. Sam had no idea what protection they could possibly offer, but there was no denying the energy he felt crackling inside him.
Jay spun the wheel and sent the APC rocketing across St Paul’s Square as the black mass seemed to close in on them from all directions. Sam twisted round in his seat, frantically looking for an escape route, but the swarm was moving too quickly, sealing the exits from the square one by one.
‘Front door!’ Sam yelled, punching Jay in the shoulder and pointing at the massive wooden doors that sealed the entrance to the cathedral.
‘Will this thing fit through there?’ Mag shouted over the roar of the engine.
‘Only one way to find out!’ Jay said, spinning the steering wheel and sending the giant armoured vehicle careering across the square, straight towards the cathedral.
They hurtled into the concrete bollards in front of the building, each one exploding as the massive vehicle smashed through them effortlessly, barely slowing down. The APC mounted the steps leading up to the door, fishtailing as its massive, heavily treaded tyres fought for purchase on the stone worn smooth by the passage of millions of worshippers over the centuries. They were at the top in seconds and flew between the massive columns flanking the Great West Door, slamming into it with a thunderous crash and smashing it to splinters. The tyres squealed in protest as Jay hit the brakes, sending the vehicle sliding across the tiled floor inside the cathedral before crashing sideways into one of the interior support columns with a heavy crunch.
‘Everybody out!’ Sam yelled, snatching up his pack and rifle and jumping out of the APC’s cab. He could sense that beyond the shattered doorway, the sinister black cloud was quickly filling the square outside. Sam spun around, looking for an escape route. He spotted a sign that read ‘Whispering Gallery’ next to the symbol of an arrow pointing up a flight of stairs. Right now, up sounded good.
‘That way!’ Sam yelled, pointing towards the sign, as he and Jay took Will’s arms over their shoulders and helped him limp after the others. Anne and Mag raced up the stairs, taking them two at a time, heading up into the cathedral’s famous dome.
‘I’m never going to make it up there,’ Will said as they reached the foot of
the staircase.
‘Yeah, you will,’ Jay said. ‘Just think happy thoughts.’
The three of them climbed the stairs as quickly as they could, Will wincing as waves of pain shot through his injured leg. Not far behind them the swarming cloud swept up the steps to the cathedral and half slithered, half flowed through the splintered remains of the door. Thin tendrils rose from the hissing wave as the cloud dropped lower to the ground. It moved like a predatory animal, snaking across the floor, hunting for its prey.
Sam and Jay started to climb faster; they could hear the sinister hissing of the cloud below them getting louder and closer with each passing second. Will slipped on one of the smooth steps, jarring his injured leg and yelling out in pain. The swarm responded to the sound immediately, racing across the cathedral floor towards the staircase.
‘Need to go faster,’ Jay said, glancing down into the stairwell as the black cloud filled the base of the circular shaft before starting to climb up the curved walls towards them.
‘Heads up!’ Mag shouted from somewhere above them. A split second later a bundle of small, round objects dropped past them, straight down the centre of the shaft. There was a single second of silence and then the grenades detonated. The base of the stairwell vanished in a bright orange flash and the shock wave shook the stones beneath Sam’s feet. The hissing of the black cloud from below seemed to diminish, but it was impossible to make out anything else through the clouds of dark grey smoke at the bottom of the stairwell. He had no idea how much time Mag might have bought them, but based on the swarm’s reaction to Jack’s explosive charge a few minutes earlier, it would not be long.
Sam, Jay and Will began to move faster, trying to take advantage of the momentary let-up in the pursuit, heading further and further up into the ancient building with every step. Less than a minute later they were helping Will up the last few steps and out on to the famous Whispering Gallery that ran around the inside of the dome. Sam glanced down at the cathedral floor far below and saw that it was completely filled with the menacing black cloud, which was now starting to climb the walls and supporting columns of the cathedral, creeping inexorably up towards them.