Title: Haunted ARC

Author: Pinkcat4569

Rating: T

Spoilers: series 5

Description: Weird things are happening in the ARC, well, weirder things. As the team tries to figure it out, Connor and Lester have a suggestion—maybe the ARC is haunted. Being the ARC, if there are ghosts, they are sure to be abnormal.

Disclaimer: I do not own Primeval or the characters. I meant no offense to those who believe in the paranormal, psychics, and cleansings.

Author's Note: Another strange idea relating to Halloween. This is weird, its not as Jecker as most of my stories, but they are still in here.

Haunted ARC

It was morning at the ARC and the team was unloading a truck at the loading dock. Since this was the ARC, it was not a simple task.

"Watch its tail!"

"Keep away from those teeth!"

"Its loose! We have an unsecured dinosaur!"

"Abby!" screamed Connor as the alioramus turned and attacked.

Abby was able to dodge its jaws, but it turned quickly and made another lunge. Becker ran beside her, shooting it several times. It didn't go down. It swiped its tail and slammed Becker hard against a concrete wall.

"Becker!" screamed Abby as the dinosaur went for the fallen soldier. She shot it with her EMD, but still it did not go down.

"Damn!" yelled Matt. "It should be down by now!"

"I can't believe how fast it is, or how it moves!" yelled Connor.

They kept firing, trying to guard the fallen soldier, but the alioramus seemed intent on Becker as prey, refusing to be driven back.

Even stunned and hurt, Becker never lost his focus or his EMD, firing from his position on the floor.

Matt and Connor shot at the same time from the other side, attracting its attention.

It lunged at them, knocking both down with a surprisingly fast swish of its head. Then it went for Abby.

It turned its tail, it was remarkably swift and agile for a twenty foot, thousand pound beast, and knocked Abby down.

Becker fired repeatedly. The alioramus whacked him again with its tail, right in his chest. He groaned and grimaced, obviously in pain, but withstood the attack. All the while, he fired. It was literally man versus beast, finally man won, bringing it down with the EMD.

"You guys all right?" he asked. Ironically, he was hunched over, trying to catch his breath, and grimacing in pain as he asked.

Matt noticed. "You're the one we should worry about I think."

"That was awesome!" said Connor. "You just kept going! Two bad body slams by the alioramus, and you just kept going!"

Becker just gasped and smiled.

"Man that thing could move," said Abby, out of breath herself.

"Even though it was a carnivorous dinosaur, alioramus was agile. I read one study that said it was a ballerina compared to t-Rex."

Becker tried to say something, but he remained hunched over, and holding his chest.

"OK," said Matt. "you're going to medical bay, mate."

Thirty minutes later, they all walked out of medical bay, Becker slower than the rest, and holding his tender side. A young brunette woman in a bright blue mini dress and green heels walked beside him, fussing.

"Are you sure that you're OK?"

"Yes, Jess. I'm fine, just had the wind knocked out of me."

"Two bruised ribs the medic said," said Matt.

Becker shot him an annoyed look. "Thank you. She really needed to know that."

Matt laughed.

"You should be on medical leave," said Jess.

Becker turned toward her so quickly that he strained his bruised ribs, and winced.

"See," she said.

Becker clenched his teeth. "I'm fine, Jessica."

"Ooh, full name," said Abby. "Don't worry Jess, the medic said he'd be fine."

"Thank you, Abby," said Becker genuinely.

Abby smiled, then said, "He also said the Captain here should take it easy."

"Abby!" yelled Becker.

Matt smiled at Becker's grimace. "Tell you what, I'll let you do the reports on the incident. That should give you a nice, long rest." He smirked.

"Thanks a lot," grumbled Becker.

"I think it's an excellent idea," said Jess. She put her arm around Becker's back. "I'm going to escort you to Ops myself, and sit you down with a nice cup of tea. You can sit at the desk beside me so I can make sure you're behaving. Come on."

Becker moaned, and Abby, Matt and Connor smiled as Jess led him away.

A few minutes later, Becker sat at the desk beside the ADD, just as Jess had said. He was working on the reports. Jess came up with a cup of tea and a plate of biscuits. She put them on the desk.

"Thanks, Jess," said Becker, to which Jess smiled.

Then she disappeared. She came back with two cushions. Becker had his back to her so he didn't see. She pulled him up gently.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

Jess said nothing but put a cushion on the seat, and a cushion on the back.

"That's not necessary Jess."

"Are you going home?"

Becker shook his head, and groaned.

"Thought so," said Jess, easing him into the chair. "It's necessary," she said.

Becker moaned, but didn't fight, and reluctantly sat on the extra soft seat. He turned his attention to the reports. Jess looked around quickly. No one was paying attention, including Becker.

She quickly kissed his head, then retreated quickly to the ADD. Becker glanced as she moved away and smiled.

They worked side by side quietly.

Then Jess thought she heard a low, menacing animal growl.

"What was that?" she asked in alarm.

"What was what?" asked Becker, not looking up from the report.

"You didn't hear that growl?"

"No."

"I heard a growl."

"Maybe its your stomach," said Becker with a smirk.

"It is not," she said indignantly, making Becker grin her way.

"I heard a definite, scary animal growl."

"Jess," said Becker. "You witnessed a dinosaur attacking your friends. It's probably playing with your mind."

"You mean I'm hearing things," she said, annoyed. "I know what I heard Becker."

"I wasn't teasing Jess. Sometimes after a bad battle I'd still hear gunfire, even when I knew there wasn't any. It happens, its psychological, and no, I'm not calling your crazy," he said, back to working on the reports.

Jess stared for a moment. Sometimes she forgot that as a professional soldier he must have experienced horrible things in his career.

"I guess I am still thinking about this morning," said Jess.

"Yeah, it's kind of hard to let it go," said Becker.

"OK," said Jess, "It's in my mind. Letting it go," she said, making pushing away gestures with her arms and hands.

Becker smiled.

A few minutes later, Jess heard the same, low, menacing growl.

"Dang it! That's not in my mind!" she yelled. Then, she glanced at Becker. He was alarmed, alert, and carefully scanning the room.

"You heard it too," she said fearfully.

Becker winced as he got up, standing protectively in front of Jess.

"There's nothing here," he finally said, confused.

"No alerts or alarms either," said Jess. "Running a diagnostic. No malfunctions. According to the system, nothing is out of the menagerie, and there are no anomalies."

Becker was tense. He walked calmly around the room looking and listening.

"There's nothing here," he said again.

Then the growl came again, louder.

Jess jumped up, walking swiftly to Becker's side, who instinctively put an arm around her.

"Matt, get to Ops. We've got a situation," he said into his comm.

End of CH 1