Into the dinosaur's jaws.
The pig snapped its large jaws viciously as if he were a tasty snack. He tried to pick up his pace but it was gaining on him fast. He looked around frantically for a means of escape but everything was blurring. He tried to carry on running but his feet seemed to be stuck to the ground. He swung around just in time to see the large mouth of the pig enclose over him, plunging his world into darkness...
"KEVIN "
Kevin felt a smack across his head and he opened his eyes. The bright lights of the M.I.T office of Syndicate 9 made him squint momentarily. As the room swam into focus and his eyes adjusted to the light he looked round to see most of the team staring at him with a mixture of expressions. Lee was chuckling, Pete was shaking his head, Rachel was smirking and Janet was looking slightly concerned. He turned around to see who had slapped him. Of course, it was his boss, DCI Gill Murray, who was looking neither concerned nor amused. Her face was the familiar picture of irritation as she looked at him expectantly.
"Yes Ma'am?"
"Enjoying your dreams?" she asked, and Kevin thought he saw her lip quiver with amusement before returning to her stony glance.
"Well, I..." Kevin's voice trailed off as Gill reached forward and picked up the sheet of paper in front of him and studied it closely.
"Kevin, is this the report on the CCTV that Janet asked you to write up two hours ago?"
"Y-Yes Ma'am"
"There's more chocolate biscuit on this piece of paper than there is ink!"
"Well I..."
"Kevin, you're a detective of Her Majesty's constabulary!" She looked at the end of the form more closely "And you've spelt my name wrong!"
There was a snort from behind him. Both Rachel and Lee had begun to laugh.
"How many R's in 'Murray' Kevin?" asked Gill, using the same exasperated tone she used to use if her son Sammy got something wrong at the age of 5!
"Errr"
"KEVIN"
"two ma'am" Kevin said, so quickly that it sounded like he'd said 'mum'
"Correct!" said Gill, taking off her red rimmed glasses, which had been balanced on the edge of her nose. She shot a look at Rachel again who had obviously heard 'mum' as well. She noticed that even Janet couldn't hide her amusement.
"So why, may I asked, did that slip your memory when writing my bloody name in the box marked S.I.O?"
"I..."
The whole room had now stopped what they were doing and were watching him intently. Kevin sighed, it was always him. He hadn't intentionally spelt 'Murray' with only one 'r'. Surely, it was a mistake that anyone could make? He looked up at his boss. Clearly she did not think so.
"I'm sure I've asked you this before Kevin, but what drew you to M.I.T?"
"I..." said Kevin again. Usually he'd give some witty answer which would result in a look from Gill, followed by the silent treatment for several hours, which Kevin could quite put up with. This time, however, he wasn't feeling so brave.
"Sorry, ma'am. I'll err, print another form off" He got up, pushing his chair back as he did so. There was a stifled gasp and he swung round to see Gill's face slowly screwing up in pain. He had bashed her foot hard with the chair"
"Oh my...ma'am are you alright?" said Kevin in horror.
"I'm fine" said Gill in one swift exhale, as if she were trying to breathe through the pain.
"Can I do anythi..."
"No!" said Gill, shaking her head fast, "No, I think you've done enough" Kevin was bright red in the face, mortified at what had just happened.
"If you could remember not to be so bloody clumsy next time, that would be VERY helpful, and may even save me the amputation of several of my toes"
Kevin nodded, looking down at the floor. Gill looked around the room, nodded to Janet, and then half walked, half limped back to her office.
The second the door was shut Kevin sunk back in his seat and put his head in his hands.
"Well done Kev" said Rachel, and began to laugh. Janet nudged her.
"Don't worry Kev, it was an accident! Although, you shouldn't have been asleep"
"It's alright Kev" said Lee, as if trying to stifle a snort. "You could always offer her some oinkment for it!" and with that, the whole room erupted into laughter.
Kevin looked up and a look of realisation washed over his freckled face. He must have been talking in his sleep. Great. The whole station now knew he was being chased by a giant pig, when he was supposed to be filling in the CCTV report. He tried to play it cool. "What are you on about?"
"Nothing" said Lee smiling. It's just, a little birdy...or should I say piggy" Rachel snorted again "told me that someone was having a bit of trouble in their sleep!"
"What do you mean?" Asked Kevin uncertainly.
"Oink Oink" Said Rachel in mock Kevin voice. "Please don't hurt me, no, oink oink, go away" The room all laughed again, except Janet who still looked slightly concerned.
"Are you ok Kevin?" she asked, kindly.
"I'm brilliant" said Kevin sulkily, and with that, he got up and walked quickly out of the room with his head bowed in embarrassment.
XxXxX
Later that day the amusement of the morning's events had worn off slightly, despite Lee offering to buy Kevin a bacon sandwich on their lunch break. Gill had called a briefing late that afternoon to discuss a new case where a girl had been found dead in a scrap yard not far from the station. Post mortem results showed she had been hit over the head with a blunt object, and been left in a car which was ready for scrap. She didn't appear to be interfered with but her face was muddy and scratched down one side, consistent with her being dragged along the floor. Gill was just assigning specific tasks to each of her team, when a uniformed officer appeared telling her that they'd received an anonymous phone call claiming that the murderer would return there that night. After a long debate as to whether they should let uniform deal with this, Gill had agreed to let Janet take Kevin, Rachel and Pete down to the scrap yard in the hopes of being present for the arrest, as apparently this would reduce paperwork.
It was getting dark as Janet drove Rachel, Kevin and Pete, all wearing stab proof vests, down to the scrap yard in an unmarked police car and parked in the next street. They greeted the uniformed police who had surrounded the area, and were informed that a few of them had been called to a disturbance not far from there, so they were 5 members short. Janet agreed to let Rachel and Kevin go into the scrap yard as long as they promised to stay well out of danger. She and Pete joined the surveillance team from a small gap in the fence at the side of the yard and waited. For ages nothing happened. Then, without warning, Janet's sharp ears picked up the sound of a car. She heard the screeching of breaks as it rounded a corner and guessed it must be travelling at quite a speed.
Inside the scrap yard, Kevin and Rachel had split up. Kevin had found an old, rusted Ford Fiesta with its door open. Ignoring an uncertain look from Rachel, he had clambered in. She, on the other hand, had crouched behind a stack of old tires, and was at that moment praying that they wouldn't all fall straight onto her head. She had been crouched there for quite a while and she was beginning to worry that her knees would give way, but dared not sit down for fear of not being able to spring into action quick enough. Suddenly, she too heard the screech of brakes, and the fast approaching car. There was a crash as it broke through the barrier on the entrance to the scrap yard and another loud screech as it tried to slow down. Unfortunately, at the speed it had been travelling, the sudden braking had made the car spin uncontrollably, Rachel just got to her feet in time to see the flash of headlights as the car glided smoothly into the pile of tires. In a split second she heard a crash next to her as one of the top most tires fell. Within moments she knew the tires were falling all around her. She saw a gap between two cars and dived in there as the entire heap of tires cascaded down, covering the piece of ground where she had been stood mere moments before. Rachel looked up. The tires had stopped raining down, but she was trapped. The spinning car had been prevented from going any further by the sturdy metal fence surrounding the yard. She could hear the yells of police from the entrance but this was soon drowned out by another noise, a horrible, metallic, grinding noise. Rachel looked around and saw an almighty metal claw swing over the pile of cars she was crouched between, and advance down onto the car with its headlights still on. In her horror, Rachel tried to see if anyone was still in the front seats. She tried to push the tires in front of her, but they were heavy, and had fallen in such a way, making it difficult for her to move one, without having to push them all. Then, without warning, there was a loud crunch as the metal claw closed over the roof of the offending car. However, when it tried to lift it, the car only came about half a meter off the ground, before falling back with a smash. The metal claw made another dive for the car, but as it did so the arm of the claw swung dangerously to the right, and closed its great metal talons around the roof of a car close by. Rachel squinted to see the car as it was successfully lifted off of the ground, and suddenly her stomach churned sickeningly. That was the car that Kevin had hidden in.
"KEVIIIIIIN" Rachel no longer cared that she was supposed to be on surveillance. The only thing she cared about was that Kevin was suspended above her head in a car. She saw a black shape hit the still-intact window as the car swung sideways. She began to push frantically at the tires in front of her and they slowly began to give.
"KEVIIIIN" She screamed again, her voice echoing round the yard along with the grinding sound of the great machinery holding the car.
"Rach?" She could hear Janet's voice calling her name from the other side of the yard.
"Here" Rachel called, and before she knew it, two uniformed police were helping her out from behind the tires. She staggered out, ignoring the arms of the police officers trying to steady her.
"Keviiiiin" she could see the car as it swung away into the darkness, but the small amount of light which reached it, was also illuminating something else. Rachel gasped as she saw the large machine that the claw holding Kevin's car was quickly advancing towards.
"Rach, are you ok?" said Janet running over to her.
"K..K.." Rachel was waving her arm in the direction of the machine but her frantic brain seemed to have lost the ability to string letters together.
"Where's Kevin?" asked Janet looking all around the yard. Rachel shook her head, still waving her arm at the claw which was slowly becoming level with the great machine. Rachel pushed past Janet and ran towards it. Janet, still unaware, ran after her shouting, quickly followed by Pete, and two uniformed officers.
Rachel stopped and looked around again, frantically, trying to see what was controlling the claw, but her eyes were still unaccustomed to the darkness and all she could see was the area lit by the offending car's headlights, which were still shining brightly onto the fence it had hit.
"STOP" Rachel yelled into the darkness as Janet and Pete both caught up with her.
"Rachel, what is it?" Janet said, desperately, trying to take hold of her friend's flailing arms.
"Kevin's in that car!"
"What?" said Janet, looking round at the stopped car with its headlights on.
"No" Rachel shook her head desperately, jabbing her hand in Janet's arm to make her see. Janet turned back to her. "THAT car!" Rachel pointed to the car which was now swinging above the heavy machinery, waiting below like a dinosaur's mouth, ready to chew it up as soon as it dropped.
"JESUS!" said Janet and Pete at the same time. "Quick, stop it!" The uniforms ran off, shouting as they went. The machinery was completely fired up, ready for crushing the next car that fell between its jaws. The calls of the police were soon drowned out by the noise as they disappeared into the distance. Janet, Rachel and Pete went running to the edge of the large machine, as if hoping to find an emergency stop button. The grinding sound was getting louder, and suddenly there was a large crunch as the car roof of the Ford Fiesta completely disconnected itself from the body of the car. Janet, Rachel, and Pete turned in horror, just in time to see the Ford fiesta falling through the air. For a moment, everything seemed to stop. Everything seemed to slow down as the car fell. Rachel's heart was beating in her ears, and the sound of the machinery sounded distant, and safe. Suddenly, *CRASH* the car landed between the jaws of the large machine, and they snapped shut. The sound of the crunching metal was sickening, but none of the three could move. They stood there, frozen with horror. None of them daring to imagine what was happening to the car. Or, more importantly, what was happening to Kevin...