The day after the Gorgonopsid -
Abby sat in the locker room at home office deep in thought, *what was that shining ball of light? What made the creatures so curious to go through it?* she wondered. One of her blonde hairs had fallen out of place and tickled her nose, snapping her out of the trance.
' Did you sleep alright last night?' A voice behind her asked, startling her.
She turned around to see Connors smiling brightly directly at her. She smiled back.
'Better than I thought I would, you?'
'Not the best night sleep I've had... But it's not exactly like you see a dinosaur everyday' He chuckled to himself .
Abby looked at him and gave him a almost silent laugh. Nick, Stephen and Claudia then entered the room causing the eye contact between Abby and Connor to break and focus quickly on the others.
'Right, the DNA from the suspected Gorgonopsid has come back from the Lab and it has confirmed our suspicions that this creature has also come from the anomaly that lead into the past.' Nick explained.
'So what happens now?' Both Claudia and Stephen asked in unison.
'Now...Now we have to work out what this force is, why it's happening and how we can control it with out word getting out to the public.' Nick continued
'But Cutter, that's going to be hard, how are we meant to hide something as big as this from the public? I mean it's not like we can go up to the dinosaurs and ask them nicely to stay hidden?' Connor asked looking blankly with a slight hint of confusion at Nick.
Nick looked around it wasn't just Connor who was staring at him blankly but the others were too.
'It's impossible' Stephen muttered under his breath with his face in his palm.
'I never said it was going to be easy, but I'll think of something...but if you don't want to be involved in this, now is your time to say?'
'I'm in' Abby said first
'Me to' Connor added
'I'd be stupid to say no...' Stephen followed
'I suppose I could give it a try' Claudia sighed whilst twisting her reddish hair around her index finger.
'Good .' Cutter gave a quick smile as if to say I'm satisfied before leaving the room.
Stephen followed him out the room, as the door closed he grabbed Nick's shoulder causing Nick to stop and look back. Nick could see a certain amount of concern in his face.
'What about Helen?' Stephen asked quietly looking at Nick sternly.
'Helens gone, probably been eaten...She would have been easy prey back then. She's gone... Just like Indie...' Nick choked up slightly whilst saying this, as the horrifying memory of being told that a young girls body had been found in the forest with the same DNA as his beloved 9 year old Daughter. He had completely dismissed the sighting of who he thought was Helen the previous night as just his mind playing tricks on him. He then stormed of to his office leaving Stephen standing there.
Claudia, Connor and Abby listened carefully to the conversation through the wall, what could of been so important that it couldn't be shared with the rest of them?
'Who's Indie?' Abby asked biting her two lips together as she looked up at Stephen who was entering the room.
'We haven't been told about her, and where did she go? With Helen?' Claudia questioned.
'It's like Crime watch in here!' Connor laughed to himself, earning him a stern glare from everyone in the room.
Stephen looked up to the ceiling then back down to the others who were looking at him attentively.
'Indie...Indie was Cutter and Helen's only daughter, she went with Helen on the day she went missing and her body was found in the Forest a couple of days later...ripped to shreds...apparently the body wasn't even recognizable... The only way they could tell who it was, was by taking a sample of blood and testing the DNA and unfortunately it came back as hers. At the time they didn't know what had done it but now...now we have a good idea on what it was' Stephen said trying not to show the pain he felt inside.
They all stared at him with mournful looks.
'How old was she?' Abby asked with a saddened look on her face.
'Nine...' He answered.
The room fell silent.
Later that day-
Nick sat at his desk in a trance, head in his arms, sprawled across the desk. All he could see was distant memories of his wife, Helen and his daughter, Indie. He remembers the Christmas before the event happened. He remembers suddenly being woken to Indie's smiling bright face looking down at him. Her big brown eyes sparkling with her long, mousey brown, wavy hair almost touching his face as she leant over him. He then remembers taking her down stairs early just to sneakily open one small present of her choice before Helen woke. His phone vibrated on the desk in front of him, he lifted his head from his arms and reached out to answer it. It was Lester.
'What do you want?' Nick answered with no emotion in his voice what so ever.
'A simple hello would have been nice...' Lester stated sarcastically, he continued...'well I was actually phoning to tell you we have another creature sighting for you and your team to investigate. Apparently it was last seen about an hour ago on the sand dunes on a beach in a small village, Perran Porth? Anyway it's in Cornwall'
' What kind of creature are we looking at?' Nick asked
' Oh I don't know, probably some kind of homesick Dinosaur. Now go and sort it out. Mean while I have to try and find somewhere to dispose of a creature that was meant to have died millions of years ago...'
Nick rolled his eyes as he hung up the phone. Picking up a photo of his lost family and staring at it for a brief minute before putting it back in a drawer then getting up to inform the others of the new creature.
At the location of the sighting -
As they pulled up, Abby and Stephen went around to prepare the various tranquilizer and ammunition whilst Connor followed closely behind trying to get involved but failing to.
Nick walked about 10 meters from the car and stared out to the horizon with no expression.
'What was she like? Indie?' a voice spoke softly behind him.
He turned round. It was Claudia. She was standing about a meter or two away from him looking at him directly in the eye with not much expression on her face either. Nick smiled and turned back around.
'Well, she had big brown eyes and long, wavy, mousey brown hair that had natural blonde highlights. She looked a lot like Helen but her face shape and eye shape was more similar to mine. She had Helens skin tone, nose, mouth and slight figure. She was always smiling, nothing would put her down...not your usual bratty child.' He said with his smile withering from his face.
'I'm sorry for your losses, she sounded like a lovely girl' Claudia spoke looking down to the floor.
Nick remained silent and just kept staring out to the horizon.
'We ready to go?' Stephen asked as he walked up to Nick and nudging his shoulder.
Nick nodded. 'Just look for any fresh tracks, if Stephen, Abby and Connor go together and Claudia with me, we are going into the village just to hear what rumors are being spread, if you find anything contact me.' He explained handing each of them a hand held radio control. The team then separated and went separate ways.
A few hours later-
'I'm sure there isn't anything here, we've been here for hours... Surely if a dinosaur was here we would of seen it by now...I mean come on it's not like there is loads of hiding places here is it?' Connor moaned.
Abby looked at him rolled her eyes and sighed in disapproval.
'But we have to be sure, it's to dangerous just to be left with out a thorough check' Stephen explained.
Stephen looked up and around something caught his attention on the opposite dune.
'Stephen, what is it?' Abby asked nervously.
'Tracks, I think it's tracks, over there.' He replied pointing at the dune The trio then headed towards the suspected tracks.
Abby knelt down beside one of the rather large foot prints, staring at it squinting her eyes slightly as her thoughts deepened. Stephen and Connor looked down over her shoulder.
'Well it definitely isn't a sea gull that made these tracks, Connor check your laptop and try and identify this?' Stephen said crouching down besides Abby.
Connor studied his laptop screen in detail.
'Well it definitely isn't our pal the Gorgonopsid...neither is it the Scutosaurus...it's got to be something else?' Confirmed Connor.
'Then what is it?' Stephen asked with a hint of worry on his face. The Gorgonopsid was bad enough, *what if this time it is something even worse*, he wondered.
Connor resumed on his laptop searching before stopping staring at the screen for a brief few minutes then looking up. 'Guys...I think I may have found our prime suspect...' Connor announced.
Both Abby and Stephen gathered around Connor and the laptop to see what he had come up with.
'Baryonyx, can grow to 32 feet long...8ft tall and is carnivorous but mainly eats fish. They are from the early Cretaceous period...' Connor added Abby looked at Connor and gulped.
'If it eats fish it's going to be near the closest source of water_' Abby started before she was interrupted.
'_The beach..., right I'm calling Cutter to get some sort of ammunition and getting Claudia to stop access onto the Beach...what time is it?' Stephen carried on from Abby's start of a speech.
Abby looked at her watch 'It's twenty five to six?'
Stephen gave a small smile of relief.
'Most people would have left the beach by now, apart from the odd dog walker it should be pretty quiet down there, hopefully beasty down there wouldn't make to much of an appearance...' He said whilst grabbing his mobile.
Abby sat down on top of the sand dune and stared out to the sea. Connor came and sat beside her.
'So peaceful but yet so many people are unaware of what is lurking around...It makes you think..' She started.
'About what?' Connor asked whilst listening attentively.
'How venerable and oblivious we actually are...world most intelligent creature yet we can't sense danger even though it's so close...and all of this...it would explain about those people who go missing and are never found...' She said.
Connor could tell she was in very deep thought. He stared at her emotionless face for a few seconds before joining her in looking out at sea.
Stephen interrupted the silence 'Cutter and Claudia are on there way, the beach has been closed until this has been dealt with.'
Both Connor and Abby looked around at Stephen and nodded before slowly getting up.
Nick and Claudia arrive-
As soon as the car came to a halt Stephen and Abby were unpacking the guns.
'Can I have a gun?' Connor asked looking hopeful
'No.' Both Abby and Stephen replied.
Connors face dropped slightly.
'Why not, you lot get one?'
Stephen rolled his eyes and looked directly at him.
'Do you know how to use a gun?' He asked bluntly.
'Well, not exactly but how hard can it actually be? Just pull the trigger and bang.' Connor gave a hopeful smile.
Stephen shook his head and walked off, leaving Abby to lock up the car. Connor sighed as the excitement disappeared.
'Hey, one day you might have the chance to use one.' Abby smiled before walking off in the same direction as Stephen closely followed by Connor.
'Right, we need to search this beach from top to bottom, you ready?' Nick asked with a slight smirk on his face. The team headed away from the dunes and onto the beach.
After a while of searching-
'It's gone back...' Claudia mumbled to herself.
'Since when was anything as simple as that?' Nick choked.
Claudia's eyes widened, she didn't think what she mumbled would of been heard.
'Well we've searched just about anywhere, in which a dinosaur could fit? And nothing?' She replied
'She's right, it's not here, if a Baryonyx was here we would of at least heard it don't you think? ' Abby piped up.
'Alright, I've just got this feeling of doubt.' Nick replied
'Look let me just check somewhere?' Stephen asked.
'I know where you want to look and it won't be in there, I already said.' Nick replied
'Just give me five? It's not going to hurt?' Stephen asked.
Before Nick could reply Stephen had already started jogging over to where he wanted to look.
'Stephen!' Nick called. He rolled his eyes to the fact that he was completely ignored.
'Come on..' Nick sighed to the rest of them before walking over to where Stephen was.
It was a small cave on the side of the cliff. The entrance was quite narrow and water of the various streams flowed into it. Stephen went in.
'He's wasting time...' Nick said to himself out loud
'If it satisfies him then just let him go in and search' Claudia replied knowingly that his comment wasn't aimed at anyone.
'I am.' Nick replied bluntly.
The team went silent for a couple of minutes before it was broken by Stephen yelling.
' Get out the way! Move away from the entrance! Move!' He yelled.
'Why?' Nick questioned.
'Just do it!' He yelled back.
Nick cautiously moved out the way before Stephen sprinted through followed by a agitated Baryonyx.
'Stephen!' They all yelled.
'I'm going through the anomaly! I'm gunna get it back through!' He yelled back.
Nick's eyes widened as he gulped. Nick looked at the others then ran after the Baryonyx and Stephen. By the time he reached the anomaly Stephen had already gone through. He stood and admired the glowing rip in time.
'Don't you even think about going through that.' Claudia puffed as she caught up with him.
'I have to.' he replied.
'One person dead is better than two, Cutter!' Claudia exclaimed.
'We don't know if he's dead. We need to know Claudia, we can't just leave him there with out knowing for sure..' Nick answered back.
'Give him an hour, if he's not back then go through.' Claudia demanded.
'Cutter, what about your radio transmitter? Can't you contact him through it?' Connor asked.
Nick took the transmitter that was attached to his belt and looked at it before trying to get hold of Stephen.
Other side of Anomaly-
'Stephen?' Cutter asked through the transmitter.
'I'm fine, I'm going to stick around here a bit longer, just to make sure it's gone' Stephen replied
'You've got an hour, then I'm going in and sending in back up' Cutter warned.
Stephen put his transmitter in his pocket and glanced around. He was on a beach, just like the one on the other side of the anomaly, the air was warmer and the beach wasn't as big, as a jungle like habitat crept onto most of it. Stephen could sense straight away he was being watched, even though he couldn't see anything he could just sense he wasn't alone. He loaded his gun and pointed it at the group of trees in front of him. As he went to pull the trigger to hopefully scare the creature away he stopped and tensed. What ever had been watching him all of a sudden felt a lot closer. He remained frozen for a brief second, before attempting to turn round and shoot what ever was behind him. As he went to turn something hit him over the head sending him to the floor. He looked up, vision blurred but he could just make out a humanoid figure.
'Helen?' He quietly choked before he blacked out.
Stephen steadily opened his eyes, he sat up whilst trying to bring back the focus in his eyes. He looked around. It wasn't the beach, he was surrounded by trees and in almost like a camp. There was a small log fire and a small poorly built hut. As he looked at the hut a girl came out.
'Stephen!' She smiled Stephen looked at her shocked and confused.
*'Who the hell is she and how does she know my name* Were a few thoughts that were passing through his mind. The girl was probably about 5'6ft tall, she had long wavy mousy brown hair with natural blonde high lights that reached down to the base of her back and Big brown eyes. She looked to be in her late teens. She was wearing what seemed to be a throw of various lizard skins that acted as a poorly fitting dress. Stephen went to grab his gun but realized it was no longer by his side. He stared at the girl straight in the eye. She bit her bottom lip and took a step back.
'Who are you?' Stephen asked her in a threatening way.
'Don't you recognize me?' She replied, her voice dropped and sounded disappointed.
Stephen looked her up and down and shook his head.
'Stephen, it's me? Indie... I know your probably shocked and probably don't believe it but-' She started before she was interrupted.
'Your right, I don't believe you. Indie was found 8 years ago...dead. Who are you?' He repeated.
'Stephen I'm telling the truth, that body can't of been mine, look I can prove it's me' She pleaded as she lifted up the right side of the hair to expose a scar behind her ear that she had done whilst in Stephens company when she was 8.
Stephen looked in shock. *It really is her* He thought to himself. He smiled at her before pulling her into a hug.
'I'm sorry I hit you, but you would of caused a scene by shooting and might of attracted some predators, are you going to take me home?' She sobbed.
'I'm not going to just leave you here, am I?' Stephen replied sarcastically.
Indie smiled as the tears stopped streaming down her face. She was actually a very pretty girl. Stephen looked down at his watch and realized only 20 minutes had passed. He looked up at Indie.
'God knows what your Dad's going to think when I bring you back with me'
Indie let out an amused chuckle. Stephen spotted his gun beside the hut, he picked it up and walked off towards the anomaly with Indie following closely behind.
'So how did you end up here? And how long have you been here for?' Stephen asked curiously.
'Well, Mum said she was going on an adventure one night, to find a monster... I begged to go with her and eventually she agreed to let me go with her. It didn't take long for us to find the 'monster' but then out of no where this girl...she must of been about the same age as me and well she started screaming. Mum ran out and grabbed the girl and I followed. The creature started to chase us and we ran into the forest. We ran and ran until we thought the creature had lost us... But we were wrong. It jumped out of the dark and killed the little girl and then it ran off through this big ball of light that just appeared. Mum was fine only had a few cuts and I split the palm of my hand open and my lip but it was nothing compared to that poor girl. I remember going over to try and wake her up but nothing, she was all cold and covered in blood. I ran my hand over her forehead and my blood smeared across her face. It was horrible...but anyway Mum then picked me up and we ran through the light and we traveled through them ever since.' Indie explained.
'Where's Helen now then?' Stephen looked at her hopefully.
Indie sighed and a tear ran down her cheek. 'We traveled through the lights for about 3 years...we were only going to stay here a short while before going to the next place. No light balls appeared for a long time and well we were hungry and bored of eating fish so she went out to hunt something bigger. Mum left me in a tree whilst she went to get something but she never came back, I went to find her but she wasn't anywhere...I think she's dead...'
Stephen gulped. Indie stopped walking and stared at Stephen as something dawned on her. Stephen stopped and looked back at her confused.
'What?' he asked.
'When I hit you called out Helen? Is she still alive? Is she here?' Indie replied.
'I don't know... I just thought it was a big possibility that you were her.' Stephen replied.
Indie looked down to the floor and let out a sigh. Stephen put his hand on her shoulder.
'Come on, lets just get you out of here and back where you belong' He smiled giving her a light push, hinting to her to move forward.
The pair walked off towards the anomaly. As they got closer all sorts of emotion ran through Indie. Excitement, fear, happiness,nervous. She couldn't help but think *Can I go back? Can I manage going back?* As they step directly in front of the large glowing phenomenon Indie grabbed Stephens arm and tugged him back.
'I can't!' She exclaimed.
Stephen rolled his eyes as he turned to face her.
'Why not?' He questioned bluntly as he stared into her eyes emotionless.
'Because so much would have changed and' She choked.
'And?' He asked abruptly.
'I don't think I can cope...' She looked up at his tears in her eyes.
'Indie, I can't just leave you here. I can't leave knowing your alive whilst people that care about you are out there thinking you're dead, I can't do that...' Stephen explained with a noticeable about of concern in his voice.
Indie looked up at him, a tear rolled down her cheek, thinking about what he had said. In all the time she had been gone she never really took the time to think what the people she left behind felt. After all that time it had only just hit her.
'Not that much has changed' He chuckled.
Indie looked up at him smiled. Stephen took a step closer to her, tucked the ringlet of hair that fell in front of her eye around her ear and wipes the tears off her face. She bit her bottom lip as her smile grew.
'You'll be fine, you're a Cutter remember?' Stephen reassured her as he took her hand into his.
'Yeah.' She said quietly.
They both looked at the light that shone in front of them. Still hand in hand Stephen walked forwards and walked through tugging Indie along with him.
Nick waited nervously on the other side. As each minute went by he could feel his heart rate go up. At this point back up had arrived, Captain Ryan and his crew surrounded the anomaly. He was so tempted to go through but he knew Claudia was right. The anomaly was unstable it had been open for hours and could close at any point and one person gone was better than two.
'How long have they been in there?' He asked impatiently.
'Fifty three minutes and fifteen seconds, professor' One of the crew men replied.
'Give it another five minutes and then you have permission to go through' Claudia said running her hand through her auburn hair. She was also starting to stress out with the situation.
Nick nodded at her before focusing his attention back onto the anomaly. The anomaly started to flicker.
'Is it fading?!' Abby asked her eyes widening at the thought. She started biting on her fingers for comfort.
'No, there's no change in the magnetic field?' Connor confirmed, holding the compass up to the anomaly with a confused expression on his face.
'Something must be coming through.' Nick stated.
With that all of Captain Ryan's crew got down on one knee with there rifles pointing directly at the flickering ball of light.
'Don't shoot!' Nick demanded. 'It could be Stephen!'
The entire crew looked around at Nick. As they did Stephen burst through the anomaly and fell to the floor closely followed by Indie who fell on top of him. The pair laid there panting. Everyone stopped and turned there attention to Stephen and the strange girl who had followed him through. The crew's rifles one again rose pointing at her. Not a word was said by anyone. Nick stared. As the girls head looked up Nick's eyes widened and his face dropped in shock. He shook his head in disbelief as his heart rate went up. The girl smiled.
'Hey dad' She said softly grinning.
Everyone lowered there weapons and looked between Nick and the girl in confusion.
'I-Indie?' Nick choked in disbelief. His eyes still wide in shock.