Connor's eyes were blurred with unshed. There was a thick lump in his air and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't swallow. The dry and humid air of the Mid Permian era only made it harder. He trudged across the black volcanic soil with his head hanging low. Several SAS soldiers walked neatly behind him; gazes locked ahead, sub-machine guns cocked and loaded. Their leader led the party, pistol loaded for any sign of danger.

Tall coniferous trees covered the landscape, whilst small shrubs and plants grew on the volcanic slopes. Dozens of grazing Scutosaurus roamed on the hills, their grunts and bellows filling the air. A Gorgonopsid stalked past in the distance but the therapsid predator was not interested in them. A pack of Coelurosauruvus glided high above, he risked a brief glance and looking at them reminded him of Rex and that only made his task harder. He had to keep reminding himself it was for the best.

Connor had always found saying good-bye to anyone or anything difficult no matter who it was. First would come the lowering of the eyebrows and the hanging head, his " sad face " as his mum called it, then the sniffing and finally the tears. He just couldn't seem to break the habit. Whenever he had to say good-bye to someone and he knew it was for the last time he'd cry.

At school he'd always been the first one who'd shed a tear at school when a well-loved teacher resigned or when one of his friends left for another school. At university he'd cried when his time at university ended and all of his friends left in separate directions. And ever since he'd begun work at the ARC it had only gotten harder because when doing the kind of work the ARC did, deaths and goodbyes were inevitable. So many people had lost their lives, he'd lost so many friends; Tom, Captain Ryan, Stephen, Cutter, Sarah. The list went on.

First there was Tom, who lost his life because of a prehistoric parasite carried by infected dodos. He'd held him in his arms and watched the life drain out of him, watched the life fade from his eyes and his body grow cold.

That was the first time he'd ever seen anyone die and it him like a Tyrannosaur's tail. He'd never seen the captain die but he could imagine the horror and the agony the man must have experienced as the Future Predator's teeth ripped into his skin.

He hadn't seen Stephen's death either but he could vividly picture the scene in his mind; Stephen stepping back into the centre of the room knowing that he was going to suffer a painful death, the prehistoric beasts encircling him, the Future Predators climbing down from the ceiling, his final moments…

However with Cutter he'd actually seen him die. He'd heard the deafening bang on the gun. He'd seen the man lying in a sticky pool of his own blood. He'd sat beside the professor inside the burning ARC and watched him slowly bleed out, felt the life draining from his body, seen his eyes close, heard his breathing cease and felt his heartbeat stop forever. That was the hardest goodbye of his life.

If he closed his eyes he could picture the scene: The thick, dense smoke pressing down on him like a smothering blanket, the crackling flames looming all around him, the professor's heavy, laboured breathing as the blood clogged his lungs…

"Temple? Temple are you ok?" The captain's voice broke into his thoughts. Connor opened his eyes. Tears were running down his cheeks. They'd stopped and the captain was watching him with concern while the soldiers stood guard like sentinels. He wiped his eyes and took a moment to recover "Yeah, yeah m' fine." The captain nodded "We're here. Let them out."

With a moment's hesitation, Connor placed the pet cage on the ground and unlocked the door; after a moment the two Diictodon emerged. Sid scurried out and blinked in the sudden sunshine, a moment later Nancy followed suit and emerged.

The two reptiles turned to him and wagged their tails. Connor bent down, patted Sid then Nancy one last time and spoke softly "Go on now. Be free, its better this way. Go on, now shoo." He stood back up but neither Diictodon budged.

They clung to his legs, scurrying around his feet and chirping. He shook them off and said again "Go guys. Be free." This time they responded. Sid cast him one last look, then squawked and waddled away, wriggling down a burrow and then he was gone. Connor swallowed "You too Nancy." The little Diictodon chattered, nuzzled his foot one last time then scampered off and followed Sid into their burrow.

He sighed and turned to the captain "It's done." The man nodded and placed a hand on his shoulder "its better this way." He nodded and tried to swallow the lump in his throat "I hope so." He said quietly. He then turned and walked away, wanting to get back to Abby as quickly as possible, as he left, the soldiers turned and followed.

He'd always found goodbyes difficult.