A/N: I should probably warn you that this chapter contains a little bit of gore. Nothing really graphic, but if that sort of thing really squicks you then here's a heads up.

It was eight o'clock in the morning on a Saturday, and Jenny could think of a hundred other places she'd rather be than Nick's car. Not that there was anything wrong with the car, of course, though technically it wasn't even his, it belonged to the Home Office. The company was quite nice, too. It was just the fact that she'd been woken up an hour earlier by Lester calling her that she had a problem with.

The anomaly detector had gone off at approximately 6:45am, presenting the team with the prospect of yet another creature incursion somewhere in the vicinity of the New Forest. Now the team were piled into the car, halfway through the journey there. Jenny had the front passenger seat, possibly because Nick had taken pity on her and decided that she shouldn't have to squash into the back with the others. At this thought she glanced in the mirror, looking back at Abby, Stephen and Connor in the back of the car.

Abby had her eyes closed, face pressed up against the closed window. If she wasn't asleep, it certainly looked as though she was. With Connor there was no such doubt. He'd spent the first half an hour or so of the journey crammed into the middle seat, cheerfully speculating on what would be waiting for them when they reached the New Forest before seeming to finally run out of energy so early on a Saturday morning. Now he was snoring faintly, and had slowly slid sideways so that he was leaning on Stephen who, with his ipod on, seemed to be doing his best to ignore the younger man. Quite a difficult feat, because every now and again Connor would twitch or mutter something unintelligible and shift his weight on Stephen's arm.

As Stephen grimaced slightly, attempting to pull his hand out from beneath Connor, he looked up and caught Jenny's eye in the mirror. She smiled and looked away, amused, as he rolled his eyes good naturedly.

They reached their destination nearly two hours later (it should have been one, but they'd got lost in a one-way system and it had taken a good deal of map reading and swearing to get back on the right track). They pulled up in a visitor's car park by a nature trail, which was thankfully devoid of picnicking families; a few phone calls on Jenny's part had ensured that the area around the anomaly was cordoned off at least until they found out whether anything dangerous had come through.

Jenny's phone started to ring again and as she went off to answer it the others busied themselves with their weaponry, Nick, Abby and Stephen arming themselves with tranquiliser guns. Connor eyed Abby's pistol hopefully as she loaded it, but she just stuck her tongue out at him.

"Not a chance."

"I don't see why-" he started to argue, but was cut off as Jenny came walking back over. This time she'd wisely swapped her heels for a pair of flats, they noticed.

"It would seem like a predator's come through," she sighed, putting her phone back into her pocket. "They've found a New Forest Pony not far off of the nature trail and it looks like something's had a go at eating it."

The something, whatever it was, had been pretty successful the team found out a few minutes later when they reached the site where the pony had been found. It lay beneath a tree, covered beneath a large sheet of tarpaulin, but it's hooves were visible sticking out from beneath. A warden was standing nearby, looking both confused and distressed as he gazed in the direction of the tarpaulin.

"A family found her earlier, lying just off of the trail," he explained, rubbing his face with his hand. "I don't know what could have done it, it's just bizarre."

As Jenny gave him a comforting smile and started putting together a cover story, the others gathered around the covered body, all wearing expressions of trepidation. Sharing a glance, Nick and Stephen picked up one corner of the tarp each and lifted it away to uncover the body. Instantaneously, they all recoiled.

"Well, that's unpleasant." Nick's expression was grim.

Connor launched into a coughing fit that sounded suspiciously close to retching. Abby gave him a wary look and stepped out of the line of fire, just in case, but he managed to keep a hold of his breakfast. Beneath them lay the bay mare, sprawled in the mud. To put it simply, the body was mangled.

Stephen crouched down beside it, frowning down at the marks in the flesh. He lifted one of the hooves, examining an almost-severed limb and made and anxious sound in his throat.

"These are all teeth marks," he said, as the others shot him enquiring looks. "All the gouges… they've been made with teeth."

Nick realised the implications almost at once, taking Stephen's place next to the body as Stephen stood up. "Big teeth. Bloody massive teeth." He bent over the pony, examining a particularly neat row of teeth marks in its side. As Abby nervously checked and re-checked their tranquiliser guns to make sure that they were loaded and ready to use at the slightest sign of danger, Connor looked on, apparently vaguely horrified that Nick was actually touching the bloody mess.

"I'd say they have got to be about seven or eight inches, serrated from the look of these marks," Cutter decided eventually. Abby's eyes widened as she seemed to work out exactly how large a head would have to be to accommodate fangs that size.

Stephen wasn't listening, crouched down a little further away and peering intently at an area of churned up ground. "I've found some prints."

Connor seemed to perk up at the idea of something he could examine that wasn't part of a dead animal and hurried over to stand beside him. At the sight of the prints, deep in the mud, he grinned.

"Professor, look at these!" And he crouched down, trying to gauge how big the things were with his hands. Cutter joined him, raising his eyebrows as he looked down at the marks in the mud. He seemed impressed, and Connor was grinning madly. Stephen and Abby shared a nonplussed look behind their backs, Abby because she hadn't seen the prints and didn't know what was going on and Stephen because he had seen them and couldn't see how they were anything to smile about.

"It walks on two legs, and look at the three toes," Nick was tracing the shape of one of the prints with his finger. "I'm thinking…"

"Theropod, yeah?" Connor cut it, sounding excited, and Nick nodded.

"Theropod," he confirmed. "Have a look on your database, try and find what we're dealing with."

"I'm on it." Connor sprang to his feet, almost running back to the car to pull his laptop out and set it up on the bonnet. While the others were organising the disposal of the pony before the sight could scar any more families, Abby wandered over.

"What are you so excited about?" she wondered, leaning on the car next to him. He didn't look up as she approached, too engrossed on whatever was on the screen of his laptop. For a moment he didn't answer her either, just typed, and she thought that he must have missed her question too.

"It's an actual theropod," he answered eventually, sounding distracted. He paused from whatever he was doing to look up and smile at her. "Proper, proper dinosaurs. The type that you see in books and get toys of when you're little."

"If you're a strange child perhaps. I got teddy bears," Abby couldn't resist saying back, but she was beginning to understand his enthusiasm. Up until now they'd had mostly obscure creatures, beautiful and interesting but not immediately recognisable.

Connor snorted, going back to his database. "I can't imagine you liking teddy bears."

Abby was just about to ask him what he meant by that (and possibly whack him if it was something derogatory) when he spoke again.

"T-Rex was a theropod," he added conversationally, looking up when Abby made a sound of alarm. At the sight of her worried face he hurried to reassure. "But don't worry, the thing we've got here seems a bit small for that. And… I think I've got it. Have a look at this."

He turned the laptop around so that she could see the screen. What she found was a detailed taxonomy, but Connor was pointing out one name in particular. And as she watched, he pulled up a picture.

Connor was right. It did look like the typical dinosaurs you saw in cartoons and children's books.

"Carcharodontosaurus," he said proudly. "Cretaceous period theropod dinosaur. Bit smaller than a Tyrannosaurus. This is brilliant!"

"Until it eats you," Abby reminded him mildly, which seemed to sober him slightly. "Come on, we'd better go and tell the others what we're up against."

When they walked over to Nick, Stephen and Jenny and Connor mentioned the words "bit smaller than a T-Rex" again, the others looked appalled. All except Nick, who looked as though he might be just a little bit excited as well. Jenny wasted no time in calling in Special Forces either, and before long the car park was swarming with SAS men loading their guns.

There was an argument over whether the creature should be shot or merely tranquilised, which Nick seemed to lose when the new Special Forces captain informed him in no uncertain terms that if a dinosaur tried to take a bit out of any of him team he would not hesitate in "blowing it's brains to kingdom come". Jenny winced a little at the wording, but seemed to agree with the sentiment. This was an extremely dangerous creature; they couldn't afford not to shoot it if it looked as though it was going to cause trouble.

Throughout this Abby and Connor sat on the bonnet of the car, watching the goings on somewhat dejectedly. They had already been told that in no circumstances were they to be involved in the party going after the dinosaur.

"It's too dangerous, and neither of you are experienced with weaponry," Nick had told them, apologetically. Before Abby could argue that she knew how to use a pistol Connor cut in.

"Neither are you!"

"But they need someone with knowledge about dinosaurs," Nick had answered, and before Connor could protest that he knew about dinosaurs Nick shook his head. "They only need one. And you can't shoot."

So now they were decidedly not sulking, exchanging plots and ploys that would allow them to get involved in the goings on.

"Cutter!" Abby called out as the others appeared ready to set off on their monster-hunting escapade. Nick looked around. "What about the anomaly? You'll need someone to monitor it, won't you?"

Nick glanced between the two of them, Connor eyeing him hopefully.

"Alright," he sighed. "Take two from Special Forces with you, and radio if you see or hear anything unusual."

Connor waited until the others had turned away and two armed men had peeled themselves away from the group before he held his hand up to Abby. "High five?" She smiled and complied, slapping his hand harder than he had expected. Together the two of them stood up, Connor shaking his hand, and looked at the two SAS men waiting for them.

"Get the handheld detector and let's go," Abby told him, sparing a glance over to where Jenny was busy phoning around to construct a plausible cover story.

Meanwhile the Special Forces group, accompanied by Nick and Stephen, were not having much luck in their pursuit of the Carcharodontosaurus. On several occasions Stephen had found prints in the mud, but the ground was often too churned up to make much sense of them. There were places where saplings had been knocked over and trampled into the dirt, but creature didn't seem to be moving in any distinct direction, doubling back on itself and making its trail difficult to follow. The SAS men were on edge, assault rifles at the ready, but oddly enough there was neither sight nor sound of the dinosaur. Which was somewhat worrying, considering its size.

Stephen made a sound of frustration, stopping dead as the group reached a road cutting through the forest.

"What is it?" Nick asked, coming up behind him.

"I've lost the trail. It must have gone onto the tarmac, and I can't see any prints on the other side."

"None at all?"

"Nope. We're going to have to follow the road and look for any signs that it went back into the forest."

"But we need to know what way it went. Otherwise we might end up walking for miles in the wrong direction."

Stephen grimaced. "I know."

Back at the car park, Jenny was doing slightly better.

"Tell them it's an escaped tiger. A young one. Illegally imported and kept as a pet, but the owners panicked and let it loose once it started to get too big. And yes, once we've found the thing you can tell the press that it's been caught and is going to be donated to a zoo where it can live out it's days happily ever after."

She smiled, and hung up her phone.

"I nearly went for a job here once."

Abby and Connor were sitting down, leaning against a tree a few feet away from the glittering anomaly. The two Special Forces men had withdraw away from them, close enough to see everything that they did but far enough away to keep their conversations from being overheard. Neither of them had relaxed their grip on their weapons.

Connor tilted his head to look at her. "Really?"

She nodded. "There's a reptile centre not far from here. They do a reptile walk, looking for adders and grass snakes and things. But then the position at the zoo came up, so I went there instead."

Connor frowned slightly. "What do you tell the zoo about all this anomaly stuff? Have they even asked?"

"Lester's people sorted it out, just said I was involved with some research so could I have some leave," Abby shrugged. "Why, what have you told the uni?"

"Not much," Connor admitted, "I don't think they really notice. My attendance wasn't that brilliant anyway."

"Hmm." Abby made a sound that could have meant anything, looking up as a flock of starlings took flight from a nearby tree. Both of them watched their flight for few long moments, idly taking in the patterns they made as they swooped through the air. They'd both been tense and on edge at first, periodically scanning the surrounding area and the anomaly for signs of any creatures. As time passed, however, and one hour became two and then three with no signs of anything unusual, they'd started to relax. Occasionally they'd heard or caught a glimpse of New Forest Ponies moving around nearby but nothing else had come near. Nick and Stephen were still gone, with no word from them that they'd either seen, caught or been eaten by the Carcharodontosaurus.

Eventually Connor moved, getting to his feet. Abby shifted from beside him, shooting him a quizzical look.

"I'll be back in a sec," he told her, and she frowned.

"No, hang on. Where are you going?"

He blinked down at her. "I've had two bottles of coke since we got here. Wheres d'you think?"

Realisation dawned on her face, and she grinned. "Oh, ok. Don't frighten the horses."

He stuck his tongue out at her, somewhat childishly, and disappeared off into the trees. He didn't want to stray too far away from the others (particularly the protection of their M4 assault rifles), but neither did he want to risk them stumbling across him and being caught, quite literally, with his pants down.

He was just doing his trousers back up when it occurred to him that the forest had been oddly silent lately. And that was something that he'd almost definitely seen in a horror film at some point. Come to think of it, his whole situation probably was. He'd watched some variation of the "there's a monster in the woods, one of the group goes off on their own for some reason and gets picked off" scenario hundreds of times. But that was silly… Real life didn't happen like it did in films.

He'd just reassured himself of this and was about to return to the others when there was a rather distinct thud not far away. Connor froze, turning around. There it was again; the creaking, cracking sound of a tree being pushed aside. And, as the sound of movement drew closer, he started to feel vibrations through the forest floor. An image flew unbidden into his mind - ripples spreading through a glass of water, and it started to occur to him that he really shouldn't have been so pleased to get a theropod through this anomaly. Then it occurred to him that he really should be running if he wanted to avoid becoming lunch.

He turned around, shoving his way through the undergrowth as the heavy footfalls behind him grew louder. Branches snagged at his clothing but he struggled onwards, starting to sprint as best he could while trying to avoid getting stuck in stinging nettles. He came to a sudden stop, almost falling over, as his jacket became caught on a bush and struggled out of it, resorting to leaving it behind in order to escape.

He thought that he could hear shouting - maybe Abby's voice - back towards the anomaly, but then he stumbled out of the bushes, tripped and found himself sprawled across tarmac and all thoughts of the others left his head. He rolled over onto his back, scrambling backwards into the middle of the road as a particularly large something started to emerge from the trees.

The Carcharodontosaurus stepped out onto the road.

Connor's first thought was it's beautiful. And it was; a sort of greenish-grey with rust coloured markings along its head and spine, forming bands down its sides. It stood bipedal, the weight of its long body balanced out by a thick, muscular tail. And the head… Cocked slightly to the side on a strong neck, it had to be about a metre and a half long.

Connor's second thought was oh god it's going to eat me.

There was rustling in the bushes to his left and Connor caught a glimpse of something brown and deer-shaped as the panicked creature took flight. The Carcharodontosaur's head turned in the direction of the movement, honing in on the deer, and Connor took his chance. He sprang to his feet and ran, hoping intensely that the deer would be enough to hold the dinosaur's attention until he'd gotten far, far away.

He would have no such luck, it seemed, because he hadn't gone far before he heard the sounds of the theropod coming after him again. He ran on, breath coming in short, sharp gasps as he picked up speed. He was getting a stitch already, and it quickly became obvious that he wouldn't be able to maintain his current speed for any length of time. Only a matter of time before he became dino-food.

He was sure he could see a small collection of buildings up ahead - a village, or something. It occurred to him that he probably shouldn't be leading the creature towards where there were other people, and he looked around for somewhere else to go. But then he heard a roar from behind that sounded far too close for comfort and he kept running.

A cattle grid lay across the road in front of him and he hardly slowed as he ran across it, trying desperately not to put his feet down the gaps and narrowly avoiding breaking his ankle. Somehow he managed to get across without doing himself any harm, and he was still running when he heard an almighty crash and a roar from behind him. He couldn't help but slow down to glance over his shoulder and when he did he nearly stopped dead out of shock.

The Carcharodontosaurus was on the ground, the claws of its hind feet caught hopelessly in the cattle grid, struggling vainly to get to its feet with its smaller forelegs. The sight was so out of place, so bizarre, that he couldn't help but laugh.

He was still bend over almost double, struggling to catch his breath and watching the Carcharodontosaurus from a wary distance when the others arrived. Nick and Stephen stared at the dinosaur, wide eyed with shock as it struggled and roared its displeasure. Their companions from Special Forces looked as though they weren't quite sure what to make of the situation, but made quick work of readying tranquiliser guns and shooting the creature. Abby arrived not long after, frantic and out of breath, only to find herself staring open-mouthed at a twelve metre dinosaur lying unconscious across a cattle grid.

When they arrived back at the ARC several hours later (after a stop off at a takeaway on the way) they expected a quick debriefing before they could go home and catch up on some well-deserved rest. What they didn't expect was for Lester to greet them by the anomaly detector, looking somewhat grim. Connor glanced automatically at the detector, half expecting there to have been another anomaly while they were out, but the screen proclaimed nothing of the sort. Why, then, was Lester looking at them like that?

"We've had some phone calls," he said. "From the farm you were at yesterday. It seems there may be a problem."