DISCLAIMER: I do not own Primeval or any of ts original characters; I only own any new, made up characters/creatures

(AN) The action starts in the next chapter, so just bear with me for now. Let me know what you guys think and i'll add any necessary changes.

Episode Two

House Guest

Nick Cutter sat upright in bed. His shirt was soaked with sweat and his breaths were ragged. He had dreamed about his revival, as he often did since it happened. He wiped his forehead with the back of his hand and swung his legs over the side of the bed.

He was in Connor and Abby's home a week after their wedding; they had offered their friend a place to sleep until he could find a new home. Cutter stood and peeled off his shirt, changing into a clean one supplied by Connor. He put on his worn cargo pants and combed his hair. He walked to the door and stepped out into the house.

"Hello, Cutter," Abby greeted him as he walked down the stairs. "Just in time for breakfast!" She was setting plates of sausage and eggs on the table, along with coffee.

"Morning," Cutter nodded to them, taking a seat next to Connor, who was typing away at his computer.

Abby kissed her husband's cheek- who then put his computer to the side- before sitting down next to him. "Sleep well?" She asked the professor.

"Of course," He lied. "By the way, I'm very thankful for your taking me in." He swallowed a bit of egg, then added, "Especially since you just got married. Usually people want some time to themselves."

"Don't mention it," Connor replied, cutting a sausage."We're glad to have you back, Cutter, even if you're not supposed to be here. Besides, we won't have much time for a honeymoon, will we? We'll be too busy with our work at the A.R.C."

The three of them laughed. Cutter looked down at his food, then to Connor. "What... what happened... with New Dawn? I was in this time when the anomalies started going out of control- well, more out of control- but I didn't know anything more than the name of this project. What were they intending to do?"

Connor set his fork down nervously. "Uh... well, a little over a year ago," He began. "A man funding the A.R.C came to me with a proposition He convinced me that we would be saving lives."

Cutter didn't say anything; he just looked at his friends.

"He gave me materials and a goal; what else would a scientist do than to reach out towards it?" Connor took a sip of coffee before continuing. "As you know, anomalies are naturally occurring phenomenons. So, like all other forces of nature, it was thought that it could be controlled- replicated. I created a machine that could do that."

"You tried to harness the energy from an anomaly." Cutter concluded.

Connor nodded. "The man who gave us funding- Philip Burton- was creating an exact copy of my machine, only much, much larger. Everything went wrong. Philip worked to save the earth, but he realized that it was his machine that caused the destruction of it. It made way for those... things... the future creatures... to become the apex predator on Earth."

"But you stopped it."

Connor nodded."We closed the anomaly by putting my miniature one into it at the last second."

Cutter sat there, thinking. "You cleared the way for humanity to continue rulling the earth. Saved mankind." He paused. "You did an amazing job." Cutter stood and patted Connor on the back. "We have to be at the A.R.C. in an hour." He walked back to his room. Cutter felt bad about lying to them on their wedding day; telling them that he had been pulled through an anomaly before he died. He wasn't ready to tell them the truth.

Connor, Abby and Cutter sat in the black A.R.C van that they used mostly for casual purposes. Connor drove. As the were sitting there, Cutter's phone rang.

"Cutter here," He listened. "Right, we're on our way." he slid his phone into his pocket and turned to the others. "That was Jess. She says that there is an anomaly on or way to the A.R.C."

"And we need to lock it before we check in at work?" Abby asked.

Cutter nodded. "Connor, this anomaly locking device you spoke of, do you have it in the car?"

"Yeah, it's in the trunk." Connor nodded.

"Good." Cutter said, gesturing where the road split off to the left. "Turn here."

They arrived at their destination; A small shopping mall sat before them. It was just their luck that the parking lot was packed.

"It's going to be very risky." Abby said.

"Now that everyone knows about anomalies, it is likely that people will go through them for the heck of it." Connor said to Cutter. "We've had it happen before. A rich bloke from Canada popped through with a Triceratops, once."Connor gave up on looking for a parking space and stopped in the grass. He put a little government vehicle tag on the reer view window and got out of the car.

Abby was already unpacking the gear. She handed Cutter a large, odd looking gun.

"What kind of gun is this?" He asked, examining the weapon closely.

"That's an Electronic Muscular Disruptor." Connor said, joining the at the trunk. "Called E.M.D's for short." He took his own and grabbed a black box about the size of a box belonging to a pair of large boots.

"Is that the anomaly lock?" Cutter asked as Abby handed him an earpiece.

"Yeah," Connor nodded. "Its a pretty sexy looking piece of machinery, if i do say so myself."

Abby shut the Back door and held up an anomaly detection device. Immediately she got a reading. "Over here, guys." She began walking off, and the two men followed.

"Cutter," Connor said.

"Yes?"

"Are you going to try and rebuild the anomaly map?"

"No." He responded.

"Oh," Connor said. He was disappointed. "Shame, it was really helpful."

"I agree," Cutter nodded. "That's why i'm going to teach you how to make your own."

Connor stopped. "Seriously?"

Cutter kept walking. Looking over his shoulder he nodded, grinning slightly.

Connor tried to give a victory fist pump with the box in his hand and ran to catch up with Abby.

"Did you hear that?" Connor grinned.

"Yeah." Abby smiled at him. "You definitely look excited about rebuilding the map.

"Is it really that obvious?" Connor asked, clueless.

Abby nodded." You sounded like my brother when he got a computer for his twelfth birthday."

"Well, I agree that it was a little unprofessional- but still! Its pretty wicked."

Abby laughed and took Connor's E.M.D. out of his hand. She replaced it with her hand, holding both guns and the detector in her free hand.

Cutter watched the two ahead of him. How long had it been since he had held hands with a woman? No, not just a woman; Claudia. About three years. Cutter couldn't really remember.

He had thought that his whole life was falling apart when he lost Helen. He was wrong. Very, very wrong. His life didn`t begin to fall apart until returned through the anomaly after trying to kill those creatures, and discovered that Claudia Brown didn`t exist anymore.

The detector gave a beep. "Oh, great!" Abby frowned.

"What is it?" Connor asked.

"According to this," Abby said. "The anomaly is inside the mall."

"Well," Cutter began. " Worst case scenario is that we find another security guard-eating raptor." He primed the E.M.D and began to walk to the mall.

"Jess," Connor spoke into his earpiece.

"Yes?" The young A.R.C. employee responded.

"Can you clear this mall?" Connor asked.

"Give me a moment to find where you are and I'll have it empty in five minutes."

" Alright, thanks." Connor called after Cutter. "Hold up, Give Jess a second to clear the place out, first."

Cutter stopped walking and nodded. "Alright, but if something-" Cutter was silenced by a distant scream. "Lets go." Cutter began to run to the mall, followed closely by Abby and Connor.

Connor was holding his E.M.D and the anomaly locking device again as they ran. They reached the mall's main entrance to see people rushing out in a panic. "Jess, where exactly is the anomaly?" Connor asked.

"It should be..." The girl paused, obviously searching. "In the main hallway."

"Right in the middle of everything." Cutter said. "Perfect; I'd have been surprised if there wasn't an incursion." He lifted up his gun and pushed through the crowd.

Connor and Abby followed him closely, and soon they were in the main hallway. "Which way, Abby?" Cutter asked.

"Straight down the hall." She replied.

"There isn't' anything here, Abs." Connor said.

Cutter looked around, searching for any signs of a creature.

Connor took the anomaly detecting device from Abby and fiddled with a few buttons. "Huh," He scratched his neck, puzzled. "That's odd; according to this," He smacked the device against his palm. "We're directly on top of it."

"Uh, Connor," Abby spoke.

"Yeah?" He turned to see a glob of slime slowly drip onto Abby's shoulder.

"I don't think we're exactly on top of it." Abby said, quietly, gagging at the smell of the slime.

They all looked up slowly.

Cutter looked up at the shadow looming over the side of the bridge that reached over the mall. "Aw, hell."