~Chapter Three: the dinosaur~

'The guard!' Abby yelled, and she came to a sudden halt. Stephen ran into her, almost knocking them both to the ground.

'What? What are you doing, keep running!' he said, pushing her forward.

'No, the guard! We can't leave him there.' Abby panted, struggling to go back. Stephen gripped her arms and forced her to look at him.

'If that beast has made it this far,' he said, shaking her slightly. 'It is too late for the guard.'

'But...' Abby looked horrified. 'You mean, he's... dead?' The terrible truth started to sink in.

'Yes. Now come on, run!'

The ground trembled with the force of the beast's thundering footsteps and Abby let out a little squeal when Stephen pulled her along.

'Steve,' she panted. 'Steve, wait!'

'We can't, we have to get to the car.'

'But that's just it, we should have reached it by now.'

'Shit, you're right. We're lost.'

'Oh God...' Abby's voice trembled and she brought her free hand to her eyes to cover them.

'Come on,' Stephen hissed, and he dragged her along again, while groping for his phone. 'Becker!' he yelled into it, when he flipped it open and speed dialed a number. 'Becker, we have a creature at the Dean site!' Abby looked up briefly from the dark path, while trying to keep her footing. 'Never mind what I am doing here, the guard is down and the beast is after us, send a team up here now!' He snapped the phone shut and pushed Abby behind a large tree.

'You have to run, just try and stick to a straight line and you will reach the other side or they will find you. Go, now.'

'What? What about you?'

Stephen pulled out his gun and crouched down. 'Take the flash light, I will see it coming in the moonlight.'

'No, I am not leaving you here alone with a frickin' dinosaur for Christ's sake!'

'Abby, listen to me. This is my fault. I should never have involved you, I should have left you to your own life, I won't be responsible for something happening to you again.'

'Well it's a bit bloomin' late for that now, isn't it? I am not running away without you.'

'Too late, here it comes. Get into the tree!' Stephen grabbed Abby around the waist and heaved her up so she could reach a large, low hanging branch. Abby wrapped her arms around it and scrambled up.

'Come on Steve, give me your hand!' she called out to him, but Stephen turned away, facing the direction of the booming footfall and the rustling of bushes being trampled. Then, a sudden eerie silence fell over the forest and Abby knew they were being watched. Every night creature, every bird and insect in the area was holding still, knowing that any movement could be its last. When it almost became too much and Abby thought her lungs would explode with the air she held trapped in tension, the beast lunged from the thicket, right at Stephen. Abby screamed in terror, a shot rang deafeningly through the night and the monster reared away but in its momentum the large tail lashed out, knocking Stephen violently into the tree. The sudden silence fell again and Abby slowly released the breath she was still holding.

'Wonderful,' she muttered. 'Freakin' wonderful. What kind of knight in shining armor passes out before the dragon's dead.' Quietly, Abby swung down from the branch, hanging by the arms before dropping down. Stephen had a head wound but was already coming around.

'Are you okay?' she whispered, hovering over him. His eyes widened with dread.

'Abby...' he croaked.

She could feel it. She could feel it behind her, coming closer one careful step at a time. Abby swallowed, her heart beating so hard it might have been trying to escape from her chest. She spotted Stephen's gun on the floor.

'Don't.' Stephen said when he followed her gaze, but Abby dove for the gun. At the same time the beast sprang forward. Abby grabbed the gun, rolled to her knees and just when the creature reached Stephen, mouth agape, rows of sharp teeth exposed in the dull moonlight, she fired. The bullet buried itself deep in the creatures exposed soft neck, it howled in pain once, splattering both of them in thick blobs of sticky blood and goop before retreating a few staggering steps and then collapsing, slowly, to the ground.

Stephen stared at Abby, who was still pointing the gun to where the Dimetrodon had been. He sat up and prized her fingers loose from the weapon.

'My hero,' she told him flatly, when she finally found her voice again. 'You'd be leftovers by now if I had listened to you.'

'That was... a pretty cool move,' he told her, grinning. 'Where did you learn to do that?'

'I watch a lot of films.'

'Stephen? Sir, where are you?' A voice rang from the darkness.

'Over here!' Stephen yelled. 'We're fine.'

'Speak for yourself,' Abby muttered, plucking something green and slimy from her hair.

'What happened?' A group of five men came crashing through the trees, all wearing black uniforms and heavily armed.

'Here comes the cavalry,' Abby said.

'Late as usual,' Stephen said, smiling while clambering to his feet.

'Was there only one?' A tall man with black hair asked, while pointing his gun at the beast. He leaned forward for a closer look. 'What a magnificent specimen.'

'You can say that again,' Abby said quietly, looking the uniformed man up and down in admiration. Stephen stared at her in disbelief for a moment and she smiled sweetly at him. 'What?' she whispered. 'Look at him. All of him.' The Captain straightened and turned back toward them. Stephen grunted something unintelligible and walked over to the men. 'Captain Becker,' he said when he approached them. 'We don't know if there was only one, we'll need to sweep the area.'

'Of course. That was a fine shot Stephen,' Captain Becker said, nodding toward the neck wound.

'That was me actually,' Abby said, smiling only a little smugly. 'I am Abby, nice to meet you.' She reached out a hand and the Captain grabbed it.

'Abby?' he said, looking questioningly at Stephen. 'As in the Abby?'

'Yes,' Stephen said curtly. His mood seemed to plummet to alarming depths rapidly. 'Long story.'

'The boss is going to love this... My men will comb the forest for creatures before returning to the anomaly. I suggested you and ... ehm, the civilian return to the base for debriefing.'

'Of course, I...'

'Hang on a minute!' Abby interrupted.

'What now?' Stephen demanded.

'The guard! Are you just going to leave him there? We have to go back! What if he is injured? We have to help him!'

'Abby leave that to...'

'No,' she shrugged off Stephen's hand. 'I am nurse, I can help.'

'Ma'am,' the Captain said respectfully. 'I really think you should leave it to us. You don't know what you'll find there. There could be another one of these guys..' he jabbed his large gun at the beast. '... out there. And even if there isn't, if the guard is dead... it won't be pretty.'

'I can deal with it.' Abby said, snatching the flashlight out of Stephen's hands and setting off into what she hoped was the right direction.

Stephen and the Captain exchanged a meaningful look. 'I should have left her in the anomaly,' Stephen muttered and they both stalked off after her.