Author's Note: Sorry Everyone! My Internet has been rubbish this last few days. I really hope that things are back on track now. I hope you enjoy the chapter. Keep Reading and Keep Reviewing!
Disclaimer: I don't own Primeval or any films/books/songs that are featured in my books.
Rating: T for mild swearing.
Siblings Are Menaces
Chapter 11 – We Are The Experts:
Tuesday 24thof December 2013 – Christmas Eve
Becker was woken on Christmas Eve by a scream from downstairs. He noticed that Jess was not beside him. He rolled out of bed and pulled the shoe box out from under his bed. He pulled out his G18 and pulled on a T-shirt.
Becker crept quietly downstairs, his G18 in his hands. He hid behind the door of the Living room. He let out a shaky breath, preparing himself for the possibly horrid sight that would be before him. He opened the door and launched himself in the room.
Matt, Emily, Connor, Abby, Danny, Sarah, Stephen, Cookie, Mr Becker, Mrs Becker, Granddad, Lottie, Harry, Mel, Richard, Evy, all the kids, Boots, Shane, Kyle and Jake, Rocky, Luke, Jenny, Cutter and Jess all looked from the sofas, grinning like idiots. All of them, unharmed.
"What's that for?" Shane asked narrowing his eyes at the gun. Becker sighed and lowered his pistol.
"Who screamed?" Becker asked tiresomely
"Me." Jenny said, raising her hand.
"Why?" Becker asked.
"Because, Evan said his first word." She replied slowly. Becker raised his eyebrows.
"Well thank you for waking me up." Becker said as he put down the G18 onto the table.
"Evan, do you want to tell Uncle Becker what you said?" Jenny said to her son.
"Poopy." Evan said in a high-pitched baby voice. Jenny squealed happily again and Cutter grinned like a Cheshire cat. But Becker looked at Evan with an sheepishly expression for a moment before looking up at Jenny and Cutter.
"You must be so proud." Becker said dryly.
"It's about time you got up. It's 11Am! When did you start sleeping in?" Lottie said smirking.
"Never. It's you lot, driving me to it." Becker replied, rolling his shoulders and causing the muscles in his shoulders, neck and back to all click. He then tried to flatten his messy bed hair. Mrs Becker suddenly started laughing.
"What's so funny?" Becker asked, preparing himself to get mortified.
"When you were little, on Christmas Eve you'd sleep in until 11 or 12, so that you could get up earlier on Christmas Morning." Mrs Becker explained smiling at her eldest son.
"I remember that!" Evy laughed.
"Oh yeah. It was stupid logic considering I get up at early anyway, even back then." Becker said thoughtfully.
"Not really. You were the one to wake everyone up at 5Am in the morning. And you'd have so much energy, you'd keep going until gone Midnight." Mr Becker said smirking.
"I can't believe you got excited about Christmas." Danny said chuckling.
"He was the most excited about Christmas. Even as a teenager, he'd still get up early." Mel corrected him. Everyone laughed and Becker felt the back of his neck go red.
"I'm going for a shower." Becker excused himself, before pecking Jess on the cheek and leaving.
At 12Pm, everyone had lunch together. And everyone was talking about the following day; Christmas. Evan just kept saying poopy and in Jenny's opinion, that was the best Christmas present ever. After lunch; everyone sat lazily around the Living Room, just talking.
Around 5Pm, Jess finally jumped to her feet.
"Where are you going?" Becker asked, already missing the warmth of the cuddle he was getting from her.
"I gotta go wrap the presents. I should have done it ages ago, but I've just been too busy." Jess said, putting her hands on her hips.
"Do you want some help?" Becker asked, sitting up straighter.
"What? So you can get a good look at your present? I don't think so." Jess said smirking.
"I'm serious." Becker laughed.
"So am I. I'll survive wrapping the presents." Jess replied.
"Great! Jamie can be our third person in our team!" Kyle said happily.
"What team?" Becker asked slowly.
"Kyle, you and me against Victoria, Olivia and Bella in a cake decorating contest!" Jake said grinning like a Cheshire cat.
"Well as much as I'd like to see you loose that. I think I might just go for a walk." Becker said smirking.
"Suit yourself. Matt can play!" Kyle said.
"Matt can what?" Matt said, looking up from the newspaper he was reading. Becker laughed as he left the Living Room. He pulled on his jacket, picked up his keys and then left.
Becker didn't really know where he was going; he was just following his feet. He stared at the ground as he walked along, deep in thought. Could his life be anymore crazy? His family were insane. His friends were insane. Bloody hell; he was even a little bit crazy, surely!
The sound of voices brought Becker back to reality. On second nature he threw himself behind a tree.
A tree?
That's when Becker realised his feet had taken him into the woods near his house. He instantly recognised the area. The ditch, the trees, the place where he had burnt the body of the Future Predator. Becker peered around the tree and what he saw bothered him greatly.
There were six ARC soldiers, playing a card game in front of a locked anomaly. Was it really this easy for a civilian to stumble across an anomaly? And what bothered him more, there was anomaly! His heart skipped a beat. Becker stepped out of his hiding place to get a better look at the anomaly.
"Captain Becker? What are you doing here?" said Lt Williams, getting to his feet.
"Spending Christmas with my family." Becker answered, walking over to them but not looking at them.
"Good for you, sir. I'll be leaving in a little a while myself, spending Christmas with my sister. She lives in New York, ya see, and I gotta go pick her up from the airport." Lt Williams was saying, but Becker wasn't really listening.
He stared at the anomaly, feeling his breath stick in his throat and his heart beat faster. It maybe locked, but it scared the hell out of him to know that anomaly was this close to his family. It was scarier to know what was probably on the other side of this.
On instinct, he turned around quickly and took an EMD gun from Lt Williams. He scoped the trees and the overgrowth His eyes moved from tree top, to tree top. Every sound made him flinched. His eyes and ears peeled for what he was most afraid of.
Becker's eyes then caught sight of something that made his heart nearly stop all together. Blood stained against a tree. Becker walked over and knelt beside it. Looking up he saw long claw marks tearing at the bark of the tree. Standing up, he ran his hand across it. Then without warning, Becker bolted off. His heart was thumping, his hands were sweating and his thoughts were racing.
There was a Future Predator.
Meanwhile, Danny stepped outside, pulling out a packet of cigarettes. He'd promised Sara he'd quit, especially when he was working in the ARC, but he was allowing himself to fall to temptation, just this once. He tried to light the 'death stick' as Connor so put it, but the cold December wind kept blowing out the flame.
Suddenly a clicking noise caught Danny's attention. He froze. He looked up slowly and saw it. It by the old willow tree. He slowly dropped his lighter and cigarettes and backed away. He slipped inside the house and shut the door behind him.
Danny allowed himself to let out a breath of relief before moving. He sprinted into the Living Room, where he did a quick head count. Everyone was here, apart Becker and Jess. But he heard they were upstairs.
"Everyone quiet!" Danny said quickly. Everyone fell silent, looking at Danny's pale face with curiosity and the Core Team looked at him with concern.
"Everyone needs to stay quiet." Danny whispered. Becker's family's faces fell in confusion and worry.
"What is it, Danny?" Matt whispered. Danny looked at Becker's family and then pulled Matt to one side.
"Future Predator. Outside." He whispered quietly in Matt's ear. Matt's face drained of colour. Everyone looked between the two men with confusion and concern.
"Everyone upstairs." Matt ordered in a hushed voice.
"Excuse me?" Granddad said loudly.
"Shhhhhh!" Matt and Danny shushed him in unison.
"I'll explain in a little while. But right now, I need everyone to go upstairs, to Becker's room, without anyone questioning me. Understood?" Matt said quietly. Everyone stared at him, but then Mrs Becker got up, picking up Megan.
Quietly, everyone went upstairs, Matt and Danny alerting the Core Team in hushed voices. They entered the attic, where Jess had just finished wrapping the presents. She grinned and stood up.
"Hey guys, what's going-…?" Jess asked brightly, but Abby pushed passed Shane and put her hand over Jess's mouth, silencing her. Abby put her finger to her lips as Jess looked at her with wide and confused eyes.
"There's Future Predator outside." Abby whispered in her ear. Jess noticeably stiffened and stared at Abby in fear. Abby lowered her hand and watched as Jess exhaled a deep shaky breath.
"There was an anomaly, here, four years ago while the ARC was still under investigation for Sarah's death. Becker took care of another one and was injured. That's what happened the night his family kept mentioning." Jess told the Core Team in a whisper.
"Where is Becker?" Connor asked quietly. Jess's hand went straight to her mouth and her eyes widened.
"Oh my gosh. He went for walk." Jess choked out, tears welling up in her eyes.
"Don't worry, Jess. Becker can handle himself." Matt said, grasping her shoulder encouragingly.
"What the hell is going on?" demanded Mel, getting fed up.
There was a sudden sound of something jumping onto the roof top. Everything went deadly silently. They could hear the Future Predator moving around on the roof. The window was shadowed as the Future Predator jumped down, Matt and the Core Team knelt down and Becker's family followed. Glass smashed downstairs, indicating that the Predator was now in the house.
"What was that?" Mr Becker whispered.
"Shhhut up!" Cutter hushed her, holding Evan closely in his arms.
"Right. I've had enough." Boots said, getting to her feet.
"Boots! No!" Stephan hissed but it was too late, she was gone but Matt was not far behind her.
"Boots! Wait!" Matt hissed, trying to grab her as she went down the stairs.
"I've had enough of your jokes, Matt." Boots whispered stubbornly before continuing. Matt followed her right downstairs to the first ground floor. Boots walked into the Living Room where the window had been smashed.
"So where is Becker then? I'm gathering he's going to jump out any-…" Boots started to say, but Matt covered her mouth and pinned her up against the wall.
"Do you want to die?" He hissed in her ear. Boots' eyes widened and she mumbled something against his hand. Clicking sounds came from behind him. Matt slowly turned around and saw the Future Predator, stalking into the room. He felt his heart beat ten times faster. The Future Predator slowly advanced upon them; Matt blocked Boots, deciding to buy her a few seconds more.
Suddenly Christmas music sprung into action. The Future Predator looked around, confused by the new sound.
'I wish it could be Christmas, everyday. When the kids start singing and the bands begin to play. Oh I wish it could be Christmas everyday. Let the bells ring out for Christmas!'
"Oi!" cried a voice. The Future Predator, Matt and Boots looked around and saw Becker, aiming an EMP gun at the Predator.
"Let's dance Ugly." The Captain said flicking his eyebrows.
"Not the time for cheesy oneliners." Matt whispered.
"Couldn't help myself." Becker said proudly before pulling the trigger and firing an electric shot at the Predator. But it was too fast and dodged around it. Becker's back hit the wall as he held the Future Predator back with his EMP rifle, but leaving him pinned up against the wall.
"Only a face a mother would love." Becker panted in effort to keep the Predator at bay.
"Mrs Becker please wait!" came Abby's voice.
"I've had enough. This joke is no longer funny." Mrs Becker said as she entered the living room with Abby and Connor close on her tail. She spotted the Future Predator and screamed loudly just as the Predator broke the EMP rifle in two. The Future Predator looked around in surprise.
"Not my mother!" Becker said, kicking it away from him.
Abby grabbed Mrs Becker and along with Connor, pulled the woman from the room. Becker rolled onto the floor, dodging the Predator's claws. He jumped to his feet and threw the broken EMP rifle at the Future Predator. It caught the broken EMP in it's mouth and was given an electric shock. Grabbing Boots and Matt, Becker dragged them out of the room, while the Future Predator was confused.
Becker followed Abby, Connor and Mrs Becker upstairs, dragging Matt and Boots with him. They all fell into the attic bedroom and slammed the door behind him. Becker panted wildly, his back pressed against the door.
"What was that thing?" Mrs Becker said, bending over and panting.
"You don't want to know." Connor replied while heaving.
"This is just my luck, isn't it?" Becker suddenly snapped. They all span around to look at him with confused, concerned and surprised expressions on their faces.
"I mean, nothing has been going right for me lately, has it? One week with my family was bad enough, but then my delightful Boss decides to give us all an extra week off. Now some people would find that a kind gesture, but I know he just did it to spite me! Because that means I get to spend not just one week but two weeks with my crazy family and my crazy friends all in the same small house! And before anyone says that this house isn't small, you should know that when you're growing up with ten brothers and sisters, it feels small." Becker ranted angrily.
"I keep getting interrupted. Everyone thought my Girlfriend wasn't real. My family keep trying to find out what happened 'that' bloody 'night', and let's be honest; in my line of work it's not a shocking incident! I've lost the little respect my friends did have for me, thanks to my family keep humiliating me. Hilary? Why call a boy; Hilary? You just wanted people to laugh at me, didn't you?" He continued.
"My 85 year old Granddad is daredevil. My Mam is humiliating. My Dad still disapproves of my work and yet he doesn't know what I do. Kyle and Jake are being annoying. I had to have a heart-to-heart with Rocky and Luke, which you all know I hate doing. Mel is a hormonal mess. Lottie thought I was gay." Becker said while crossing the room and pulling out the G18 machine pistol.
"Now to top it all, I've got a bloody great Future Predator running about my own home. Evy decides to tell me she's pregnant but not Frankie. Cookie is snogging one of my friends. Shane and Boots are sneaking around in my room and cause of them, everyone knows about 'the thing' apart from the one person I did want to know about it." Becker concluded.
He let a breath and attached the silencer to the gun. Everyone just stared at him, shocked.
"Well, at least your being open with us. I mean, it's a start." Boots said, rubbing the back of her neck. Becker gave her a sheepish look before walking across the room to the door. He put his hand on the doorknob but Jess grabbed his hand.
"What are you doing?" She asked quickly.
"I've got a date with an over-glorified wingless bat." Becker said, not looking at her.
"No! It's too dangerous! That thing was a…bloody monster! You can't go back out there! Please, just leave it to the experts, Jamie!" Boots said, tears welling up in her eyes. Becker looked around at his younger sister.
"I'll be fine. I've taken on loads of those things and lived, Stephanie. Anyway, haven't you got it yet? We are the experts." Becker said softly. With that said, he pressed a soft loving kiss against Jess's lips and then left the room. The attic bedroom was silent for a moment.
"He's lying." Jess said suddenly. Everyone looked to her with confused expressions. Tears fell slowly down her face.
"What do you mean?" Danny asked slowly.
"That was a goodbye kiss." Jess said darkly.
TO BE CONTINUED…
Author's Note: Aren't I just mean? Yet another cliff-hanger, but this time I'll have the next chapter up soon, I hope. My Internet has been dodgy for days. But things are finally looking up for me. Next Chapter is coming soon, hopefully.
