Chapter 25

Jenny and Abby remained against the cave wall whilst the two soldiers pointed their guns at them to ensure their complete cooperation. They showed no further interest in their previous endeavor, and Jenny was sure it was because they didn't want to be caught with their trousers down by their boss. But as Helen was such a vile woman, Jenny doubted she'd object to them being violated in that way, and was half convinced the after attempting to extract any information from them, she'd either allow the soldiers to have them or else kill them straight away and be done with it. After all, it's not like Helen could let them skip merrily back to the ARC; they had heard too much. From what Jenny could gather, Helen (possibly at the direction of Leek) was collecting creatures from the past and taking them back to the present. They were most likely forming some sort of 'army', although how they expected to control such creatures was beyond Jenny's capacity to imagine. However, Jenny hardly cared about such matters; all she really cared about was Cutter. If she allowed Helen and her soldiers to discover him lying merely seven feet away, they would surely kill him. He may be her ex-husband, but that hadn't stopped her planting that bomb which could have easily killed any of them. Such blatant disregard for his life left Jenny in little doubt that she would not hesitate to either terminate him on the spot or leave him here to die alone. On the other hand, if Cutter's presence went unnoticed and Jenny and Abby were either killed or kidnaped, Cutter would be left to die anyway. This is what would inherently be defined as a catch twenty-two. Jenny had not cared for the book and cared less for the actual situation.

What felt like an age later, shuffling strides could be heard approaching the cave. Then she appeared wearing her usual camouflage get-up that was nearly as torn as the outfit Jenny herself was wearing. Her hair had been cut so that it was as short as a man's style, but it suited her; it seemed to top off the whole explorer look that she seemed to be going for. Upon seeing her after so long, the bubble of hate that Jenny had obviously been reserving just for Helen seemed to burst and hot anger seemed to pulsate through her at the mere sight of the woman.

"What have you - ?" Helen began to ask the soldiers, but she stopped abruptly as she spotted Jenny and Abby.

Her expression was a curious one. Her face was cold, and almost impassive, but her eyes gave her away. When they locked with Jenny's, they betrayed her recognition of them and widened slightly. If Jenny didn't know any better, she would of thought that Helen was scared. But why should she be? Here where her enemies . . . alone . . . unarmed . . . defenseless . . . surely that was what every psychopath dreams of? As she stared at her, Jenny thought she saw Helen's gaze flit over to the corner where Cutter lay hidden in the darkness, and for some reason, the colour seemed to drain from her face. However, she recovered herself almost immediately.

"Take these two back to The Base," Helen ordered the soldiers. "I'll follow you on, I just want to assess how they've been living. They are not to be harmed yet but if they struggle . . . you know what to do."

The soldiers nodded, and made to grab Jenny and Abby. However, Jenny smacked their hand away roughly and before she could stop herself she screamed at Helen:

"HOW COULD YOU DO THIS!"

"I think that would count as struggling" one of the soldiers said.

Then, before she was even aware of what was happening, Jenny felt, for the second time in her life, a cloth being clamped over her mouth, obviously soaked with chloroform. She tried to hold her breath as the putrid fumes seemed to seep into her pores, but it was futile. Before her vision fogged completely, her last sight was one of Abby collapsing onto the floor as she, herself, felt herself falling backwards into the body behind her.

********

Jenny felt her senses returning to her slowly; a dirty metallic smell filled her nostrils and the cold floor that she seemed to be lying on was freezing cold, so much so that her ear that was resting on it was numb. She opened her eyes which cost her an effort, but was unable to raise her head; she just didn't seem to be able to summon the energy. In her line of vision was a large metal door which was no doubt locked. From this, she deduced that she was in a cell. But were was Abby? What had happened to Cutter? At this thought, Jenny seemed to find the strength to heave herself up onto her arms, which were surprisingly untied. Upon looking around, she spotted Abby, still apparently unconscious a few feet away from her. They were, in fact, in a small square cell ; the walls were metal, dirty and rusted in places. The only movement was coming from a fan on the peeling ceiling that revolved slowly to spread the little oxygen that came in through the two tiny vents on the walls around the room. A minuscule round window at the top of the farthest wall allowed little light to enter, making the room incredibly dull.

Jenny half crawled over to Abby and tried to revive her.

"Abby," she said in a horse whisper as she shook her roughly. "Abby, wake up!"

The girl's eyes flickered open, but were unfocused and heavy. Jenny placed her hands on either side of Abby's face to try and get her to recognise her. Finally, they seemed to focus.

"Jenny?" she asked in a croaky voice; neither of their body's seemed to be working properly, no doubt because of the drugs.

Jenny helped Abby sit up slowly; she looked very dazed and confused.

"Were are we?" she asked after a while of having her face in her hands.

"I don't know," Jenny answered truthfully. "In some sort of cell in 'The Base" probably."

"And Cutter?"

"I don't know," Jenny replied quietly, before attempting to stand up. She found herself unsteady on her feet and extremely dizzy, which forced her to sit back down.

"Maybe he's . . ." Abby began, but stopped as the large metal door seemed to be opening.

Instinctively, both women scurried over to the far wall and waited for those soldiers to come and finish what they started. But it was Helen.

"I see you're awake," she said, as she closed the door behind her. It was not a question, so the women remained silent. She continued, "I don't suppose either of you would like to tell me what you were doing in the Eocene epoch?"

Again, the two remained silent, unwilling to feed that horrible woman with any information.

"Very well," she nodded, with a knowing smile on her face. "I'll come back when you two are in a more talkative mood . . ."

She turned to leave, but Jenny could not let her go . . . not without knowing.

"Wait!" she exclaimed, getting to her feet shakily. "Where's Cutter? What's happened to him?"

Helen turned and back at Jenny with an unreadable expression. After a long pause, she looked down at the floor.

"He's dead," she said in a hollow voice. "I did all I could, but he died on the way back here."

Jenny felt as though ice had landed in the pit of her stomach. No . . . no . . . it couldn't be true . . . not Cutter, he's strong . . .

"You're lying," Jenny spat back, hot tears falling uncontrollably from her eyes.

"I'm sorry," Helen said quietly, before leaving and shutting the door behind her. The unmistakable sound of a bolt could be heard.

Jenny couldn't believe it. No, she wouldn't believe it! She rushed over to the door and banged on it with both hands, all tiredness forgotten.

"YOU'RE LYING!" she screamed through the door, determined not to stop banging until someone told her the truth.

She could feel Abby's hands on her shoulder's trying to pull her back away from the door; could hear her voice saying meaningless words of comfort. But she didn't care. All she cared about was that deep down inside her, she knew that Helen was telling the truth.

********