I couldn't help but think that Stephen was acting funny as we drove along. It was odd that he didn't want any assistance or help. I panicked for a brief moment when I thought maybe he was the traitor. He wouldn't do that though, no, not to Nick and the rest of us. Right? I shook my head of the thought. Whomever this person was they were good if they had us thinking it could very well be, well one of us.
We pulled up to the scene on the M25, emergency personnel surrounding the area with reporters. Jenny greeted us as we slowed the truck to a crawl. "Hi, I've shut down the motorway at the next two junctions, kept the camera crews out, shut down the mobile networks, there's a no fly zone in place and the eyewitnesses have been debriefed." Jenny said as she walked next to the slowly creeping truck.
Honestly I was surprised at her tenacity. I hadn't realized how much work went into being the PR spokesperson for the ARC. She was excellent at it, considering she had left the ARC shortly before us. If Claudia was anything like Jenny, besides appearance, I could see why Nick fancied her.
Once we were past the police tap Nick stopped the car. "And all that with your skirt tucked into your tights. Well done." Nick said, I had to force myself not to smack him at the comment.
"I'm not going to look. Mammoth. Go." Jenny said as Nick drove off into the direction where the mammoth was. .
The M25 was void of any humans, the only thing left was cars and the occasional debris of paper. It looked like something from an apocalyptic horror movie. The trumpet of the mammoth get louder and louder as we approached, with no other sounds it seemed to echo. Nick stopped the truck when we could see the mammoth in the distance. All of us collectively got out of the truck and gasped.
"Oh, you beauty." Nick whispered in astonishment. The mammoth walked around tossing cars left and right if they were in its path life they weighed nothing. "It's the biggest elephant that ever lived. There were still running around North America until about eight thousand years ago."
A large goofy smile spread across my face, everything that was in my mind was gone. I felt like I was watching this on film in Nick's class as he was giving a lecture. It was truly magnificent.
"It's a herd animal." Abby pointed out. "Can't smell its mates."
All of us stood gawking at the creature when a car horn sounded with pleas for help. The moment of awe suddenly turned into a rescue mission. All of us began to get to work as the person in the car continued to honk the horn alerting the mammoth at their presence. Abby and I ran to the back of the truck to see what we could use.
Abby pulled out the gun that we deemed too small before. "We use tranquilizers and not actual firepower right?" I asked suddenly concerned for the animal.
"Of course. Only firepower in an extreme emergency or with future predators." She said as she loaded the gun. Before I could inquire about what she meant by future predators she took off around the truck as Connor ran back the way we drove in.
Nick saw that Abby had the gun. "No, we're gonna need more firepower. Jeez, where the hell is Stephen?"
I pulled out my mobile to call him, it went straight to voicemail. "He's not answering. Hopefully that means he's on his way."
Connor ran back up next to us, looking at the highway sign that now said 'Shut up!' instead of 'Severe delays'.
"Tactful." Nick said but it did the job, the person had stopped honking the horn.
"That's what you said, isn't it?" Connor asked.
"It did the job, that's what counts. Hopefully we did it in time not to aggravate the mammoth further." I said as we watched the mammoth begin to calm down.
"I cant wait any longer." Nick said, referring waiting for Stephen.
"What are you going to do?" Connor said.
"This." Was the only thing Nick said as he ran off towards the people in the car. He snaked his way between the other cars, hiding when necessary for cover.
"Come on." Abby said before she followed after Nick.
Connor and I stood there watching the others thinking they were crazy as they ran towards the aggravated mammoth. "He do that often?" I asked as we both reluctantly started moving forward.
"You get used to it." he said before we split up, using the cars as the other had as cover.
I was the slowest of the bunch, watching as Connor and Abby ran off to the side with a boy from the vehicle. Honestly I was scared. I had no idea what I was doing or how to react with the large extinct creature in front of us. I watched as Abby ran off leaving Connor and the boy alone, speeding off in another vehicle. I looked over to the mammoth as it slowly approached where I was hiding. I could feel my mouth slowly open as I watched it pass by, shoving the car next to me a little to the side. It dwarfed a modern day elephant. As I watched it walk away I snapped my attention back to Nick hoping he would give me a sign of what to do.
"Distract it." I heard Nick say as he got out of the vehicle. I looked around wondering how you distract something of that size. I noticed Connor and the boy standing there watching the mammoth. I looked over to the mammoth before I ran over to where they stood. I could hear the woman stuck in the vehicle with Nick begin screaming at the aggravated mammoth.
"Connor, any ideas?" I asked breathlessly.
"No-" He began but something caught his eye. "Get to the semi." He said we all ran over to the semi a little ways away from the mammoth. Connor opened the door helping the kid in first before going in himself. I jumped in after they were settled closing the car door.
"We've got to find the keys." I said as we all began searching the cab.
We searched frantically for the keys when the sudden sound of a horn was heard. I looked over to see the boy had honked the horn of the semi, jumping back when Connor and I noticed what he had done. We looked out to the mammoth to see if that had done the trick. It had stopped attacking the car that others were in.
"Keep pressing it. It's working." Connor said with a smile. The kid continued to press on the horn distracting the Mammoth. The kid began pressing other various buttons in the cab, entertained at the different noises they were emitting. I diverted my attention back to the Mammoth that was now behind us, confused at where the noise of the horn had come from.
"Connor pull up the ramp!" Nick yelled, I looked in the side mirror to see running towards the truck we were in.
"Which button's the ramp, mate?" Connor asked the kid. He shrugged his shoulders in response.
"Just press them all." I said as we all began pressing buttons hoping that one of them was the ramp.
"Connor pull up the ramp!" Nick repeated as we felt the truck move, presumably the mammoth entering.
"Press every button you can see." Connor said as we all frantically pressed the buttons.
I looked in the mirror again, seeing a shadow cast on the ground, moving towards the truck. "Wait, I think we hit it." I said grabbing their hands. The truck began to move more and the trumpeting from the mammoth was directly behind us, confirming that it was trapped.
"We did it!" Connor yelled in excitement. "High five." He held his hand up for the kid to hit it.
"Yeah!" The kid said as he smacked Connors hand. Connor then held his hand closer to me to hit it.
With a relieved laugh I hit it. "Let's go get you back to your mum, yeah?" I said as we got out of the truck.
Nick walked over to us, Abby right behind him. "Nice work guys." Abby said as the truck continued to move.
"Where's his mum?" I questioned.
"She went down to Jenny to get checked out." Nick said with a smile.
"Well, let's go get you to her then right?" Connor said as the kid crawled onto his back for a piggy back ride.
We all piled into the truck and sped off towards the way we came. A job well done. The kid, Jake, was asking us all sorts of questions about the elephant that we had just encountered. Knowing what we knew, we didn't correct him.
We arrived back to the scene where the emergency personnel, reporters and Jake's mum were. Nick stopped the truck before the checkpoint. I turned around in my seat still laughing at Jake's questions when I noticed why Nick had stopped. I barely registered as Connor and Jake got out of the vehicle.
In front of us Stephen stood next to his car with Helen. Nick and I slowly got out of the car and approached the two. I looked to Helen then over to Stephen. The realization dawned on me. He had lied to us before when he said he would catch up to us. There was no other explanation to why she was now standing there with him.
All of us cautiously walked up to the duo, letting Nick take the lead. I stood with my hands on my hips, restraining myself from walking up closer to Stephen and mouthing off.
"So, where the hell have you been? We could have been killed?" Nick said to Stephen, ignoring Helen's form leaning against Stephens car watching him like prey.
"You weren't." Stephen said casually. I scoffed at his response as he played off not showing up was nothing.
"Not this time." Nick pointed out.
"You just going to ignore me, Nick?" Helen said as she adjusted her body on the car and began to eat an apple.
"She with you?" Nick asked, ignoring her.
"Not in the way you think." Stephen said looking over to me then back to Nick.
"You've been seeing her?" Nick asked.
Once again Stephen looked over to me before he answered shaking his head no. "Yeah, a couple of times, but, this is important."
I stared at Stephen, he had not only lied to all of us this morning, but he had lied to me yesterday when I asked the same question. I shook my head, this couldn't be happening. "You're fired." Nick muttered out barely able to hear what he had said and walked past Stephen.
Stephen gave me one last look before he walked after Nick. "She can help us." Stephen pleaded. Abby walked over to me and squeezed my shoulder.
"If you think Helen's here to help, then you're madder than she is." Nick said as he continued on walking. Stephen jogged to catch up, pleading for him to listen. I looked over to Helen who smiled at me as she continued to eat her apple like this was the most entertaining thing she had ever seen. I jerked forward towards her before Abby stopped me by standing in front of me.
"Are you still in love with her? Is that why you trust her? What about Skyla?" Nick said catching my attention when I heard my name. I looked over to the two who were now under the bridge standing face to face. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Helen shift towards the two waiting for an answer. "You know what? I don't care. Do what you want."
Helen walked over to Stephen as he turned around with sorrowful eyes. I couldn't hear what they were saying anymore. I looked to Abby, who was still in front of me. She gave me one nod as we walked back to the truck we had just gotten out of. Connor walked passed the awkward duo with Jake on his back so he could be reunited with his mother. Abby and I got into the truck and drove past them. As we drove I looked out the window to Stephen, the look in his eyes was hurt and sorrow but nothing compared to mine.
Abby and I drove through the rest of the crowd until we were back on the road back to the ARC. We didn't pay any mind about leaving Nick and Connor. Knowing they needed to deal with the mammoth in the semi and could easily catch a ride with someone back to the ARC. I continued to stare out the window watching the horizon pass by. Hannah was right all those weeks ago. Stephen had lied to me, at least twice in the last couple of days. Not about small stuff either. How would I be certain about anything else about our relationship?
Abby's mobile rang a couple rings before she picked it up. I ignored what she was saying as I questioned everything from the last couple months. How could you wake up next to someone in such peace just for a couple hours later for it to go to complete shit?
"That was Connor." Abby said catching my attention. "They're going to bring the mammoth back to the ARC until we can find an anomaly within it's time." I looked over to her as she gave me a sorrowful look. I nodded letting her know that I understood her. "I take it that you didn't know Stephen had been seeing Helen?"
I shook my head and sat up straighter in the seat. "I asked him that same question in the Silurian yesterday. He told me that he hadn't been alone with her since she graced the world with her presence again. He told me this after he told me about the affair they had." I admitted a small tear fell down my cheek. I wiped it away before she noticed.
"Honestly, I don't think any of us knew. I know that doesn't help but it's something." She said as she focused back on the road.
"Do you think there is any possibility that Stephen is the traitor?" I asked my thoughts from before, this time less certain that I was thinking crazy.
She shook her head. "I don't think so, but at this point I don't know."