NICK
He didn't even have time to shout. The moment the predator had come through the anomaly, Cutter was stumbling backwards, pulling Evelyn with him. He threw a hand over Evelyn's mouth as they fell to the ground, remembering what little they knew about these creatures. One of the Fieldwork men, though, wasn't as clever or as lucky. He let out a shriek, and the predator was on him.
Helen was already up with her knife out; Cutter pulled Evelyn to her feet and dragged her in the other direction as the predator, towards what remained of the house. "Quietly," he hissed in her ear. "They're as good as blind, but they hunt through hearing." Only when she nodded did he take a hand from her mouth, and the two watched in horror as the scene unfolded.
"Shoot it!" Captain Jones was shouting, once it was clear that the man under attack could not suffer any further if they missed. His men opened fire, but the predator moved with the lightning speed Cutter remembered, emitting its hideous crrrrk. It ran for shelter behind the low front wall of the yard, then darted behind one of the cars parked on the street.
"Don't let it get away!" Cutter yelled. If the predator escaped into greater London, utter destruction would follow. He saw Connor standing, petrified, beside the car behind which the predator was lurking, but it chose to move the other way, in pursuit of another of the soldiers. The sound of gunfire wasn't quite enough to mask the soldier's screams as he fell, nor the choking way in which they were silenced as the predator's claws tore into his throat. Beside him, Evelyn was pressed against the wall of the house, her eyes hopelessly wide with pure fear.
"Shoot it!" Jones bellowed as the predator dived for a third man. Cutter watched Connor fall into a crouch by the car, making himself a smaller target; he saw Helen pressing herself against a tree with her knife in her hand. The remaining Fieldwork men had their guns up and firing, but the creature had moved away once more, this time aiming for –
Claudia Brown. She screamed and stumbled backwards, falling to the grass as the predator landed just in front of her, croaking its terrible cry. "Nick!"
He put two fingers in his mouth and whistled as loudly as he could. The piercing sound made Evelyn flinch beside him and, miraculously, the predator turned from menacing Claudia to fix its near-blind eyes on Cutter instead. "Oh God," he gasped, casting hopelessly around for any sort of weapon. "Evelyn –"
The predator screeched as bullets tore through its flesh, and leapt right over Cutter to scramble onto the roof of the ruined house. Cutter spun around to keep it in his field of vision, watching it effortlessly avoiding hails of bullets from the soldiers' guns. It was distracted; he looked over to Claudia, who was still lying on the grass. "Stay here," he said to Evelyn, and ran across the yard.
He knelt beside Claudia, reaching out to help her sit up. "You okay?"
She clung to him, her face a mask of sheer terror. "Nick," she gasped, bright tears in her eyes and blood on her face – he wasn't sure whose it was. He wrapped his arms around her, holding her close, murmuring reassurances over and over in her ear. He could feel her heart beating against his.
"It's okay, it's okay, it's okay," he said, his eyes still on the predator. As he watched, it leapt from the roof into the backyard of the house; the remaining Fieldwork men, six in all, gave chase. "Connor," he called over his shoulder, "get Dr Murphy down here, quickly." There were wounded and dead men all around him and a shaking Claudia in his arms. He remembered that Helen was there somewhere, too, but she seemed very far away in many ways at that moment.
He could hear the soldiers shouting and the sound of gunfire from behind the house. Evelyn was still standing against the crumbling wall. He wanted to go to her, but he couldn't leave Claudia now. Even now, in the middle of everything, he took in the scent of her hair and the warmth of her arms around his neck. She was hiding her face in his shoulder; he could feel her breath and her tears against his skin. He wasn't sure which of them was trembling anymore.
"Is it gone?" he heard her whisper.
"Not yet."
She finally turned, scanning the scene, the tiniest frown of confusion creasing her face. "Where...?"
"Behind the house." He touched her lips with a finger to remind her of the need to be quiet, but the way she looked at him then turned it into something else entirely. He caught his breath. His finger moved to her chin, tilted it upwards. She closed her eyes.
"Cutter!" came the scream from behind him.
Connor. He looked to the house, saw the predator on the roof, watched it jump to land only feet away. There was no time to find any sort of weapon. He threw himself in front of Claudia, held up his hands –
He heard Evelyn scream, watched her throw a broken piece of brick in a truly magnificent cast, hitting the predator right between the eyes. He watched it flinch, growl, turn, jump. He heard another scream – Evelyn again, but different, interrupted – and then silence. He saw Helen's knife, another unbelievable throw, buried in the predator's neck, seconds too late. He heard another scream. His, this time. Too late. Evelyn.
