Chapter 31

"Don't look so upset, boys," Hooper said, looking back at Michael and Lucas awkwardly sitting next to each other in the back seat. He looked between them with amusement. "You know, my cousin had identical twins. Two minutes apart, though the older one acted as if she were far more superior because of it." He chuckled. "I heard there was a delay when you came through the portal, Corporal. Guess that means you're now six months younger than your brother, huh? Ain't that something?" He laughed again and turned back around in his seat.

Michael glanced at Lucas. Bizarrely, he hadn't even contemplated the fact that now Lucas was the older brother. He'd had six extra months. Months which Michael had lost in a matter of seconds. They didn't find it as funny as Hooper.

Some time later, Michael had managed to direct Hooper's men to more or less the last place he had seen the dinosaur.

"Show me," Hooper demanded, leaping out of the vehicle.

Michael sighed and followed him as the other vehicles stopped nearby. He recognised this place from the map, but he wasn't sure he would be able to pinpoint exactly where the dinosaur was when he last saw it.

He thought back to that moment and shuddered.

"Sir!" one of the soldiers yelled from several feet away.

Hooper immediately jogged over to a soldier who was knelt down examining something.

Michael followed, looking over the man's shoulder before immediately recoiling.

"Guessing this is your man, Corporal?" Hooper said bleakly, looking up from the corpse below.

Michael nodded, forcing himself to look at Curran's body. He lay at an unnatural angle, his skin pale and his eyes glazed over. As he came closer, he could see the man's legs were broken and his left arm had been ripped off. The body was soaked in blood, staining the green foliage he had landed in. It was a miracle the wildlife hadn't eaten him yet, though the insects appeared to have been feasting on him all night.

The soldiers behind him gagged. Hooper instructed them to search the area, leaving Michael to mourn.

Michael felt a tightness in his chest and throat. He wanted to scream. Tim hadn't deserved this. He leaned forwards and gently closed the man's eyelids, hiding his glassy pupils.

"I recognise him," he heard Lucas comment behind him. "He was at the Sixer camp. Didn't he murder one of your own? Why are you so upset?"

Michael didn't even look at him.

"I don't expect you to understand, Lucas," Michael said through gritted teeth. "You've never had a friend in your life."

He couldn't determine how offended Lucas was as he glanced back. He didn't really care. Instead, he began digging into the dirt with his bare hands.

Lucas stepped closer. "What are you doing?"

"I'm burying him."

"We don't have time for this."

"I'll make time!" Michael snapped, digging deeper into the soil. "If you help me, it'll go a lot quicker."

"You're joking, right?"

Michael looked back, studying Lucas with contempt. "I suppose." Then he continued digging.

Lucas watched him for a few minutes. It was a pitiful sight. He feared his brother might just break down and cry, and that would be even more pathetic. He murmured something to Hooper, who looked back and rolled his eyes before following after his men.

Lucas grabbed a sonic and approached his brother, pointing the weapon in his direction. "Step back," he said.

Michael looked at him with horror. "What the hell are you doing?"

"Move!"

Michael got to his feet and stepped back, watching as Lucas blasted the sonic into the ground, forming a small crater. He fired again and again, making the hole bigger, until it was large enough to fit a human inside. Michael glanced at Lucas, surprised. Then he got to work on burying his friend. He knelt beside Curran, lifting him from his torso and placing him into the hole gently. After a minute, he noticed the man's weight lift slightly. Lucas had hold of his feet. Together, they placed Curran in the ground.

Michael was instantly reminded of when he buried Guzman. It felt much like this. Unceremonial. Messy. Uncivilised. It wasn't the funeral either of them deserved.

After they had placed the dirt over Curran's body, Michael and Lucas stood together, staring at the grave as they wiped the dirt from their hands. Michael was glad that it had been done. It was a small comfort to know that Tim was at rest and that Michael could pay him one last respect.

They stood in silence for a few minutes. Lucas glanced over at his brother.

"You were wrong," he said softly. "I do know what it's like to lose a friend."

He stared at Michael despondently for a second before leaving him alone.

Michael turned his gaze back to the fresh grave in front of him. He heard Lucas and Hooper talking behind him.

"There's a trail but apparently it goes cold about 20 klicks out."

"Which direction?" Lucas asked.

"Take a guess."

"Terra Nova."

"No," Michael said, turning around. "You said you'd leave Terra Nova out of this."

"Mmmm no we didn't," Hooper said obnoxiously. "We're getting this dinosaur. Are you gonna be a problem for us, Corporal?"

"We should just get rid of him right now," another soldier muttered.

"He has started to outlive his usefulness," Hooper agreed.

"Wait," Lucas said abruptly. "We want to get into Terra Nova, right? It'll be safer to take down the creature from inside a barricade."

"And?" Hooper said impatiently.

"If we want to get inside without wasting ammunition, we can use him as a bargaining chip. Then once we're in, we can take control and wait for the creature to come to us."

Michael watched Hooper consider this with a sly smirk. "I like it. Take over the colony and capture the creature."

"Two birds with one stone," Lucas agreed smugly.

"Using me as a hostage isn't going to get you inside," Michael said angrily.

"Shut up and get in the car," Hooper snapped, shoving him towards the vehicle. Michael complied hesitantly, shooting Lucas a nervous look. He wondered just what kind of mess Lucas was leading him into now.


EdenCorp 2150, Several Months Ago

Of course Lucas was on the roof. Michael found him, bottle of whiskey in hand, peering down at the chaos below him - watching the riots disrupting the streets opposite EdenCorp.

"I thought I'd find you here," he mumbled, pulling Lucas away from the edge. "Get down before you kill yourself."

Lucas looked him up and down in his Phoenix Group uniform. "Sorry, Captain," he said drunkenly. "It's the only peace I can get from our charming employers." He took a swig of his whiskey as Michael turned him around back to safety. "Care for some, brother? It's the finest Nichol's money can buy."

"No thanks." He continued leading his brother towards the exit. "You shouldn't even be out here, the air's not filtered up here."

Lucas halted. "Come on," he encouraged. "You look like you've had a rough day."

Michael considered it, then snatched the bottle and took a swig of it, much to Lucas' delight. Michael watched as his brother slumped to the floor. He looked pretty beaten down after the screaming match with their employer earlier. Turning to drink seemed to be his way of dealing with things lately. After the day Michael had had, he felt like he could do with an escape too.

"We lost a good man today," Michael admitted. "His name was Gus."

"A good man? Really?" Lucas scoffed. "In the Phoenix Group?"

"He was a volunteer," Michael explained. "He was just trying to do right by his family." He took another swig of the bottle, the liquid sliding down his throat with ease as he handed it back to Lucas.

"Ah. Just like you," Lucas said ironically. Sometimes Michael wanted to punch that smirk right off his stupid face.

"I guess." Michael sat opposite his brother, looking miserable. The more they drank, the less they cared about the poisonous fumes they were breathing in.

"Do you worry you'll be a bad father?" Lucas suddenly asked him, raising the bottle to his lips again. "That maybe it's just in our genetics?"

"I hope not." Michael paused, a worried look in his eyes. "You think I'll be just like Dad?"

"You were once," Lucas admitted. "But you changed. And I'm glad." He smirked at him. "I'm glad you're here. We can be like brothers again. Just like we were as kids, remember?"

"Hmm." Michael agreed half-heartedly. He remembered their close bond as children, how they would play and laugh together endlessly. They seemed to have so much more in common then. How easy would it really be to reignite a bond like that, after all that had happened between them?

Lucas' expression darkened as he thought about their father again. "I hate him," he muttered, the anger flashing in his eyes. "I hate him. Promise me you'll never go back to him."

"Not likely," Michael replied resentfully. "He ruined my life."

"That's it." Lucas passed the bottle back to him and watched Michael drink. "He will pay. Eventually."

"We'll make him pay together," Michael said, raising the bottle in a toast.

Lucas chuckled. He was so slumped over he may as well be lying down. "You do mean that, brother? You hate him just as much as I do?"

"You know I do," Michael said, though he doubted anyone could hate their father as much as Lucas did.

Lucas' smirk softened and he gazed up at Michael, trying to appear solemn through that drunken haze. "You wouldn't betray me, would you, brother?"

Michael swallowed the whiskey, returning his brother's intense stare. "Of course not, Lucas."

"Good." Lucas sat up, stealing the whiskey from Michael's grasp again. "Because if you did, you would regret it." He chuckled again, downing the rest of the liquid before throwing the bottle to the floor. "My work calls," he said bitterly, wobbling to his feet before staggering to the exit, mumbling profanities and insults about Nichol and her rich colleagues.

Michael frowned, watching him, repeating his words in his head and wondering if he really meant them.

He hoped he'd never find out.


Terra Nova, Now

"Is this what you wanted?" Michael asked Lucas with contempt as they sat in the back of the rover. "All those months at EdenCorp, grovelling to Nichol, all those long nights in the lab doing her bidding. Will this make it all worth it?"

"There was a time you wanted this too," Lucas reminded him. "You wanted our father to pay just as much as I did."

"No," Michael said, appalled. "I never wanted this. There are hundreds of people at Terra Nova, Lucas. You're willing to endanger them so you can feel better about yourself."

Lucas scoffed. "Collateral -"

"Collateral damage," Michael interrupted him disdainfully, remembering Lucas' views on civilian casualties. "Right. Is my son collateral damage? This is his home now."

Michael watched Lucas. He was usually more expressive in his features, but now he appeared just as stoic and unreadable as their father. Michael assumed the conversation was over, but after a long moment, Lucas spoke up.

"I thought killing him, destroying everything he worked for would bring me some peace. But now I realise perhaps nothing will."

Michael tried not to feel sorry for him. But he truly was a hollow man. Even the hate he'd held inside for all these years was no longer fulfilling for him. He was getting emptier by the minute. Michael took a hold of his shoulder. "Then please stop," Michael implored, noticing that the colony was in sight. He glanced nervously out through the window. "Stop all of this."

Lucas examined his expression, his gaze narrowing with suspicion. "Hooper, stop the rover."

Hooper glanced back at him. "Huh?"

"I said stop!" Lucas yelled at the driver who slammed the brakes on.

Michael breathed a sigh of relief. Maybe his brother had changed his mind after all.

"What the hell are we stopping for?" demanded Hooper, clearly agitated.

Lucas didn't break his gaze from Michael's, reading him like a book. It was like a weird intuition thing. He knew what was going on.

"Where are the explosives planted, Michael?"

Michael sighed defeatedly.

"It's smart," Lucas admitted. "It's what I would have done if I were in your shoes. The colony's under threat, there's an unstoppable creature coming. I don't blame the old man for wanting to blow it to hell. Unless we triggered the bomb first, of course. We don't want that, do we?"

"Alright," Michael said. "I'll show you."

Disgruntled, Michael disarmed a few of the explosives along the treeline. Enough to satisfy Hooper, who didn't want his expensive asset to burn up in flames. He'd left a few active further along, but Hooper didn't need to know about those. As long as they had a safe path through, he was satisfied.

Partly, Michael was relieved. At least he wasn't going to be blown to pieces today.

His heart rate began to increase again as they approached the colony. He could see his colleagues manning the towers. They spotted Hooper's men immediately and raised their weapons.

Their rover came to a halt in front of the gates and Hooper dragged Michael out of the vehicle.

They heard yelling on the other side of the gates as more men came rushing over. He looked up and saw Alicia in the tower, watching with trepidation as Michael was pushed forward. He couldn't help being reminded of when the roles were reversed, and she was the one being bundled out of the Sixer vehicle. He remembered the panic he felt at the sight of her as their prisoner. He hated that he was being used against her in this way.

"Terra Novans!" Hooper yelled. "Or whatever's left of you. I'm here with a proposition."

"What do you want?" Wash shouted back furiously, pointing her weapon directly at him.

"Where's your Commander?"

"He's on his way."

"I'll make this simple then," Hooper announced. He kicked Michael's shins, causing him to buckle to his knees. Then he pointed the gun at his head. "Let us in or we'll kill the Commander's son. You know, the one he actually likes."

Michael felt the hard metal on the back of his skull. His breath caught in his was staring back at him with an intensity, seething with anger. But he could see the fear in her eyes too. Michael knew she was weighing up her options. She had to make a decision: accept defeat and hand the colony over to the enemy, or let Michael die. He knew it couldn't be the former. They couldn't lose the colony again. Not when Hooper wanted to invite a monster to their doorstep.

She had to fight. She had to stop them while she still could. She would know that. He locked eyes with her. This was familiar. He had a sickening feeling in his gut, being reminded of the night he thought he watched her die. Lucas had the gun to her head, about to pull the trigger. But she kept looking at Michael right until the last second.

So he focused on her. He nodded. It's okay. Fight. She had sacrificed herself once. If this was what it took to give her and their son a fighting chance then he was willing to sacrifice himself too. It's okay.

She hesitated. There was pain in her expression; an impossible decision. So this was what it was like to be on the other side. A long moment went by and Hooper was losing patience.

"No? Okay then."

The gun fired. Wash screamed. Blood splattered across Michael's face. For a long second, his body froze. In shock. He looked down, noting he was still in one piece. What the hell? Trembling, he looked over to see Hooper's body crumpling to the floor behind him, and Lucas holding a pistol up where his head had been.

Confusion swept over everyone as Lucas threw down the pistol and Hooper's men instinctively pointed their weapons on him.

"On behalf of poor dead Hooper here, I surrender," Lucas declared cooly, as if he hadn't just shot a man in the head right in front of everyone. "I'd like to talk to my father now."

Michael stared at him, eyes wide with alarm. All he could think was that he could taste Hooper's blood in his mouth.

"What the hell are you doing?!" one of Hooper's men screamed at Lucas.

"Oh, he was going to get you all killed anyway," Lucas said dismissively.

"You're surrendering?" another spluttered.

"Trust me," Lucas said, smiling with that look of madness in his eyes.

"What the hell is going on here?"

Lucas turned around to see the Commander coming through the gates, fury and confusion all over his face. "Lucas, what have you done?"

Before Lucas could respond, he felt a rifle being pressed to his shoulder blade. "Stand down," a soldier warned him.

Lucas grit his teeth. "Look, I know which side of the gates I want to be on when that thing comes. How about you?"

"We had orders."

"Screw your orders. Don't you people ever think for yourselves?"

"He just wanted to save his brother," another soldier said angrily. "He doesn't care about this mission. I say shoot them all!"

All of a sudden, the soldier pointing his rifle at Lucas fell to the floor. Lucas turned to see the man had been shot. They looked around, trying to spot the attacker, when another man fell, and another.

Michael looked back towards the treeline, seeing Jim, Skye, and Mark running out with their weapons. A gunfight ensued, the Phoenix Group soldiers firing back in retaliation, taking cover behind their vehicles. Michael stayed low, passing Hooper's corpse and dodging the bullets to grab Lucas.

"Lucas - we need to get inside!" He pulled him towards the gates. Lucas didn't argue. They ran, but not without unwanted attention. Michael felt the bullets fly past him as one of the soldiers turned their weapon on him. A second later, he looked back to see the man collapse in agony. He looked up at the guard tower. Alicia was covering them. He kept running, dragging Lucas along with him until they got to the gates. Taylor pulled them inside, taking cover behind the fence.

At the worst possible moment, a gigantic roar echoed throughout the colony, deafening almost everyone as the firing stopped and people had to cover their ears to muffle the terrible noise.

They all looked at each other.

"It's here," Lucas said.

They saw the violent shaking of the trees first, then the flashes of its scaly skin as it tore through the shrubbery.

Then everything erupted into fire as the explosives Michael left hidden were triggered, causing an inferno to explode by the treeline.

There were screams of terror. The enemy soldiers staggered to the ground in shock as the explosion gradually ended, leaving a mess of fire and smoke. Inside the gates, the colonists peered out carefully.

Through the fumes, a large head emerged; the left half silver and scaly, the right half fleshy and pink where the explosion had burned half the creature's face off. It let out an agonising roar. Then it started to run.

"Close the gates!" Taylor yelled urgently.

"No!" Michael exclaimed. "Skye's still out there!"

Taylor looked through the gaps in the fence, seeing Skye with Jim and Mark, all taking cover in the long grass. Taylor locked eyes with Jim, who nodded at him.

"Close the gates," Taylor said again, solemnly. "We have to protect the colony."

"Dad…"

"Do it!" Taylor demanded. "They'll be fine. I'll get to them." He grabbed his rifle, just in time to witness the dino trampling the Phoenix Group and their vehicles. The soldiers fired desperately, many of them retrieving new weapons from their vehicles. They fired what looked like darts into the creature's body. The Terra Novans fired too, angering it further.

Michael looked over to see Skye and the others nearing the gates, just as the dino flung around to hit Skye with its sharp tail. It sent her flying back towards the treeline.

"SKYE!" Michael yelled fearfully, but before he could do anything, Lucas bolted out the gates as they were closing, ducking underneath the barrier. Michael instinctively went to follow him when his father stopped him in his tracks.

"I'll get them. Stay here. Protect the colony!" Then he ducked under the barrier and sprinted after his son.

Michael looked up at Wash in the tower, who gave him an encouraging look. Then she looked back at the dino and ordered her people to shoot it down. Michael complied as someone handed him a weapon and he began to fire through the gaps in the fence, trying desperately to down this bullet-absorbing monster.

As the creature screeched in pain, Lucas sped towards Skye, ignoring the beast as it chewed up men and spat them out in his direction. Skye was laid down in the grass with Jim at her side and Mark covering them. Lucas swiftly pushed Jim away, leaning over Skye to see if she was alright. She was bleeding profusely through her shirt.

"Bucket…"

Her bright eyes focused on him. She could barely speak.

As the Commander ran up to them, Jim pulled him aside. "We need to get her to Elisabeth." Taylor nodded.

"Just need to get past this thing," Mark reminded them, ensuring he was between them and the rampaging monster that was going through soldier after soldier.

Taylor knelt beside his son. Lucas had his hands on Skye's wounds, attempting to stop the blood flow. But it wasn't working. The fear in his eyes was so real; so intense. For the first time in a long time, Taylor could see that he was terrified.

"Son…" He put a hand on Lucas' shoulder.

Lucas didn't bat him away. To everyone's surprise, he let his father touch him.

"We can save her, but we need to get her inside. Can you carry her?"

Lucas looked up at him, the green in his eyes obscured with moisture. He nodded.

"Alright." Taylor stood up, holding his rifle. "Let's do this."

Lucas lifted Skye in his arms, following his father as he led them for the gates.

The dinosaur's behaviour was getting more erratic. It was obvious the Phoenix Group had been shooting it with some sort of tranquilizer. However, the dosage hadn't been able to knock it out completely. It's movements were slow and heavy, but still dangerous. In fact, in its new, dazed state, it began to lash out in a different manner. It began thrashing at the gates.

The impact of the dinosaur's body against the gates made Michael and the other Terra Novans step back. They could see the force had caused a crack in the colony's barriers.

"Lieutenant!" Michael called for Wash's attention. She glanced at the deteriorating defences as the dino stepped back and rammed the gates, again and again. The wood began to snap and bend.

"Get back!" Wash ordered. "Get away from the gates!"

The Terra Novans stepped back further as they witnessed their defences crumbling. That thing was coming in; they couldn't stop it now.

Taylor stopped a safe distance away from the gate, realising their entry was blocked.

"What now?" said Mark, watching helplessly.

The group jumped back in surprise as another large creature leapt out in front of them, launching itself into the mutant dinosaur. A Carnotaurus; it had come at the dino with such a force that it sent them both toppling into the gates.

And that was it. The gate crashed open, the two creatures wrestling each other in the debris. Bits of wood flung into the air, hitting some of the soldiers. Michael himself was knocked to the ground as a large chunk slammed into his chest. He hit the floor, winded, unable to breathe.

He became aware of a pair of hands on him, lifting him to his feet. Alicia. She was yelling at them to get back as the dinos continued their fight through the colony. As Michael moved he heard a loud crash behind him; the Carno had thrown the creature into the ground, narrowly missing him.

The soldiers spread out for cover, trying to avoid the messy fight as the mutant picked the Carno up by its neck and flung it into Boylan's Bar, knocking down the canopy over its entrance. The Carno picked itself up quickly and charged. It forced the creature into the wooden beams of the Command Centre. They instantly snapped and collapsed, the wooden staircases falling to pieces. The Cruentusaur raised its head, tearing through the balcony and ripping out the barriers.

Outside, Commander Taylor watched with horror as his home was destroyed; his Command Base crushed to pieces.

"Dad," a meek voice came from behind him.

Lucas, covered in blood, presented Skye in his arms. She was fading fast.

Taylor looked at them, momentarily speechless. He wasn't used to Lucas looking so helpless. Moreover, he hadn't been "dad" to him in a long time. His eyes cast over Skye's weak frame. For once, his son was genuinely asking for his help. He was asking him to save her.

"I'll get Elisabeth out of there," Jim announced, not waiting for a reply before racing inside to ensure his wife's safety.

Taylor tried to focus. He spoke into his communicator, ordering all soldiers to the North Gate. He looked back at his son again. He wasn't the man he had fought and beaten. He was that scared child again, terrified of losing someone he loved.

"We'll get the doctor," he assured him. "Stay here with her. Reynolds - with me." He and Mark hastily disappeared inside the colony.

Lucas watched them go. He gently placed Skye in the dirt, kneeling beside her as he watched the tears slide down her cheeks.

"Bucket?"

"Lucas." She gasped. "It hurts."

"The doctor will be here in a minute." He examined the wound again but all he could see was blood, thick and dark. He frowned.

Through her pained expression, she managed a smirk. "Tears?" she whispered, noticing his own eyes gleam with a thick film of moisture. "For me?"

He exhaled shakily, letting the moisture drip down his face. He knew she didn't have much time. He wanted to save her, the way she saved him. But once again, he was failing.

He kept his gaze on Skye, watching those blue eyes start to close.

"Stay awake, Bucket," he told her. "The doctor is coming."

"Can't…" she said sleepily. She coughed weakly as she attempted to sit up.

"Save your energy," he warned her.

Another tear slid down her face. "I'm afraid."

"There's no need to be afraid. You're braver than you think, Bucket." He looked down. "It takes a strong person to go through what you have and still be loyal, good. I couldn't be that strong."

"You could," she rasped, looking at him from the corner of her eyes. It was too much of a strain to turn her head.

He shook his head disbelievingly. "You still think you can save me."

He watched her tiny smirk, then he heard some unsettling noises behind him. He spun around to see a mix of dinos circling them. Ovosaur, Howlers, Nykoraptors. He immediately crawled over to a soldier's corpse, grabbing a discarded weapon and fired shots at them, yelling, warning them off. Maybe they'd be distracted by the corpses in front of them, but they didn't seem interested. Instead, they headed into the colony. Lucas tried not to let his confusion distract him. He crawled back over to Skye.

"Bucket?"

Her eyes were closed, her body still. He shook her but there was no response.

Lucas got to his feet, facing away from her, feeling like he was about to explode. He let out a disparaging yell, hearing it echo satisfyingly in the distance. He swiped at his sore eyes, catching his breath.

He turned around. His fearful expression suddenly darkened. Looking at Skye, he realised his father was going to let her die, just like he did with his mother. He wasn't going to let history repeat itself.

He picked her up and took her inside the colony, towards the raging battle.