Chapter 3

A New Normal

- Present Day -

When you think of war, what springs to mind? Chaos? Gunfire? Deafening crashes and screams of terror? .. or silence?

Silas Irving huddled lower behind the wall of mud concealing his presence, listening. The faint twang of an arrow, a muffled intake of breath, the crunch of leaves beneath padded feet, the usual chirpings and whistlings of the forest, and the occasional creak of a trebuchet in the distance. Then the whole world seemed to freeze and silence reigned as every creature alive waited for the crash.

Three .. two-

The ground shook angrily, throwing up dust and leaves into the air and receiving a series of indignant squawks and roars in return. Irving readjusted his cap, glancing at his companion in annoyance.

"Dang Deseck's gettin' earlier and earlier." He hissed. Lucas offered a brief smile in reply, but didn't look up from his crossbow. It had landed hard on the ground several days ago and had been been declining in power ever since. Looked like the trigger mechanism was starting to work its way loose. If only he could get back to the colony and tweak it. There was only so much one could do out in the field ..

"What do you see?" He laid his crossbow down beside him to re-tie his filthy shoelaces, throwing a questioning glance at Silas. Irving was peering over the trench wall, his long nose sitting on the edge as though it was tired and enjoying a well-deserved rest.

"Not much. I think they're regrouping." The lanky soldier waited for a few more seconds and then turned, slumping back down against the packed dirt. "No sign of movement yet. Ours or theirs."

Lucas grunted in reply and turned back to his crossbow.

It figured. Thus far, it had been mostly a war of intelligence gathering. The two sides slunk around each other, avoiding conflict where possible and trying their best to reach the other side's base without detection, almost as though they were playing some sort of ridiculous game .. with dire consequences for losing. On the rare occasion a side succeeded in their approach, the confrontation was brief and a quick retreat was usually carried out shortly thereafter.

When the battle had begun, Terra Nova had had the upper hand, possessing the element of surprise with their electromagnetic interference devices hidden at strategic intervals for miles around the colony, but after their initial shock and horror at having their weapons declared useless, the future had caught on quick. Terra Nova's initial assault, meant to win the battle and drive the enemy away there and then, had been met with brutal opposition. They had failed on the basis of numbers alone, and several of their own people had been killed in the fallout. 2151's army was much bigger and stronger, even if they had been largely unarmed. Strength, numbers, and a significant portion of knives still made for a punishing fight.

Both men jumped as a feathered head peered suddenly over the wall and into the trench, followed closely by a gangly body. Silas blew out a terrified breath as he resisted the urge to smack the creature senseless.

"Idiot! I told you to come back from the other side, Loretta."

The ovosaur had curled its legs underneath it and flopped down in the narrow space across from him. It didn't appear to be listening.

The future soldiers had quickly adapted to using ancient forms of warfare, but their weapons were crude and had a habit of failing in the heat of the moment. Despite the numbers disadvantage, now that the Terra Novans were making progress with the dinosaurs, the battle was on more even footing. The soldiers from 2151 had probably figured out by now that they could bypass the electromagnetic handicap by using old-fashioned, non-electric pistols and gunpowder, but those had been obsolete for nearly a hundred years and as such, were in extremely small supply. Short of pillaging museums, the weapons would have to be manufactured from scratch, and producing an army's worth of antique guns en masse was no small feat. It would take time - treasured time that the Terra Novans fully intended to make the best possible use of.

"Why are you still wearing that thing?"

Silas looked up in surprise, but at Lucas' nod, he fell to studying the thin little whistle around his neck, rolling it in his fingers thoughtfully.

"Ah, you never know. Maybe one day it'll actually work."

"Not with that thing, it won't." Lucas eyed the pile of Ovosaur across from them. "That sorry excuse for a dog can't even come when she's called. I'm sure she doesn't even hear the whistle half the time."

"She could learn." Silas countered indignantly, putting the whistle into his mouth and clamping it between his teeth like an old cigar. "Just gotta find out what makes her tick."

Lucas shook his head.

"Curran doesn't think it'll ever work for Ovosaurs. Too stupid. Maybe the Paras-" He glared as a fist collided with his upper arm. Silas leaned back, eyes flashing as he inclined his head in the sleeping Ovosaur's direction.

"She'll hear you!"

"Are you kidding-"

Silas held up a finger, cocking his head as the whistle slid out of his mouth, forgotten. A moment later, the Ovosaur's head pricked up.

"Incoming!"

They cowered against the dirt bank as a shower of dust exploded into the air nearby. The future appeared to be testing their own methods of medieval warfare.

"Cheats." Silas spat, dusting himself off once again as he extracted a clod of dirt from his mouth. "Can't come up with any of their own ideas."

Lucas grunted in agreement. One of their most recent discoveries was that, thanks to the large satellite dish atop a shack in the centre of the enemy base, the future army was still supplied with power. Intelligence had recently reported the existence of several access points throughout the small colony by the ocean - wireless power distribution stations, to be exact. Though the actual dish that generated the power was protected by a containment field - a Faraday cage which blocked all electrical interference from reaching the device (an idea, coincidentally, that both sides used and each insisted the other stole) - the access points were free targets. As a result, Base Zero had power .. intermittently. Frequent Terra Novan attacks meant that the power couldn't be relied upon at the best of times, not that it was any use at all in the field anyway. As soon as they ventured far enough outside of the base, they would inevitably run into one of Terra Nova's infuriating electromagnetic interference fields and their tech would go dead again - the exact moment of frustration being something that any nearby assailants took great delight in witnessing.

"Pick up your bow."

Silas flung out an arm and dusted off his half-buried weapon laying in the dirt. He was a terrible shot with a bow, and didn't mind admitting it. Any weapon was better than none, but he would've given just about anything to use a pistol. As it was, he'd go for the pair of knives in his belt before using the wretched stick.

Nevertheless, he retrieved it, petting the Ovosaur's head as he sat up. Though just as dusty as the humans were, she seemed unhurt by the gravel shower. Silas opened his water flask quietly, peering over the trench wall again as he sipped it. Where were the others? It seemed to have been hours since they left. Curran and Skye had happened upon the two a short while back and offered to check the area for them while they caught their breath - Lucas and Silas had been out running around all day with barely a break - but now they were wishing they had rejected the kind suggestion.

Lucas leaned his head back against the wall, closed his eyes, and listened. After the colony leaders had left, there had been random raids and small spitfires for a couple of weeks, but nothing too worrying. However, in the last ten or so days, the fighting had started in earnest. People were now returning to the colony on stretchers, or worse, not returning at all. The brutality of the battle was escalating with each passing day, and the longer it stretched on for, the more desperate each side would become. The dinosaurs that inhabited the forest would grow quieter and less dangerous with the coming cold, but the jungle itself was deadlier now than ever. He opened his eyes and stared up at the grey sky, fingering the wobbly trigger of his crossbow absently. Speaking of cold ..

The actual future army invasion had taken place in the first few days of October. Three weeks ago. The temperature had dropped significantly shortly after. It was the strangest autumn anyone could remember - summery and warm one day and freezing cold the next. The soldiers headed out in summer gear, but had to make sure they brought jackets and blankets in case they were forced to camp out and the temperature plummeted. It was actually highly inconvenient. The mix of extremes would have been a cause for concern in itself .. that is, if anyone had had the time to give the phenomenon more than a passing thought, but currently, the apparent collapse of the weather system was the last thing on anyone's minds.

Lucas blinked as a cold finger touched the end of his nose. A few specks of white dust had materialised in the air above him.

"You've got to be kidding me .." He muttered, sounding dumbstruck. "Snow."

"What?"

Silas glanced over lazily, but his eyes widened in alarm as they settled on something beyond Lucas.

"Incoming!"

The two Phoenix soldiers had seen them at the same time, and quickly ducked behind trees, taking cover in the shadow of the massive trunks. The large compound bows they wielded were rapid and deadly, but they were heavy. The additional size and weight made the soldiers clumsy running, and slowed down their reaction times. After a few minutes of heart-racing pings and cracks as arrows buried their wickedly sharp heads into recently vacated areas of space - far too close for comfort - the jungle fell silent. The two hesitated for a few moments, listening.

No sign of movement. Loretta appeared on Silas' left, peering over the lip of the bank. They stared at her. After a second, she stared back. Lucas finally rolled his eyes, creeping up to examine the recent battleground. Nothing. Waiting a few beats, he slid down again and turned back, shrugging.

Silas nodded and rotated around to stare at the Ovosaur accusingly. Loretta was supposed to bark twice when the assailants had been dispatched, but thus far, she didn't appear to be getting the hang of the idea.

"Thanks for nothing." He stood and dusted himself off impatiently for a third time, not bothering to hide his form behind the embankment any longer.

"Where on earth are they? Have we got the all-clear yet?"

"We can't wait around forever." Lucas responded, peering around cautiously once more before standing out of the trench as well. "I say we go find them ourselves."

"I say that sounds like the best idea you've had all day."

They climbed out and wandered away from their refuge, Silas piping a couple of times on his whistle for Loretta. The Ovosaur didn't even appear to have heard him. Finally, Silas gave up and called her, patting his leg in annoyance.

"Loretta. Get over here."

"Can't you make that thing move any faster?" Lucas complained. "Who knows what might've happened by now."

"Would you like to try?" Silas rolled his eyes. "Be my guest. More trouble than she's worth, I say."

They only gave the arrow-embellished bodies a passing glance. They'd be gone by morning, courtesy of the jungle's own clean-up crew.

As the Ovosaur trailed along behind them, Irving peered at Lucas' tense face mischievously.

"You're worried about her."

"I'm worried about both of them."

"Just give it up, will you?"

Lucas glanced at him.

"Not very community-spirited of you."

"Not that." Irving explained patiently. "Skye. You'll never get her to think of you that way, so just give up."

Lucas chuckled under his breath.

"Sometimes I wish you'd at least try to babble something other than nonsense. Just once. Doesn't seem like that much to ask."

"I'm just saying, you're setting yourself up for more pain and suffering, and I don't want to see you get hurt." The younger man put a hand on Lucas' shoulder and stared into his face sympathetically. "Skye just doesn't see you in that light. Time for a new dream."

Lucas rolled his eyes, then watched expressionlessly as Silas' bow took that opportune moment to fall off his shoulder and tumble clumsily down his arm, leaving the soldier to juggle the quiver bag on his other shoulder in an uncomfortable attempt at untangling himself. When he finally caught up to Lucas, he continued as though they hadn't missed a beat in between, snorting piously.

"And then you've got that whole sibling relationship thing going on .. egh .. it ain't gonna work, mon ami. Me, on the other hand-"

"You and Skye fight like cats and dogs."

"Well, like my Dad always said .. chemistry is 9/10ths conflict."

Lucas eyed him dubiously.

".. that does explain a few things."

"'Silas,' he said, 'when the time comes, don't go after the sweet ones. Find a woman that hates you for who you are. For hate and love are brothers and the sweetest fruit lies behind thorns.' That's how he snagged my mom." The younger soldier smiled nostalgically, as though he had witnessed the blessed event in person. Lucas paused and skewered him with a dull expression.

"By that logic, you have your pick of the entire colony. Why go after Skye?"

Irving returned the look as they continued walking.

"Funny, genius. Comedian and physicist. Is there anything you can't do?"

Lucas grinned.

"Your parents still alive?"

"Oh yeah. Alive and well, last I heard. On the other side though." A hint of sadness mixed with Silas' usual flippant demeanour. "They sent me and Vicky through together, to look after each other. They knew they weren't gonna make the trip. They're nice people, but they're pretty decrepit." He added on, by way of explanation.

Lucas choked.

"I see."

"Yeah. But we're alright. We-" He pulled up abruptly as Lucas' arm appeared in front of him. When he opened his mouth to question it, Lucas held up a warning finger and pointed to the patch of thicket ahead. It was swaying unnaturally. The movement, though subtle, was enough to send prickles of unease down their necks. They were more or less exposed at present. If they couldn't move fast enough, they'd be overtaken in a heartbeat. But whether their flight was aimed at the dense cover on their right or the knobby trees on their left depended entirely on what it was exactly that was stalking them. Lucas' gaze drifted silently over the green tangle of plants, pausing as he unexpectedly met the eyes of another party. They stared at one another unblinkingly for a moment, then the intruder seemed to grow restless and relented.

"Don't shoot, we're harmless." Skye stepped out slowly from the foliage, hands raised, a smattering of dried blood on her sleeve, a fact both observers noted without comment. She caught the faint change in expression as she approached, however, and glanced at it. "Oh. Not mine. Don't worry."

A laugh flickered across her face as she looked up at them, grinning affectionately.

"You should've seen your faces just now. Old mother hens."

"There you are! Finally!" Silas ignored the statement and held his hands out to her. "If it isn't my future wife! Perfect timing."

Skye glanced around behind her before turning back to Lucas.

"Ohh, he's talking to his imaginary girlfriend again, right?"

"Well, he ain't talking to me." Curran surfaced from nearby, strolling up to the small group. Lucas met his eyes for a moment, taking what he could decipher from the other man's solemn expression before turning back to Silas with a lighter tone of voice.

"You know, if you keep talking to imaginary people, you're really going to have to get that checked. You could be traumatised from the battle."

"Traumatised from being stuck with you all the time, you mean." Silas retorted, eyeing them, his serious gaze resting finally on Skye.

"Laugh all you want, but you'll see. You'll wake up one day, Tate, and realise what you've been missing out on all these years. Then we'll become the greatest power couple the world never saw coming!"

He put his hands decisively on his hips, deliberately choosing to ignore his bow as the wretched thing saw fit to fall off his shoulder and slide down his arm yet again. If the sting was anything to go by, it had taken half of the hair with it this time.

Skye simply grinned at him, seeming to accept her fate with good grace. Lucas studied her quietly. She was making an effort to appear cheerful, but her tired eyes betrayed the weariness behind the attempt. Lucas turned back to Curran.

"You two took your time. What happened?"

"Got held up by a group of them and had to take the long way round." Skye explained, when Curran took a second too long to answer. "We considered taking them, but there were too many to do it without it being risky. They headed that way."

As she gestured with her head, Curran added, "Third group today. Strange to see them this close to the colony."

"Mm." Lucas rubbed his jaw thoughtfully, the new layer of stubble scratching against his palm like the underside of a fraying broom. If the future was sending men this far afield, it was probably to scope out the easiest route to the colony .. and if they were plotting out a course to the colony ..

"In other news," Curran was saying, pointing a thumb over his shoulder in the direction they had come. "There's a camp back that way. It's deserted now, but looks like people were there not too long ago."

"Show me."

The camp wasn't far. As they stepped into the clearing, Curran stared around placidly, heralding the place as though it was an old friend.

"Just as I said .. abandoned."

"Someone was recently here though." Lucas crouched down and felt the ground near the fire. They'd dug a pit so as to try and conceal the light. It was still warm. "And it looks like they were planning on coming back."

That was more concerning. How many more spots like this had they set up? How many tiny units were lurking around the woods within a day's journey of Terra Nova?

Curran had crouched as well, turning his attention to the small Ovosaur at Silas' side.

"Hey, there's my girl."

Silas exchanged a look with Skye, rolling his eyes.

Curran - the newly appointed head trainer - had worked closely with Taylor before the older man's departure, and had only been mildly surprised when the former commander had declared his intention to hand the reins over to him. From then on, Curran had taken over the responsibility of overseeing the pens and preparing their resident wild beasts to fight alongside them. No small task. Was he prepared for it? Not at all. Did he have a plan of action? Not at first, though some sort of clumsy system had begun to develop since the handover. Curran simply tried to take any new developments in his stride and make the best of things. Taylor had trusted him enough to leave him to carry on the task. It was a subject area no one else had any more experience in than he did. That made him the best person for the job. After all, someone had to do it. He clicked softly with his tongue.

"Loretta .."

The Ovosaur stared at him, waiting curiously. He raised his wrist to his mouth, blowing into a small metallic box attached to his leather cuff, while he tapped on it with the other hand. Silas watched incredulously as the Ovosaur's head turned first one way, then the other. She approached the strange-sounding man cautiously, then bobbed up and down with joy as her curious sniffs were rewarded with a piece of jerky.

"How did you get her to do that?! She never listens to me!"

"Been practicing with Inky." Curran grinned as Silas pulled him up and took possession of his arm for closer inspection of the magic box. "That's version 2. It's not perfect, but Malcolm tweaked the frequencies a bit based on my tests. Seems to work better than before, at any rate."

"Huh. Weird-looking, isn't it?" Silas commented, turning Curran's wrist this way and that. The rounded box was riddled with holes and topped with a small whistle head, identical to the one around his own neck. The variety of indents meant it had the capacity to produce a surprisingly extensive scale of notes and chirps for such a small object. Impressive.

As the trainer finally grew tired of the examination and forcefully reclaimed his own hand, Silas looked up at him demandingly.

"When do I get one?"

"What do I look like, a production factory?" Curran snapped. "Stick with the hand signal training. The Ovosaurs are still responding more to it than anything else."

Silas looked somewhat deflated. The better-trained animals favoured the hand signals as a method of communication, tying a limited number of them to commands .. but even the best of the bunch weren't anywhere near where they should have been before entering combat. They often ran off on their own or misunderstood their orders, especially in the heat of the moment. It had only been a few weeks, after all. Even Inky, the black Ovosaur that had been training the longest, still got confused on occasion. But they didn't have a choice. They needed the animals in the field now.

Silas turned back, looking considerably less enthusiastic, and offered a half-hearted gesture to Loretta. He stared at her in surprise as she plopped down on the dirt, expectantly awaiting further instructions.

"It worked .."

"Told you it would eventually." Curran dismissed the pair as he turned to Skye. "If we don't get going soon, we're not gonna get back before dark. It's a full half-day's trip to the colony by foot from here."

"Right."

"Well, destiny waits for no man." Silas wandered over and patted Lucas' arm with the back of his hand. "Let's go, Lassie. Our good compadres will be waiting on those electromag thingies."

"That's the technical term." Lucas offered helpfully. Skye nodded.

"Ah."

"Oh, laugh all you want." Irving said, looking grieved. "Some of us have talents that aspire to non-nerd areas."

"Aw, come on, Silas." Lucas pacified. "You give yourself too much credit."

Silas began to smile bashfully and then stopped, hesitating as his expression faltered.

"I .. think you meant .."

"I said what I said."

As Irving pouted, Skye checked her satchel again, rifling around through a series of odd bits and pieces until she found what she was looking for. She held the disc-like device out to Lucas.

"Take this with you. It was damaged in a hit, but you might be able to get it working again."

Lucas took it and nodded curiously to her pouch.

"What have you got in there?"

"Personal effects from a couple of future guys captured this morning. Thought Malcolm might be able to glean something off of them."

"I can take a look." Lucas offered quickly, stepping forward. "Irving can take these. I'll come back with you-"

"No can do, mi amour." The soldier in question was suddenly back again, draping an arm around the reluctant physicist affectionately and squeezing a little harder than was probably necessary. "As you've so recently pointed out, I am not the fix-it man the world needs out there."

The pleasant smile fell from his features.

"You're coming with me. No excuses."

He shook Lucas a little and released him, taking a few steps away and looking back impatiently.

"Well, are you coming or what? Do I need to whistle?" He patted his knees excitedly, staring up at the other two with an idiotic grin. "C'mere, c'mere boy! Come on, Lassie, come on! Aww, we needa go save dose poor peopwe! Das wight! Dey might need hewp fw-"

He cut off abruptly as he got a face full of excited Ovosaur.

"Ack! L-" He landed on the ground with a thud as the dinosaur scrambled all over him. "Lore-tta!OW, your claws!"

"Better go rescue your adoring public."

Lucas looked at Skye with distaste, but she was already inching away.

"See you back home in a couple days."

"Yep."

"Oh, you two are adorable. I hope I'm just like you when I get old."

Throwing a dark look in the direction of Curran's motherly smile, Lucas reached out and pulled Silas up abruptly, causing the Ovosaur to catapult off him in surprise. Silas dusted himself off with dignity.

".. thanks .. Hey, hey you - yeah, you - how do you do it?"

Skye blinked as she found his sharp eyes suddenly boring into hers.

"Do .. what?"

"How do you get him to follow you like that? How do you do it?!" Silas demanded, a mischievous glint in his eye. "He obeys you better than that thing ever does for me."

Skye folded her arms, smiling disparagingly as comprehension dawned.

"Well, maybe if you stopped calling her "that thing", for a start. Her name is Loretta."

"Yeah." Silas agreed. "She's a thing called Loretta."

He laughed as Skye exclaimed in outrage.

"Y-"

"Alright, alright, time to go." Lucas shouldered his crossbow impatiently. Skye's outburst dissolved into a brief laugh as she caught his eye.

"Be careful out there, won't you?"

"Try our best."

With that, the small group divided, Curran and Skye starting the long trek back in the direction of home while the two left behind turned and ventured warily deeper into the forest.

"Slayed all your dragons yet, Maddy?"

Josh smiled to himself as he heard his sister's exaggerated intake of breath from across the room. Two steps through the door and he'd already managed to push her buttons. This is why she avoided coming to the Infirmary .. well, that and a few other reasons.

"How many times do I have to tell you?" Maddy folded her arms, attempting to sound disinterested, but failing miserably. "They're not dragons, they're-"

"I think .. he's teasing you."

Maddy looked up into her new husband's face as the weight of his hand came to rest on her shoulder. They'd been married for less than two months, and every time the thought occurred to her, she had to remind herself that it had actually happened. Not that it wasn't a nice surprise.

Josh had turned to face them with a grin.

"Indeed I was. Can't fool you, Brother."

"No you cannot, Brother."

Mark returned the grin as his wife sighed loudly beside him.

"How much longer are you going to keep this brother/brother thing going?"

Josh threw his sample tube up into the air nonchalantly.

"Why? Does it .. annoy you?"

His sister glared at him, but the wistful voice beside her calmed her a little.

"Come on, Maddy, I never had any brothers. Or sisters. Or .. siblings in general." Mark added with a frown.

"And you know I don't have any." Josh chose that moment to pipe up. He opened his mouth to continue, but was halted by his peace-loving brother-in-law's next words.

"But if you really don't like it, we'll stop."

Maddy answered quickly as Josh folded his arms and attempted to speak again.

"Yes. Please!"

Mark nodded as though it was settled. Josh frowned.

"Wait a minute, I didn't agree to this."

At an almost imperceptible shake of his brother-in-law's head, Josh rolled his eyes and subsided. Mark wasn't much older than he was, but he'd learn from past experience that it wasn't wise to go up against him. As irritating as it was, the guy would do anything for his sister, and secretly, though Josh complained outwardly often enough, he wouldn't have had it any other way. In this situation, however, he decided it was time to practice the art of bowing out gracefully. He shrugged and turned back to his work, only to swing back around again half a second later.

"Hey, you didn't answer my question. Are the dragon-" He caught himself as an icy stare from his sister swept across the room toward him. Best not to push his luck too many times in one day.

"Dracorexes." He corrected himself, much to Maddy's relief. "Are they all caught?"

"Most of them." She responded, graciously ignoring his slip-up. "There are two that got away, but the rest are contained."

".. two?" A delighted grin had begun to surface on Josh's face. "Which two?"

Maddy was silent for a moment, trying to keep a stern expression, but the absolute rapture on her brother's face was irritatingly contagious. She finally threw her hands up with a reluctant laugh.

"Yes, fine. Those two."

By now, the entire colony had heard the stories about the young Dracorex pair that had somehow managed to escape each and every roundup thus far. So much so that they were becoming legendary, and the general unspoken hope throughout the colony was that they would remain at large forever. Results of dinosaur captures were awaited with held breath, but up until now, the two that had captured the imaginations of the colonists still roamed free.

"It's freezing out there." Josh abruptly changed the subject, turning his back on his relatives and rubbing his upper arms vigorously, encased in the white material of his lab coat. "Why has the weather gone crazy all of a sudden?! Maddy?"

"How should I know?!" His sister's laugh rang out from across the room. "I'm not a weatherman."

"Thought you were supposed to know everything." Josh grumbled to himself as he paused to squint at one of the screens above him.

"Thought your philosophy was to pretend you didn't believe I knew everything." Maddy countered.

"Shut up." Josh demanded rudely, receiving an offended gasp from the peanut gallery. "Go cook something for your husband."

The command was followed immediately by the loudening sound of determined footsteps behind him. Shortly thereafter, he found himself in a head lock, the full force of his sister's weight on his shoulders as his brother-in-law's knuckles dug into his ribs.

"Gah!" Josh yelped, collapsing onto the icy floor at their feet, half taking Maddy with him. "Stop, st-AH!"

"Josh!" Maddy hurriedly shoved a hand over her brother's mouth. "Stop it. You'll scare the patients with that racket."

Josh peeled off the clamp on his face and stared over at the beds.

"They don't look scared to me."

Two wounded soldiers grinned back from their cubicles across the room. One of them laughed a little when he realised he'd become the subject of the conversation.

"You kids go right ahead." He glanced at his companion, who nodded his own agreement. "Nice to see some cheerful faces. You aren't bothering anyone."

"See?" Josh retorted. "Not bothering anyone."

"He does have a point though." Maddy muttered soberly, settling down on the floor near her brother. She leaned back and hugged her knees, resting her chin on them thoughtfully. "You really think we should be playing around? Feels wrong somehow, what with .. Zoe and all."

"I'm sure Zoe's just fine, Maddy." Josh sounded as though he was tired of having to cater to his younger sister's overactive conscience. "Dad's probably found her already. And besides, everyone else is trying their best to put on a brave face right now. Including Mom."

He shrugged, staring across the room as though he could see into the future himself.

"I figure we should at least try just as hard ourselves."

Maddy thought for a moment, then seemed to steady herself and smiled a little.

"I guess you're right-"

"And anyway," Josh never had learned to quit while he was ahead. "Zoe always hates it when you get sulky. She thinks you look like a swamp monster and she's scared your unnaturally long nose hairs are gonna become sentient and start choking people like giant snakes."

Maddy shouted with anger and launched herself at him once more, the result of which was that the two ended up in a tangled mess on the floor whilst the patients looked on, enjoying the show immensely. Finally, Josh managed to fend her relentless fingers off long enough to regain some of his dignity.

"I yield, I yield. Geez, you're like a wild animal."

"Serves you right." Mark chastised him severely, hovering above them. "That tongue of yours is going to get you into trouble one of these days."

"Thank you for the warning, mother." Josh retorted, holding his hands up expectantly and then gracefully ascending as Mark took pity on him. "I'll remember it next time, I'm sure."

"If only he would." Maddy sighed, dusting her brother's leg off haphazardly from where she sat. "But I fear our generous counselling is for nought. There's just no helping some people."

Mark shook his head sadly as he reached down to help his wife up.

"Alas, I fear you are right. But what more can we do for him than hasn't already been done?"

"You can get out." Josh answered bluntly, then squealed a moment later as he received an abrupt pinch to the back of his neck. He swatted his sister away in annoyance.

"Maddy .."

"Alright, alright, we'll leave you to your business." Mark laughed. "Just thought we'd visit while we were in the neighbourhood."

"Thank you for thinking of me." Josh offered politely, as a call rang out from one of the back beds. "Ah. Duty calls."

Mark slung an arm around Maddy's shoulders and looked him in the eye gravely.

"Go be a hero."

Josh rolled his eyes and shook his head at the pair, giving a short laugh as he walked away.

Dusk came early, and with the oncoming dark, the temperature dropped again, the snow returning with it. Lucas and Silas reached one of the supply stations thankfully just as night set in, and found three other soldiers waiting for them, bearing thick coats and a warm flask. The small camp was basically a set of heavy iron mesh fences, stationed around a singular tent, which hung between a couple of trees. At the moment, the trees were yellowish-orange - a rare sight in the region around Terra Nova. Due to the lack of deciduous trees, the majority of the forest tended to retain its usual shade of green when the weather changed. The Orange Spot, however, was unique. It was a favourite travel stop among the soldiers - a home away from home hidden in the heart of the jungle, and the semi-permanent residents that remained there could always be relied upon to provide some much-needed looking-after to their visitors.

But the fingerprint of war was expanding its reach, creeping closer to the colony and casting its dark shadow over more of their world with every passing day, intruding on every little piece of their existence. Previously untouched by the conflict, the safe haven was apparently safe no longer. The small camp was attacked shortly after Lucas and Silas arrived.

The ensuing battle was fought in a weird sort of quiet, each side trying to make out their enemies through the soft rain of snow drifting down from overhead. The previous smattering of random specks had grown into a steady curtain of crystals, confusing their vision and deadening the thumps of the ammunition. Finally, the ghostly intruders had been forced into plain sight, the last projectile was fired, and the exhausted and hungry victors collapsed down into the white dust to rest. The forest had grown unnaturally still. Lucas lay under the shreds of the ravaged tent, staring up at the makeshift patch job of large leaves and ferns above him. They were less than a day from the colony. Up until now, the future hadn't been quite so daring, but if things kept escalating at their current rate, Terra Nova itself would be under attack within a week. He snuggled down into the thick lining of his coat, listening to Irving's gentle snores beside him. Until now, they'd always had a refuge, always had the welcoming arms of the colony to run back to when things got too scary. The hopeful blue fences of Terra Nova stood out like a beacon to the weary and injured. The mere sight of it was enough to calm panic and inspire the soldiers to keep fighting. Their stronghold. It was home, and it was safe for now, or so they had thought.

Lucas watched with a sinking feeling as a chilly breeze blew a few snowflakes around, sending them down towards his face through a particularly noticeable tear in the tent cover. He closed his eyes as the cold specks bit into his skin. Like it or not, the battle was coming to them.

Their protective shield was failing.

Soon nowhere would be safe.