Ryan went down with a curse as the aquatic predator slammed into the back of his legs and sent him crashing forward into the mud. The air was forced out of his lungs as the beast's front feet hit down on his back hard and claws tore through his vest. He tried to turn as he tasted mud, his hand fumbling for the pistol at his hip as it started to sink into the damp ground.
His rifle was gone, sent flying forward with the force of the blow. He tried desperately to raise his hips from the mud as he became aware of just how vulnerable he was without his kevlar. There was no heavy padding to save his legs from being torn apart.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
One of Ryan's subordinates lit up the air with gunfire as he saw his leader being forced down into the mud.
The creature pulled back with a snarl of fury giving Ryan a chance to turn, freeing his face from the suffocating mixture of damp soil and silt. He wiped at his face with one hand while reaching for his gun with the other.
Ryan let out a sudden yell of pain and surprise as his vision flashed red and his head reeled backward with a sudden burning pain.
For a moment there was only shock for the captain.
Gunfire rang out rapidly but Ryan didn't hear it. His hearing had gone. There was only a low buzzing sound that seemed to vibrate through his skull adding to his pain. His vision was gone too dancing from red to black and back to red as his eyes became soaked with something hot.
Ryan felt an odd sensation of panic as vulnerability flooded through him. Unknown to him the creature had swatted him across the face with a powerful clawed foot. The force of the attack had been enough to stun the captain, probably concuss him and the sharp tips of the claws had left deep, fresh wounds down his face.
The captain vomited suddenly without warning unable to control it as the dizziness racing through his skull worsened and his face flooded with a sickening sensation of heat. He knew he was in trouble now but he couldn't calm his head enough to focus and pull himself back from the danger.
"TOM! TOM!"
The horrific moment was the snap Melina needed. Hearing the snarl of the creature she had turned in time to see it strike out at the fallen captain. All thoughts of Kaden were gone. Her hand yanked free from Abby's and she ran across the slippery slope towards the dazed blonde and the predator that was ready to seize upon his vulnerability.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
In that moment Captain Ryan's men proved their worth and the love and loyalty they had towards their leader as they forced the creature back with a sudden show of gunfire. They lined up beside their fallen superior, two flanking him in a display of defence against the creature.
As a few bullets struck through the large reptile's tough flesh and drew blood it decided to retreat back to the waters, turning with another snarl and heading back down the slope.
The two soldiers crouched down to rouse Ryan to his feet, all too conscious of Nick's stark words of warning about the anomaly.
"Tom!"
Ryan flinched as he felt Melina's hands upon him, stretching up to his face as his men lifted him, her finger tips brushing against his blood.
He wanted to speak, to either order her to move or offer some reassurance but his mind fumbled to think up words and only a watery mouthful of vomit came out. He kept catching waves of blackness as the world seemed to bounce up and down around him and his balance seemed unsteady.
There was a confusion of movement as everyone tried to rush to action. Ryan attempted to blink away the blood but his vision was swimming anyway even without the hindrance of his wound. His skull continued to pound and the humming grew worse in his ears. He could sense the greyness at the edge of his mind and knew he was close to a faint. It was going to be bad, he knew it, he'd been concussed before.
Melina shouldered her way between Ryan and one of the soldiers supporting him, her bloodstained hand finding his as she pressed up against him to keep him upright. She found his palm hot to the touch and soaked with a sweat that had nothing to do with the clammy air that surrounded them.
They attempted a jog but the ground was slick and water kept running down towards them pushing them back.
"Hurry!" Nick's voice called anxiously.
They all filled with the same sense of terror but no one voiced it, they just tried to keep going. Up and up, all too aware of the amber eyes watching them silently from the shadows, ready to pick off the first one of them that fell.
Feet slipped against mud and the panic spread. One soldier almost went down, saved by the sudden grasp of his friend. They both heard the padding of reptilian feet through mud and shuddered, knowing that they were being hunted.
"It's going out!" Nick's alarmed voice worsened the fear.
The redhead had reached the top of the slope with Abby and he could see the anomaly starting to flicker.
Nick pushed Abby through but resisted the urge to follow her, looking back instead for the soldiers. When the lightning flashed he saw several pallid, damp faces turned up to him with terrified stares. He wondered guiltily at what they were putting these men through with this anomaly business. They had not signed on for this, only he, Stephen, Abby and Connor really had and he wondered at their stupidity for it as he considered the current situation.
"Keep going," Ryan barked out as he attempted some show of leadership. He could feel the alarm in the air and knew panic would not save them.
Melina squeezed his hand again and he sensed her terror. She was thinking of the water creature again, of being trapped here with her nightmares.
"It's alright, just keep pushing on!" Ryan ordered.
Nick waved them on with an encouraging smile even as he feared being stuck here too, so close to home and yet so very far from it. Nick's gaze darted down to Ryan as he recalled the first time he had stepped through an anomaly, in search of Helen he had refused to return without finding her. Ryan, after giving up an attempt to force Nick through, had stubbornly refused to go back to the present without him. Nick knew if this anomaly made to close while Ryan was still on the slope which side of it he would be on.
"Come on!" Nick yelled.
The soldiers started to move through the anomaly at last. One after another they ran through, too afraid to be orderly about it.
Ryan, Melina and their armed support came up the slope last. Nick waited until they were through the anomaly before he followed.
Just as the anomaly started to close Stephen and his companions moved on the other side, shoving through a dopey Herrerarsaurus as it started to come too, giving it the chance to return home. The anomaly vanished just as Stephen and the others returned from their very brief adventure through time.
Ryan slumped to the floor, tasting vomit for a third time as the vision of everything multiplied in mirrors was too much for his pounding skull to take in.
"Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit."
The captain became aware of Melina's panicked rambling beside him as the ringing finally died down in his ears. He reached for her sloppily with one arm, putting it about her shoulders as he felt a need to hold her close, to assure himself that he had brought her back although he wondered in a dazed confusion if perhaps he needed to assure himself that she had brought him back.
"It's alright," he mumbled as he wiped away blood with his free hand and leaned back against a mirror, exhausted and still in pain. "We made it back."
Melina continued her mantra of cursing as the shock finally overcame her. She leaned back from the captain as a soldier came to check him over and hunched up against herself, raising her knees and hugging them as her pallid, blue tinged skin became stained with silent tears slipping down her cheeks.
Nick glanced Melina's way, frowning as he saw the animalistic horror in her eyes and the way she rocked back and forth as she continued to mutter swears. Land creatures from the past and even the future and she coped but anything water based and something in her snapped. He wondered grimly if it would always be this way for her. He was ready to console her but Claudia got there first. Once again he thought about Helena's words and the slim chance of Melina returning back to her old life. He wondered if the risk of travelling through more than one anomaly would be worth it for her.
The nightclub's music had been silenced mercifully and the light show ceased but the chaos remained. Puddles of water pooled up on the floor as Ryan's soaked and bedraggled men moved about slowly, exchanging wary glances as they couldn't quite believe they'd all made it back this time.
"This earns a drink," one said as he released a relieved sigh. He was leaning up against a mirror, cradling his gun close to his wide chest as if he still might need it.
Another chuckled as he gave a nervous smile and shook his head. He was young looking but marred with scars about his forehead, cheeks and throat suggesting a life already well exposed to violence. "Well we're at a bar," he jested.
"No really," said a third man, young looking with a wild crop of copper hair and a twinkle of humour in his blue gaze, "it does. I think I'll need a whiskey before I can walk out of here."
Nick smiled even as he shook his head, he may not have lived the life but he understood the gallows' humour of the army, when you were exposed to as much violence and death as soldiers were you either went crazy or came up with coping mechanisms, one of which was having a sense of humour even in grim situations.
Nick was soaked from head to toe, a mixture of sweat and rain that was started to make him quiver as the club's air con struck him. His shirt was pressed against his chest with damp and he knew he'd have to get out of his clothes quick to avoid hypothermia or worse. They all would. A whiskey did sound good however.
"My place," Claudia said suddenly as she looked up and over to the redhead, "it's nearby, you can get into something dry there."
Claudia remained crouched by Melina, alarmed for the woman as she searched for the medic. She was baffled by the condition of Melina, Nick, Abby, and Ryan, it was only moments ago that they had been suitably attired for a reasonably styled club looking classy in an understated manner but now all of them were soaked and stained in mud and Melina and Ryan both bore bloodstains.
"You both can," Claudia added as she turned back to the young woman.
Melina didn't even seem to hear her as she remained hugging her knees close and staring vacantly at her kneecaps, which were almost exposed as the hem of her dress was crinkled up under her fingertips.
"I think I could offer you a nice, fluffy towel," Stephen jested as he stepped over to Abby.
The blonde was smeared brown from head to toe with mud and the shivers had started. It was doubtful that her dress was even salvageable.
Abby hugged herself and smiled up at him. "I'd like that," she said sincerely, "maybe some slippers too," she added as she glanced down to her exposed feet. She realised in bewilderment that she couldn't recall when or where she had kicked her shoes off.
Stephen looked down and laughed before surprising them both by hugging her.
"You look rough," he admitted quietly as he embraced her, "Ryan too, it was bad, I can tell. I'm glad you're okay."
Beneath the layer of mud Abby blushed faintly and considered in a rare moment of giddy emotion that maybe the chaos back through the anomaly was worth it for this moment.
Connor, still wincing but now on his feet clutching at his tender ribcage with one hand, looked on at Abby and Stephen with a miffed expression. Of course he wanted to rush over to Abby and see that she was alright and offer her aid but now that Stephen had done it he figured his comfort would only seem hollow, perhaps even a poor, cheesy copy of Stephen's gesture.
It was almost three in the morning when Claudia was startled by the buzz of her apartment's doorbell. If she hadn't still been awake she might not have even heard it. As it was, she was sitting in her living room on the couch with Nick sharing two steaming mugs of tea while he waited for his clothes to dry on her radiator.
Claudia and Nick both looked to the door warily and Nick stood, instinctively rising to be the protector.
Claudia stood up calmly, one hand reaching out to Nick's bare arm lightly.
"It's my apartment," she reminded him softly.
Claudia's slightly admonishing stare reminded Nick that despite her gentle exterior she was tough and capable of looking after herself. She offered the redhead a small smile to ease the sting of her stare and show her appreciation for his concerns.
The buzzer sounded again and Claudia looked to the door with annoyance unable to consider who would call at so late or early an hour, depending on how one looked at it. She considered a summoning from Lester but he usually preferred a phone call.
Claudia approached the door with caution, squinting through the keyhole before leaning back in surprise. She loosened the chain, slipped the key into the lock and turned it before opening the door.
Captain Ryan stood there looking like the ghoul of himself. He was in a grey sweater marked in navy font with 'Oxford' and a pair of loose fitted jeans but despite the change of clothes an odour of vomit and blood clung to him. His face was marred with three ugly streaks in a diagonal slash, one cutting across his right eye. The wounds had been cleaned and stitched but remained a violent red.
"Captain Ryan," Claudia greeted him in surprise. "Shouldn't you be resting in the infirmary?"
"Where's Melina?" He was blunt but his gaze lacked the anger of his voice as it was slightly fogged at the edges from pain relief.
"In her room," Claudia advised calmly, "it is late after all."
Ryan nodded even as he stepped forward prompting Claudia to step back. "Which way?"
Claudia frowned, folded her arms and retorted a little more sternly, "it's very late."
Ryan stood attempting to hold her stare as he frowned, an attempt ruined by his inability to open his right eye.
Claudia broke the stalemate and gestured behind her. "Back through that door, second on the left."
"Thanks." Ryan walked on, calling without halting, "nice pjs Cutter."
Nick gave a small grin as he glanced down at the oversized Mickey Mouse t-shirt Claudia had procured for him coupled with some stretchy red tartan pyjama bottoms that were loose on her but a little too snug on him. He had been amused by her comment that the tartan was something native for him at least.
"Captain happy," Claudia murmured sardonically as she closed the door. "Do you think he's staying?"
"I don't know," Nick retorted calmly.
Claudia shrugged and slid the chain back into place anyway.
"Am I staying?" Nick asked as he looked up at her curiously.
"Well unless you want to explain that outfit to a taxi driver," Claudia mused as she locked the door.
Nick laughed and shook his head. "I'll pass on that, you've a comfy couch anyway. Why did you let him in when it's so late?"
Claudia gave Nick an unimpressed stare. "Do you think he'd just leave?" she queried sardonically. She shook her head in exasperation. "There's no chance Melina is sleeping anyway," she added more quietly.
Down the corridor, Ryan entered the spare room without knocking, too determined to contemplate manners right now. He opened the door to darkness but was able to make out through the gloom with his left eye that the form on the bed was sitting upright in the corner.
His right eye was useless at the moment, throbbing with the pain of the scratch and only offering him a blurry, burning image of the world, which prompted him to close it.
Ryan stepped up to the bed, grateful for the darkness as lights had his head throbbing anew, and took a seat without requesting an invite.
Melina was rigid as Ryan's hands slipped over her shoulders and pulled her towards him.
"I've got no words for you," Ryan admitted wearily. "This anomaly business is what it is. Hell I'm not even here for you."
Melina pulled her head up from her knees and looked to him quizzically.
Ryan shrugged. "I've got a concussion and a lot of pain medication in me. I feel like I got my ass kicked and that for the first time in a long time I didn't have control. I'm probably going to be throwing up in a couple of hours. I figured I'd come and sit with you and that would do because...well," his tone became irate, "I just needed something. Will it do?"
Melina realised what Ryan couldn't bring himself to say, that he had been vulnerable, scared and he was the one needing consoling.
"Yep," she said quietly.
Ryan welcomed her against him and hugged her close against his soft sweater. He raised one hand to run it through her hair gently, frowning as his fingertips caught in tangles. He realised she was still stained in mud.
"You stink," he mocked.
"You too."
Ryan stirred slowly, reluctant to welcome consciousness as he started to feel the burning pain on his face. He knew if he continued to reach towards awakening that the pain would only worsen and a throbbing headache would come to join it.
Sensing someone nearby, the captain's instincts kicked in and he snapped to consciousness, eyes opening as his mind rushed to catch him up to the situation. He flinched as a damp compress was pressed against his fresh wounds and aching right eye.
"I'm curious," Melina's voice murmured sardonically, "did you knock Dr. O'Hare out, bribe him, or sneak off when his back was turned because I don't believe for two seconds that he discharged you."
Ryan let out a grunt at this. "Wasn't him," he retorted gruffly, "and the infirmary's not a prison, they couldn't force me to stay."
"Uh huh." Melina nodded as she dabbed the cloth gently about the eye prompting a hiss of pain from the captain. "Your eye's leaking gunk," she advised him, "better go back and get it checked out unless you want to go partially blind. I mean eye patches can be somewhat sexy but you'll have the steep price of pirate jokes to pay."
Ryan dug his elbows into the mattress to push himself up into a sitting position prompting Melina to lean back. He rubbed at his eye and frowned as he tried to look at her and found the image a little blurred.
"Do you know you snore?" he quipped calmly.
"And you drool," she retaliated as she gave a small smile.
"I don't," he protested, "but if I did it was the medication."
"Sure blame the meds for your freaky deaky habit," she teased. "I hope you took some with you before you skedaddled from the doc's, you could use the good vibes."
Ryan's face was blank for a moment, the pupil of his left eye unfocused and his mouth set in a line as he attempted to interpret what Melina had said.
The young woman started to laugh at his baffled expression before surprising him with a quick kiss on the lips. "I always love that face you get when I use slang foxy fella," she murmured as she remained close to his face. "You scared me last night when you were attacked," she admitted softly in a serious tone.
Ryan could smell the linen scented soap from her skin and guessed she had gotten washed this morning. Her hair was fluffy as it brushed up against his ruined cheek and he figured it was from a blast of the hairdryer. It made him a little eager to get home to his own shower as the stench of dried vomit lingered in his nostrils.
"What time is it?" he queried bluntly.
"Almost eleven."
"What?!" Ryan pushed her back and swung his legs out from under the blanket.
Melina stepped back from the bed and raised her hands to her hips as she watched the man jump out of bed and hasten for the boots he'd abandoned on the floor.
"Where do you have to hurry to?" she pried. "You're in no condition to work."
"No, suppose not," he muttered darkly, "but it's late to be lingering in Ms. Brown's abode."
Melina shook her head at this. "Right, soldier boy kicking in again? All about the professionalism not the personal?"
Ryan gave her a scathing look, which was ruined by the ugly red streaks cutting across his face. "What the hell does that even mean?"
"I said what happened to you scared me and now you're rushing off," Melina accused, "I've cut too close to the nerve even though you chose to come here."
She slackened her stance as he walked towards her.
"It's been a long, long night," Ryan retorted, "and morning, I think it's time I went home that's it."
Melina shrugged. "Fine." She turned and headed for the door.
Ryan followed after the young woman, frowning as he wondered if she was mad at him. He recalled how he'd woken once during the morning because she had been hugging him so tightly it had caused an ache in his ribcage. He'd been ready to awaken her with a complaint until he'd realised he was soaked in sweat and tense and then it had come back to him that he had been having a nightmare. Ryan had figured Melina's over the top hug was an attempt to ease his bad dream.
The thought of his sudden vulnerability around the young woman made him uneasy. He realised fearfully that he had faced his own mortality and not even known it and he did not like that she was a witness to it.
"Ah good morning."
Ryan pulled out of his glum thoughts as Claudia greeted them calmly. He glanced over to the right and saw Nick and Claudia sitting side by side on the sofa. Nick was still wearing the horribly suited pyjamas and Ryan wondered if he'd left the sofa at all. The pair were bright eyed, both looking to Ryan and Melina with an amused accusation in their stares.
There was an obvious forced composure to the pair that neither Ryan nor Melina missed. Melina wondered humorously what she and the captain might have intruded upon whilst the captain wondered moodily if they were trying to shield their horror for his wounded face.
"You aren't heading off without breakfast are you?" Claudia quipped cheerfully. "And I shouldn't think captain that you drove here in your condition, so how were you planning to leave?"
Ryan was calm as he stared back at the woman, his sapphire stare flitting down to Nick briefly. It hurt to turn to his eyeballs downward and he was prompted to shut his right eye once more as it burned with pain.
The redhead was grinning now as he held a cup of tea in his right hand. "It's not good to start the day without breakfast," he said.
"Oh lord," Melina murmured as she rolled her eyes up to the ceiling. "You guys are doing this parenting thing again, aren't you?"
"Not at all," Claudia objected as she stood. "I'm making breakfast anyway, so you two may as well have some, and I need to give Nick a lift, so why not Captain Ryan too?"
"You don't make food," Melina retorted accusingly as she gave the older woman a suspicious stare.
Claudia frowned as her cheeks warmed slightly. "It's only eggs," she grumbled, "I can manage that."
"I don't do eggs," Ryan muttered as he turned his head towards the door desperately.
"Well I have other things," Claudia insisted.
"Nifty," Melina praised as she slipped a hand into Ryan's. "You aren't heading home alone," she advised him as she cocked her head towards him, "I don't trust you to take care of that wound or stay off duty."
"Melina," he protested hotly.
"Melina is right," Claudia snapped as she folded her arms. "Bad enough you came barging in here at such an unsociable hour to disturb her out of her sleep but now you two think you're going to shack up at his!"
Melina started to laugh whilst Nick pointed out, "I don't think he barged and you did let him in here in Claudia."
"Claudia, I just want to make sure he's going to settle in his house and has the right medication for his wound," Melina insisted. "And maybe spy around his crib," she jested.
"Nope," Ryan protested as he tugged his hand free from her. "I'm getting a taxi."
"You're not," Melina retorted as she folded her arms and her voice turned stern, "you got seriously hurt out there and I got worried, now you're trying to be the soldier throwing up the walls but I'm not dealing with it, I'll only keep worrying you know. I've lost too many," she added as her voice cracked slightly with the grief that crept into it and her arms slipped back by her sides. "Life's too short, it really frickin is so we're not wasting time on your stubbornness, okay?"
Ryan looked back at her in surprise, pausing to rub at his burning eye with a muttered curse of frustration. "Are you that into breakfast?" he queried sarcastically.
Melina's smile returned as she nodded. "Yeah, sure, love those Snap, Crackle and Pop boys." She glanced over her shoulder to Claudia. "Are they still a thing?"
Claudia, who was looking a little stunned at Melina's outburst, nodded. "Yes," she retorted, "but I don't have any."
"Well, let's see what there is," Melina suggested, "I can make stellar omelettes."
"What's with all the vintage slang?" Nick pried quietly as he stood and looked over at the blonde soldier.
Ryan shrugged as he watched Melina head for the door to the kitchen. His head was starting to pound as expected and he was eager for the painkillers he hadn't bothered to get from the doctor. Melina was correct in her suspicions that he had left the infirmary somewhat hastily.
"Has anyone tried dinosaur eggs?" Melina pondered as the others followed her into the kitchen.
"What, to eat?" Nick marvelled as he pulled a face of revulsion.
Melina nodded as she headed over to the fridge. "Well sure, why not? Is no one curious?"
"You have access to venture through time and see things most people could only dream of and your first thought is eating something from there?" Nick queried in disbelief.
"Don't get her started," Ryan grumbled as he took a seat at the kitchen table and reached a hand up to his aching brow.
Nick took a seat to Ryan's left. "Did you knock the doctor out?" he pried quietly.
"What? No!" Ryan snapped as he frowned at the redhead. "Why do people keep assuming that?"
Nick grinned. "Because they wouldn't have left you out like this and you clearly don't have any pain relief with you."
"I knew it," Melina said smugly as she carried a carton of eggs and a package of cheese from the fridge.
"Knew what?" Claudia sighed as she watched the young woman anxiously, uncertain whether to help or just get out of the way.
"That Ryan was not a good patient," Melina retorted teasingly as she marched back to the fridge.
"Er can I help with anything?" Claudia queried.
"Get Ryan something for his pain," Melina suggested.
"I'll be fine," Ryan groaned to the table.
"Yes, I think you will," Melina answered happily, "but only if you let people help."
