Chapter 9- Connor
Avery stood next to Abby who was trying to reach Stephen on the radio. They didn't notice Claudia and Ryan had come up behind them.
"Stephen. Where are you? Stephen?" Abby called through the headpiece. Avery looked around for something to do, she didn't like waiting.
"Is there any answer?" Avery asked. Abby shook her head and tried to contact him again.
"I'm going back in." Avery said turning to leave. She grabbed a torch and turned to leave.
"No you're not." Claudia said blocking her way. Avery turned back to Abby and they shared a guilty look. They were supposed to keep an eye out and not get caught.
"What's he done?" Claudia demanded looking behind Avery.
Abby gave Claudia a sorrowful look.
Claudia ignored her and grabbed the headset from Abby. "Stephen, where the hell are you?" She called into the radio pressing it against her ears.
"He was only trying to help." Abby said looking worried.
"Well, he's done a really great job, hasn't he?" Claudia took the headpiece away from her ear and glared at the two girls. Avery glared right back, they should have been allowed to look. No one else was trying to help.
"Stephen, come in. Stephen?" Claudia tried again. When there was no answer she turned back to Abby.
"That's the problem with heroic gestures. Succeed and you look wonderful. Fail, and all you do is leave everybody else with a bloody mess to clear up." Abby looked through her annoyed glare waiting for the lecture to be over.
"Well done." Claudia said placing the headset back into her hands. She turned to Ryan and his team. "Get down there." Ryan leaves to get his men ready.
They turned to watch as Ryan runs down the steps with two men. They see Connor walking forward from a car at the bottom.
"Connor!" Abby called out. Avery noticed his small smile before he dropped it. She could tell he had become smitten with the white haired girl.
Connor sets his computer up at a table close to the entrance of the tunnel, he was looking up possible creatures similar to the one they saw down in the tunnel. Avery stood behind him next to Claudia and Abby looking over his shoulders.
"Do you know what era we are dealing with?" He asked Avery knowing she had the most experience out of the girls present.
"There were signs of excess oxygen and those spiders look familiar. It was most likely the carboniferous." Avery said thinking back to her boyfriend.
"Okay, Carboniferous. So it's probably an Arthropleurid. That's a centipede on steroids, basically. It's more or less blind, good sense of smell and touch. I mean, this thing's pretty big and scary looking, but it's more or less timid. It's the kind of bug that'd stick to the kitchen at parties." Connor told them reading the information off his computer.
"This one must have a personality disorder. How dangerous is it?" Claudia asked.
"According to this, it would have eaten dead wood and leaves." Connor told them quite sure.
"So it's not poisonous."
"No way."
"That's a good thing then." Claudia said relieved. They hear a shout and turn to see Stephen being half carried by Nick and one of the soldiers. They rush over as a soldier yells for a stretcher.
Soon Stephen was loaded onto a stretcher and the paramedics took over. They started to strap him down as not to aggravate his wounds.
"Stephen!" Abby and Avery yell as they approach him. One of the paramedics pulled his color back to expose his wounds. It was a similar puncture mark to the one on the man they saw this morning. It was raised above the skin and surrounded in thick pulsing veins. A trickle of blood ran down from the wound. Stephen was covered in sweat and was shaking from shock. He pulled in shallow breath as if he was struggling to breath. His left arm was clutched against his stomach. He could not move it, the venom was already doing its work.
"He's been bitten by the Arthropleurid. Same wound, same symptoms as the pest controller. We need to do something before it destroys his central nervous system." Nick told them hurriedly as a gauze was placed over the wound. They would have to take it off later but for now it was used to slow down the bleeding.
"Poison?" Connor asked as they started to wheel him towards the ambulance.
"The spiders are off the hook. It's the centipede that's the killer." Nick explained.
Claudia gave Connor a pointed look. "Not poisonous you said."
Connor tried to defend himself. "Look, I was only speculating."
"Tell them about Helen. She was there." Avery heard Stephen say. She looks behind her as Nick, Connor and Claudia fell back, away from the stretcher.
As Stephen is being loaded into the ambulance the paramedics pause to open the doors.
"You know, you look really beautiful." Stephen said. Avery could tell he was talking to Abby and tried not to listen.
"You're delirious." Abby replied.
"Have dinner with me."
"We'll talk about it when you're better."
"I can't wait that long."
"Of course I will. And I'll have coffee at your place later and stay for breakfast in the morning." Avery definitely did not want to hear that. It was one thing to hear him ask her out on a date, but his sex life was a whole other matter. He was like her brother for Pete's sake.
"Good result. It's amazing how much easier this stuff is when you're dying." Stephen groans out as a flash of pain rips through his body.
"You're not dying!" Abby said with a slight waver in her voice. She looked at Stephen sadly as he was loaded into the ambulance.
Abby and Avery look at each other. They know that only one person can ride in the ambulance with Stephen.
"You go." Avery tells Abby. Abby look at her unsure if the other girl meant what she said "He asked you out, just do me a favor and call me when you get to the hospital. Abby nods at her and jumps in the ambulance. A paramedic climbs in after and the ambulance speeds away.
Avery walks back to Nick and Claudia as they finished their conversation.
"Dad?" Avery asked Nick. Claudia looks at Avery and leaves knowing Avery wanted to talk to her dad alone.
"Yeah." Nick asks.
"Did Stephen really see mom?"
"I'm not sure. He could have been hallucinating." Nick told her.
"He didn't seem that out of it. But I'll ask him when his better." Avery's phone rang and she grabbed it out of her pocket.
"What's happening?" She answered seeing it was Abby.
"I've just talked to the doctor. They need a sample of the venom Stephen was injected with, then they might be able to find an anti-venom that can counteract it." Abby said through the phone. "But there's one problem, the anti-venom has a 50, 50 chance of killing him."
"It's better than nothing. Just get back here as fast as you can." Avery hangs up and calls out for Claudia and Ryan. Claudia, Connor and Ryan rush over and she explains what happened. "I just got a call from Abby, apparently we have a chance of saving Stephen, but we need to stop the Arthropleurid from escaping."
"I'll get some men a couple of torches. We'll run the spiders back into the anomaly, but we'll keep the creature from escaping." Ryan tells them.
"Go." Claudia says and he rushes off.
So, so sorry for the late update. I love that people are reading my story, it makes me happy that someone likes my work.
I also have not beta-tester so any mistakes are all my own, but if anyone is interested they can private message me.