Chapter 22- Dodo's

Avery sat on the floor next to her father as the three Dodo's they managed to capture ran around them. They had long silver beaks that were rounded with a sharp point at the end and dark orange eyes. Their feathers were a mix of brown and grey, with white feathers on their breast and stomach. They had a small tail, two underdeveloped flightless wings and long four clawed toes.

They were quite playful as they circled around the pair, seemingly unafraid of them. One kept trying to jump at the window from the table but bounced of the glass confused as to why they couldn't get outside.

"Dodos." Claudia said skeptically staring at the birds.

"Oh, they're so cute." Abby said leaning against the doorway. Avery could see Ryan standing behind them peering at the Dodo's, even he wasn't immune to their charms.

"And so dumb." Connor noticed.

"They're not stupid, just trusting." Abby said looking back at Connor. "It's not their fault they became extinct."

"Funny, you weren't this sentimental about the gorgonopsid."

Connor looked at the hand on his shoulder and followed it up the arm to see Stephen, a massive smile on his face.

"What are you jealous Connor, I guess being a harmless, fluffy, extinct animal is more attractive to the ladies." Avery said, trying to pat one of the Dodo's but it snapped at her fingers. "Well partially harmless."

"Is that the lot?" Claudia asked Stephen.

"Yep, that's it." Stephen replied.

We better ship this lot back before we upset Darwin. Now everybody, um … grab a dodo." Nick said smiling at the group gathered around the window. Avery wished she could take a picture of what their faces looked like as they realized they had to get the Dodo's back through the anomaly.

Abby looked like she wanted to keep them exactly where they were out of cuteness, while Claudia wanted to keep them there so they wouldn't have to go through the hassle, a look Connor mirrored with a grimace, but Stephen was smiling widely as if the task exited him.

Avery snorted, of course he would be excited about the practically impossible task. She looked to her right and saw Nick was just as exited, she smiled to herself, she was secretly exited as well.

Avery stood opposite Nick as she and the soldiers crated a tunnel for the Dodo's to go through. The Dodo's were hesitant to go through and Avery hoped they were not sending the Dodo's back to the wrong time. They may end up in the right anomaly, and she was tempted to see where they went.

She looked over to see Stephen and Abby herding another Dodo towards them with a shiny metal lid. It backed up while pecking at it not sure what to make of the other bird approaching it. She looked towards Connor who was banging a metal ladle against his forehead before hitting a bit too hard. Stephen had told her before that he found them stripped down to their underwear. When she had asked Abby about it she said Connor just showed up with his stuff.

"Professor, we have a dodo down." She heard Ryan call out. They approached him and saw one of the Dodo's lying on the floor, motionless.

"Oh no." Claudia said as Nick and Stephen knelt beside the anomaly.

"Oh, how did that happen?" Abby asked, coming towards them.

"Maybe it ate one of the pies." Connor said looking down at his compass, she and Nick sent him a dirty look, disliking his carelessness. "Sorry." He said noticing the looks he was getting, he swallowed once then looked back at his compass.

"Poor little guy." Nick said petting the Dodo's neck. "We should do an autopsy to find out how he died."

"Could have been the shock." Stephen noted.

"Well we've both been through and we're alright."

"As far as we know." He looked up at Nick driving his point forward, and Avery wondered if the same could happen to them.

"Some animals might not be as versatile as us, though other creatures have come through safe." Avery noted grabbing some gloves offered to her by one of the scientists. She knelt down next to her father and placed a hand on the birds' beak. Hopefully whatever affected the Dodo wouldn't affect them.

"Cutter. The anomaly is fading." Connor called out. They looked up at him in shock, this might have been the last time they would see the spaghetti junction of anomalies, to put Connor words in. But Avery suspected that Nick was worried he might not find Helen again, she didn't know why he still loved her when she had abandoned her family. She wondered if she would feel the same towards Michael if he left for over 8 years.

At the Home Office Avery stood with Nick, Stephen and Abby as they surrounded the dead Dodo lying on the table. They were dressed in white cotton jumpsuits, with gloves and white coverings on their shoes to avoid contaminating the Dodo before they could find out what was wrong with it. At the end of the table stood several test tubes to collect any samples they came across.

They stood back as the bird twitched.

"Whoa, whoa. It's … it's muscle spasm." Stephen said hopefully.

"No. It's been dead for hours." Nick explained. "Okay." He said after the Dodo had not twitched again. They approached it more warily. As Nick is about to cut the top of the breast, something happens. The mouth of the dodo opens, and a screaming worm-like creature crawled out. Abby made a disgusted noise and everyone yells as it drops to the floor and starts wriggling after her. She backs up to the wall as the worm wiggled towards her.

"Stephen, grab that." Avery said pointing to a bell jar on one of the other tables in the room.

Stephen puts a bell jar over the top of the parasite and they breathed a sigh of relief as it stayed trapped in the jar. After a while it stopped moving, waiting for a little bit longer Stephen lifted the jar up. The creature did not move again.

"It must have already been dying." Avery noted. Picking up a small steel basin she brought it over and scooped it inside bring it closer to get a closer look. "Why don't you get Lester." Avery said looking up at Stephen. "I think we found what killed our dodo."