DISCLAIMER – Not mine.
A/N – This is kind of a short chapter, which comes with a little request. Do people want to see Foster and Plunkett in later stories – they would only have bit-parts, like Ryan – or not? Please let me know!
Foster knocked at the door. He shifted uncomfortably. The girls sitting on the benches opposite were staring at him and his men. Laughing and pointing, in fact, whilst eating their chips. He knocked again. The door swung open, to reveal a policeman. He gestured for the soldiers to follow him into the house.
The science team – as he thought of them – was already there, drinking tea. Foster nodded a curt greeting. His men stood around awkwardly in the background, looking less like a highly trained group of soldiers, and more like skulking teenage boys. Lewis had no such problem; she squeezed past him into the living room, and took a seat. Almost immediately, a cup of tea appeared in her hand, courtesy of a very muddy young woman.
"Thank you."
The young woman nodded. "Sugar's by your foot, if you want it."
Lewis leant down, and spooned two lumps of sugar into her cup. She stirred slowly. Foster glanced back at his men. They had collected themselves now, and were looking much more respectable. He hoped he had managed to do the same.
The policeman – Sergeant Franklin – filled them in on everything that had happened since his first call for help had reached them. Foster listened intently. This wasn't going to be a mission that ended without bloodshed – whether it was theirs or, preferably, the creature's. He glanced down at the Professor, surprised to see the man looking back at him. They silently agreed that taking the creatures down was the first and only priority.
"So.." Rachel said, breaking up the tail end of her cousin's story. "How do these anomalies work, then?"
Connor looked up to find everyone waiting for him to explain. Evidently Professor Cutter was delegating.
"Um – to be honest, we're not quite sure." he said. "They can go into the future or the past. Oh, and they cause radio interference."
"And you lot come along and save the day?"
"That's the idea."
Rachel, Foster noted, did not look impressed. He could hardly blame her. So far, between the science team and his own men, they had managed to run away from the creatures and crash a car. He resisted the urged to glare at Plunkett. The poor lad was getting enough grief from his teammates.
"So what are we waiting for?"
"What do you mean, 'we'?" Cutter said. "You and Sergeant Franklin will be staying right here – where it's safe."
"Safe? Like my house, you mean?"
"The raptors are over the other side of the village. We can get them before they come this way – but we have to go now."
This was the kind of talk Foster understood. He turned to speak to his men, only to find them already preparing. A brief smile crossed his face. It was reassuring to know your unit could think for itself. As long as they didn't do it too often, that is. Foster waited for the science team to grab their things. He went first, in case Cutter was wrong about the creatures making it to this end of the village. Plunkett appeared at his right shoulder, gun gripped tightly in his hands.
Some of the lads never got used to this new assignment. Not that Foster could blame them. He ignored the impressed looks of the girls sitting on the bench, and counted everyone out of the small house. Eight of his own men, and the four-man science team.
"Ready, Professor?"
Cutter checked with his team, and nodded. "Ready, Captain."