Chapter 2
Matt walked away from his father towards the house. The garden was in full bloom – the scent was intoxicating. Insects buzzed and birds sang. My god there were so many birds. Matt smiled as he thought of the beauty that surrounded his father in his last days. So much life and beauty after so much death and destruction.
Matt knew that this was a suicide mission. That neither of them were supposed to survive, could be allowed to survive whether they succeeded or failed. And they had to succeed.
His thoughts drifted to his mother. She was beautiful once with her huge brown eyes and chestnut brown curls. He'd seen a picture of her in her youth, before it got really bad. Before Adam Burton had finally destroyed everything. She looked happy in that picture – full of life and full of colour.
After Burton had unleashed hell on the planet, their young family had retreated to a government bunker along with many other military families. It was reinforced and carved into the rock so was protected from the burrowing creatures. The entrance was well guarded and constantly patrolled. An EMD killing zone also protected the entrance – nothing without a bio-tag could get through alive.
No-one went outside except on heavily armoured recon and training missions. The air was foul, but the storms that blew up without warning would kill you if you were unprotected. And then there were the predators. Most of the carnivorous insects from the future had moved into the remains of the cities. They'd followed the few humans who were trying to survive in the subterranean remains of car parks and train stations. The humans didn't last long.
The others were different. They were so unlike any animal seen before they were just called the predators. They seemed to be able to survive in any conditions, even the toxic maelstrom that the surface had become. When they couldn't find humans and any of the few remaining animals to feed upon, they fed upon each other. They bred quickly so it was an unending food supply.
Matt barely remembered his life before the bunker. He was a small child when Adam Burton unleashed hell and they packed what little they could carry and went underground. To avoid the worst of the seismic activity, the bunker was in Ireland. Matt didn't know what an Ireland was, but he knew that the people from there sounded different to his mum and dad.
He couldn't remember sunlight. He'd never known fresh running water. When he had come into the past and felt rain for the first time he was at first terrified that it would burn him like acid, and then he had stood outside, in the middle of the street for over an hour just letting the water wash over him and soak though his clothes – it was heaven.
Life in the bunker was comfortable enough. All their nutritional and educational requirements were met. They were taught to fight and to survive. The adults rarely spoke of the time before. It was too disturbing – too hard a memory to deal with. To know that you were witnessing the end of human civilisation and the end of almost all life on Earth. The planet would survive even if it was a barren rock. Presumably at some point it would repair itself sufficiently for a new era of giant creatures to exist – after all they had come through the anomaly from the future. It made sense that the creatures that would survive and thrive would be cave dwelling insects and bats.
Slowly the life drained out of his mother. First his baby sister succumbed to an illness. He was never told what. She just wasted away. He remembered his mother crying almost constantly and his father, initially consoling and then despairing of her grief and leaving her alone. His mother with her rosy cheeks, pink lips and chestnut hair slowly became grey. Even her skin became grey from lack of sunlight. One day he came home from school full of details of the latest hand to hand combat techniques and the wonder of being allowed to grow his own bean plant in the hydroponics lab. His father took him in his arms and looked sadly into the small boy's face.
"You have to be strong for me Matt, can you do that?"
"'Course dad. I'm the strongest in my class, teacher said so."
"Good boy." Gideon patted his son on the head and ruffled his hair. "We are going to go on a mission." Matt perked up with excitement. "Not yet, not for a very long time. It's a very important mission and will take lots of training. Do you think you can do that Matt?"
"'Course dad. Is it really very important?"
"Yes son. We are going to try to save the planet." Matt's face lit up "Wow, brilliant! And I'm going too? I'm gonna be like a super hero? You wait till I tell Harry."
"No Matt, you can't tell Harry or anyone, ever. That's the first rule. Never tell. You and I do this alone. The only people who know are our special trainers. No one else must ever know and you must never tell. Do you understand?"
"Yes dad. Errrr, dad, what about mum? Am I allowed to tell her? It might cheer her up."
"No son. I've already told your mother. She was a little upset so probably best to leave her be for a while. We won't be going on our mission for several years. We have to wait until you're all grown up before we can go. She'll get used to it."
As he rounded the side of the house and headed for his SUV he remembered the cry of anguish when his father found his mother's suicide note. She had taken an overdose and slashed her wrists. There was so much red for someone who had become so grey.
She had wished her son well with the Mission and gave him all her love. She knew it would succeed because he was her boy and was brilliant. From then on it was always referred to as the Mission with a capital 'm' just as his mother had written it. His mother's body was sent to the recycling plant. There were no flowers, but Matt did place his little green bean sprout in his mother's hands before her body was taken away.
Now he was losing his father. Years of exposure to the toxic skies had ruined his health. At least he would die amidst all this beauty he was trying so desperately to save. Matt would have him buried in one of those wild wood cemeteries so he was surrounded by trees and life. Gideon would love to know that he was nourishing the Earth.
Nothing would get in the way of his completing the Mission. He was certain that this was the time when things began, he just needed to know who. Connor Temple was perhaps the one person who had the knowledge and expertise, but he certainly didn't have the heart to do something like this. He was too good a soul to wreak death and destruction on humanity. But he was easily led and had been stuck in the Cretaceous for a year. He could perhaps be manipulated by someone in a position of authority.
In his biography Philip Burton had called Connor his assistant, but had called Abby Maitland his concubine. He obviously looked at Abby with lust, but she seemed committed to Connor – the bond they had forged in the Cretaceous seemed so strong and from what little he had seen of her she was fiercely loyal – the type who mated for life. If that was the case then Connor Temple was very obviously her choice, not Philip Burton.
He was beginning to wonder if Philip had lied about that relationship. If he had lied about that, what else was he lying about?
As Matt got into the SUV and started towards the anomaly site at the theatre, he started to plan how to get closer to Abby. To find out where her affections lay. He felt increasingly that Abigail Maitland may well be the key to everything.
The End
