Hello again. This one took a little longer, but I hope that means you like it even more
I had a few problems with the action sequence in this logistically, but am happy with it now (after three redrafts), though I would like feed-back (hint hint).
Disclaimer: I don't own Primeval. Though I do dream...
Howard leant back and relaxed. Ah, life was so much easier nowadays. He made a mental note to be nice to Connor from now on; at least, until he did something overwhelmingly stupid or annoying again, so oooo... three hours, possibly.
No, this was a time to give the kid some credit. Ever since that ADD thing had started working, Howard and his men no longer had to respond to so many false alerts, leaving them to do things at their own pace far more. Drills could suddenly be longer and more complicated as there was less fear of them being interrupted.
The new Captain, with new drills, was arriving today. Howard was hoping that this man would be more similar to Sanders than Andrews. It was testimony to the effects of a bad Captain that Howard was now constantly anxious over a repeat performance. Sanders had placed his mind at rest for a while, but the insect of doubt had crept back; it was dangerous job and the last thing needed was a dodgy leader.
Sanders had kept in touch with Howard; he'd found a job at youth centre. Howard could imagine Sanders getting on well with children, his grin of mischief making him a hit with them. Anyway, he wanted to hear about his replacement, who would be arriving shortly.
"Comfortable are we, Sergeant?" Lester's voice sliced through Howard's thoughts. "No, don't get up. You're obviously very busy." Howard stared up at the civil servant and forced himself to a standing position. His interest was grasped by the middle-sized brown-haired man standing to attention in the doorway. The Sergeant raised his eyebrows and looked pointedly towards Lester.
"No harm in having someone with a little discipline, is there? Just because there's none in the research section doesn't mean security has to follow suit," commented Lester.
"No, sir," replied Howard, with a small smile.
"Anyway, introductions. Mermin, this is Sergeant Howard, the man who's been keeping your seat warm. Howard, this is Captain Mermin. Should be up to the job."
"Yes, no doubt he is, sir," said Howard. Lester paused for a second, studying Howard's features for any sign of mockery. The subject remained passive and neutral.
"Right, well, I'll leave you two to get acquainted, shall I?" and Lester left, Mermin stepping aside to let him passed. Silence fell until Lester's face peeped round the door again. "Oh, and Howard?"
"Yes, sir?"
"Look after this one, eh?" and he disappeared again.
The Captain was still standing to attention and he was watching Howard. Howard internally squirmed under the severe scrutiny. He wasn't used to this; most people who met him concentrated of the gun he was invariably carrying in public. This thought took him by surprise. He needed to get out socially more.
Howard's watch squeaked and he noticed five minutes had passed. And not a single word had been spoken between the pair, so Howard decided he should probably attempt to welcome the man.
"Captain Mermin, sir. Perhaps you'd let me introduce you to the other men," he started positively, believing this was better than seeming a stuttering fool.
"You're an old soldier, Howard," interrupted Mermin, his Yorkshire accent appearing so suddenly that Howard was thrown by the statement, for a statement it was. Mermin took this hesitation as a signal to continue. "An old soldier, yet obviously now used to being relaxed and informal in the presence of your superiors." Howard internally groaned; not another Andrews. "I take it as a representation of the atmosphere in this place?" Or not.
"Yes, sir. Most of the men are ex-army, but, having left, do expect a little more freedom and if you're too formal with the scientists, they laugh at you behind your back and ignore any instruction given by you." He paused in thought. "Actually, they ignore any instruction given by anyone, but I suppose they respect you more if you don't shout at them." The other man nodded and indicated to the door.
"The men?" Howard smiled and led the way to the parade room, acknowledging the Captain.
Connor caught up with Howard in the break room as the Sergeant was getting some tea from the machine. As soon as the young man began the approach, Howard steeled himself for the onslaught of questions that amazingly never came. Instead, he fiddled with straws and after a glance by Howard, settled for tapping a spoon on the counter. Howard saw out the corner of his eye Stephen burying his head in his newspaper.
"Connor!" The younger man stopped. "Mermin is fairly good. He has a thing about the man looking smart, but that won't affect you as a civilian, and about observing all the Health and Safety regulations, but he doesn't speak very much, though you can tell he's very commanding on occasion. Essentially, he simply expects what he asks to be done, to be done." Connor nodded, dropped the spoon and scuttled away. Howard heard Stephen quietly laughing. Stephen looked across to Howard.
"Abby warned him not to bug you too much. I think he got used to having a playmate in Sanders and was hoping for another one." Howard grunted. "By the way, do you know this guy's position on guns for non-soldiers?"
Howard frowned in thought for a few seconds. "I would say this H and S obsession may count against you. You'll have to go up to him and see if he likes you." Stephen nodded slowly, obviously not liking this prospect.
"Howard?"
"Hmm…"
"Do you mind if you can look after your Captains. Only I'm getting pretty bored of persuading each new one that I should have a gun."
Howard smiled. "Do you know who you sound like, Hart?" Stephen frowned and shook his head. "Lester." And so, Howard left, not looking back to view the offended face that he knew would be there.
Mermin was bemused with the man who stood before him. The alarm had gone off just after lunch and everybody had quickly scrabbled to gather kit in a flurry of activity. However, it didn't go unnoticed that someone else had joined his men in grabbing a firearm.
Mr Hart's reputation may have preceded him, but he was currently on the defensive, spewing out a lot of rubbish about needing to protect the team in places that the soldiers couldn't go, though where that was Mermin had no idea, and was holding the rifle in his hands across his body. He reminded Mermin of his young toddler, protesting about the fact that 'Mummy always gives me the electronic drill'. Mermin didn't say a word of this; he just waited until Hart realised that he wasn't getting an argument, just a sore throat. Once the words had tailed off, Mermin began.
"Why don't you just leave the gun and we can have a conversation about it when we get back?"
"How about I take the gun and we can have the conversation about it when we get back?"
"Because you don't have the proper, regulation training that all recruits in this section have to go through before being allowed anywhere near a gun in the field. I'm not having you be the exception!"
Stephen was just about the reply, probably with a response that he'd had training or, worse, he didn't need training when the Scottish scientist, that Mermin had also heard about through folklore, appeared.
"Are you lot coming?" He eyed the gun in Stephen's grasp. "It'll be easier if you just let him have it, Captain. He is actually a reasonable shot."
"NO!" stated Mermin. "It contravenes not only every rule in this place, but probably in the country as well. He's not going with it." Cutter looked, somewhat helplessly, towards Stephen, as the siren blared out behind him.
An eerie silence fell as the other men, already packed and raring to go, stopped to listen to the outcome of this argument. If Stephen broke resolve, it would a moment for all to remember; let's face it, it was never going to happen again. All that could be heard for a minute was the sound of the vehicles being started.
"Fine!" A hushed gasp echoed through the ranks. Stephen handed his gun back. Never before had this ever happened, nor was it ever likely to happen again. The technician chucked the gun at Howard, pointedly not giving it back to Mermin, and stormed from the area of dispute. Connor took one look at him and eagerly let the fuming man into the driver seat; now was not the time for childish rotas.
The anomaly itself was at the end of a dead-end alleyway, a dank and dismal place, home to only one tramp, Mike. Mike at this particular moment was trying to rebuild his make-shift home out of new cardboard he'd pillaged from the back of a supermarket; the rain last night had caused some structural failure in the last one.
It was while he was doing this that he was suddenly blinded, albeit temporarily, by a burst of golden light that settled in a mass of broken shards. Mike slid down the wall in shock. This shock turned into astonishment, as a creature, looking suspicious like a dinosaur, emerged. From the brick wall. It was certainly not your everyday spectacle.
The beast sniffed a few times, then passed by, leaving Mike on the ground, quaking with fear.
Twenty minutes later, everyone else turned up.
The previously empty alley was filled and there was so many people and sights and noises. Mike felt rather overwhelmed and it wasn't until and blond, friendly-looking man approached him that he realised that he was still part of this scene.
Cutter remembered Jenny's advice about leaving the public to her. And ignored it. "Don't worry. We're... electricians and this is just a... temporarily power surge. We just here to... get the power back." Cutter made a note to listen to Jenny.
"B...but there was a... thing. An animal. It just appeared!" exclaimed Mike. He wasn't just a fool on the street to be overlooked. The suited woman glanced at him, up and down, then smiled a sickly sweet smile.
"Why don't we have a chat?" she mocked.
"Stephen, we have an incursion!" cried out the Scott, and whirled around to rush off, brushing past a well-dressed woman approaching. "He's all yours," Mike heard as the two past.
Mermin, meanwhile, was quietly taking control. He'd set up a perimeter around the site, although this proved ineffective as most the scientists were in too much of a hurry to let anyone check their passes, and had radioed the police to advise them of the situation, although they heard the word 'ARC' mentioned and lost interest.
As soon as the cry went up about the incursion, Stephen came rushing over. To Howard. That man certainly knew how to hold a grudge.
"Don't give into him, Howard!" Mermin ordered, and Stephen bestowed him a dirty look.
"I follow the dinosaurs! I track them; that's why I'm here in the first place!" the man exclaimed. "Isn't it more dangerous to do it without a gun than with?"
"You track; we come with you to offer armed support. Howard!"
"Sir!"
"You come with us. Mr Hart is about to experience proper back-up."
The dinosaur hadn't actually gone that far, only a few corners, the huge dents in the concrete here and there providing useful markers to its route. Stephen turned to Mermin.
"Well? What do the regulations say about this?" Mermin thought for a minute, then cut through Stephen just as he was about to speak.
"Taylor. Gather a team of men, go up to the main road, and then down the alley by the bakers. You need to spook the dinosaur back towards the anomaly. The sergeant and I will persuade it to take the right route."
A 'Yes sir!' that crackled slightly. Stephen coughed purposely.
"No." And the matter was dropped. "Howard, there's two alleyways it could go down other than the one we want. You take to first, I'll take the second and Mr Hart, send a message to my men. They'll stop it overshooting. Got it? Go!"
The three men departed.
"...And then, he had the cheek to send me back. I'm more experienced than him. And Howard, come to that!"
"You're more experienced than Howard by three days," sighed Jenny, sick of the bickering between the scientists and security at the moment. Being a civil servant, she generally got caught in the middle.
Suddenly, there was a shout and the group's heads snapped up. The anomaly was starting to become fainter and the constant movement was lacking in ferocity. In short, it was threatening to close in the next few minutes, and they still had a dinosaur out.
A growl was heard, along with some crashing. That would be the soldiers setting the creature on its path back. Stephen had positioned the two soldiers who hadn't gone with the other group up the alleyway with metal bin lids, ready to make a hullabaloo. He checked to see they were ready, and rushed off the get into an SUV for safety.
The sight that came into view thirty seconds later was not the one expected.
Mermin had settled by the time the noise arose. His gun safely in his holster, he waited, not really expecting the dinosaur to come his way; the alleyway would be a squeeze for the poor beast and there was no need to pull out any dangerous weapons. He crouched down, not wishing to be an edible distraction.
The heavy footsteps that pounded down the street came closer.
And closer.
And closer.
Suddenly, the creature burst into view. Although not running, its six foot stride created the perception of great speed, though the ruckus mustn't have spooked it as much as intended. It was probably this that meant its attention was so easily caught.
"CAPTAIN! THE ANOMALY'S CLOSING! YOU NEED TO GET THE CREATURE BACK RIGHT NOW!" Connor's voice echoed through the narrow alleyways with ease and the dinosaur immediately snapped round to eye Mermin, letting out a colossal roar at the sight of the crouching man.
It lunged and only just missed Mermin's head as the man rolled aside, back into the main alley. The creature twisted and Mermin knew he had to make a choice.
Run one way and lead it to the closing anomaly or run the other way and lead it to the mass of shopping civilians with little hope of returning it back to its own time.
It wasn't really a choice.
As he scrambled up, he heard the creature crash into some large bins; glass smashed on the tarmac. He didn't look back though. He had to concentrate on accelerating away from this carnivore that surely had a higher top speed once it sorted itself out in order to pursue.
Sure enough, the Earth shook as, first slowly, then increasingly rapid booms were heard behind. He tried to grab for his gun, but found it jammed in his holster's catch. He stumbled as he fumbled and at the last second stopped himself from toppling over. With no time to untangle it, Mermin had to rely on his own physical abilities.
He rounded a right hand bend sharply and the creature went straight into the wall as it missed the Captain by a hair's breadth. The slight panic turned to relief as he spied the men blocking the continuation of this path.
Relief transformed to fear as he realised the dinosaur was going too fast to be stopped by them.
As soon as he spotted them, Stephen acted on instinct, grabbing down for his gun that he always kept by his feet in the car. His hand met with air. The soldiers had no time to collect their guns from where they'd placed them in order to hold the 'dino-scarers', as Connor had dubbed them. Stephen swore mentally and turned to Cutter.
"There's nothing I can do. He's on his own! The fool!"
Mermin was all too aware of this fact as he neared the turning. There was only one option and it was risky, which clashed horribly with his safety-conscious disposition. But still, he had to take the dive.
Skidding to turn, he veered into the dead-end, where, thank goodness, the anomaly was still hovering. Weak, but there. He turned to face his opponent, who seemed to realise its prey was cornered. It stared Mermin into the eyes, as if challenging him to make a false move. Mermin remained motionless.
The creature charged, building up dramatic speed. As it approached the lone Captain, it opened its jaws to reveal the sharp row of teeth, purposely evolved for slicing flesh.
The Captain leapt sideways, but it was too late. The two collided and bowled through the anomaly.
The rest of the team scrambled form their vehicles and Howard, having heard the dinosaur speed up and followed, arrived at the same time as Stephen. They were ten feet away from the anomaly when it closed.
On the other side, in the Middle of Jurassic, Captain Mermin stood up and surveyed the dead dinosaur, it head laid against the rock that it hit when it landed. He supposed he should be grateful for that, but then he looked behind. At the space where the anomaly had been. Instead, there lay a rocky expanse, with the odd fern dotted here and there.
Three hours later, he gave up waiting and went to find shelter.
"Gasosaurus. He'll be in the Middle of the Jurassic," stated Cutter. Howard just stood there, silently watching the space. "He may come back. There could well be another anomaly around that time and..."
"Shut up," said Howard. There was no emotion. This wasn't someone lost. This was someone who would continue living, simply stuck, separated from wife and child and yet...
No, false hope wouldn't be the answer. Not this time. Connor came up behind and stood there for a minute. Howard knew that couldn't last.
"He really didn't want to get back to that paperwork, eh?"
Howard sighed and smiled dimly. No one laughed, but it broke the tension.
"Next time." Cutter spoke slowly. "Next time, you make sure Stephen gets a gun."
This time Howard smirked. He loved working with these people.
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