Chapter 7 – Blast From The Past

Abby wondered where she was going to start or how she was going to get out of this situation when the phone started ringing.

'I should get that,' she said, darting past Stephen to answer the phone.

'Abby Maitland... Hi Professor... what? Another one?... Do you want me to drive- oh okay. See you in a bit then.'

Abby hung up and turned to Stephen, 'We've got another anomaly. Apparently it's in an office block and the special forces are already on their way there. Cutter said he'd pick us up on the way.'

Stephen nodded, 'How long is he going to be?'

'About ten minutes,' Abby replied, she put her hands on her hips, 'No heroics from you, you're still recovering from the last time we faced an anomaly.'

Stephen put his hands in the air, 'Alright, I'll behave.'

Abby snorted, a smile playing on her face, 'I find that hard to believe.'

Stephen looked wounded as Abby laughed and pressed a quick kiss to his lips before going upstairs to get changed. Stephen watched her go, knowing that the question he'd asked her earlier was now being ignored with the distraction provided by Nick Cutter. He sighed, wondering if she'd ever let her walls down enough to tell him what had happened to her before.


Abby jumped out of the SUV and fell into step behind Stephen.

'Do we know what's come through?' she asked, looking up at the office block above them; Stephen shrugged.

'Your guess is as good as ours,' he replied, his hand reaching out to link his fingers with hers. She smiled up at him.

'I'm just hoping there's no bugs.'

Stephen laughed and looped his arm around her waist as Nick stopped and they faced one of the special forces men walked up to them.

'Professor Nick Cutter? I'm Captain Harvey, I'll be taking over from Captain Ryan,' he said, holding out his hand for Nick to shake; Nick took it and nodded.

'This is Stephen Hart and Abby Maitland,' Nick said; Harvey greeted the two of them, his eyes lingering longer on Abby did not go unnoticed by Stephen who tightened his arm around her waist.

'What's the situation?'Nick asked. Captain Harvey turned back to him.

'We've evacuated the building and kept the employees nearby and the press away,' Harvey replied, 'We were instructed to wait for your arrival before entering the building.'

Nick nodded, 'Any idea what creature we're dealing with?'

'From eyewitness reports it sounds like some type of predator. A group of them,' Harvey replied.

'It can't be anything too large otherwise it couldn't move around inside,' Abby pointed out.

'The Gorgonopsid managed to negotiate a school,' Stephen countered.

'But a group of Gorgonopsid? I thought they lived alone.'

'They did,' Nick replied, 'I think it's more than likely some kind of raptor.'

One of the SAS men brought over three sets of the gear they'd worn when they'd gone into the Underground; Abby felt Stephen tense up slightly next to her and she tightened her arm around his waist slightly, she felt him relax slightly and leant into his side.

'Let's get kitted and then we'll take a look inside,' Nick said to the other two.

About ten minutes later the three of them were stood by the main van setting up their ear pieces and Nick was talking with one of the SAS men; he was making sure he would be able to convey to the what the suspected creatures were so they could work out how to control them enough to send them back. Connor had copied most of his dino database and given it to the Home Office so they could access it at any anomaly site if, for some reason, he didn't have his laptop or he wasn't there. He hadn't been able to copy every single bit of it though and so there would be some gaps.

'Abby Maitland?'

Abby turned to find the source of the voice and found a face she vaguely recognised.

'You don't remember me do you?' the man asked. Abby shook her head.

'I recognise you, but I can't remember your name. Sorry,' she replied, sending him an apologetic smile.

'Abby!'

'Five minutes, Cutter!' she replied; Nick nodded and turned back to his conversation with the SAS man. Abby turned back to the man; he had a smile on his face that was making her slightly uncomfortable.

'What about m best mate? Tom Wood?'

Abby froze, the smile falling from her face as realisation hit hard, 'John Baker.'

Her ex-fiancée's friend just smiled and nodded.

'He's doing great by the way, should be out of prison next month,' John told her, 'Do you miss him? He misses you a lot. He can't wait to see you when he gets out.'

'If he comes anywhere near me I'll tell the police and he'll go straight back to prison!' Abby snapped, hoping the fear she felt didn't show in her voice.

'Abby?'

She jumped and spun around to come face to face with Stephen. He frowned, taking in her fearful stance and wide eyes; he looked over her shoulder at John.

'You okay?' he asked; Abby felt a sense of déjà vu as the expression on his face reminded her of the sea lion tunnel.

'I'm fine. Just catching up with an old friend,' she replied, casting a look back at John, 'It was nice seeing you again.'

'We'll both be seeing you soon, Abby,' John said, the confirmation of who 'both' of them were making shivers run up her spine. Stephen must have sensed something was wrong because he loosely wrapped an arm around her waist, letting his hand rest lightly on her hip.

'We better get over to Cutter, he wants to go in now,' he told her, not missing the slight narrowing of John's eyes and the intense glare he fixed on Abby. She nodded and let Stephen lead her back to the team and away from a past she wanted to leave behind for good.


'We'll do a sweep from the basement to the top floor and keep our eyes open for any creatures or the anomaly,' Nick said; Stephen rolled his eyes.

'I thought we were looking out for the meeting rooms,' he commented, grinning as Nick rolled his eyes at him. The three members of the team quickly and quietly pushed open the door and entered the building, a team of the SAS behind them. The group started to move forward when Stephen stopped suddenly, holding up his hand to stop the others.

'Shh... listen,' he pressed a finger to his lips and everyone froze, listening intently. Then Stephen heard it again; a quiet clicking.

'They're close,' Abby whispered, 'Do you think they know we're here?'

'I think they might be stalking us already,' Stephen replied; the rest of the group shot him an uneasy glance.

'What do we do?' one of the men asked.

'We move forward,' Harvey replied.

'We stay still and wait until we know where there are,' Stephen countered, 'Otherwise they could pick us off one by one.'

'Raptors were highly adapted ambush predators that worked in groups to separate their singled out prey from its group. If we are facing raptors we need to stay together,' Nick continued. Harvey shot them both a slight glare for making him look a fool in front of his new men but kept his mouth shut. The group remained still and silent, casting glances around the foyer for any sign of the predators.

'Over there,' Abby pointed to a corridor to the left where she'd seen a shadow pass across the wall. The guns all swung around to focus on the one corridor. That was the mistake the special forces made.

'To the right!'

Stephen spun around just in time to pull Abby back as the raptor leapt at them; luckily it landed on the floor and skidded into the opposite corridor.

'Fire at will!' Harvey commanded.

'No! We should only kill these creatures unless we have no other choice!' Nick yelled.

'Nick we have no other choice! It's them or us!' Stephen told him, steadying Abby as they walked towards the Professor. The special forces were shooting at shadows now as the raptors seemed to have disappeared back into the building.

'Hold your fire!' Harvey called, after a few seconds silence reigned again. 'We need to find this anomaly and get these creatures back in before I lose any of my men, Professor. I'd like to know how you are planning on doing this so I know where me and my men stand.'

Nick paused for a moment, 'We need to find where the anomaly is in the building, then we can focus on getting the creatures back into it; baiting them if we have to.'

'Baiting with what?' Harvey asked.

'I don't know yet,' Nick replied, 'Our main concern is to find the anomaly.'

'We can split into two groups, my men will split in half and go with you. We have our communication lines set up,' Harvey said, 'We find the anomaly we tell the other group where it is and then meet there.'

Nick held Harvey's gaze for a few seconds before nodding, 'Alright, let's do it.'

Twenty minutes later and they were still looking; Abby had gone with Harvey and a group of his men, something Stephen hadn't been too happy about but he'd kept his mouth shut and let it slide.

'What are we going to do when we find this thing?' Harvey asked as his men checked around a corner and then waved them on for all clear.

'I'm not sure,' Abby replied, her mind wasn't really on the task at hand. She snapped to attention when her ear piece crackled to life.

'We've found it,' Nick's voice came through, 'It's on the fourth floor in a central meeting room, get up here as quickly as you can and we'll work out how to get the predators back through.'

'Alright men! We're moving up to the fourth floor, let's go!' Harvey called out.

'Sir!'

Abby spun around and ducked just in time to stop from being mauled by a raptor; as it landed it slipped on the shiny floor, skidding for a few seconds before finally stopping. She put her hand on her arm as she felt something sticky start to trickle down it, glancing down she realised the raptor's claw had caught her as she'd put her arm up to protect her head.

'We need to get you out of here, you're hurt,' Harvey said, helping her to her feet as the men started to fire bullets at the dinosaur; Abby felt a shiver run through her spine as it fixed a predatory eye on her before sliding down a side corridor; it could still smell her blood. Blood...

'I've got an idea,' she said to Harvey, 'Give me a gun.'

Harvey looked at her as if she'd gone mad, 'What?'

'Get you and your men up to the anomaly so you can give me directions to it once I get onto the fourth floor. Give me a gun and go!' Abby said, a spark of determination in her eyes; where this daring stupidity had come from she didn't know but she did know that she had a plan to get the raptors back up to the anomaly.

'I won't leave you alone, I'll come with you and instruct my men-'

'Your men need you to command them; if you're that determined I'll let one of them come with me but the rest of you are getting up to the anomaly.'

Harvey looked at the determined spark in her eyes and sighed, 'Alright. Jones you accompany Miss Maitland, the rest of you follow me we're going up to the anomaly.'

He turned to Abby, handing her a hand gun, 'Good luck.'

She waited for the men to turn the corner before turning back to Jones, 'If you want to go I don't mind; I know this is a stupid idea that'll probably get us killed but it's the only plan we've got at the moment.'

'I'll follow my orders, Miss,' he told her; Abby smiled at him.

'Thank you.'

& & & & & & &

'Where's Abby?' Stephen asked when Harvey and the rest of his men arrived at the anomaly site.

'She gave us instructions to come up here and wait for her; I sent one of my men with her.'

'You left her alone?' Stephen demanded; Nick came up next to Stephen.

'Where is she?' he asked.

'We parted on the ground floor. We'd scouted the basement and lower ground floor with no sign of the predators,' Harvey reported. Stephen reached up to his ear piece and pressed the call button.

'Abby? Abby where are you? Abby come in. Abby!'

He growled in frustration as all he got was static, 'Where is she?'

'Alright, Stephen you need to calm down. You're not going to be any help to her like this,' Nick said, 'Then we need to see if we can get hold of... who did you send with her?'

'Jones,' Harvey replied.

'Right we need to see if we can get hold of Jones. Then we can send a group out to collect them,' he turned back to the Captain, 'Why on earth did you let her go out with only one man with her?'

'I know when I'm beaten in an argument with a woman,' Harvey replied, 'I knew she wouldn't give in so I made a compromise. Jones is one of my best men, he'll keep her safe.'

It had been five minutes since Abby and Jones had left Harvey and the rest of the men to get to the anomaly site and she'd just heard Stephen calling her on the ear piece; ignoring him she carried on walking along the ground floor, every so often leaving a few drops of blood on the ground for the raptors to follow. She hoped the floor would be slippery enough to them so that, if they were being chased, they'd at least be able to out-manoeuvre the predators. They reached the stair well and Abby started to climb the stairs, Jones placed an arm in front of her and walked in front.

'I'll check the coast's clear, miss,' he told her, he paused at the top, Abby continuously looking behind her to make sure they weren't being followed.

'Alright, all clear at the moment,' he told her, 'If you don't mind me asking, miss, what are you doing? You'll be leading the raptors right to the group.'

'And to the anomaly,' Abby told him, 'I know it's a crazy idea but it'll give us a head start at least.'

'Jones?If you are there Jones report position.'

'We're at the stairwell on the first floor, sir,' Jones replied, Abby heard a soft clicking noise and looked down the corridors, but there was no sign of the raptors.

'You are to return to the anomaly site immediately, is that clear? Any plan Miss Maitland has is to be abandoned.'

'Yes sir-'

'Look out!' Abby shoved Jones to the side as a raptor leapt from the floor above them, skidded on the slippery surface a little and then straightened.

'Raptor on first floor!' Jones yelled into his ear piece, aiming his gun at the dinosaur that turned it's yellow eyes in direction of the smell of blood. Abby started to back up along the corridor, her back coming into contact with a stationary trolley. Jones fired a bullet but it hit the predator on the leg, it turned to gaze at the man and Abby frantically tried to find her gun; two more shots and the raptor collapsed to the floor.

'Is it dead?' Abby asked after a few seconds.

'I don't want to stick around to find out,' Jones replied, coming up to her and taking her hand, 'Come on, miss, I'm following orders.'

'You are, but I'm not,' Abby said, wrenching her arm from his grip, 'Just give me a little time at each floor and I'll be finished. All I'm doing is laying a trail for them to follow.'

Jones' attention had been lost when he noticed something over her shoulder, and Abby could sense it.

'Run,' he said, such a simple command but one she obeyed; darting past him to run back towards the stairs, only checking over her shoulder to make sure he was following. She took the steps two at a time and then spun around to race up the next flight. She skidded to a halt with only one flight to go to the fourth floor. There were two raptors behind them, trying to negotiate the stairs quickly, and one more in front, blocking the stairs to the fourth floor. Abby took out her hand gun and, hoping she wouldn't have to use it because she wasn't too sure of her aim, started to back up the corridor, glancing back every few steps to make sure the way was still clear. Jones was right beside her.

'What you propose we do now?' he asked her.

'Surely there's more than one set of stairs?' she asked.

'Find the other set?'

'Sounds good.'

They took off running, Jones only pausing to knock the water dispenser from its holder, spreading water over the floor like a flood.

'Hopefully that'll slow them down,' he commented, sprinting a little faster to keep up with her, 'Where is the other staircase?'

'No idea,' Abby replied, 'I've never been in here before. Are they still close behind?'

Jones shot a look over his shoulder, 'I can't see them,' he said as he turned back to face her; he turned back again and his eyes widened as the raptors skidded and crashed into the wall before setting off after them again.

'They're still there,' he said, he placed a hand to his ear piece, 'Captain Harvey we need a way up to the fourth floor other than the central staircase.'

The earpiece crackled for a few seconds.

'There's the fire exit staircase at the back of the building,' Stephen replied, 'Head to the very back it's on the left. Follow the green fire exit signs. Is Abby with you?'

'I'm here,' Abby replied, casting a look behind her and willing her legs to run a bit faster, 'We'll need directions to the anomaly site once we get onto the fourth floor.'

'What the hell do you think you're doing?' Stephen demanded; Abby groaned.

'Stephen this is the wrong time to discuss this right now,' she felt her hopes rise as she noticed a green sign pointing to a sign at the end of the corridor. 'There it is!'

She crashed into the door, pushing the handle and holding it open for Jones before slamming it shut and trying to find a way to bolt it; Jones braced it next to her.

'There's no way to lock it,' Jones told her; Abby looked at him and then up at the stairs.

'Wait for me to tell you when to open it and then hide behind the door, hopefully the smell of the blood will draw them to me. I'll open the door and get them to the anomaly site.'

Jones looked like he was going to argue but Abby took off up the stairs.

'Stephen, how do I get to the anomaly site from the fire exit?'

'Abby what are you planning to do?' Stephen asked.

'Stephen! I need directions now!' she said.

'Straight along the corridor and then turn left, there's a door open on the right. The anomaly's in there.'

'Make sure you're out the way of the door when I come through,' she said; pulling open the door to the fourth floor.

'Abby be careful-'

'Open it!' she called down to Jones. She heard the door open and the raptors came through, pausing on the landing below; sensing the danger to Jones and of losing the raptors Abby gave three sharp whistles, capturing the attention of the predators. She waited a split second for them to start heading up the stairs before turning and running through the door and along the corridor.

'Which left?!?' she asked.

'The last one,' Nick replied.

Abby skidded around the corner at the end of the corridor and spun her head, trying to see the door to the anomaly site. She grabbed hold of the door frame and flew into the room; she felt someone grab her around the waist and pull her to the side before she crashed straight through the anomaly. The three raptors had only been a few steps behind her and crashed through the anomaly; it continued to glow brightly for a few seconds before snapping shut. There was a split second when it seemed everyone took a deep breath, and then everyone relaxed. Abby was spun around by the arms that were holding her and found herself looking into a pair of intense blue eyes.

'What possessed you to do something so stupid?' Stephen demanded, looking her up and down to find any wounds. Bringing her injured arm up to check over it. Abby pulled her arm away from his grip and took a step back.

'It worked didn't it? I only got a scratch on my arm from it and the anomaly's closed and all the raptors are through except for the one that was killed.'

'One's dead?' Nick asked, coming up to them.

'We had no choice,' she replied, 'It's down on the first floor.'

'No it isn't,' Harvey replied, gun pointed at the doorway where the raptor that Jones had shot on the first floor limped into the room; hissing at the collected humans. Abby felt the gun Harvey had given her slip from her jeans; two gunshots were fired next to her head as the raptor leapt in her direction, crashing to the floor beside her as Stephen pulled her back against his side out of harm's way.

'Let's wrap up here and get home,' Nick said after a few seconds silence.

A/N: Heya, I'm sorry for the long gap but I've had exams to revise for. I'm actually stuck at home ill at the moment so I should hopefully be able to get the next chapter finished, if not partly written. Thank you to everyone who reviewed and thank you to dino who pointed out that I made a mistake as regards the Gorgonopsid, apparently it's a mammal-like predator not a dinosaur. Sorry if I keep making stupid mistakes like that but I'm not a palaeontologist and was just going by what the characters had called it in the show.

And speaking of the show, IT'S BACK ON TOMORROW PEOPLE!!! I can't wait! Is anyone else worried there may be a lack of the Stabby pairing or is it just me?

Thank you my reviewers: lov3is4lif3: The tiger cub's name will take a while to come as it's revealed in the chapter where Abby and the other zoo keepers meet their new boss. Thanks for the review! Hope you enjoy the next chapter. Abby and Stephen are scheduled to have a little heart to heart.

weezer42: Thanks for the review and well done on your ficI'm loving it! Trying to keep up with the updates! Hope you like the next chapter as well! Thanks for the review.

Dino: Thanks for pointing out my mistake; I'm not really that good with prehistoric creatures. Maybe I should stick with future ones! Lol If I make any more mistakes like that please tell me again!

claire18974: Thanks for the review, especially since English isn't your first language! I can't believe you'd even take the time to read it! Thank you!

Please R&R this chapter. I was going to add in another scene and then I realised just how long the chapter was! I've actually got the rest of this fic all planned out so hopefully updates won't be as long as if I didn't; usually I have a vague idea and then let the story take it's course.

Don't forget to watch the first episode of series 2 tomorrow people! It's going to be good!

Ciao for now

Starsword