Once again, I don't own Primeval. I'm getting sort of tired of repeating this, but I will desperately avoid copyright infringement at all costs.

Chapter 5

Stephen kept his gun pressed tightly to Sarah's neck as they stumbled across the mostly barren landscape.

"What do you want from me?" Sarah asked. Stephen laughed hollowly.

"I don't want anything from you, not now," he said. "What I want is to keep you scared and silent. You're more valuable as a prisoner than anything you can offer me."

"Have you always been this awful?" Sarah tripped, gritting her teeth as she looked at her skinned knees. There were tiny pieces of rock embedded in her bloody, raw skin. She got to her feet shakily as Stephen jabbed the gun into her neck again.

"Helen taught me what the ARC was doing," he said. "She showed me what the future looked like, that it was all the ARC's fault. I didn't believe it at first, but she helped me to see the truth."

Sarah tried to snuff out her curiosity, but it got the better of her. "What's the future like?" she asked.

"The others never told you?" He stopped, turning to face her. "It's the worst place you can imagine. Buildings are burnt and fallen. Future predators and giant bugs are everywhere." He pulled a flask from his pocket and took a swig. Sarah licked her parched lips jealously.

***

Abby felt tears form in her eyes. She and Connor were in the room she and Sarah had shared, packing.

"Sarah bought me this dress," she sighed. "And the makeup's all hers. Crud, I hate the dress and the makeup but I miss her."

Connor looked at her with slight confusion, his eyes squinting in that way he did when he was trying to figure something out. "Why did you wear them, Abby?"

She froze; explaining things to Connor had never been her strong suit, as she often tried to soften a blow by ignoring it entirely. She feared Connor already suspected the elephant in the room but she managed to plaster an indifferent look on her face. "Oh…she insisted, you know. She actually thought I'd be suited for the natural girl look."

She felt a sudden flash of déjà vu, a fierce memory of years ago, when she had tried to impress Stephen with pretty-girl looks. She should've learned then that it didn't work…Connor had said she looked good then, so why didn't he now?

She bit her lip, struggling to restrain from hitting him. "That's it, now," she said. "I suppose we better go to Danny and Becker, then. We've got to start our wild goose chase."

"Something tells me Stephen's gonna show himself," Connor said. "I mean, what would he want with Sarah? Probably to make us mad, so the next time we see him, we run after him through that stupid anomaly."

Abby glanced at Connor in surprise. She realized that somewhere along the way, Connor aged about thirty years. He was such an adult, so smart and so sure of himself. He wasn't the boy she knew.

She was watching him so intently, while he ignored her.

"Abby?" Connor asked. "Is it just me, or is there a group of soldiers headed this way?"

Abby didn't register his words at first. When she did, she turned to face their open window and gasped. At least twenty men in black uniforms--much like Becker's--were coming towards them, each one fingering a gun held at his waist.

***

James Lester cursed the soldiers for placing him in the same cell as Codi, while his family was who knows where in another holding block of the ARC.

"We're gonna die," Codi murmured, her hands quivering. "They're gonna kill us for what we know, like in the movies….We're gonna die, Lester!"

Lester bit back a snarling retort. He supposed if one of them was going to succumb to hysterics, it was better to be the temp. Instead he shot her a fierce, cold look that shut her up.

The cell door opened. Codi pushed herself back away from the door, eyes wide with terror as she put her hands over her head. Lester followed her to the far corner; fear must've been taking its toll if he was following Codi.

Into the cell was pushed a familiar face--Sarah. She collapsed on the floor at Lester's feet and looked up at him without much surprise.

"He got you, too?" she said. Her voice betrayed her fear as her eyes flicked to the temp. "And Codi."

"And we've got Robin and his merry men as well," said a strangely familiar voice. Lester cursed as Stephen stepped into the room. "Oh, nice. I can see we'll have to wash out your mouth."

"What are you doing, Hart? What is it you want?"

Stephen smiled then; it was his smile that sent a chill through their spines. "Helen was right about the future. It is the fault of the ARC. Only I will end that future by destroying everyone ever involved in the Anomaly Project."

"You're insane," Lester scowled. "What have you done with my family?"

Stephen ignored him and began to step out of the cell. "Enjoy your stay. While you're able."