Author Notes: Thanks for the great feedback; it's nice to know you like the story! Hope you enjoy this chapter as much.

Chapter 2

To Connor, it felt as if he was suspended in air for an eternity, his mind not truly registering what had just happened in such a short space of time. And then his back impacted on hard, dusty ground, and he was tumbling head over heels down a steep slope. Dust clogged in his throat and nose, and the wound in his shoulder screamed in protest. He tried to stop himself with his hands, but his skin only tore on the uneven rocky surface. After what seemed like an age, his battered body came to rest at the base of the slope. Head spinning, Connor tried to pick himself back up. He coughed violently as he tried to draw in oxygen from the arid, dust filled air, and looked up the slope which he had just come down.

Glittering innocently at the top of the hill was the anomaly. He watched as it fluctuated slightly, and a figure leapt through, landing neatly at the top; Helen. She looked around, confused for a second, before spotting his dark form at the bottom. As she made her way down the uneven ground, Connor watched in despair as the anomaly began to grow smaller and smaller, until the only thing that hung in the air were waves of heat. No way back.

Unsteadily, he pushed himself up with his hands. His damaged shoulder protested, but his anger overrode it; regardless whether this woman had a gun or not, she had just taken him for no real reason. His life had gone from abnormally normal to hell in the space of a few minutes. Helen reached the bottom, "Get up. You'll need me to tie up that shoulder."

The words were spoken so casually that it made Connor want to scream. But instead, only an oddly calm question came out, "When are we?"

"Early to middle Jurassic." Helen walked towards him, causing Connor to take an unsteady step back. Helen ignored him, roughly taking hold of his shoulder to examine the bullet wound, "Well aren't we the lucky one? Bullet went right through." She tore off some dirty cloth from her pack, and made to tie up his shoulder.

Connor pulled away, "Get off me! You're the one who shot me, and now you want to patch me up? We're stuck in the past, unless you hadn't noticed – why the hell have you done this?"

"Oh, stop whining. There's an anomaly hotspot a few miles from here. I'll drop you off there, just try not to drop dead in the process; Cutter wouldn't be pleased. And please don't talk; annoying people make my trigger finger itch." She roughly tied the material around Connor's shoulder, making him wince, before setting off purposefully. Connor had no choice but to follow her; she was his only link to the future.

The temperature had begun to drop rapidly as night set in, with the last rays of dusk gracing the sky, but Helen didn't seem to be slowing her pace. Connor stumbled along behind her, his mouth dry and claggy from lack of water, and his shoulder throbbing. He was beginning to feel lightheaded, and was pretty sure he wasn't walking in a very straight line. Helen turned to see that Connor had fallen even farther behind, "Come on! Hurry it up! You'll be in a hospital in a few hours; the anomalies are just over the ridge."

Connor had long since given up trying to figure out Helen's motives, just pegging her as a generally unbalanced, sadistic woman. He lost his footing on the uneven ground, slipping to one knee. One part of him just wanted to lie down and sleep, but the tiny stubborn corner of his brain kept reminding him that he wanted to get away from this woman; that he wanted to get home.

A rough hand wrenched him to his feet by his injured shoulder, and pushed him forwards, "I told you to hurry it up."

Connor was about to bite back a reply, when a high pitched wail wrenched through the air, making his skin crawl. Helen froze, hand coming to rest on her gun. "What was that?" Connor hissed. "'Cause it didn't sound nice, and unless you haven't noticed, I'm bleeding."

Helen looked at him sharply, eyes wild, "Move!"

Somehow finding the energy for it, Connor scrambled up the slope after Helen. In the small valley below shone an anomaly, glowing all the more brilliantly in the dying light. Nearby was a creature that Connor had to squint to make out, tearing apart what looked like a pterosaur. Helen drew a sharp breath, "It took it from the air."

Connor glanced at her, "What is it?"

"It's one of the creatures from the future." Helen's eyes were almost maniacal, "That anomaly might be the one."

"What the hell are you on about?"

"It might be the one to take me to the future."

Connor looked at her incredulously, despite himself, "Isn't that the general idea?"

"Not your future, idiot, thefuture."

"What?" Connor couldn't help but yell; the only thing that had kept him going was the prospect of making it home, and here was Helen telling him that wouldn't be possible, "What about me? You just gonna leave me here?"

Helen clamped her hand over his mouth, but it was too late. The sound had carried enough for the creature to hear. An ear-splitting cry shook the night, but Helen was already running towards the anomaly. Not having a better idea, Connor followed; any future was surely better that this past. The creature stood, and took two bounds before taking to the air. In a perverted way, Connor noted, it was like a giant Rex with teeth.

The second he took his eyes from the ground to look at the creature had been a mistake, as Connor lost his footing and once again found himself tumbling down a slope, a cloud of dust in his wake. The creature dived, its long tail catching Helen across the chest, sending her flying. In hindsight, perhaps attracting its attention had been a bad plan. It soared down, another cry penetrating their ears enough make Connor's vision grey. It landed impossibly lightly, and began creeping forwards to where Helen lay. Connor wasn't sure if it had noticed him or not, so tentatively picked himself up and, throwing caution to the wind, forced his body to make one last run towards the anomaly, praying that Helen was wrong, that it led back to his own time.

The creature head swivelled around, catching sight of him for the first time, and probably smelling the weakness. In a last ditch effort, Connor jumped into the anomaly, crying out in the silver world as the creature's claws sank into his leg and it came through with him.

When Helen came around, it was completely dark, with no anomaly lighting up the air. A faint smell of the carcass not so far away from her hung in the atmosphere, but apart from that, no anomaly, no creature, and as far as she could tell, no Connor.

Shit.

To Be Continued...

Author Notes: Any comments would be greatly appreciated!