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It had been a little over an hour before Connor finished with the reconstruction of the two anomaly devices they had. "Abby, I think I fixed it". There was a sense of excitement as Connor announced this.
Abby had been sitting a few feet away thinking about the past day's events when she heard Connor. It took a few seconds for his words to sink in. She stood up and slowly walked over to Connor. She was excited at the prospect of getting out of here, but over the last hour she had convinced herself to not get excited about getting home until they had Danny with them. "You fixed it?"
"I think so. It took a little bit of trial and error, but it should be able to help us open an anomaly. I just hope it's one that leads to Danny". Connor was anxious to get moving, but when he tried to stand up he ended up falling back into the grass. His body had stiffened up over the lack of movement. He figured Abby had not noticed this because she was not at his side offering him assistance. He was glad she didn't notice. On his second attempt he was able to stand, but he had to lean on his walking stick to keep from falling again.
Abby walked to the area in front of them "Well, while you were working on the device I was studying the foot traffic and both trails seem to end in the same place", Abby pointed to the ground. "I think that if we point your device over here we might be able to get the same anomaly that Danny and Helen went through".
"That's great Abby".
Connor's excitement was a little too loud to keep them from going unnoticed. Both Abby and Connor froze as they heard the scream of something off in the distance. Abby was the first to regain her composure and went over to grab her back pack. She then went over to help Connor, "come on Connor, I think we need to get ourselves out of here before we become someone's lunch".
Connor helped Abby put the rest of his stuff away and allowed her to help him move in front of the spot she had shown him minutes earlier. Connor pointed the device into the direction "Well, wish us luck; if this works we'll have Danny back in time to go out for a bite to eat tonight". The device came to life as Connor pressed a few button. Soon they were standing in front of an active anomaly. Connor tried to jump up and down to show his excitement, but as soon as he started he soon regretted it. The pain shot up his leg causing him to yell out in pain "OOOWWW". Connor regain his stance as he clung to his stick "That was stupid; remind me not to do that again".
"Come on Connor, we are going to have an awful lot of company if we don't get out of here soon". She grabbed his arm and starting pulling him through the anomaly. She felt Connor resist a little, but she needed to get them through. Whatever was making the noise was getting closer.
As they fell through to the other side Connor lost his balance and fell face first into the dirt; the anomaly device slipping from his grasp. Abby's immediate concern was to close the anomaly, so she reached for the devise and pressed the button.
As Abby breathed a sigh of relief she realized that Connor was lying on the ground "What are you doing Connor". She helped him stand up and then led him over to the first large rock she saw "Why don't you rest here for a few minutes while a have a look around". Abby was hoping they would have found Danny waiting for them, but since he wasn't they needed to go and find him. She looked around the vast cavern of rocks they had landed in and had to wonder which way Danny had gone. She tried to look for some kind of trail but didn't see one.
Connor had also been checking out the surrounding area while he rested on the rock "I don't know if it would be such a good idea for us to separate right now. We have no way of knowing which way Danny went. We could end up getting lost".
Abby pointed to one of the rocks a little way off to their right "how about I just go over to the rock and see what I can see. That will give me an idea of which way to start going". She looked back at Connor to see what he thought.
"That sounds like a good plan Abby. I'll just sit here and wait for you to come back". Connor felt ok with this plan since he would be able to see her on the rock. He didn't want to lose anyone else, especially her. He took off his jacket and leaned back into the rock to wait.
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Abby made her way over to the rock and was surprised by how big it was. It hadn't looked that big from where she first saw it. Before she started to climb, she looked back to Connor and waved to let him know she was ok. The distance between the rock and Connor was more apparent from her new vantage point; Connor looked so small and helpless. She turned back and started her way up the side of the rock only slipping a few times. As soon as she reached the top the view took her breath away. Everything looks so pure and new, almost as if she was seeing the earth in the first year of its life. As beautiful as the site was she needed to focus on why she was there. She looked around for any signs of life. After searching every angle of land she felt like giving up. There was nothing she could see that would indicate where Danny or Helen was. She sat down on the rock feeling defeated, but something off to the right caught her attention. There was movement about 500 yards away. At first she thought it was an animal, but as she squinted to get a better look she could tell it was a person. She could only see the top of the person and could tell that they were walking away from where she was standing, but she was confident it was Danny. She started yelling at the top of her lungs "Danny, its Abby. Look back and you'll see me standing on a rock. Danny, look behind you, it's me".
All the yelling grabbed the attention of someone, but it wasn't Danny. Instead it was Connor, who stood up and started making his way over to where Abby was. The closer he got the more excited he became. He could hear her yelling Danny's name which could only mean that she saw him. Even though he didn't see Danny himself, he started yelling "Danny" over and over again.
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Danny was walking back to where Helen lay dead to see if he could find her anomaly device. He couldn't believe his luck at finding the anomaly again, but as luck would have it he had been too late to go through it. As he screamed out his frustrations, his thoughts returned to Helen. He knew she had one of those devices to open up anomalies, so all he needed to do was to find it and re-open it, allowing him to get back to where Connor and Abby were.
He was about half way to his destination when he thought he heard something. It sounded like something screaming but he couldn't figure out what it was. He assumed it was one of the local animals living in the area, but he didn't waste any time in finding out.
He decided to not stick around and quicken his pace. There was only one goal to accomplish at this point and that was getting home.
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As Abby was yelling Danny's name she became aware of Connor's presence and looked down the side of the rock to see him standing at the bottom "Connor, It's Danny, I'm sure of it, but he's too far away to hear us". Abby started to make her way off the rock, being very careful not to slip.
Connor was waiting to help her but was already thinking of what to do next "We need to go after him. Even though he didn't hear you, we at least know that he's here, which is a good start".
Abby was surprised by how level headed Connor sounded. She expected to be the one to come up with the plan, but didn't mind if Connor took the lead. They needed to work together if they were going to get out of here with Danny. "Connor, I think he used that trail over there. We need to get moving fast if we hope to catch up with him. He has quite a lead on us".
Abby was down on the ground quicker than she thought and was soon running to where they left their stuff. Out of the corner of her eye she could tell that Connor was making his way over to her. She turned her head and shouted "Connor, stay there, I'll bring our stuff over". She knew she sounded bossy, but he was just going to hold them up if he had to walk all the way back to where she just was. If he stayed there they could start making their way down the trail. She really would have liked him to stay here while she went after Danny, but the discussion and eventual argument that it would cause would take too much time. It was better to just let him come along.
Connor did as he was told and waited for Abby. He knew that he was going to slow her down, but he didn't want to separate from her. When Abby came back he saw that she had left his jacket by the rock. He wanted to say something but thought better of it and remained silent.
The both of them walked down the path as fast as Connor's ankle would allow. At times Abby tried to get Connor to move faster, but soon had to give it up and let Connor establish the pace.
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Danny was back standing over Helen's body. He didn't know what he was expecting to find, but he was glad to find her in the exact position he had left her in. He looked around to see what he could find in the immediate area; when he found nothing he relented to the fact that he was going to have to search her body. He had seen his share of dead people, but he never really liked to get up close and personal with them. He moved the raptor's body off of Helen and started to search her. He was very disappointed when he didn't find anything. Then he remembered that she was standing up on the rock face above him. Perhaps she left her stuff up there, which meant he needed to start climbing. He looked at the rock and found something that resembled a stairway. It wasn't perfect but it would do.
Once Danny had made his way up the rock he saw what he had hoped Helen had left behind. It was her backpack. He sat down next to the pack and started searching inside. After he had pulled everything out he could see his luck had not changed. He did not find the anomaly device and it made him realize that he may be stuck here forever. His only hope was to go back to where the anomaly was and wait. Perhaps Abby and Connor would somehow come and rescue him.
With all of his effort Danny got up and made his way down the same path he had climbed up. He had Helen's pack with him so at least there was some food. She didn't have much, but it was better than nothing.
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By the time Abby and Connor were in the same area Danny was first spotted , they both felt like they were getting somewhere. But they still needed to find Danny if they were going to feel successful.
Connor stopped and leaned against a tree "Abby, can we rest for a few minutes? I don't know how much more of this I can take without a break".
Abby was glad Connor could not see her face. The look of frustration would have been enough to push Connor into overdoing it and keep moving, but that was not what she wanted from him. She knew they had to stick together, but she really wished he would just stay put while she went ahead. Before turning to face Connor she put on her best face. "Ok Connor, we can rest here for a little while, but then we really need to get moving again. I don't know when it will start getting dark, but I don't want to get caught out in the open. We don't know where Danny went and we may be walking for awhile". She went over to where Connor was and forced him to sit down on the ground while she had a look at his ankle. She had not really looked at it in awhile and she needed to make sure nothing had changed. "Here let me take a look". As she examined his leg she saw that it looked more swollen than it did before. It had to be hurting him something awful.
Connor normally liked it when Abby touched him; even if it was accidental, but her inspection of his ankle was just a little more than he could handle "Hey, easy there Abby. How's it looking?"
"It's definitely more swollen. I just wish you would let me go on ahead while you rested your leg. You really need to stay off your ankle". She knew his answer, but it was worth trying. Maybe his pain would cloud his judgment and he would listen to her.
"No Abby, we need to stick together. We can't afford to become separated here. I'm sorry I am slowing you down. I just need a few more minutes of rest and then I will be as right as rain again".
Abby didn't try to change Connor's mind. She sat with him until he said he was ready to set off again. She helped him up and they resumed their trek. Abby thought that the rest actually made Connor worse. He appeared to be moving slower than before, but she didn't say anything.
Soon they were coming to a clearing and saw that there was a stream up ahead. Abby wondered if they should stop and fill their water bottles before continuing. As they came up closer they were shocked by what they saw. There were several bodies lying close to the stream, all of them appeared to be lying down, but on closer inspection they appeared to be dead. As Connor and Abby looked at them they could not help but notice how humanoid they looked. At the exact same moment it became apparent who they were looking at. These were the first humanoids that Helen was here to destroy. Were these bodies the result of Helens mission? As Abby looked around she saw that there were more bodies up around the bend. She thought it was ok to leave Connor here while she went over to inspect the other bodies. There were so many, she had to wonder if there were any left alive. As she walked forward she was once again shocked by the sight in front of her. "Connor, come quick".
The sound of Abby's scream made Connor freeze in place. This was something he never got use to hearing. He looked around for Abby and didn't see her right away. He struggled against the panic that was threatening to overtake him. He needed to get a hold of himself "Abby, where are you, I don't see you?"
"I'm up the hill around the bend, hurry Connor".
Connor moved faster than he thought was capable. As he hobbled around the bend he saw Abby standing there. His first instinct was to look around to see what had gotten Abby screaming. He didn't see anything and was about to ask her if everything was ok when he looked at the ground directly in front of Abby. He first saw the body of a raptor and then he saw the body of Helen. He walked over to Abby and stood next to her. They both just stood there staring.
"Connor, Helen's dead. It looks like she got what was coming to her. I wonder if Danny had anything to do with this, but if he did where is he know. This was the direction he came so he had to have been here". Abby walked closer to the body of Helen and then looked around at the other bodies of the dead humanoids. "Danny could be anywhere by now. It's getting dark, so I think we need to stop looking for today. We need to find some kind of shelter for the night and we can start looking again in the morning.
Connor didn't feel like arguing with Abby, but he didn't think he could go on anymore today. He leg was hurting him more than he wanted to admit.
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At the same time Abby and Connor were looking for shelter, Danny was making his way back to where the anomaly had disappeared. All of a sudden he became very excited. It wasn't an anomaly that caused a change in his demeanor, but it was the next best thing. He saw Connor's jacket hanging on one of the rocks. As he rushed over to it, he grabbed it to make sure it was real. It was most definitely real, but where was Connor?
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