Part Six
Just running struck Claudia as not the most well thought out of plans and she should have known that Abby would have come up with something better than that.
When she first saw Abby fall, Claudia's immediate reaction was to go to her aid but then Abby began to crawl forward and Claudia realised that she hadn't fallen at all but had instead deliberately thrown herself to the ground and was now making her way under a large thicket of bushes. Some sort of thorn bush but there was a gap underneath just large enough for them to crawl into. The idea was sound, she just hoped it worked in practice. It wasn't as though they had many other options.
She dropped to her stomach, crawling in after Abby, daring to take a look back and seeing the creature no more than ten feet away. For a moment Claudia was convinced that she couldn't possibly make it and when she felt a sharp yank on her jacket she instantly imagined she could feel teeth too and cried out in panic. It was only when the anticipated tug yanking her out from safety failed to materialise that she glanced back and realised that she was simply caught on the bushes. She wriggled hurriedly out of her jacket and moved forward as far she could. The thicket was wide, dense and tall and if they stayed in the middle somewhere they might just be out of reach.
The creature tried to ram its head straight through at them but immediately backed off when the thick twist of branches mostly held and all it got was a face full of thorns. It tried again and yelped a little when it had no more success and just more pain. Claudia covered her head with her hands, protecting her eyes as broken thorns and dead leaves rained down on them whilst it tried a third time.
No success. The tangle of bushes was simply too thick and too sharp for it to break through without considerable discomfort. It probably could get at them with a little more brute force but it knew better than to risk its eyesight even for a meal.
Claudia held her breath as the creature tried a different tactic, snapping its jaws at the base of the bushes. She doubted it could see them but it could probably smell them and it let out deep rumbling growl of frustration that got right into her flesh and almost made her insides ache with its intensity.
But its head was too large and it couldn't get its jaws anywhere near far enough in to grab at them even though it continued to snap futilely in their direction.
She could smell the coopery stench of blood on its breath. She wondered if it was anyone she knew, if the Special Forces men had all managed to get safely away.
Moments later it backed off, seemingly surrendering to defeat.
Claudia didn't dare even move until the sound of it leaving was long gone.
Then she rolled over, collapsing onto her back, closing her eyes and just letting the relief wash over her. They really shouldn't be alive and she was going to take a second at least to appreciate the fact that she was. That and to allow her thudding heart to calm and her breath to even out once more. She didn't want to sound panicked when she spoke to Abby.
Opening her eyes, having regained enough composure to make a stab at conversation at least, she turned to look at the other woman. Abby was lying on her back too, clutching at her side, her face even whiter than before. Claudia should have remembered – crawling on your belly with injured ribs would not have been pleasant for her in the slightest.
"Are you alright?" she asked softly.
"Just give me a minute," Abby replied, short and to the point, obviously struggling to talk and needing time to recover.
Claudia waited. She was in no hurry to leave the relative safety of the bushes. The gravity of what could have just happened to them both had left a deep impression even though she hated it, seeing it as weakness and wishing she could be more like the others. They seemed to be able to brush near death off so easily. It was something she both admired and found alarmingly reckless.
She reached a hand across and laid it on Abby's arm. It was silly really, not actually doing much, but a gesture of comfort all the same.
She had no way of telling the time but she surmised that a good fifteen minutes passed in silence. It was Abby who finally spoke.
"I think it's gone," she said, although the fact that she whispered it wasn't entirely reassuring, "We should start moving again."
Claudia had guessed she was going to say that and whilst the majority of her agreed with the idea there was a small part that was terrified at the thought. To her own shame she guessed that that must be the part that showed because when Abby looked at her she felt the need to justify her reasoning.
"We can't stay," Abby said softly, "No one will ever find us in here."
Claudia nodded, steeling herself, determined to make decisions based on practicalities not emotions.
"Of course. Let's go."
As they crawled out, Abby moving much more gingerly and with more care than she had the first time, Claudia tried to retrieve her jacket. Neither tugging it as hard as she could nor trying to carefully untangle it met with any success however and she had no choice but to leave it behind. That was all she needed, to be walking around in a shirt, wondering what would get her first; the monster or the cold. Although, in a way, freezing to death might be a rather ironic way to go considering all she'd already been through that night.
The fact that she was even having thoughts like that made her wonder how hard she'd hit her head earlier.
Climbing out into the moonlight again she was glad to see that Abby too was apprehensive, both of them looking around to check for any signs of danger whilst their hiding place was still so close by. Both wondering if the creature was waiting them out, hiding in the darkness mere feet away, ready to pounce now that they had emerged.
When, after a few moments, nothing had charged at them, they both visibly relaxed.
Claudia guessed that her own current appearance was likely to match Abby's; dishevelled and covered in twigs and leaves, any exposed flesh now patterned with scratches.
The sight of them gave her a thought and she involuntarily reached up to the cut on her forehead. It was still damp, not bleeding hard at but not sealing either. Her hair was sticky with blood as well. Was that how it had found them? Could it smell the blood like those flying creatures had done? Was it her fault?
She decided not to ask Abby. She really didn't need more bad news right now. Instead she forcibly put on her business-like manner, the determined, practical one she could turn on like a light, the one she could rely upon to get her through anything.
"Better get moving then, hmm? We can't be far."
Connor didn't even wait for them to say anything. As soon as he saw Cutter and the others returning he hurried straight up to them and blurted out one word.
"Andrewsarchus!"
Stephen frowned at him, looking like Connor was an interruption he could do without.
"What?"
"Andrewsarchus," Connor repeated triumphantly, both pleased at his quick work and delighted that Stephen had lost his excuse to keep him out of the search, "That's what came through the anomaly."
He didn't bother asking whether they'd found anything since they'd obviously returned empty handed and as he'd approached he'd heard Ryan saying something about checking the other direction instead. Clearly they'd had no luck.
Cutter's eyes widened slightly at the news, obviously unpleasantly surprised, "Really? Are you sure?"
He assumed that the professor must have considered the possibility but maybe he didn't think that they'd actually be that unlucky.
"Well," he said hurriedly, wanting to get through his reasoning quick and get on with the true job at hand, "The solider guy said it was furry and big and looked a bit like a wolf or a hyena. What with the foot prints I found being hoofed it has to be one of the mesonychia species, like you suspected, and with time period being the Late Eocene..."
He trailed, not really feeling the need to elaborate further, sure that Cutter got the idea.
"I know," Nick pointed out, shaking his head in denial, "But that doesn't mean-"
Connor could almost understand his unwillingness to believe it. It really was a worst case scenario and he too wished it was something else but facts were facts.
"I took some measurements," he interrupted, not seeing the point in Cutter's arguing against it considering what he'd found out, "From the footprints. I know we don't have a full skeleton of one but looking at comparative sizes from other members of the species this one's huge. I don't see how it can be anything else."
Nick paused for a moment then nodded with a weary sigh, conceding the point, "Yeah, you're probably right...Damn..."
Ryan clearly didn't like the sound of that. Nor did he like being left in the dark about the threat they were facing.
"So what exactly are we dealing with then?"
"Possibly the largest terrestrial mammalian predator that ever lived", Nick explained grimly before Connor could, the younger man not too put out at his thunder being stolen given the circumstances, "Anything up to about eighteen feet long, six feet tall and weighing about two thousand kilos. A big, nasty, powerful creature that's no doubt looking for a meal. The land it's come from is barren and its food supply is dying out. We're like a bloody gourmet buffet in comparison. It's not going to be in a hurry to get home any time soon."
From the grim look on Ryan's face he didn't need any more convincing about the seriousness of the threat but Connor decided to do so anyway.
"Probably looks something like this," he added, holding up his tablet PC to show the others a photo that he'd found on the internet. It was of a full scale model of one in a museum somewhere. It certainly did resemble a wolf but with an extra long snout full of extra large teeth. It had the appearance of power even in still life and he was sure that the others had noted, like he had, how small the people in the photo looked next to it.
"Okay, we need to split into two groups," Ryan said instantly, nodding at Nick and Stephen, "You two, Reynolds and I will continue to search for Miss Maitland and Miss Brown down the other side of the road. The rest can search for the creature. I'll get them into teams of three along with the dog handlers and they can start working search grids in the immediate area. We've got to find this thing."
It was a testament to how seriously they were both taking the threat that neither Stephen nor Nick argued with that even if it did mean less people looking for their friends.
"Don't suppose there's any chance of setting up a perimeter and containing it?" Ryan asked, the tone of his voice making it clear that he pretty much knew he was on to a loser with that idea.
As expected, Stephen shook his head, "There's far too much area to cover and this creature was designed to live in a forest environment. It's in its element and we're in the middle of thick forest in the middle of the night."
Ryan nodded and instead turned to his men, organising their search patterns.
Nick and Stephen headed back to the car, Stephen muttering something about not having the right kind of tranquilizer and Nick saying he needed to replace the batteries in his torch.
Purposely avoiding where Stephen was standing, loading darts with what Connor guessed was the strongest drugs they had, he instead headed for the passenger side where Cutter was, popping new batteries out of the packet and into the torch. If anyone would understand his need to help with the search, the professor would.
It was Cutter who spoke first upon seeing the younger man.
"Look Connor," he said, sounding truly apologetic, "About on the phone earlier...Sorry. I was just...well, I shouldn't have taken it out on you. And we should have called you sooner."
Yes, they should have but Connor was big enough to forget about it for now. At least Cutter admitted the mistake and that was more than he would have expected really. So he brushed the apology aside, accepting it off hand, wanting to concentrate on more pressing matters instead.
"It's alright. Look, I want to come with you guys and help with the search. I promise I won't get in the way and-"
He stopped as soon as he realised that Cutter wasn't listening to him. He would have been angry at the other man had he not followed his gaze and seen what had caught the professor's attention.
Lester had arrived and was talking to Ryan who looked even less pleased then he had done before.
Within moments, Cutter was there too, Connor deciding to stay well out of it. He had a feeling about how this meeting was going to go and didn't want to get caught in the crossfire.
"You know what's happening, yes?" Nick said shortly as he reached the two men.
Lester nodded, annoyingly calm and seemingly unflustered by the news.
"Right, we need more men out here. We've got to mount a proper search party for Claudia and Abby and for the creature. We've got a massive area to search in and-"
Lester held up his hand, effectively cutting him off.
"That's impossible," he stated, quite firm on the matter, "You already have all the men here who are cleared to know about the project. I can't bring anymore in. Besides, you have over a dozen soldiers and a dog unit, that should be quite adequate."
Nick was instantly annoyed by Lester's all too officious manner but not really surprised by it. He hadn't exactly expected overwhelming displays of concern from a cold suited official.
"Well it's not," he replied, just as firm as Lester had been, following him as the man walked off to inspect the area further, "Claudia and Abby are missing and could be in trouble. I don't think you realise how potentially dangerous this creature is. We're pretty much talking a super predator here, large, fast and deadly. We have got to find it before it gets out of these woods and someone gets killed. Or are you going to wait until some poor sod walking his dog comes across it tomorrow morning?"
"That won't be a problem," Lester said, apparently not bothered in the slightest by Nick's doom and gloom manner, "I've had all entrances in an out of the woods closed off – paths, bridleways and roads – the story we're using is an unexploded World War Two bomb that we're currently making safe for removal."
Nick shook his head, "You cannot possibly guarantee that someone won't get in. It's impossible to set up a full closure of a place like this."
Lester shrugged, "Well, if they want to flout the warnings we've put out for their own safety then more fool them."
Nick held his currently fragile temper through gritted teeth and a deep breath, knowing by experience that getting angry with the man was utterly futile.
"Look," he said, trying a different tactic instead, one he thought more likely to convince the Home Office official that more action was indeed required, "If this thing gets to a residential area we could have a disaster on our hands. Try covering that up."
Lester hesitated just for a moment, finally coming to a stop once more, considering the possibility before spoke.
"Then perhaps," he suggested coolly, looking directly at Nick, "if you're so concerned, we should divert all resources to looking for the creature instead."
A small part of him suspected that Lester was baiting him with such a loaded comment and he tried to force himself not to rise to it. He didn't quite manage it.
"Excuse me?" he asked, voice tight, knowing exactly what the other man was getting at but daring him to spell it out.
"I understand your concerns for Claudia and Miss Maitland, but if this creature is such a threat," Lester clarified, either not noticing or blatantly ignoring Nick's irate manner, "Then perhaps we shouldn't be allocating so much time and resources looking for two personnel who may already be dead and instead place our priorities elsewhere."
Nick simply turned and walked away. It was either that or punch the guy in the nose and, he reasoned, being hauled out of there and sent home wasn't going to help anyone.
Ryan quickly fell into to step beside him.
"We're still going to go and look for them," the captain stated quietly, ensuring that they were well out of Lester's earshot before he spoke.
"Of course we are."
"They might know important intel," Ryan pointed out, "Besides, if the reason they're not here is because it chased them then that's probably where it still is, out in that direction at least."
"However you want to word it so it sounds like you're following in orders is fine by me," Nick stated, utterly focussed on the task as they arrived back at the jeep, "Ready, Stephen?"
The other man nodded, rifle armed.
"I'm coming too," Connor chipped in.
Nick shook his head, speaking before the student had a chance to protest, "I'm sorry Connor but I've got something I need you to do here."
Despite his hesitance Connor listened and eventually nodded, perhaps not entirely happy with his role but seeing the necessity.
By the time he'd finished with his distraction, telling Lester everything he'd found out about the Andrewsarchus and what they might be facing, Nick, Stephen, Ryan and Sergeant Reynolds were equipped and off down the road to search once more.