Chapter 2

Gossiping and remembering the good times they had as three kids coming from different worlds growing up together, they passed the night.

As Joh woke up and went in the kitchen, she thought J. and Chrissie were acting strange, however they denied it. Who knew? Maybe the incident from her house finally got to her. Lately she'd been playing the detective, doing a little investigation of her own, about the murder that took place in her house, and paranoia had started to reach out its arms and grab her, especially after that phone call. It's all right, she told herself. Everything was going to be fine. The fact that she eventually decided to meet the no-name-phone-guy made her feel exhilarated, proud of her courage and worried at the same time. Somehow, in the back of her head, an annoying little voice, she had hard times trying to shut up, kept her telling she should listen to reason and that it wasn't safe to go. That gave her an odd feeling that something bad was going to happen. Ignoring her inner conflict, she put on a smile and said:

'Hey guys, you're up early!'

'Yeah, well Chrissie remembered she had to be in Wellington tomorrow, not in two days' time, so she'll be living today.'

'And you look so cute when you sleep, I decided not to wake you up. As for James, he's helping me pack.'

'Ow… that sucks. Too bad you have to go… can't that story wait for you?'

'Not if I wanna keep my job, no.' smiled the other girl.

'Ooo. Now she cares about keeping her job!' teased Joh.

' `course I do.' replied her friend smartly 'I need money to travel.'

'May I help you pack?'

'Actually, yes. We haven't even started yet and the train leaves in 9 hours. I don't want to spend all of them packing.'

9 hours? By that time she should be leaving for a date with her mystery guy. All for the better. She wouldn't have to be making up all sorts of excuses to leave the house.

'Let's start then!' she said, feeling guilty for feeling happy about Chrissie's departure.

Entering her room, they understood what Chrissie meant by saying she wouldn't want to spend all the remaining 9 hours packing. Her room was an unbelievable mess. Chrissie was able to create chaos with a minimum of things at her disposal. All of her possessions she had brought with herself were scattered all over the room, on the bed, on the table, under it, on the chairs, hanging from the drawer.

'Did your bag explode?' Joh critically said, picking up a beautiful black dress she had almost stepped on.

'Sort of.' laughed James.

'I was just searching for a blouse that happened to find itself on the bottom of my bag.' shrugged Chrissie innocently.

'You should have seen all her things fly out of the bag as she was searching for it!' he laughed again.

Packing up took them 5 hours since they had to search for Chrissie's things and sort them before actually packing them. Having finished packing, they played around the property.

Joh found it so easy to be around them, because with them she felt like she could really be herself, and not be judged for it. Actually, over time she had learnt not to care what people said or thought about her, but as a child, she had had problems with adaptation and being accepted due to always being the odd- one- out. When all the other girls were playing with dolls and coloring, she played with cars and climbed in trees and when they learnt how to dance, she learnt how to kick box. When all her class mates were falling in love for the first time, she was entering her first rock band.

The 5 hours they spent together passed away in the blink of an eye, and having said their good- byes, Chrissie left for the train station with James, who had offered to help her with the luggage. Issuing a head ache, Joh remained at home. Chrissie's early and unexpected departure had left her with 30 minutes to ready herself and leave to meet with her mystery man. She threw on her track- suit, hastily combed her hair in a pony tail and trying to keep herself calm, she rushed out of the house. As she rushed through the streets, all sorts of things popped up in her head. She was starting to have second thoughts about going there. She now wished she would've told James what she was up to. Now if something happened to her, nobody will now where to look for her. Nonsense! Nothing bad was going to happen, and she'll finally be getting some answers- some how she felt it was all connected to her house.

When she reached Harper's it was already 35 past 7 and started fearing she had lost her chance. As she was powerlessly staring at the Harper's, someone snatched her from behind and started dragging her to one of the less circulated neighboring streets. She tried to scream, but she couldn't make a sound, the unknown guy had covered her mouth. She was going to die. Why hadn't she told James, or anybody at all for that matter? Why had she been blind to reason? She felt him loosen his grip, but she was too terrified to act. She was paralyzed with fear. Somewhere, in a still active part of her frozen brain, it was clear that she should attack him and then make a run for it, but she couldn't bring herself to move a muscle. Having reached the street's dead end, he threw her to the pavement and took out a revolver.

'Not so tough now, eh, kitty? I told you not to meddle with things that aren't your business.' He loaded the revolver and proceeded to push the trigger.

Then three things happened: a strange tiger- like creature appeared out of nowhere, landing on top of the killer and splashing his blood everywhere, Joh ran to the wall blocking the street and tried climbing it and James and Chrissie, followed by 2 individuals, Joh had never seen before, appeared from around the corner.

Having finished devouring it's pray, the tiger directed its attention to Joh. She was struggling to climb the wall, but was unable to. Chrissie and James were yelling at the creature, trying to get it to leave their friend alone, but it couldn't be bothered. The feeble little thing she just ate was delicious, but not in the least consistent and the smell of the feeble little thing that was trying to escape was simply mouth watering. The noisy little things will have to wait their turn to be converted into diner.

Just as it jumped to snatch Joh, one of the two strangers shot the tiger like animal with a tranquilizer gun and took it down.

Feeling she could take it no longer, Joh let go of the wall and collapsed on the pavement. Chrissie and James rushed towards her and helped her up.

'You ok?' they asked worried.

'All right.' she responded passing them and heading towards the creature that moments ago tried to eat her. It resembled a tiger, but something was not quite right, out of place. It was the most curious specimen she had ever seen in all her 4 years of studying zoology and 2 years of working as an animal expert at a zoo keeper. Then, as she studied its teeth it struck her. It was not a tiger: it was a saber tooth cat!

'What's that thing?' Chrissie managed to choke out.

'A saber tooth cat.' Joh told her startled.

'Both you and me', said the girl of the two strangers, 'know that saber tooth cats are extinct. So let's be reasonable and accept we saw nothing, shall we?'

'Nothing my ass! That nothing just killed a man and almost ate me too… within minutes!'

'It is an exotic breed of tigers that escaped from a private zoo.'

'So at first it was nothing and now it's an exotic breed of tiger. We're making progress here.'

'What are you implying?' said the stranger raising an eyebrow.

'The truth.' Joh answered coldly.

'Listen up, missy, go telling people that you've just seen a saber tooth running loose on the streets of Cardiff and see if they believe you. You'll surely have fun in an asylum.' said the woman, in a cold voice, between her teeth.

'Is that a threat?'

'No.' she answered simply, 'it's a warning.'

'Uum…' said Chrissie in a small voice, 'you might want to look behind you...'

'Can it!' the woman and Joh both said, without looking at her, staring each other in the eye.

Than as Chrissie was preparing to deliver a witty response, the beast gave out a growl, leapt over the wall and lost itself in the night.

'Congratulations! You fully deserve them!' the woman yelled in a desperate voice, 'You got it! It's a saber tooth! And now, because of you it's free in the city. God only knows how many people you've condemned to death! I hope you're proud of yourselves!'

'Don't you…'

'Zip it and get in the car! All of you!'

'Why?' Chrissie uttered in an aggressive tone.

'Because we're going on a saber tooth hunt and we can't let witnesses behind. So after we deal with the kitty, we'll deal with you.'

Realizing that protesting won't get them anywhere, the trio got in the back of the black Jeep.

'Ok,' said Joh, 'so, which one of you has exclusive knowledge on dealing with animals?'

'Eh?'

'You know… trained to handle all sorts of beasts and stuff.'

'None of us.'

'So, what do you guys do?'

'Hating to state the obvious, we catch and contain them.'

'Don't worry, it wasn't obvious at all. And apart from that?'

'Does it look like this is a piece of cake and we're freelancing for fun, having time to have other jobs? Or a life?'

'Well, tell me, which university gives courses on how to catch and contain prehistorical creatures.'

'That you mean. Well, I used to work as a crime scene investigator for The Yard' said the girl, 'and Rick over here' she said pointing to the man on her left, 'used to be a doctor.'

'Ok. Let's say I get it how a copper starts chasing extinct creatures, but how the hell does a doctor get involved in this?'

'Being in the right place at the right time, I guess.' said Rick, 'Psy was investigating a murder for which a friend of mine was liked as the criminal, so I followed her around. Along the way we met with Professor Wilkins and his walking- talking- encyclopedia of a student, Harper, who were on the trail of a strange reptile, which proved to be a raptor and also, our killer. Sending it back to its times, we told the Government and they set up the ARC. And since we already knew about the phenomena and successfully handled'…

'The what?'

'Not now.' Barked the girl Joh supposed was Psy.

'Well, all in all, we were allowed to stay.' concluded Rick with a smile.

'I bet you have a lot of questions. But this is classified. More classified than singing in the shower. That's why we're taking you back to the headquarters. To sign stuff. Like you agree to wipe this happening out of your heads.'

'Bu…'

'Or we can have you arrested. I'm the head of The Yard's department working with special cases under the supervising of the British Government and Rick's the doctor assigned to this cases. I thoroughly suggest you sign. Asylums can bit a bit boring at times.'

'Bu…'

'Your choice.' she shrugged detached.

'Actually, I'm not so sure about that. I've had enough brain to tape everything you've said since we got in the car and I'm sending it to my computer. By the way, Chrissie Carrow, The Times journalist, pleased to meet you.' she said in a sarcastic manner.

'Tapings aren't valid probes.'

'Let the public be the judge of that. And if anything happens to us I promise you that they will get to judge.'

'And not to brag, but, ahem,' James coughed in an affected manner, 'I am James Knighton, future Sir Knighton that is. And about the current Sir Knighton, since you work with the Government, with the Home Office I presume? Yes. Well, I'm sure you heard of him. You chose the wrong lot to pick on.

'Ok, people, I sure this My- Daddy (boss) - is- Cooler- than- Yours discussion is very fulfilling, but what about focusing on the task at hand? We have a vicious predator on the loose'…

'Who's we? You're not a part of this'…

'Listen, you need to catch a very angry and confused saber tooth, lost in a world that's not its and he doesn't understand. And you clearly have problems with dosing the tranquilizer. You need someone trained to deal with these kind of situations.'

'I somehow fail to see the link between what you said and you.'

'I work with the zoo, consequently, I'm trained, amongst others, to deal with having dangerous animals on the loose. Of course, we never kept extinct animals, having the common sense to acknowledge the term extinct, but I'm sure I can manage.'

The girl opened he mouth to protest, but Rick spoke first, cutting her off:

'She's right, you know, Psy. I can track them down, but she is the expert.'

'Ok.' She agreed unwillingly, 'but only this once.'

'Ok. Where can I mix the substances?'

'How about… here?'

'Really?'

'Really. We're kind of short on time in case you haven't noticed.' Psy said.

'You couldn't stop the car while I work, could you? No… figured. Than avoid road cracks and keep in a straight line. I have to measure precise quantities.' She said grudgingly.

That Psy girl… she seemed to still blame her for the tiger getting away. Well, it wasn't her fault she was using crappy tranquilizer, mixed by some random incompetent.

As she started approximating the quantities of every component she should use in order to actually make it efficient, images of how the creature crushed the man, ripped him in two, devouring him until nothing but some boned were left of him, within seconds, splashing his blood all over her came to her mind, making her sick. Completing her work, she strived to think about anything else than recent events, not to relive the terror that overtook her body as the creature came after her. Mid- thought, she heard noises coming from the square they were passing by. Forcing herself to think, she realized that the noises were actually cries of distress coming from a bunch of terrified people. Waking up from the shock- induced trance she managed to say:

'I think we found our run- away.'

Handing Psy and Rick the tranquilizer guns, they got out of the car and rushed towards the square.

'Ok.' said Psy, 'You, Chrissie, The Times journalist, get this people out and far from here. Feed them some credible cover story. Exotic breed of tiger from a private zoo or something, I'm sure you'll manage to think of something, after all, that's what you do for a living, isn't it?' she concluded in a stingy voice. Before Chrissie could open her mouth to say something, the woman started continued:

'You, pampered royalty, help her. Zoo chick, come with me! Rick'll approach the creature from this side of the square. You and me will try to get it from the other side, you know, get it cornered. C'mon, people, no time to waste! MOVE IT!'

They all speechlessly obeyed her orders. She was like a biped version of the animal, only fiercer.

In order to get to the other side, they started cautiously sneaking behind a row of benches. Reaching the end of the row, they had to move in the open. As they passed by a coffee shop, Joh saw her reflexion in the mirror: she was covered in blood. That sickened and chilled her to the bone. She felt her legs were failing and she was going to throw up. She was a walking blood bag; she might as well ask the animal come have a bite. As she was gasping for air she heard a roar and Psy's agitated voice urging her to run. She tried doing as told, but her legs wouldn't listen to her; incapable to stand anymore she fell to the ground. The saber tooth was twenty feet away. She blinked. The saber tooth was ten feet away.

'Shoot it already!' she managed to blow before closing her eyes again. She delayed reopening them, not wanting to see the tiger ripping her into pieces. The last thing she felt was something heavy crushing on her body.

Constructive criticism, or rewievs are holy. :)