Chapter 4

The glittering, swirling shards of the anomaly that floated at the edge of the ruined city took no notice of the men coming through its portal. It continued its slow revolutions undisturbed.

Davis motioned for his troops to split up and cover the area quickly. The men had been briefed by Captain Becker on using hand signals and visual reconnaissance rather than speaking while in the territory of the future predators. Several moved to the perimeter of the area to set up Dr. Page's equipment. The rest spread out to each of the nearby buildings. The search for the team had begun.

Sarah stood on the other side of the anomaly. This would be her second time through an anomaly, but the first had been more of a lark. It had seemed fun to step back into a medieval village and learn about a knight named Sir William. This time wasn't a lark. She knew what to expect based on Becker's descriptions of the future predators and from her own experiences with the huge flying insects from this same place. She knew she had to step through, but her feet seemed rooted to the spot.

Sarah glanced at Becker waiting patiently beside her, "I really hate insects," she said.

Becker wanted to shout with laughter, but instead he merely said, "You can do this, Sarah."

Taking a deep breath, Sarah stepped through with Becker right behind her.

The view on the other side was surreal. The light seemed different… diffused, but at times almost glowing. Cars sat rusting and empty. The decaying buildings seemed to press down on Sarah.

Becker's men had been quickly and efficiently checking every building in the area searching for any sign of the team. Becker lightly touched Sarah's arm and pointed her toward a building where one of his men was waving them over. Becker immediately recognized the piece of weaponry the man was holding out to him. It was half of his favorite gun, the one he had handed to Danny Quinn two days before. The soldier wordlessly gestured for Becker and Sarah to follow him down into the lower level of the building. Becker soon spotted the remaining pieces of his gun in the high-powered beam of the torch he had turned on after entering the dark building. Further ahead, Sarah spotted another one of Becker's men waving excitedly.

She hurried forward, nearly crying out in despair when she spotted the shattered artifact lying on the ground. Picking it up, she spoke quietly to Becker who was scanning the area around them, "Poor Connor, he'll be heartbroken when he sees this."

"Sarah, look at this console. Someone was using these batteries to power it up," said Becker pointing at the taped-together batteries that had been discarded by Danny, Connor and Abby a couple of days before.

Another of Becker's men appeared carrying a rectangular device. "Sir, I found this in a room down the corridor."

Sarah's face lit up. "I recognize that. It's the device Helen used to open an anomaly and send the prehistoric rhinos back home. Remember, Becker?"

Becker smiled down at Sarah, "I think we should power up this machine and see what happens."

"Exactly!" replied Sarah, "Becker, how quickly can you get a portable generator down here?"

………………

Meanwhile, Connor and Abby had managed to avoid the hunting raptors and make their way to the spot Abby had selected for the coming night. It was a small opening in the rocks, barely wide enough for the two of them to lay down and with a ceiling too low for Connor to stand up straight. Abby stepped aside to allow Connor to settle himself against the wall close to the rocky opening.

"Connor, you need to eat another protein bar," said Abby as she passed the foil wrapped item to him. "Now, I'll just pull these branches across the opening and we should be safe enough for the night."

Abby worked with the branches she had gathered earlier for several minutes to create a tight screen across the opening of their enclosure. Then, dusting off her hands, she immediately spread out her blanket and lay down with her back to Connor.

Connor watched her for a few moments before he realized that Abby wasn't interested in talking, "Guess I'll just work on Helen's device until I totally lose the light" announced Connor to the room in general.

After about five minutes, Connor couldn't stand the silence. "Abby, when we get back home, where would you like to go on our date?"

Abby's sleepy voice answered, "How about we to go to the Pub down the street for dinner, then afterward, we can walk around the Common and watch the stars come out."

"That would be brilliant." answered Connor. When he realized that Abby had drifted off to sleep, he quietly said, "Good night, Abby."

Connor stretched out and placed the backpack under his head, but he couldn't sleep. He lay in the darkness, listening to the sound of Abby's breathing. His head was filled with thoughts of his actions for the last two days. Why in the world had he been pushing Abby about their relationship? Connor knew she was scared and exhausted even though she tried to act tough. He was scared too, fearing that they might never get back home, and that was the real reason all his feelings seemed so urgent. He didn't want to die without telling Abby the way he had felt almost from the first moment he saw her.

In doing so, Connor thought he had put Abby in a very bad spot. "Poor Abby!" he thought. He decided she had been trying to keep him sane and happy by telling him exactly what he wanted to hear. Connor realized he had left her no choice but to go along with whatever he said. What was the poor girl supposed to say? Only if you were the last man on earth? Connor smiled at his own bad joke. He was the last man on earth… well actually, the first man on earth.

It had been so amazingly wonderful to think Abby might take him seriously. Sadness washed over Connor as he reminded himself that there was no way a girl like Abby could ever really care for a science-fiction loving, geek like him.

Connor promised himself that there would be no more talk about love and dating. He wouldn't force Abby to lie to him anymore. He would concentrate on getting Abby home. That was all that mattered.

As Connor started to drift into sleep, he heard Abby mumble and let out a small cry in her sleep. Connor rolled Abby into his arms where she immediately burrowed her face into the crook of Connor's neck and settled back into peaceful sleep again.

Holding Abby through the night would be enough, thought Connor as he gave in to sleep. It would have to be.