Chapter 10

The team remained silent as they absorbed the eery scene in front of them. Jenny had known that there would have been some casualties judging by how many creatures they had seen pour out of the anomaly, but looking around at all these corpses . . . what . . . what? The fact that the bodies hadn't been removed, and that they were dotted around as far as the eye could see was an ominous sign . . . there was no one around to remove them . . .

"Oh my God," she heard Abby whisper next to her; her voice muffled by her hands. "Oh my God . . ."

"Where is everyone?" Conner said in a high pitched voice.

No body justified his question with a response. It was quite clear were everyone was. Jenny's mind was whirling; she just couldn't take this in . . . she was aware that she was trembling uncontrollably . . . all these people . . .

Then suddenly her mind fell on her family; her parents and her brother! They weren't dead . . . they couldn't be . . .

"No," she said aloud involuntarily, before she started forward towards the half torn down gate, ducking underneath a bar to get through a large gap.

She could hear voices calling her back but she ignored them; she needed a car . . . but each and every car she passed was completely trashed.

"Jenny?" Cutter's voice cut into her thoughts. He was in front of her, with his hands on both of her arms. "What are you doing?"

"I need to find a car," she answered, distracted as she looked around.

"Why?" he asked in disbelief.

"I need to know their okay," she mumbled, aware that he probably wouldn't know what she was talking about.

Then she suddenly spotted a car that looked intact at the bottom of the long road . . . it was worth a try. She pulled herself free of Cutter's grip, and took off again. She could hear the rest of the team following her.

"Jenny!" Cutter repeated, grabbing her arm and spinning her around. "Who are you talking about?"

"My family," she answered. "I need to see them."

Cutter's expression turned from a look of confusion to a look of sympathy.

"Jenny the chances of them being alive - " he began gently.

"No," she snapped, shaking her head defiantly. "No, they can't be . . ."

"I agree with Jenny," Abby interjected. "I want to go too."

"Great lets go," Jenny said curtly to Abby before turning to leave, but Cutter pulled her back. "Let go of me," she added to him.

"You're not going," Cutter said shortly, tightening his grip on her arm.

Jenny wrenched herself away from him, feeling anger take over the numbness.

"Don't tell me what do," she whispered dangerously.

"Jenny I want to go and check on my family to," Conner said, sounding close to tears. "But it's not like we can go all the way to Yorkshire - "

"And what about you?" Jenny asked Lester.

"My family are in Paris; their probably fine," he mumbled, not meeting her in the eye.

"Well good for you," Jenny said sarcastically, her voice breaking as she forced herself to keep her tears at bay. "But before you get to relaxed, ask yourself that if foreign countries aren't affected; why haven't they sent troops in to rescue us?"

Everyone fell silence, all possibly considering the truth of this statement.

"We are going back to the ARC to get weapons and then we're going to figure out a plan from there," Cutter continued eventually, as though that settled the matter.

"I'm your boss Cutter - you can't give me orders," she snapped.

"You're not thinking clearly!"

"Come on Abby," she said, ignored Cutter's comment and turning away.

"You're not going anywhere!" Cutter bellowed.

"Watch me!" she yelled, storming off; Abby at her heels.

They were nearly to the car when gunshots broke into the silence, flying past them. They both ducked, their hands over their heads. For one wild moment, Jenny thought that the rest of the team were shooting at them to stop them from leaving once and for all; but then she heard that chilling clicking noise from in front of them. She looked up and felt fear shoot through her at the sight of the familiar but no less terrifying creature. The bullets had flew past the predator as they had done them.

"MOVE!" Becker barked at them, taking aim again.

They didn't need telling twice; Jenny grabbed Abby and pulled her towards a house that the rest of the team was running towards. Cutter booted the door in with one kick.

"Get in!" he shouted, pushing Jenny in more roughly that he would have done usually.

Becker was backing towards the house, firing at the predator as he went. When it finally collapsed to the floor, he turned and followed them inside. Jenny, Abby and Lester stood in the trashed unfamiliar hallway in shock as they watched Cutter, Becker and Conner block the door with a heavy-looking piece of furniture.

"That is exactly what I was talking about!" Cutter exclaimed at Jenny as he turned around, looking furious.

"You're blaming me for that?" Jenny gasped in indignance.

"You were the one shouting at the top of your lungs - "

"Well you were the one who made a big to-do about me going - "

"Ssssh!" Becker snapped, looking up at the ceiling with his gun poised.

Jenny and Cutter fell silent, but still glared at each other. But then Jenny heard what Becker must have picked up on; there was a high pitched noise coming from one of the upstairs rooms. Oh God . . . there was one of them in the house; and they'd just locked themselves in with it! Cutter gestured wordlessly to Becker to hand him the second gun he kept in his belt. They both ascended the stairs together, their guns held in front of them. Jenny went to follow, but Conner's hand on her shoulder stopped her.

"Wait," he whispered.

She did as she was told for once, as despite what she had just said, she knew that it was her fault the Future Predator had been drawn to them in the first place. They all stood in a tense silence; Jenny straining her ears to hear what was going on up there. They all jumped slightly as the sounds of a door being kicked in echoed around the house; the high-pitched noise becoming more discernable. Loud footsteps signaled the re-arrival of Becker and Cutter, the latter holding something in his arms -

A baby.

It looked about two months old, and had wisps of jet black hair over it's tiny head. Judging by the disheveled pink clothes it donned, it was obviously a girl. It's little face was bright red and screwed up as it screamed at the top of it's lungs.

"What on earth - ?" Lester gasped.

"Conner, go and make up a bottle or something, she's starving," Cutter ordered as he descended the last few stairs.

"I don't know how to do that," Conner said, looking at the baby as though it was an alien.

"Just use your common sense," Cutter sighed, hoisting the baby up more.

"Come on I'll help you," Abby said, pushing Conner towards the kitchen.

Cutter crossed the hall towards Jenny; the baby held out to her.

"Oh no," Jenny said immediately, shaking her head. "Don't give that thing to me; I hate kids."

"Just hold her for a second, while I find some new clothes for her," he argued, thrusting the bawling baby at her.

Jenny held it awkwardly up in front of her, unsure of the proper way to do this; she had never held a baby before - or had ever wanted to. It was soaking wet and smelly, and Jenny had no desire to hold it closer. Cutter looked at her in amusement for a second.

"Just sort of cup it," he informed her, taking Jenny's arm and arranging it so that the baby was lying against her chest with Jenny's arm resting under it.

" . . . and put the other hand there," he continued, placing Jenny's hand on the baby's back. "And just jiggle a bit to get her to calm down."

"If you seem to know so much about it, why don't you hold it?" Jenny snapped, wincing slightly at the baby's screeches.

"I'm busy," Cutter answered with a smile, before running back up the stairs.

"Don't leave me with it - " Jenny began, but he was already out of sight.

Lester gave her a look that clearly said he didn't envy her position, before walking off after Conner and Abby.

Jenny scowled and jiggled the thing up and down. It fell silent almost immediately, except for some odd squeaks, and nuzzled into her neck.

"Where did you find it?" Jenny asked Becker quietly.

"She was barricaded into a room," he answered grimly.

"And her parents?"

"No sign of them."

Conner and Abby reappeared, looking rather rattled.

"There are bloodstains all over the kitchen," Abby informed them in a hushed voice. "And the back door was wide open."

Without another word, Becker made his way into the kitchen, probably to secure it.

"Here's the milk," Conner added, holding out a filled plastic bottle to Jenny. "It was that powdered baby stuff, so it should be good."

"No; no way," Jenny refused flatly. "You feed it."

"But she seems happier with you," Conner pointed out with a smile. "She's stopped crying."

Huffing, Jenny took the bottle, balancing the baby on her chest as she did so.

"I don't even know how to feed it," Jenny said desperately.

"I think you should start with putting the bottle to her mouth," Abby joked, obviously taking amusement in Jenny's discomfort.

Jenny glared at her, before walking of into what she assumed to be the living room. It was just as trashed as the rest of the house, and the curtains were drawn, making it incredibly dull. Pushing out the image of what might have actually happened in here out of her mind, Jenny sat down gently on the ripped couch, and lay the baby across her lap and cupped it's head awkwardly. It looked up at her with questioning big blue eyes as though it was wondering what the hell was going on.

"Come on then," Jenny sighed, as she held the bottle up to it's mouth. "I'm sure you know what to do."

The baby drank gratefully, almost desperately, which made Jenny feel an unexpected twinge of sorrow for it; how long had it been since she had been fed? As she gulped down the liquid, it's tiny hand closed around Jenny's finger. In spite of herself, Jenny felt herself thinking that it was rather cute . . .

"And there was me thinking that you had no maternal instinct whatsoever," Cutter's amused voice issued in the room.

He was leaning against the wall, holding what looked like fresh baby clothes in one hand and a pack of nappies in the other.

"I don't," Jenny replied, looking back at the baby, and was surprised to see that half the milk had already gone.

"Well you're doing a great impression about someone who has," he grinned, setting the stuff he held down on the couch next to her.

"I'm a great actress you see," she said, catching his eye and smiling.

He smiled back, watching her for a few seconds before straightening up.

"Change her when she's finished the bottle, and then you might want to give her another one; she must be hungry," he said, as he made to leave the room.

"No, Nick - "

"I just need to go and talk to the team for a minute."

"Nick I'm not getting stuck with the baby just because I'm a woman - "

"Sorry I can't hear you . . ." he said as he left.

"Nick? Nick! Don't you dare - " Jenny hissed after him, but he didn't reply.

Sighing, she looked back down at the baby, who had all but inhaled the entire bottle already.

"Now we don't like him okay?" she whispered to her, as she took the empty bottle out of her mouth and put her down on the couch to change her. "He's a horrible smelly man, and me and you are mad at him, okay?"

The baby gurgled slightly, and seemed much happier now she had a full stomach. Her eyes looked up at Jenny with so much innocence and trusting; so much so that Jenny found that she had a lump in her throat; the baby had no idea that they were possible the only people left; she didn't know that it's parents had been killed whilst trying to save her; she didn't know that at this very moment, and possible for the rest of her life, they were all in more danger than was imaginable.

********

Jenny felt someone shaking her awake gently; she must have fell asleep at some point. Cutter's face hovered over her, making her start slightly.

"Is something wrong?" she asked urgently.

He shook his head, and put his finger to his lips, indicating that she should be quiet. She looked down and saw that the baby was fast asleep on her chest, dressed in her clean, dry clothes. Jenny straightened up quietly, supporting the baby's head as she put her down gently on the couch. Cutter jerked his head to indicate that she should follow him out to the hall.

"Where's everyone else?" Jenny asked as he turned to her.

"Asleep," he answered. "Except Becker; he's been securing the house and he needs to do the front room now - that's why I woke you."

"Right," said Jenny, running her fingers through her hair. "And did you lot decide anything whilst I was playing mummy?" she added, trying to keep the bitterness that she had missed out on their discussion out of her voice.

"Becker's going to get some weapons from the ARC tomorrow," he explained with a slight smile at her comment. "We've agreed that it's too dangerous to go back there permanently now that we've got the baby. But Conner's going as well to get some supplies to try and make something that might help us out. I didn't ask any more; I doubt that whatever goes on inside his brain wouldn't translate well into conversation; so I'll leave him with it."

"Are we safe here?"

"Just as much as anywhere else," Cutter sighed. "As long as we keep the noise down. Conner's talked about making some sort of sound reflector, but I think that's just a pipe dream - "

"Nick, I still want to go and see my parents house," Jenny said before she could stop herself.

Cutter's smile faltered.

"Jenny, it's too dangerous right now," he said in a soothing tone.

"But - "

"I understand that you're worried," he continued. "But it's not worth your life to see something you already know - "

"We don't know their dead," Jenny snapped.

"Okay," he said as gently as possible. "I promise that we'll talk about it more tomorrow, but right now, we need to just get out of Becker's way so he can do his job."

Jenny wanted to argue back, but she knew it would be futile at the moment.

"Where are we sleeping?" she sighed, trying to push her resentment to the back of her head.

"Conner and Abby are sleeping in the back room," Cutter answered, pointing at the door at the bottom of the hall. Lester's in one of the single rooms. And we're in the master bedroom."

"How did you swing that?" Jenny asked, unable to keep the amusement out of her voice.

"Because we're sleeping with the baby; surprisingly enough no one else fancied the job."

"Imagine that," Jenny sighed.

"So why don't you go and get her and I'll go and make up another bottle?" Cutter suggested.

Jenny refrained from laughing with difficulty; they had only been together a short while, but from the way they were acting it was like they were married with a kid! But needs must, she supposed.

********

It felt extremely odd and unsettling to be sleeping in someone else's bed; especially seeing as the previous owners had met their end in such a horrific way. Cutter was asleep in seconds, seemingly exhausted. But Jenny couldn't seem to settle; probably because she had already had some sleep. The baby was in some sort of Moses basket next to Jenny's side of the bed; something that Cutter had found in her room. She couldn't go back in her cot as it needed completely changing; something which they had had no time to do.

Just as Jenny was dozing of to sleep, she jerked awake as the baby let out a high-pitched scream. Time and time again, she tried to feed her, but she didn't seem interested; all she seemed to want was to be held.

"For Goodness sake, just go to sleep," Jenny whispered to her after about an hour of rocking her.

But the baby just looked up at her with a happy content look on her face.

"I knew there was a reason why I didn't want kids," Jenny informed the gurgling baby, but she couldn't quite manage to stay mad at her.

********

"Sleep well?" Abby asked in obvious delight as Jenny staggered into the kitchen.

Jenny groaned in replied, taking a seat at the kitchen table and putting her head in her hands.

"Take that as a no then?" she giggled.

"I am never ever having children," Jenny mumbled, her voice muffled. "Never."

They were both talking in hushed voices; something they had all unconsciously agreed upon without discussion.

"She is cute though, you have to admit."

"No, a sleeping baby is cute," Jenny pointed out. "It took me hours to get her off to sleep and it took years of my life."

"Where is she now?"

"It's Nick's turn with her," Jenny smiled.

"How come she's so unsettled?"

"I have no idea," Jenny yawned. "But now I finally know why my mother hates me."

But after saying this, she felt an uncomfortable knot clench in her stomach. Thinking about her mother was too painful. Obviously, this must have shown on her expression, as Abby gave her a sympathetic look.

"We could still go you know," she said so quietly that Jenny barely heard her.

Jenny looked up at her, but before she could reply, Cutter walked in with the baby in his arms.

"She's hungry, I've just got to make up a bottle," he explained, passing her back to Jenny.

She cuddled into the nape of her neck immediately.

"Oh don't try and make it up to me now," Jenny said to her. "You burnt your bridges last night."

"She wasn't that bad," Cutter interjected.

"Like you would know," Jenny snorted. "You were asleep!"

"Or maybe I was just pretending to be asleep so I wouldn't have to get up," Cutter suggested, his eyes twinkling.

Abby giggled at this.

"Don't you laugh, it's yours and Conner's turn tonight," Jenny joked, wiping the smile off her face.

********

Becker and Conner returned back to the house safely much to everyone's relief. The latter came back with bags full of equipment he thought might be useful in what ever invention he was planning on, and Becker came back ladened with guns and ammunition. They reported that they saw no other living thing, human or otherwise, which Jenny was unsure as to whether this was a positive thing or not. They had tried the radio earlier that day, but were greeted with noting but static interference, to which Cutter panicked and switched the device off, explaining that the Predators would be able to hear it. Abby had also suggested trying the television, but all the ones in this particular house were broken, and it was pointless to go searching other houses incase the creatures lurked in there. However, Jenny had other things on her mind - she had been going over and over what Abby had said.

The team went to bed that night with nothing else decided upon, other than the fact that they all agreed they needed a plan, but no one was very forthcoming with a suggestion. Despite the threat she had given Abby, Jenny and Cutter ended up with the baby again, and strangely enough, Jenny didn't mind at all. However, she had decided on something; she just needed to wait until the right moment . . .

The sounds of Cutter's heavy breathing filled the room eventually; he had fallen asleep with his arm around Jenny. As quietly and as slowly as humanly possible, Jenny disengaged herself from his grasp and slipped out of the bed. For a second, she stood in the room and held her breath; but he was still fast asleep. Breathing a sigh of relief, she pulled on her blouse and buttoned it quickly. She peered into the Moses basket and saw that the baby was wide awake, and when she spotted Jenny, she kicked her legs in excitement.

"Sssshhh," Jenny said gently, crouching down next to her. She placed her hand in the cot, and the baby grasped her finger again. Jenny looked at Cutter to ensure he was in a deep sleep before she spoke again.

"I've got to go away for a while," she whispered to the baby, not knowing why she felt the need to clarify her actions with something that didn't even understand her. "So I can't look after you anymore. But you see that man," she added, pointing at a motionless Cutter. "He's going to keep you safe and make sure nothings happens to you."

She stroked the little girls face gently, and eventually, the baby's eyes began to close as she fell into a light sleep.

"Good bye," Jenny whispered as she straightened up, and impatiently wiped the wetness on her face away.

She crossed the room, and gave Cutter one final look before she turned and left, now unable to stop the silent tears falling thick and fast from her eyes. She crept down the stairs, knowing that Becker woke at the slightest sound. She entered the back room, which was filled with Conner's snores, and spotted Abby on the couch. She snook over, stepping over Conner (who was on the floor) and clamped her hand around Abby's mouth; the girls eyes flew open in a blind panic and she let out a scream which was muffled against Jenny's palm.

"Sssshhh," Jenny said immediately, not pulling her hand away until Abby nodded.

She jerked her head to indicate that Abby should follow her outside, and silently, they made it to the hall; Abby closing the door after them slowly.

"What -?" Abby began in shock, but Jenny cut her off.

"I'm going to my parents house," she explained quietly. "I just need to know, one way or another . . . do you want to come?"

Abby bit her lip and thought for a moment, shuffling her feet slightly.

"Okay," she whispered finally. "But can we go to my parents house as well? It's not far - "

"Of course we can," Jenny nodded, eager to have some company.

********

An hour later, Jenny and Abby were walking silently down a deserted dark road. They had originally broke into a car and driven it, but the oil had depleted alarmingly fast, and they had broken down a while back, and so were forced to go on foot the rest of the way. They made slow progress, walking close together; Jenny holding the gun that they had snook from Becker's stash.

"Aren't you scared?" Abby whispered to her after a while.

"No - I'm terrified," Jenny replied honestly. "But we need to do this."

"I know," Abby breathed. "What do you think their going to do when they realise we're gone?"

Jenny didn't answer for a moment; her mind wondering to the image of Cutter waking up to find the bed next to him empty. For all she knew, he had been woken up by the baby, and was already aware of her disappearance; God he was going to be furious.

"I'm sure they'll understand," Jenny said finally, and completely untruthfully.

Abby gave her a look of disbelief.

"Okay, maybe they won't exactly be thrilled," Jenny reasoned quietly. "But what's done is done."

"Do you think they'll come after us?" Abby asked.

Again, Jenny didn't reply straight away. Her honest thought was yes; of course they would come looking for them - well Cutter and Conner would do anyway. But this though made her incredibly uncomfortable - what if something happened to them while they were looking for them? It'd be all her fault . . .

They passed a car that looked drive worthy, and Jenny stopped dead, her hand grabbing Abby's jacked to halt her. As with her other car, one of the doors was open and the keys were still in the ignition; God knows what had happened to the owner . . . Jenny leaned in to take a closer look . . .

A gunshot cracked like a whip through the deadening silence.

Jenny straightened up, looking wildly into the darkness that was abating slightly into dawn.

"Abby did you hear that?" she asked in a panic. But she didn't respond, so Jenny spun around. "Abby?"

She saw Abby looking down at her own stomach in shock; Jenny followed her gaze, and her own stomach jolted with a sickening swoop. There was a huge blood stain on her top that was growing by the second; suddenly, she collapsed forward onto her knees.

"ABBY!" Jenny yelled, hurrying forward to catch the girl before she fell to the floor. Jenny felt something hot on the hand that was on Abby's back, and pulled it up to her face.

It was covered in blood.

"Oh my God," she breathed, pure panic taking over her.

********

Another cliffhanger I'm afraid!

I shall try and update again as soon as I can.

Let me know your thoughts x