Primeval: Second Anomaly to the Right, and Straight on 'til Morning

By Ldynwaitin

Chapter Four – Running the Gauntlet

Once they left the cretaceous period Abby and Connor immediately searched for Danny. They had no idea why Helen's device was left in the cretaceous period but they knew it meant that Danny must have been trapped in this time period. He had to have caught up with Helen, for the simple fact that they were still there, if he failed they would not have existed. They were searching for two weeks when they found a sign of Danny, a small grave. A weathered piece of wood was standing at its head with the name, 'Helen Cutter' carved into it. They now knew what happened to Helen, but had no idea where Danny was. Close to the gravesite they found several decayed human looking creatures near a river bed. Connor realized these were the hominoids that were found years later by the archeologists.

They spent a month searching for Danny, but found no other sign of him. The time soon came when they realized they were not going to find him. It was then that they decided they were going to start their journey home. They knew that Danny would have told them to do so. It was hard for Abby to leave Methuselah behind, but she knew he was better off in that time period. He would live to be a ripe old age without fear of any raptors.

It was on a sunny morning that they began their trek to the future. Using the device's map, Connor opened up a gate, and they stepped through. This gate led them to a time on the planet where plants did not exist. The oxygen ratio was so low they found it hard to breath. Immediately the went back through the anomaly and tried another. They soon realized that it was not going to be easy to find the right anomaly that led them home.

Two weeks later they walked into the timeline of the Terror birds. A huge vicious bird that was the head predator of its time. From where they stood, on top of a hill, they could see the monsters tearing something apart. After their episode in the cabin, they did not want to tangle with them again. They quickly searched for a time line that was close by. They left the birds behind, thankful they did not have to face their wrath.

It was nearly a month after leaving the time period they left Methuselah in that they arrived at a place they did not intend on going to, the time line that led to a future world devoid of people and inhabited by giant insects and future predators. Connor poked his head through the anomaly and was amazed to see that in the far distance was the broken buildings and a giant head of a statue lying on the ground. It was the same spot they originally used to come to this future world. This anomaly sat at a far distance, on top of a high location, they would never make it there in one piece.

Stepping through the anomaly Connor looked back, he was standing in front of a large building. He had seen it before from the other side and wondered what it was. Abby moved out of the anomaly. She stepped close to the edge of the cliff the building was standing on and looked down. The bottom was so far down it took her breath away.

"Connor, how on earth are we going to get there?"

Connor wasn't thinking about that, his thoughts was focused on the building. Several letters had fallen off but he could clearly make out, Library, within the letters.

"Abby, I want to take a look in there."

Abby looked back, she squinted her eyes from the glare of the future sun. "Think we'll find a way to get across there?"

Connor shook his head, "Not really, I want to see if there might be any records of what happened here." He turned and looked at Abby. "Aren't you curious to find out how the human race was killed off? Who was responsible? If we find out we may be able to find a way to stop it."

"Think we can? I mean it's already happened."

"But it's our future, Abby, I don't see how we can possibly not try."

Abby hesitated at first. They were in a world now that was inhabited by creatures more dangerous than any living dinosaur. But she also realized that what Connor offered was a possible way to stop all this from taking place. Who knows, perhaps they would even be able to stop Stephen or Cutter from being killed. This alone pushed her into agreeing with Connors proposal. Looking up, Connor could see the sun was just rising in the east. They had all day to search the building. Keeping close to the opened anomaly they first searched the area. Making sure there were no future predators.

Once they were satisfied that there were no predators about they quickly made their way to the library. A heavy wooden door hung on one hinge. Deep scratches could be seen in the oak door. Keeping their poison tipped stakes in hand, they gingerly entered the building. Once they cross the threshold they were standing in a dusty foyer. Glass shards covered the marble floor.

The glass made crunching sounds as they moved over them and into the library. They walked into a huge room. Feeling a strong breeze they looked up. The glass dome that once covered the library was just a metal shell. Every piece of glass was now lying on the floor. Books were strewn everywhere. They could see tall wooden shelves lying on the floor. Shreds of paper were flying and whirling around them.

Having had to visit many libraries in college Connor knew exactly where to go. He headed towards an area where magazines and papers were put on display. He found two wooden shelves lying on top of each other. Under them Connor could see many magazines. Taking off his backpack he kneeled next to the fallen shelves. Abby tightly held onto her stake. She scanned the library looking for any sign of the future predators or the giant insects.

Connor shoved his hand under one of the shelves and grabbed several magazines. Pulling them out he placed them on back of one of the fallen shelves. Wiping off a layer of dust he tried to make out what was on the magazines. The first one was a fashion magazine, he angrily threw it to the side. Abby immediately snatched it up.

"Oh," she said. "Quite like the skirt, but the blouse cries out, 'Look at me, I'm a slut'."

Connor ignored her, he carefully looked at each magazine. He found one on dog care, one on cooking, another on knitting. He looked at every magazine he found, but there was nothing here that told him what contributed to the end of the human race. He was beginning to wonder if he was wasting their time until he saw a small pile of paper collected in the corner. It looked like a giant rats nest. The last time he was at a nest they found a second anomaly device. Connor wondered if this nest might be hiding another lucky find. Sitting next to it, he began looking at the pieces of aged and torn paper.

Abby was beginning to get bored. "How long are we going to stay here? I saw several of those giant insects fly over us."

"We'll go after this," Connor absently replied. He shoved his hand in the center of the pile and pulled out a colorful piece of paper. It appeared to be the cover of a magazine. Its contents were long gone. One corner had a large nibble on it. Looking at the piece he was shocked to see what was on it.

"Abby," he hissed. "Come look at this."

Abby rushed over to Connor. He held a torn piece of paper in his hands. Squinting hard Abby could just make out what looked like a primitive form of the future predator. The header of the magazine read, 'Copy-Bats, Genetic engineering, or playing god?'."

"Connor, is that saying what I think it's saying?"

Connor sadly looked at the creature. "That's them, Abby. The future predators, or their primitive concept." He examined the piece more carefully. He actually growled in anger as he saw that the date of the magazine was nibbled off. They had no idea when this happened.

His expressive eyes turned dark. "We'll never know who started all this. It's exactly what Cutter was afraid of, people playing with nature. Look where it got us? Doesn't matter what they originally had in mind, whoever created these creatures had a hand in ending human life."

Abby gently touched Connor's shoulder. "Then it's up to us to stop them." Connor got up and began to roll up the paper. Walking back to his backpack he tuck it away.

"Let's go," he solemnly said.

"Don't you want to look some more? Maybe we'll find the rest of the magazine."

Swinging his backpack on, Connor shook his head. "I think it's long gone, we're lucky we found this. Creating these creatures started a chain of events that ended human life. Once we get back, I'm going to find a way to prevent all this madness. We followed Helen to stop her from ending human life before it started, but our job is not done. Now we have to find a way to stop this future from happening." He looked at her, his face was so determined, so different. For a second Abby thought he looked a little like Cutter. He was resolved to keep the human race from twisting nature in a way that would end their reign on this planet.

"I agree, but how can we do that if we can't find a way back to our own timeline?"

Connor had to think on this. He needed to find a way to get to the other side. That's when an idea came to him, he was not sure if it would work, but he figured it wouldn't hurt to try. He quickly left the library, Abby was close at his heels.

They walked back through the anomaly. Abby stood by his side as he took out the device and closed the anomaly. He had to make sure he gave it the right instructions. Thinking hard, he gave it an order. "I want the other side of this anomaly to open up four kilometers south of its current position." Connor opened the anomaly again, sticking his head through he searched around. He was ecstatic to see that it worked, the anomaly was now on the other side of the gap that separated the library and the anomaly that led home. He could see the backs of the crumbling buildings. Looking up he also saw that it was dark. This must be a draw back to changing locations of where the anomaly opened up, time moved quickly on the other side.

This could actually work out better for them, Connor thought. The giant insects would be unable to fly in the night skies. They also prayed that the future predators were either asleep or hopefully afraid of the dark.

They had to climb to the top of a building to see exactly where they were. They found they were a several blocks from the anomaly that they used to come to the future world. Slowly making their way from burned out car, to burned out car they came to the street they had walked down before. So far so good, they thought, no future predators noticed them. Sprinting quietly down a narrow street they could see the end of the road drop off. Connor stopped just short of the drop. Looking back he closed his eyes, he wanted to cry.

"Connor, what's wrong?" Abby asked him. She could see his eyes turning as clear as glass.

"Abby, we can't use this to go home," he softly replied.

"Why not?" She looked at the device, it seemed to be working.

Connor pointed to the building they hid in with Danny and Becker when they were searching for Abby's brother. "The building is closer, Abby. Don't you see, the edge must have crumbled or dropped off. Don't know why, age, or those damn future predators, but we're to far away to use the anomaly to go home."

Using the device he pointed it ahead and opened it, Abby saw the anomaly hovering in the air several feet from the cliff's edge. It was just too far to even think of jumping to it. "Can't you move it?" She asked him, desperate to find a way to go home. They were so close now, too close.

Connor immediately closed the anomaly, he then ordered the device to move the anomaly closer, opening it again, he sadly shook his head. The anomaly was still in the same position. "Guess it doesn't work that way. I can change the location of where they open to, not where they are now."

Abby looked back, she knew that there was another way they could get home, but it was very risky, "We'll have to try the anomaly that leads to Johnson's HQ."

They would have to go through a gauntlet to get there, but that gauntlet was risky in the daytime. They hoped with the darkness of night they would be able to get them there without any threats. Connor closed the opening and followed Abby. This was the only possible way they could get back to their own time line. He was determined to do whatever it took to get Abby back home. They slowly worked their way towards an old church. Sometimes they came across sleeping future predators. Some would be in cars, others just lay on top of building edges. They learned something new, the predators needed to sleep. Turning a corner, they found the street they were looking for. Now all they needed to do was find a certain wooden door. Behind it was the anomaly that led to their timeline.

Keeping as quiet as possible they crept towards the door that led home. Connor suddenly stopped, Abby could see his mouth moving, but nothing was coming out. Able to read his lips, she could see that he was cursing. Grabbing his arm, she pulled him back into an alley. Hugging the wall Connor whispered to her, "There's a car pushed up close to the door. Inside of the car I can see two future predators sleeping. Blasted bad luck, guess it found us again."

"We can do this, Connor," Abby breathed. "This is it, all we have to do is go through that door and we're home. We can't let this stop us now, not after all we've been through."

"Okay, but I want you to promise me one thing." Connor took her hand and looked deep into her eyes. "If something happens, if it goes all pear shaped, I want you to promise me you'll go through that anomaly no matter what. Promise me, Abby."

Abby gripped his hands tight, "Only if you promise the same."

Firmly grinning, he nodded his head. "Now we just need to figure out one more thing."

"What's that?"

"How are we going to get them out of that bloody car?"

Abby had to think of the nature of the creatures, she knew that they could see sound. An idea came to her, she squatted down and began to search for large rocks. As she began to pull out her slingshot Connor knew what she had planned and joined her. They managed to find ten large rocks for her to use.

They edged close to the corner of the building. Looking around Abby could see the car that sat just in front of the door they needed to go through. Connor kept his eye trained on where he knew the future predators were sleeping. Tucking a large rock in her slingshot, she let it drop. Moving her arm back she began to swing the rock around. When it picked up enough speed she let it fly away from them. It flew over the car that the future predators were sleeping in and slammed into what was left of a metal sign.

Connor stooped down as he saw the car rock. Two heads poked out of the broken windows of the car. Abby reloaded her slingshot and let it loose for a second time. This time she aimed a bit farther down the road. Once the rock landed the future predators stuck out their bodies from the cars. Their heads scanned the area, searching for the source of the sound.

"Nearly there," Connor whispered to her. "I think they'll bolt with a third louder shot."

Abby nodded her head, this time she placed three rocks in her sling. Spinning it as fast as possible she flung the rocks away with all her strength. Once the rocks were away Abby felt Connor grab her hand. Clutching it tightly they were going to make it to the door together.

The three rocks landed hard on a car down the street. Both future predators scrambled out of the car and jumped and leaped to where the rocks landed. That was their cue to run. Connor held Abby's hand in one hand, with the other he ordered the device to open the anomaly ahead. He could see a light suddenly spill out at the bottom and edges of the door.

They ran to the door as quickly as possible. They found that the car was so close to the door, they would need to go through the car to open it. Connor pushed Abby into the car first. He stood up on the bottom of the car and searched ahead. He became alarmed when he was unable to see either future predator. He knew this was very, very bad, but he would not tell Abby. She had to make it through no matter what it took.

Abby scrambled through the car and jumped out the other side. Grasping the door knob she pulled the door open. Opening to the left, she became frustrated finding that the car was close enough that the door opened just enough for them to squeeze through. Relieved that they finally made it she took off her backpack. As she looked back to Connor her smile faded, she thought, how could it possibly go so bad so quickly.