Chapter 27

It was complete and utter bedlam.

Jenny tried to keep her head clear and keep firing at the creatures that seemed to continuously to pour out of the anomalies, but the pleading yells and shouts that echoed all around the streets below pierced her heart as she wondered desperately who they belonged to. Gunshots cracked unstoppably through the confused air, making her ears ring painfully, and the various cries and roars of the creatures had become a terrible soundtrack in the background.

Everything felt distorted.

Everything felt unreal.

Yet time stretched on, and Jenny kept taking aim and firing instinctually, this time at what she recognised as a juvenile Future Predator that was sprinting its way towards a distressed rhinoceros-looking creature. From beside her, she saw Nick loading up his tranquilizer gun before shooting a well aimed dart at what appeared to be a large sail-back lizard, whether carnivorous or not, she had no idea.

"We need help down here!" a scared and slightly muffled voice sounded out of Jenny's radio.

Ceasing fire for the first time in what felt like an age, Jenny hurriedly lowered her gun and spoke back into the receiver. "Abby, where are you? Over."

A spine tingling scream echoed out, making Jenny's blood turn to ice.

"Abby, come in!" she shouted into the radio, her fear building.

Only the innocent sound of static emerged from it.

No, Jenny thought to herself desperately. No, she can't be . . .

She snapped her head round to look at Nick, who seemed to be unaware of her chilling conversation with Abby as he took aim at another creature, this time with live rounds.

"I've lost contact with Abby!" she shouted to him over the din.

He looked around, his eyes widened in fear. "Are you sure?" he yelled back.

"Of course I'm sure!" she snapped, turning to face her men, who remained scattered along the roof top. "Move out!" she added loudly to them all, causing them to turn. "We've been asked for help down there, and they're going to get it!"

"Ma'am," they all nodded, shouldering their guns and making to move towards the staircase.

"You three stay up here!" she shouted at the soldiers nearest to her, her throat aching with the effort of making herself heard over the noise. "We still need snipers!"

They nodded and immediately turned back to their posts without question, taking aim again.

She made to follow the rest of the soldiers off the roof, but before she had moved more than a few paces, Nick's hand halted her. His face was contorted with worry, and his eyes looked pleadingly into hers. "Jenny, I don't think - "

"Nick, Abby's in trouble down there!" she snapped in disbelief, knowing he was going to ask her to stay on the relative safety of the rooftop. "You seriously expect me to just leave her and Sarah out there?"

"No," he mumbled almost indiscernibly as he let go of her arm, looking resigned. "No, I know you won't."

"Then lets stop wasting time!" she insisted as she took off again.

If Jenny had thought the battle looked chaotic from high up on the rooftop, it was nothing compared to what it was like actually being in it. Creatures, both friendly and otherwise, littered the streets; blinding light issued from everywhere, making it difficult to see straight; and soldiers could be heard, panicked and fearful, either running away from an oncoming attack, or else firing wildly at the nearest creature. Jenny's own soldiers had spread out, assisting the ground soldiers where they could, but Jenny and Nick made directly for where they knew Abby's team had been stationed, despite not knowing if they had moved or not.

Threading their way through the flickering lights, avoiding the gunshots and dodging the snapping jaws, Jenny felt Nick grab her hand, probably because he feared losing her in the fray. Together, they sprinted onwards, both raising their guns every now and then and firing if they spotted an easy target without being held up on getting to Abby. Bodies were strewn across the cold ground, whether human or creature, Jenny didn't know, or indeed want to know; she was putting all her energy into getting to her friend, and desperately hoping that there was another reason, apart from the obvious, why she hadn't been able to raise Abby on the radio since that chilling scream.

Then, without warning, the air seemed to explode.

Jenny felt a tremendous force hit her, and suddenly, her hand was wrenched from Nick's and she was flying through the air backwards. She had no idea what had happened, except that she was in pain, and screaming, although she couldn't hear her own voice as she slammed to the ground hard. Dazed, but still conscious as far as she could tell, she could hear shouts and yells all around her, but it took her a while to regain herself. When the world had finally stopped spinning sickeningly, she staggered to her feet, confused as she realised that she was standing on what looked like the wreckage of a building. She looked up towards the dull grey sky and was shocked to see a large Brachiosaurus walking casually through the rubble of what used to be a shop, its gigantic feet crunching on the littered ground, and its head that was at least thirty feet off the ground gazing absently into the distance. It seemed disinterested in what was going on all around it; clearly, its only priority was shifting its forty tonnes of weight through the building it had just decimated.

Shaking with shock, Jenny glanced around and felt another bolt of terror when she realised that Nick was nowhere to be seen. He had been right next to her before the rubble had hit them, but now . . .

"NICK!" she shouted blindly, so loud that she thought her throat would tear. "NICK!"

Her eyes frantically searched the place, but she couldn't see him anywhere. Completely paralysed with fright, she only became aware again when a figure collided with her painfully, causing her to stagger backwards.

"Sorry!" a familiar voice said, as gentle hands steadied her.

"Abby?" Jenny murmured, her vision still swimming slightly with the impact of the rubble.

"Jenny, my teams scattered - I can't find Sarah anywhere!" Abby cried, looking visibly shaken. "I've been looking for her, but I've lost my radio - "

"I've lost Nick as well! He was right here a second ago - " Jenny began, but she was cut off by a loud roar that made them both jump violently.

They both turned, and before they could stop themselves, they screamed, although it hardy mattered, the nosie of the battle was so loud. There, standing merely ten feet from them, towering over them all, was unmistakably a Tyrannosaurus Rex. It was a sickly greyish colour, standing at least twenty feet tall, its enormously robust head housing a row of long, closely packed pointed teeth that looked as though they were already stained red with blood.

Frozen, unable to move with fear, it was only when Abby's hand closed around Jenny's wrist and tugged her that she realised that they had to move, or they were next on the menu.

"RUN!" Abby yelled, pulling Jenny behind her as she took off inbetween a pair of twinkling anomalies.

"But what about Nick?" Jenny cried, aware that she was sobbing.

"He's tough, he'll be fine!" Abby shouted back, still urging her onwards.

Jenny was about to resist her tugs - about to insist that she wasn't going anywhere until she had found her husband - but the ground began to shake ominously, informing them that the T-rex was moving. A quick glance back was all they needed to tell them that it had spotted them, and that staying put was no longer an option.

Heart bursting its banks, Abby and Jenny both flung themselves onwards, remaining low in fear of being shot by one of their own men. Jenny forced herself not to look around - she didn't have to - she knew the monster was still pursuing them by the looks on the soldiers faces they past as they looked behind them. Eventually, a spindly bridge came into view that spanned across what was a very busy road under usual circumstances, and beneath it, a large group of soldiers all stood in an arch formation, firing at random creatures in the distance. In the middle, barking orders at the rest, was Becker.

Gasping for breath, Jenny reached for the radio, wanting to warn him before they brought the creature on them.

"Becker - another T-rex - three o'clock!" she yelled, too tired to be able to string a full sentence together.

She saw their heads all turn towards them, and immediately, they all snapped their guns around to aim at a point behind Jenny an Abby. When they reached Becker, they both turned and aimed their guns also.

"BRING IT DOWN!" Becker bellowed to them all. "LIVE ROUNDS!"

They all fired in unison, and the T-rex seemed to stagger, clearly caught off guard by the sudden wave of bullets. However, to Jenny's horror, it seemed to shake the pain off, and it let out another ear-splitting roar, showing that all they had done was piss it off.

"Aim for its head!" Jenny shouted at them all, and immediately, everyone cocked their guns upwards and fired clumsily towards its jaw.

But they still weren't causing enough damage to it - all they were doing was making it wary of approaching them further, which Jenny had a sneaky suspicion it would get over before long.

Jenny glanced behind them, and spotted the bridge again, and reasoning that it would be a lot easier to aim at its head from a higher vantage point, she beckoned Abby to follow her. They sprinted up the metal stairs together and eventually came to a halt in the middle of the bridge, both panting but alert as they took aim again. As the soldiers fired from below, Jenny squeezed the trigger also, and heard Abby do the same from next to her. This time, one of Jenny's bullets seemed to do the trick, hitting the creature square in the eye. It bellowed and staggered forwards alarmingly. The solders below scattered, and Becker's voice could be heard shouting something that sounded like it was directed at Jenny.

But she wasn't fast enough.

The massive six tonnes of creature fell towards the bridge in what seemed like slow motion.

Jenny and Abby both dived in opposite directions to each other as the T-rex's bulk split the bridge two and it hit the ground below with a shuddering impact. Pulse racing, Jenny felt the platform leave her feet, and instinctually, she tried to clutch to some of the bars that seemed to be stable enough not to break apart. However, whether because of tiredness or injury, she couldn't seem to support her own weight, and with a cry of horror, for the second time that day, she felt herself falling through the air.

She hit the ground hard, and immediately, an all consuming pain shot through her rib cage. The agony was so intense that everything around her seemed to slow. She was still alive, she knew that because of the pain, but she also knew that she was badly hurt. She tried to move, but she couldn't - she just couldn't . . .

The T-rex's body was lying next to her, dwarfing her in comparison, but it was either unconscious or dead, and so no longer a concern to her. But as her senses became more attuned, she became aware that something else was a concern for her. A horrid croaking noise could be heard from in front of her, and when she forced her unfocused eyes to look upwards, her already nauseated stomach seemed to disappear completely.

A brownish, man-sized lizard was making its was towards her, tilting its head to the side curiously as it surveyed her.

A Velociraptor.

Panicking, but barely able to summon the strength to move, she clumsily fished for her second gun, but when she finally managed to pull it out, she couldn't seem to be able to gather the energy to pull the trigger.

The creature paused, as though unsure of whether she constituted as prey or not.

Pulling on any strength she had left and trying desperately to remain conscious, she tried to scramble backwards and fire, but the burning pain in her ribs wouldn't let her aim properly. Her bullets missed the thing, and the fact that she was trying to back away and crying out in pain at the same time seemed to spark its interest.

The Raptor started to approach her slowly, and its scaly mouth seemed to be pulled into a sneering smile that showed all of its sharp teeth.

This is it, Jenny though to herself as her last ounce of strength left her and her gun fell out of her weak grip. This was how she was supposed to die.