I must apologise for the lack of Christmas cheer in this chapter considering it's Christmas Eve - it's just an unhappy coincidence that this part of the storyline ended up being written today lol!

Hope you enjoy anyway :D and happy Christmas everyone! Hope you have a fantastic day!

Nikki x

Chapter 31

The world seemed unnaturally silent. There were no gunshots blasting through the air, no tortured screams or shouts. Just an eternal silence. The frosted ground was splattered with blood, and bits of rubble and bullet shells were scattered all over the concrete.

Ben had sunk to the floor, his face screwed up, tears making clear traces as they ran down his dust and blood smudged cheeks. Jenny was sitting next to him, her arm around his shoulders and her head resting against his, speaking soft words of comfort to him; empty, meaningless words, she knew, but she didn't know how else to help him.

Next to them, Jenny vaguely registered Connor speaking on his mobile to someone - possibly Abby, judging by his tone - and in the distance, the unmistakable sound of a helicopter could be heard.

"Listen," she whispered to Ben gently. "I need to go and speak to Connor for a moment okay?"

"No, don't leave me," he said immediately, clutching onto her arm.

She cupped his face to calm him. "I'm not going to leave you," she replied in the most reassuring voice she could muster. "I just need to see if everyone else is okay. I'll be right back."

He hesitated for a moment, before nodding reluctantly and letting his grasp on her fall. Jenny squeezed his arm in a gesture of reassurance before straightening up, wiping the wetness from her cheek as walked over to Connor.

"Who was that?" she said in a surprisingly steady voice as he hung up his mobile.

He looked around at her, his eyes looking full of sadness. "Abby," he said, hanging his head. "She found Sarah . . . she's injured - "

"What?" Jenny gasped, feeling her stomach clench.

"It's not serious," he replied quickly. "It's a broken leg. They're waiting for the ARC medics to pick them up now."

Jenny let out an exhale of relief, and ran her hand back through her tangled hair. "And Nick? Have you heard anything off him?"

Connor shook his head. "No. I've been trying his mobile, but he's not answering."

Jenny looked away for a moment, trying to squash the panic that immediately flared up inside her . . . just because she hadn't heard off him didn't mean that something was wrong. After all, no news wasn't necessarily bad news.

"Can I use your phone?" she asked Connor, holding out her hand expectantly.

Without question he handed it over, and immediately, Jenny dialled Nick's number. "Keep an eye on him," she added to Connor, gesturing over to a broken-looking Ben as she held the mobile up to her ear. "Make sure he doesn't do anything stupid."

Connor nodded and she offered him a weak smile before walking away, phone still clamped to her ear as she staggered slightly in the debris.

Ring ring . . . ring ring . . . ring ring . . .

"Jenny, there's still creatures out there!" Connor yelled after her.

She waved her hand impatiently to shush him and continued to walk towards the place where she had last seen Nick - the place where his hand had been wrenched from hers.

Ring ring . . . ring ring . . . ring ring . . .

"Come on Nick," she whispered to herself in aspiration. "Answer your bloody phone . . ."

Ring ring . . . ring ring . . . ring ring . .

She passed several soldiers, who were busy checking for signs of life from the nameless bodies that littered the street, and so they payed her no heed. Creatures corpses lay intermingled with the fallen soldiers, making the scene look like something from a badly-written horror film.

Ring ring . . . ring ring . . . ring ring . . .

Running her hand over her forehead in frustration, Jenny cancelled the call, before redialling it immediately. She was almost at the decimated building that the Brachiosaurus had obliterated effortlessly with its gigantic bulk. Her eyes scanned the rubble frantically, heart fluttering as she imagined Nick trapped under there . . .

It was at that moment that Jenny heard it. She pulled the still-calling phone away from her ear, and strained to listen for the noise she had just picked up on . . . that instantly recognisable sound.

"I could have been someone," a husky man's voice sounded, muffled. "Well so could anyone . . ." a woman's voice sang, "You took my dreams from me . . . when I first found you . . ."

It was Nick's ring tone; she was sure of it.

"Nick!" she shouted blindly, her excitement that she could hear his phone and her dread that he wasn't answering it both fighting out for top billing. "Nick!"

She strained to listen again, trying to work out where the sound was coming from so she could follow it.

"The boys of the NYPD Choir were singing Galway Bay . . . And the bells were ringing out for Christmas Day . . ."

As her eyes adjusted to the growing darkness, she spotted a figure lying against the rubble.

Complete and utter shock took hold of her, and she let the mobile fall out of her hand and smash loudly on ground, her mind going blank. The whole world seemed to shrink, and she felt as though the air had been sucked out of her lungs.

It was him. She knew it was. And he wasn't moving.

"NICK!" she screamed as the shock vanished, only to be replaced by soul-crushing panic.

She staggered over to him, her legs feeling like lead. After what seemed like an age, she reached him, and fell to his side.

"Nick!" she shouted again, shaking him by the shoulders, desperate for him to give a sign of life.

Then, with mingled relief and horror, she noticed that he was shaking violently; his skin glistening with sweat, and his breathing thready and broken. With a sob, she heaved his shoulders up and rested them on her lap; she could feel the intense heat radiating off him, and his body was incredibly limp.

"Nick, talk to me!" she cried, shaking him again. "Nick!"

His eyes fluttered open slightly, although they were heavy and unfocused as he looked up at hers. The ghost of a smile flickered across his lips as he shut his eyes again.

"I - I h-hoped I w-would get t-to see you a-again," he breathed, his teeth chattering so much it was hard to understand what he was saying.

"Just - just don't speak," she said wildy, not wanting him to use all his energy up trying to talk. "Just told on."

As she held him, she could see no sign of physical injury, confusing her as to why he was in such a state. Then, as her hand brushed against his chest, she felt hot stickiness against it. Squinting her eyes, she spotted a large tear in his shirt, and she ripped it further, all the better to see.

"Christ!" she gasped; the wound was so bad that she had to look away for a moment, putting her free hand to her mouth to stop herself heaving.

It was a single puncture mark near his shoulder, deep and bloody, oozing some sort of clear liquid.

"CONNOR!" she screamed, so loud that her throat felt like it was going to tear. "CONNOR!"

She looked back down at Nick, her chest convulsing as she noticed his expression contorted in pain. His lips were ghostly white, and shaking, but he was still conscious. He opened his eyes again, and she noticed how dilated his pupils were.

"Jenny . . ." he began to say, not much above a whisper.

"Don't," she said firmly, shaking her head, knowing that he was going to say goodbye and not wanting to hear it. "Don't you dare think that you're going anywhere. You and I still have things to sort out."

He seemed to chuckle slightly, although he immediately gritted his teeth against the agony he must be in. He seemed to have lost the power of speech all together, but not long after, she felt his burning hot hand brush up against hers, and hold it weakly. She grasped it back, feeling the stinging tears fall thick from her swollen eyes.

"Please don't leave me," she sobbed, pulling his head up to rest against hers. "Don't you leave me here alone - "

Hurried footsteps could be heard scampering towards them, and out of nowhere, Connor was skidding on the floor next to her, panting.

"Oh my God - oh my God!" he exclaimed, looking at Nick's wound with shock. "What do we do - what do we do?"

"We need to get him back to the ARC medical team - all the hospitals are deserted," Jenny replied, trying to keep her voice even whilst all the time she wanted to break down. "Can you tell what did this to him?"

"Um . . ." he breathed, squinting to examine the puncture mark closer. "Arthropleurid," he answered eventually. "Stephen got bit by one before you joined the ARC. He needs anti-venom. I think it's on record at the ARC which kind - "

"Okay, then go and get the car Connor!" she snapped in her frustration, pushing him away. "Just go and get the car!"

"Okay," he nodded frantically, looking panic-stricken as he staggered backwards, his face as white as a sheet.