Disclaimer: Primeval and all its characters belong to someone else.

Summary: - Another, hopefully exciting chapter, full of action. I really hope you like it!

Shards of Glass

Chapter Eight- The Anomaly

Connor ran to Abby! "Abby, Abby- wake up" he cried. He went to slap her face, but couldn't bring himself to do it, and ended up giving her a weak tap on the side of her cheek. He leant in and kissed her lips instead.

"Please wake up" he whispered. There was no response- she was unconscious, but thankfully Connor could see she was breathing. He ran over to the 'Cleaner' to see how he was doing. The 'Cleaner' had managed to pull himself up by using the rifle as a prop. His leg was badly injured but he didn't seem to be in too much pain, although he couldn't walk on it properly. Connor privately thought these clones were like something out of Dr Who- robots or androids! He shook himself- no time for fantasies now! He grabbed the man's water bottle off him and went back to where Abby was still lying prone on the ground. He ripped the bottom of his shirt and soaked it with the ice cold water, and gently dabbed Abby's face with the dampened cloth.

Abby groaned and turned her head towards Connor. She slowly opened her eyes, but the light was too much, and she closed them again.

"Abby?" whispered Connor.

She weakly opened her eyes again, but everything was a bit blurry. She opened and shut them a few times, and when she could finally focus she saw a very worried looking Connor by her side.

"Hi!" she whispered

"Hi!" he replied and gave her another soft kiss; he was so relieved to see she was OK. She groaned with tiredness and pain, but turned her head and returned his kiss, but they quickly broke apart as they heard the Allosaurus, which was sounding even nearer to them now. Connor pulled Abby to her feet, and helped her go to over to where the injured 'Cleaner' was standing, silently watching them.

"Can you walk, mate?" Connor asked. The 'Cleaner' grunted and tried to walk, and fortunately he seemed able to put enough weight onto his bad leg to enable him to walk unaided. Connor was really relieved- he didn't know how he would have been able to manage with the two of them injured. They started to move onwards again, but it was at a very slow pace now- the 'Cleaner' limped just ahead of them, whilst Connor helped Abby along. Connor felt so proud of her- she had been through so much, and even now she gamely continued without a word of complaint or self- pity- she just gritted her teeth and got on with the job on hand! She had even been willing to stay behind in order to save Connor- he felt so lucky to have her as his fiancée. He had to get her safely to the anomaly- there was only about fifteen minutes left now, before it closed!

All this time though, the roars had got louder and louder- the creatures were closing in very quickly, drawn by the scent of blood from the two dinosaurs lying on the ground- they still weren't far enough away from them, Connor realised. They were moving too slowly! Just then, one burst out from the trees at the side of them. This was it! There was no chance now! The 'Cleaner' started shooting, but he had spent most of his bullets on the two creatures and suddenly there was just the sound of his gun 'clicking' instead of firing! It was empty. He aimlessly threw the gun at the dinosaur, hitting it squarely on the nose, but it had no effect on the creature whatsoever. Connor and Abby hugged each other. They both knew this was their last moment alive. They stood there, petrified; awaiting their death, hoping it would be quick! Abby could feel Connor shaking beside her, and she drew him into a kiss, so that they would die together in each other's arms.

Suddenly another roar sounded out, and a different creature ran at full tilt towards the Allosaurus. This creature was smaller than the Allosaurus, but had come running, tempted by the smell of blood. The two beasts started to circle around each other, snarling and roaring. The creature- a Ceratosaurus started snapping at the Allosaurus, but then darted back. It ran a short distance away but turned again to snap at the Allosaurus. It lunged at the Allosaurus with its curved claws, and managed to scrape a large gash in the side of the creature's face- but the Allosaurus was too big and powerful for it, and grabbed the smaller dinosaur by the neck, and started shaking it to and fro.

As soon as the second creature burst through the trees, Abby, Connor and the 'Cleaner' had quickly backed as far away from the fight as they could without drawing attention to themselves, and hid behind a huge tree.

As the fight grew to a crescendo, the three of them took the opportunity and ran through the undergrowth through some trees, in the general direction of where they thought the anomaly was. The fear and adrenalin gave both the injured 'Cleaner' and Abby the boost they needed to rush forward as fast as their injuries would let them, but this still wasn't as fast as they would all have liked. They could hear the Allosaurus finishing off the poor creature as it threw it to the ground, roaring in victory. It lifted up its head and sniffed at the air. It turned in the direction of the three terrified people, fleeing as fast as they could through the trees. At one point, the 'Cleaner' ran too fast for his injured leg, and went crashing to the ground. Connor helped him scramble up and they continued forward, looking behind them in fear.

They were all covered with scratches and cuts now from the branches whipping at their faces as they ran as fast as they could, and the smell of their blood and their fear seemed to enrage the creature further as it took flight and started to run after them once again.

"There! There!" screamed Abby "Through the trees- what's that?"

Connor and the 'Cleaner looked in the direction she was pointing. They could see a bright light through he trees, floating shards of glass. They looked at each other in relief and thrill at the sight! They all started forward, but suddenly the huge Allosaurus slowly stepped in front of them, its body between them and the anomaly.

"No!" cried Connor, as Abby fell to the ground, all her energy expended. "Alright!" he continued to the dinosaur "You want someone- come on- follow me! Over here!" He waved his hands above his head as he moved away from Abby and the 'Cleaner' meaning to draw the creature away from them

The creature looked at Connor, and then at Abby and the 'Cleaner' as if to decide who to attack first. Connor pulled off his ripped red shirt and started flapping it towards the Allosaurus, desperately trying to draw its attention away from the others.

"C'mon, you great…..lizard!" he yelled "This way- I'm much tastier than them!"

The Allosaurus seemed to finally make its mind up. With the Ceratosaurus's blood still dripping from its jaws, it gave a final roar and began to charge after Connor.

"Take her through" he yelled to the 'Cleaner' who was bending down, trying to pull Abby to her feet. Connor could only hear the blood pounding in his ears, and the sound of Abby's screams as he drew the creature towards him to give the others a chance to escape. "Come On!" he yelled.

As the Allosaurus started to charge at Connor, he threw his shirt aside, and turned and began to run. He darted behind a tree, but didn't remain there as he didn't want the creature to go back to where the 'Cleaner' was helping Abby towards the anomaly. He ran out from around the tree trunk, yelling at the Allosaurus all the time. Suddenly as he ran from tree to tree, he realised the Allosaurus had practically been herding him to a dead- end. There was only a huge drop behind him now. There was no where left to run.

"Clever boy!" Connor said, in terror.

The creature seemed to realise it was victorious as it stopped and lifted its head to bellow out a huge triumphant roar, when suddenly shots rang out. The creature yelped and whipped its head around. Shot upon shot was fired, with the creature screaming and roaring in pain. It looked at Connor one last time- moved a step forward, and suddenly pitched forward to fall with a huge crash onto the ground, just inches from where Connor stood. Connor promptly dropped to the ground, his legs no longer able to support his as they were shaking so much. The Allosaurus lifted its head once more in a last roar, which made Connor scramble sideways as fast as he could away from the creature. It dropped its head and finally succumbed to the electrical charges it had received through its body.

As Connor breathlessly looked up, he saw Abby running as fast as she was able into the open arms of Emily, who was standing in front of the glass shards, an EMD in her hands. Emily pulled Abby into an embrace, and was joined by Matt who came to her side, and clapped her on the back, relieved and happy to see her alive. As Abby stood there in Emily and Matt's embrace, tears coursing down her cheeks, Connor saw some soldiers helping the 'Cleaner', taking him away through the anomaly guns pointed at his back.

"Hey- you going to stay there all night?" said a very welcome voice. He looked up and saw Becker standing above him, one hand stretching out to him to help him up. Connor grabbed the outstretched hand, and as he stood, he was drawn into a huge hug by the usually very stoic soldier. "Welcome back!" Becker said, laughing.

"You took your time!" Connor quipped, laughing in relief "What, Becker- you came through the anomaly? What about the rules?"

"That to the rules!" replied Becker clicking his fingers as he said 'that'- "I couldn't let you have another year long holiday, now could I!" Just as they bantered, huge roars sounded behind them. The rest of the pack had finally caught up with them.

"Everyone through the anomaly" ordered Matt "NOW!" he yelled. No one needed telling twice- they all ran through the anomaly as fast as they could. As soon as they rushed through, only to fall to the ground on the other side, Matt yelled-

"Lock it! Lock it now!" and a soldier immediately pressed the keys on the keyboard set up beside the anomaly, and the shards of glass throbbed into a tight ball and closed.

Everyone just looked at each other for a moment, in relief, and laughed to release the tension.

"Thank you!" whispered Abby to Matt and Becker as Connor made his way to her side. He put his arm around her and they gazed deeply into each others eyes. They were safe- they had made it back!

"We've so much to tell you…" started Connor, but Matt cut him short-

"Save it, mate" he said "First of all, let's get you both checked out by the medics. Then you're to go to the apartment at the ARC and get a good meal inside you- I'll order you some food in. You'll both have to stay there tonight until you have your de- briefing with Lester in the morning. After that you're free to go home!"

"Can't… can't we just go home now?" Abby said, her bottom lip trembling

"Hey! You're not under arrest- but I want you near the ARC in case you have any after effects. That's all. We want to take care of you both, not imprison you! Just one night and them you'll be free to go home, if that's what you want, I promise"

"Thanks, Matt" said Connor gratefully "To be honest I don't think I could face Jess' questions and chirpiness just now! I love her to pieces, but ….."

"I know, mate. You just need to relax together quietly, and get your strength back. We'll sort it all out tomorrow."…..

To Be Continued…..