Chapter 2
Bryan Davis sat in his boat out on the middle of the lake and enjoyed the crisp, clean early morning air. He cast out his line, reeling it back in slowly, waiting for a bite. He checked his watch. It was only half past six, he could still enjoy the quiet serenity of the lake for a few more hours before other people started showing up. At fifty-three years old, Bryan couldn't understand the rush younger people were in all the time, they didn't know how to just sit and enjoy nature.
Bryan cast his line out again, waiting for the lure to sink to the bottom of the lake. As he reeled the line in, Bryan looked back to the banks of the lake, checking to make sure his truck was still parked. While he was looking away, his line gave a powerful jerk. Bryan grabbed the rod and pulled back, trying to set the hook. The fish pulled back as Bryan tried to reel it in. It had to be an enormous fish, it was putting up more of a fight than he had ever encountered in a fish before.
As he was battling with the fish, something hit the underside of his boat. Bryan, who had been standing up to get better leverage, was knocked to his knees, his rod flying out of his hand into the water. With a muttered curse, Bryan got to his feet and looked around, trying to see what had hit his boat. As he turned around, Bryan heard something rise up out of the water behind him.
Before he had a chance to turn to face the noise, something wet hit him around the midsection, sending him flying off of his boat. As he hit the water, Bryan felt something wrap around his chest, dragging him deeper into the water. Bryan thrashed wildly, trying to break the creature's grip on him, but it was too strong. Soon, Bryan's vision began clouding up and he began getting weaker. As his vision blacked out and the world went dark, Bryan Davis' last thought was about how big that fish must have been.
XXXXX
"So, how was hanging with your future brother-in-law?" Ryan asked as they sat down for lunch in the university cafeteria. Ben shrugged.
"It wasn't too bad." He replied honestly, "We went camping. Nothing really happened, we just talked." As he lied to his friend, Ben thought about the night a week ago that changed his life.
Before his camping trip with Lucien, he had been an average law student. He studied during the week, and studied more during the weekends. He really wasn't the type of person who wanted any type of adventure or excitement in his life. He barely even went out, and when he did have time, he just didn't want the extra hassle. But now, he was one of five people who were carrying the weight of stopping a force of nature on their shoulders.
Ben barely listened while Ryan talked animatedly about the hiking trip he'd just gotten back from, his mind was still focused on his conversation with Steve earlier in the week. They'd just managed to get a city-wide anomaly detector online and Steve had been explaining the basics of what it did.
"I hacked my way into three of the radio towers surrounding the city," Steve had told him, "so now, when an anomaly causes interference, it'll be picked up by our detector. And check this out." Steve pointed to an older cell phone that was wired into the detector. "When an anomaly is detected, this phone will text me the coordinates, which I will then forward to everyone else. It's brilliant."
Ben was still skeptical about how safe it was to pirate radio signals when they wanted to keep off of the government's radar, but he knew they didn't have much else of a choice. He was snapped out of his reverie by the sight of Taylor walking towards his table.
"Hey, Ben," She said lightly as she sat down next to him. Ben tried to keep the confusion out of his face. He didn't even know she went here. Ryan was looking at Taylor in surprise as well.
"Hi," Ryan said after a moment, "I'm Ryan, what's your name?"
"Taylor," She answered. Ryan nodded.
"How do you know Ben?" Ryan asked, looking between the two of them curiously. Ben tried to think of an excuse, but Taylor was already prepared.
"I met Ben at a club a few nights ago," she told him, "I'm guessing by his look of surprise, he forgot I told him I attend the university for veterinary school." Ben mentally chided himself, she had mentioned that, although it certainly hadn't been at a club. Unfortunately, Ryan knew Ben a little too well.
"I've never known Ben to go to a club before," He said, looking at Ben in surprise, "Which club was it?" Ben's mind raced as he tried to think of a club, but as usual, Taylor was already on it.
"Shoot," she pouted, looking at Ryan, "I forgot to grab a water, would you mind?" she held out a bill. Ryan looked confused at the sudden change in topic, but he shrugged.
"Sure," He said, standing up. "Don't worry about it, it's on me." As he walked off, Taylor's voice lowered and lost the slightly flirty tone she'd had with Ryan.
"Are you an idiot?" She asked angrily, "Why the hell haven't you been answering your phone? Steve's been trying to reach your for an hour." Ben checked his phone, he hadn't noticed anyone calling him. The battery was dead. Taylor sighed.
"You'll have to charge it later," She said, standing up. "C'mon, we've got to go, Steve found one." Ben's eyes widened as he bolted up, leaving his lunch on the table and following Taylor.
As Ben got into the passenger side of her car, Taylor handed him her phone.
"Here, Steve said for you to call him as soon as you could."
"Why?" Ben asked as she started the car up.
"No idea," Taylor responded, "He keeps calling you our fearless leader. I guess he thinks you're in charge." Ben was taken aback, he hadn't planned on being in charge. He thought that role would have gone to Steve, seeing as he had to most knowledge, or Lucien, who had much more leadership experience. Ben looked over at Taylor.
"Do you think I'm in charge?" He asked curiously. Taylor glared at him.
"No one's in charge of me." She stated firmly, "Now call Steve before he flips out again."
Ben punched in the number and Steve picked up after the first ring.
"Taylor," He said as a greeting, "Have you found Ben yet?"
"It's me, Steve." Ben answered, "My phone died, sorry. What's up?"
"We found one, but there's something wrong with it." Steve replied. Ben frowned.
"What do you mean, something wrong?"
"Here, listen to it" Ben heard a beep and then the sound of an anomaly. But Steve was right, something did sound off. It was muffled and slightly garbled. After a moment, Steve came back on the line.
"Based on the sound it's making and the location, Darren and I think it's underwater." Steve said. "If it is, then there's no telling how long it could have been opened, the water would have blocked the signal for a while." Ben sighed.
"Have you gotten the locking device working yet?" He asked.
"Not yet, but it would be useless here anyways." Steve replied, "I'm not putting an electrical current into a lake. That's just stupid." Ben sighed again, nothing was ever easy.
"Fine," He said after a moment, "We'll just meet up at the site and come up with something there. Have you spoken to Lucien yet?"
"Yeah, he's on his way. He'll get here about the same time as you do. We've been here for about twenty minutes and haven't noticed anything unusual."
"OK," Ben responded, "keep an eye out and stay safe, we'll see you there."
"You got it, boss." Steve said before he hung up. Ben handed Taylor back her phone. She gave him a strange look.
"I can see why he thinks you're in charge." She said after a minute. Ben frowned at her.
"What's that supposed to mean?" He asked, feeling defensive.
"You just take charge really well." She said after a moment. "It's not necessarily a bad thing, you just sort of gave orders without really giving orders. It was good." She added as an afterthought. Ben frowned again, he still didn't see himself as the leader, but here he was.
Taylor pulled into a parking lot next to a red pickup truck and the pair got out of her car. As they got out, Darren walked over to them, his camera still slung across his neck.
"There's something you need to see." He said to Ben as he walked up. "I think we found something strange." Ben noticed Darren didn't even look at Taylor. Surprisingly, she seemed upset about it.
"It's this way." Darren said, turning around a walking off. Ben shared a look of confusion with Taylor and followed behind him. After a moment of walking in silence, Taylor sped up to walk next to Darren.
"Hi Darren," She began, looking over at him. Ben was surprised to notice that her voice seemed nicer and softer than he'd ever heard it before. Darren barely looked at her and mumbled a reply. Seemingly undaunted, Taylor pressed on.
"What did you find?" She asked, looking around to see if she could find anything strange.
"A boat." Darren replied, "An empty boat." Ben frowned.
"What's so strange about a boat?" He asked, catching up and walking next to Darren.
"It was empty." Darren repeated, "It looked like it had washed up on the shore, not pulled up."
"So, what, you think something happened to the person who owned the boat?" Taylor asked.
"I do," Darren replied, looking at Taylor for the first time, "But Steve's not so sure. We were waiting for everyone else so we could get your opinions. That's the boat there." Ben looked where Darren was pointing and saw Steve standing next to a small fishing boat with his foot on the prow. Next to Steve, Ben could see Lucien looking at the edge of the water with a worried expression
Steve nodded as Ben and the others walked up, motioning them closer.
"Take a look at this," He said, holding an open tackle box towards them. Ben looked inside and saw someone's cell phone, wallet, keys, and a wedding band. Ben looked at Steve with confusion.
"What's all this supposed to be?" He asked, gesturing to the box. Steve looked at them with a sad expression.
"I found this in the boat." He explained, "I could believe that someone would leave their boat on the bank for at least an hour, and I could believe that they could even beach their boat badly, causing it to drift away. But I don't see how anyone would leave their wallet and car keys alone in their boat." Steve looked somberly at the others, "I think we're dealing with our first creature kill." Ben looked at the box again.
"Do we know who this person was?" He asked. Steve shook his head. With a sigh, Ben reached into the box and pulled out the wallet. He opened it up.
"It says his name was Bryan Davis." Ben said, showing the others the man's driver's license. Everyone looked down for a moment, lost in their own private thoughts. Finally, Lucien broke the silence.
"Can we move away from the water line, please?" He asked suddenly, "It makes me uncomfortable." Ben and the others looked at him in confusion. Lucien sighed.
"My anomaly encounter involved being dragged down a man hole, through an underwater canal, and then left to float, trapped under a grate." He said, angrily, "So it should be taken for granted that I don't like the water. Add to that, the building I was held in is right over there." Ben looked to see the squat gray warehouse Lucien was pointing to across the lake and behind the docks. "So I think I'm entitled to be a little nervous about being here again." Lucien folded his arms and moved away from the water. "Especially if we don't know what's in there or how to deal with it." The others all looked at Ben, and he jerked his head after Lucien, indicating he thought they should follow him and get away from the shore. As the group moved, Ben realized that Taylor was right, he was taking charge without even realizing it.
As they moved farther away from the lake side, Ben looked at Steve, who he realized he was rapidly relying on as the idea man.
"What do you think?" He asked quietly, "Is there anything we can do about the anomaly?" Steve shook his head.
"Not if it's underwater." He replied, "And if there is a creature incursion, we have no real way of dealing with it." Ben thought for a moment.
"I want you and Darren to go through the old ARC mission reports. Look for any aquatic anomalies, specifically the one that happened here with Lucien. See what they did and what we could do." Steve nodded, walking off to his car, motioning for Darren to come with him.
Ben hurried to catch up with Lucien who was walking ahead in silence, lost in thought. Ben touched his arm to get his attention.
"Listen," He said in a low voice, "if you want to sit this one out, I understand. It's no problem." Lucien shook his head.
"No, I can handle this." He replied firmly, "Don't worry about me, I'll be fine." They reached Lucien's car and Lucien leaned against the driver's side door. Ben faced him.
"Hey, can I ask you something?" Ben asked. Lucien nodded. "Why is everybody listening to me? How did I become the guy in charge, I thought it would have been you." Lucien looked at him for a moment.
"I had my fill of leadership in the Army." He said after a moment. "Besides, you just stepped in, you're a natural leader." Ben frowned.
"I never thought of myself as any type of leader before." He said, looking down.
"Look, man," Lucien said, standing up straight, "there are two types of leaders, those who demand that you follow them, and those who take charge of the situation that others just gravitate to in a time of crisis. You've proven yourself to be the second type, and that's the type of man I'd want leading this operation." Lucien put his hand on Ben's shoulder, "You're doing fine in charge, better than some I've had in the past. As long as you respect the people you command, they'll respect you; and if they respect you, they'll follow you anywhere." Ben nodded, glad he'd gone to Lucien.
"Thanks." Ben said. Lucien nodded and leaned against the car again.
"No problem." After a moment of silence, Ben looked over at the others.
"Did you eat lunch?" He asked Lucien. Lucien looked taken aback by the question.
"No, I didn't have time, why?" He answered.
"I didn't get to finish either, and I don't think any of the others have eaten yet." Ben responded, "I came here with Taylor, I'll go get her and we'll bring back lunch. Keep an eye on Steve and Darren, they're going over old aquatic anomalies to see what worked and what didn't." Ben began to leave, but walked back, leaning closer to Lucien. "You don't happen to have a gun with you, do you?" Lucien nodded.
"9mm pistol in the glove compartment." He said, patting his car. He gave Ben a serious look, "Don't worry, if the creature can come on land, I'll take care of it." Ben nodded gravely.
"Good, just remember it is broad daylight." After giving his final warning, Ben walked off to where Taylor stood by her car, watching Darren take photographs of the lake.
XXXXX
Lucien sat leaning against the hood of his car, watching the water line intently. He was so focused on the water he almost didn't hear someone walking up to the car until they were right next to it. He turned and saw Taylor standing in front of his car, looking at him.
"I thought you went with Ben to go get food." Lucien said, looking at her in surprise. Taylor shrugged.
"I gave him the keys, I think he can manage it on his own." Lucien laughed.
"You're more trusting than I am." He told her. She shrugged again and leaned against the car next to him. They stood there quietly for a moment.
"This must be pretty hard for you." She said after a moment, "To be back at the same place you were held before." Lucien stayed quiet for a moment.
"Yeah," He said, still looking out. "It's not easy, but it has to be done." Taylor nodded, looking out at the lake side as well.
"I actually went through an anomaly." She said after a moment. "Followed my dog. I nearly got stuck on the other side as well." Lucien looked over at her in surprise. He'd never asked about any of their respective experiences and they'd never asked about his. "I'm just saying I know what it feels like to be stuck and be sure you were going to die." She added. "I'm here if you need to talk." Lucien nodded, mildly touched by her concern.
"Thanks, Taylor." He said, "I'll keep that in mind." She nodded as Steve and Darren came walking hurriedly up to them.
"What happened to the fearless leader?" Steve asked as he reached them.
"He went to go get lunch, he'll be back soon." Lucien responded. Steve looked surprised but quickly brushed it off.
"OK," he started, "we've been going through old mission reports from underwater anomalies. And before you ask," He added, looking at Lucien, "this isn't the same one that you encountered. That one was in the warehouse that you were taken to, this one is underwater."
"It could still be the same time period, though." Darren cut in, "We can't know for sure until we see what we're dealing with."
"And speaking of that," Steve said, looking directly at Lucien again, "you're a lot tougher than you look." Lucien gave him a look of surprise.
"What do you mean by that?" He asked. Steve just grinned at him.
"We saw the report on your anomaly." Darren explained, "You went through some pretty rough stuff. You're lucky to have survived." Lucien shook his head.
"I'm sure you both went through just as much as I did." He replied, slightly flattered that they were impressed by what he remembered as a lot of shaking and praying to God. Steve shook his head.
"Not really," He told them, "We met up with Connor Temple and he asked us to help him. He got us to make a sulfur compound the Therocephalians reacted badly to, and we doused them in it." Steve shrugged. "We really didn't do much of anything." Lucien looked at the pair and tried to get back to the topic.
"Well now you have the chance to do more." He said casually. "Now, what can we do for this anomaly."
"Nothing." Darren responded flatly. Steve nodded.
"Unfortunately, he's right." Steve said, "Whenever there's been an underwater alert in the past, they just barely managed to survive by dumb luck and random chance."
"There's really nothing we can do." Darren added, looking at Lucien and Taylor.
"What about closing the lake?" Taylor asked, "Making sure other people don't get hurt. Isn't that was this is all about." Steve looked thoughtful.
"We could tell people the lake is closed." He said after a while, "We've got some official looking vests in the boot of the car that look authentic." Lucien looked at the pair with mild amusement.
"Why do you have official vests in the boot of your car?" He asked with curiosity.
"Occasionally I direct traffic when it gets too badly backed up and we can't get anywhere." Steve told him casually. Taylor frowned.
"I think that's illegal." She said with a look of concern.
"It is." Darren responded with a grin. "And so is telling people the lake is closed, but it doesn't look like we have a choice at this point." Lucien saw that the other three were all looking at him and realized that they assumed he was the man in charge in Ben's absence. Lucien knew he'd have to make a decision.
"Grab your vests." He told Steve and Darren, "We're closing down the lake."
XXXXX
Steve looked at his best friend and gave him a giddy grin. He and Darren were both standing in their emergency traffic vests and the first car was driving up to park at the lake. Steve made an effort to wipe the smile from his face and adopt a stern expression. He held his hand out in front of the car and walked to the window.
"Excuse me, sir." He said as he reached the driver. "The lake's been shut down today, I'm afraid you're gonna have to head out." The man in the car frowned.
"I work here," He said with confusion, "I'm a water quality specialist. No one said anything to me about the lake being closed." Steve tried to keep the panic out of his voice as he tried to think up an excuse.
"There was a spike in the pH level." Darren supplied from behind him. "We're trying to keep the lake clear so we can fix the problem." The water specialist frowned again and pointed over to where Ben, Lucien, and Taylor were relaxing by the cars enjoying their lunch.
"What about them?" He asked, suspicion beginning to show on his face. "Why are they still here?"
"They're with us." Steve answered calmly. "They're part of our team."
"They don't look like they work with water levels." The man stated, looking at Steve and Darren with definite suspicion now. "Can I see some ID?" He asked, holding out his hand.
Darren looked ready to panic, but Steve was in his element now, bull crap was like a second language to him.
"Can we see your ID, please?" Steve asked, turning the question back on the man. The water specialist looked surprised.
"Why do you want to see my ID?" He asked, beginning to look concerned.
"The way I see it," Steve said, leaning in and putting his elbows on the man's car door. "We get a call that something is wrong with the water levels down here, and then a man who claims to deal specifically with water just rolls in and tried to gain access. Sounds fishy to me." Darren nodded, catching on to Steve's train of thought.
"You can just drive away." Darren said in a calming voice, "If you go now, we don't have to see any ID and we won't ask any questions." Steve almost cried with joy, Darren was playing good cop, bad cop with him.
"Or," Steve cut back in, lowering his voice, "You can stay here and continue to cause a problem. But if you do that, I can't tell you how many charges I could get you on." The water specialist was beginning to look worried by this point.
"I don't want any trouble." He said, his voice wavering.
"We know you don't." Darren told him, "Just drive along and there won't be." Steve stood up and moved away from the car, gesturing for it to turn around and go. Luckily, the man did, and as soon as he was out of sight, Steve let out a whoop of joy.
"I can't believe that worked." He told Darren with a wild grin. Darren smiled back.
"Dumb luck and random chance." He said, quoting Steve's earlier words.
"C'mon," Steve said, "I'm tired of impersonating a police officer, let's get one of the others to take over." Darren nodded and the pair headed over to the rest of the team.
"So what's up with you and Taylor?" Steve asked his friend. Darren blushed and looked down at his feet as they walked.
"I don't know," He admitted, "I mean, she's beautiful, but I don't know that much about her."
"Have you tried talking to her, you know, find out about her?" Steve asked his hopeless friend. "Ask her out for a drink." Darren looked at Steve with surprise.
"I don't think she'd be interested in going out for drinks with me." He said, running a hand through his hair. "Why would she even want to talk to me."
"I have no idea." Steve said, looking at his friend, "After all, you are pretty pathetic." Darren stopped and glared at Steve. Steve stopped too and turned around.
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Darren asked, his voice rising with anger. "I'm not pathetic at all."
"Oh yeah?" Steve said, raising his voice as well, "What can you actually do, Darren? Why would anyone think you're interesting?"
"People would think I'm interesting because I'm a damn good photographer, I'm a nice guy, friendly, and I know just as much about these anomalies as you do." Darren yelled back. Steve suddenly lowered his voice back to it's normal level and grinned at Darren.
"See," He said cheerily, "That's why she'd want to talk to you; you're a pretty awesome guy. Ask her out." Steve turned back around and began walking towards the others, who were all watching the pair with concern. After a moment, Darren caught back up with him.
"I can't tell if you're the worst friend I've ever had, or the best." He said as he fell back into step beside Steve. Steve gave him a cheeky grin.
"Easily the best." He assured him. "No one else even comes close." Darren nodded.
"Yeah, easily the best." He said, "And Steve, thanks." Steve just grinned as the pair walked up to the others.
XXXXX
Darren sat next to Steve on the hood of Steve's car, trying not to seem like he was staring at Taylor. When he and Steve had gotten back, they'd given their vests to Ben and Lucien, who were now standing neat the front entrance, keeping people out of the lake.
Although he'd been feeling confident while talking to Steve, now that he was actually face to face with Taylor, Darren still couldn't speak much. Luckily, Steve was holding up the conversation just fine without him.
"So whatever happened to the ARC team?" Taylor asked. Darren sat up straighter as Steve looked at him. The old ARC members had always interested him, and he'd made it his mission to find out as much about them as he could, while Steve worried more about the anomalies and technology.
"Who do you want to know about?" Darren asked, thinking back to the files he'd read over and over.
"Nick Cutter." Taylor answered immediately. Darren could tell that the old team leader had been on her mind since the first anomaly. Darren gave her an expression of sorrow.
"Professor Nick Cutter was killed three years ago." He said after a moment. Taylor looked devastated.
"How?" She asked after a moment of shocked silence. "Was it a creature?" Darren shook his head.
"We don't know who it was, they're only referred to as 'Enemy No. 1' in the records. Whoever he or she is, their name isn't given. We just know they had some sort of connection to Cutter before the ARC." Darren looked at Taylor, who was still in shock. "I'm sorry."
Taylor nodded, looking shaken. "It's fine, he was... he was a good man. Saved my life when I was younger." Darren got off of the hood on an impulse and sat next to Taylor, putting his arm around her in support. He ignored Steve's look of surprise and gave Taylor time to compose herself. After a few minutes, she shook her head.
"What about Stephen Hart?" She asked, looking between Steve and Darren. Unfortunately, she caught Steve's wince. Taylor sighed and looked down.
"Him too?" She asked sadly, looking at Darren. He nodded.
"Stephen Hart died a few months before Cutter." Darren told her apologetically. "There was some sort of incident with one of the ARC team and Enemy No. 1. Apparently, the ARC liason with the Home Office, Oliver Leek, started collecting the dangerous creatures; and when the rest of the team went to shut him down, Stephen sacrificed himself to trap the predators in the same room." Darren looked at Taylor again, she looked like she was on the verge of tears.
"He died like a hero." Steve added unexpectedly, "According to the records, he stopped Cutter from doing it himself. He saved the rest of the ARC team single-handedly." Steve paused for a moment. "He must have been a good man." Taylor nodded.
"He was," she said, "they both were."
The three of them sat quietly for a few minutes. Suddenly, Steve perked up and looked where Ben and Lucien were standing.
"Oh not good." He muttered under his breath. Taylor and Darren turned to see where his was looking. A police car had pulled up and an officer had gotten out of the car and was talking to Ben and Lucien with a very serious expression on his face. Darren shot up, shooting out ideas as they came to him.
"Steve," he said, snapping Steve out of his fear induced shock. "Go over there and find out what's going on." Steve looked shocked at the suggestion. "You're the one with the silver tongue." Darren reasoned. "Go work your magic. Taylor, go with him." Taylor nodded, getting up as well.
"Where are you going?" She asked. Darren pointed to the boat.
"We've got an abandoned boat with someone's stuff in it and we're guarding the lake. I'm going to move the man's things to his truck so it's not so suspicious." Taylor hurriedly nodded again and grabbed Steve by the arm, moving him towards the others.
As soon as they'd moved away, Darren headed to the boat, trying to look inconspicuous. When he got there. he grabbed the tackle box with the man's possessions in it and walked calmly to the red truck that had been there all day.
As he got to the truck, Darren looked back at the water on a whim. He noticed an odd churning on the surface of the lake, near the shore directly in front of Steve and the others. Suddenly, an enormous creature exploded out of the water and moved with surprising speed towards the people standing a few hundred feet in front of it. Darren recognized the creature at once, it was one of the Mer creatures, future evolutions of the sea lion. Lucien had encountered Mer creatures when he was younger and now they were back.
The policemen and Darren's teammates scattered as the Mer creature charged at them. Except for Lucien, who was stuck frozen in place, staring at the creature with a look of terror worse that Darren had ever seen before. Darren shared his fear, he tried to force himself to move, to do something, but his legs wouldn't obey. He saw Taylor run back and grab Lucien's arm, tugging on him in vain to get him to move. As the creature got no more than ten feet away, Lucien moved, running with Taylor as the creature got to them.
Unfortunately, the creature was close enough to take a swipe at them, even if it wasn't agile enough to catch them. Lucien, with reflexes no doubt born in the Army training grounds, evaded the flipper as he ran, but Taylor wasn't as lucky. The creature's flipper caught her by the midsection and sent her sprawling backwards. Lucien turned to help her, but the creature moved in his way and roared, causing Lucien to move back. When Darren saw that Taylor wasn't moving and the creature was lumbering towards her, something inside him snapped. He wasn't going to let a creature kill another innocent person just because he thought he couldn't do anything about it.
Darren tore open the tackle box and pulled out Bryan Davis' truck keys. He placed his camera on the ground and got into the driver's seat, revving the engine to life. The creature looked up at Darren and Darren saw the understanding in its eyes. As Darren revved the engine again, the creature moved past Taylor to stand in between Darren and her. Without thinking about the possible repercussions, Darren floored the accelerator.
As the truck raced towards the creature, it roared a challenge to Darren. As the landscape sped by and the creature got closer, Darren gave a wild yell, a mixture of fear and sheer protective rage. As the creature leaned back to roar again, Darren hit it full on in the chest.
The impact was instantaneous, he felt like he'd hit a solid two ton wall. As his body was launched forward, the air bag deployed, cushioning the impact slightly. Darren bounced off of the front of the airbag and he was pushed back into his seat, his head colliding with the head rest. At the collision, stars erupted in Darren's field of vision and the world went black for a moment.
After what felt like a few moments of darkness, a light came back on, blinding him for a moment. Darren couldn't think clearly, the whole world seemed fuzzy and muffled. A face appeared in his field of vision, but he still couldn't see it clearly. Darren could make out blond hair, and his first thought was Steve, but the hair was too long.
Taylor's concerned face slowly swam into focus. She shined a small penlight into his eyes again. She was so pretty, even when she was worried over something. Darren racked his groggy brain for what would have her worried.
"Don't be sad," He slurred, looking at her lazily, "cheer up, have a drink with me." As his mind still tried to regain focus, Darren could see a look of confusion added to the concern. Suddenly, another blond head pushed into his field of vision.
"Is he alright?" Steve asked, looking between Darren and Taylor with concern. "He's going to be OK, right?" Darren looked at his scared looking friend.
"Don't worry buddy." Darren said, giving Steve a wide smile. "I haven't seen you this scared since we saw those ther- thero-, dinosaurs." Darren gave Steve another wide grin. "Why's everybody so worried?" Steve looked at him in concern.
"You just rammed a truck into the Mer creature that tried to kill all of us." Steve told him, "You remember doing that don't you?" Darren blinked a few times, the fog in his head starting to clear.
"Yeah," He said, beginning to feel his injuries now that the endorphins were wearing off. "Yeah, I remember that. Where's Taylor, is she OK?"
"I'm right here, Darren." Taylor said, taking his hand. Darren nodded, he remembered talking to her a just a moment ago.
"What about the creature?" Darren asked, feeling his mind come back up to speed.
"You hurt it pretty bad when you hit it, but it survived." Steve said. Suddenly the sound of gun shots filled the air. Steve grinned, "I think Lucien just exorcized some inner demons." Darren tried to nod, but it hurt to move his head. Taylor noticed his wince of pain.
"What else hurts?" She asked, looking more concerned.
"My everything," He said, trying not to move any more than he had to. "Where's Ben?" He asked, trying to look around.
"He's talking with one of the cops, trying to come up with a cover story." Steve explained, "Once they realized that the Mer creature could have killed a lot more people and that you risked your life to stop it, they became pretty cooperative." He grinned. "This'll just be another traffic accident and that creature will be cut up and incinerated."
"What about the anomaly?" Darren asked, watching the water line carefully for another creature.
"It disappeared about three minutes before the creature came on land." Taylor said.
"Lucien thinks that's what brought it out." Steve added. Lucien walked over to the car where Darren was still trapped.
"You did good." Lucien said as he got closer, "You saved all of our lives back there. That was quick, if stupid, thinking." Darren tried to laugh, but it hurt too much. Lucien seemed to notice.
"I've already spoken with Charlie and Ross, the coppers." Lucien told Darren, "Charlie has a brother in law that's a paramedic, he's bringing the ambulance down now. If anyone asks, you were hit head on by an eighteen wheeler and the driver ran. Charlie and Ross will make the paperwork disappear and before you know it, nobody but us remembers this at all."
Darren nodded, thankful that the police were as helpful as they were. Soon Ben joined the others and the five of them waited in silence for the paramedics, Taylor still holding Darren's hand.
XXXXX
"Do we really have to do this ourselves?" Steve asked for the hundredth time.
"Yes," Taylor replied shortly, "Now stop asking."
"I have a friend in the hospital." Steve said, looking at Taylor, "He could have a concussion."
"He doesn't have a concussion." She told him, again, "I checked."
"You're a vet," Steve countered, "not a doctor. You're not even a real vet yet, you're still in school."
"Will you calm down." Ben told Steve testily, "Lucien's with him, and Charlie and Ross. He'll be fine." Ben straightened the front of his police vest. "Now act professional, we're cops." Steve nodded as Taylor rang the doorbell.
She knew the others didn't understand why doing this themselves was such a big deal to her, but thankfully they understood enough to come with her.
"Wait," Steve said suddenly, looking at Ben. "Am I Ross, or am I Charlie?" Ben frowned, then groaned.
"I have no idea." He said, pulling out the police badges their new friends on the force had lent them. "I'm Ross." Ben said, "So you're Charlie."
"Good," Steve replied, "I can never remember."
Taylor shushed the pair as she heard the deadbolt unlocking and the front door opened. The woman looked to be in her late forties, with pulled back brown hair and a confused expression on her face. Taylor stepped up.
"Good evening ma'am," She said, trying to look confident, "are you Mrs. Davis?" The woman nodded, eyeing the police vests Ben and Steve were wearing with growing concern.
"We need to talk to you about your husband, Bryan Davis." Taylor continued. "May we come in?" Mrs. Davis nodded again, she seemed to know what was happening and her words were failing her. She moved aside and let the trio in. As the door shut behind them and they were led to the sitting room, Taylor thought about the real reason why they were working against the anomalies. It wasn't to see dinosaurs, or to make new scientific discoveries; it was to help keep people safe, to make sure everyone got home at the end of the day. And when that didn't happen, then it was their responsibility to comfort the victims loved ones, whether it was a poor woman who expected her husband home by noon, or a scared step father who just wanted to see his daughter again. That was what the ARC was about, helping people who'd been affected by the anomalies in any way they could. Just like Cutter would.
"I'm so sorry to be the one to tell you this," Taylor began, "but your husband passed away in a boating accident this morning."