Disclaimer: Primeval does not belong to me, this is fan fiction, not for profit.

Any references to people, places, businesses etc is entirely fictitious.

3.11 The People of This Place

"How long do you want to wait before we open the anomaly again?"

-x-x-x-x-x-x

Abby sighed. Getting up and down the steep embankment was harder than it looked from her first view from the roadway. It had taken her nearly twenty minutes to get water back up to Connor that first time. Cleaning up his leg had showed that most of the puncture wounds were not deep enough to worry about.

In spite of his protests, Abby had demanded Connor's undershirt to tear up for bandaging. It was only when she said something about tearing up her camisole, that Connor had realized she was determined to wrap his leg… one way or another.

"The cotton in your undershirt would be better than my camisole for bandaging," argued Abby. Connor blinked, his brown eyes widening at her statement.

"Really Abby," he objected "I don't need a bandage… and you should keep your camisole on… don't want you getting cold now."

Abby knew then that she had won the argument. "It is getting chilly," she agreed "but the bite marks need pressure to stop the bleeding."

Before she could even begin to take off her shirt, Connor had removed his jacket, quickly followed by his red hooded sweatshirt.

"Put this on," directed Connor, handing her the sweatshirt. To her delight, he was now peeling off his undershirt. She watched him take the garment off, before she nodded and began to raise his sweatshirt over her head.

Abby soon had Connor's undershirt cut into pieces. She began wrapping his calf. Most of the bite marks appeared to be clotting well and once wrapped no blood showed. The bite mark on the inside of his calf, closest to his knee, worried Abby though. It still oozed.

"It should be alright," said Abby "as long as you don't walk on it too much."

"Well I'm going to have to walk on me leg now," Connor replied shaking his head "aren't I? There's no other way of getting around."

He started to get up, but Abby placed her hand on his chest, stopping him. Connor looked at her curiously.

"Not yet," said Abby "we need to eat something before we open the anomaly to the Cretaceous."

Abby reached into the rucksack and handed Connor one of the energy bars Becker had packed. Connor wrinkled up his nose.

"Not those," he protested "they're awful!"

"They're all we've got," reminded Abby. "I'll go get some more water to help wash them down… and put your jacket back on."

The second trip down the embankment to the gurgling stream had been quicker, but getting back up took longer. Abby was getting tired. She noticed with dismay that the red spot on the bandage behind Connor's knee was bigger now. She thought it would probably be good for him to rest a bit more.

"I'll go get some more water," said Abby as they finished their scant meal. "Don't remember seeing a river in the Cretaceous."

"Abby," protested Connor "we should get going!" But she was already heading back down to the river.

Abby knelt down at the water's edge for the third time that day. The gurgling water sounded louder here, drowning out the bird calls and other forest noises. She sighed again. Abby held the empty water bottle down and refilled it. The splashing water felt cool and refreshing against her hand.

A leaf floated down from the tree overhead. She looked up. Most of the trees appeared to have lost their leaves. If it wasn't for the evergreens at the edge of the roadway, she would have probably been able to see the road from where she was sitting.

Yesterday, it had been June when they left London, thought Abby. Today, wherever they were, whenever they were, it seemed to be autumn. Sudden tears sprang to her eyes. Would they ever find Danny and get home Abby wondered?

She blinked back the tears, and wiped a hand across her face. It wouldn't do to let Connor see how worried she was. Abby set the water bottle down and leaned forward. She took a deep breath and plunged her face into the cool water. Bringing her hands forward, Abby wiped away any traces of tears left in the grime on her face. When she raised her head up, she could hear Connor shouting from up above.

And, she could hear other voices shouting too.

-x-x-x-x-x-x

Connor had been dozing. He hadn't slept much in the tree last night, and Abby had told him not to move. The sun had moved slowly across the stone roadway, and when the light finally shone warmly on Connor, he had closed his eyes… just for a few minutes he told himself. Then, when Abby gets back, we can go back to the Cretaceous.

The ox snuffling in his face woke him.

"Augh!" shouted Connor, sitting up straight and trying to back up all at once. He banged his head on the tree trunk behind him. "Ow!"

He looked anxiously at the ox. The creature appeared to be yoked to a large, heavily laden, wooden cart behind it. Connor scarcely had time to wonder where it came from before he found himself staring at the pointed end of a spear. Behind the spear, he could see a pair of brown boots. His eyes travelled up past the boots, to brown and dirty leggings, further up to an even browner and dirtier tunic, and finally his gaze met the eyes of a gaunt looking man with scraggly dark hair. Scraggly hair appeared to be a trend here, thought Connor irrelevantly.

"Uh," Connor said "Hello. My name is Connor Temple…"

A sharp retort came from the woods. Connor turned to look to his left. Another man, looking somewhat taller and better fed than the spear holding man, was pointing at the raptor's head. The spear point moved a little closer to Connor's throat.

"Uh… I can explain about that," Connor began "not a friendly creature…"

From behind the cart, another voice spoke. Connor turned to look. He saw a flash of green, and then another man stepped forward blocking Connor's view.

This man had short black hair cut in a tonsure. The monk or priest or whatever he was, wore a brown robe of some sort. He said something, and the gaunt man lowered his spear just a smidgen. In the woods, the taller man grunted as he picked up the head of the raptor. He strode towards the rear of the cart with his heavy load.

Connor was trying to make out the words. The language sounded a little like the French he had learned in secondary school, but different… in places, the words sounded more like the Latin one of his paleontology professors at uni had spouted so pretentiously.

The spear nudging his thigh however required no translation. Connor struggled to a standing position facing the gaunt man. Behind him, the tall man tossed the raptor's head into the oxcart and picked up a rope. He gestured to Connor.

Connor's eyes opened wide in realization. "No," he shouted "I'm not going with you."

He reached for the walking staff that leaned against the tree. Leaning on the staff, Connor hobbled a couple of steps away from the man with the spear. Moving sideways in such a slow manner, Connor realized he would never be able to out run these men. Abby… he thought… they'll catch her too.

"Stay hidden," Connor shouted, hoping Abby could hear him. The other men were now shouting at Connor in whatever language they used.

Connor stepped sideways again as the gaunt man raised his spear. From where he now stood, Connor could see the rear of the oxcart. A young woman wearing a green dress was tied to the back of the cart. She was barefoot, and Connor could see the rope had left red chafe marks on her wrists. Connor realized the dark haired woman was a prisoner of these men. The woman raised one hand, pointing to something behind Connor. He couldn't look though. Connor was too busy watching the man with the rope, the man with the spear and the monk.

Connor never even saw the man with the stick.

-x-x-x-x-x-x

Danny watched incredulously as Helen and Nick Cutter were reunited. The curvaceous brunette was smiling and hugging her husband.

"I thought we had lost you forever," exclaimed the young Cutter. "Where have you been?"

"Not where, when," chuckled Helen. She pulled Cutter's head down, bringing her lips to his, deepening the kiss as the Scot wrapped his arms around her.

Stephen rolled his eyes and turned away from the pair. He found himself facing Danny. He shrugged.

"They get like this," confided the young grad student.

Danny had often wondered how the Professor Cutter he knew and a madwoman like Helen had ever been married. Judging from the actions of this younger version of the two, Danny thought there must have been some spark once.

"Not in my timeline," replied Danny.

"Yeah," replied Stephen "I heard… they're divorced, I'm dead… your timeline seems very different."

"Don't you ever want to go home?" asked Danny.

Stephen shrugged again. "This is an unparalleled opportunity to study the world's creatures," he answered. "And it's not like anyone would ever miss us."

Danny snorted. "Your mother misses you," he replied "she is still demanding a repeal of the official secrets act, wants to know what happened, how you got killed… got an army of lawyers… maybe even a general or two..."

Stephen's eyes had grown wider with each word Danny spoke.

"My mother's still alive?" Stephen asked.

-x-x-x-x-x-x

Cutter, Claudia, Sarah and Becker approached the building in the center of the racetrack quietly. The early morning light was just beginning to show through the trees.

"Claudia," whispered Cutter as he opened the door to the anomaly site, "you shouldn't even be here."

"Neither should you Nick," hissed Claudia "I've got a really bad feeling about this."

"I need to get the readings from the other side of the anomaly," replied the Professor. "We need to complete the research model."

Sarah rolled her eyes at the two of them. Becker caught her glance and chuckled. He stepped into the building first.

"Worthington…," Becker called "Smythe…"

He looked around the darkened area in concern. Where was the security team he wondered? Sarah bumped into him, shoving him another step forward into the room as she was followed by Claudia and Nick.

Flood lights came on overhead, blinding them all for a moment.

"Well, well," gloated Christine Johnson "what we have here? James can't you control your own employees?"

Christine Johnson was sitting in a wheel chair, her legs bandaged up past her knees. A military officer was standing behind her. Behind the man another security team stood weapons at the ready.

Beside her, James Lester stood patiently. He adjusted his cuff links. "I'm sure there's a perfectly reasonable explanation for all this," he said smoothly.

"They're breaking into a secure government facility!" exclaimed Christine. "I could have them all locked up for treason!"

"It was the ARC's secure facility up until twenty minutes ago," countered Lester. "Just because you coerced the minister into signing over the care of this facility to you and your team for the foreseeable future…"

"What?" asked Cutter. "But we need…"

Whatever the Professor was going to say was cut off by Lester's next words.

"We really need to get going," interrupted Lester. Gesturing to Cutter, Claudia, Sarah and Becker he started walking towards the doorway. "Come along now."

The foursome started following him. Christine seethed.

"This isn't over yet!" she called after them.

-x-x-x-x-x-x