Chapter Two : On the wrong side
Claudia would never remember the next few hours. Abby would never forget. No sooner than she had landed on top of an unconscious Claudia, the anomaly shimmering two foot above the ground, collapsed. She was in the middle of an open grassy plain, next to Claudia's prone body and facing one snaring raptor, the only one to have made it though. She froze, her hand finding the knife that had been knocked though. Fear had a choke hold on her as she waited for the wounded beast in front of her to make the first move, praying that Claudia didn't make any noise or move.
Gripping the plastic handle she watched and waited as her nerves slowly shredded. The creature made one small movement towards her then stopped. He stood still for what could have only been seconds, but felt a lot longer before darting into the trees. Abbey released a nervous breath until she wondered why they had been granted a reprieve. Then she heard it, the sound of heavy, fast moving, heavy feet. The air was gradually filled with the sounds of grunting and a strange calling which got louder with the sound of a stampede. She didn't look back at the sound. To her left, was a heavy fallen tree. Acting without much thinking, she hauled Claudia who was barely clinging to consciousness to her feet and stumbled to the fallen trunk. It seemed to take forever, but they finally reached the trunk just as the stampede reached them. Claudia had fallen to the ground with a painful groan and Abby was certain it would take a near miracle for the older woman to get back on her feet.
The herd side swept them, the huge tree shook as they passed, Abby watched in stunned silence at the fast moving creatures, unable to identify a single one though the adrenalin haze. She had forgotten about the hungry Raptor. The desperate creature had his cunning eyes fixed on the blond girl as he crept closer to Claudia's unmoving figure on the ground. She heard him too late, but it didn't matter. The beast was caught by the tail of one of the tails of a large herbivore as charged past. Abbey watched the raptor fly though the air before landing with a heavy thud a good distance away. She'd heard the nasty crunch of the raptors ribs as the tail had caught them and knew it was no longer a threat.
Breathing heavily she helped Claudia closer to the shelter of the trunk. The older woman had begun to regain her senses and winced at the pain in her side. The wound wasn't as deep as she first thought, but it had bled a lot. A quick inventory uncovered one knife, a pack of gum, a ballpoint pen, two belts, a set of car keys, a mobile, an MP3 player and a wad of tissues. Looking toward the former anomaly, Abbey noticed something on the ground. The group of large herbivores who had stampeded toward them earlier were grazing carelessly not too far away. Not that it meant they were safe from any predators, but Abbey felt both she and Claudia would be safe if she went to check it out. Moving slowly, as not to alarm the huge herbivores, she walked, crouched down, toward the strange object. It was a SAS med kit. Abbey nearly cried as she scooped it up and hurried back to Claudia. How the hell, the med kit had got though the anomaly, it was a god-send.
Oh Boy," Claudia sighed heavily, now able to think straight looking at their surroundings. "Any idea where we are?"
"Not a clue." Abby informed her with a grim look on her face as she cleaned the other woman's wound. It was not as deep as she had feared, but it was still nasty. The kit contained a bottle of disinfectant. Claudia braced herself as Abbey poured as much as she could into the wound. Being as economical as she could with the sterile dressings, Abbey quickly covered the wound.
"The anomaly's gone. We need to find a safe place…" Claudia eyed the herbivore dinosaurs uneasily.
"Those are veggies." Abbey told her. "And I think they were running from something earlier. They feel safe but I think we should make a move, maybe into the forest. More cover in there."
Before sunset, they found a river, where they washed or got rid of blood stained clothes. No need for any predators to pick up the scent of blood. A thick thatch of bushes would provide some shelter from the unknown outside. They took turn at keeping watch at night, though neither really slept. Unable to accept the reality.
They were trapped in the past.