Here is the lastest. Not sure when i will be able to update next. Feedback would be really appriciated. Thank You for Reading this.
Chapter 7: All roads lead to the Forest of Dean.
Captain Tom Ryan was bored. Easter bank holiday and he was sat in the security base by the first known anomaly in the pouring rain. Fun. As commanding officer, he rarely had to stand guard at the observatory posts so he couldn't really complain.
He remembered the first time he'd seen this mysterious anomaly. To be honest, he had thought that Ms Brown was off her rocker when she had briefed him on the strange occurrence. But to actually step back in time, put his feet on an ancient world. It blew his mind.
He felt a small pang of guilt at the thought of Ms Brown and her friend. He hadn't thought too much of the young woman at first, too naive. Then she had started to grow into her position. And God knows he'd rather take orders from her, than the insufferable kiss-ass Lester had stuck them with, Leek. The professor obviously thought so too as the other man rarely followed the paper-pushing puppet's orders.
It was them that he heard the alarm. They had set up a device to sound when a magnetic field started to form in the area around the anomaly. He watched, gripping onto his weapon as it burst open and waited for any surprises.
He got one. But not the one he was expecting.
The anomaly stayed open but silent all morning. An air of nervous expectation rippled though out the small group guarding the doorway. Ryan had handed over to his relief and was preparing to leave when a yell and quick lock of weaponry drew all eyes to the anomaly.
Two women were slowly stumbling out. They wore strange, primitive clothing covered with blood. Both were injured, leaning heavily on each other as they cleared the site and collapsed onto the forest floor. A blond and a brunette. Ryan held his breath as the significance struck him and his made his way slowly toward the fallen pair. The brunette had a tight grip on the knife in her hand and a sharp eye on the surrounding soldiers, no sign of recognition in her eyes.
Sensing someone closing in on her, she quickly jumped up into a crouch, only half successful thanks to the bloody wound on her leg. Her eyes were glazed with fever and Ryan knew he had to be careful.
"Claudia?"
Nick Cutter hit the hospital doors at a run, closely followed by Conner and Steven as they sped into the busy department. Steven headed for the reception, Nick didn't bother. Instead he turned a full circle till he saw, the somewhat familiar shape of a Special Forces officer and headed toward him.
Ryan stood a side and allowed Nick to enter first before following him into the observation room. Separated only by thick sealed glass, they had a clear view of the occupants of the quarantined bay.
In the two beds surrounded by funky looking equipment, lay the woman they had thought they would never see again. A wave of relief so huge he couldn't describe it washed slowly over him, and he savoured each moment of the painful release.
His eyes sort Claudia, fixing on the woman as she lay asleep on the hospital bed. Her skin was browner, her hair tangled and dirty. She was leaner, muscled, her face was dirty, deep bruises under her eyes, her face a tired grey, but Nick couldn't take his eyes off her.
Conner was having the same trouble with Abby. The young woman looked exhausted, her platinum hair now past her shoulders and in good need of a wash. A scar marred the skin of the hand curled protectively over chest. She had also lost weight and gained some muscles but looked in good need of a meal and a nice long shower. But to Connor, she had never looked more beautiful.
"How are they?" Steven asked the doctor who had come in behind them.
"Miss Maitland and Miss Brown are out of immediate danger."
The men turned to face the doctor, eager to hear all.
"I'm Doctor Sullivan. Miss Maitland has a concussion, two broken ribs and a broken wrist. She is being woken every half an hour and is responding well. Miss Brown had a deep, penetrating wound to her upper thigh and an older wound on her arm. Both are infected, but she does seem to be responding to the antibiotics we started, it's a bit early to tell."
"When will they wake up," asked Connor, eager to speak to his friend.
"When they're ready and not a minute before." Dr Sullivan told them sternly. "You are not to wake them. They are both suffering from exhaustion, malnutrition and dehydration. They need the rest."
Lester had been annoyed not to question the girls at once, but Dr Sullivan had stood up to him. Nick was amused to see the tiny woman stand up to the blustering pencil pushing weasel and Leek, banning them from the hospital for twenty-four hours.
He, Steven and Connor had set up camp in the waiting room, taking it in turns to see the girls.
It was when Nick was watching Abby that he started to think. How fast did human hair grow? Abby's hair was a good six inches longer and was cut unevenly. The scar well healed.
"You said Claudia had been stabbed?" He questioned Dr Sullivan when she came into check on the girls.
"Yes, in the thigh."
"What about her side. Her right side," he asked, remembering the raptors claw striking her before she fell.
"Pardon?"
"The last time I saw her she'd been stabbed in her right side. Is there a scar?"
"I did notice some old scarring on her side."
"How old?"
"A guess? Years."
Nick went cold.
TBC