The ambulance ride was mostly silent with the exception of the siren and Stephen's mumblings as he drifted in and out of consciousness. I let the paramedics tend to him and didn't touch him once. Him or Nick.

Cutter sat beside me, hands on his knees as though waiting for me to reach over and take one and hold on because I needed to or he needed to or whatever.

I just couldn't.

The journey seemed to take forever. And even after we'd arrived at the hospital I could still hear the siren ringing in my ears.

The same Doctor we'd seen before ushered the paramedics through to a trauma room and Nick and I followed after. 'Who did this to him?' Doctor Lewis asked as the nurse bagged him.

'It wasn't a who,' I explained, 'a what- it was a centipede.'

'What kind of centipede?'

'It's hard to explain.' Nick continued. As he spoke, Stephen started convulsing again, and without even thinking I took a big step forward and peeled back the fabric from the wound.

It was getting worse.

'Push 10 mgs of morphine,' I said.

The nurse immediately glanced back to Doctor Lewis. 'Are you sure?' The doctor replied.

'Oh go on,' I returned colourfully, 'what's the worst that can happen? His body's shutting down, he's in pain, lets not make him suffer.'

She nodded to the nurse, and the nurse left the room.

'What happened to the pest controller?' Nick asked.

'The venom spread through the rest of his body,' Doctor Lewis explained, 'he was unresponsive to everything we gave him. He just couldn't hang on any longer.'

'Any chance I could look at the file?' I asked.

She started looking around and I realised it must have still been here somewhere. She quickly located it on the top of a filing cabinet and passed it over.

I flipped it open.

'Tell me what you need to find a cure. We'll get you all the information we can,' Nick said.

'There are no obvious treatments, people just don't die of centipede bites,' Doctor Lewis returned. 'But if we can get a good sample of the venom, we might be able to find an anti-venom that matches it.'

'Would that make him better?'

'Anti-venoms are a last resort, they're toxic in their own right. The survival rate can be as low as 50%. But without it his chances are nil.'

I finished the page, flicking quickly to the next when a smudge of something black caught my attention on my thumb. I brought my hand closer to my face and rubbed my fingers through the substance to gage the consistency, then I retreated back to the previous page. Some of the words were smudged. They hadn't dried properly. 'This–' I brought my hand to my nose and sniffed. 'What sort of printers do you have?'

Doctor Lewis looked extremely confused but answered the question regardless. 'Cartridge?' she said, 'I think.'

'Ink?'

'Yes.'

'The crystals in the ink will break down the proteins coagulating the blood. Get it in here, right now. Let's not waste any time, inject it straight into his femoral vein, 10 mgs to start with increase by 5 every 2 minutes until he responds.'

'Seriously?'

'We know what will happen to him if we don't try. We are going to get you that antidote but lets buy him as much time as we can and I promise this is going to work. Come on. We have to at least give it a try.'

'Can we run some more tests?' Ryan suggested once we'd explained the conversation we'd had with the doctor at the hospital. Ryan's men were still down in the bunker a hundred feet below us, putting up flood lights to scare the spiders back through the anomaly.

Connor, who was sticking close to my side now that Nick was back, had been very proud of his idea and his smile hadn't faded until he saw his Professor at my side. I had tried to tell him not to be worried about it, that everything would be fine but I guessed he saw my own uncertainty and concluded even I couldn't be sure of it.

'Can we find a match for the venom somehow?' Ryan continued as he climbed into his gear and he prepared to go back down into the tunnels beneath us to assist his men.

'It would take too long, he's dying,' I denied.

'The only way to short cut the process is to collect a pure sample of venom from the creature that bit him,' Nick explicated.

I didnt like his tone. I knew what it meant; there didnt seem to be many options for how we could collect the venom and even fewer that would be quick enough. The quickest and easiest option was the most stupid off all. It took a whole second to realise that's exactly what Nick was planning to do. 'No,' I told him. A frown descended over my forehead, and with it came a headache.

'It's the only way,' He replied calmly.

'What?' Ryan laughed humourlessly back as he picked up his gun and swung it onto his shoulder. 'What are you going to do? Ask it to fill a specimen jar?'

I gave a sideways glance to the Professor, who shrugged. 'In a way.'

'Alright,' pausing for a second, Ryan lifted a finger to the radio against his ear and listened. 'First signs are clear,' he said, 'my men are moving into the second bunker now, once we've got the all clear I'll take you down?'

'Have they seen the centipede yet?' Cutter asked, 'if we lose it Stephens's dead. We cannot let it go back through the anomaly.' Ryan relayed the message down his radio as Cutter turned to Connor, 'find me something that'll do the job.' He instructed. Connors face fell and he moved away without a word to complete the request.

'What are you going to do?' Ryan asked.

Nick smirked before he responded and I tried to stop my eyes from rolling. 'I'm going to invite a very angry centipede to bite me.'

Nick insisted on going in first, and I wasn't sure if it was the nerves or he was just very, very delusional about the chances of our plan succeeding, but he seemed to be walking taller than usual.

'Bunker's clear,' Ryan explained as Nick ducked through the hole in the chain link fence to stand in front on the anomaly. Connor stuck close to my side as we followed after Nick, taking in the strangeness of our surroundings quickly, 'and it hasn't been through the anomaly on our watch. There's nowhere else for it to go. So, either it's already gone through... or it's beyond that door.'

Ryan pointed over to the door he was referring to, the one Nick had escaped through when he was trapped down here.

Suddenly, and without any warning, I had the overwhelming urge to grab his face and kiss him.

The sensation made me frown; I'd literally pushed him away from this very situation a few hours ago and now I was seriously regretting it. When Nick looked back over his shoulder to me, eyes sparkling with adrenaline and gestured his head towards the door I reluctantly nodded.

'Let's go.' He started towards it.

'Stay here, Connor,' I said without looking at him, as I followed Cutter and Ryan to the door.

'What?' he gawped.

'Please. Stay where it's safe.' I went through the doorway.

'Keep your eyes open,' Nick's voice echoed through the tunnels, 'this thing's fast.'

Once we were down the tunnels, we spilt up. Nick went off to the right with some of Ryan's men whilst I stayed the captain. The tunnels were long, and for the most part completely empty so by the time we'd circled back around to the door, back to Cutter and the rest of the men it was obvious the Arthropleura wasn't down here.

'It's gone back,' I heard Cutter mutter under his breath as sudden realization dawned on him. He turned on his heel to look back down the tunnel but it was still just as empty as had been a minute ago. 'We must have lost it. Dammit!'

And I flinched as the noise reverberated.

I wanted to give him time to calm down- to process- once we'd emerged from the tunnels but it wasn't difficult to empathise with him; I felt uneasy myself, I'd promised Stephen that he was going to be alright but I was now completely useless to helping him. Beside me, Connor was leaning against a stack of boxes, chewing his thumb, probably feeling awkward and a little out of place .

I could see the resentment in Cutter's eyes.

He was standing in front of the anomaly, head sort of tilted as he stared at it.

I stood up from the box I'd temporarily repurposed as a seat and walked over to him. He heard me coming but didn't say anything until I was at his side and reached out with both my hands to hold onto one of his, and it made him turn his head to look down at the contact, before he met my eyes with a weak smile.

'If he hadn't come back for me, he wouldn't have gotten bitten,' he mumbled.

'It's not your fault. You didn't see him. Nothing could have changed his mind.'

I thought back to the vivid image of Stephen smirking down at me through the window in the boot of the truck after he had locked me in there. I thought of how utterly infuriated I had been with him, and now, I just felt awful.

'And now it's weird,' Cutter continued, 'I'm praying that it'll come back through the anomaly and bite me.'

'That's not weird,' I assured him, 'I wish it was still here.' I was about to lean into him, to put my head against his arm, because I couldn't reach his shoulder, in some sort of comforting gesture for him, when something suddenly came to me. 'Oh.'

'What?' Cutter asked.

'God damn it,' I mutter under my breath, 'it's an Arthropleura. Connor!'

I could hear Connor scrambling up to run over to me before he stuck his head through the hole in the fence.

'Arthropleuras were burrowers, right?' I asked. Connor nodded. 'So is there a chance- a small chance considering the density of the materials these walls are made of, could it have burrowed?' Nodding now like the Churchill dog, Connor caught on to my reasoning. 'Look for a whole in the walls, in the floor, anywhere,' I yelled, letting go of Cutters arm so that I could start my search by pushing the nearest stack of crates back from the wall, 'one last shot.'

It felt like an age until I heard anyone's voice again over the sound of tumbling crate and bunkbeds squeaking as they were upturned and knocked to the ground. 'Cutter?' Connor yelled out, 'Cutter, I've found it.'

Nick's feet pounded against the concrete as he ran to Connor, and after checking my watch I realised why: the pest controller had been dead by now. Stephen was on borrowed time.

'I was right, it's still here.'

'How deep could this be?' Cutter pointed at the hole before he located me in the crowd, pushing through to reach Connors side.

'Creature that size? 50 feet maybe,' I speculated.

'Alright fine,' he resolved, 'I'm going in.'

'That's crazy.'

I didnt know why I said it; I'd just checked the time, I'd just had these thoughts that Stephen needed a cure an hour ago and this was our only option but I resented the idea. I stepped away from Connor to crouch down beside Nick next to the hole.

'There's no other way of finding out where it's gone.'

'I know,' I replied. 'But I hate this.'

'I'm gonna come to,' Connor pipped up, causing both Nick and myself to turn our heads to him.

'Are you sure Connor?' Cutter questioned.

I looked at Ryan and raised an eyebrow.

'Yes,' Connor answered, 'absolutely.'

'I'll come too,' Ryan volunteered a moment later. I nodded a thank you.

'Alright,' Cutter finished with a wink and quickly slapped my back as he stood up.

'Cool,' Connor buzzed as he swung his satchel off from over his shoulder and dumped it down on the top of the nearest bunkbed before he sauntered over to me. 'Okay, erm, if I don't come back,' he started, going as if to rest a hand on my shoulder but instead he changed his mind and cupped my cheeks. 'You can have my star trek next generation top trumps... back. I borrowed them, a few years ago, I hope you don't mind. They're in my top drawer.'

With a nod, I smiled up at him. 'Thanks, Connor. I'll treasure them,' I replied, before I threw my arms around him and pulled him into a tight hug.

'You know what, on second thoughts actually maybe you should bury them with me, if you don't mind,' he resolved and pulled away just as Nick returned with a bottle half filled with a thick, clear liquid.

'I hardly missed them anyway.'

'Here,' Cutter said as he unscrewed the lid, 'put this on your clothes. It's turpentine, bugs hate it.'

'Nick?'

'It's alright, Anna, I'll be fine.' Cutter told me, without looking back over his shoulder. I had to reach out, put my hand on his shoulder to get him to hand the bottle of turpentine to Ryan before he turned to me.

'Nick,' I started again, tucking my fringe behind my ear so that it was out of my eyes. 'I-'

'I'll be careful.' He said softly, as his hand fell to my arm and he took the opportunity to step a little closer.

'I know,' I smiled back, 'I just-' I thought I wanted to kiss him because I was still annoyed at the fact that I hadn't done it earlier, but just when I was about to do it I noticed the same look in his eyes again, the same one he'd had before when he was going to kiss me earlier on the street and again it made me panic. My eyes darted to the men across the room who were looking in our direction and I wasn't in the right position to see them properly, and they weren't even paying attention, but it was enough to stop Nick from doing anything as I saw him figure it out. And he didn't need to say anything more. 'Look after Connor,' I concluded.

'Aye,' he whispered back, before he stroked a quick pattern with his thumb across my arm, then he let go, 'we'll be back real soon.'

He climbed into the tunnel first, with Connor and Ryan behind him. And I found myself crossing my fingers as they disappeared from sight that Connor wouldn't have a panic attack.

I was sitting in the chair next to Stephen's bed watching desperately for the rise and fall in his chest despite the fact I'd been told -and checked several times myself- that the anti-toxin antidote was working perfectly.

His hair was floppy and falling down over his pale face but the colour was returning to his lips. He seemed somewhat peaceful in his state of unconsciousness and not at all like I was remembering compared to our last interaction when he was awake and blabbering on about... all that stuff. He said I was beautiful.

'How is he?'

'Oh god!' I squeaked as Connor appeared as if by magic directly behind me.

'Oh Christ,' he returned apologetically, 'I thought you knew I was here, sorry.'

'No, Connor, it's fine,' I told him in spite of my erratic heartrate; it wasn't his fault that I hadn't heard him coming; I must have zoned out again. 'The err... convulsions have stopped.' Connor put his hand on my shoulder. 'That's something. Something... positive.'

'You like him, don't you?'

Face askew in utter confusion, I spun around to Connor.

'Wha-'

'Cutter,' he clarified, cutting me off, and I immediately snapped my mouth shut because that prospect wasn't completely insane. I sank back into my chair, nibbling my bottom lip.

I settled on a shrug. 'I don't know him.'

'When's that ever stopped people from fancying each other before?' he asked as he reached for my hand and held it before he squatted down beside me, trying to catch my gaze but I closed my eyes to avoid him- to avoid the conversation that had been coming all day.

'I don't want to like anyone else...' I admitted. I couldn't even finish the sentence.

'Hey,' he returned, squeezing my hand so that I opened my eyes to look at him, 'everything is gonna be okay, I promise.' He leant forward to kiss the top of my head. 'Listen, Cutter likes you, I can see it in his eyes. I remember that look, A. You know that the same thing happened to me once,' he said.

'Yeah,' I replied, 'with Buffy the Vampire Slayer.'

He chuckled, straightening momentarily only to step around the front of the chair and sit down on top of me.

'Connor!' I whined. The air was forced out of my lungs but I still lifted my arms to wrap around him.

'I admit she's a fictional character-' he continued, 'but when it feels real... Then she started to hang around with this badly animated dog and it all got a bit...' he paused as I started to chuckle, 'weird,' he finished.

My eyebrow quirked. 'Sure,' I said, 'that's when it got weird.'

'Hmm, yeah.' He turned to put his arms around my neck and pull me into a hug. 'You know what Nana would say, don't you?'

'"Where are my specks?"'

'"Don't let a good thing go." I know it's complicated...'

I didn't reply. I lowered my head so he couldn't see my face and took my attention back to Stephen. No sooner had my gaze washed over him he started to cough.

'Doctor?' Connor called out as he clambered up from my lap and stumbled to the door, 'I think he's back.'

I hadn't expected him to be there in the bunker, considering he'd left the hospital 5 minutes before me and claimed to be heading straight home, so his presence in the room gave me a fright as I ducked through the hole in the wall.

Cutter looked up from his lap, my movements catching his attention and he smiled softly at me.

'Hi!' I said, with a half awkward wave, 'what are you doing here?'

'I can't stop looking at it,' Cutter admitted, with a shrug of his shoulders and a look on his face that made me doubt he could be distracted from it at all. He was enamoured. But I couldn't blame him because the anomalies were beautiful. He turned his head. 'What are you doing here, Miss Havisham?'

'Oh, I'm...' I held up my compass and a small magnetometer, 'here to take a reading.'

Nick shifted his hands from his lap to either side of his hips and he held onto the edge of the crate he was on as he rocked forwards. 'Right, well, don't let me disturb you.'

'Okay,' I managed quietly. I flipped the compass open and turned on the magnetometer. We waited in a somewhat uncomfortable silence until I had everything I needed and I closed the compass and turned off the magnetometer and put them back in my pocket. Then, after a minute of just standing there, almost completely still, I put one foot in front of the other and took a step closer to Nick. Then I took another, and another until slowly I had made my way across the room to his side, where I sat back atop an upturned plastic box.

'So um, Connor wants to know if this means he's back in,' I admitted hurriedly.

Nick's head fell forward as a burst of laughter erupted from him.

'Any way we can keep him out?' he asked.

'He... just wants to help,' I stated honestly.

'He did a good job,' Nick admitted, smiling, 'so I guess you can tell him-'

'Oh God, you know what,' I started excitedly before I realised I'd just interrupted him, 'oh sorry, sorry, go on- '

'No, it's alright.'

'Okay,' I nodded and continued, 'all his life he's wanted to be in a crime busting gang and now– I know its not actually what he meant but he's so happy. I don't suppose you'd consider giving him a nickname, would you?' he asked.

'No.'

'I'll tell him you're working on it,' I returned with a grin. Again, my words made him laugh and he leant in to knock his shoulders against mine before he settled back into his seat again.

I heard him inhale and exhale rhythmically. 'Why didn't you tell me Stephen locked you in a car?' he questioned.

It caught me slightly off-guard and the only response that quickly came to mind was 'you heard about that?'

'I think that goddamn alarm is still going off up there,' he teased as his smile reached his eyes. 'Why didn't you tell me you tried to stop him coming down here?'

'Because I didn't,' I responded truthfully, 'I tried to stop him coming down here alone. Imagine if I had...' I said, 'we would both be dead right now. He saved my life.'

'And you saved his,' he returned. Sighing, I shuffled in my seat but he reached out to steady me with a hand that came to rest on my knee. 'Anna,' he said softly, 'this doctor thing, you're brilliant so why on earth did you stop?'

'It doesn't matter.'

'It's got something to do with the boy, hasn't it, the one you were talking about in the hospital.' I was about to make a retort about eavesdropping, my eyebrow was already quirked when he raised his hands in surrender. 'I swear I wasn't spying on you I just happened to overhear something that made me think that maybe...' he trailed off. 'I walked away before I heard anything else-'

'You walked away?' I repeated suspiciously.

'Yes.'

'Fairly quickly or...?'

'I may have heard a bit more after that,' he admitted, looking adorably guilty as I laughed at him. 'I'm sorry, I heard my name,' he explained, before he centred himself again, 'but it's because of him, right? This guy?'

'Yeah.'

'So, did he leave you?'

I shook my head.

'Oh so,' I watched him deflate in confusion before he continued, 'so are you still with him?' But I couldn't speak. I didn't know what to say so I stayed completely still and exceptionally quiet. I didn't even breathe. My brow furrowed. 'Anna, I was surprised things weren't... complicated... when you kissed me–'

'I shouldn't have done that.' I heard the words once they were out and it was too late to take them back. I hadn't meant it like that. 'It's not– it wasn't...I don't regret it.'

'That's why you wouldn't want to kiss me in front of all those men but you did when we were alone, before.'

'Yeah,' I nodded and swivelled to face him, 'I promise I'll explain.'

'Anna, you don't have to,' he replied, 'you don't owe me anything.'

'I know, but I want to,' I finished, 'just not today.'

'Alright,' he concluded. His hand slipped from my knee to cover my own where it was resting beside me, and I reminded myself that it was okay, however I had to keep my eyes on his face until I was confident enough to look away. And then, I was comfortable enough to stay there forever.