Up one flight of stairs, the corridor opened out into a bowling alley and pool lounge, with carpet, and seats, and lamps on the desk with the bowling shoes. I slowed, just for a moment as I ran through, to turn, looking up and around to take it all in around me before at the other end, by the doorway, Connor came into sight.

And I couldn't even savour the moment of seeing him again for the first time in such a long time because he was on the ground, a few feet away from the shutter, laid sprawled out on his back. As I got closer and skidded down at his side, he put a hand to his head and groaned.

'Connor?' I asked.

But he had his eyes closed and was too distracted by his head to answer. 'Oh, god,' he said. Nick and Stephen came to a stop in front of him.

'You okay?' I questioned.

Connor winced. 'I hate that?'

'What?' Nick asked. He peered down at Connor in trepidation.

Connor pointed back at the shutter. 'Brain freeze,' he said uncomfortably, 'from the... slushy.' Nick groaned. And the sound made Connor peak, just with one eye, at his professor, and that was when he finally noticed me. 'Oh,' he said, pushing himself up onto his elbows, 'hey.' He nodded, as he took in my appearance and quirked an eyebrow but chose not to say anything. 'Connor Temple,' he introduced himself.

'Yeah, I know.' I stood up, frustrated that I was about to go through the whole thing again as I had just done with Stephen. 'Gonna give you a minute.' Just as I stepped back, the shutter rattled. Stephen drew his gun but I'd already raised both fists in reflex before I placed a swift but heavy high kick right back in the shutter. And there was a noise on the other side before I heard the raptor high-tail it away. The expression I received when I turned back was almost offensive. I narrowed my eyes at the men. 'What?'

'Do you want to stay here?' I cocked my head in response to his question, but he reached out and grabbed my arm. 'You don't look too good.'

Again, that was a stupid statement because I probably looked like shit and I definitely felt like it, but my brain was still fudge. I was still half convinced I was dreaming, half delirious from the complete novelty of being back in the twenty first century, and 100% exhausted. Definitely only upright right now because of the pool table I was sitting on. So of course everything felt bizarre. But the sooner we handled the incursion, the sooner we'd get to go home.

Home.

I'd dreamt about it.

I saw Nick narrow his eyes– presumably out of confusion– because a moment later he frowned and cocked his head. 'What the hell happened?'

I brought one knee up into my chest and lent back to support myself with one hand against the red plush of the pool table carpet.

'Creature tackled me through,' I said. 'Must have hit my head; woke up miles from the anomaly. Figure it dragged me while tracking the young.' The air I took in felt hot and dusty like it was back in the Permian. 'Was on a cliff. It came back injured. Managed to kick it off.'

'You killed it?' he asked.

'Smashed its skull, brains splattered on the rocks. It was...pretty.' I laughed even though it wasn't funny. 'Tried to find you. Found those graves instead.'

'It attacked us,' Nick explained. A sadness shadowed across his expression. 'It killed Captain Ryan and all his men before a Gorgonopsid came into the camp and attacked it. I thought it was dead...'

'It wasn't,'

'It ate the babies.'

'Good... By the time I got back the anomaly was gone. Went back, dug up the graves to check none of them were you. Had to know.' I tried to ignore the pity in his stare and straightened my shoulders. 'Salvaged what I could. Packed what I could carry. Went off to find another anomaly. Figured if I could get to the future, there might be something there and it could help me get back.'

'Did you? Did you find it?'

'Eventually,' I said. 'Wasn't in the Permian though.'

He frowned again. 'What do you mean.' And then he paused in realisation. 'How long were you out there?'

I took another deep breath. 'Lost count...' I said, 'of the days. After 600. The future was after that... been out there at least 2 years.'

His eyes bugged to the point they looked like they could fall out his head and I heard him inhale sharply. 'Wh-what?'

Unsure of whether he wanted a proper answer, I just shrugged. 'How long for you?'

I knew when he looked down at his watch. It wasn't important how many hours, only that it had been mere hours, less than a day, and on the one hand I was relieved, because nothing had happened to anyone since I was gone, but on the other it felt extremely unfair.

Nick just shook his head in distress as he quickly took a deep breath and continued chaotically, '5... maybe 6 hours... Anna, I had no idea you were out there. And when I came back, and you weren't there...' He lowered his head to collect himself. 'No one knew who you were. No one had heard of you... even Connor. It was like you'd never existed.'

And he must have thought he was going mad because he brought his gaze right up to my face and studied me intently like he was still afraid that he was never going to see me again.

I just raised an eyebrow.

'Alright. Sorry... it's just...' When my expression didn't change, he laughed. 'You're right, I know, I'm being stupid because you're back now. And... I shouldn't just hide you in the bowling alley while there's raptors loose here. But I want you at the back, alright? And if you think you're going to collapse, for gods sake let me know.'

I held up my hands in surrender.

I could tell he wanted to say something as he walked beside me, keen eyes darting around the shopping centre in search for any sign of the raptors.

'So I remember you,' Connor said only to be shushed by Nick for talking too loud. 'I remember you,' he repeated a little quieter, 'I mean, sort of... I know you're my cousin. Stuff keeps coming back to me, slowly, which is weird because right now you feel like a stranger but I know you're not I just can't remember that you're not, completely, yet.'

'Connor!' Nick hissed from the front of the group, as we made our way back to the atrium.

'Sorry, sorry,' Connor replied. 'It's just, it's not every day you get to recover from amnesia, well not amnesia because I didn't do anything to get amnesia, but like... I suppose it sort of like that. Are you always this quiet?'

I never used to be. Being alone made me get used to not needing to speak, to say anything out loud. I forgot I'd actually need to open my mouth to communicate sometimes.

I must have been too quiet for too long because Connor again continued for me. 'Oh, yeah, I guess so. That's weird. I don't think I remember you being quiet. I remember you dancing on a table in a bikini in a bar in Guadalupe when you were, like, 18.'

'Connor!'

'Oh, whoa, god, sorry that one came back to me like a freight train. I'm sorry.'

I tutted under my breath and tried to glare at the back of Stephens head as the sound of his laughter echoed back to me.

'We need more fire power,' Stephen then said to try and disguise his amusement. 'This is a raptor.'

'No,' Nick returned sharply, 'I thought I'd lost someone because we disrupted nature once too often and I don't intend to actually let that happen.'

'You're sure you're okay?'

Nick reeled around to face Stephen and stopped so suddenly I jumped. 'Under the circumstances, I'd say I was doing pretty well.'

My ears pricked and I stepped forwards, gaze drawn off to nothing so that I could focus on what I thought I could hear. I caught Nick's attention, and facing me, he reached out to put a hand on my shoulder.

'Anna?' he asked like he thought I was wounded.

'Something,' I explained. Then I lifted my arm and pointed down an adjacent hallway. 'Noise.'

Straining to listen closer, Nick had to take a couple of steps in the direction I was pointing before he had any idea what I was talking about.

'Can you hear that?' Stephen muttered.