Becker led the way back through the cluttered mess of backstage, thoroughly checking the area, lifting boxes, moving flats and furniture, and poking through costumes on the clothing rail.

The green room was cramped, stocked full of all sort of equipment, radio mics, lighting fixtures.

We had to squeeze through them to search the room and squeeze back past them on the way out.

'Clear.'

I nodded back to Becker in agreement of his initial assessment.

Just as we moved out, coming back around the wall and into the wings, I saw one of Becker's men through a gap in the curtain. He was centre stage, flat on his back with his arms out like it was some sort of dramatic performance and he was the headliner.

I ran straight to him, dropping down beside the man and reaching out in search for a pulse. I could feel Becker's gaze burning into me as he waited for my verdict.

I pressed my fingers harder into the flesh of the soldier's neck and even shifted my hand slightly, just in case, even though I already knew it was in the right place.

And Becker must have seen the answer in my expression before I could even say anything. His head dropped and he let out a groan.

'1 man down,' I relayed through the comms. And there was no reply again, the only noise that came back through the earpiece was the sound of Becker's heavy breathing.

'I'm sorry.'

'Do you think it's the same thing?'

I returned my focus to the body in front of me and moved my hand to the back of his collar. I pulled it down to reveal the same sort of purpling marks around his neck. 'Could be,' I responded, 'look. There's bruising,' I confirmed with a nod, 'just starting to colour the neck, like the other body, but this one's darker.' Already the bruise was deeper in colour, and the actual indication of what could have caused it was starting to disappear behind it. I felt the soldier's forehead. 'The woman… her skin was clammy like she'd had a fever from fighting off some sort of infection. The way her skin didn't bruise like this might mean she was dead before she came here.'

'Something dragged her through?' Becker replied.

'And maybe we disturbed it before it had the chance to eat her.' I bit my lip. 'Maybe we've just done the same thing.'

As though we both processed my statement at the exact same time, we both snapped our heads up and around the auditorium as though searching for a creature we thought would be there.

'A.R.C? Do you copy?' Becker started, voice lower and slightly more distracted. He gave enough time for a response before he shook his head. 'Can you hear that?'

'That's static,' I agreed elliptically, as I pressed the end of my comm further into my ear with my finger tip. 'That signal's not even going through anymore. Must be an issue on their end.'

'We're cut off,' he settled.

'And we're locked in right?' I added in question, 'the doors are secure?'

'Yeah, why?'

'We haven't heard it running around,' I explained, 'which means it's either an aerial predator.' And I looked up explanatorily to check the ceiling above us. 'Or…' I continued, as I brought my gaze back to him. 'it's some sort of arboreal biped.' He frowned. 'A climber,' I clarified, 'that walks on two legs, which means it could have prehensile limbs and opposable thumbs, so it could open those doors and walk right out of here.'

'Any ideas what we could be dealing with?'

I just shrugged, 'not really. I don't even know if there's anything like this on the fossil record.'

'Too bad we can't check,' he replied frustratedly.

It made me think back to what happened last time. We'd been incredibly lucky not to lose anyone to the Kaprosuchus, especially considering I'd given Becker and his men information about it that was based off speculation. I couldn't do that again. I wouldn't. I never would have even taken the risk the first time had I known about it.

'Matt should have been there,' I said

And even without the context of my half–internalised thoughts, Becker responded quickly. 'Yeah, well, apparently he doesn't know about the rule.'

And I cocked my head. 'Huh?'

'We keep our phones on in this job,' he repeated in response. 'Always.'

I managed to pass a brief smile back to him, as I reached up to take my radio out from behind my ear. Even without a working signal to the A.R.C, I didn't know if the black box was still recording, and more than that, I didn't know who would listen to the audio once the connection was fixed.

I pushed the radio into the pocket of my jumpsuit– an old one of Mum's from the 70's that I'd brought back with me from the storage unit– and mimicking my actions, Becker pulled his radio out too, sensing somehow that this was something I didn't want on record.

'I need to ask you about Matt,' I said. He nodded for me to continue. 'You know him best.'

Beckers eyebrows twitched in irony. 'That doesn't mean I know him better.'

'Then tell me your gut instinct,' I said. 'What kind of person is he?'

'I don't really know,' he admitted. 'We butted heads a bit, at first. He's got a lot to say for himself. Not just the way that things are done in the A.R.C now, but also you guys, when you were trapped out there.' And that wasn't too far from my own assessment of him. 'He was the one who ordered the EMD's,' he then added, 'without telling me.'

'You didn't agree?'

'I didn't want to take the risk. They were untested and I didn't know a safe way to do that on the creatures.'

I nodded. 'And now?'

He paused for a moment in thought. 'Now,' he repeated, 'I realise we need these things. I just don't know how he knew that.'

There was a noise, a sudden scratchy sort of growling from somewhere above our heads, and immediately we both snapped our heads towards it. S, there was something here.

'What was that?' Becker asked.

I couldn't answer. Instead, I swept my eyes across the auditorium again. 'Where's your other man?'

Becker was up on his feet again in an instant. He jumped off the stage and ran towards the doors at the back of the room so that we could take the stairs up to the balcony.

I followed, slipping through the back doors behind him just before they swung closed.

We went up the stairs then came back into the auditorium and started sweeping through the seats on the dress circle.

Becker was first to reach the other side. Something must have caught his attention, because I watched him reach out, swinging his legs over the velvet cushion atop the dividing wall and climb into one of the box stalls.

'Anna! He's here.'

I closed him down, stopping just in front of the stall as he came into view behind the wall. He lifted a blood stained a hand and shook his head.

My expression shifted, my mouth opening in preparation for some sort of apology when a shadow passed across the door behind him.

I froze.

I saw his realisation from my reaction, his jaw set, his shoulders growing instantly rigid, whilst I slowly brought one finger up to my lip. With the other hand, I untied the belt of my coat and slipped my hand underneath to ease my knife out the casing.

The creature came creeping around the door, inch by inch, as though following its nose towards the scent of the blood.

And I didn't wait, I didn't even blink before I whipped the knife from its holster on my back and threw it through the air.

There was a roar somewhere above us. The creature turned, the knife skimmed past it's head and pierced the drywall just behind. The creature growled, I leapt forward, hurdling the barrier to chase after it but it disappeared back down the hallway in the direction it had come from only moments before.

'Oh, god,' Becker growled as he whirled around, 'there's two of them.' I didn't respond I grabbed the handle of my knife and wrenched it back until it slipped out the plasterboard. And I was straight off down the hallway after it. 'Anna!'

I chased it all the way back down to the ground floor before I lost track of it again.

There wasn't anywhere else for it to go except back into the auditorium, and knowing that, I slipped through the rear doors, and strode towards the stage so that I could look back at all the different tiers of seating.

Becker followed after me, wordlessly taking his place at my side and following my gaze with the aim of his weapon.

'Where is it?'

'If I were an arboreal predator, I'd make for the highest point, get my bearings, and mount an attack.' The lighting rigs. My head snapped up. 'Wait here.'

'What?'

But I was already in the wings, heading for the ladder to climb up to the rig. 'I'm gonna flush it out.'