Guardian - Primeval Fanfic - Part 1
Title: Guardian Part 1
Author: Clea2011
Word Count: 12560 in total, this part 4282
Characters: Becker/Jess/Lester,
Rating: 15
Spoilers: No
Warnings: None
Disclaimer: Primeval belongs to Impossible Pictures, I'm just writing for fun and non-profit.
A/N: For the primeval_denial Secret Santa for celeste9 who requested Becker/Jess/Lester in any combination including friendship. There were four general prompts of: trapped in the past or in some remote location; dinner; friends secretly pining; under the stars. I think I managed to work them all in. Sorry it's not very porny at all, but I know Celeste has a great imagination and can fill in the gaps :-)
It may have gone a teensy tiny bit over the suggested maximum word count, though I'm glad to see May has gone even further over!
Thanks to lukadreaming for a superfast beta!
Guardian
It was always going to happen.
The ARC had been a hotspot for anomaly activity ever since Connor had first created his prototype anomaly there. Of course his intentions had been good, but that hadn't stopped a steady trickle of anomalies appearing over the year that followed.
Becker and his men were on permanent watch for the things, and had been become expert in locking them in record time. Usually.
The problem was, they were used to finding them either in Connor's old lab, which was always kept locked now for just that reason, or down in the underground car park. Nobody was quite sure why the car park was such a draw, but they had started keeping a regular guard down there, just in case.
Once one had opened in the grounds, and another time one had opened on the roof. Aside from that they were fairly predictable at least as far as their location was concerned. Until the day they weren't.
It was typical though, Lester thought as he eyed the new executive decoration that had appeared in the middle of his office. It couldn't arrive in a storeroom, or in Matt's office, or down in the armoury where Becker and his men would happily use whatever came through as target practice before Abby even noticed. No, it had to be in his office. And the pegomastax that had just come through simply had to do so when he'd been about to help himself to a much-needed shot of whiskey. The wretched little thing had cannoned into him and knocked the bottle flying. It was the good stuff too. Lester was not best pleased.
"At least it's not dangerous," Jess ventured. That hadn't stopped her backing up against the wall. The door was on the other side of the office, past the creature and the anomaly. Connor had identified it from a photo Jess had quickly snapped and sent on her phone, and tried to reassure her. But the fact he had been still nearly a mile away at that time, and more importantly Matt, Abby and Becker were all with him or in the truck behind, did nothing to reassure them at all.
Becker's truck would get there first, of that Lester had no doubt. He was probably already in the building by now. It wasn't just a competitive thing with Matt, it was his desperate need to protect them all. And if a raptor had come through and eaten the pair of them then Becker would blame himself. It was one of the reasons Lester hadn't wanted Becker to take over as team leader once they'd rebuilt the ARC, not that there had been the slightest chance of him accepting the role even if it was offered, the state he'd been in at that time. He'd just blame himself even more when everything went wrong. And in their line of work things went wrong quite a lot.
"Should we try herding it back through?" Jess whispered nervously. She was gripping the back of his chair and he wondered if she intended trying to pick it up and use it as a shield. It was nearly as tall as she was, and considerably wider. Her chances of success looked slim.
Lester never entirely trusted any information that came from Connor. It wasn't that he didn't appreciate the young man's genius, it was more that many years of experience had taught him to be wary. He wouldn't be at all surprised to find himself in the midst of herding the thing back only to have Connor text Jess again with something barely comprehensible masquerading as English along the lines of: "LOL meant IS dangerous. Soz. Don't touch. CU. C"
It was spectacularly ugly, and although it wasn't much bigger than a cat it didn't look particularly harmless with its big parrot-like beak and two nasty-looking teeth.
"I think making our way carefully to the door is probably the best idea," Lester told her quietly. "Try not to make any sudden movements."
Jess nodded, and started to edge along the wall, never taking her eyes off the creature. Distracted by movement on the other side of his window, Lester glanced down into the hub and saw Becker and two of his men dashing towards the stairs.
The creature had found Lester's attaché case and was nipping at it curiously, more distracted by the shiny brass lock than the two humans. They moved quietly across the room, getting close to the creature without it taking any notice of them at all. Becker and his men were running up the stairs now , heading for the office. They wouldn't be in time to stop the little wretch despoiling his prized Swaine Adeney Brigg lined and personalised attaché case. He could see the bite mark in the leather already from that vicious-looking beak.
Since the New Dawn incident, they'd started keeping spare EMDs and charges hidden in every room of the ARC, so that nobody would ever have to be far away from something to defend themselves with. Or to chase off little beasts like this who didn't appreciate quality when they saw it.
Unfortunately, the one in Lester's office was by the door. That had seemed a good idea at the time, but not so great now. Lester frowned at it. So near, and yet so far. Another one underneath his desk was definitely needed.
His love for that case outweighed his concerns regarding Connor's advice as he saw the little beast open its jaw to take another bite. Lester strode over to the pegomastax, grabbed it by the neck before it could do anything with those teeth, and flung it back through the anomaly.
The anomaly flickered, and Jess froze beside him.
"What's that?"
It wasn't another one of the pegomastax. It was bigger. Much bigger, about Becker's height and Lester's office suddenly seemed very small. It also appeared to have far more teeth, as it opened its mouth to demonstrate, chewing on the poor creature that they'd just sent back through the anomaly. Lester didn't know the answer to Jess's question, but he was fairly certain this one wasn't harmless.
It was also between them and the door, and was eyeing them hungrily. The little creature was evidently just an appetiser, with Lester as main course and Jess as dessert.
Afterwards, he wasn't quite sure how it happened. The anomaly had been beside them, filling the small amount of the office not taken up by the therapod. Becker and his men stood in the doorway, shouting a lot and trying to get a clear shot at the dinosaur without hitting Lester or Jess. The creature had regarded them all for a moment, decided Jess was the easiest target and lunged at her.
Somehow, a moment later Lester and Jess were both sprawled on the ground in an unfamiliar landscape, the anomaly flickering above them and the predator looming in front of it, diving at them. He threw himself out of the way, grateful that Jess had the presence of mind to do the same, trying to scramble to his feet and ignore the feeling that they were never going to be fast enough.
Becker was fast enough. He burst through the anomaly, yelling at them to stay down, and blasted the carnivore with what looked like the highest setting on the EMD. It collapsed onto the ground and stayed there, twitching. Becker shot it again, just to make sure, then a third time. Lester assumed, knowing Becker, that one was probably just for fun.
"No!"
Jess's cry startled him and he tried to cover up the fact with sarcasm: "Oh don't tell me you've caught Miss Maitland's irritating habit of wanting to protect every ugly beast that comes looking for dinner?"
Jess wasn't even listening, looking up at Becker in horror. Lester had a horrible feeling that he knew why. After all, none of Becker's men appeared to have followed him through. Reluctantly, he turned around. Sure enough, the anomaly had vanished.
They were stuck.
"Well. At least we aren't stuck with Connor."
Jess and Becker just looked at him.
"And he'd better be doing everything he can to get that thing open again and get us back!"
"That might take a while." Becker helped Jess to her feet, frowning at her footwear. "We can't stay here, it's too open. We need to get to the trees."
The trees were a long, long way off across a broad expanse of plain, cliffs rising behind them. Lester sighed heavily, then started to walk.
***
"Ow!"
Jess was furious with herself. She'd been determined to keep going, keep up with the two men. But her heels just weren't going to let her. They were fine for her job at the ARC, she'd even run in them sometimes without any difficulty at all. But out there, without carpets, pavements, even a moderately flat surface... it was impossible. And she'd stuck her heel in a dip in the ground and twisted over on her ankle. It hurt, but not too much. Nothing serious this time.
That didn't stop Becker making her sit down, shove his EMD at Lester, then rather roughly check her ankle over for swelling or any sign of anything that would cause problems later.
"It's fine!" she insisted.
Becker wasn't convinced. "Those stupid shoes, Jess. Can't you break the heels off?"
"Don't you know anything about shoes, Becker?"
Lester rolled his eyes. "See the red soles? They're Louboutins."
"Is that French or something for ridiculous?"
"They're expensive. Come along, Jess, this Armani suit is going on expenses as soon as that idiot Connor works out how to reopen the anomaly, you can put those on as well. Snap the heels off and let's get going before something eats us."
"You really think I care what they're worth out here?" Jess snapped. "I take it neither of you have ever tried walking in stilettos with the heels broken off?"
"Strangely enough, no I haven't. Becker?"
Becker just looked at him in that annoying way he had when he didn't think a question was worthy of an answer.
Jess sighed. "So we've established that neither of you know what you're talking about. If you break the heels off, it doesn't miraculously make the shoe flat. Because of the way the sole has been moulded it actually makes your foot tip backwards. It's almost impossible to walk in them. And then the sole will crack and dig into my foot, and hurt more than if I went barefoot." She pushed the offending shoe back on and stood up. "So it's the heels or barefoot, and I'd prefer to try the heels for a little bit longer."
It wasn't going to be easy, and she knew they were both walking a little bit more slowly for her sake. At least the ground was dry and hard, which made it a little easier than it could have been.
"I now know far more about women's footwear than I ever wanted to," she heard Lester grumble from behind her.
"You could say it was all cobblers!" Becker added, smirking at what he obviously thought was his own cleverness. The term sounded odd spoken in his terribly posh voice. Lester evidently thought so too.
"That's barely worthy of Temple, Captain."
Becker apparently couldn't think of a clever answer to that and just made a sort of "Hmph!" noise as he trudged on up the hillside. If they carried on like that, Jess didn't know how long she could put up with it. She was, she realised, stuck with the two grumpiest men that she knew. And nobody else for millions of years. And her feet were hurting a lot.
There was of course the other option where Becker picked her up and carried her, and whilst that might be quite appealing, there was no way that she was going to allow herself to appear any more weak and helpless out there than he obviously already thought she was. Lester at least had a little more faith in her, but then after the pair of them had been forced to face an invasion of the ARC by future predators together and survived the experience he would be stupid to do otherwise. And James Lester, for all his lack of footwear expertise, was not stupid.
She went over on her ankle again, and couldn't stop herself giving another little cry as she did so.
"Right, that's enough." Becker sat down and began to pull his boots off. "I'm not risking you breaking your ankle out here."
"Your feet are twice the size of mine," Jess pointed out. "Thanks, but those won't fit me."
Becker threw a warm, rather damp and smelly thick sock at her, quickly followed by a second one. "Put them on. They'll protect your feet a little." He looked across at Lester. "Two pairs would be better."
With a long-suffering sigh, Lester sat down and removed his own shoes and socks. "Blisters. Wonderful," he complained. "And these are cashmere and silk blend. They were never intended to be used for stomping around the prehistoric landscape. Just as soon as we get back, Miss Parker, we'll be having a review of the office dress code. And we'll be starting with footwear!"
Jess regarded her feet bundled up in the socks and thought she would be happy enough to go along with that. After the future predator incident she'd started keeping a pair of trainers in her desk drawer, just in case. They'd been there, useless and out of reach when the anomaly opened in Lester's office.
Still, she took heart from the fact that Lester assumed they'd get back. Looking out across the prehistoric landscape, Jess thought he might be being overly optimistic.
She stood up. The socks weren't much protection but they were a lot better than nothing. The shelter of the forest still seemed a very long way in the distance. Feeling every stone bruising underfoot, she started to walk.
***
They walked for over an hour before they reached the shade of the trees. Becker hated the slow progress. Anything could attack them, they were totally exposed. He wanted to bundle Jess up in survival gear, thick boots and a tac vest. Lester too, though he wasn't dressed quite as impractically as Jess. Armani suits weren't made to trudge around whatever era they were in. Early Jurassic, if Connor's assessment of the little dinosaur had been correct, but who knew?
Nobody could be more impractically dressed than Jess, he thought. Bright colours, sure to attract every predator in the area. It was hot, and she was probably cooler than either Lester or himself, but that was no consolation. She'd refused his offer of the tac vest, twice, telling him she had no intention of throwing herself in front of a creature and that his need was going to be greater if he was going to defend them properly. He'd wondered about giving it to Lester, but one look at his boss's expression told him exactly how well that was going to be received so he decided not to even try. The vest was quite hot and heavy though. In fact, the whole kit was. He'd shed his jacket and tied it round his waist, but that was still too hot. And the thigh straps were starting to rub where his legs were getting far too sweaty.
Why didn't the anomaly reopen? There were always plenty of them normally, usually waiting until he'd got home and settled down in front of the TV with a beer and takeaway before opening and having him racing back to the ARC. He doubted his ability to keep them both alive out there for long. It had to reopen. It had to.
He walked ahead of them, ever alert, never taking his eyes off their surroundings. Sooner or later something would attack, and he was going to be ready. At least out on the plains he would be able to see what was coming. The trouble was, everything could see them as well. And Jess was slowing them down. He had to walk very slowly, shorten his long strides.
He wasn't going to lose another friend. Especially not those two.
***
Somehow, the woods looked even less appetising than the plains.
James Lester had no intention of spending the night sitting up in a tree as if he were some kind of monkey. Becker's suggestion might be fine for a bunch of soldiers, but it wasn't for him and he didn't think Jess would want to go up either. She was looking at the smooth bark warily, probably wondering how on earth she was supposed to climb it. He was wondering the same thing himself.
There were the cliffs still in the distance. Perhaps they wouldn't manage to reach them before nightfall. Perhaps they'd have no choice but to climb a tree, somehow. Or perhaps something hungry would come along and where they stayed the night would no longer be their concern.
Abby and Connor had survived a whole year in the Cretaceous. But this wasn't the Cretaceous, it was even earlier. And Jess wasn't Abby.
He shouldn't think like that, he knew. He'd been there with her at what might have been the end of the world, lying on the floor of the armoury bleeding. The only reason he was still breathing was because she'd stood there and shot at the predator that had gone for him over and over again until it had stopped moving. Yes, she'd been shaking and crying while she did it, and she hadn't stopped shaking and crying until Becker and the others had arrived and killed the things. But that didn't matter because she hadn't done the cowardly and stupid thing of running away. Becker didn't know about it. Becker hadn't seen that, and as far as Lester knew Jess hadn't told him because she always refused to talk about it and had asked him not to either. Becker would probably draw all the wrong conclusions anyway.
She wasn't crying out there now, though her make-up was enough of a mess that she might as well be. But there was something sad and resigned in her expression that he'd never seen before. Presumably she thought she'd be the first to fall. Months ago he would have thought the same thing, but he wasn't so sure now. Becker, charging into danger, trying to protect them, always needing to do the brave thing, the heroic thing - it was only a matter of time before it got him killed.
Out there they had plenty of time for that to happen. And it might not be either of them, he thought; after all he could comfort himself that it might be him! And then he wouldn't have to worry about watching two people die whom he cared for more than he'd ever admit to either of them. A distant roar from some unknown overgrown lizard reminded him just how great a possibility that fate was.
They needed to get somewhere safer than a tree for all their sakes.
He kept walking, following the other two, occasionally helping Jess when she tripped or stepped on something painful. Each time it happened, Becker would look back and wait, constantly scanning the trees. He rarely looked at the two of them, just the trees, presumably waiting for death to come springing at them with teeth and claws.
It was a long, slow journey. Long before they neared the cliffs they were starting to lose the light. Becker found a huge, sturdy tree and insisted they go no further. They spent an uncomfortable night up in the branches, none of them sleeping, startling at every small noise, every cry. Out there in the pitch black of the prehistoric night every sound was a cause for fear, every creature passing the base of the tree a new terror.
The climb ripped Lester's jacket, tore Jess's dress and in the morning Lester could see a nasty scrape along Becker's forearms, probably from when he'd grabbed Jess to stop her falling. It needed to be the first and last night they spent in a tree. A useful anomaly back to his office, or Connor's lab, or just any civilisation at all really would be perfect. Not a tree. Anything but a tree.
***
They stumbled on the cave purely by chance.
They had walked most of the second day, half of it along the foot of the hills, looking up hopefully. There had been no sign of anything useful as a shelter, and they would have passed it by entirely if Jess hadn't stepped on a shard of rock and needed to stop for a few moments. Lester had gone behind an outcrop of rock to relieve himself, and fortunately spotted the cave entrance hidden there before he did so.
It went deep, but most of it was too narrow to access. Hopefully it was too narrow for any predator to access either. The habitable part went back about 20 metres, then tapered off to a narrow crevice. They could hear water beyond but had no way to reach it. Wherever the river they could hear went, it was probably deep underground because there was only the smallest stream anywhere nearby, and it wasn't coming from the cliffs.
Water, though, was going to be a problem. Because he'd come straight from an anomaly shout, Becker still had his full tac vest and all its useful contents including a small water bottle. That had run out the previous day, and the small supply of purification tablets he had with him was already running very low, and they left a strange aftertaste. Once they'd gone, the water would need to be boiled. Sadly Becker's vest didn't run to a helpful collection of foldaway pots and pans.
Becker and Lester had lit a fire, and left Jess with the task of making some sort of clay pot from raw clay while they went looking for food. Somehow it wasn't as easy as it had been at school. Clay fresh from the ground had leaves and twigs and who knew what else in it. The coil pot she eventually put together looked okay but fell apart on the fire. The next one was slightly better and mostly held together. She kept trying. It was something useful to do, after all.
She left the third one baking beside the second, keeping back behind the fire where Becker had ordered her to stay. She could see Lester coming back with an armful of firewood. There was no sign of Becker yet.
Abby and Connor had lived out in the Cretaceous for a year. A whole year. Jess stared miserably at the damp, cold and gloomy cave which was the best thing they'd found out there so far. A year seemed a very, very long time. And it could turn out to be so much longer.
She forced a smile at Lester. They'd do a lot better out here without her, she knew. If only she'd worn trousers to work, flatter, more sensible shoes. She was never wearing anything impractical ever again, because who knew when one of those things would open up? If they ever got home, she'd be prepared.
***
It was like survival training all over again. Becker had loved that, him against the elements. He wasn't loving this.
He knew he was making Jess unhappy, but he couldn't help himself. Every time he looked at her, stuck out there in the middle of a world she should never have to be a part of, his heart broke. She was going to perish, and they would have to live with it. Lester wouldn't show it, but Becker knew it would hit him just as hard.
And Lester shouldn't be out there either. Fine, he was a lot tougher than he looked. He didn't have a lot of choice, being one of the few surviving people to encounter future predators twice. But he was supposed to be in a comfortable office, safely back at the ARC, terrorising the newer staff and shouting ineffectually at the seasoned anomaly teams who knew the threats were largely empty.
There was a creature rustling in the undergrowth. One of the ugly parrot-like things that had caused all the trouble in the first place. Definitely a candidate for dinner. It looked at him, cocking its head on one side, apparently sizing him up. Apparently he wasn't as scary as he liked to think he was, because it didn't run off immediately. No wonder the stupid thing was extinct, he thought.
He struck it with the useless EMD, then quickly and cleanly wrung its neck before the creature had a chance to suffer. It was food. Small, scrawny food. He wondered if there were more around. It wasn't going to be much of a meal.
There was nothing immediately apparent, and it was too far to go back to the river where they'd caught the fish the previous day. He'd already been gone longer than he wanted to be. Anything could have happened to the others in the meantime.
Images of Lester lying on the floor of the ARC came back to him, his head in Jess's lap, blood all over both of them, Jess herself shaking and crying and then pointing that EMD at him because she wasn't going to go down without a fight...
One of those things was going to have to be enough. He practically ran back to the cave.
***
Part 2 here
Author: Clea2011
Word Count: 12560 in total, this part 4282
Characters: Becker/Jess/Lester,
Rating: 15
Spoilers: No
Warnings: None
Disclaimer: Primeval belongs to Impossible Pictures, I'm just writing for fun and non-profit.
A/N: For the primeval_denial Secret Santa for celeste9 who requested Becker/Jess/Lester in any combination including friendship. There were four general prompts of: trapped in the past or in some remote location; dinner; friends secretly pining; under the stars. I think I managed to work them all in. Sorry it's not very porny at all, but I know Celeste has a great imagination and can fill in the gaps :-)
It may have gone a teensy tiny bit over the suggested maximum word count, though I'm glad to see May has gone even further over!
Thanks to lukadreaming for a superfast beta!
Guardian
It was always going to happen.
The ARC had been a hotspot for anomaly activity ever since Connor had first created his prototype anomaly there. Of course his intentions had been good, but that hadn't stopped a steady trickle of anomalies appearing over the year that followed.
Becker and his men were on permanent watch for the things, and had been become expert in locking them in record time. Usually.
The problem was, they were used to finding them either in Connor's old lab, which was always kept locked now for just that reason, or down in the underground car park. Nobody was quite sure why the car park was such a draw, but they had started keeping a regular guard down there, just in case.
Once one had opened in the grounds, and another time one had opened on the roof. Aside from that they were fairly predictable at least as far as their location was concerned. Until the day they weren't.
It was typical though, Lester thought as he eyed the new executive decoration that had appeared in the middle of his office. It couldn't arrive in a storeroom, or in Matt's office, or down in the armoury where Becker and his men would happily use whatever came through as target practice before Abby even noticed. No, it had to be in his office. And the pegomastax that had just come through simply had to do so when he'd been about to help himself to a much-needed shot of whiskey. The wretched little thing had cannoned into him and knocked the bottle flying. It was the good stuff too. Lester was not best pleased.
"At least it's not dangerous," Jess ventured. That hadn't stopped her backing up against the wall. The door was on the other side of the office, past the creature and the anomaly. Connor had identified it from a photo Jess had quickly snapped and sent on her phone, and tried to reassure her. But the fact he had been still nearly a mile away at that time, and more importantly Matt, Abby and Becker were all with him or in the truck behind, did nothing to reassure them at all.
Becker's truck would get there first, of that Lester had no doubt. He was probably already in the building by now. It wasn't just a competitive thing with Matt, it was his desperate need to protect them all. And if a raptor had come through and eaten the pair of them then Becker would blame himself. It was one of the reasons Lester hadn't wanted Becker to take over as team leader once they'd rebuilt the ARC, not that there had been the slightest chance of him accepting the role even if it was offered, the state he'd been in at that time. He'd just blame himself even more when everything went wrong. And in their line of work things went wrong quite a lot.
"Should we try herding it back through?" Jess whispered nervously. She was gripping the back of his chair and he wondered if she intended trying to pick it up and use it as a shield. It was nearly as tall as she was, and considerably wider. Her chances of success looked slim.
Lester never entirely trusted any information that came from Connor. It wasn't that he didn't appreciate the young man's genius, it was more that many years of experience had taught him to be wary. He wouldn't be at all surprised to find himself in the midst of herding the thing back only to have Connor text Jess again with something barely comprehensible masquerading as English along the lines of: "LOL meant IS dangerous. Soz. Don't touch. CU. C"
It was spectacularly ugly, and although it wasn't much bigger than a cat it didn't look particularly harmless with its big parrot-like beak and two nasty-looking teeth.
"I think making our way carefully to the door is probably the best idea," Lester told her quietly. "Try not to make any sudden movements."
Jess nodded, and started to edge along the wall, never taking her eyes off the creature. Distracted by movement on the other side of his window, Lester glanced down into the hub and saw Becker and two of his men dashing towards the stairs.
The creature had found Lester's attaché case and was nipping at it curiously, more distracted by the shiny brass lock than the two humans. They moved quietly across the room, getting close to the creature without it taking any notice of them at all. Becker and his men were running up the stairs now , heading for the office. They wouldn't be in time to stop the little wretch despoiling his prized Swaine Adeney Brigg lined and personalised attaché case. He could see the bite mark in the leather already from that vicious-looking beak.
Since the New Dawn incident, they'd started keeping spare EMDs and charges hidden in every room of the ARC, so that nobody would ever have to be far away from something to defend themselves with. Or to chase off little beasts like this who didn't appreciate quality when they saw it.
Unfortunately, the one in Lester's office was by the door. That had seemed a good idea at the time, but not so great now. Lester frowned at it. So near, and yet so far. Another one underneath his desk was definitely needed.
His love for that case outweighed his concerns regarding Connor's advice as he saw the little beast open its jaw to take another bite. Lester strode over to the pegomastax, grabbed it by the neck before it could do anything with those teeth, and flung it back through the anomaly.
The anomaly flickered, and Jess froze beside him.
"What's that?"
It wasn't another one of the pegomastax. It was bigger. Much bigger, about Becker's height and Lester's office suddenly seemed very small. It also appeared to have far more teeth, as it opened its mouth to demonstrate, chewing on the poor creature that they'd just sent back through the anomaly. Lester didn't know the answer to Jess's question, but he was fairly certain this one wasn't harmless.
It was also between them and the door, and was eyeing them hungrily. The little creature was evidently just an appetiser, with Lester as main course and Jess as dessert.
Afterwards, he wasn't quite sure how it happened. The anomaly had been beside them, filling the small amount of the office not taken up by the therapod. Becker and his men stood in the doorway, shouting a lot and trying to get a clear shot at the dinosaur without hitting Lester or Jess. The creature had regarded them all for a moment, decided Jess was the easiest target and lunged at her.
Somehow, a moment later Lester and Jess were both sprawled on the ground in an unfamiliar landscape, the anomaly flickering above them and the predator looming in front of it, diving at them. He threw himself out of the way, grateful that Jess had the presence of mind to do the same, trying to scramble to his feet and ignore the feeling that they were never going to be fast enough.
Becker was fast enough. He burst through the anomaly, yelling at them to stay down, and blasted the carnivore with what looked like the highest setting on the EMD. It collapsed onto the ground and stayed there, twitching. Becker shot it again, just to make sure, then a third time. Lester assumed, knowing Becker, that one was probably just for fun.
"No!"
Jess's cry startled him and he tried to cover up the fact with sarcasm: "Oh don't tell me you've caught Miss Maitland's irritating habit of wanting to protect every ugly beast that comes looking for dinner?"
Jess wasn't even listening, looking up at Becker in horror. Lester had a horrible feeling that he knew why. After all, none of Becker's men appeared to have followed him through. Reluctantly, he turned around. Sure enough, the anomaly had vanished.
They were stuck.
"Well. At least we aren't stuck with Connor."
Jess and Becker just looked at him.
"And he'd better be doing everything he can to get that thing open again and get us back!"
"That might take a while." Becker helped Jess to her feet, frowning at her footwear. "We can't stay here, it's too open. We need to get to the trees."
The trees were a long, long way off across a broad expanse of plain, cliffs rising behind them. Lester sighed heavily, then started to walk.
***
"Ow!"
Jess was furious with herself. She'd been determined to keep going, keep up with the two men. But her heels just weren't going to let her. They were fine for her job at the ARC, she'd even run in them sometimes without any difficulty at all. But out there, without carpets, pavements, even a moderately flat surface... it was impossible. And she'd stuck her heel in a dip in the ground and twisted over on her ankle. It hurt, but not too much. Nothing serious this time.
That didn't stop Becker making her sit down, shove his EMD at Lester, then rather roughly check her ankle over for swelling or any sign of anything that would cause problems later.
"It's fine!" she insisted.
Becker wasn't convinced. "Those stupid shoes, Jess. Can't you break the heels off?"
"Don't you know anything about shoes, Becker?"
Lester rolled his eyes. "See the red soles? They're Louboutins."
"Is that French or something for ridiculous?"
"They're expensive. Come along, Jess, this Armani suit is going on expenses as soon as that idiot Connor works out how to reopen the anomaly, you can put those on as well. Snap the heels off and let's get going before something eats us."
"You really think I care what they're worth out here?" Jess snapped. "I take it neither of you have ever tried walking in stilettos with the heels broken off?"
"Strangely enough, no I haven't. Becker?"
Becker just looked at him in that annoying way he had when he didn't think a question was worthy of an answer.
Jess sighed. "So we've established that neither of you know what you're talking about. If you break the heels off, it doesn't miraculously make the shoe flat. Because of the way the sole has been moulded it actually makes your foot tip backwards. It's almost impossible to walk in them. And then the sole will crack and dig into my foot, and hurt more than if I went barefoot." She pushed the offending shoe back on and stood up. "So it's the heels or barefoot, and I'd prefer to try the heels for a little bit longer."
It wasn't going to be easy, and she knew they were both walking a little bit more slowly for her sake. At least the ground was dry and hard, which made it a little easier than it could have been.
"I now know far more about women's footwear than I ever wanted to," she heard Lester grumble from behind her.
"You could say it was all cobblers!" Becker added, smirking at what he obviously thought was his own cleverness. The term sounded odd spoken in his terribly posh voice. Lester evidently thought so too.
"That's barely worthy of Temple, Captain."
Becker apparently couldn't think of a clever answer to that and just made a sort of "Hmph!" noise as he trudged on up the hillside. If they carried on like that, Jess didn't know how long she could put up with it. She was, she realised, stuck with the two grumpiest men that she knew. And nobody else for millions of years. And her feet were hurting a lot.
There was of course the other option where Becker picked her up and carried her, and whilst that might be quite appealing, there was no way that she was going to allow herself to appear any more weak and helpless out there than he obviously already thought she was. Lester at least had a little more faith in her, but then after the pair of them had been forced to face an invasion of the ARC by future predators together and survived the experience he would be stupid to do otherwise. And James Lester, for all his lack of footwear expertise, was not stupid.
She went over on her ankle again, and couldn't stop herself giving another little cry as she did so.
"Right, that's enough." Becker sat down and began to pull his boots off. "I'm not risking you breaking your ankle out here."
"Your feet are twice the size of mine," Jess pointed out. "Thanks, but those won't fit me."
Becker threw a warm, rather damp and smelly thick sock at her, quickly followed by a second one. "Put them on. They'll protect your feet a little." He looked across at Lester. "Two pairs would be better."
With a long-suffering sigh, Lester sat down and removed his own shoes and socks. "Blisters. Wonderful," he complained. "And these are cashmere and silk blend. They were never intended to be used for stomping around the prehistoric landscape. Just as soon as we get back, Miss Parker, we'll be having a review of the office dress code. And we'll be starting with footwear!"
Jess regarded her feet bundled up in the socks and thought she would be happy enough to go along with that. After the future predator incident she'd started keeping a pair of trainers in her desk drawer, just in case. They'd been there, useless and out of reach when the anomaly opened in Lester's office.
Still, she took heart from the fact that Lester assumed they'd get back. Looking out across the prehistoric landscape, Jess thought he might be being overly optimistic.
She stood up. The socks weren't much protection but they were a lot better than nothing. The shelter of the forest still seemed a very long way in the distance. Feeling every stone bruising underfoot, she started to walk.
***
They walked for over an hour before they reached the shade of the trees. Becker hated the slow progress. Anything could attack them, they were totally exposed. He wanted to bundle Jess up in survival gear, thick boots and a tac vest. Lester too, though he wasn't dressed quite as impractically as Jess. Armani suits weren't made to trudge around whatever era they were in. Early Jurassic, if Connor's assessment of the little dinosaur had been correct, but who knew?
Nobody could be more impractically dressed than Jess, he thought. Bright colours, sure to attract every predator in the area. It was hot, and she was probably cooler than either Lester or himself, but that was no consolation. She'd refused his offer of the tac vest, twice, telling him she had no intention of throwing herself in front of a creature and that his need was going to be greater if he was going to defend them properly. He'd wondered about giving it to Lester, but one look at his boss's expression told him exactly how well that was going to be received so he decided not to even try. The vest was quite hot and heavy though. In fact, the whole kit was. He'd shed his jacket and tied it round his waist, but that was still too hot. And the thigh straps were starting to rub where his legs were getting far too sweaty.
Why didn't the anomaly reopen? There were always plenty of them normally, usually waiting until he'd got home and settled down in front of the TV with a beer and takeaway before opening and having him racing back to the ARC. He doubted his ability to keep them both alive out there for long. It had to reopen. It had to.
He walked ahead of them, ever alert, never taking his eyes off their surroundings. Sooner or later something would attack, and he was going to be ready. At least out on the plains he would be able to see what was coming. The trouble was, everything could see them as well. And Jess was slowing them down. He had to walk very slowly, shorten his long strides.
He wasn't going to lose another friend. Especially not those two.
***
Somehow, the woods looked even less appetising than the plains.
James Lester had no intention of spending the night sitting up in a tree as if he were some kind of monkey. Becker's suggestion might be fine for a bunch of soldiers, but it wasn't for him and he didn't think Jess would want to go up either. She was looking at the smooth bark warily, probably wondering how on earth she was supposed to climb it. He was wondering the same thing himself.
There were the cliffs still in the distance. Perhaps they wouldn't manage to reach them before nightfall. Perhaps they'd have no choice but to climb a tree, somehow. Or perhaps something hungry would come along and where they stayed the night would no longer be their concern.
Abby and Connor had survived a whole year in the Cretaceous. But this wasn't the Cretaceous, it was even earlier. And Jess wasn't Abby.
He shouldn't think like that, he knew. He'd been there with her at what might have been the end of the world, lying on the floor of the armoury bleeding. The only reason he was still breathing was because she'd stood there and shot at the predator that had gone for him over and over again until it had stopped moving. Yes, she'd been shaking and crying while she did it, and she hadn't stopped shaking and crying until Becker and the others had arrived and killed the things. But that didn't matter because she hadn't done the cowardly and stupid thing of running away. Becker didn't know about it. Becker hadn't seen that, and as far as Lester knew Jess hadn't told him because she always refused to talk about it and had asked him not to either. Becker would probably draw all the wrong conclusions anyway.
She wasn't crying out there now, though her make-up was enough of a mess that she might as well be. But there was something sad and resigned in her expression that he'd never seen before. Presumably she thought she'd be the first to fall. Months ago he would have thought the same thing, but he wasn't so sure now. Becker, charging into danger, trying to protect them, always needing to do the brave thing, the heroic thing - it was only a matter of time before it got him killed.
Out there they had plenty of time for that to happen. And it might not be either of them, he thought; after all he could comfort himself that it might be him! And then he wouldn't have to worry about watching two people die whom he cared for more than he'd ever admit to either of them. A distant roar from some unknown overgrown lizard reminded him just how great a possibility that fate was.
They needed to get somewhere safer than a tree for all their sakes.
He kept walking, following the other two, occasionally helping Jess when she tripped or stepped on something painful. Each time it happened, Becker would look back and wait, constantly scanning the trees. He rarely looked at the two of them, just the trees, presumably waiting for death to come springing at them with teeth and claws.
It was a long, slow journey. Long before they neared the cliffs they were starting to lose the light. Becker found a huge, sturdy tree and insisted they go no further. They spent an uncomfortable night up in the branches, none of them sleeping, startling at every small noise, every cry. Out there in the pitch black of the prehistoric night every sound was a cause for fear, every creature passing the base of the tree a new terror.
The climb ripped Lester's jacket, tore Jess's dress and in the morning Lester could see a nasty scrape along Becker's forearms, probably from when he'd grabbed Jess to stop her falling. It needed to be the first and last night they spent in a tree. A useful anomaly back to his office, or Connor's lab, or just any civilisation at all really would be perfect. Not a tree. Anything but a tree.
***
They stumbled on the cave purely by chance.
They had walked most of the second day, half of it along the foot of the hills, looking up hopefully. There had been no sign of anything useful as a shelter, and they would have passed it by entirely if Jess hadn't stepped on a shard of rock and needed to stop for a few moments. Lester had gone behind an outcrop of rock to relieve himself, and fortunately spotted the cave entrance hidden there before he did so.
It went deep, but most of it was too narrow to access. Hopefully it was too narrow for any predator to access either. The habitable part went back about 20 metres, then tapered off to a narrow crevice. They could hear water beyond but had no way to reach it. Wherever the river they could hear went, it was probably deep underground because there was only the smallest stream anywhere nearby, and it wasn't coming from the cliffs.
Water, though, was going to be a problem. Because he'd come straight from an anomaly shout, Becker still had his full tac vest and all its useful contents including a small water bottle. That had run out the previous day, and the small supply of purification tablets he had with him was already running very low, and they left a strange aftertaste. Once they'd gone, the water would need to be boiled. Sadly Becker's vest didn't run to a helpful collection of foldaway pots and pans.
Becker and Lester had lit a fire, and left Jess with the task of making some sort of clay pot from raw clay while they went looking for food. Somehow it wasn't as easy as it had been at school. Clay fresh from the ground had leaves and twigs and who knew what else in it. The coil pot she eventually put together looked okay but fell apart on the fire. The next one was slightly better and mostly held together. She kept trying. It was something useful to do, after all.
She left the third one baking beside the second, keeping back behind the fire where Becker had ordered her to stay. She could see Lester coming back with an armful of firewood. There was no sign of Becker yet.
Abby and Connor had lived out in the Cretaceous for a year. A whole year. Jess stared miserably at the damp, cold and gloomy cave which was the best thing they'd found out there so far. A year seemed a very, very long time. And it could turn out to be so much longer.
She forced a smile at Lester. They'd do a lot better out here without her, she knew. If only she'd worn trousers to work, flatter, more sensible shoes. She was never wearing anything impractical ever again, because who knew when one of those things would open up? If they ever got home, she'd be prepared.
***
It was like survival training all over again. Becker had loved that, him against the elements. He wasn't loving this.
He knew he was making Jess unhappy, but he couldn't help himself. Every time he looked at her, stuck out there in the middle of a world she should never have to be a part of, his heart broke. She was going to perish, and they would have to live with it. Lester wouldn't show it, but Becker knew it would hit him just as hard.
And Lester shouldn't be out there either. Fine, he was a lot tougher than he looked. He didn't have a lot of choice, being one of the few surviving people to encounter future predators twice. But he was supposed to be in a comfortable office, safely back at the ARC, terrorising the newer staff and shouting ineffectually at the seasoned anomaly teams who knew the threats were largely empty.
There was a creature rustling in the undergrowth. One of the ugly parrot-like things that had caused all the trouble in the first place. Definitely a candidate for dinner. It looked at him, cocking its head on one side, apparently sizing him up. Apparently he wasn't as scary as he liked to think he was, because it didn't run off immediately. No wonder the stupid thing was extinct, he thought.
He struck it with the useless EMD, then quickly and cleanly wrung its neck before the creature had a chance to suffer. It was food. Small, scrawny food. He wondered if there were more around. It wasn't going to be much of a meal.
There was nothing immediately apparent, and it was too far to go back to the river where they'd caught the fish the previous day. He'd already been gone longer than he wanted to be. Anything could have happened to the others in the meantime.
Images of Lester lying on the floor of the ARC came back to him, his head in Jess's lap, blood all over both of them, Jess herself shaking and crying and then pointing that EMD at him because she wasn't going to go down without a fight...
One of those things was going to have to be enough. He practically ran back to the cave.
***
Part 2 here