Fic: Reboot - Part 4 (Ex-Art Fic)
Title: Reboot - Part 4
Author: knitekat
Word Count: ~3450 out of a total of ~14555.
Characters: Nick Cutter, Stephen Hart, James Lester plus ARC team.
Rating: 18
Disclaimer: Primeval belongs to Impossible Pictures. Certainly not me. Writing for fun and will replace.
A/N 1: Based on eriah211's art fic prompt < - I didn’t finish it in time due to a plot hole, which I hope I’ve now solved. Hope you enjoy it.
AN 2: Thanks go to fififolle for the beta. All remaining mistakes are mine.
Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4
“Are you?” Cutter asked quietly. “Just as well I don’t follow your orders.”
Cutter grabbed my arm and yanked me to my feet without warning, causing me to cry out and for my vision to grey. “Cutter,” I said when I had regained some measure of control.
“Save your breath,” Hart advised as he grabbed my backpack as well as his own and I belatedly realised he must have crossed the river to retrieve them.
“Cutter!” I tried once more, knowing the mission was more important that one life and paused, wondering if this was how Hart thought. I shook my head before repeating. “I’ll slow you down.”
Cutter, somewhat to my surprise, replied, “You can either walk or we’ll carry you.”
“Or Nick can just drop you in the mud first and then we’ll drag you,” Hart added.
I glared at Hart, even if I couldn’t really spare the energy, meeting his challenging look before Cutter took a step forward and I followed him. I ignored Hart’s chuckle, instead concentrating on walking, for even if my suit was beyond reprieve, I had little wish to end up sprawled in the mud.
***
I had no idea how much time had passed since the river, all I knew was that I was managing to put one foot in front of the other while being half-supported, half-dragged by Cutter down a barely there path while trying not to trip over any roots. The last one I had tripped over had torn a gasp from me and had almost dragged Cutter down with me when my knees had buckled. I felt a hand on my shoulder and heard Cutter’s voice in my ear. “Stop, James,” He murmured. “We’re here.”
“Where?” I asked, my mind feeling sluggish.
“The anomaly site,” Hart replied. “ Let's get you comfortable and we can rest.”
As much as resting sounded wonderful, something nagged in the back of my mind. I frowned when I realised the wood was silent. Not a single bird called out, not a single animal moved, as if they understood the danger which would all too soon descend upon all of us. I jolted out of the daze I had fallen into, reaching out almost blindly and grabbing an arm. “No time.”
“Drink,” Hart murmured and I licked my lips when I felt a bottle against them. “Slowly,” Hart added.
“The anomaly isn’t open yet,” Cutter added, explaining why we were resting and showing me just how out of it I was.
I still couldn’t settle or rest, every time my eyes drifted closed they shot open again, my gaze turning towards London as I waited for the end to begin. We were running out of time and if the anomaly didn’t open soon, all would be lost.
“Rest, James,” Cutter said as he joined me to lean back against a tree. “It might be the last time you have a chance.”
I opened my mouth to snap at him that I knew that, but I didn’t. I knew he knew I knew. I turned my attention back to where the anomaly would - should open and asked the other question that had kept me from relaxing. “How do we know it will take us to the right time?”
“I don’t,” Cutter admitted. “But we can always try again.”
“At least until the bombs drop,” Hart pointed out.
“Couldn’t we just stay in the Permian?” I asked.
Cutter shook his head. “We know the anomaly opens to two different times in the Permian, what we don’t know is how many years apart they are. Ryan’s,” he paused when I winced at his words. “The graves we found at the camp were decades old, if not more.”
“It’s got to be better than staying here,” I replied, my gaze once more drawn back towards London.
“Why don’t we have a look around once we get through and decide then?” Hart said, putting his two-pence in and acting as a mediator between myself and Cutter.
Cutter frowned, opened his mouth, noticed Hart’s worried expression and turned back to me, his gaze considering, before he nodded. “OK.”
I wasn’t sure that I wanted to know what Hart was thinking, or Cutter for that matter, what I did know was that I was finding it harder and harder to resist my need to sleep.
***
I woke to hands gently shaking me and I found myself gazing at the whirling, shattered shards of an open anomaly. “Where does it open to?”
Cutter didn’t reply, instead he tensed and I realised the anomaly was rippling as if someone - something was coming through. Cutter crouched beside me, pointing my pistol at the anomaly and I could only hope whatever came through the anomaly was friendly or at least not actively wanting to eat me.
“It opens to the Permian,” Hart declared as he stepped back through, raising his hands slightly when he realised Cutter was aiming at him. “Hey, Nick, it’s me.”
Cutter gave a strange noise, a sudden exhale of air mixed with… I wasn’t quite sure what. Not that I wondered for long, rather closing my eyes and doing my best to ignore their reunion, after all, there were some things I didn’t want to see.
After several seconds and noises which threatened to harm my mental health, I cleared my throat noisily. “Gentlemen, can I remind you that there is an imminent nuclear strike...” I only risked opening my eyes again when I heard a muttered curse and met the unrepentant gaze of Hart. My gaze drifted to the flushed-looking Cutter and I decided I really didn’t want to know. “Chop, chop, gentlemen.”
I soon had cause to regret my words when both men hauled me to my feet, the world greying out once more as I swayed in their grasp. I gathered what was left of my strength and took as much of my own weight as I could. I nodded to both men and took a step towards the anomaly.
“Wait,” Hart called out. “Let me go back through with the kit first. If I don’t come back, follow me through.”
I just managed to bite back the snark that Hart was still a bloody martyr and instead took the opportunity to take one final look at the world I was leaving behind.
“Time's up,” Cutter muttered.
I didn’t reply, for I knew he was not really talking to me. Instead I took another step towards the anomaly and swallowed. I had hoped my first trip through would be to somewhere safe, with well-armed soldiers at my side for protection, not into a world full of predators with only the dubious protection provided by a mad-cap scientist and his suicidally-inclined assistant. Actually, I had hoped never to step foot through one, I had enough cold-blooded and remorseless enemies in this time without adding prehistoric ones.
That being said, I still reached out a hand in curiosity, my fingertips just brushing a spinning shard and I shivered at the sensation of not-cold. I heard Cutter’s amused snort at my reaction and determinately stepped into the anomaly. The not-cold sent tingles along my nerves and I gasped as I stepped through. The muddy and dank Forest of Dean had become dry desert heat and I couldn’t help looking around like a child. I quickly gathered both my wits and facade before I moved further into the Permian, after all, I had no idea if radiation would leak through these bloody holes in time.
The sand shifted beneath my feet and I knew my shoes would be good only for the bin if we ever returned home, even if home wouldn’t really be home. I shook my head, no need to tempt a migraine to add to my woes. Instead, I forced myself to concentrate and took a more analytical look around. It all looked the same - sand and rocks with sparse vegetation. “Which way, Professor?” I asked, the fear I already knew the answer being confirmed when he didn’t reply instantly. “I see.”
“I think it is that way,” Cutter finally replied.
“Really?” I said.
“I’m reasonably certain,” Cutter said and I could hear the defensiveness in his voice.
“Excellent,” I said before easing myself onto the ground, trying not to think of where all the sand would end up and ruing the loss of yet another suit to this project.
“James?” Cutter sounded worried and knelt beside me.
“I’m fine.” I raised an eyebrow at him before adding, “May I remind you that this is the other side of the anomaly and I’m taking the opportunity to rest.”
Hart snorted, obviously remembering that they had both promised I could do so. Cutter just sighed and shook his head before passing me the water bottle. “Five minutes.”
I shook my head. “Oh no, Professor,” I said. “I’m not about to slog through this sand just for you to tell me we’re in the wrong time and have to come back here.”
“He has a point.” Hart spoke both reluctantly and apologetically.
“Fine,” Cutter snapped. “I’ll go and find it.”
“Nick!”
“No, Stephen, I have to go, I’m the only one who saw the camp.”
“Excellent,” I said. “Oh, and Cutter.”
“Yes?”
“Do try and keep from getting eaten.” I ignored the twin looks both men shot me as I attempted to find a comfortable position on the sand. “Are you still here, Cutter? Chop, chop.”
***
I wasn’t aware of falling asleep or of having been moved, but knew I must have been when I opened my eyes and found myself in a patch of vegetation and rocks. I felt water dripped into my parched mouth and licked my dry lips.
“Easy,” Hart’s voice spoke softly in my ear. “Now, I need to you try and eat something.”
“Not another bloody energy bar,” I groused back, although it was breathless at best, and I managed only a few bites.
“We’ll rest here until you’re stronger,” Cutter announced and as much as I wanted to argue that we didn’t have time, I lacked the strength. I realised I must have said something when his hand gripped my arm and he added, “We’re in the past, James, we've all the time in the world.”
I was unsure of how many days we tarried, only knowing it had been several. Days I was not sure we had to spare and I couldn’t help the guilt which gripped me. I had known I would slow them down when I had told them to leave me behind, knowing it would be my fault if we failed.
I had taken to short walks to build my strength, even if I still tired easily. It was dusk and I chose to take a different path than usual, one that I had seen Hart and Cutter take and return looking grim. I stopped and stared at the sight, bowing my head at the graves, and knew this was one more thing I hadn’t prevented.
I heard movement behind me but didn’t react, not until I felt a hand squeeze my shoulder and heard Cutter’s voice, soft for once. “This isn’t your fault, James.”
“If we’d been faster.” If they hadn’t dragged me along with them, if they’d left me at the ARC or even that bloody cottage, they might have been in time. They might have saved Ry… the soldiers.
“They were dead before we got here,” Cutter informed me. “We think about a week. Before we left the ARC in our own timeline.”
“Nick?” Hart called out, his voice edged with worry. “Where are you?”
“At the graves,” Cutter called back.
Hart skidded down the slope and I frowned at the grey creature in his hand. “One of the babies?” I had forgotten in my grief and guilt that we had needed to hunt them down. That the waiting hadn’t only been for me to gain strength served to lift some of the guilt from my shoulders. Some but not all for I had still failed. If only I’d realised Leek was a traitor, if only I had ordered Helen shot on sight, if only… there were so many and I cut those thoughts off, for only madness lay that way.
“The last baby,” Hart declared. “Time to go home.”
I nodded. Time to see if we had changed anything, for if these graves had been here for a week before we’d arrived… that was a week for the baby Predators to change whatever it was they had changed the first time. In that case, our trip back in time would have been for nothing. Unless we arrived back earlier than the bunker incident and all this thinking about time was making my head ache.
The roar of something large shattered the air and scattered my increasingly bleak thoughts. I turned towards the sound, gasping at the large Gorgonopsid standing on the top of a nearby hill. The wind blew the stench of rotting meat towards us and I knew if the wind changed direction that the beast would smell us.
Cutter grabbed my arm and tugged me slowly back up the path, away from the graves and back to the campsite. Hart waited for a moment before following us, his gaze never leaving the Gorgonopsid until we were over the hill and out of its sight. He shouldered what I assumed was his backpack and shoved a second at Cutter. “We need to go,” Hart muttered.
I bit back my comment about him stating the obvious when I heard the Gorgonopsid roar again, closer this time, and realised that even if the wind didn’t change that it was still heading towards us. It took me far longer than I was happy with to realise Hart had left my backpack in the camp and I stopped. “My backpack.”
“We’ve got enough supplies,” Hart informed me. “It will only slow us down,” he added when I still didn’t move.
“My briefcase is in it,” I informed him.
Hart gave me a look of disbelief. “We’ll get you a new one.”
“Assuming you don’t already have the same briefcase through the anomaly,” Cutter added.
Bloody hell, they didn’t understand, I wasn’t after it merely because it had been expensive. “It’s got the proof in it.”
“Fuck!” Hart said, glancing back towards our camp before nodding. “Keep going,” he ordered Cutter.
“Stephen?” Cutter said, reaching out a hand and if I hadn’t already known they were together, I would have to be blind not to see it now.
“I’ll be fine,” Hart said, glancing at me for a moment before stepping into Cutter’s personal space and kissing him, hard.
I waited several seconds before clearing my throat. “Gentlemen.”
Hart and Cutter reluctantly pulled apart before Hart nodded. “Take care of him, Lester.”
I fixed Hart with my haughtiest look. “Cutter?” I murmured, distaste clear in my voice. “Oh no, my dear boy, he’s your responsibility. Are you still here?”
Hart grinned before dashing back the way we’d come and I could only hope he reached the camp before the Gorgonopsid, otherwise all our efforts would be in vain. I had little time to worry for Cutter forced me to walk and putting one foot in front of the other took all my concentration and strength.
“Thank fuck!”
I heard Cutter exclaim and then I felt my free arm slung over a shoulder and I found myself half-dragged across the desert. I had to assume Hart had returned with, I hoped, my briefcase, but I had no energy left to enquire.
Every breath hurt now and I knew I was slowing my companions down. I didn’t have the breath to spare to suggest they left me behind, not when I knew they wouldn’t, not with the Gorgonopsid following us. I could almost feel its breath on my neck and knew it had to be gaining on us far too quickly for my peace of mind.
I felt someone - Hart I believe - turn, dragging myself and Cutter with him, and then we were slogging up a slope. I forced my disobedient feet to obey, one foot in front of the other, but I was rapidly running out of reserves and couldn’t say I was surprised when my knees buckled. I heard the grunts of my companions and felt myself dragged forwards.
***
Sudden cold roused me and I shivered as the spinning shards of an anomaly caressed my skin. I could only hope that it led back to the Forest of Dean, that and that someone was waiting on the other side with weapons.
And then I was through, feeling the damp of an English summer refreshing on my skin after the desert heat, and found myself dragged to one side before I was allowed to collapse onto my knees, my chest aching as I gasped for breath. I heard Hart yell out “Incoming” and heard the welcome sound of gunfire.
“Nick?” I heard Ms Lewis... or possibly Ms Brown if we had made it to Cutter’s original timeline, asked Cutter. “Where's Helen?”
“Helen,” I mumbled beneath my breath, frowning for I recalled Helen had returned with Cutter… was that the change we had made to the timeline?
“She didn't come back?” Cutter asked, sounding puzzled and I knew he was wondering whether we’d made it back and who he was talking to. I just hoped he didn’t ask, for that would rather bugger our plan up.
“No. You didn’t see her when you found Lester?”
I tuned out their conversation when my gaze fell on one of the soldiers and I just stared at Ryan. Had we travelled that far back that he was still alive or had he not died in the Permian on this timeline? I had to know and called out his name, only for Hart to squeeze my shoulder in warning as he hissed for me to be careful. I wasn’t a fool and wouldn’t let slip we were from another timeline… I frowned when the implications of what Ryan had said sunk into my befuddled brain - my double had been rather conveniently kidnapped, allowing me to just step into his life. Either the universe was conspiring with us or someone else - Helen my mind helpfully provided - was… and well, I rather doubted she was aiding us for the good of humanity. So… if Helen was behind it, what was her game and could we stop it? That thought had me attempting, and failing, to stand. Instead I slumped back to my knees, one hand pressed against my aching chest, and felt hands tighten on my shoulders once more.
“Easy, sir,” Ryan said, his hands squeezing my shoulder before he turned and roared, “Ditzy! Get your arse over here!”
I smiled, hoping that meant his concern was for more than his commanding officer… but I also knew I’d have to wait for him to make the first move, even after the months without him in my life. I frowned, if I was right about us being together, I would need all my faculties if I was to deceive him, for he was no fool and I was not the man he had held in his arms so many times before. Not that I liked the thought of lying to Ryan but, well, it wouldn’t be the first time I had lied to a lover. I just hoped this time would end better for both of us.
“Here, boss,” Ditzy said, and his cold hands both interrupted my musings and had me wincing as he examined my chest. “Easy, sir,” he muttered as my skin twitched beneath his fingers.
“Ditzy?” Ms Lewis… Brown… whoever she was said, and I shook my aching head, questions of existence were definitely something to be puzzled over another day. Whoever she was sounded worried as she asked, “How is Sir James?”
I smiled softly, Cutter had muttered that I’d been knighted in his timeline, I believe in an attempt to rile me. I had so many questions that needed to be answered so I could plan our next move in this game with Helen, but I knew from the greyness creeping into my vision that I wouldn’t be able to obtain those answers, not yet anyway. All I could hope was that Cutter and Hart could improvise and that they remembered to inform me of what they’d said. I snorted softly, remembering that they never obeyed orders. As I reluctantly surrendered to unconsciousness, I thought I heard Ryan’s voice, soft in my ear, even if I couldn’t be sure that it wasn’t wishful thinking. “I’ve got you, James.”
Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4
Author: knitekat
Word Count: ~3450 out of a total of ~14555.
Characters: Nick Cutter, Stephen Hart, James Lester plus ARC team.
Rating: 18
Disclaimer: Primeval belongs to Impossible Pictures. Certainly not me. Writing for fun and will replace.
A/N 1: Based on eriah211's art fic prompt < - I didn’t finish it in time due to a plot hole, which I hope I’ve now solved. Hope you enjoy it.
AN 2: Thanks go to fififolle for the beta. All remaining mistakes are mine.
Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4
“Are you?” Cutter asked quietly. “Just as well I don’t follow your orders.”
Cutter grabbed my arm and yanked me to my feet without warning, causing me to cry out and for my vision to grey. “Cutter,” I said when I had regained some measure of control.
“Save your breath,” Hart advised as he grabbed my backpack as well as his own and I belatedly realised he must have crossed the river to retrieve them.
“Cutter!” I tried once more, knowing the mission was more important that one life and paused, wondering if this was how Hart thought. I shook my head before repeating. “I’ll slow you down.”
Cutter, somewhat to my surprise, replied, “You can either walk or we’ll carry you.”
“Or Nick can just drop you in the mud first and then we’ll drag you,” Hart added.
I glared at Hart, even if I couldn’t really spare the energy, meeting his challenging look before Cutter took a step forward and I followed him. I ignored Hart’s chuckle, instead concentrating on walking, for even if my suit was beyond reprieve, I had little wish to end up sprawled in the mud.
***
I had no idea how much time had passed since the river, all I knew was that I was managing to put one foot in front of the other while being half-supported, half-dragged by Cutter down a barely there path while trying not to trip over any roots. The last one I had tripped over had torn a gasp from me and had almost dragged Cutter down with me when my knees had buckled. I felt a hand on my shoulder and heard Cutter’s voice in my ear. “Stop, James,” He murmured. “We’re here.”
“Where?” I asked, my mind feeling sluggish.
“The anomaly site,” Hart replied. “ Let's get you comfortable and we can rest.”
As much as resting sounded wonderful, something nagged in the back of my mind. I frowned when I realised the wood was silent. Not a single bird called out, not a single animal moved, as if they understood the danger which would all too soon descend upon all of us. I jolted out of the daze I had fallen into, reaching out almost blindly and grabbing an arm. “No time.”
“Drink,” Hart murmured and I licked my lips when I felt a bottle against them. “Slowly,” Hart added.
“The anomaly isn’t open yet,” Cutter added, explaining why we were resting and showing me just how out of it I was.
I still couldn’t settle or rest, every time my eyes drifted closed they shot open again, my gaze turning towards London as I waited for the end to begin. We were running out of time and if the anomaly didn’t open soon, all would be lost.
“Rest, James,” Cutter said as he joined me to lean back against a tree. “It might be the last time you have a chance.”
I opened my mouth to snap at him that I knew that, but I didn’t. I knew he knew I knew. I turned my attention back to where the anomaly would - should open and asked the other question that had kept me from relaxing. “How do we know it will take us to the right time?”
“I don’t,” Cutter admitted. “But we can always try again.”
“At least until the bombs drop,” Hart pointed out.
“Couldn’t we just stay in the Permian?” I asked.
Cutter shook his head. “We know the anomaly opens to two different times in the Permian, what we don’t know is how many years apart they are. Ryan’s,” he paused when I winced at his words. “The graves we found at the camp were decades old, if not more.”
“It’s got to be better than staying here,” I replied, my gaze once more drawn back towards London.
“Why don’t we have a look around once we get through and decide then?” Hart said, putting his two-pence in and acting as a mediator between myself and Cutter.
Cutter frowned, opened his mouth, noticed Hart’s worried expression and turned back to me, his gaze considering, before he nodded. “OK.”
I wasn’t sure that I wanted to know what Hart was thinking, or Cutter for that matter, what I did know was that I was finding it harder and harder to resist my need to sleep.
***
I woke to hands gently shaking me and I found myself gazing at the whirling, shattered shards of an open anomaly. “Where does it open to?”
Cutter didn’t reply, instead he tensed and I realised the anomaly was rippling as if someone - something was coming through. Cutter crouched beside me, pointing my pistol at the anomaly and I could only hope whatever came through the anomaly was friendly or at least not actively wanting to eat me.
“It opens to the Permian,” Hart declared as he stepped back through, raising his hands slightly when he realised Cutter was aiming at him. “Hey, Nick, it’s me.”
Cutter gave a strange noise, a sudden exhale of air mixed with… I wasn’t quite sure what. Not that I wondered for long, rather closing my eyes and doing my best to ignore their reunion, after all, there were some things I didn’t want to see.
After several seconds and noises which threatened to harm my mental health, I cleared my throat noisily. “Gentlemen, can I remind you that there is an imminent nuclear strike...” I only risked opening my eyes again when I heard a muttered curse and met the unrepentant gaze of Hart. My gaze drifted to the flushed-looking Cutter and I decided I really didn’t want to know. “Chop, chop, gentlemen.”
I soon had cause to regret my words when both men hauled me to my feet, the world greying out once more as I swayed in their grasp. I gathered what was left of my strength and took as much of my own weight as I could. I nodded to both men and took a step towards the anomaly.
“Wait,” Hart called out. “Let me go back through with the kit first. If I don’t come back, follow me through.”
I just managed to bite back the snark that Hart was still a bloody martyr and instead took the opportunity to take one final look at the world I was leaving behind.
“Time's up,” Cutter muttered.
I didn’t reply, for I knew he was not really talking to me. Instead I took another step towards the anomaly and swallowed. I had hoped my first trip through would be to somewhere safe, with well-armed soldiers at my side for protection, not into a world full of predators with only the dubious protection provided by a mad-cap scientist and his suicidally-inclined assistant. Actually, I had hoped never to step foot through one, I had enough cold-blooded and remorseless enemies in this time without adding prehistoric ones.
That being said, I still reached out a hand in curiosity, my fingertips just brushing a spinning shard and I shivered at the sensation of not-cold. I heard Cutter’s amused snort at my reaction and determinately stepped into the anomaly. The not-cold sent tingles along my nerves and I gasped as I stepped through. The muddy and dank Forest of Dean had become dry desert heat and I couldn’t help looking around like a child. I quickly gathered both my wits and facade before I moved further into the Permian, after all, I had no idea if radiation would leak through these bloody holes in time.
The sand shifted beneath my feet and I knew my shoes would be good only for the bin if we ever returned home, even if home wouldn’t really be home. I shook my head, no need to tempt a migraine to add to my woes. Instead, I forced myself to concentrate and took a more analytical look around. It all looked the same - sand and rocks with sparse vegetation. “Which way, Professor?” I asked, the fear I already knew the answer being confirmed when he didn’t reply instantly. “I see.”
“I think it is that way,” Cutter finally replied.
“Really?” I said.
“I’m reasonably certain,” Cutter said and I could hear the defensiveness in his voice.
“Excellent,” I said before easing myself onto the ground, trying not to think of where all the sand would end up and ruing the loss of yet another suit to this project.
“James?” Cutter sounded worried and knelt beside me.
“I’m fine.” I raised an eyebrow at him before adding, “May I remind you that this is the other side of the anomaly and I’m taking the opportunity to rest.”
Hart snorted, obviously remembering that they had both promised I could do so. Cutter just sighed and shook his head before passing me the water bottle. “Five minutes.”
I shook my head. “Oh no, Professor,” I said. “I’m not about to slog through this sand just for you to tell me we’re in the wrong time and have to come back here.”
“He has a point.” Hart spoke both reluctantly and apologetically.
“Fine,” Cutter snapped. “I’ll go and find it.”
“Nick!”
“No, Stephen, I have to go, I’m the only one who saw the camp.”
“Excellent,” I said. “Oh, and Cutter.”
“Yes?”
“Do try and keep from getting eaten.” I ignored the twin looks both men shot me as I attempted to find a comfortable position on the sand. “Are you still here, Cutter? Chop, chop.”
***
I wasn’t aware of falling asleep or of having been moved, but knew I must have been when I opened my eyes and found myself in a patch of vegetation and rocks. I felt water dripped into my parched mouth and licked my dry lips.
“Easy,” Hart’s voice spoke softly in my ear. “Now, I need to you try and eat something.”
“Not another bloody energy bar,” I groused back, although it was breathless at best, and I managed only a few bites.
“We’ll rest here until you’re stronger,” Cutter announced and as much as I wanted to argue that we didn’t have time, I lacked the strength. I realised I must have said something when his hand gripped my arm and he added, “We’re in the past, James, we've all the time in the world.”
I was unsure of how many days we tarried, only knowing it had been several. Days I was not sure we had to spare and I couldn’t help the guilt which gripped me. I had known I would slow them down when I had told them to leave me behind, knowing it would be my fault if we failed.
I had taken to short walks to build my strength, even if I still tired easily. It was dusk and I chose to take a different path than usual, one that I had seen Hart and Cutter take and return looking grim. I stopped and stared at the sight, bowing my head at the graves, and knew this was one more thing I hadn’t prevented.
I heard movement behind me but didn’t react, not until I felt a hand squeeze my shoulder and heard Cutter’s voice, soft for once. “This isn’t your fault, James.”
“If we’d been faster.” If they hadn’t dragged me along with them, if they’d left me at the ARC or even that bloody cottage, they might have been in time. They might have saved Ry… the soldiers.
“They were dead before we got here,” Cutter informed me. “We think about a week. Before we left the ARC in our own timeline.”
“Nick?” Hart called out, his voice edged with worry. “Where are you?”
“At the graves,” Cutter called back.
Hart skidded down the slope and I frowned at the grey creature in his hand. “One of the babies?” I had forgotten in my grief and guilt that we had needed to hunt them down. That the waiting hadn’t only been for me to gain strength served to lift some of the guilt from my shoulders. Some but not all for I had still failed. If only I’d realised Leek was a traitor, if only I had ordered Helen shot on sight, if only… there were so many and I cut those thoughts off, for only madness lay that way.
“The last baby,” Hart declared. “Time to go home.”
I nodded. Time to see if we had changed anything, for if these graves had been here for a week before we’d arrived… that was a week for the baby Predators to change whatever it was they had changed the first time. In that case, our trip back in time would have been for nothing. Unless we arrived back earlier than the bunker incident and all this thinking about time was making my head ache.
The roar of something large shattered the air and scattered my increasingly bleak thoughts. I turned towards the sound, gasping at the large Gorgonopsid standing on the top of a nearby hill. The wind blew the stench of rotting meat towards us and I knew if the wind changed direction that the beast would smell us.
Cutter grabbed my arm and tugged me slowly back up the path, away from the graves and back to the campsite. Hart waited for a moment before following us, his gaze never leaving the Gorgonopsid until we were over the hill and out of its sight. He shouldered what I assumed was his backpack and shoved a second at Cutter. “We need to go,” Hart muttered.
I bit back my comment about him stating the obvious when I heard the Gorgonopsid roar again, closer this time, and realised that even if the wind didn’t change that it was still heading towards us. It took me far longer than I was happy with to realise Hart had left my backpack in the camp and I stopped. “My backpack.”
“We’ve got enough supplies,” Hart informed me. “It will only slow us down,” he added when I still didn’t move.
“My briefcase is in it,” I informed him.
Hart gave me a look of disbelief. “We’ll get you a new one.”
“Assuming you don’t already have the same briefcase through the anomaly,” Cutter added.
Bloody hell, they didn’t understand, I wasn’t after it merely because it had been expensive. “It’s got the proof in it.”
“Fuck!” Hart said, glancing back towards our camp before nodding. “Keep going,” he ordered Cutter.
“Stephen?” Cutter said, reaching out a hand and if I hadn’t already known they were together, I would have to be blind not to see it now.
“I’ll be fine,” Hart said, glancing at me for a moment before stepping into Cutter’s personal space and kissing him, hard.
I waited several seconds before clearing my throat. “Gentlemen.”
Hart and Cutter reluctantly pulled apart before Hart nodded. “Take care of him, Lester.”
I fixed Hart with my haughtiest look. “Cutter?” I murmured, distaste clear in my voice. “Oh no, my dear boy, he’s your responsibility. Are you still here?”
Hart grinned before dashing back the way we’d come and I could only hope he reached the camp before the Gorgonopsid, otherwise all our efforts would be in vain. I had little time to worry for Cutter forced me to walk and putting one foot in front of the other took all my concentration and strength.
“Thank fuck!”
I heard Cutter exclaim and then I felt my free arm slung over a shoulder and I found myself half-dragged across the desert. I had to assume Hart had returned with, I hoped, my briefcase, but I had no energy left to enquire.
Every breath hurt now and I knew I was slowing my companions down. I didn’t have the breath to spare to suggest they left me behind, not when I knew they wouldn’t, not with the Gorgonopsid following us. I could almost feel its breath on my neck and knew it had to be gaining on us far too quickly for my peace of mind.
I felt someone - Hart I believe - turn, dragging myself and Cutter with him, and then we were slogging up a slope. I forced my disobedient feet to obey, one foot in front of the other, but I was rapidly running out of reserves and couldn’t say I was surprised when my knees buckled. I heard the grunts of my companions and felt myself dragged forwards.
***
Sudden cold roused me and I shivered as the spinning shards of an anomaly caressed my skin. I could only hope that it led back to the Forest of Dean, that and that someone was waiting on the other side with weapons.
And then I was through, feeling the damp of an English summer refreshing on my skin after the desert heat, and found myself dragged to one side before I was allowed to collapse onto my knees, my chest aching as I gasped for breath. I heard Hart yell out “Incoming” and heard the welcome sound of gunfire.
“Nick?” I heard Ms Lewis... or possibly Ms Brown if we had made it to Cutter’s original timeline, asked Cutter. “Where's Helen?”
“Helen,” I mumbled beneath my breath, frowning for I recalled Helen had returned with Cutter… was that the change we had made to the timeline?
“She didn't come back?” Cutter asked, sounding puzzled and I knew he was wondering whether we’d made it back and who he was talking to. I just hoped he didn’t ask, for that would rather bugger our plan up.
“No. You didn’t see her when you found Lester?”
I tuned out their conversation when my gaze fell on one of the soldiers and I just stared at Ryan. Had we travelled that far back that he was still alive or had he not died in the Permian on this timeline? I had to know and called out his name, only for Hart to squeeze my shoulder in warning as he hissed for me to be careful. I wasn’t a fool and wouldn’t let slip we were from another timeline… I frowned when the implications of what Ryan had said sunk into my befuddled brain - my double had been rather conveniently kidnapped, allowing me to just step into his life. Either the universe was conspiring with us or someone else - Helen my mind helpfully provided - was… and well, I rather doubted she was aiding us for the good of humanity. So… if Helen was behind it, what was her game and could we stop it? That thought had me attempting, and failing, to stand. Instead I slumped back to my knees, one hand pressed against my aching chest, and felt hands tighten on my shoulders once more.
“Easy, sir,” Ryan said, his hands squeezing my shoulder before he turned and roared, “Ditzy! Get your arse over here!”
I smiled, hoping that meant his concern was for more than his commanding officer… but I also knew I’d have to wait for him to make the first move, even after the months without him in my life. I frowned, if I was right about us being together, I would need all my faculties if I was to deceive him, for he was no fool and I was not the man he had held in his arms so many times before. Not that I liked the thought of lying to Ryan but, well, it wouldn’t be the first time I had lied to a lover. I just hoped this time would end better for both of us.
“Here, boss,” Ditzy said, and his cold hands both interrupted my musings and had me wincing as he examined my chest. “Easy, sir,” he muttered as my skin twitched beneath his fingers.
“Ditzy?” Ms Lewis… Brown… whoever she was said, and I shook my aching head, questions of existence were definitely something to be puzzled over another day. Whoever she was sounded worried as she asked, “How is Sir James?”
I smiled softly, Cutter had muttered that I’d been knighted in his timeline, I believe in an attempt to rile me. I had so many questions that needed to be answered so I could plan our next move in this game with Helen, but I knew from the greyness creeping into my vision that I wouldn’t be able to obtain those answers, not yet anyway. All I could hope was that Cutter and Hart could improvise and that they remembered to inform me of what they’d said. I snorted softly, remembering that they never obeyed orders. As I reluctantly surrendered to unconsciousness, I thought I heard Ryan’s voice, soft in my ear, even if I couldn’t be sure that it wasn’t wishful thinking. “I’ve got you, James.”
Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4