Fic - Aftershock (part 2 of 7)
Title: Aftershock
Author: prehistoriccat
Rating: T
Characters/Pairings: Abby (with references to Abby/Connor) Matt (with references to Matt/Emily) Nathan Somerville (OC)
Genre: Angst, Gen
Disclaimer: Characters are not mine, no copyright is intended
Warnings: Contains spoilers for series 5, also multiple deaths of canon characters.
A/N: Written for angstbigbang Thanks to my wonderful beta reader evenstar_estel and to the awesomeluvconnor for the artwork
Abby and Matt are the only survivors after Philip's anomaly has managed to destroy everything - or are they?
He tried to call out to them, but his throat was too sore and the sound was barely audible. They were his only hope and somehow he had to go after them, even though every breath he took was a forced gasp.
It wasn't the first time Nathan Somerville had seen these people - he'd been watching them for almost three years now. He was determined to get answers and find who was responsible for the death of his childhood friend. The bunch of scientists and soldiers seemed to be the only ones who would be able to help him.
He'd only been fourteen when it happened. The glowing light of the gateway haunted virtually every waking moment, and the sight of Daniel being ripped to shreds by a pack of dog-like creatures plagued his nightmares. The doctors had told him that his memory of events was not reliable; the boys had been under the influence of the cheap cider Nathan had stolen from his older brother and Daniel had been killed by a pack of dogs belonging to the Gamekeeper on the private Estate that the boys had wandered onto that afternoon. Nathan quickly learnt to let people think that was the truth so that they'd leave him alone; but he knew what he'd seen and he wasn't going to rest.
And now, five years on, Nathan had found himself caught up in something he couldn't explain. The world had gone crazy in the last few hours. Those lights were appearing everywhere and prehistoric creatures were rampaging through the streets. He'd watched the power station collapse in front of his very eyes and a giant ball of light appear in it's place, and then the Irish guy drove into it and did something that made it disappear. The Scientists all left, looking very pleased with themselves, and the skies were clearing. It seemed it was all over.
Then, as he was making his way back to the road, the air began to crackle. He turned, and saw a disturbance in the air where the huge gateway had been. At first he thought it was going to reappear, but it didn't. Something was wrong, terribly wrong. Nathan could feel the energy in the air and he just knew he had to try and warn those Scientists. He ran in the direction he'd seen them go, hoping they'd headed back towards the building that seemed to be their headquarters. He stumbled, and as he scrambled to his feet he glanced back to where the power station had been. The air shimmered and seemed to be pulsing, and a wave of energy was bursting from the core spreading outwards at a rapid pace whilst the ground began to shake and rumble. He had no idea what it was, but he decided he didn't want to wait around to find out. He found a hole in the ground covered by a cast iron lid; something to do with the power station. With only seconds to spare, he had managed to jump inside and pull the lid over himself.
He emerged some time later, coughing and spluttering. He sensed that everything had changed; the eerie silence around him made him shiver and his skin became goose bumped. His chest tightened as he struggled for air and suddenly realised the reason for the silence - everything else had died. His gut reaction was to use his asthma inhaler, and it did help a little, enough to get him to another out building. Inside he found some face masks with air filters on, similar to the sort surgeons wore to stop them breathing infected air into an open wound. It wouldn't be perfect, but it would do until he could find somewhere safe with breathable air.
As he wandered into town, he blinked back tears. The devastation around him was too much to take in; any minute now he'd wake up from this nightmare. Bodies everywhere; barely recognisable as human and the air smelt heavily of sulphur. That was when he saw them, two of the Scientists, the Irish guy and the blonde girl. They were loading food into a car - there was hope! If they were alive then maybe others were too.
He bit down on his bottom lip, determined not to cry as he watched the car drive away. He would find them; he had to. His own survival depended on it.
-o-
Abby had spent the last hour in the Menagerie. She'd told Matt she was worried about the creatures because they'd been so unsettled when she'd left them, and he believed her. Truth was, she needed to be on her own for a while. Her world had been shattered into a thousand pieces. It was only a few hours ago that she and Connor had finally sorted out their issues of the last few months, and from somewhere deep inside she had finally released whatever it was that had held her back from giving herself to him completely. There was a new hope there, and she was allowing herself to think there was a future for them; marriage, a baby - both were more than just a possibility.
But now, Connor was dead and that future had gone. She was alone, and for the first time in her life that wasn't what she wanted. Deep down she knew she had to remain strong if she was going to survive, but what good was staying alive without the one person she wanted to be alive with?
She wasn't one for crying; showing your emotions had been seen as a weakness when she was growing up and she took that into her adult life. It had been Connor that had shown her that it was OK to show someone how you felt occasionally. Now she couldn't hold her tears back any longer. Burying her head in her arms, she leaned on the desk and let them flow.
“Why?” she screamed out angrily, banging her fist down and making the objects on the desk jump. Her entire body shook violently as her sobs grew louder and almost choked her. She waited for comforting arms to fold around her, but knew none would come.
-o-
Matt had tried to convince Abby to stay with him in the panic room, but secretly he was grateful to have some time alone with his own thoughts. He'd only known these people for a year or so, but they were like family.
When he came here, he'd never expected to get close to anyone. Relationships of any kind were the last thing on his mind. He had a single focus; to find out who destroyed the world by interfering with the anomalies and stop them. It could have been any one of them, and he had to remain detached to make his task easier. He hadn't bargained on Emily though. Somehow, she'd connected with him, despite their lives being worlds apart. He wished he'd allowed himself to do something about that connection now. He would never know what it would be like to feel her soft skin on his fingertips, or the warmth of her lips on his. Now he knew why his father had tried to warn him about getting too close. It hurt too much when you lost someone.
Crying wasn't something Matt did. He'd learnt from a young age that emotions just got in the way of the job in hand. But he now realised that all those years of bottling it up wasn't good for him and it was all flooding out. His head felt like it was about to explode, and the anguished sob that fell from his mouth didn't sound like his voice at all. Tears felt almost alien to him, as did this feeling of being completely alone and lost.
He had no idea how many minutes had passed when his thoughts were interrupted by a banging sound. It wasn't coming from the door, so it wasn't Abby wanting to come back in; it seemed further away from within the ARC itself. He listened, and it came again. It wasn't rhythmic, it was an insistent banging like someone was trying to attract his attention - and they'd certainly got it.
Grabbing his oxygen mask, Matt stuck his head out of the door and listened again, trying to decide where the sound was coming from. Abby had heard it too, and she was making her way across the loading bay area towards the large external doors where she took deliveries of food for the menagerie.
“There's someone out there!” she hissed. Matt nodded. There was someone else alive in this nightmare, and they were obliged to help. He pulled across the giant bolt securing the door and switched on the emergency power so that the electronic security lock could also be undone.
Abby pulled the heavy door open and he fell in; a pathetic, scrawny looking youth, probably no more than18 years old. His face was blackened with the dirt in the air and his cheeks stained with the trails of tears that had flowed. He was struggling to breathe, and grabbed at Abby's oxygen mask desperately, choking and trying to speak.
“Shh, it's OK,” Abby soothed, pulling her mask from her mouth and placing it over his. “Try to calm down and take long, deep breaths. You'll feel better once you have some air in you.” The panic in his eyes seemed to disappear as Abby spoke and she smiled down at him, reaching for his hand and squeezing it.
“We should get him into the panic room,” Matt said, pushing the door closed and sealing it again. Abby moved away so that Matt could scoop the young man into his arms and she held the mask over his mouth as they carried him into the safety of the room. He was already breathing more easily by the time Matt placed him on the bed, so Abby took the mask off and held a cup of water to his lips.
“Thank you,” he rasped.
“I'm Matt Anderson, and this is Abby Maitland... who are you and what on earth were you doing out there?”
“Nathan, Nathan Somerville. I was at... I saw the power station explode...” His words were cut off by his choking cough, and Abby made him take more water. She exchanged a look with Matt; if this young man had seen New Dawn collapse, then what else did he know?
“You can explain properly when you feel better, Nathan,” Abby said. “Right now, I think we all need to try and eat something and then get some sleep. It's been a long day.”
“Abby's right. I'll see what we have to eat that doesn't need to be cooked. I haven't found the camping stove yet.” Matt raised a smile, it was almost a relief to be thinking about practicalities instead of those he had lost. He foraged around in the boxes of food they'd taken from the supermarket and found some bags of crisps and nuts, some biscuits and a large slab of chocolate. It would do for now.
They ate in silence. No-one really knew what to say anyway. Matt began to hunt around for blankets and something they could use for pillows; the panic room was built for survival purposes, there should be something. Becker had equipped it with foil survival blankets which Matt passed over to Abby and Nathan, but nothing that could pass for pillows.
“These are great for distracting Raptors,” Abby said absently. “Connor lost his after just a few weeks in the Cretaceous, so we ended up sharing mine and...” She choked back her sobs and turned away from Matt, pretending to be having problems unfolding her blanket.
“Nathan can have the bed tonight, Abby you can take the chair,” Matt said, sensing Abby's need to have a moment for her own thoughts.
“What about you, Matt?” Abby said, pulling herself together. “You need to sleep too.”
“I'll be OK on the floor in the corner. This is just like being home for me.” He forced a smile; this really was like home. In the future that he had come from, living like this was the norm. He had moved from underground bunker to bunker, taking minimal food and water when he could.
“Matt...” Abby started to argue, but he gave her a look that told her to let it go. Nathan was already drifting asleep. Abby sighed. “Poor kid, he's exhausted.”
“I think we all are. We need to get some rest so we can have clear heads tomorrow. The air in here isn't going to stay breathable for much longer; we may only have a few hours to try and work out how we can sort all of this out,” Matt said softly.
Abby nodded, and curled herself into the chair beside the bed. She pulled the foil blanket around her and closed her eyes, remembering the last time she'd wrapped herself in one. Things had seemed pretty hopeless then too, and it had all worked out. Perhaps it would this time too?
Matt settled himself into the corner, propping his body against a cupboard. He listened to the slightly wheezy breathing of Nathan, and then the soft rhythmic breathing of Abby. Sleep had overcome both of them, but it would not come for Matt. This was the very nightmare he was supposed to have prevented from happening - instead, he'd simply accelerated it; killing the human race hundreds of years earlier than it had happened before. He was a failure. Everything he'd worked towards; all those years of training and personal sacrifice for nothing.
He should have realised it was Burton and Connor sooner; if he'd prevented New Dawn from being built in the first place, this wouldn't have happened. With hindsight, all the evidence was there and he should have seen it. If he could go back again, he'd make sure Connor never fell under Burton's influence. He'd have enlisted Abby's help sooner and maybe she could have stopped Connor before he started. It was all too late now though; he couldn't go back. The anomalies here were too unpredictable. Even if one opened up right now in the middle of the room, there'd be no way of knowing where or when it would take him. The anomalies in his time were a little more predictable; they'd been able to calculate exactly when the right anomaly would open to take him to the year 2003.
He glanced briefly over at the sleeping figures across the room. At least they were at peace for a while. There was an inevitability about their situation. Once the oxygen was used up in the panic room they could probably move into the menagerie, but that would only prolong things for another few hours. In just a few days, he firmly believed that the three of them would be like everyone else - dead.