Fic - How To Save A Life
Title: How To Save A Life
Author: rollieo122
Fandom: Primeval
Characters: Becker and Matt mainly, Abby, Connor, Lester and Jess mentioned.
Rating: Erm... 12-ish, I guess?
Word Count: ~2775 words
Summary: Matt gets knocked through an anomaly by accident, Becker goes through to save him.
Disclaimer: Don't own, never will. It's property of ITV and various other people, I'm only borrowing them. They will be returned shortly, in the state I acquired them in. Also, title comes from the song of the same name by The Fray.
Spoilers: I don't think there are any.
Author's Note: This is my contribution to the challenge on beckermattslash . I blame the fact that this is so late on the fact that my laptop is currently dead, and I had started writing it on that. So yeah. And also the fact that I procrastinate A LOT. Oh yeah, I apologise for the tackiness of the last line. Anyway, onto the story.
~ + ~ + ~
They had the creature completely surrounded in the darkened old warehouse; the only light in the room was coming from the few torches the team had, and the glowing anomaly, which was still open. The anomaly probably couldn’t have lit the whole room, even if Matt hadn’t been standing in front of it. So far, they hadn’t been able to tell what the creature was as it was so dark, only that it probably wasn’t human friendly, hence the raised EMDs of Abby, Matt and Becker, while Connor was trying to sort out the anomaly locking device.
“…Does anyone know what kind of creature we’re dealing with yet?” Becker asked, his EMD still trained on the creature, which was beginning to get a bit restless in his opinion.
“It’s a bit dark, Becker…” Abby said.
“You think I hadn’t noticed that?”
“Well, from the way you walked into the wall earlier…” Becker glared at her, though the effect was lost in the dark.
“That wasn’t me! It was Connor!” The man in question spluttered indignantly, though he wisely decided to keep his mind on the task at hand: trying to work out how to shut the anomaly when he couldn’t see what he was doing.
“Yeah, well, that’s as maybe, but it looks distressed to me, whatever it is…” Matt said smoothly, trying to calm the situation. He knew they were only joking, but as the conditions were poor, they needed to be completely sure of what they were doing. “How’re you doing on locking this thing, Connor?”
“Well, aside from the fact that I can’t see a thing, very well…” Connor replied.
“Excellent. And if you’d like to hurry up so we can get this thing back where it belongs and close the anomaly, that would be much appreciated…” Becker muttered, inclining the muzzle of his EMD towards the creature briefly.
Suddenly the creature, obviously irritated by the light from the torch attached to the EMD, span around quickly, catching Becker in the stomach with its tail and propelling him into the wall behind him. Great start to the day… Becker thought as he lay on the ground, trying to get his breath back after the creature winded him.
“Becker!” Abby yelled, obviously worried about the soldier.
Matt hastily shushed her. “Abby, we’re in a small confined space, the creature is obviously distressed; making loud noises is not going to help…” he hissed. He was about to walk over to Becker to check he was alright when the creature spun around again, startled by Abby’s yell, and knocked him through the anomaly with its tail.
Becker had just managed to get himself into a sitting position in time to see Matt fly through the anomaly. He cursed inwardly. This was going to be interesting. He was just waiting for Jess to start shrieking at them through their earpieces that she’d lost Matt’s signal.
He sprang to his feet, and ran back out of the warehouse to the car, returning a minute or two later with a backpack. He picked up his EMD and walked towards the anomaly.
“Becker?” Abby said. “What are you doing?”
“What does it look like? I’m going through the anomaly to get Matt!” he replied shortly.
“But… but what about your rule about not going through?” Connor asked, looking up at the soldier’s outline in the dim light coming from the anomaly.
“We don’t know what kind of conditions are on the other side of that anomaly, and Matt might be injured. Can you imagine what Lester would say if we were to leave him there in God knows what shape, in a territory we’ve no idea about? We don’t even know what the creature is yet!” Becker shrugged. “Besides, I owe it to him to go and get him; it is my fault he’s through there in the first place…”
“Becker, you can’t blame yourself for everything that goes wrong…” Abby sighed. She knew there was no chance of her trying to dissuade the soldier though. She nodded, knowing that what he was trying to do made some sense.
Knowing that he’d got her approval, he nodded. “After I’ve gone through, I want you to try to persuade the creature to follow me, then lock the anomaly after it, if you get it through. After that, wait 2 hours before opening the anomaly for 15 minutes. I think that should be enough time. If we don’t come back in that time, lock it again, and do the same thing 2 hours later. Is that clear?”
Connor stood up and patted him on the shoulder. “I’m sure he’ll be fine, and you’ll bring him back safely…” he said.
“Yeah, well…” Becker turned away from Connor and Abby and started to walk towards the anomaly.
“Becker, wait…” Abby called after him. He turned back to her. “Be careful…”
“I will.” He saluted her, before turning sharply on his heel and stepping through the anomaly.
After he’d disappeared, Abby sighed. Connor ran a hand through his hair. “I hope he knows what he’s doing…” he said.
“So do I, Con, so do I…” she replied.
~ + ~ + ~
Becker took a deep breath as he stepped through the anomaly, knowing that the last time he’d been through one he’d lost a member of the team. No, don’t think like that, Becker… he thought to himself. I am going to get Matt back, and he is going to be alive. Otherwise I’ll never hear the end of it from Lester.
Pulling himself out of his thoughts, he finally took the chance to look at his surroundings. Everything was so colourful, and he could see what looked like raptors flying about overhead. Thank God we’ve not got the future predators to deal with… Becker almost smiled at the sight. So, the past. Hopefully nothing too deadly, and at least we have a chance of knowing what we’re up against… Then Becker reminded himself of the task at hand: finding Matt.
Looking back to ground level, the soldier scanned the area around him for the Irishman. “Matt?” he called cautiously, taking a couple of steps forward and patrolling the area with his EMD. “Matt?” he called again, slightly louder. He was starting to get worried now, especially as it was his fault Matt had been knocked through the anomaly.
Speaking of the anomaly…he thought, turning back towards it, noticing it was locked. He wondered if Abby and Connor had managed to get the creature through yet. Considering he hadn’t heard anything behind him, he guessed not.
Becker span around sharply at the sound of cracking twigs behind him, pointing his EMD in the direction the noise came from, before sighing in relief.
“Jesus, Matt, don’t creep up on me like that..!” Becker exclaimed, loosening his grip on the EMD slightly.
Matt smirked. “Now what would be the fun in being rational and telling you where I was?” He clapped the soldier on the shoulder. “Come on, Becker, live a little!”
Becker snorted. “Right. I’m meant to be ok with you sneaking up on me, when we’re both through here, where there are all kinds of dangerous things around that could easily injure us? Where we could quite easily be killed?” Becker took a deep breath before he continued, in a deadly quiet voice. “I have lost far too many people already; I am not prepared to lose any more!” He ran a hand through his hair, exhaling forcefully. “Sorry. I just… You could have been dead, and it would have been my fault… I… don’t know what I’d do if someone else…” He sighed again.
Matt put a hand on the younger man’s shoulder. “I’m sorry. I should have thought more about that…”
Becker smiled weakly. “It’s ok. I haven’t been through an anomaly since… since the last rescue mission… I think I… got a little over-emotional…” Becker ran a hand over his face, reigning in his emotions, before he looked properly at Matt. “Are you ok? Are you injured at all?” he asked.
“I’m fine… maybe a bit bruised, but I’m fine…” Matt replied. He frowned. “What about you? You look like the thing walloped you pretty hard against the wall…”
“I’m ok, much the same as you…”
Becker looked back towards the anomaly, and Matt echoed his action. “They closed it, huh?” he said.
“Yeah, I told them to. Didn’t want anything else coming through…” Becker replied.
Matt nodded. “How long have we got until it’s opened again?”
Becker looked at his watch. “Just about an hour and three quarters, I’d say… You think we-” He stopped mid sentence, watching Matt, who looked worriedly over his shoulder. Becker turned around slowly to see a herd of creatures stampeding, and running towards them.
“Time to run?” Matt said, already turning around to run.
“Right behind you…” Becker replied, as they ran towards the hills that were nearby.
Glancing behind them quickly as they ran, Becker could see the creatures getting closer. “They’re catching up on us…” he commented breathlessly.
“I know… We’ve got to keep going!” Matt looked around for a place where they could hide. “Look! There’s a cave in that hill over there; that could be a good place…”
Becker saw the place Matt indicated. “Lead the way, then…”
They were almost there when Becker was grabbed by a creature that had managed to catch up with him. “Matt!” he yelled, as he was pulled off the ground, dropping the EMD and his backpack in the process. He could feel the animal’s hot breath on his back.
Matt stopped and turned around when he heard his name. He gasped as he saw Becker dangling from the creature’s mouth. “Hang on, Becker!” he shouted.
Becker shook his head. “Don’t worry about me, I’ll be fine! Get to that cave and stay up there, where you’ll be safe!”
Matt never got a chance to reply, as Becker was flung across the landscape by the creature, landing hard on the ground after crashing through a tree.
Making his decision, Matt ran over to the EMD on the ground and picked it up, shooting the creature that had grabbed Becker. Smiling with satisfaction as it fell to the ground, he picked the backpack up and slung it over his shoulder, before he ran over to where Becker was lying motionless on the ground.
“Becker… Becker, can you hear me?” he said, shaking the man gently. He tried again when he got no response. While he waited for a response from the other man, Matt looked for injuries. He could see numerous cuts and scratches through rips in his clothes, and there was a cut on his head which was bleeding profusely. Opening the backpack, Matt saw a first aid kit near the top. Always prepared, as usual… he thought. As he tended to the visible injuries while he waited for Becker to regain consciousness, Matt thought about what could have caused the creatures to stampede.
Eventually, Becker began to regain consciousness. He groaned slightly as he opened his eyes, looking up at Matt’s face.
“Nice of you to rejoin us, Becks…” he said, smirking slightly. “Did you enjoy your flight?”
Becker rolled his eyes. “Oh yeah, sure, it was fantastic…” he replied sarcastically.
“Good to know.” Matt suddenly turned more serious. “From what I can see, the tree did quite a number on you… Where else does it hurt?”
“…Pretty much everywhere, really. I mean, it even hurts to think..!”
Matt snorted. “You think too hard, soldier boy… Surely you knew one day you’d injure yourself..?” He smirked at the glare Becker sent his way, which was ruined by the pain he could see in the soldier’s eyes. “But seriously though. Anything hurt that I can do something about?”
“Probably not anything that you can really do much about with the first aid kit…” Becker replied, sighing, but wincing when he did.
Matt looked worried, but accepted the answer. “We probably need to move higher up, in case they decide to stampede again. Do you think you’d be up to walking?”
“Do I have much choice?”
“I guess not. Unless you want me to carry you…”
Becker smirked. “That could potentially cause more trouble than it’s worth. Besides, we can’t have you ruining my image, can we?”
“Point taken.” Matt stood up, and offered a hand to Becker. “Need any help?”
Becker reached up to take the proffered hand, wincing slightly as he did so, and allowed Matt to pull him to his feet. “Thanks…” he said, as Matt slung his arm over his shoulder.
“No problem…” Matt replied. He smiled. “Besides, we can’t have you ruining your image by falling over, can we?” Becker chuckled lightly at the statement.
Before they began to move, Matt looked at the anomaly, then checked his watch. “We’ve got about an hour and a quarter before they open it again. Hopefully, nothing will happen to us between now and then…” he commented.
“Hopefully…” Becker replied, before they started their slow progress up the hill towards the little cave they had been aiming for earlier.
~ + ~ + ~
A little while later, they reached the cave, and Matt helped an exhausted Becker to the ground carefully before dropping the backpack and dropping down next to him, placing the EMD carefully on the floor. He grabbed the first aid pack out of the backpack again and turned to the younger man.
“Mind if I take a look at your other injuries? I’ll see what I can do to help, ok?” Matt asked.
“Go for it, I don’t mind…”
Matt nodded. “I’ll be as gentle as I can. Can you keep an eye on how long we have left and the anomaly for me?”
Becker nodded minutely. “Sure.” Sitting as still as was possible, he allowed Matt to continue with his ministrations, only flinching or wincing occasionally.
As he said, Matt tried to be as gentle as he could, and as such was concentrating so hard on cleaning some of the more vicious looking cuts that he could do nothing more for that he missed what Becker had said.
“What did you say..?” Matt asked, looking up from the cut on Becker’s back he was currently applying antiseptic cream to.
“I said I’m sorry, Matt…” Becker repeated. “If it wasn’t for me, we wouldn’t be through here and…”
Matt carefully placed down the tube of antiseptic and wiped the excess from his hands on the other man’s skin before he crawled around so he was kneeling in front of him. “Don’t worry about it; I know it wasn’t intentional… You need to stop blaming yourself for everything that goes wrong; it’s not your fault!” Matt put his hands on either side of Becker’s face and forced him to look at him. He rested his forehead against the other man’s and looked into his eyes. “Don’t worry about us so much, Becker. I know you feel it’s your job to protect us, but we’re all responsible adults; we do know what we’re doing.” He thought for a second. “Well, most of the time, anyway…”
Becker smiled, chuckling slightly. “Thank you.”
“No problem, mate.” Matt pulled away, turning to look at his watch. “I think we probably ought to make a move; the anomaly’s due to open in about 20 minutes, isn’t it?”
Becker looked at his watch. “Yeah, something like that.” The soldier watched as the Irishman packed the first aid kit away and replaced it in the backpack, before slinging it over his shoulder. Picking up the EMD and holding it in one hand, he extended his other hand to help Becker up.
“Shall we?” Matt said.
~ + ~ + ~
Almost as soon as the anomaly re-opened in front of their eyes, the creature that was the reason they were on the wrong side of the anomaly charged through.
Matt smirked. “At least that’s back home now and we don’t have to worry about it any more…” he said.
“Yeah…” Becker looked vaguely thoughtful for a minute. He knew that both he and Matt would probably get a huge bollocking from Lester, but he didn’t really care at that moment. “You know, although it could have been under better circumstances, I feel we’ve bonded a bit in the past couple of hours…” he said.
Matt raised an eyebrow. “So much for not blowing your image, huh? You realise how clichéd that sounds, right?” Becker shrugged, smiling. Matt also smiled. “I do see your point though; I think we have too…”
And so, with smiles on their faces, they walked back through the anomaly, ready to face whatever came at them together.