[Primeval/Spooks] Fic: Shadows Falling, Team, Gen, PG-13, (9 of 13)
Fandom: Primeval/Spooks
Title: Shadows Falling (9 of 13)
Author: cordeliadelayne
Characters: From Primeval: Cutter, Stephen, Jenny, Connor, Abby, Danny, Sarah, Lester, Lorraine, Becker, and others From Spooks: Lucas, Harry, Ruth and Tariq
Rating: PG-13 for violence
Warning: Character deaths (not of anyone you've met before)
Word Count: 2,589 (Total: 32,315)
Summary: Forced to split up in order to deal with a series of anomalies at home and abroad, the ARC team soon find themselves facing their toughest challenge yet - one that will send shockwaves through time and across continents, and will ultimately threaten their very existence.
Notes: Part of my Man-Made Series which can be read here. It's not necessary to read all of that before this, though here's a handy, spoiler-rific cheat-sheet if you so desire. All you need to know about Spooks is that it's about MI5 operatives. With thanks to red_2 for help with Russian naming conventions.
Masterlist
Chapter Nine
Thames House
Lorraine had never been to Thames House before. She knew where it was, of course. She'd gone to university in London and knew it pretty well. But there was something about that area that had always given her the creeps. Ironic really that she'd then gone on to work at an even more secretive organisation.
She tried to smile at the thought, but failed miserably.
She'd had the foresight to nip into a Starbucks and get herself cleaned up - her mascara had smudged and her clothing had still been misshapen from when Lester had grabbed her. Plus she had been trying to ensure that she wasn't being followed by going on a somewhat circuitous route around London and its environs. Whether her plan worked or whether the soldiers who'd taken over the ARC just really didn't care about her, she seemed to be totally alone.
She sighed, finished her latte, tossed the cup in a bin and then strode over to Thames House. She was sure she was being watched by all manner of people on the CCTV cameras and she did wonder for a moment if Lester had meant for her to be so obvious in her approach, but she decided there was no help for it now.
“Ms Wilkes, it's good to see you.”
Lorraine looked up in surprise to see Ruth Evershed, Section D's analyst and Harry Pearce's right-hand woman waiting for her. Lorraine was immediately put at ease. In her few dealings with Ruth she'd found her to be startlingly intelligent, practical and tenacious, traits she hoped she shared.
“Ms Evershed...”
“Please, it's Ruth.” Ruth walked down a few steps, glanced around at the street and then nodded, as if to herself, before taking Lorraine gently by the elbow and leading her into the building. “Let's get you set up in Harry's office, and then you can fill us all in on what's happened.”
Lorraine nodded. “Not that it'll take long,” she said. “I don't really know anything.”
Ruth smiled grimly. “You'd be surprised how untrue that often turns out to be.”
Lorraine only hoped she was right.
The Midlands
“Abby?” Sarah asked, waving her hand in roughly the direction of where she supposed the anomaly had been. She pointedly ignored the staring contest Danny was having with Christine Johnson.
“Yeah, she went through,” Danny said after a moment. “And what do you mean, I can call you `guv'?”
Christine smiled. “Christine Johnson,” she held out her hand again which Danny ignored. “I'm the new head of the Anomaly Research Centre.”
“What about Lester?”
“He will still be there. In a supervisory capacity. For the time being.”
“How did this happen?” He glared at Christine and then over at Sarah, who just shrugged. She was as much in the dark as he was.
“The Prime Minister's Office decided that after recent events the ARC needed to be run by someone with a firmer grasp on the global ramifications of the anomaly project.”
Danny frowned. He was seconds away from telling her she was talking bollocks, but Sarah's pleading eyes made him reconsider. Still, he didn't like this. He didn’t like it one bit.
“And Lester just stepped down did he?”
Christine shrugged. “I wasn't there.”
Danny took a deep breath and then stepped back a few paces. Christine Johnson didn't seem concerned with personal space, and it was starting to grate on him.
“And you just happened to be in the neighbourhood, here, did you?”
For the first time, Christine's faux smile dropped. “Something like that.” She turned away and started to walk towards the door. “But we can discuss all that back at the ARC.”
“Hang on,” Danny said, not moving. “I'm not going anywhere until we get Abby back.”
Christine spun around on her high heels, their squeak against the concrete floor making everyone but her wince. “The loss of any personnel is a tragedy, but there really is nothing we can do now.”
“She's not dead,” Sarah said, “she's just trapped in the past.”
“Really?” Christine asked. The patronising look she threw Sarah made Sarah's face drop. It was almost as if Christine was refusing to believe them. Or that she knew something they didn't.
“Yes, really,” Danny almost growled. “And I promised Cutter...”
“You've already told him?” Christine interrupted.
Danny hesitated. “Yeah. So, what's the big deal?”
“Oh, nothing.” She wasn't fooling anybody. “I understand they aren't in the country.”
Danny and Sarah exchanged worried looks. They both came to the same conclusion. Christine Johnson wasn't the kind of woman to ask a question to which she didn't already know the answer.
“Yeah,” Danny answered finally. “They're on a plane to Russia.”
“Well, we'll see about that.”
“Meaning?”
But Christine ignored him in favour of turning towards the soldiers, who'd been watching proceedings with curious eyes. “Donovan, isn't it?”
“Yes, ma'am,” the soldier replied.
“Excellent. Take Ms Page and Mr Quinn to my car will you. We'll be heading back to the ARC shortly.”
“Now just wait a damn minute...” Danny began.
“You can't order us around...” Sarah said at almost the same time.
“I will not tolerate anything less than my direct orders being followed,” she said to Donovan, voice icy. “Is that understood?”
“Yes, ma'am,” Donovan replied, though he didn't look particularly happy about it. He shot Danny an apologetic look but Danny just snorted.
“Yeah, yeah,” he muttered. “Just following orders. Where have I heard that before?”
Sarah, looking genuinely scared for the first time, moved to stand next to Danny. She'd do whatever Danny thought was right. If he thought they should stay there and kick up a fuss, and try to find a way to get Abby back, then she would. But there were only two of them now, not including the soldiers, who didn’t seem like they were on their side any more. Which meant they were outnumbered.
After a moment Danny nodded. “Okay, back to the ARC it is.”
Donovan smiled, relieved, and moved away to give instruction to his soldiers. Danny smoothly passed by him, whispered at a startled Sarah to go along with it, then pulled his gun from where he'd tucked it in his jeans and grabbed Christine around the neck.
It all happened so fast nobody had the chance to move, least of all the soldiers who were still warily keeping an eye on a Triceratops that for the moment didn't look like it wanted to go anywhere.
“Right,” Danny said, pointing the gun at Christine's head. “How about we get some real answers?”
Somewhere in Russia
Jenny handed Connor another mug of tea, with a dash of whiskey in it this time, and watched with worried eyes as he downed it in one go. She knew right now he'd probably prefer more whiskey and less tea, but that wasn't the sort of thing she thought she should be encouraging.
Since Danny's phone call they'd all been engaged in a heated debate about what they should do. Connor was all for turning around right away and finding a way to open an anomaly. He figured since they had the technology to lock anomalies (none of them pointed out that so far that hadn't worked) then it only made sense that opening an anomaly would use a similar technique. Jenny hadn't quite followed that logic and by the look Cutter gave her, neither did he.
But the rest of them had all agreed that, despite how worried they were about Abby, she was perfectly capable of looking after herself (and Danny hadn't indicated she was injured before passing through the anomaly) and that it would simply take too long for them to return. They had landed in Russia now and they did, after all, have a job to do.
“People may be in danger here,” Stephen said, finally. He knelt down so he was eye-level with Connor's slumped form. “Abby wouldn't want them to be harmed because we were worried about her.” He put his hand on Connor's knee. “And Danny and Sarah have the whole of the ARC at their disposal. They're in a much better position to help than we are.”
After a moment's silence Connor nodded. “Yeah. Yeah, okay. But I want to talk to the technicians at the ARC as soon as I can. Get them working on a solution.”
“Of course,” Jenny said, brightly. The tight knot in her stomach slowly started to unwind. “I'll give them a call now.”
Connor nodded as Cutter patted him on the shoulder. “Everything will be fine.”
Lucas, who'd been standing in the shadows, out of the way, finally stepped forward. “So we go ahead with the original plan, then?”
Before anyone could respond though, his phone rang. And then Jenny's. Then Cutter's. Then Stephen's. And finally, Connor's. Surprised, they all looked down and read the caller ID, then exchanged concerned glances.
Thames House was calling.
The AAU
“Is this how they do things in the future?” Anatoly asked after a moment. He glanced up at the creature still hanging from the ceiling, and Stephen Hart, who was still smirking at him.
“Sometimes,” Stephen said. “I had a fairly ruthless teacher.”
Anatoly wisely remained silent. If this Stephen Hart was from a different time line perhaps his history was different from that of the Other Stephen, but Anatoly found it hard to believe that Helen Cutter's pervasive presence wasn't somehow involved in this young man's life too.
When the Russians had become aware of a British anomaly team, over a year ago, (the lucky coincidence of having one of their agents in the right place at the right time) they had gathered as much information as they possibly could on the team. And Anatoly had devoured that information. From the teams' favourite haunts, to their preferred breakfasts, to their relationship status, to their spiritual philosophies, he felt like he knew the team far better than his own family. He firmly believed that you should know your enemy to understand them, even if they were only nominally enemies.
He wondered how much, if anything, the Others knew about the Russian project, but dismissed them almost immediately. They may be intelligent but their case files showed that a remarkable amount of luck rather than skill was inherent in their ability to send creatures back through their anomalies. Their leadership also seemed spotty and haphazard and their resources were hardly on a par with the AAU's.
It only took a moment for these thoughts to flash before his eyes and when he finally focused back on the situation at hand, Stephen was staring at him curiously, head tilted at a strange angle.
“You know, I know someone who's been working on increasing humanity's perceptions. On their sixth sense. Telepathy. That kind of thing.” Anatoly startled. “Oh, don't worry, she's not quite there yet.”
“What is it you want with me?”
Stephen straightened and gave a quick motion with his fingers. The creature disappeared and Anatoly found that he could breathe again.
Stephen cleared his throat. Anatoly was surprised by the confused look on his face.“I'm supposed to want to help you. That's one of the reasons I was sent here. So you could study me. Make more hybrids.” He shook his head. “But all I feel for you is a murderous rage.”
“I don't like it either,” Anatoly said quickly. “I haven't liked it for a long time now. I was trying to get help, from the Others. When the anomaly opened...”
“Yes, that was unexpected,” Stephen agreed. “It wasn't supposed to open yet.”
“But you knew it would?”
Stephen shrugged. “I know a lot of things.” He looked around the corridor and his lips twitched. “The other anomaly, the one that goes to my time, it isn't here is it?”
Anatoly shook his head. “We can get there through the underground tunnels though. If you want.”
After a moment where Anatoly forced his body to still, barely breathing, Stephen nodded.
The ARC
James Lester paced anxiously in the gym. He was completely alone. Except of course, he silently added with a snort, for the armed guard outside the door.
He shook his head. He should have seen this coming. Or at least, he should have planned better for it. Collating the information was all very well and good but he'd never imagined an actual armed take-over, not again. He'd imagined a play of words, one upmanship in diplomatic circles, not this. He waved a hand in frustration. All very well sending Lorraine off like that but if she was stopped. Or worse. He'd never forgive himself.
He plonked himself down on one of the weight machines and then stood up again, continued his pacing. His nerves were on edge. He didn’t think that they were in mortal danger, but then again, he hadn't thought such a brazen overthrow of his position had been tenable that morning either. None of his sources had reported anything like this being on the horizon.
Lester hated to admit it, but for the moment he was outmanoeuvred. Christine Johnson was a far greater adversary than he'd given her credit for. And that may well be the undoing of the ARC program as it stood today.
He just prayed no one else would pay too grave a price for his mistake.
Somewhere, Some Place
Abby kept herself very still, although she knew she would be no match for one future predator, never mind this many. She wondered where she was, but she couldn't make out anything in the dim light apart from this cage and an empty desk off to the right. Perhaps whoever sat there normally had just popped out to make a cup of tea and would be back at any moment? That's what she was pinning her hopes on, anyway.
At least the predators didn't look like they were about to eat her, which was something. In fact after a cursory sniff of her hair they seemed to be ignoring her. Some of them had on the control device she was now so familiar with, but the majority of them did not. She wondered what that meant.
A blinding flash of light hit her eyes and she winced. She'd become so accustomed to the gloom that she hadn't realised quite how dark it actually was. Bracing herself she looked over to the light and watched, in astonishment, as an anomaly flickered into existence. A moment later an old man, using a cane to walk, came tottering out of it.
He looked over at the cage, tilted his head when he saw Abby, and then carried on towards the exit. Abby frowned, something about the man sparking a flare of recognition.
“Hey!” Abby said, flinching when the predator nearest to her startled. “Hey, you can't just leave me here!”
The man paused and turned around. “Really? I think I can.” Then he smiled, a haunted look that Abby would never forget flittering across his face, and left her alone. With only the future predators for company.
Chapter Ten
Title: Shadows Falling (9 of 13)
Author: cordeliadelayne
Characters: From Primeval: Cutter, Stephen, Jenny, Connor, Abby, Danny, Sarah, Lester, Lorraine, Becker, and others From Spooks: Lucas, Harry, Ruth and Tariq
Rating: PG-13 for violence
Warning: Character deaths (not of anyone you've met before)
Word Count: 2,589 (Total: 32,315)
Summary: Forced to split up in order to deal with a series of anomalies at home and abroad, the ARC team soon find themselves facing their toughest challenge yet - one that will send shockwaves through time and across continents, and will ultimately threaten their very existence.
Notes: Part of my Man-Made Series which can be read here. It's not necessary to read all of that before this, though here's a handy, spoiler-rific cheat-sheet if you so desire. All you need to know about Spooks is that it's about MI5 operatives. With thanks to red_2 for help with Russian naming conventions.
Masterlist
Chapter Nine
Thames House
Lorraine had never been to Thames House before. She knew where it was, of course. She'd gone to university in London and knew it pretty well. But there was something about that area that had always given her the creeps. Ironic really that she'd then gone on to work at an even more secretive organisation.
She tried to smile at the thought, but failed miserably.
She'd had the foresight to nip into a Starbucks and get herself cleaned up - her mascara had smudged and her clothing had still been misshapen from when Lester had grabbed her. Plus she had been trying to ensure that she wasn't being followed by going on a somewhat circuitous route around London and its environs. Whether her plan worked or whether the soldiers who'd taken over the ARC just really didn't care about her, she seemed to be totally alone.
She sighed, finished her latte, tossed the cup in a bin and then strode over to Thames House. She was sure she was being watched by all manner of people on the CCTV cameras and she did wonder for a moment if Lester had meant for her to be so obvious in her approach, but she decided there was no help for it now.
“Ms Wilkes, it's good to see you.”
Lorraine looked up in surprise to see Ruth Evershed, Section D's analyst and Harry Pearce's right-hand woman waiting for her. Lorraine was immediately put at ease. In her few dealings with Ruth she'd found her to be startlingly intelligent, practical and tenacious, traits she hoped she shared.
“Ms Evershed...”
“Please, it's Ruth.” Ruth walked down a few steps, glanced around at the street and then nodded, as if to herself, before taking Lorraine gently by the elbow and leading her into the building. “Let's get you set up in Harry's office, and then you can fill us all in on what's happened.”
Lorraine nodded. “Not that it'll take long,” she said. “I don't really know anything.”
Ruth smiled grimly. “You'd be surprised how untrue that often turns out to be.”
Lorraine only hoped she was right.
The Midlands
“Abby?” Sarah asked, waving her hand in roughly the direction of where she supposed the anomaly had been. She pointedly ignored the staring contest Danny was having with Christine Johnson.
“Yeah, she went through,” Danny said after a moment. “And what do you mean, I can call you `guv'?”
Christine smiled. “Christine Johnson,” she held out her hand again which Danny ignored. “I'm the new head of the Anomaly Research Centre.”
“What about Lester?”
“He will still be there. In a supervisory capacity. For the time being.”
“How did this happen?” He glared at Christine and then over at Sarah, who just shrugged. She was as much in the dark as he was.
“The Prime Minister's Office decided that after recent events the ARC needed to be run by someone with a firmer grasp on the global ramifications of the anomaly project.”
Danny frowned. He was seconds away from telling her she was talking bollocks, but Sarah's pleading eyes made him reconsider. Still, he didn't like this. He didn’t like it one bit.
“And Lester just stepped down did he?”
Christine shrugged. “I wasn't there.”
Danny took a deep breath and then stepped back a few paces. Christine Johnson didn't seem concerned with personal space, and it was starting to grate on him.
“And you just happened to be in the neighbourhood, here, did you?”
For the first time, Christine's faux smile dropped. “Something like that.” She turned away and started to walk towards the door. “But we can discuss all that back at the ARC.”
“Hang on,” Danny said, not moving. “I'm not going anywhere until we get Abby back.”
Christine spun around on her high heels, their squeak against the concrete floor making everyone but her wince. “The loss of any personnel is a tragedy, but there really is nothing we can do now.”
“She's not dead,” Sarah said, “she's just trapped in the past.”
“Really?” Christine asked. The patronising look she threw Sarah made Sarah's face drop. It was almost as if Christine was refusing to believe them. Or that she knew something they didn't.
“Yes, really,” Danny almost growled. “And I promised Cutter...”
“You've already told him?” Christine interrupted.
Danny hesitated. “Yeah. So, what's the big deal?”
“Oh, nothing.” She wasn't fooling anybody. “I understand they aren't in the country.”
Danny and Sarah exchanged worried looks. They both came to the same conclusion. Christine Johnson wasn't the kind of woman to ask a question to which she didn't already know the answer.
“Yeah,” Danny answered finally. “They're on a plane to Russia.”
“Well, we'll see about that.”
“Meaning?”
But Christine ignored him in favour of turning towards the soldiers, who'd been watching proceedings with curious eyes. “Donovan, isn't it?”
“Yes, ma'am,” the soldier replied.
“Excellent. Take Ms Page and Mr Quinn to my car will you. We'll be heading back to the ARC shortly.”
“Now just wait a damn minute...” Danny began.
“You can't order us around...” Sarah said at almost the same time.
“I will not tolerate anything less than my direct orders being followed,” she said to Donovan, voice icy. “Is that understood?”
“Yes, ma'am,” Donovan replied, though he didn't look particularly happy about it. He shot Danny an apologetic look but Danny just snorted.
“Yeah, yeah,” he muttered. “Just following orders. Where have I heard that before?”
Sarah, looking genuinely scared for the first time, moved to stand next to Danny. She'd do whatever Danny thought was right. If he thought they should stay there and kick up a fuss, and try to find a way to get Abby back, then she would. But there were only two of them now, not including the soldiers, who didn’t seem like they were on their side any more. Which meant they were outnumbered.
After a moment Danny nodded. “Okay, back to the ARC it is.”
Donovan smiled, relieved, and moved away to give instruction to his soldiers. Danny smoothly passed by him, whispered at a startled Sarah to go along with it, then pulled his gun from where he'd tucked it in his jeans and grabbed Christine around the neck.
It all happened so fast nobody had the chance to move, least of all the soldiers who were still warily keeping an eye on a Triceratops that for the moment didn't look like it wanted to go anywhere.
“Right,” Danny said, pointing the gun at Christine's head. “How about we get some real answers?”
Somewhere in Russia
Jenny handed Connor another mug of tea, with a dash of whiskey in it this time, and watched with worried eyes as he downed it in one go. She knew right now he'd probably prefer more whiskey and less tea, but that wasn't the sort of thing she thought she should be encouraging.
Since Danny's phone call they'd all been engaged in a heated debate about what they should do. Connor was all for turning around right away and finding a way to open an anomaly. He figured since they had the technology to lock anomalies (none of them pointed out that so far that hadn't worked) then it only made sense that opening an anomaly would use a similar technique. Jenny hadn't quite followed that logic and by the look Cutter gave her, neither did he.
But the rest of them had all agreed that, despite how worried they were about Abby, she was perfectly capable of looking after herself (and Danny hadn't indicated she was injured before passing through the anomaly) and that it would simply take too long for them to return. They had landed in Russia now and they did, after all, have a job to do.
“People may be in danger here,” Stephen said, finally. He knelt down so he was eye-level with Connor's slumped form. “Abby wouldn't want them to be harmed because we were worried about her.” He put his hand on Connor's knee. “And Danny and Sarah have the whole of the ARC at their disposal. They're in a much better position to help than we are.”
After a moment's silence Connor nodded. “Yeah. Yeah, okay. But I want to talk to the technicians at the ARC as soon as I can. Get them working on a solution.”
“Of course,” Jenny said, brightly. The tight knot in her stomach slowly started to unwind. “I'll give them a call now.”
Connor nodded as Cutter patted him on the shoulder. “Everything will be fine.”
Lucas, who'd been standing in the shadows, out of the way, finally stepped forward. “So we go ahead with the original plan, then?”
Before anyone could respond though, his phone rang. And then Jenny's. Then Cutter's. Then Stephen's. And finally, Connor's. Surprised, they all looked down and read the caller ID, then exchanged concerned glances.
Thames House was calling.
The AAU
“Is this how they do things in the future?” Anatoly asked after a moment. He glanced up at the creature still hanging from the ceiling, and Stephen Hart, who was still smirking at him.
“Sometimes,” Stephen said. “I had a fairly ruthless teacher.”
Anatoly wisely remained silent. If this Stephen Hart was from a different time line perhaps his history was different from that of the Other Stephen, but Anatoly found it hard to believe that Helen Cutter's pervasive presence wasn't somehow involved in this young man's life too.
When the Russians had become aware of a British anomaly team, over a year ago, (the lucky coincidence of having one of their agents in the right place at the right time) they had gathered as much information as they possibly could on the team. And Anatoly had devoured that information. From the teams' favourite haunts, to their preferred breakfasts, to their relationship status, to their spiritual philosophies, he felt like he knew the team far better than his own family. He firmly believed that you should know your enemy to understand them, even if they were only nominally enemies.
He wondered how much, if anything, the Others knew about the Russian project, but dismissed them almost immediately. They may be intelligent but their case files showed that a remarkable amount of luck rather than skill was inherent in their ability to send creatures back through their anomalies. Their leadership also seemed spotty and haphazard and their resources were hardly on a par with the AAU's.
It only took a moment for these thoughts to flash before his eyes and when he finally focused back on the situation at hand, Stephen was staring at him curiously, head tilted at a strange angle.
“You know, I know someone who's been working on increasing humanity's perceptions. On their sixth sense. Telepathy. That kind of thing.” Anatoly startled. “Oh, don't worry, she's not quite there yet.”
“What is it you want with me?”
Stephen straightened and gave a quick motion with his fingers. The creature disappeared and Anatoly found that he could breathe again.
Stephen cleared his throat. Anatoly was surprised by the confused look on his face.“I'm supposed to want to help you. That's one of the reasons I was sent here. So you could study me. Make more hybrids.” He shook his head. “But all I feel for you is a murderous rage.”
“I don't like it either,” Anatoly said quickly. “I haven't liked it for a long time now. I was trying to get help, from the Others. When the anomaly opened...”
“Yes, that was unexpected,” Stephen agreed. “It wasn't supposed to open yet.”
“But you knew it would?”
Stephen shrugged. “I know a lot of things.” He looked around the corridor and his lips twitched. “The other anomaly, the one that goes to my time, it isn't here is it?”
Anatoly shook his head. “We can get there through the underground tunnels though. If you want.”
After a moment where Anatoly forced his body to still, barely breathing, Stephen nodded.
The ARC
James Lester paced anxiously in the gym. He was completely alone. Except of course, he silently added with a snort, for the armed guard outside the door.
He shook his head. He should have seen this coming. Or at least, he should have planned better for it. Collating the information was all very well and good but he'd never imagined an actual armed take-over, not again. He'd imagined a play of words, one upmanship in diplomatic circles, not this. He waved a hand in frustration. All very well sending Lorraine off like that but if she was stopped. Or worse. He'd never forgive himself.
He plonked himself down on one of the weight machines and then stood up again, continued his pacing. His nerves were on edge. He didn’t think that they were in mortal danger, but then again, he hadn't thought such a brazen overthrow of his position had been tenable that morning either. None of his sources had reported anything like this being on the horizon.
Lester hated to admit it, but for the moment he was outmanoeuvred. Christine Johnson was a far greater adversary than he'd given her credit for. And that may well be the undoing of the ARC program as it stood today.
He just prayed no one else would pay too grave a price for his mistake.
Somewhere, Some Place
Abby kept herself very still, although she knew she would be no match for one future predator, never mind this many. She wondered where she was, but she couldn't make out anything in the dim light apart from this cage and an empty desk off to the right. Perhaps whoever sat there normally had just popped out to make a cup of tea and would be back at any moment? That's what she was pinning her hopes on, anyway.
At least the predators didn't look like they were about to eat her, which was something. In fact after a cursory sniff of her hair they seemed to be ignoring her. Some of them had on the control device she was now so familiar with, but the majority of them did not. She wondered what that meant.
A blinding flash of light hit her eyes and she winced. She'd become so accustomed to the gloom that she hadn't realised quite how dark it actually was. Bracing herself she looked over to the light and watched, in astonishment, as an anomaly flickered into existence. A moment later an old man, using a cane to walk, came tottering out of it.
He looked over at the cage, tilted his head when he saw Abby, and then carried on towards the exit. Abby frowned, something about the man sparking a flare of recognition.
“Hey!” Abby said, flinching when the predator nearest to her startled. “Hey, you can't just leave me here!”
The man paused and turned around. “Really? I think I can.” Then he smiled, a haunted look that Abby would never forget flittering across his face, and left her alone. With only the future predators for company.
Chapter Ten