Fear

My entry for "F" of the A-Z Primeval FanFic Challenge

Who? Series 4/5 Cast

When? Post-series 4 (though I'm ignoring the fact that Emily left)

Part Three

1620HRS: SOUTH CORRIDOR, PROSPERO SATELLITE RESEARCH LABS, VERIFYING LOCATION

As Matt gently closed the door of the last empty lab in the south corridor, he heard something strange. It was a combination of crackling noises and juddering vibrations, followed by raised voices. Intrigued, he retraced his steps to the last bend in the passageway. Again he heard it, louder this time. It seemed to be coming from the direction of Connor's lab.

He knew Connor would be angry that he hadn't left, but maybe this was what he'd been looking for. Maybe these unusual noises were a clue to what was really going on here.

He started to jog in what he hoped was the right direction, but something caught his eye. The green arrowed exit sign of a fire escape glowed in the gloom and threw peculiar shadows on the walls; but that was not what concerned him. He frowned at the sight of a padlock and chain securing the door, rendering the escape useless. Did this mean something, other than a clear lack of awareness of health and safety regulations? Or was he just being paranoid?

Matt shook his head. The out-of-place noises were getting louder so he decided to continue onwards, trying to find his way around the maze-like corridors.

He would revisit this later.

1620HRS: CONTROL ROOM, ANOMALY RESEARCH CENTRE, HAMMERSMITH, LONDON

"Do you think she's alright?" Jess whispered to Becker as he brought over the latest GIS print-out. They were still trying to locate their absent team members.

Jess nodded to the screen on her left where she had been using the CCTV network to keep an eye on Abby in the menagerie lab. Becker studied the image of his colleague. She was hunched over her desk and putting more effort into spiral-shaped doodles than her report.

"She seems... distracted," he concluded.

"They've had a fight," Jess stated matter-of-factly, "I heard them."

"Abby and Connor? You heard them fighting?"

"Yes." At his raised eyebrow, she tried to defend herself. "Well, I tried not to listen, of course, but they can yell pretty loud. That's why I came to work early."

Becker's lips quirked into an amused smile. "That was very restrained of you, Jess. If it had been me, I'd have probably marched in there, told them to shut up and knocked some sense into them."

"I can imagine!" Jess said with a giggle, "See, that's why you're in the military and I'm in people management."

"Really?" he teased, "Is that what you've got it as on your CV?" Jess twisted her mouth in that unique way that meant she wasn't saying anything, so Becker took that to mean a yes. "Anyway, I'd call it avoidance, not management."

"I call it discretion!" Jess snatched the report from his hands, pleased that this confirmed the suspected Wembley location and turned back to her monitors.

Becker rolled his eyes and backed away, his hands held up in defeat. "Whatever!"

1625HRS: LAB FIVE, PROSPERO SATELLITE RESEARCH LABS, WEMBLY, LONDON

Connor pressed the panic button under his desk; the one that linked straight to Philip. Then he smashed the small piece of glass on the wall with his elbow and set off the fire alarm. He cringed at the fuzzy sting of the impact but was vaguely comforted by the deafening shrill of the alarm. That, at least, seemed to work

"April, come on," he said to the lab assistant, who fixatedly watched the growing flames through the glass. "Let's go."

"We can't, Connor," she whined, uselessly tapping keys on the control panel. "The lab. Our equipment. Our research."

"It doesn't matter," he tugged on her arm, but she shrugged him away.

"But this does matter!" she yelled, turning towards him, a manic look in her eyes. "We can't leave."

"Stop it, you'll make it worse." Again she pushed him away as he tried to prise her hands from the controls. "We have to get out of here before the whole thing blows," he said desperately, eyeing the ruined experiment. "Come on!"

"You go!" she shouted over the sound of the fire alarm, pushing him towards the door, "I'll be with you in a minute!"

He stood on the threshold, torn. He knew it was wrong to leave a member of your team behind but she was being so insistent, something wild in her eyes that told him not to argue.

1630HRS: EAST CORRIDOR, PROSPERO SATELLITE RESEARCH LABS, WEMBLEY, LONDON

The alarms rang in Connor's ears and, disorientated, he pushed his way out of the lab. He jogged down the corridor towards the fire escape, only to run into another body.

"Matt!" he yelled, exasperation clear in his voice. "What are you still doing here?"

The other man yelled back: "Keeping an eye on you!"

Suddenly, there was a strange rumble that distracted them, followed by the sound of breaking glass and falling rubble.

"April!" Connor cried as an explosion burst from the lab and a ball of flame rolled across the ceiling. Matt pulled him backwards to the floor and they watched the fire sweep the walls above them, then retreat as fast as it came, like a dragon sucking in its breath.

The building around them creaked.

"We've got to get out of here," Matt said and together, crouched and running as explosions continued behind them, they made their way down the narrow corridors.

Connor led the way towards the nearest green light. Their path to the doors of the fire escape was clear; they could reach it in only a few seconds. That was when Matt realised their mistake. Just like the exit he'd passed before, this was also chained up.

"What the hell?" Connor asked, rattling the door hopelessly. He backed away and took a short run up, crashing into the door and rubbing his shoulder when it refused to budge.

Smoke billowed out of Lab Five, stinging their eyes and filling their lungs. Matt tried to concentrate and think of another plan. "Is there another way to the entrance?" he asked.

Connor coughed and nodded. "Round the back of the lab," he wheezed.

"Ok, let's go!" Matt replied, tugging Connor in the direction he'd indicated.

The heat was extreme in this part of the building – it stung their cheeks and made their eyes water – the fire on the other side of the wall must have intensified.

"Wait!" Matt called and they slowed to a stop by a drinking water fountain, recessed into the wall. Without hesitation, Matt threw off his shirt so that he was just wearing his white t-shirt underneath. It wasn't like he needed the extra layer anyway in this heat. He tore the thin fabric in two and quickly soaked each piece; the water turning to vapour around them.

He held a piece of the torn shirt to his face, indicating that Connor should do the same and then they continued to run towards the exit. The damp cloth made it slightly easier to breathe.

Ahead of them, Matt could see daylight, hazy through the smoke. "Come on," he said to Connor, who'd stopped at another water fountain to dampen his rag. As he did so, he bent over coughing. "Connor, this way," Matt encouraged.

They were almost back to the double doors he'd walked through just a few hours before. The corridor was familiar but now the walls around them were groaning ominously and the ceiling was starting to cave in. "Come on!" Matt yelled again but the falling debris was making their passage more difficult.

Then, suddenly, the beam above them gave in to the pressure and came loose, plummeting towards them.

Everything went black.

1640HRS: CONTROL CENTRE, ANOMALY RESEARCH CENTRE, HAMMERSMITH, LONDON

"Abby?" Jess patched through to the menagerie lab. This time when she called her friend and colleague over, her voice was less inquisitive and closer to panic. This was enough to make Abby come out of the lab straight away and join her at the anomaly detector.

"These black boxes are giving me some really weird readings," Jess told Abby, whilst Becker leaned in beside her to get a better view of the monitors.

"What like?" Abby asked, frowning.

"I have warnings coming up all over the place. Apparently, they're experiencing a high concentration of carbon dioxide," Jess said, tapping her console to bring up the information, "Really high temperatures too. From both Connor's black box and Matt's. And neither of them has actually moved for the last 5 minutes or so. I'm not talking about sitting down to have a chat. I'm talking no movement at all."

Abby's face was frightened and unsure. She wasn't entirely certain what Jess was trying to tell her but none of it sounded good. "What exactly does that mean?"

"Something's gone wrong," Becker concluded and stood up straight, ready for action. "I'm going down there."

He took a black box from the console, clipped it to his belt. "Jess, call the emergency services. I think we're going to need back-up. Give them all the location data you've got for Matt and Connor."

Jess nodded, accepting her instructions, her eyes wide and panicked.

"Tell them we suspect a fire," he added. "Tell them it's high-priority."

Abby just stared at Becker in shock and confusion. Once again, she felt her eyes well with tears.

He looked at the two frightened women before him. "Everything will be fine," he tried to reassure them. "I'll keep in touch."

Becker's hand rested on the arm of Jess' seat, and she covered it with her own. "Be careful," she said. He nodded and removed his hand from hers.

Jess sighed. Though she knew he was a soldier and trained in this type of thing, she always had the same fear each time he left the ARC on a mission: that maybe this would be the time he didn't come back and she'd have missed her chance to tell him how she felt.

Abby listened to his retreating footsteps, her eyes focused on Connor's name blinking and unmoving in the middle of Jess' screen. Then she turned.

"Wait, Becker. I'm coming with you."

1645HRS: PROSPERO HEAD OFFICE, GUILDFORD, SURREY

Philip watched the red warning light continue to flash on his console: the Wembley panic alarm. He looked around his depleted control centre. Orange crates were waiting for transportation and each piece of equipment was being turned off, one at a time, by the skeleton team of staff left behind.

He didn't wait for the technician to reach him. Instead, he silenced the panic alarm and shut down his own work station.

He packed a laptop into his bag. That was all he would need for the journey. All of this would be waiting for him when it was safe for him to return but, for now, his mission here would have to wait. The authorities were closing their net. It was not safe to stay. There were other fish to fry, elsewhere, and England would have to wait.

Someone cleared their throat nearby and Philip turned to see the technician waiting for him, a clipboard in his hands. There was a Prospero logo embossed on the back; they would be leaving that identity behind as well.

"Mr Burton?"

He tore his eyes away from the logo and into the expectant face of the technician. "Yes?"

"We're almost done here," the technician said. "Your car is ready. Everything is in place."

Philip nodded. "Thank you. And the labs at Tottenham?"

"Shut down. All staff debriefed and relocated to other facilities."

"Good."

There was a pause and Philip expected to be left alone, but the technician continued to hover. "Um...there's one thing though, Mr Burton," he said after hesitating for a moment or so.

"Yes?" Philip was beginning to feel impatient to leave.

"The Wembley satellite labs. Are they to continue operating? Only without head office guidance they would be on their own. Have preparations been made?"

"I've dealt with the Wembley lab," Philip told the technician briskly, pulling his laptop bag on to his shoulder and picking up his briefcase. "There's no need to worry about that."

He turned away and headed out of the door. He didn't look back.

1650HRS: SOUTH CORRIDOR, PROSPERO SATELLITE RESEARCH LABS, WEMBLEY, LONDON

Connor awoke in the dark, clammy and uncomfortable, and he vaguely wondered why he felt so warm when the weather had been so awful lately. He tried to move but his body was trapped. The air around him was stifling and he found it hard to inhale.

Abby was right, he thought, this was a bad idea. He twisted his body but the simultaneous pain in his legs and his chest was too much and he couldn't breathe. This time the blackness came as a relief.

1655HRS: NORTHBOUND CARRIAGEWAY, A406, LONDON

Becker drove quickly through the streets, with Abby next to him in the passenger seat. She noted his hands steadily holding the wheel, and wondered if he was actually afraid of anything. In comparison, she had to take deep breaths just to keep the panic at bay.

Outer London flashed past the window as Becker picked up speed but, for Abby, each minute dragged excruciatingly. Once again, she glanced impatiently at the watch on Becker's wrist. She wanted to be there.

"Alpha team, can I have your stats?" Jess' disembodied voice asked from somewhere inside the truck. It made Abby jump.

Becker just rolled his eyes and pulled a funny face at Abby, trying to cheer her up at Jess' expense.

"Alpha team, please respond."

Abby pointed, questioningly, to the speaker above their heads as Jess' voice became more agitated. Becker smiled slightly and shook his head.

"Alpha team, are you there?" Jess was starting to sound annoyed. "Becker, would you please report your stats?"

With a sigh, Becker decided he'd ignored the field-coordinator long enough. "I'm driving down a dual carriageway, Jess. Not much to report."

There was a pause. "You said you'd keep in touch," Jess replied, her voice quieter than before.

"I will, when there's something worth reporting."

"Ok."

Jess seemed to leave them then. The change in her voice had caught Abby off guard. All efficiency had evaporated and been replaced by a worry they both shared: that someone they cared about may be in trouble.

Becker glanced at Abby. "It'll be ok," he said, sensing her uneasiness.

She desperately wanted to believe him.

1700HRS: CONTROL ROOM, ANOMALY RESEARCH CENTRE, HAMMERSMITH, LONDON

Emily crept over to the control panel where Jess sat, eyes fixed upon the screen and biting her lip.

"Jess?" she asked tentatively.

"Hi, Emily!" Jess tried to put on a bright smile and chirpy attitude but Emily saw right through it.

"What's going on?" she asked even though she didn't really need to. She'd been eavesdropping all afternoon.

"I swear," replied an exasperated Jess, rolling her eyes, "Sometimes it's easier to keep track of the creatures than the ARC personnel."

"Including Becker?" Emily asked with a small smile, but Jess was busy building up to a rant and completely missed the teasing tone of her voice.

"Especially Becker!" she exclaimed. "I don't know who he thinks he is! Running around like some TV action hero! Telling us all what to do. Not letting me do my job. It's ridiculous. What am I meant to do? Just sit here and wait for the report to come in that he's been hurt. Again!"

Emily let the younger girl fume. Despite the seriousness of the situation, she found she could smile at this. "You care about him, don't you?"

The look on Jess' face answered her question.

1705HRS: NORTHBOUND CARRIAGEWAY, A406, LONDON

Be careful. The words echoed in Becker's mind as he stared at the road ahead. As if careful had ever been in his job description!

He couldn't allow himself to think about Jess now, when they didn't know what they might be facing. It was hard enough to know that two of his friends were in trouble.

He wasn't able to think about her because it hurt too much. It hurt that she cared about him and he could do nothing about it.

It was a bad idea to care too deeply in this job. He'd cared about Sarah and he'd lost her; worst of all, her death had essentially been his fault. She had put her trust in him that and he'd failed.

His resolve strengthened. He would not fail today. He'd get them out of there. All of them.

1710HRS: MAIN CAR PARK, PROSPERO SATELLITE RESEARCH LABS, WEMBLEY, LONDON

Abby and Becker arrived at the Wembley Labs and were suddenly faced with the reality and scale of the situation.

Jess had followed Becker's instructions to the letter and they found a fire crew already beginning to battle the blaze. Two ambulances stood on standby, the paramedics poised and ready, but their faces were turned up to watch the burning building; ineffective until presented with casualties.

Abby clambered out of the truck, her legs leaden with shock. She felt like she was choking on the sudden fear that gripped her. Her hands clawed at her throat as she took in the smoke and the flames. Slowly, she removed her earpiece, unable to cope with Jess' requests for updates. She didn't know what to say, how to put in to words what she was seeing.

Becker held a palmtop in front of him and, using the information transmitted from the black boxes, he could see that Connor and Matt should be just inside the building, near the main entrance.

A group of fire officers donned masks and oxygen tanks, presumably to search the building. Abby and Becker watched as they did their safety checks.

"Too slow," muttered Becker, shaking his head. "Sorry Jess."

"What?" Abby asked, distracted by the chaos.

He turned to her. "Stay here. Give Connor and Matt's details to the paramedics."

"What?" she said again, watching in dismay as Becker jogged up to the burning building, shielding his face from the heat. "Becker!" she yelled after him.

He ignored Abby's cries and the warnings of the fire officers. He tried to see into the main entrance, but the smoke clouded his view, so he crept further forward. He couldn't see them but maybe he'd be able to if he could just get a bit closer.

There was a shout behind him and then a clattering sound above. Masonry began to tumble downwards as part of the exterior wall collapsed. He covered his head with his hands as the debris rained down.

Becker disappeared under a pile of rubble.

1720HRS: CONTROL ROOM, ANOMALY RESEARCH CENTRE, HAMMERSMITH, LONDON

Jess watched in horror as Becker's black box flashed on screen as: UNIT DAMAGED, REPLACE UNIT IMMEDIATELY.

"What's going on?" she said, more to herself than to Emily. "Those black boxes never fail." She frantically began to run the diagnostic report.

"Maybe he just dropped it?" Emily suggested.

"No, they're pretty tough," Jess explained, in a business-like manner, though slightly distracted. "Brand new technology made of special reinforced plastic. It would take quite a knock to stop one of them working." As her own words sank in, her stomach began to churn and her demeanour changed. "Oh no, you don't think?"

"I don't know," Emily offered helplessly as Jess stared up at her with wide, scared eyes.

"He tried to play the hero, didn't he?" she said, deflated. "I told him to be careful!"

Emily placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

"Don't worry. Try and contact Abby again."

1735HRS: MAIN CAR PARK, PROSPERO SATELLITE RESEARCH LABS, WEMBLEY, LONDON

Abby wasn't sure what it was that she was feeling; "shock" didn't seem to cover it anymore. She watched, helplessly, as the fire crew extracted Becker from the rubble.

She ran over to where the paramedics were attending to him. "Becker?" He was unconscious but breathing. His hair was white with dust but she could see a startling smudge of blood seeping through.

"We're going to take your colleague to hospital," the paramedic told her.

She nodded, stunned at how fast everything had happened. "Take care of him," she said and her mind flitted automatically to Jess, sitting in the ARC unaware of what was happening.

She glanced up at the plume of smoke above the destroyed Prospero building, which seemed to have grown since she last looked. How was she going to tell Jess?

There was movement near the entrance, distracting Abby from her thoughts. Sighing with relief, she watched two fire-fighters carry Matt from the burning building. The paramedics immediately put an oxygen mask over his face. She took this to be a good sign.

Sirens sounded behind her as Becker's ambulance rushed off to the hospital. Simultaneously, another arrived to replace it. It was all amazingly efficient.

Abby was about to approach Matt to ask the paramedics how he was doing, but something stopped her. Through the haze of smoke, two of the fire crew were carefully lifting another body from the debris.

The commotion around her faded into the background and she watched them approach in what appeared to be slow motion. She let out a strangled cry, quite involuntarily, and began to run towards them. As much as she cared about Matt and Becker, they were wrenched from her consciousness. All she could think about now was Connor.

The paramedics met the fire crew half-way, immediately beginning work on Connor's motionless body. Abby tried to see past them, tried to assess the damage, but once again, the paramedics asked her to keep her distance.

When she began to cry at their firm words, one paramedic took pity on her. "Do you know him?" she asked.

"Yes," she replied. "He's my... my..." Boyfriend didn't seem to sum it up. "He's my Connor," she eventually said and this seemed to be good enough for the paramedic, who ushered her through the bodies so she could see him.

They strapped him to a spinal board, letting her hover helplessly, paralysed with fear as silent tears streamed down her cheeks. Behind her, Matt's ambulance raced noisily off to hospital.

"We're going to put him in the ambulance now," the paramedic told her. "You can ride with him if you like."

She nodded and they secured Connor's board to the stretcher before wheeling him towards the waiting ambulance.

Shaking uncontrollably, Abby pulled her mobile phone from her pocket.

Jess picked up quickly.

"Jess," Abby said carefully, softly, an eerie calmness creeping over her, like she was having an out-of-body experience. People moved around her but she barely registered them.

"I think you need to be here." She paused. "No, not here. I'll explain. But Emily too. Get someone to drive you to..." she trailed off, knowing she wasn't making any sense.

"Abby?" Jess' voice was timid, scared.

"Its Connor..." her voice broke a little as she looked at his quiet figure, strapped to a trolley in the ambulance. She had to keep her voice strong, even if she didn't feel it herself, because she didn't want to panic Jess. "And Matt... and Becker too." A paramedic was signalling to her now, wanting to know if she was going to ride with Connor. "I'll meet you at the hospital, ok?"

She heard a sob on the other end of the phone as Jess barely managed to get out her reply. "Ok."

Then Emily's voice, clear and strong, like Abby wished she could be right now, said: "We'll be there, Abby."

And it was Emily's confidence that allowed her to hang up the phone and clamber into the ambulance.

To be continued...

A/N: I stupidly didn't realise I hadn't update this on here. Sorry! Thanks to those who reviewed. The story continues in "Guilt" and "Hospital" – to be uploaded soon I hope!