Home-Bound

Disclaimer: Primeval doesn't belong to me, just this particular plot-line alteration

Prologue

"Connor – the grenade!"

Abby's scathing scream offered no support apart from pointing out the obvious as the young scientist rapidly scrambled through his pocket; desperately clinging to a branch with his other hand as he tried to keep his feet away from the leaping raptors, "I know – I know! I just need-"

A cold metal suddenly touched his palm, yet his eyes widened as he felt the object continue past his hold; with a panicked shout he lunged for the falling grenade only to have a firm grip haul him seconds out of reach of a set of blood-stained teeth.

"Please tell me you took the pin out," The rough tone of Danny Quinn hissed in his ear; however the answer was clearly visible from the raptor who took a second to nose the weapon before kicking it into the bushes, the meat in the sky holding greater interest.

Connor could feel his mouth dry up as he slowly looked to Abby's disbelieving gaze; registering a string of curses breathing onto the side of his face.

That was their only defence, they were stuck until the raptors got bored, which could be hours away – not that it would matter since Helen would have found the first men by then so they'd be no longer in existence anyway, along with everyone else… he'd just set human-kinds death penalty.

A strong impact against the trunk snapped them from their inward apocalyptic thoughts and Abby scrambled up another branch as she got too good a look at the inside of a raptor's mouth than she was comfortable with, "Danny!"

The man who normally had twenty pre-evaluated plans running through his head in any situation was snapping his gaze around in a flurry, holding an uncharacteristic flicker of defeat behind his forced calm exterior; without turning to face either of his friends he hurriedly revealed his only concluded resort, "I'll cause a distraction – you two get after Helen the moment the raptors' attentions off you."

The identical cry of disagreement followed the statement and Connor fiercely latched onto the man's arm, "No! There must be something else! And if anything – it should be me who causes the distraction – I was the one who dropped our only weapon!"

Danny scoffed at the demand and pulled against the scientist's grip, quite successfully pulling off a reassuring grin with a light jibe, "Hey – you can't take away my opportunity to be a memorable hero, it'll have movie-worthy dramatics."

"I am not letting you get ripped to pieces!" Connor growled, moisture forming in his eyes at the sentence from memories of Stephen and how he'd died in exactly the same way trying to save his friends.

"Okay, compromise – we'll chuck Abby," He replied, however the petite blonde found no humour in his attempt to make light of his death and Danny sighed, switching to a serious tone and fixing them with a decisive gaze, "Look, Helen could almost be at her destination – we need to stop her and sitting up in this tree discussing the matters is doing nothing."

He knew what his friend was telling him was logical and true but Connor couldn't bring himself to loosen his grip, "Please – we can-"

An explosion suddenly tore through their conversation, the shock causing the scientist to slack his grip where the other two tightened; throwing him heavily from the tree.

A high-pitched scream that he could vaguely identify as Abby mingled in among the electronic squeal bouncing around his throbbing head and he scrunched up his eye-lids; trying to focus on anything to get rid of the noise.

He felt a hand appear on his arm and the sound of his name was closer; he tried opening his eyes but a blurred vision was all he achieved so he let them slid shut again.

"He's alright," The muffled words beginning to make some sense in his brain, "Go Danny!"

The voice sounded familiar… he was sure he could place that authoritative, straight-business tone – yet it couldn't be…

"Becker?"

His question came out as a barely comprehensible mumble and Connor squinted to see the triple form of the solider slowly blend into its one original; a terrified Abby kneeling next to him, quite a contrast to the emotionless and assessing expression on Becker – although it was quite a nice feature to see as it gave hope of a leader with a plan that didn't involve being eaten.

Seemingly the soldier had been able to interpret his random noise and threw him a brief smile, grasping his hand to pull him into a sitting position, "That's me – thought you guys might need a little help."

Slowly glancing around to where the sleeping raptors lay surrounded by a still present thin layer of smoke, Connor looked to the soldier with a tone of bewildered exasperation, "So you threw a bomb at us?"

Becker smirked at the statement over the form of Abby who had thrown herself at the injured man, turning Conner's attention back to her, "Are you okay?"

"Am I okay!" She exclaimed; her gaze tinted with fury as was per usual to when the young man got himself hurt, "It's you who fell out of the tree! Is anything broken? How's your head? Are-"

"I'm fine," He gently reassured, placing his hand over her mouth to halt the questions but smiling at the concern she was showing; however shifting in a movement to stand up a sharp pain shot through his ankle and he let out a winded hiss, "Actually, second thoughts, not so fine – I think I've done something to my foot."

Becker slid forward at the theory, nudging Abby away from the scientist and placing his hands over the ankle, "Does this hurt?"

Gently applying some pressure on the slightly swollen area Connor winched as a reply to the question.

"Don't worry – I think it's sprained, not broken," The soldier informed him, quickly moving to his side and getting a grip around his waist, "But we need to get you out of here."

This statement jumped Connor's mind to the original reason for them being in the Cretaceous and panic set into his tone, "No! We need to go after Helen! She's going to-"

"Danny's on it," Becker interrupted, the slight worry for his team-mate creeping through his voice, "And you can give no help with your immobility – it's better if you two take yourself out of unnecessary risk."

Connor opened his mouth to complain about the soldier's logic but the man gently lifted him to his feet causing pressure to apply to his ankle and a sharp moan escape where words had been planned; however Abby was on the same thought-pattern and unknowingly agreed with the scientist, "No – if we're not going after him we at least need to wait… we can make camp in one of the trees until he comes back."

The suggestion saw a flicker of doubt cross Becker's expression; the part of him who was simply a man wanting to protect all of his friends agreed with Abby – waiting for Danny would give him a better chance of survival if he came back and they'd all be together to get through their situation. Yet the soldier in him, the part that had a job to do involving ensuring the minimum volume of casualties occured knew that remaining in a hazardous unknown territory for the hope of a man who may not return was defiantly not an option.

"We leave – Danny will find his own way home," He forced himself to order, trying to ignore the flashes of betrayal and shock registering on Abby's expression; he was sure Connor would be glaring at him in the same form if his face wasn't buried in his shoulder with pain.

"What! No! We can't abandon him!" Abby shouted at Becker's retreating back as he begun dragging the reluctant scientist in the direction of the anomaly, "What if something happens? Or if he thinks something has happened to us? Or do you just not care!"

The soldier flinched at the accusation, however he was used to his detached attitude in the field being mistaken for lack of emotional attachment so didn't return comment just continued on his course.

So it was a pleasant surprise when the strained voice of the limping young man chimed to his defence, "Abs that's not fair – he's just doing his job… leaving is the logical decision even if none of us want to do it – so don't snap at him for taking the hard call."

The petite blonde seemed taken aback by not having support from the man who normally agreed with all her opinions and paused after the few steps she'd started to take, "But… Conn – we need to help."

He sighed at the vulnerable quality in Abby's tone and Becker tightened his grip on his waist, sensing the man's instinct to turn around to try and reassure his friend, which would not help their aim of walking in the anomaly's direction, "I know – and of course I want to – we all want to, but like Becker said, in our current position there's nothing we can offer – "

Abby made to interject here but a low rumble coming from behind distracted her; slowly turning around to the noise she was presented with the sight of a couple of the raptors twitching, one of them beginning to lift its head.

Her two companions failed to notice this occurrence as they were quite a way ahead so Connor continued his point, " -and hanging around to be eaten is not something that would be helpful to anyone."

A sudden roar followed this timed sentence and Becker swung them both around to see Abby sprinting towards them with a wobbling raptor ungraciously on her tail, "Move!" She screamed.

The soldier needed no more encouragement and swiftly bent down and slid his arm under his friend's legs, lifting him off the ground and burst into a high-speed run the moment Abby reached them. The young blonde quickly over-took them due to her lack of extra weight and watching her gain distance Becker wished he'd given her his gun to hold since shooting the creature would be a main priority on his list right now.

Fortunately the glowing cracks of the anomaly came into view as they took a sharp turn and stretching his head to glance over Becker's shoulder Connor shouted, "We'll make it – its balance is off due to the stun grenade – keep going!"

If he hadn't been limiting his breath for mere breathing purposes as his muscles screamed at his speed and the weight in his arms, the soldier would have made a sarcastic comment at how useful the scientist's advice was; but unable to do this he left it at a quick raised eyebrow.

"Guys! Its closing!" Sounded Abby's urgent scream from where she was anxiously shaking by the side of the anomaly that was indeed beginning to flicker; Connor's eyes widened at the sight and he reflexively tightened his grip on Becker's neck, causing the man to hardened his gaze and force his legs to double their lengths.

He could hear the scrapping footsteps of the raptor quickening and it was clear its balance was returning meaning it would soon catch up with them; but they were nearly there – the anomaly was flickering at a higher rate and Abby's gaze was latching onto it for longer periods as she tried to fight her instincts to get herself out of danger and go through the time-crack.

It was only a few more paces when suddenly Connor cried out a warning in his ear and the soldier glanced up just in time to throw them both to the floor to avoid the sharp talons of a pterodactyl; landing off the still-coming raptor's course it had no time to turn and continued in its run heading straight for Abby.

Both men threw their heads up just in time to see their friend jump through the anomaly to escape the beast tearing down at her, the last flicker as the crack in time closed the moment she was through and the thump of the raptor's headless body as the glowing shards snapped shut around its neck.

A torturous silence fell over the clearing and Connor's wide, disbelieving eyes remained unblinking on the spot that had last held Abby – Abby who was now gone, who had disappeared through their only pathway back home, their only lifeline.

The thundering squeal of an electrical surge shocked the scientist from his fixation on the no longer existent anomaly and he turned his head to the creature that was the cause of them still being here collapsing from the sky a few feet before him; only the light movement of its stomach showing it to be unconscious, not dead.

"I'd stick a bullet through its head if I didn't need to save them," Becker hoarsely whispered, a far fetch from the assertive man Connor knew.

"Abby would kill you," He replied, equally as quiet; as if keeping these tones made it all seem like a strange dream that they'd soon be rid of.

Gently moving his gaze to meet the young man's moist eyes, the soldier attempted a reassuring smile which instead resulted as a small grimace and answered, "I think that's the least of our worries now."

Thank you for reading, hope you enjoyed :) x