Lost Predator

by Alicia Brodersen

  She inhaled sharply as a spine-chilling squawk suddenly rang out nearby. Claudia stood up, ready to run. It sounded as though soot was falling down a chimney flue, which meant there must be an open fireplace in the room. Cutter hadn’t noticed it and thought this room was safe. But it wasn’t – there was an open avenue to the sky in here!

  Claudia desperately felt her way along the wall. As she heard something coming down the flue, she felt a stack of golf clubs propped up against the wall next to the sideboard.

  A foul Pterosaur flew into the room and clocked its prey. As it sounded a victory call to its family, Claudia knew the others would soon follow. As she pulled out a club, she was relieved to discover it was a long shot three-iron. She swung back and took aim.

  ‘Hole in one!’ she shouted triumphantly, as she successfully belted the grotesque shadow flying towards her. The Pterosaur hurtled across the room and crashed into the wall, dead. As Claudia looked back and tried to focus on the fireplace, a black swarm began shooting into the room, wailing like banshees.

  As Claudia blindly swung at anything she could, a figure slipped unseen into the room and grabbed her from behind.

  The frightened woman instinctively knew it wasn’t Cutter.

  ‘Who’s that?’ she shouted, trying to sound in control of the situation.

  ‘Helen Cutter,’ came the unexpected reply, as Claudia felt herself being dragged towards a doorway. She couldn’t believe it. Of all people!

  ‘What are you doing here?’ she cried.

  ‘You really want to discuss that right now?’ came the infuriating reply.

  From the erratic way she had been swinging the golf clubs at the Pterosaurs, Helen could sense Claudia was having problems with her sight. The older woman led her into a corridor and slammed the door behind them. Claudia felt her way along the wall in front of her and started immediately down the hallway. The frenzied flock of Pterosaurs protested loudly behind them.

  ‘Get in there!’ Cutter’s wife yelled, shoving Claudia through a door.

  As Claudia stumbled into the new room, she could make out the outline of a stove and microwaves. She realized Helen had led them into the kitchens of the manor – just as the wave of small Pterosaurs swarmed down the hallway behind them.

  ‘You’re going to have to trust me,’ Helen said, as she slammed the door shut and faced Claudia. ‘It’s either that, or a radical makeover from our friends back there.’

  Claudia couldn’t help but feel sceptical. Helen hadn’t been particularly trustworthy so far, so why should she believe her now? After all, she had been missing for eight years until a few months ago, when she’d been discovered in one of the anomalies and forced to come back into the present. For almost a decade Nick had thought she was dead.

  And then, even after intense questioning in the maximum-security wing of the Home Office, Helen had refused to answer any questions, instead disappearing into another anomaly at the first available opportunity. And here she was, magically reappearing again, asking Claudia to trust her.

  Claudia sighed. Although her sight was slowly returning, her vision was still blurry. And she didn’t know the first thing about these horrid reptiles, apart from the fact that they wanted to kill her. There really wasn’t any other option but to let this woman help her.

  Helen grabbed hold of her hand and led her past some large cooking ovens, before pointing to a door.

  ‘Go and stand by it,’ she commanded. ‘When I say so, go out and close it behind you.’

  ‘What are you going to be doing?’ Claudia asked, watching as Helen ran back over to one of the ovens and started flicking on gas switches.

  ‘Cooking!’ came the reply, as Helen grabbed a tin jug and put it in the microwave. She pulled the kitchen door open.

  Once again, the black swarm of shrieking, winged reptiles burst into the room, howling their fury.

  ‘Now!’ Helen suddenly shouted over the din. Claudia turned the handle and let herself out, catching a final, blurred outline of Helen as she pressed the timer on the microwave and ran out of the other door.

  Outside, seconds later, Cutter watched with horror as the manor windows in front of him exploded, shattering glass and sending the remains of hundreds of dead Pterosaurs flying across the garden. He’d been racing back to find Claudia, and now the manor was burning down right in front of him.

  Sinking to his knees, he felt as though he had been punched in the stomach. He had lost her!

  Footsteps crunched on the gravel behind him. Instinctively, Cutter could sense Claudia behind him.

  Slowly, he stood up. ‘You scared the life out of me,’ the professor said, almost too frightened to look round. ‘Are you all right?’

  ‘I’m fine,’ Claudia said quietly, as Cutter finally turned to face her. ‘Helen saved me.’

  Cutter’s jaw dropped. ‘Where is she?’ he demanded, turning back to the burning club house.

  ‘I don’t know.’

  ‘Is she still in there?’ Cutter was now frantic. What if Helen was dead?

  ‘She’s gone,’ Claudia replied in a daze, shaking her head. ‘Like a ghost.’

  Cutter sighed with disappointment. So Helen had disappeared again. There was so much he wanted to ask his estranged wife, it made his head spin. But past experience told him she would show up again. He just wished he knew when.

  Back in the woodland, Connor was still desperately trying to make amends with Abby over the Rex fiasco.

  ‘Abby, I’m really sorry,’ Connor said, genuinely upset. It didn’t look like she was ever going to forgive him. ‘I know I should have been more careful.’

  Abby stared at him blankly. Was that it? That was the best he could come up with for nearly losing her precious pet?

  Connor’s heart sank. It was obvious she wasn’t going to trust him ever again.

  ‘I’ll move out of the flat tomorrow,’ he said finally, not able to look at her.

  ‘Where are you going to go?’ she asked, watching him as he kicked some dirt with the toe of his shoe.

  ‘I’ll be fine,’ he shrugged. ‘You know me.’ Connor turned round and smiled at her shyly.

  Abby looked at him for what seemed like an eternity. She sighed and rolled her eyes. They were friends, after all. Even though she was angry with him, she couldn’t kick him out on the street.

  ‘OK,’ she said, taking a deep breath. ‘Here’s the deal. You do all the washing-up for a month and make me breakfast every weekend.’

  Connor’s face lit up like an over-excited puppy.

  ‘Does that mean I can –’ he stopped for a second. He was so happy he could hardly get the words out. ‘Does that mean I can stay?’

  ‘For now,’ Abby corrected, closing her eyes. She hoped she wasn’t going to regret this. ‘Yes.’

  ‘Oooh!’ whooped Connor, grabbing Abby and lifting her up in a big bear hug. ‘Thank you! Thank you!’

  ‘I must be going insane,’ Abby grinned. ‘I quite like having you around!’

  Connor’s heart leapt. Maybe she was about to make his dreams come true and tell him how much she liked him?

  ‘As a friend!’ Abby added, reading his thoughts.

  ‘As a friend,’ Connor repeated, pretending he hadn’t been thinking anything different. ‘Buddies… what else?’

  The two of them made their way back out to the course to find Stephen and Cutter. Behind them, half a dozen SAS soldiers, Claudia and Captain Ryan stood by as the giant Pteranodon began to wake. It was time to send her home.

  Connor looked with a frown at the shimmer in the sky. The brightness it had radiated earlier in the day was beginning to fade.

  ‘Guys,’ he called. ‘You’d better be quick. I don’t think the anomaly’s going to hold much longer.’

  Claudia’s mobile began to ring. Checking the number, she pressed the Cancel button and put the phone back in her bag. Cutter looked at her wryly until she admitted the call had been from her boss, Lester.

  ‘What can I say?’ she s
miled, looking at Cutter innocently. ‘The battery was down and I just didn’t get to the call in time.’

  ‘You’re saying Lester doesn’t know about this?’ Cutter replied, secretly relieved that the government hadn’t got too involved this time. Whenever Lester stuck his nose into dinosaur business it always made things more difficult.

  ‘Wouldn’t be happy if he did,’ replied Claudia, shrugging her shoulders.

  ‘I thought you weren’t going to take sides?’ he said, knowing he could now trust her.

  ‘It’s a one-off,’ she grinned, knowing in her heart it wouldn’t be the last time she helped him. The kiss in the club house had seen to that!

  Stephen ran up beside them and handed Cutter the red flag he’d made earlier on the rooftop. It was time to entice the Pteranodon back through the anomaly, and this was one foolproof way to do it.

  A giant crane had been parked in the middle of the fairway. It was the only way to get Cutter close enough to the anomaly and attract the Pteranodon’s attention.

  As Cutter jumped up into the small cage on the crane, Stephen turned and gave Captain Ryan the thumbs up. Ryan untied the rope around the carrier while Connor helped Stephen pull back the large green tarpaulin covering the enormous beast.

  Now high up in the air, the professor was in position just beneath the anomaly. ‘We’re ready. Let her go!’ shouted Cutter, holding the pole and letting the bright red flag unfurl in the wind.

  As everyone watched, the dazed Pteranodon blinked and looked up groggily. Shaking her head, she slowly manoeuvred her massive body into a standing position, using her wings to prop herself up before stretching them out to their full capacity. As everyone watched in awe, the giant creature hopped twice across the trailer and then gracefully launched herself off the edge. As she began to glide off to the left of the golf course, the team called out to encourage the majestic Pterosaur to turn back in the direction of the red flag.

  ‘Hey! This way!’ Abby called, squinting into the setting sun as the silhouette of the prehistoric creature finally turned to the right and began looping in a final ascent towards the anomaly.

  ‘Oh…’ sighed Claudia, genuinely in awe of the flying reptile she’d been so scared of earlier in the day. She was so grateful her sight was fully restored and she was able to see this moment. Now she was finally beginning to understand what Cutter saw in these creatures. ‘That’s beautiful!’

  Letting out one final farewell screech, the Pteranodon flew into the dazzling light in the sky behind her. The team on the ground watched in wonder as the tear in the atmosphere shimmered brighter for a moment and then snapped shut, leaving the sky clear, as if nothing out of the ordinary had been there at all.

  On the ground, loud cheers rang out as they realized the Pteranodon had safely returned home. Abby and Stephen hugged as Connor tried unsuccessfully to indulge Captain Ryan in a high-five. It had been quite an incredible day.

  Several days later, Cutter stood in the middle of his office in the Department of Evolutionary Zoology at Central Metropolitan University. Spending so much time at the golf course had inspired him to concentrate more on his game and right now he was taking a putt, using a Sauropod bone as a golf club.

  ‘Shot!’ said a familiar female voice behind him appreciatively, as the ball successfully landed in a cup lying sideways on the floor.

  Cutter turned round, smiling. He was usually happy to see Claudia standing in the doorway of his office, and today was no exception. She looked very pretty in her black business suit, her long brown hair sitting loosely on her shoulders. Cutter motioned for her to sit down.

  ‘I’ve been thinking about Helen,’ Claudia said immediately, wincing as she said Cutter’s wife’s name out loud. ‘She saved my life. Things were much less complicated when she was just the enemy.’

  Cutter smiled. He’d given up trying to predict Helen’s behaviour a long time ago, and it made him uncomfortable to talk about it. Especially in front of Claudia.

  Claudia watched him curiously, wondering how he really felt about his wife. But that wasn’t the reason for her visit today.

  ‘If we’re going to defend ourselves,’ Claudia began, ‘we’ve got to discover why anomalies are opening and predict when the next one will appear.’

  ‘Well,’ Cutter mumbled, picking up another bone and testing its suitability. ‘It may be possible to do that.’

  ‘Are you going to tell me how?’ Claudia asked, raising an eyebrow.

  ‘I’ve got ideas, but I don’t have any proof,’ Cutter said, lining up a new golf shot. ‘I need more time.’

  He looked up as Claudia closed her eyes and frowned.

  ‘Are you OK?’ Cutter asked, suddenly concerned.

  ‘Um, I haven’t been sleeping well,’ Claudia admitted, shrugging off his concern. ‘Bad dreams.’

  After the terror of the Pterosaur attacks, she’d been having nightmares that saw her waking up in a cold sweat. But she didn’t want to tell Cutter. After all, she was meant to be a cool and calm representative from the Home Office. She could handle it. And besides, she didn’t want anyone thinking she was crazy.

  In the Forest of Dean, the SAS had erected a large metal barrier around the site of the original anomaly where Rex and a Gorgonopsid had arrived from the past. Barbed wire was rolled out along the edge, with warning signs and red lights flashing at various intervals along the fence. No one was getting in or out of the site.

  But as an SAS soldier patrolled the perimeter, a sudden sound – like metal tearing – made him look up towards the anomaly, which shimmered in the air. He quickly went over to it, cocking his gun as a precaution. But nothing seemed to have been disturbed.

  The soldier spun round as the eerie sound seemed to swoop through the trees in the forest behind him. Going into a sprint, he bolted through the woodland and back to the perimeter fence where he’d been moments before. A massive hole had been torn through the barricade and the strong, metal bars jutted out like broken splinters. Someone – or something – had ripped through the steel like it was paper. The soldier immediately called on his walkie-talkie for backup, turning to scan the forest.

  Behind him, a large black creature approached, creeping along the ground. With his back turned, the soldier never saw it coming – until it was too late.

  ‘No trail, no footprints – nothing,’ Stephen muttered, as SAS soldiers swarmed the Forest of Dean for the second time in several months. An hour had passed since they had found the damaged fence, and now the team was analysing the area.

  ‘Are you sure you didn’t miss anything?’ asked Cutter, standing with Captain Ryan. As the dinosaur experts, he and Stephen had been called in when the radio operator lost contact with the soldier. Along with whatever had torn the gash in the fence, the soldier was missing as well.

  ‘If there’s anything out there we’d have found it by now,’ Stephen said, trying to sound confident. He didn’t relish the thought of a creature capable of slicing through metal running loose.

  ‘Must’ve gone back,’ Ryan shrugged, as if that was the end of the matter.

  But Cutter had other ideas. He turned to look back at the gateway to a lost world, shimmering in the middle of the forest.

  The creature that had ripped the hole in the fence had definitely come through the anomaly. And whatever it was, he was sure it hadn’t found its way back home to the past just yet.

  ‘He made a mistake about Helen,’ Claudia informed her boss as they walked down a hallway inside the Home Office. Claudia knew Lester’s feelings towards Cutter, and she was busily trying to talk him round. But he seemed unconvinced.

  ‘He should have told us about her.’

  ‘He was under enormous pressure,’ Claudia reminded him. ‘If there’s anyone that can help us predict and contain these things, it’s him.’

  Lester stopped and turned to face her. As usual, he was scowling as he cut straight to the point. ‘How close is he to an answer?’

  Claudia took a deep breath. �
��I don’t know,’ she admitted.

  Lester studied her for a second. He knew what she was trying to do, but it wasn’t going to work. Cutter might be a so-called expert, but Lester still thought he caused more trouble than he was worth.

  ‘Look,’ Lester said dryly, his eyes narrowing as he gave Claudia a withering look. ‘One day soon, an anomaly’s going to open up and thousands of these creatures – maybe millions – are going to come pouring through. Let’s hope he’s made his mind up by then.’

  Claudia’s heart sank as she watched her boss turn on his heel and walk away. The outcome of their conversation was far worse than she had hoped.

  Stephen walked through the grounds of the Central Metropolitan University. Cutter had asked him to go back and pick up some things to help with the investigation out at the Forest of Dean. As he walked along the pathway, he had the very real feeling that someone was following him. But when he turned, there was no one there apart from some students, on their way to classes. Stephen frowned. He must have been seeing things.

  ‘In most eras of the world’s history, you’d be dead by now,’ said a voice close behind him.

  ‘Helen!’ Stephen said ruefully, turning round. ‘What are you doing here?’

  Cutter’s wife stood before him, smirking. She was in the same khaki overalls and shirt she’d been wearing the last time he’d seen her, when she’d disappeared into the anomaly.

  ‘All this urban living’s made human beings such lazy animals,’ she said, continuing with her tangent. ‘Second-rate hearing, no sense of smell, no worthwhile instincts.’

  Stephen eyed her warily. Every time they’d crossed paths since she’d turned up through the anomalies, she’d been so self-righteous – not at all like she was before her disappearance. Along with Cutter, she’d once been one of his teachers at the university, and together they’d been formidable scientists with unshakeable ethics. Stephen and Helen had known each other well back then, but now he could see that her attitude had changed. He could tell Helen had returned only because she had some sort of hidden agenda, and it annoyed him.