Elizabeth Cutter | Primeval

S2 E4 - Cold Water

I arrive at the canal first, and head up to Jenny who's ordering some soldiers around. "What's going on?" I ask, pulling off my shades and placing them on the top of my head.

"A boy went missing near here. His name's Lucian Hope; his friends said he seemed to be struggling." 

"With what?"

She pulls out her phone to show me pictures of a drain, the lid lifted clean off.

"So something took him?" I ask and Jenny nods slightly.

"Yeah, it seems that way. The drains lead back to here, and your dad reckons the anomaly is somewhere out there." She looks across the water and I follow her gaze. 

"That's a large body of water to look through," I say, stating the blindingly obvious. 

"That's why we've got the boats. Can you give them a hand loading the equipment on? I'm sure the others will be here soon," she asks and I nod, grabbing several of the smaller boxes. 

When Connor and Abby finally arrive, they're arguing like an old married couple so decide not to slot myself in the middle and keep my distance. It's only when Dad and Stephen come running down the dock that I start paying attention.

"Guys, is there any way out of this canal?" Dad asks, speeding down the dock. 

"The locks have been closed. It's completely sealed," Abby tells him.

He stops, looking out at the water. 

"Then it's still in here."

"What is?" I ask, stepping off one of the boats to join the group.

"I'm not sure," he tells me before looking back to the water. "But we have to find out fast."

"It'll be dark in a few hours," I say. "And then we aren't going to be able to do anything."

He nods. "Then we need to move fast. Jenny? Go in that boat with Abby and Connor. You see anything, call us." The three of them nod before boarding. "Beth, Stephen, let's go." 

After several hours of searching and finding nothing, I sigh, sitting myself down at the end of the boat. "We've being searching for hours. We're never gonna see anything in this light," I mutter.

"What's that over there?" Dad suddenly says after a minute or so of silence. 

"Where?" Stephen asks, shining a light in the direction Dad's pointing. 

"Can you get us a bit closer here?" Dad asks the driver as I move to stand. 

 As we approach, I can see something floating in the water. "What the hell is that?" I ask as Dad fishes it out with a stick.

"Looks like skin," Stephen tells me.

"Yeah," Dad says. "From a mammal. Looks like whatever it is just shrugged that off."

*     *     *     *     *

I'm sitting on the walkway, my legs dangling over the edge and my arms leant on the railing.

"What was that thing?" Jenny asks, looking down at the shark we found.

"How are you doing?" Dad questions.

She laughs dryly. "Three months ago, my idea of a life-and-death issue was getting front-row seats at London Fashion Week. How d'you think I'm doing?"

"You don't have to do this you know," Dad says, stepping away from me slightly but I can still here them. "You can quit."

She smiles. "I think I'll take my chances."