Primeval

Chapter 17 ~ Brothers in Arms

It was implausible.

Not one of them believed it was truly him. It had been much more than a year. They had not thought him dead, no, but the very thought that he, as well as Anna and the others, could find his way back home. The chances were astronomical. Yet there he was, right in front of them, fallen through the exact anomaly they had been tracking. Danny Quinn...

Anna knelt beside him and shook his shoulder lightly, "Danny?" she asked, trying to rouse him, "Danny can you hear me? It's Anna,"

"Can't believe you shot him," Connor said to Matt, who stood casually, leant against a stone pillar. Matt apologised rather sarcastically and made a point of telling them that his EMD was on its lowest setting, so no real harm would come to him.

Becker, who knelt the other side of Danny, held his wrist, checking for a pulse before throwing his arm onto his body, saying, "Come on Quinn get up, stop faking,"

"Becker..." A muffled voice came from Danny, "Becker?" Quinn  looked up at Anna, "Wow, Becker, you're much cuter than I remember."

Anna let out a small laugh and embraced Danny, it was more than a relief to know her was safe and alive and finally home. Becker clapped him on the back and the other two followed Anna and embraced him.

"What was that?" Danny asked, holding his chest, his breathing heavier than usual.

It was Connor who answered, "Matt shot you,"

"Matt likes to shoot people," Becker added.

Matt raised his hand and wore a slightly apologetic look. Danny spoke, "I'm guessing you're Matt then?" Matt nodded. "I'm really back?"

Anna smiled, "Yes, you are."

"Look, guys, Ethan could show up any minute." Matt stated, knowing full well there was little time for a reunion. "Abby, take Danny back to the ARC. Connor, keep trying to lock that thing. Anna, Becker, come with me."

Danny, who remained seated on the floor, stared at Anna in confusion, "What's happening?"

"Oh, we're sort of in the middle of something serious. Abby will explain it on the way." she replied, helping him to his feet. She noticed the large bone he held in his hand, as if a weapon, too big to come from a Terror Bird. How many anomalies had he been through?

After leaving Danny with Abby, Matt Becker and Anna split up. Anna took the outside, holding a small EMD in her hands, constantly aware that Ethan was in the building and could be anywhere. The idea of him frightened her. The idea that a man could be so silent, so clever and always one step ahead.

As she walked down the steps, taking in her surroundings, Anna glanced up at the tall prison. She'd barely given it a look when they had arrived; too preoccupied with her job. Now, it seemed a hauntingly dark place, even in daylight. The ash-coloured stone it was built in was tightly packed together, and the small cell windows were naught but holes in the confined lockup. It was hard not to imagine the screams, the pain, the horror of this prison in its day; how cut off life would have been, despite the closeness to the city.

She shivered and walked on.

Anna spotted the car on the gravel and sped over, lowering her gun. Yet where she expected to find the guard, she found a corpse. Kneeling beside the man, she rested her fingers on his neck; dead. Dead and not to return. A family perhaps? But that did not matter to Ethan.

"Matt? Guard down," she said. A sickening feeling fell over her, "Ethan's here,"

She ran back into the main body of the building, meeting Becker and Matt who spoke the moment she stopped, "Listen out," he told her.