Primeval

Chapter Two ~ Surrounded Part I

"Anna!" It was a chorus given out by both Abby and Becker. The two of them running towards the hole, each without a sense of the danger they were throwing themselves into. Connor grabbed for Becker but missed; he ran to the edge of the hole and looked down. Abby was restrained by Matt, tears filling her eyes. Anna was her friend, her oldest, closest friend. And she was gone.

"We'll get her back, Abby. I promise you," Matt attempted to comfort the distressed woman.

Becker looked down into the gaping hole in the ground. It didn't seem to sink in, the idea of her gone. Maybe she's dead?  he thought. No, Anna's much to impressive for that.

When Abby had calmed a little, the four of them made their way back to the car. Matt pulled out the laptop, drawing up the map that Connor had created. It was a 3D model, as he'd promised.

"This," Connor pointed at a cluster on the screen where many lines of tunnels met, "is the area I identified as the creatures most likely nest."

Matt studied the map silently for a few seconds before declaring, "I think you're right."

Jess piped up through COMs, "Anna's black box signal is heading back towards the road works, guys." she explained. It was clear there was panic in her voice, losing a team member was a relatively new experience for her.

"So it must be taking her back to the nest," Abby added.

Becker, who was loading the guns back into the truck, tried to control the shaking in his hands. He told the, "I can get the team to stet up an exclusion zone, I'll meet you guys there," before climbing into the truck.

Abby, Connor and Matt each climbed into the remaining vehicle and drove away from the house.

Once they had arrived at the hole in the road, Abby quickly began to walk towards the building. Jess had tracked the black box signal to a room underneath the building a few metres from the road works. This, presumably, was the location of the creatures nest.

"Abby, please, calm down and wait." Matt told her.

"Don't tell me to calm down, this is Anna we're talking about here, she could already be dead," Abby snapped at him.

Matt, who was desperately trying to keep up with Abby's hurried pace, sighed and said, "Well, if she is, there's nothing we can do about it and if she isn't, charging in this building without a plan isn't going to help her, is it?"

Abby stopped, and looked at him, fear in her eyes, "It's just one creature and it's already been injured. The bullets pierced the exoskeleton, I saw it myself."

"Anna said herself that she wasn't sure it was only one creature. If she was right, then this is more dangerous than you think it is," Matt's reason was hard to question.

"She's my friend, I won't leave her down there!"

But before Matt could continue, or Abby return with another reason to go and save her friend, a voice spoke through COMs.

"Abby?" It was Anna's voice.

~

Opening her eyes was more of a struggle that it should've been. The room was dimly lit; on her right there was a light, but she dare not turn her head yet, for fear of pain. The stone floor was icy beneath her, but that was the least of her concerns. Anna could only focus on the pain in her left ankle and the warm trickle of blood that ran down the side of her face.

Her breathing was slow, an unhealthy rate, but she squeezed out the words as they scratched at her throat, "Abby?". It was the first name that came to her mind, possibly because she heard her voice as she woke up.