Primeval - A Grave New World

16. Death And Judgement

Danny, Becker and Leeds stood beside one another as they watched the now docile herd of Miragaia, accompanied by the fleet-footed ornithopods slowly trudge back through into the garage. One of Becker's men was driving a car behind the herd, slowly but surely ushering them back towards the anomaly. Luckily, all these dinosaur species seemed to form a super herd and so, stuck by one another.

Danny stared in awe at the creatures passing his gaze. It wasn't very often that he got to appreciate these things without being treated as food, or worse, and he considered himself lucky to be this close to things that many people would only assume could happen in movies nowadays. The herd moved on, not once paying any attention to the onlooking humans whilst the car behind kept them at a steady pace, slowly edging forward each time, making sure not to hit them by accident. It was easy enough to get them to change direction at least. Why couldn't the carnivores be this cooperative?

"Well," started Leeds, "I'd consider that a job well done!" he said in premature delight.

"Don't get ahead of yourself," replied Becker, "this is the easy bit."

"Leeds," came Jess's voice on the intercom, "I can't raise Mac, his black-box vanished from my sensors somewhere on the far side of the green, can one of you go check he's alright?"

"Sure, I'll go deal with him," Danny responded, "you've got this situation under control, right guys?"

"Oh shit!" Leeds butted in, placing his head in his hands, "we locked the anomaly! Those dinosaurs are just heading towards a locked anomaly!"

Danny breathed slowly and rolled his eyes.

"I'll help you deal with that Major! Danny, you go see about Mac," Becker ordered.

"Yeah."

Becker primed his EMD just in case and signalled to the driver to stop until they'd sorted the anomaly out.

"Good luck," Danny said, patting Leeds on the back, making him flinch.

With that, he was off back towards the green, leaving the Major and the Captain to their own devices.

The green was a mess. The site, which was once a place of relaxation and leisure was now almost totally unrecognisable from the carnage. Many torn and ruined posters abandoned by fleeing protesters lay strewn about the place, accompanied by the dismembered bodies of some of the unlucky people that hadn't got away. Despite it already being afternoon, the sun was still high in the sky, and the full horror and desolation of the scene was fully visible. Becker had already instructed his men to keep any would-be eyewitness to the scene away until all the mess was cleared up, leaving Danny as the sole person in this bleak spectacle.

His footsteps echoed around him, amplified by the lack of any other noise. It was eerie to be alone out here, knowing full well that there could be dangerous predators lurking somewhere near, but this feeling was nothing new to Danny. He'd been battling terror birds for the past six months and, as a consequence, his senses had been heightened. At least this time he had a proper weapon, as opposed to just a wooden stick - as much as he depended on Molly. That was all in the past now anyway. He primed his EMD - a skill he'd finally mastered, having observed the other team members using theirs. The gleam of the cold metal in his hands bounced off the sunlight of the fading day as the device began to whir and to heat up.

As he took a few steps further, he glanced over his surroundings. One such object caught his attention. Over to one side of the green, sat the ambulance, still stationary. Odd. Danny thought that it would've left by now. Why was it still there? One of Becker's men had called it to get Toby into it and to take her to a hospital, but it hadn't left. It was then that he noticed that the armed guard was gone - so too were any hospital staff that presumably would have driven the vehicle here in the first place. This entire situation felt off to him somehow.