unfortunate ➸ primeval

Chapter 25

A/N: last chapter of Part I!!

At mid-morning the next day, everything was getting prepared for the adventure through the anomaly. It had been decided that Helen, Nick, Ryan and several of Ryan's men would go through and set up camp, waiting for the future anomaly to present itself.

Clara, on the other hand, also wanted to go, so she had dressed in her camo trousers, a tank top and one of her light scarves wound around her neck, with her chunky boots to finish off in the hope that she would be allowed to accompany them.

"Be careful with those," Nick ordered two soldiers as they carried a metal crate full of the screaming baby future predators into the anomaly. "They're our only hope of finding the future anomaly." As usual, the ball of light got brighter as they walked through, and then returned to normal.

Helen was kitting out her backpack, so Clara took a deep breath and approached Nick. "I want to come with you," she said bluntly.

He stopped what he was doing. "What?"

"I want to come with you," she repeated. "Through the anomaly. The past."

"You can't," he deadpanned. "It's too dangerous."

"Fine," Clara shrugged. "But don't think I won't just follow you a few seconds later."

"Oh, just let her come," Helen piped up as she secured her rucksack around herself. "Can't hurt to have some more company, can it?" Clara flashed her a grin, to which Helen replied with a wink.

Nick let out a long sigh, thinking the thought over. "Fine," he relented finally. "You can come. I'll set you up a backpack while you tell Stephen. I'm sure he'll be pleased."

Clara thanked him, and then walked over to where Stephen was stood. As always, he looked incredibly handsome. "Stephen," she spoke. He met her gaze. "I'm going to go through the anomaly with Nick and Helen." She thought it was best just to get it over and done with quickly.

"What?" Stephen did a double take. "You can't. It's too dangerous." She suppressed a smile at the almost identical reaction he and his boss had had.

"I want to see the past, Stephen," she sighed longingly. "Think of how amazing it would be! Seeing dinosaurs that were extinct hundreds of millions of years ago, in their own natural habitat!"

"It is amazing," Stephen agreed. "But not this time. It's too dangerous."

"I'm sorry, Stephen," Clara shrugged. "But I'm going, and you're not going to stop me." She walked away from him and towards her godparents, who held out her backpack for her. "Thanks," she smiled, but it turned into a wan one when she saw Stephen. He walked over to them, addressing Cutter.

"If I don't make it back," Nick started. "Push Lester through the worst anomaly you can find."

"It's a given," Stephen chuckled, shaking his friend's hand and patting him on the back. He walked away as Claudia approached, not looking at Clara.

"What happens if it closes while you're on the other side?" She asked worriedly.

"We wait until it reopens," Nick replied calmly.

"I think we should get going," Helen called, striding towards the anomaly. She stood in front of it, waiting for her two companions. Everyone else had already gone through who needed to. Clara took a deep breath and stood next to Helen in front of the anomaly.

The older woman gave her a small smile. "You nervous?" She guessed.

"How could you tell?" Clara joked.