unfortunate ➸ primeval

Chapter 19

Back inside the ARC, Sarah, Clara and Connor were sat in front of the window and staring into the lab that once contained Abby's pride and joy. Connor let out a sigh. "Just look at those plants," he said. "Abby is so going to kill me."

"Yep," Sarah agreed.

Connor's attention then got drawn to the air vent, in which a small Diictodon had just poked his head out of. "Sid?" He frowned. "That's where you are. Great, now I have to go back in. This day just keeps getting better."

Connor entered the lab, without his helmet this time, and approached the air vent where Sid was hiding. "Come down from there," he told the creature. "It's not funny. Sid!"

As he tried to reach up and catch his mini dinosaur, Connor accidentally knocked a bottle of the saline solution onto the floor, which reacted with the ash left over by the fungus creature. The fungus then started to grow again, spreading much faster than it had last time.

Clara and Sarah widened their eyes as they noticed Connor didn't have a helmet nor any gloves on.

"Connor, get out of there now!" Clara called to him urgently.

"What we thought was ash is just millions of spores!" He replied. "It's reproducing itself. If it gets into the ARC we're finished!"

"So fire won't kill it," Clara sighed.

"Listen," Connor shouted. "Tell Danny if he tries to burn it, it's going to spread through half of London!"

Clara pulled out her phone and dialled Jenny. "Clara?" Jenny's voice came through.

"Jenny," Clara greeted shortly. "Don't use the flamethrowers, if you do it's going to spread through the whole of London."

"I can't hear you," Jenny said.

"Fire doesn't work," Clara repeated.

"What? You're breaking up, I can't hear what you're saying," Jenny sighed.

"Don't use the flamethrowers!"

"Are you saying to go ahead?" Jenny's voice came through confused. Clara groaned.

"No! Listen—" The line cut off. "Damnit!" She dialled Jenny again.

"Clara?" Jenny said again.

"Do not use the flamethrowers!" She said clearly.

"Stop!" She heard Jenny yell. "Fire doesn't work, stay away from it. Thanks, Clara," she returned to the phone.

"It's fine," Clara dismissed before hanging up.

"Did they get the message?" Sarah asked.

"Yes," Clara sighed with relief.

"What is it now?" Lester questioned, joining the two girls at the window to the office. Sarah just nodded her head towards the lab, where Connor was trapped.

"Heat," they heard him murmur. "It likes heat. So, logically. . ." He bent down, pushing open one of the freezer units with a long metal pole. Instantly, the fungus began to shrink away.

"Clara!" He shouted. "We can freeze it! Turn the temperature gauge down to as low as it can go!"

"What about you?" Clara protested. "You'll freeze to death!"

"Do it! I'll be fine," he assured.

Clara turned to Lester, who gave her the approving nod. She went over to the temperature gauge and pressed the button, causing the temperature to drop.

It wasn't long before the room had a blue hue and there was frost forming everywhere. Connor was hunched over, arms wrapped around himself to try and keep his body warm. "Keep going!" He encouraged.