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fredbassettAuthor : fredbassett
Fandom : Primeval
Characters : Cutter, Connor, Ditzy, Finn & Others.
Rating : 18
Disclaimer : Not mine (except Ditzy, Finn & some of the others), no money made, don’t sue
Spoilers : None.
Summary : Nick and the others get an unpleasant surprise back at the house.
A/N : The remainder of this series can be found here
Nick Cutter stared at his phone in frustration, more than half tempted to throw the damn thing down and stamp on it. At least grinding it into bits would stop that arrogant sod in
“I wouldn’t do that, if I were you, Professor,” said Connor, a placatory tone. “I lost mine back at the last anomaly. They might not be much use around here, but they’re better than nothing.”
“That’s a matter of opinion,” snapped Cutter, rolling his r’s in a way that he only did when he was in a really bad mood. “He wants us back at the house. According to Lyle, we’re too strung out.”
Finn nodded approvingly. In his opinion, it was the first sensible thing anyone had said for hours. In the absence of effective communications, physically re-grouping was the best thing they could do. It was bad enough tearing around the countryside in a flat spin in daylight, but with the mist coming down again, and dusk fast approaching, they needed more kit, and more importantly, they needed a plan. In fact, in the soldier’s view, they needed a decent plan even more than they needed the latest in night goggles and thermal imaging, although Connor would probably prefer having high tech toys to play with.
Cutter turned on his heel and made his way back to the car, grunting to their police escort that they were heading back to the
Connor gave a small nod of approval, catching Ditzy’s eye and grinning, “I thought he really was going to stamp on it. It might only be a crappy five year old Nokia, but at the rate the rest of us seem to get through the things, it might be all we end up with.” He sighed heavily, “And Lester’s right, we need to get a grip rather than diving off here there and everywhere. We’ll be better off in a reach of a landline right now.”
The two soldiers shot approving glances at the student.
Ditzy grinned. “We’ll make a soldier of you yet, kid.”
A slight blush coloured Connor’s cheeks and he mumbled, “And the batteries in my laptop are running low.”
Finn laughed.
Connor made puppy dog eyes at the soldier, “If we have to go out again later, any chance I’ll get a gun?”
“Only if you promise not to lose it through an anomaly, or shoot someone, or leave it lying around where anyone can pick it up ……….”
It made a change not to be met with a flat no. Connor’s hopeful look slid into a grin, which faded to a look of mild concern as the policeman and Cutter set off at a speed somewhat great than the legal limit for narrow country lanes, and Ditzy accelerated in an attempt to keep up. Cutter might not have approved of the instruction to return to base, but the policeman clearly did if his enthusiastic driving was anything to go by.
* * * * *
The first thing that Connor noticed as they swung round the front of the house into the courtyard in the gathering gloom, was that there seemed to be way too many lights on everywhere. All the outside lights were blazing, so were the lights along the driveway.
“Looks like
The car in front, containing Cutter and the policeman, pulled round the back into the yard. Ditzy followed.
Connor got out of the vehicle, clutching his laptop case, and promptly stepped on a large stainless steel sauce pan. His foot skidded and he landed in a heap on his arse. On another bloody pan.
“Ouch!”
Ditzy looked round, saw Connor with one foot wearing a pan, sprawled out on the grey flags of the yard. The student tried to struggle to his feet and slipped again, this time on a patch of something red and sticky.
Something that looked suspiciously like blood.
“Trouble! Watch yourselves!” yelled the medic, reaching down and hauling Connor to his feet, while simultaneous ridding him of his somewhat incongruous and unhelpful new footwear.
Cutter stared round him, eyes adjusting to the glare of the lights in the gathering gloom. A chair lay on its side, broken, near the back door of the
And around them in the mist lay several large lumps on the flagstones. Which, on closer imagination turned out to be dead flesh oozing blood and entrails.
Nick Cutter cast a quick eye over the remains. “Connor! Opinion, now!”
Ditzy, Finn and the policeman fanned out across the yard.
Connor stared down at the remains of what looked like some sort of medium sized therapod. A long head, partly obliterated by bullets, was joined to a plump but streamlined body by a strong neck. The jaws lolled open in death, displaying rows of sharp, serrated teeth, stained with blood that probably wasn’t its own. Long slim fore-limbs ended in three-clawed fingers, one of which gripped a torn strip of fawn coloured material.
The student dropped to his knees, muttering as he absently pulled the scrap out of the creature’s claw and handed it up to Cutter. “Big eyes ……… it’s a night hunter, look at the size of ‘em ……….these guy’s’ll be in their element right now ………oh shit, look at the hind claw ……..” The eyes that looked up at Cutter were dark with emotion. “Troodons, Cutter, like the deinonychus only smaller and with better night vision. Late Cretaceous. If we’d met these sods down the Crowll, we wouldn’t have stood a chance.”
“Trev’s colleague didn’t,” said Ditzy, crouching down at Connor’s side, and wiping blood-stained fingers down his combat trousers. “They ripped her face off, then tore her throat out. He’s throwing up and I don’t blame him. What are we up against,
Connor paled, but delivered an admirably succinct appraisal of their opponents in a voice than he somehow managed to keep steady.
Ditzy nodded, and without speaking, handed Connor a pistol. “Careful with it, there’s no safety catch. Clip’s got 15 rounds. Try not to use all of ‘em.” He glanced up at Cutter. “Personally, I wouldn’t say this is a good time for any of your scruples about guns, Professor. These sods clearly haven’t escaped from a petting zoo.” The medic jerked his head at Finn, who held his Glock out, butt first.
Nick Cutter dropped the scrap of material which he knew, without needing to be told, came from Claudia Brown’s trousers. He took the gun without a word, his blue eyes as cold as the mist that swirled around the ominously silent yard.
He opened his mouth to ask the medic what his plan was, when a shot sounded – from inside the house. The words died on his lips and he started moving.
Ditzy’s hand shot out and grabbed his arm. “Not so fast, sir.” He raised his voice, “Trev, there’s nothing you can do for her, mate, get over here now.”
The young policeman came over, picking his way round the sprawl of bodies, still oozing blood and guts. His face was even paler than Connor’s and the hand which held his extendable metal baton shook slightly. “She was getting married next month,” he said in a voice that sound very quiet and very far away.
Cutter reached out and gripped the young man’s arm hard. “Don’t think about it, man, not yet. We’ve got others to worry about now. Did either of you check the cottage?”
Finn nodded. “The door’s closed, and there’s no sign of entry. If they’re anywhere, they’re all in the main house, I reckon. That shot came from upstairs.”
“OK, so we go in,” Ditzy’s voice was calm and authoritative. The medic’s normal job mostly consisted of patching other people up, but in Lyle’s absence, he was also, at 2nd Lieutenant, the next highest ranking officer on the team. “Finn, you’re on point. I’ll cover you. Professor, you and Trev watch our backs.
Connor held the pistol out to the PC, who was barely a year or two older than him. “I’ll swop you for the truncheon. I reckon I’ll do less damage to the rest of us with that.”
Another shot sounded from inside the house as the two young men traded weapons.
“Shotgun,” muttered Finn. “Upstairs, towards the front.”
“So we take the main stairs,” said Ditzy. “Move it!” As they jogged towards the open back door, the soldier traded a quick grin with Connor, who was gripping the handle of the baton so hard his knuckles showed white. “I’ll take you on the range, first chance I get, and that’s a promise, mate.”
Connor nodded, snatching the chance to deposit his laptop next to the sink in the kitchen, before they headed out into the wide entrance hall.
A scutter of claws sounded on the polished parquet flooring.
Finn let fly with a short burst from his M4. One troodon was hurled backwards into a long cased clock, which gave a dismal boing. A second one dodged the bullets and careered straight into the middle of their group, catching the young policeman unawares, before he even had the chance to bring his pistol into play, and ripping a long slash down his leg.
“Fucking hell!”
A single shot from Ditzy’s rifle blew a large hole in the predator’s body, sending up a spray of what looked like feathers mixed in with the blood.
“Are they birds, or what?” he asked, as Finn started to dive up the stairs.
“Long debate,” panted Connor, grabbing Trevor’s hand and yanking the policeman back to his feet. “Ask me again in a pub sometime.” He unwound the scarf from his neck. “Tie this round it, or you’ll be slipping in the blood, but be quick about it. I think there’s more of the sods to come.”
A shotgun blast from somewhere at the other end of the house ripped the air apart.
“Hopefully that means one less,” muttered Cutter. “Claudia! Claudia Brown? Can you hear me?” His words were almost drowned out by another shotgun blast.
Finn glanced at Ditzy, got a nod in return then moved off again up the stairs.
As he did so, they heard a voice yell out in annoyance, “Open the bloody door!”
“Not until you tell me how to find my daughter, Mrs Cutter,” replied the calm, controlled voice of Ryan’s ex-wife.
“Claudia, let me in before I get ripped to pieces!”
“Then tell us what we need to know, Helen.” Claudia’s tone were equally implacable. “If you do, we might even undo the handcuffs.”
“Psychotic bitches!”
“Well, I could say takes one to know one,” said Amanda Thornton, her voice muffled by a thick door, “but let’s not get childish.”
Cutter’s eyebrows shot up far enough to meet his fringe. They rounded the top of the stairs at a run. Finn dropped to one knee, giving Ditzy clear line of sight over his head. Four troodons were massing in the corridor, stalking a frantic Helen Cutter. The woman was kicking hard at a sturdy wooden door, which showed no inclination to yield even to her methods of persuasion.
“Let her in and close the door, Miss Brown!” yelled Ditzy. “We need a clear line of fire and we need it now!”
The medic threw his arm out, stopping Cutter from making a dash to his wife’s aid. For good measure, Connor grabbed hold of the Professor’s jacket. Ditzy gave Cutter a sharp look. “I can cut them down before they get to her, but she’s in danger of getting hit. I don’t want you in the way as well, sir. Finn, take out the stray one on the left if you can.”
Over the scrabbling of claws and the demented hissing noise the creatures were making, they barely heard the sound of a key turning in the lock, followed by the rasp of a bolt being shot back. Finn squeezed off one shot, and the troodon that Ditzy had singled out died without even knowing it had been under threat.
Kermit’s voice carried clearly down the corridor, “Back up, sir, Amanda’s giving them both barrels as soon as Mrs Cutter’s inside!”
A sudden yell from Connor added to the confusion, “Behind us, more of them!”
Ditzy turned at the warning, shoving Cutter to one side, and firing between Connor and the policeman. Trevor Hunt took aim with the Glock, holding the heavy pistol steady in both hands and snapping off a succession of impressively accurate shots. Then they were retreating back to the top of the stairs to avoid getting caught in any gun fire from the bedroom at the end where the others were holed up.
“On the count of three ………. ONE ………TWO ……….” Ditzy’s final word was drowned out by both a roar from the shotgun and the sharper, more metallic rattle of an assault rifle.
Kermit’s cry of “We’re clear of the door!” echoed off the walls as the bedroom door banged shut again.
Ditzy and Finn both flicked their guns to fully automatic and raked the corridor from side to side, wrecking the decoration in a manner that was going to be difficult to explain to any insurance company, and catching the pack of predators in a hail of bullets. Blood and feathers sprayed up the walls.
“Finish ‘em off, then we clear the rest of the house,” Ditzy instructed, as the sound of two pistols firing at once on the stairwell dragged his attention away from the carnage.
It took fifteen minutes and another full clip of ammunition before the medic was satisfied that there wasn’t a live troodon left in the house. And it wasn’t a wholly one sided battle, either. A moment’s inattention led to a pair of nastily serrated teeth fastening themselves onto Ditzy’s arm.
Connor’s aim with the extendable baton had succeeded in breaking the animal’s neck before it could bring the formidable hind-claws into play. The soldier had smiled his thanks, while he’d calmly fired three rounds into the still twitching corpse.
Eventually, Finn called out, “Clear!”
Connor allowed himself to slump against the wall and rub the sweat off his face. His hand came away streaked with blood. He glanced at Cutter questioningly.
“Not yours,” said the other man, as he picked his way down the corridor towards the closed room at the end.
Claudia opened the door, leaning heavily on the frame, a blood soaked towel knotted round her thigh.
Amanda Thornton stood next to her, a shotgun cradled in her arms like a cherished baby.
Kermit was sitting on the end of the bed, glaring at Helen Cutter, who was rubbing her wrists and returning the look with interest.
“Is this a private party, or can anyone join in?” Nick asked, leaning forward and brushing Claudia’s lips with his, in a gesture that his wife clearly didn’t appreciate.
Amanda Thornton looked amused.
The silence was broken by the loud ringing of the telephone on a table next to the bed.
Kermit leaned over and answered it. “
In the clamour that followed his words, none of them could be sure afterwards at exactly what point Helen Cutter had succeeded in slipping away. It was also fair to say that no-one was too bothered at that stage, either.
When Ryan arrived back with his news, it became a different matter. But by then it was too late.
Cutter’s wife had vanished into the mist, taking any information they might have got from her away into the mist and the darkness and the teeming rain.
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Date: 2008-05-09 07:46 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-05-10 08:59 am (UTC)I rather suspect the insurance company will find a way to equate cretaceous era therapod dinosaurs with terrorists and so wriggle out of paying. They'll probably use the bullet holes as evidence.
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Date: 2008-05-09 07:47 pm (UTC)Incidentally, I suddenly have much love for Ditzy. Not as much as Lyle, obviously, but still... ;-)
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Date: 2008-05-10 09:01 am (UTC)It was nice to be able to use Ditzy more in this one.
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Date: 2008-05-09 07:56 pm (UTC)Can't wait for more.
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Date: 2008-05-09 08:14 pm (UTC)Anyway she's now shipping Ditzy/Connor and is most peeved that she now has another probably almost impossible pairing (since it involves your OC, although your OCs do put themselves about a bit lol) to ship. And it's your fault.
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Date: 2008-05-09 08:09 pm (UTC)And stuff VS3 - I think your SF guys need a spin-off series!
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Date: 2008-05-10 09:05 am (UTC)It's nice to have been able to flesh them out a bit more, and the split up nature of this series has rather lent itself to that.
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Date: 2008-05-09 09:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-05-10 09:06 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-05-09 09:41 pm (UTC)Fred, your OCs are wonderful and I ♥ them to bits :)
Lol at Connor finally getting a gun and deciding maybe it wasn't that good an idea for him to have one after all ...
And yay for the psychotic bitches! *g* Pity they hadn't let the killer chickens eat HELEN! after all. She is such a slippery customer, that one.
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Date: 2008-05-09 10:57 pm (UTC)You just want Connor with *everyone*, don't you? Not that I'm complaining, you know, just making an observation. *grin*
*has sudden and worrying mental image of Connor flailing and panicking in the midst of a special forces orgy*
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Date: 2008-05-09 10:16 pm (UTC)You... you've killed my ability to form a sensible sentence with your action packed fic. *shakes fist*
And more deinonychus-type dinos! Yey for dangerous cretaceous theropods.
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Date: 2008-05-10 09:13 am (UTC)*appologises to a fellow dinosaur for rendering her speechless*
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Date: 2008-05-09 11:10 pm (UTC)And yes, as Joe said, it's all your fault now I am craving Ditzy/Connor *pouts*
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Date: 2008-05-10 09:14 am (UTC)Are none of these poor boys allowed to be straight?
There might have to be a near-death experience drummed up for them so I can satisfy your collective cravings ..........
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Date: 2008-05-09 11:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-05-10 09:15 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-05-09 11:58 pm (UTC)A ggod chapter, and a nice way of ting of the ladies story - even it means I'm still fretting about Stephen and Lyle. My two favourite characters and they are both trapped! Still together (and with Blade, injured or not) I suspect they can survive anything the past throws at them.
I shall have faith that the 'everyone getting drunk, sitting round and fire and then staggering off to bed' conclusion is getting closer... and I'll be checking back here on monday!
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Date: 2008-05-09 11:59 pm (UTC)(no subject)
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Date: 2008-05-10 05:52 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-05-10 09:17 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-05-10 08:14 am (UTC)You know how I love your psycho chickens, and am happy that they now have a name. And how impressed Connor is with them. I'd love them too... from a distance. *nods*
Your OCs stopped being OCs ages ago, and it amazes me how easy this is to read, when sometimes you may only have one canon character in the scene!
I have lots of favourite bits, as usual, but the thought of Claudia and Amanda (Kermit probably not having been given a say in the matter *g*) using the troodons to loosen Helen's tongue. It's not often that a bunch of women can rivel the SF guys for testosterone, but Helen, Claudia and Amanda were certainly giving it a good go! *g*
Only two parts to go? Buggered if I know how you're going to wrap this up.
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Date: 2008-05-10 09:19 am (UTC)The OCs certainly seem to have gone down well in this, which is a big relief as introducing Ryan's ex-family could have been the straw that broke the reader's backs, so to speak, so I'm glad it's turned out OK.
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Date: 2008-05-10 08:31 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-05-10 09:21 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-05-11 12:06 am (UTC)Soooo, are we going to get the sexy inuendo laden fic where Ditzy takes Connor to the firing range and teaches him to soot... ahla Jack/Gwen... *sighs happily as the imagination takes over*
Damn I love your OC's to death.... Yeah, the SF guys get their own series... of fic's I mean *heh*
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Date: 2008-05-11 09:30 am (UTC)The SF guys are great fun to write.
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Date: 2008-05-26 10:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-05-27 01:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-05-28 07:05 pm (UTC)Wow, lots of action and bang bang. I like how they finally gave Connor a gun, and they didn't just say NO! it was a maybe before hand.
Nice.
I love how I can just read the next bit now. ^_^
Awesome stuff.
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Date: 2008-05-28 07:12 pm (UTC)(no subject)
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Date: 2008-06-03 09:26 pm (UTC)Poor Trev. He did well though. Ditzy was well cool. *helps him patch up his arm* and nice to see Kermit keep his sense of humour.
The promise of Ditzy taking Connor on the range is lovely :) And we all know how *that* ended up, LOL!
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Date: 2008-06-03 09:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-02-25 05:28 pm (UTC)*snorfle*
“Only if you promise not to lose it through an anomaly, or shoot someone, or leave it lying around where anyone can pick it up ……….”
So, Connor has no chance then *g*
“Well, I could say takes one to know one,” said Amanda Thornton, her voice muffled by a thick door, “but let’s not get childish.”
I hates her, and yet now I likes her… *iz confused*
Mrs Thornton’s butler speaking
LOL!
Can I marry Ditzy? Can I, please?
And I love the bit where Connor trades his gun for a baton, when it actually came down to it.
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Date: 2009-02-25 05:31 pm (UTC)LOL, so you're softening a bit towards Amanda?
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