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The hilux bounced along the wooded road, heading towards the latest anomaly picked up by Connor’s detector. Nick was driving, with a newly cleared for duty Stephen in the passenger seat. Connor and Abby were crammed in the back along with most of Connor’s equipment. Jenny had elected to travel in one of the Range Rovers with Ryan and his men.
They passed a sign reading St Trinian’s School for Young Ladies.
“Damn, it’s in a school,” muttered Nick.
“Was that a shrunken head? With a knife in it?” asked Stephen.
Abby poked Connor. “Any information about this school on the internet?”
“Looks like rumours mostly. People on blogs seem to think it’s full of juvenile delinquents. Huh. That doesn’t fit with this news story from earlier in the year though. You know that painting that was stolen from The National Gallery? The Girl With the Pearl Earring. According to this, it was a group of St Trinian’s girls who found it in a rest-room on their way back from winning School Challenge.”
“I’m more worried about one of the kids stumbling on a creature,” said Nick. “I imagine Jenny’s PR skills are going to get a work out.”
The anomaly was registering as ahead of them and slightly off to the right when the convoy entered the school gates.
“Is that a blown-up building?” asked Connor, staring out his window.
“They probably just had a fire,” replied Stephen, hopping out and going around the back of the hilux to check on his tranquiliser rifle.
Jenny approached them. “Where is the anomaly, Connor?”
Connor consulted his hand held detector. “I’d say it’s just around the other side of the building.”
“Okay. Everyone, I need you to be on your best behavior.” She turned a stern look on Cutter. “We don’t want to scare any school children. You are going to stay right here until I have spoken with the teacher in charge.”
Before Jenny could get inside a tall, buxom woman in a wool tweed suit strode out of the front door.
“Oh how lovely, visitors! Now dearies, tell me who you are.”
Jenny plastered on her best ‘I know what I’m doing’ smile and strode forward, hand outstretched.
“Hello, I’m Jenny Lewis, with the Home Office. We’ve detected a rather inconvenient and rare lightning event in your school grounds. My team is here to contain it and ensure that no damage is caused. Are you in charge?”
“I’m Camilla Fritton, Headmistress of this school. I believe the event is question is around the corner, though I wasn’t aware that lightning generally disgorged dinosaurs. The first years appear to have become rather fond of the baby raptor that came through. I believe they’ve named it Ripper.”
Jenny made a strangled sound, her smile frozen on her face. Nick and Stephen stared at each other in horror, and Ryan and his men sprinted for the anomaly. Connor just started babbling excitedly until Abby thumped him in the arm.
“You look like you need a drink, dear, Matron makes an excellent gin and tonic.”
Miss Fritton tugged a still dumbstruck Jenny towards the building. The rest of the team pulled themselves together and followed the soldiers, fearing a scene of mutilated children. What they saw as they rounded the corner left them confused.
A group of girls wearing heavy black eyeliner were wielding what looked like sharpened hockey sticks and the occasional knife as they guarded the anomaly. The aforementioned raptor seemed to be fleeing a pack of rambunctious young girls as they chased after it yelling randomly interspersed with calls for ‘Ripper’ to come back. A group of older girls in almost indecently short school skirts appeared to be flirting with the slightly terrified-looking soldiers while a set of identical twins were quizzing a worried-looking Ryan about various types of explosives.
“Oi, you lot.” A petite girl with massive earrings and a definite attitude approached the scientists. “Are you supposed to be in charge of this thing or what?”
Nick was the first person to shake himself out of his stupor enough to answer. “Aye, lass, we are. It would be best if you all went back inside. For your own safety and all. We need to coax the raptor back through the anomaly, I mean ball of lightning. It doesn’t belong here.”
“Do ya think we’re stupid or something?” The girl retorted, hands on her hips. “That’s no ball of lightning. It didn’t burn Annabelle and Kelly to crisp when they went through, like lightning would have.”
“Someone went through?” yelped Stephen, exchanging a horrified glance with Nick.
“Well, yeah. Once that raptor thingy came through, we clearly needed to know what we were facing.”
“Have they come back through yet?”
“They stuck their heads through and said here was a forest on the other side and that they were going to scout around a bit, why?”
“Ryan!” bellowed Nick, taking off towards the anomaly at speed, with Stephen hot on his heels. They skidded to a halt next to the soldier. “Two of the kids have gone through the anomaly.”
“Shit!” Ryan started barking orders, organizing a search party as well as a guard on the anomaly.
“The magnetic field seems quite stable, so we should have some time yet.” Connor had his eyes glued to the readings his equipment was spitting out.
“Keep a close eye on it, Connor. We need to get those kids back safely.” Nick looked on worriedly as Stephen joined Ryan in leading a team through the anomaly.
“Nick?” Jenny had appeared, accompanied by Miss Fritton. “Why is a team going through?”
“Two of the girls have gone through.”
“Annabelle and Kelly were their names,” piped up Abby.
“Are you telling me that my niece and my head girl are both in danger?” asked Miss Fritton.
“The raptor being chased around your hockey pitch is only a baby,” said Nick, “If its parents find the girls… and raptors aren’t the only predators they could run into.”
“But I’m sure Captain Ryan and his team will find them safe and sound,” said Jenny, interrupting before Miss Fritton could respond. “Why don’t I take you inside for another cup of tea?”
“Absolutely not.” Miss Fritton folded her arms and glared at the team. “I am not going anywhere until I see that my dear girlies are in one piece or my name isn’t Camilla Fritton.”
Shrieks of glee were heard from the hockey pitch.
“Um, is that raptor wearing a dress?” Connor asked?
Everybody stared.
“Actually, I think it might be a dromaeosaurus.”
“Connor!”
***
On the other side of the anomaly, Ryan was scanning the immediate area for threats and Stephen was scanning the ground for any sign of the two missing girls. The rest of the men spread out to watch all approaches to the anomaly.
“This definitely looks like the Cretaceous, which fits with the raptor that came through,” remarked Stephen. “There are some faint footprints here, so the girls must have gone this way.” He started after them, eyes on the ground, trusting that Ryan would have his back.
“What other threats should we keep an eye out for?” asked Ryan.
“The parents of the one that came through for a start. There should be any number of other dinosaurs depending on where we are, including tyrannosaurs, various types of spinosaurids, other raptor-like species like deinonychus and the utahraptor… honestly, there are too many to mention at right now and I can’t tell exactly what part of the Cretaceous we’ve arrived in.”
“That does not make me feel better,” muttered Ryan, griping his rifle more tightly.
Five minutes later they heard voices coming from a clump of vegetation.
“He’s sweet. Do you think we can take him home?”
“Do you want to add raising dinosaurs to your CV now, Annabelle?”
“Odd, slightly dangerous… it sounds like something a St Trinian’s girl would do.”
“Quiet, something’s coming.”
When Ryan and Stephen pushed their way into the vegetation, they came face to face with a girl with a black bob wielding a vicious-looking knife standing in front of another delicate looking girl, who was holding another baby creature with nasty looking beak, a frill and a pair of not fully grown horns.
“Probably an Anchiceratops,” murmured Stephen. “ An early relative of the triceratops that was a contemporary of the velociraptor.”
“Who are you?” demanded the girl with the knife. Going by the voice, this was Kelly, meaning Annabelle was holding the dinosaur.
“I’m Captain Ryan, this is Dr Stephen Hart. We’re here to get you back to school safely.”
Kelly snorted. “We don’t need any help, thanks all the same.”
“Ma’am, you’re in the Cretaceous, the same era that contains some of the most vicious predators that ever roamed the earth,” Stephen said. “The rip in time that leads to home could close at any moment. We need to go.”
“Can we…” Annabelle started.
“No, you can’t take the dinosaur home. It belongs here, in its natural habitat, with its family.” Stephen was starting to feel frustrated. Who wanted to keep a dinosaur as a pet? Apart from Abby that is, and Rex was more a lizard than a dinosaur.
Annabelle reluctantly put the small creature down and watched it scamper off through the trees. “All right, let’s go then.”
The small group was halfway back to the anomaly when they heard a roar behind them. Stephen spun around.
“It’s a tyrannosaurus! I don’t think it’s seen us yet. Run!”
Ryan immediately started barking orders into his radio. “Break out the heavy weaponry lads, we may have company.”
They reached the anomaly in a flurry of activity. “Girls, go through first,” ordered Ryan. Miraculously, Annabelle and Kelly did as they were told.
“Ryan, It’s still heading this way,” said Stephen.
“Go through, Hart, we’ll follow. Lads, I want a perimeter set up around the anomaly as soon as we get back. If anything sets a claw through I want it riddled with bullet holes.”
***
On the other side of the anomaly, Kelly came barreling through, yelling at the top of her lungs. “Code Red! Code Red! We have hostiles headed our way. Lethal force necessary. Geeks, we’re going to need the most corrosive substances you can put together. Tania, Tara – get your best explosives. If you have any in grenade form, now is the time to use them. First Years get inside. Now!”
The team from the ARC was amazed at the change in the students. All of them stopped what they were doing and followed the head girl’s orders.
“Miss, we have soldiers here. If all of you girls could go inside it would be much appreciated.” Jenny attempted to bring order to the situation.
Kelly merely raised an eyebrow in her direction.
“This is our home, Miss. We will defend it, as we always do.” She turned. “Tara, Tania, where are those explosives?”
“Coming, Kelly.”
The team from the ARC was distracted when Stephen came tearing through the anomaly, closely followed by Ryan and his men.
“Cutter! It’s a tyrannosaurus. It’s not following us in particular but you know how attractive the anomalies seem to be to the creatures.”
Loud Scottish cursing filled the air as Ryan barked orders his men and Kelly continued to bark orders to her girls.
To everyone’s horror, a large leg with vicious talons on each toe came through the anomaly.
“Fire!” bellowed Ryan.
“Fire!” bellowed Kelly. A combination of bullets, acid muck, and homemade hand grenades immediately arced towards the anomaly.
The wounded roar of the dinosaur was drowned out by the explosion as the grenades went off in the midst of the anomaly. Combined with everything else the shock wave was large enough to knock everyone to the ground.
Tara and Tania looked at each other from where they had dived for cover. “Oops.”
The soldiers were the first on their feet, eyes searching for the threat.
Connor sat up and looked around. “Um, where did the anomaly go?”
The rest of the team looked around in confusion as Connor consulted his equipment. “I’m not picking up any residual magnetic readings.”
“Miss Lewis, the area appears to be free of any creature incursion. The young raptor was killed by the blast as well. We found the remains.” Ryan indicated to where one of his men was crouched on the ground. Abby hurried over to see the creature’s condition for herself.
Nick and Stephen were examining the burnt area of grass, stomping out the occasional glowing ember. The damage seemed to be oddly contained to the immediate vicinity of the anomaly.
Jenny turned to Miss Fritton. “Well ma’am, perhaps we should head inside now that the immediate danger is over. I’m sure my team will want to monitor the situation for a few hours just to make sure everything is back to normal.”
“Of course, dearie, shall we have a drink?”
Jenny nodded and determinedly ignored the raucous arguments that had now broken out among the girls. She particularly did not see the looks of frankly maniacal glee on the faces of the twin terrors that had caused most of the destruction.
“Cutter?” Connor approached the damage zone. “Did we just blow up an anomaly?”
Nick rubbed his hands through his hair. “Aye lad, I think we might have.”
“Cool!”