Chapters (45)
- Title Page
- Copyright Page
- Contents
- Prologue
- 2046
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Twelve
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Nineteen
- Twenty
- Twenty-One
- Twenty-Two
- Twenty-Three
- Twenty-Four
- Twenty-Five
- Twenty-Six
- Twenty-Seven
- Twenty-Eight
- Twenty-Nine
- Thirty
- Thirty-One
- Thirty-Two
- Thirty-Three
- Thirty-Four
- Thirty-Five
- Thirty-Six
- Thirty-Seven
- Thirty-Eight
- Thirty-Nine
- About the Author
‘Watch,’ Harry whispers. The dinosaur back-steps a short distance while staring up at the dragonflies. Intelligence in its eyes. It runs, jumps, snags another one and lands to chomp and munch in apparent bliss with eyes rolling happily. The mini creature takes a quick and darting step as it spots the huge spider on the side of the tree. The fingers twitch. The eyes blink and focus. It swallows what it already has as its tail lifts from the ground. The speed it then generates is stunning. Going from standing to full-on charging in the blink of an eye. At the last second it launches up, snaps the spider cleanly in its jaws and drops down to the ground. It lets go instantly, jumping back like a dog does when it’s scared of something. The spider rallies, spinning on the spot with the huge fangs held up as the bipedal creature simply jumps up and lands down, bursting it apart underfoot with a sickening crunch of shell mingled with the sound of legs snapping. The final touch is a twist of the foot and it steps away, turns and looks down at its handiwork before dropping to devour the mashed-up remains. Lip-smacking noises soon fill the air. The dinosaur chomps away then flicks a big chunk up into the air, letting it fall down into its open mouth before crunching the bits up.
Goo dribbles down its chin and the eyes roll back in an obvious display of enjoyment, so animal-like as it eats fast like this could be its last ever meal.
‘Fuck,’ Safa whispers.
‘We should go,’ Harry adds in his deep voice. The dinosaur looks over on hearing Harry. Those cunning eyes staring with obvious curiosity before it goes back to eating the spider.
They start back through the forest. Ben sweats and looks round, feeling the weight of everything pushing down again. They do not belong here in this world. They caused those dragonflies to scatter. They caused them to get trapped in that web, which caused the spider to climb the tree and brought the dinosaur over. Infractions of the timeline. Those thoughts bring the despair and homesickness back.
They get inside the bunker and through the decontamination hand dryer in silence. Each of them absorbed in what they saw. Ben walks to his room and that simple last journey from the exit door to their rooms brings his mood sinking down deeper and harder. He goes into his room and closes the door, feeling the distance of a hundred million years or more between him and anything he knows. He curls into the foetal position, clutching the pillow beneath his head while squeezing his eyes closed. He does not want to be here. He cannot stay here.
I want to go home.
Nineteen
Nineteen
‘Done it?’ Alpha asks.