Heron Blue

Heron Blue
Chapter 2 - Egyptian Goddess?

We all stepped inside the museum walking behind Becker's horde of soldiers. "I always loved the museum. It's the history that gets me, like how one tiny piece of glass could mean nothing to you and I but to people in that time it was everything." I smiled as I looked over things in the museum. "Or how about how somethings can be cursed or have killed people?" Cutter said as I nodded.

"CUTTER!" We all turned around at the yell of Cutter's named to see Conner and Abby running towards us like baphoons.

"Conner Temple, Abby Maitland, this is Captain Becker. He is here to protect us so do as he says, unless
i think he is wrong. This way." Cutter introduced them to Becker and we turned to walk to the anomaly.

"So action man, ready for your first day?" I asked Becker as I loaded my rifle and followed Cutter.

"Hm as ready as I'll ever be Edith." He smirked and kept walking as I stood there stunned.

"Did he just call you Edith?" Conner questioned "Can't you hear Conner or are you deaf? He called her Edith and she is blushing." Abby smiled while poking my cheek. "Guys this is no time for play it is time for work." I sighed aggravated. Abby leaned over to Conner "See she is totally blushing!"

"I heard that or did you forget I'm not deaf like Conner." I walked away catching back up with Cutter and Becker.

"You know when I was a kid, I used to think that all of the exhibits came to life at night. When I was about uh, eight I decided to stay around one night to find out." Conner explained to us as we walked forward. "What happened?" I asked. "Nothing really. Other than the fact that I got locked in the toilet for three hours." At this Abby and i started to laugh. "It's not funny, when the found me I was hysterical. I've had a problem with museums ever since." "Shouldn't you have a problem with toilets?" Abby giggled. "I got over that," he replied cause Abby and I to shake our heads.

As we moved further along we found the dead body of an older woman. "She has blood and bite marks around her neck definitely an animal kill," I said as I pulled my gun up and looked around the area a more. "Could be anywhere in the museum by now," Abby said with a hint of scared in her voice. Cutter looked up and gave her the same look back with a slight nod.

We split up into groups with Conner, Abby, and I looking around together. "I really don't like this place," Conner gulped. "Oh don't wet your pants you baby it is just a museum what is the worst that can happen." I said as I walked slightly ahead of them. "An anomaly in a museum is the worst that can happen and it is happening now." "Conner don't blame that on the museum then be scared of the anomaly." Abby smiled trying to make him feel a little better.

We all heard the noise over doors closing and ran to the area to see a woman shutting some doors. "Stay where you are," I told her as I held my gun to level. She backed up a little as Cutter came closer to her. She is scared for her life I thought as i lowered my weapon a little. "It's alright. Now who are you?" Cutter said calmly.

"Doc- Doctor Paige. Who are you?" She stuttered out breathlessly. "I'm Nick Cutter."
"Ok, um.. um.. I'm guessing you are some king of thief." "No. Actually I'm a professor." Cutter replied with a smile. "I've never seen a professor with a gun before." She said with her eyes still wide with fear. "Yeah, it's a pretty specialized field." he replied and walked around her leaving her in confusion. We all walked back towards the body and she turned to look too. "Marion." she said as she covered her mouth and ran away.

"Cutter!" I yelled. "Doctor Paige!" Cutter yelled after her as we all ran into the direction she went.

"Doctor Paige!" We all slowed down and listen as we heard screaming coming from ahead, then we heard a crash and another scream and took off in the direction it came from. We busted through the doors with our guns up and ready. We didn't see the animal but there was the anomaly in the center of a big Egyptian statue of the four gods. Cutter turned to Doctor Paige, "You ok?" She just stood there and looked around frantically frozen in place. "I'm guessing not." He continued. "Abby walked over, "What did you see?" She asked her. She started to move closer to us, "Ammit. I saw, I saw the goddess Ammit." At this Abby ran over to where the animal went to. "Look I know what I saw ok and, and it looked just like that." She said pointing to the statue of Ammit. "Ah the Egyptian goddess. The devourer of death or the souleater. She has the body of a lion, hippopotamus, and a crocodile," I said with a smile,"this should be fun." At this I walked over to the anomaly to check and see it anything else was going to come out. "Look I believe you saw something I've seen things that confuse me too but I just don't think it was Ammit." Cutter said as Abby ran back over to him. "Cutter, I've found tracks biped and quadruped, it's heading south." she stated worried. "I've got to head back to the ARC." Jenny said finally speaking up. Sarah turned to her, "The ARC?!" "Not that one." Conner stated. "I have to brief Lester Becker can you secure the area." Jenny said as she walked out. Becker nodded and started to look around for any more animals. "Conner, Edi stay here and see if you can figure out what period the anomaly is located to, and figure out what animal this is. Also find out what Doctor Paige knows about the sun cage. Abby you're with me." Cutter said as he jogged out the room with abby in tow.

"I bet I can read your mind," She gave Conner a look, "You want to know who we are, what the ARC is, and what that big flickering thing is right behind me." He said cockily placing his gun over he should like he was just so cool. "Actually um, I was wondering why an egyptian demon was trying to eat me." She said with a raise of her eyebrow. I laughed, "I think I'm gonna like her. Now Conner shut up and start working."

While, Abby and cutter were outside chasing the creature in the streets we were shutting doors inside making sure nothing escaped again. Conner turned on the lights and walked over to the Doctor, "So Doctor Paige what do these hieroglyphs refer to?" "That's what I've been working one, but there are so many unanswered questions and key fragments that are missing. I've been trying to figure it all out. If Marion had let me finish I might would have gotten me an offer." She said sadly. "I'm sorry. was she your friend?" Conner asked. She looked at him, "Oh no, not at all. But you know giving the choice I wouldn't want her dead." She said standing up. I laughed, "So they call this statue the Sun Cage that is an interesting name." I said looking closely at the anomaly inside the statue.

Cutter and Abby were getting closer to the animal as they ran Abby stopped noticing some slime on a gate. "Cutter!" "What is it?" he asked she held up her hand and showed him the slime then they took off running again.

"Right let's see what we got here." Conner said as he set down his gun and started fooling around with his tools. As he opened his case his wrench flew out into the anomalies magnetic pull and hit the statue breaking off a piece of it. "Nice job Conner." I said staring at the broken piece. Doctor Paige turned to look at what happened and had a shocked and disappointed expression across her face. Conner bent over and picked up the piece as she came over. "I didn't do it," he said frantically as I laughed from my spot beside action man. "SO it just fell off by itself?" She questioned pointing to the statue and the piece in his hand. "Yep," He said nodding. "The Sun Cage is cursed," Conner stood up, "anyone who touches it is doomed for life." She said staring at him. Conner let go of the piece and it hit the ground, "Really?"
"Marion was the last person to touch that." He whipped his hand off on the jacket as I giggled even more, "The dead one." Doctor Paige gave him a look and turned away, Then she turned back to him,

"Should have told you that earlier right, sorry about that." she said as she turned to look at her book again.

"Bad luck" Becker said nodding. "Well look at you Conner not even here for an hour and you are already cursed. You scared of museums even more now?" I asked him with a smile. "Actually yes, yes I am," he said looking at the statue then sitting on a crate. As he sat down a vase fell over to the floor and shattered into pieces, he closed his eyes as Doctor Paige looked at him and sighed in frustration. "So action man," I said turning over to Becker, "how older are you?" "Wouldn't you like to know Lieutenant."

"I told you to call me Edi not Edith or Lieutenant just Edi," I said as I gave him a side glance. "I know but I think you look pretty funny when you get frustrated," he smiled and walked over to another area leaving me with slightly redder cheeks.
Abby and Cutter were still out looking for the creature, "I've lost the tracks were going around in circles Cutter. Stephen would have known what to do." Abby stopped as Cutter stopped walking and whipped his eye, "Sorry," she apologized. As the continued to search.

We were watching the anomaly when I got a phone call, "Hello," I answered. "Edi it is me what have we got," I heard Cutter reply. "It's Conner here and I just took a reading whatever came through the anomaly is at east 55 million years old." "Eocene Epoch, yeah it is fast and strong, switches from two legs to four and is obviously carnivorous. So search the data bases and profile me some creatures." Cutter Replied when we heard a car alarm going off by them, "Cutter." Abby said. "We're heading south. I think we've got it." Cutter said a little out of breath from running. "Tell him I'm on my way." Becker said getting up and getting ready." "Action man said he's coming," Conner and I said together.

"Hey uh whats your name?" I heard Doctor Paige say all of a sudden. "Conner, my name is Conner." He replied. "It's been staring me in the face. These hieroglyphs have been misunderstood. The most important section is wrong, this depicts a monument on the west bank of the Nile amentent with what appears to be the sun rising behind it. Now one of Ammit's names is the dweller in amentent and i think that this monument is the one depicted here except the sun doesn't rise in the west. This, This hieroglyph has been misinterpreted for years this isn't the sun." She said pointing to the hieroglyphs.

"It's an anomaly," I said in realization. "Exactly, and the Egyptians called it the sun cage because they thought that the rays of the sun were locked inside," she said smiling. "What is this made out of, what stone is this?" Conner asked. "Magnetite." "Which is?" I asked. "Which is the most magnetic form of stone on Earth." she answered. Conner put his fist up in success then had the look of a light bulb over his head. " I wanna try something."

Next thing I know were moving the places in piece so we can move the statue to see if the anomaly moves with it. "Perfect," Conner said looking through the staff, "everybody ready?" he asked. "Yeah were all ready," I replied as Doctor Paige nodded. He ran back to help us move it, "On my count. 1.. 2.. 3." He said as we all heaved and pulled the statue over to the marked spot. "Ok leave this and go back to the door." I told Becker's men. "Yes Lt. Edi," they all replied. "Right well the sun cage move," Conner said as he ran to the staff, "so did the anomaly." "Is that unusual?" Doctor Paige asked. "Yes very unusual," I told her. "That's what this final section of the hieroglyph refers too. The Egyptians thought that the anomaly was part of the sun so they built the sun cage out of magnetite to contain it." She said pointing to the section.

"Wait, wait, wait so if the this statue move then the anomaly moves with it?" I asked. "Exactly." She said. "Wow, thats huge I mean i-" He was cut off by a creature coming out of the anomaly and grabbing him by his shirt. I froze not able to move as I watched in horror scared to death another friend was about to be eaten. All i could think of was, "Oh god not another person please I can't handle it especially not after Stephen." I stood there and watched as the soldiers tried to free him and Doctor Paige ran to get something to help. "Whatever you do don't pull that trigger," I heard Conner say snapping me out of my scared state. I ran and grabbed a piece of board as I saw Doctor Paige put down a cat statue. I ran to the creature and smacked it with the board right on the head. "Yeah that's one point for Edi," I thought to myself as it let go of Conner and went back into the anomaly. It then came back out and the soldiers started shooting at the creature. "You nearly let it eat me!" he said to the doctor. "That, that cat it it's priceless," she stuttered out of breath. "So am I," Conner replied standing up from the ground. "How many of these things are there?" she asked. "Could be hundreds," I replied dropping the board. "We need to get this thing blocked up," Conner said as the monster went back inside the anomaly.

Abby and Cutter ran to where the alarm went off to find another dead body. "There is no pulse," Abby said after checking, "he is gone." she finished just as Becker showed up. "What have we got here?" he asked as Cutter grabbed a tooth off the top of the car. "What do you make of this," he said throwing the tooth to Abby. "Crocodile tooth," she said standing up from the ground. "The river," Cutter realized as he turned and started to run towards it with Becker and Abby close on his heels. They made it to the river to find tracks from the creature heading into the river. "Crocodiles usually drag their victims into the water to finish them," abby stated. "So why did this croc attack on land?" Becker asked. "Why is it walking on two legs?" Abby asked pointing her gun at the water.

Conner, Doctor Paige, and the soldiers were all putting boxes around the statue as I looked for through the data base to try and find the creature. All of a sudden my phone started to play Heron Blue pulling me out of my thoughts as i answered the phone. "Cutter yeah I'm pretty sure I found it, I'm looking at the creatures from that era." "I think I know what you are gonna find." Cutter said just as I pulled up the picture of the creature. "Yeah I definitely found it Cutter and it is -" "Pristichampsus." Cutter finished for me. "Yeah that is the one," I said as Cutter hung up the phone.

"Alright so it is in the tems," Abby said pointing her gun at river, "but it's not going to be in there for long. It's gonna come ashore looking for warmth, and food." she finished walking to where Cutter and Becker were. "If it's been living in Egypt the tems will be much colder then what it is used too, It'll be looking to get out pretty soon." Abby said as Cutter spotted the creature the creature getting out of the tems across from them "Make that right now," he said..

We were still stacking boxes around the statue and it was taking forever! "This is to slow. It is all taking too much time," Conner said. "You think?" I replied sarcastically putting another box up. "We need to get this barricade up before any more creatures get through," he finished as him and Doctor Paige put up another box. "What about the forklift?" she said pointing towards a forklift in the corner. "Forklift. Why didn't you say that before?" Conner asked her. " C- Conner I've been attacked by prehistoric monsters I'm, I'm staring at a gateway to a distant past I really wasn't thinking forklift." she said waving her arms around sarcastically. Then another creature popped out of the anomaly knocking over Conner and the doctor and toppling boxes on top of them. The soldiers started shooting at the monster as I through my gun to a soldier with no ammo I grabbed a light and shoved it into the creatures mouth. It tried to eat it but ended up getting electrocuted pulling the lights off the light and falling back into the anomaly. We turned to see the anomaly was doing something different as if it had closed from the electrical current.

"Thats never happened before," Conner said astonished. "What?" Doctor Paige asked. "That." Conner replied standing on top of the crates and taking the pole from me and poking the anomaly. "Usually the magnetic pull just sucks anything metallic straight through it. It's the electric current, the electric current must have done something to it." he finished sitting on top of the crates when all of a sudden the pole was taken into the anomaly. "Ok, I'll figure it out later, we need to get these boxes back up!" Conner yelled.

Becker, Jenny, Cutter, and Abby pulled up to where the creature got out. They started to run when they found a purse and other belongings on the ground. Abby loaded and cocked her tranquilizer gun, "If your first tranquilizer dart doesn't floor this thing we have no option but to use live rounds," Becker said showing them the bullets then putting it back into his gun, "Ok professor," he finished. "Please tell me we haven't lost this again." Jenny said as people came running and screaming out of a shopping center. "Apparently not," Cutter said as everyone ran into the direction everyone was running from. They found the monster in a room with a woman cleaning the creature went to attack her but Cutter knocked her out of the way. "For god's sake Abby just shoot it!" Cutter yelled. She shot and missed nearly hitting Cutter. "Sorry," she said as Cutter broke a window to get the attention of the creature. He tied a hose around his and the woman's waste then jumped over the side with the creature following close behind it. Abby ran to the edge, "Are you ok?" she asked. "Yeah just enjoying the view," Cutter replied as the creature headed back into the river towards the museum.

"Well ok nothing is getting through there," Conner said as we fully covered the anomaly. His phone then rang and he picked it up, "Hello." "The Pristichampsus is headed your way make sure it can get to the anomaly," we heard cutter say as I groaned. "I am so cursed," Conner said as we all started to remove the boxes. "Remove everything from this side quickly this thing can be here any minute!" I yelled making everyone go faster. "Sarah we really need to get that open," Conner said as he pointed to the way the creature left through. She opened the door as the creature busted through the other door. "Conner get out of the way!" Cutter yelled as him and the others ran into the museum. Conner grabbed onto the chains pulling himself up and out of the way of the way of the Pristichampsus. "Guys please just stick it back through the anomaly," Conner said hysterically. Becker pointed his guy at the creature but Cutter stopped him, "Don't shot him." "It is my job to keep you alive," Becker replied not letting his finger off the trigger. "Come on guys!" Conner yelled as the creature snapped at him. "It's injured it wants to go home," Abby said looking at the creature. "Conner hold on a little longer maybe i can get it to chase me into the ano-" Sarah cut me off "Bow!" "What?" Cutter questioned. "Bow Down," She said bowing. "What are you talking about?" Cutter asked. "This creature is used to being treated like a god, they would have bowed as a sign of respect." she answered. "If it doesn't feel a threat it might not attack." Abby stated. "I'm not bowing," Becker said looking at us. "Get down on the floor Becker or I will through you at the creature myself," I said as we started bowing he cautiously followed behind us. "Keep your gun handy," Cutter told him. The creature moved towards us and growled as it got closer to us then it passed us up heading straight into the anomaly. We all let out a big sigh of relief as Conner fell from where he was at.

"Wow great job Sarah," I smiled at her. "Yeah nice call," Cutter smiled at her "Thanks," she replied.

"Thats gotta be the end of the curse now right?" Conner asked. "Let's hope so," she replied standing up.

"The curse?" Abby questioned. "I made it up," she whispered to Abby. "Don't tell him that." "Of course not," she laughed. Cutter helped Conner up. "You think Stephen would have liked this one?" Conner asked him. "I think he would have liked our Doctor Paige better," he smiled.

We arrived at the ARC and went our separate ways Becker, me, and the soldiers headed to the armory and Conner, Cutter, Abby, Jenny and Sarah went to Lester's office. "So you would have thrown me to the Pristi-whatever?" Becker asked as I set my gun and helmet down in the armory. I smiled, "Maybe I would've maybe I wouldn't have." I smiled removing my leather jacket and setting it inside my locker." Becker smiled and finished setting down his things. "You know I think I'm going to like you," Becker told me walking closer to me. "Oh really and what makes you say that?" I asked getting a little nervous.

"Well so far you have impressed me with your knowledge, sarcasm, your smile, and your strong attitude." At this I blushed and turned to him with a smile, "You impressed me with your will to protect us, your smile, and how you think you can tell Cutter no." At that i walked out of the room and into the Cutter's office to hear him hire Doctor Sarah Paige as the person that looks up all of the great myths and legends to find a pattern in places and times to help us understand the anomalies more. I smiled and thought "This is going to be a great team."