MJF's Stories

Alex Johnston had been set the difficult task of building an Anomaly Detector for the ARC. He had to set the Detector to detect interference from the radio channel 87.6FM, then locate where it’s from, and there will be the anomaly. While he was building the Detector, Ben Taunton, Katie’s boss, came down with reports of a creature sighting in the nearby primary school. The newly formed team all got down to business and went to investigate.

The school’s headteacher greeted the team when they arrived.

“It was large, with big teeth. I saw it first, and rang the fire bell to get everyone out. I ran away from it, and into the playground, telling the teachers to take the children to the school next door with the records and phone their parents”, the head teacher told them.

“Thanks, we need you to show us to the big light, and then you can go and look after the children aswell”, Katie told him. The headmaster showed them the anomaly, and then he left them.

“Right, Mike and Sasha, could you watch the anomaly for me, we’re going to find the creature”, commanded Katie. So Katie’s part of the team went looking round the school.

“Is this all we have to do? Guard the anomaly?”, complained Sasha.

“We need to get in on the action somehow”, added Mike.

“How about we take a trip of our own?”, hinted Sasha. 

Katie, Alex, Georgia and Jimmy were investigating all rooms of the school, but found nothing but broken down doors and knocked over lockers and bookcases. Suddenly, they heard a loud roar.

”It came from that way”, Jimmy told them, pointing. They started running the way the sound came from. They turned a corner and came face to face with a massive creature with sabre-teeth.

“On my count, we will run as fast as we can, OK?”, Katie whispered, “1..2…3!”. And the team started running. They ran as fast as they could back to the anomaly. The massive creature wrecked the corridor behind it.

“It…is…a…Gorgonopsid!”, panted Georgia, who was completely out of breath. They got back to the anomaly, and moved out of the way. The Gorgonopsid went completely through the anomaly.

“Phew. Hang on, where are Sasha and Mike?”, wondered Alex.

Sasha and Mike were walking through the land at the other side of the anomaly. They had seen some green flying lizards that were like the South East Asian Draco Volans, but were not quite them, according to Mike. They saw some larger creatures in the distance.

”They look quite peaceful”, identified Sasha. Suddenly, they heard some really loud stomping coming from behind. They turned around.

“Gorgonopsids come from the Permian era”, Alex told them, “Other creatures around at that time include the Coelurosauravus and the Scutosaurus, both of which are not harmful”.

“So their only danger is the Gorgonopsids? Right, we need to go through and get them back”, Katie told the team what they needed to do. They walked through the anomaly with their weapons at the ready. They saw some green lizards flying about.

“They’re the Coelurosauravus”, Georgia told them. They followed some footprints that the Gorgonopsid had left in the sand, and eventually saw the Gorgonopsid, and someone screaming.

“That’s Sasha, come on!”, ordered Jimmy, taking charge. Katie sighed. They went to distract the Gorgonopsid. Jimmy fired his gun in the air to get its attention. The Gorgonopsid turned round, and started pounding towards Jimmy. The whole team ran, even Sasha and Mike. They ran as fast as the could to the anomaly. Katie and her part of the team got through first, apart from Jimmy, who was still distracting the Gorgonopsid for them. The anomaly was starting to close as Sasha and Mike came through. Jimmy got through just as the anomaly closed, leaving the Gorgonopsid stuck on the other side.

They all went back to the ARC. Katie let Ben know of what Sasha and Mike did. He asked to see them with Katie.

”What on earth did you think you were doing?”, moaned Ben, “You could have died.”

“But we didn’t”, retaliated Mike.

“The main thing was we got them back”, interrupted Katie.

“Oh, just get out of my sight”, sighed an annoyed Ben. All three of them left his office.

“Almost finished!”, rejoiced Alex Johnston, who had nearly finished building the Anomaly Detector for the ARC, “Yes!”. Katie and the rest of the team came over, aswell as Ben Taunton, head of the ARC.

“Want to see a demo?”, Alex asked, smiling.

“No, we want to see it do the limbo”, said a sarky Mike.

“Leave him alone. Of course we would Alex”, Georgia fought back for Alex. Alex smiled to her, then put the demo on. 

DING DING! DING DING! DING DING!

A loud noise rang out across the ARC.

”That’s one noise I recognise!”, shouted a voice from the ARC corridor.

“Claudia!”, cried Katie, happy to see her sister.

”Hello Katie!”, smiled Claudia.

“Everyone, this is my sister, Claudia Brown”, Katie introduced Claudia to everyone, “She works down at the ARC in London”.

“You’ve done well, it looks exactly like the real thing!”, complimented Claudia.

DING DING! DING DING! DING DING!

“That’s not a demo, is it Alex?”, asked Katie, to be sure. Alex shook his head.

“Wanna come with us?”, Katie asked Claudia. Claudia smiled then nodded. The team all went out to their cars.

When there, Alex handed them their handheld Detectors.

“Wow, they look really like our ones!”, said a shocked Claudia. Alex blushed.

“It’s through here”, directed Sasha. She led the way to one of the cinema rooms. It was packed with people all watching the latest film.

“Ahh”, stopped Jimmy, wondering what to do. They all saw the anomaly down by the side. The main thing was, everyone was too busy watching the film to notice it. A little creature walked through it, and the team sneaked around the back of the cinema to get it. The creature ran off in front of everyone, scaring the living daylights out of the people at the front.

”What is it?”, whispered Katie.

”It’s a Dimetrodon. It’s from the Permian era”, identified Georgia.

”Not again”, complained Mike. He and Sasha got into a little trouble with a Gorgonopsid when they sneaked through an anomaly at a school. Ben went mental with them.

“Is it harmful?”, Claudia asked.

“It is an apex predator, which is at the top of any food chain. It could indeed be harmful”, Alex told them. The team heard a loud scream come from outside.

“Everyone, out this way please! Just forget everything you’ve seen!”, ordered Katie. No-one moved, “Now!”. When she said this, everyone started shuffling towards the fire exit.

”Do we have to forget the film aswell?”, asked someone as they walked past Katie.

”That depends on whether you liked it or not”, replied Katie, winking. She and the team ran out to reception, and saw that the Dimetrodon had attacked a woman who had come to see a film. The woman wasn’t dead yet, according to Mike, who knew a bit about first aid.

“Where did it go?”, Claudia asked the receptionist.

”Outside”, the receptionist replied, “What is it?”. Claudia and the team didn’t answer, they just ran outside. The team looked hard when they got outside, and they saw it going down an alleyway.

“That’s a dead end”, Jimmy told them, as he knew the area pretty well. The team ran up to the alley, and saw an anomaly.

”I thought I heard a beeping noise”, said Alex, not recognising the sound of the handheld Detectors that he made. The Dimetrodon went straight through it. The anomaly suddenly closed.

”That was easy”, stated Georgia with a smile on her face.

”But that creature could be anywhere. Alex said it’s from the Permian era, well it could be in the Holocene, or the Jurassic, or even the Pre-Cambrian now, right out of its depth. I can re-open that anomaly and get it back”, Claudia told them.

“How?”, asked Katie, wondering how she could open an anomaly.

“This is technology from the future. We have a few in our ARC. I need the co-ordinates”, demanded Claudia. Alex told her them from the saved readings on the Detector. Claudia pressed a button and the anomaly re-opened.

”We need to go through it. Claudia, Jimmy, Alex and Sasha, you come with us. Georgia and Mike, guard the anomaly”, ordered Katie. So Katie’s part of the team went through.

Through the anomaly, there wasn’t much to see apart from a few cliffs and a lake up ahead.

”This is the Pliocene era”, identified Alex.

“It should be easy to see it”, added Sasha.

“Well, what are we waiting for?”, exclaimed Jimmy. They marched off to find the Dimetrodon. They saw it up ahead by the lake.

”We need to lure it back”, Katie told them. Jimmy went up to it, ignoring Katie’s orders to stay back for the moment. Jimmy started to distract it, and bring it towards the anomaly. He lured it through, and the rest of them followed. Georgia and Mike moved out of the way for them. Jimmy brought it into the cinema. He took it right up to the anomaly and moved to the side as he watched it go through. The rest of the team had watched him do this. Katie ordered some soldiers to watch the anomaly.

They all went back to the ARC and said their goodbyes to Claudia, who had to go back.

”It was lovely seeing you!”, said Katie as she hugged goodbye to Claudia.

“And you”, replied Claudia, “And nice meeting you all!”.

“Bye”, the rest of the team said. Katie went to see Jimmy.

”What did you do that for?”, asked Katie.

”I was trying to protect you, of course”, replied Jimmy.

“Next time, listen to me”, ordered Katie. She went to sit in her office. Alex knocked.

”Come in”, Katie said in a tired manner.

”Hiya. I just wanted to ask. You and Claudia, why do you have different surnames? Is oe of you married?”, asked an inquisitive Alex.

”I’m married. Well, I was. Listen Alex, you need to know this. He left me, because of what we do. I wouldn’t tell him what we do here. I had to lie. Alex, if you get a girlfriend, tell her, but make her swear to keep it a secret, OK?”, Katie told Alex. Alex nodded. He got up, smiled at Katie, and left.

Katie Smith sat in her office. She had had a hard time recently with her husband and had the divorce papers in front of her.

DING DING! DING DING! DING DING!

That ear piercing sound of the Anomaly Detector rang out and she rushed towards it. Alex was already there, and he had located the anomaly.

”It’s at the local tube station”, he announced. The team rushed to the cars to get there.

Trains were running as normal. One train was on the way to the Lincoln City station. The driver could see a light up ahead. A light that he’d never seen before. He ended up driving right through it as he couldn’t stop the train in time.

The team arrived at the station. They went to speak to the person in charge.

“We need to close down the tube network, at least this station”, Katie told him.

“You can’t do that, we have a train expecting to arrive here now”, argued the person in charge.

“I can do that, we’re from the government”, retaliated Katie. They were interrupted by a young man who came to tell his boss that the train had disappeared from the radar.

“We’ll need to take a look down there”, Katie said. He eventually nodded. The team all went down there, in their special gear. They had torches ready.

The anomaly flickered, and something appeared in it. It was a bit like a large spider. Several of them followed the first, aswell as another thing that looked quite like a centipede…

Katie, Alex and Jimmy went down to the railway. It was black and dull, apart from one thing - the anomaly. It was in front of their eyes, in all its glory.

”Do you think the train’s gone through?”, Jimmy asked.

”There’s only one way to find out”, responded Katie. Alex was about to shout FIGHT!, but realised this wasn’t TV Burp.

“I need to get out more”, Alex muttered to himself. The trio entered the anomaly. When they got through, they nearly fell into this swampy pond. Katie took her jacket off and tied it around her waist as it was so hot.

“Want a hair band?”, Katie asked Alex. Alex had long hair, so felt a bit hot. He blushed, then nodded. Katie handed one to him, and got one out herself. Jimmy laughed at how Alex looked when his hair was tied back. Alex saw him and pushed him into the swampy lake.

“Stop it you two”, Katie ordered, but laughing at how dirty Jimmy was. She helped him out.

“Ignore him”, she whispered to Alex. He nodded. They carried on walking, trying not to fall into the swampy lakes. They saw the train; it had been toppled over.

Back in the present day, Mike, Georgia and Sasha decided to go and have a look down there, even though Georgia said no originally.

“We can’t disobey Katie. How many times have you two actually disobeyed her?”, protested Georgia.

“Don’t be such a spoil sport!”, Mike answered. So all three got themselves ready and went down into the tunnel.

Katie’s half of the team had ran over to the train. No-one was inside.

”They must have got out”, Katie told Jimmy and Alex.

“But there’s no sign of them”, Alex added.

Georgia heard something behind her. She turned around and screamed her head off.

“It’s some sort of a large spider from the Carboniferous era! I hate spiders”, she screamed.

“Even when she’s scared she’s still the Brain of Britain”, Sasha muttered to Mike. They laughed. Mike sprung into action and pulled a pistol out and shot the creature.

“What did you think you were doing?”, argued Georgia.

“A thank you would’ve been nice”, said a sarky Mike.

“Katie’s going to go mad! We came down here when we weren’t meant to, and you killed a creature! That could have damaged the entire universe!”, shouted Georgia, “I’m going back up”. She stormed off.

Sasha and Mike carried on to the anomaly, shooting down more spiders as they go. They saw the anomaly, looked at each other and walked through. They started running, narrowly missing falling into the swamps. They met up with Katie’s half.

“What are you two doing here? Where’s Georgia?”, shouted an angry Katie.

“Never mind for the moment, some creatures have come through”, Sasha told Katie.

Georgia was walking back up. She heard a hissing sort of sound behind her. She turned round and was face to face with a giant centipede. She started to run, screaming. She realised she had a pistol on her and decided to fire it at the creature, she had no alternative. She shot it, and it fell dead on the floor. Georgia carried on running up.

The rest of them came back through the anomaly, and went back up. They saw the giant centipede on the floor. They ran up to make sure Georgia was OK. When they got out, they saw her sitting down on a bench.

“I was just attacked by an Arthropleura!”, moaned Georgia, then she saw Alex’s hair. It cheered her up a bit, and laughed. She apologised.

”Doesn’t matter, at least it made you happier”, Alex said kindly.

They went back to the ARC and told Ben about what happened. He wanted to see Sasha and Mike in his office.

“You two are on your last warning! You do what your boss tells you and that is final!”, moaned Ben. They left his office. Alex went over to sit next to Georgia, and to calm her down a bit.

”Anything you need to talk to someone about, I’m here”, Alex reassured her. Georgia smiled.

Back in the Carboniferous period, some people were stranded there. They had walked for ages, and got nowhere. They had crashed here on a bus, and needed to find that light again.

It was sunny that Saturday Morning, Ian walked throughout the fields checking his crops. Usually the most exciting thing he would see would be a present from the cows, nut today he came across a leather book. Inside it was writing and the date said yesterday's date. Ian took it home and read it.

Ok, this is not a diary about Georgia Stevens’ boring old life, it’s a journal about the thing that happened to me and my friends, I can’t really start here so I’m going to have to go past tense.
It was a rubbish Saturday, so the rest of the team and I were happy to be called out to an anomaly. Anomalies are rips in time, My friends Katie, Alex, Mike, Sasha and Jimmy locate the anomalies and help what comes through get back to their correct time. This anomaly was in a forest away from any large groups of people, this was lucky as we had no idea what might come through this time. Of course we were well prepared for any situation, or were we?

The anomaly site was a clearing not far from the road they had driven down to get there. The anomaly sparkled in the moonlight although it did not cast a shadow. Katie and Mike set-up some equipment around the anomaly but they never got to close to it. Katie says anomalies are unpredictable, whatever she meant by that. Jimmy and Alex went to search the surrounding area for creatures. Everyone still in the clearing had a little natter about this and that apart from Katie, she seemed slightly on edge. I went over and asked her if she was ok, she gestured at a laptop. The screen showed some readings from the anomaly, I’m not the most computer smart person but I the little red line of the screen was plummeting up then charging down very fast. This had to be bad. Katie called Alex and Jimmy on her radio and told them to get back ASAP. Everyone was told to keep way back from the anomaly; I could then see it was brighter than any anomaly I had seen. Suddenly Sasha’s belt buckle start to shake and pull wildly, Sasha was being pulled into the anomaly. She disappeared into the now blazing anomaly her screams still heard. I ran after her but I tripped on a tree root and the wild anomaly sucked me in. Before I left the 21st century I saw Alex and Jimmy return, Alex shouted something and ran towards me.

I was on the other side, the anomaly disappeared into nothing, I was trapped and Alex hadn’t made it. Then unexpectedly the broken glass shaped pieces of the anomaly appeared again and Alex fell through before the last remains of the anomaly disappeared. Alex said he was halfway through when the anomaly closed explaining why the anomaly had to re-open. And this is where I am now, stuck on the other side of the anomaly. We had worked out that we were in Medieval times. We are in some sort of cellar underneath a large banqueting room, we can hear the cheery voices above us attacking their huge plates of meat. Why, oh why, did I skip tea?! We can’t be found, if they find us well they’ll think we’re witches or something. Alex had his laptop not that it was much use to us. I’m going to ask him what he’s doing on it. It seems he’s found a way of communicating through the anomaly!!

It took a long time to set-up the equipment we had to send a signal but eventually we got there. You see when an anomaly it still leaves a tiny crack in time, too small for one of us to go through but big enough to send a signal! Everything was ready; we only had enough power to do this once, if we messed this up, it was over. Alex put in the co-ordinates, I made sure the readings stayed stable and Sasha held the wire against the invisible crack. Now was the moment where we were either stuck years before our time or we escaped this medieval hell. Alex pressed enter, the laptop shrieked as if it was an animal suffering great pain. The laptop told me the signal had been connected to the ARC. We all rushed round the microphone and Alex spoke in a rushed panicky tone, “Warwick Castle! Open an Anomaly! Follow the clues!” God knows how much of that message got through but hopefully it was enough. The anomaly openers at the ARC could only open to the same place back in time so we had to get them to open the anomaly in the right place. We all grabbed some pointed stones and started carving in the walls around the castle. Sasha did some lovely carvings of anomalies, shame when Katie, Jimmy and Mike see them they won’t be as detailed. The clues were in place now all we could do was wait. That night I slept dreaming of the strangest creatures, they were large like apes and walked on four legs. They made the most disturbing cackling noise in my ear.

I awoke to find Katie staring down at me. Sasha and Alex were asleep still. We carefully woke them up and we all made our way to the anomaly, by that I mean we dashed like hyenas. The anomaly looked less bright now and it had lessened in size, but it was also flickering, more than usual, it was closing and fast. We rushed even faster towards it at the other side of the cellar. Unfortunately I hadn’t eaten since Lunch yesterday so I was pretty weak. Everyone out ran me and jumped through, now I only remained on the other side. I had to get there but every metre felt like miles. I told myself I had to make it, I would! My legs were like propellers but still I was too slow! Then Alex’s head popped through the anomaly, then his hands which were reaching out to me. If it closed now he would be sliced in half. Without realising I found myself in his arms and falling through.

We both stumbled through the anomaly, when I got up and looked back the anomaly was long gone. We had come out in a similar room to the one we left. Katie led us out and we soon realised where we were. It was one of those haunted dungeon tourist attractions, how ironic. Right this is where I end this Journal, oh and I’ve just realised no-one’s ever going to see this.

The team packed up and got in the car. It was a long journey home but as they neared the ARC they came across a traffic jam. Mike found a scenic route that avoided the jam. It was a thin country road, surrounded by farms and crops fields. Georgia threw her Journal out the window, much to Katie's disapproval. Apart from the odd Pheasant on the road they had no interruptions. The car swerved round a tight corner and raced off down a straight bit of road. Unexpectedly a large grey creature jumped onto the bonnet, it was the creature from Georgia’s dream but she didn’t have time to announce it. Mike swerved to knock the thing off, the creature was flung off the bonnet but the car drove straight into a thick, strong oak tree. Then everything went black...

Georgia was the first to wake up. The team had been involved in a car crash after a creature of some sort jumped on top of the car and Mike swerved it then crashed. Alex and Katie stirred and slowly stared to awaken. They all got out of the car, without injuries. Mike and Sasha soon wake up and are helped out by the others. Jimmy was the last to wake up. He had a few cuts, but nothing serious. They helped him out, and everyone looked around.

“There was that thing”, Sasha remembered.

“Whatever it is, wherever it is, we need to find it”, Katie decided.

“Hey, what’s this?”, wondered Mike. He had found a trail of blood along the pavement. They all followed the trail down the woody areas. Something swung overhead.

“What…was…that?”, stuttered Georgia, clinging onto Alex’s arm. The object jumped from tree to tree quicker than a lightning strike. It jumped down in front of them, and the team started running. A gunshot came out and killed the creature. It came from one of the ARC soldiers. They picked up an anomaly nearby, and couldn’t get through to the team. They took the creature back to the ARC.

The examination results were back. The creature was some sort of a future evolution of a bat. Katie decided to call Claudia to see if she knew anything.

“Hiya. We’ve just found a new creature. It’s a future evolution of a bat. Do you know what it is?”, Katie told Claudia.

“Hi. We’ve come across them a few times, but we cannot communicate with them, and we wouldn’t have time before they ate us, but we just call them Future Predators. They see sound, so when you come across one, be silent”, advised Claudia.

“OK, thanks. Got to go now, bye!”, finished Katie, hanging up.

They all went out to the other car and drove off in the direction of the anomaly. This was their biggest job yet, and Katie made sure no-one went wandering off through the anomaly this time.

“If anyone does, there will be a punishment”, said Katie, sounding like a school teacher.

“Yes Miss”, Jimmy muttered to Sasha and Mike. They all giggled. They arrived at the forest again, and saw the anomaly quite clearly between some trees.

“You soldiers, search the area. We’ll stay together”, ordered Katie.

“If only we could block the anomaly…”, wondered Alex. They started to watch it until the soldiers got back.

A few hours later, the anomaly was still blazing, but no sign of the soldiers. Katie had called Ben and told him, and she was starting to get worried.

“You don’t think they got eaten, do you?”, Georgia worried.

“Hope not”, added Sasha.

“It’s getting dark, we can’t stay here much longer, it’s too dangerous”, decided Katie. Suddenly, another Future Predator jumped in front of them. Georgia and Sasha screamed. Katie shushed them. But it was too late. The Predator had locked itself on them, and was about to pounce. They ran away, but it was too quick. It jumped on top of Jimmy and started attacking him. Mike distracted it, and it started chasing after Mike. Mike led it all over the place, slowing it down. Alex ran to the car, and the girls went to see Jimmy. He was alive, only just though. Suddenly, a car came down. It was Alex, and he signalled Mike to get the Predator in the way. It was about to pounce, but this time, it wasn’t fast enough, and got sent flying. It was dead.

“We need to get back, now!”, ordered Katie.

They all went back to the ARC, apart from Jimmy, who went to hospital. A few of the soldiers that were still alive went to check the area the next morning. The anomaly had gone and no creatures were in sight.

That evening, the team were gathered around Jimmy’s hospital bed. They were chatting, and Jimmy told them that he could be out in a few days. They were so happy.

But far far away, they didn’t know that one Predator was still out there…