ICHABOD RESTED on a fallen fern at the edge of the camp, pressing his palms together as he blinked back the sunlight in his eyes. The leaves of the fern were brittle and dying, and the trunk of it dug into his skin.

He saw Tina approaching, and stood up to greet her. Doctor Royson had given him something for the ringing in his ears, but he made sure Tina was close before speaking. "I'm sure you know why I've called you here."

Ichabod probably looked a sight, he realized - a far cry from the suits and stifling ties and cufflinks he'd grown up with. Sweat gathered at his temples, and blood was splashed across the shirt he'd stripped to; the grey suit too compressing to bear. Not his blood, thank God, but Tina wouldn't know that.

Her eyes darted across his front before locking on his. She looked calmer than he'd have expected her to look, and he had to hide his surprise. Ichabod kept his lips pressed together and stilled his hands.

"You want to know more on the ... rebels." Her voice wobbled, which was a mistake. So maybe she wasn't as calm as first impressions had made her out to be, and Ichabod was keen to press the advantage.

"Yes! I'm glad we're on the same page." Ichabod grinned, clapping his hands. The sound was loud, even to his deaf ears. He knew she knew he was suspicious of her - which he was - and that she would lie (of course she would), but Ichabod had learnt how to succeed in getting information out of people.

Not by torture or through some other barbaric means, oh no. They may have been in the Jurassic, but Ichabod would not condone himself in becoming uncivilized. Because that's what they were, he reasoned, right?

Civilized adults, talking on the future of the world, even if they had different goals in mind.

It was blatantly obvious that Ichabod was expecting something from her. Though he looked rugged, and positively chilled, his eyes were flickering with intent.

Tina drew her lips together, curling her bare toes into the dirt. They were no thorns in the marsh, which was a stark contrast from the glass and stone-covered tarmac she had grown up walking along. It was comforting, and gave her a moment to think.

I have to hold out for as long as possible, Tina vowed to herself. No matter what happened, she couldn't betray Amelia and Lale, though that determination faltered when she thought of Luca. If Ichabod used him as a bargaining chip ... she didn't want to think on that.

"What are Lale and Amelia planning on doing?" Ichabod asked, enunciating his words carefully, like a parent talking to a toddler. Tina already felt herself sinking under the waves of his suspicion - because it was obvious he was suspicious - but she flailed for a lifeline, her heart balling up in her chest.

"They want to attack." She regretted her choice of words they second she said it. Ichabod quirked a brow, no doubt recognizing the vagueness. Dank. Think, Tina, think!

"When the Tanycolagreuses go back to their nests," she blurted, struggling over the long dinosaur name. "They'll want to use that cover to attack."

Ichabod crossed his arms, and Tina had to fight not to flinch. The tension was thick enough to slice with a knife, and sweat slid down her cheek. She didn't dare brush it away, like it was a sign of weakness. Please take it, she begged him internally. Please believe it.

"And do what?" Ichabod's tone was thick with a disbelieving tone, but that face that he had kept questioning her and not dragged her off to be shot was reassuring, by a decimal percentage.

That's enough for me.

"Take the dinosaur samples," Tina said quickly. It wasn't far from the truth, but far enough that she wasn't betraying her friends... only Lale and Amelia no doubt thought Ichabod was shipping entire dinosaurs back to 2039, though it wasn't much of an improvement. Luca had made the connection once they'd seen a lady pass by quickly with what seemed like blood.

Vials of it, ready to be mixed together and grown into a dinosaur straight from Jurassic Park.

She'd always hated those movies. The animation was so tacky, even with the '22 remake her parents had taken her to see on her seventh birthday.

"They want to destroy it," Tina added, as if it wasn't clear enough.

Ichabod was quiet for a long moment. Long enough for Tina to feel like the traitor she was; long enough for her to secretly hope that he'd kill her then and there so she didn't have to face her friends' deaths because of her.

"I see." Then his eyes narrowed. He glanced down at his shadow, as if blaming it for all that had happened.

Meanwhile, Tina looked on, blaming him. Everything was messed up because of Ichabod, and she couldn't even let him know it. She tightened her hands into fists behind her back.

"How did they come by the future plans - how did they know?" He looked up at her again, and she was surprised at the deep, dark depths of his gaze. He was smart, and Tina had to be smarter.

"Amelia got the papers." It was harmless to tell him, right? The doubt in her chest reared its head, spitting venom-like dread that made her feel cold. "She, uh, stole them."

Ichabod's eyes remained blank. She held his gaze, trying to press sincerity into her own. I'm telling the truth, she lied to him. Believe me. Please.

Then, of all his reactions, Ichabod barked a laugh. He twisted and waved his hand, like his was dismissing her, and pressed his other palm to his mouth. He looked unsurprised, and Tina was bewildered as she cautiously stepped away. Was his interrogation over? What about all the other questions - the threats she had expected?

For some reason, it made her feel worse that he wasn't asking her more. It made him seem like he already knew the answers to everything else, which twisted Tina's insides into knots of anxiousness.

"Ichabod," Tina found herself saying, her words spilling out before she'd even processed them. He looked towards her, his amusement still showing in the smirk that curled over his lips.

It made him look predatory; more dangerous than a Tyrannosaurus rex.

She couldn't back away from the question that tugged at her, screaming to be answered. Tina wanted to understand, and wanted to know what she was fighting against.

Maybe she wanted to know how cruel Ichabod truly was, like a small smidgen of her needed to be reassured that he was past redemption and saving - beyond human.

"Why?"

"We mustn't assume the worst," Lale warned as Amelia pressed her fist to her mouth, panic as large as her clenched hand bundling up her throat.

"Then what should we assume?" Amelia retorted, feeling the unfairness of her words weighing heavily in her chest. Lale didn't deserve her anger, but she knew he could handle it. Not an excuse, exactly, but better than nothing, especially as her anger built up, watching Lale pace with his hands in his hair.

"That she's busy making flower crowns with Ichabod? Or friendship bracelets? What, Lale, what?"

"Tina knew what she was doing," Lale responded, a sharp edge to his voice. Amelia pressed her fist to her lips again, feeling tears burn the back of her eyes. "We have to trust her."

It wasn't fair, the thought raged through Amelia's mind. Everything was going wrong. The mission ... Tina ... Lale and Zoey and which one to choose and which one she felt for. How she was treating Lale because Amelia was angry and scared and ... well ... pretty damn well petrified of what would happen next.

It was all too much. Amelia had to focus, had to think, but she couldn't do that around Lale. The tears started bleeding out, onto her cheeks.

"I can't lose anyone else," Amelia whispered, and she couldn't look at Lale because the embarrassment rose above the grief, suddenly, and she wiped her tears toughly away. "Sorry." She cleared her throat, feeling stupid.

Lale knelt down in front of her as she sat, her back against a fern that had tilted about eighty degrees, and took her hand. She let him, and the tears annoyingly burnt into her eyeballs again.

"Hey," he whispered, softer than he'd ever been. Amelia met his gaze, mostly because it was overdue in the situation. His grey eyes were earnest. "We're gonna make it out of this."

Lale was close enough for her to lean forward and kiss him. The possibility seemed the best choice to get him to shut up and stop lying, but something must've gone wrong with her brain because she pushed his hand away, her eyes skittering to the ground again.

"You can't promise that. So just ... don't."

No one can make it come true, Amelia thought despairingly, and she could picture the hurt in Lale's eyes as he withdrew. Her heart tightened in her chest. Not even if I really, really wanted it.

"Of all the questions to ask me, you chose why?" Ichabod scoffed, like she was that one kid in class who always asked stupid questions.

Tina had to bite back her scowl. Did I stutter?

"Yeah. Why."

Ichabod shook his head, still chuckling to himself. It made him seem like a nuts person - or even more nuts, anyway - to her.

"Because humans have been fighting wars under blood-stained banners for centuries," the abrupt change in his tone froze the blood in her veins. Ichabod's eyes were glinting as he locked on hers, and she was too shocked to look away. "Biological weapons, warfare, and artillery will be nothing compared to the dinosaurs I intend to send back.

"Then the people who want war can finally get what they want. Destruction. Murder. And the minority," he pointed at her, then at himself, "like you and me, can continue on our merry way. We're certainly not going to fight. And all will be well again in 2039."

He stepped forward, and Tina couldn't backpedal away fast enough. He caught hold of her cheek as she realized a gasp, her hand catching onto his forearm and squeezing. Ichabod was close enough for her to see a bead of sweat trickle down his nose, and Tina's breath was shaken away by the pounding of her heart.

"Because that's where we belong," he hissed in her face. "2039. Not here. Not anywhere but 2039. Because, let's face it, Tina; the only reason why we saved humankind is because we all desire to rule over it. Kings and queens, hm?"

Tina pulled free, slapping his hand away. "Get away from me!" She screamed, his words more chilling than the harshest blizzard. Her hands shook as she held them in front of her, like Ichabod was a raging bull about to charge. "I'm warning you."

Ichabod released a laugh, malice evident in his grin. Tina felt a sob building at the back of her throat. What have we gotten ourselves into?

But she knew, and she answered herself: A plan of mass extinction.

"And do what, Albertina?" Ichabod mocked. She was on the verge of terrified tears like a schoolgirl, and he seemed to know it. "I know where your friends are. I know who you love."

Tina twisted away, taking in a gulp of air. She felt like she was going to throw up or faint or both, but she ran before she made her mind up about that.

"I know everything about you, Tina!" Tina heard him yell, just as she broke into the cluster of tents, before a glint of a black barrel caught her between the eyes, and she collapsed onto the ground, the world spinning and then blackening away.

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