He looked around at the plants and things around them. He was surprised when she claimed to study engineering and didn't know that. "Huh, interesting, I thought you were a biologist" he said and looked around with her "genetic engineering huh? That's interesting, but why do you think these people experimented on the genes of plants and animals?" he asked curiously.

As they walked around he saw a patch of giant flowers and was about to take a look at the pollen before he heard a buzzing sound. He quickly took Christy and jumped out of sight behind a desk that was a few feet from the flowers. What came around the corner was a giant bee that had landed on one of the flowers gathering the pollen. He waited till it was gone after a few minutes and sighed in relief "phew close one, but very fascinating" he said standing up going over to the flowers.

He had picked up some of the pollen in his hand and examined it. It definitely had the color and texture of regular pollen, and definitely had the same allergies which made him sneeze "achoo!!!" he said as the pollen poofed away in his hand and he stepped away from it "ugh... Bigger pollen, twice the allergies. Anyway, I'll let you pick the direction we explore next" he said to her trying to get the pollen off of him.

"That's the biggest damn bee I've ever seen," she remarked, as she pushed herself upright as she studied another flower, turning to respond to Jeffrey's original question "But I would suspect that genetic engineering may be this world's only option. I mean look outside - the devastation - and I'm guessing that's not merely limited to London. Nationally, it could be hard to cultivate even the simplest crop now that the ground is contaminated with a thick coating of rubble that hardly look as fertile. If I had to guess, I would say that these are all by-products of experiments to reintroduce flora and fauna into this broken world."

She shook her head sadly, as she stroked the petal of one of the flowers. It felt like caressing rich silk and the colour was a loud shade of orange, vibrant against the bleak, white lab walls.

"And as for the giant creatures, I presume they may be by-product results of introducing new chemicals into soil or the water source above. Either that, or this scientist is interested in more than regeneration...maybe these people are interested in revenge," she said, shuddering at the thought, "And if so, let's hope they don't see us as threats."

She walked forward through the greenhouse and at the far end, a doorway led into another section. Gesturing to Jeffrey to follow her, she approached but froze a few paces from the exit. Was that a noise? She edged forward slower and realised that what she could here was voices, quick and impatient. Tensed, she scooted forward even more until she could peer around the frame. Inside, was a simple conference room with a large table in the middle. Three men in lab coats were sat around it, chattering animatedly - they looked fairly young and around the same age as Jeffrey and Christy. They were talking with a familiar language (English) but every now and then, a phrase was interjected into the conversation that she had never heard before; some that had presumably evolved after Christy's old era. Eyes wide, she glanced back at Jeffrey.

"People!" she whispered breathlessly to him as they hovered out of the strangers' view "Real people, from the future! Do we approach them? Wait - will they think we're trespassing?"

He looked around as she had studied the flowers and explained to him what this was, at least her theory on it. He thought about it for a moment and looked to her "sounds plausible... But maybe... Maybe... Do you think that it's possible that the goal of the the giant creatures was to originally make animals bigger for food purposes. What I mean is that they could've experimented on cows and pigs to make them larger fo more food production but something went wrong?" he asked wondering if that would be a possibility.

He then heard people talking and Christy freaking out. He peeked in the room and shook his head "they don't look harmful but they can be a little shady. Don't worry, I'm armed" he said showing her his weapon. He looked back at her "I think we should wait and listen to see what they're up to?" he said listening to their conversation.

Christy nodded, at Jeffrey's plan to continue listening to the three men. She studied them - the one that appeared to be talking the most, was tall with a shock of ginger hair and icy blue eyes. He was talking loudly to his companion across the conference table, who was shorter with dark, tousled hair and dark brown eyes nodding obediently along with the first man. The final man of the trio had long, blonde hair that was slicked back and his attention seemed more distracted from the conversation.

"Unleash? But they're only the prototypes! We've already lost that one subject, which is now wandering freely across London!" the ginger-haired one exclaimed in surprise and the dark-haired one shrank back even further, as though the words were physically beating him back.

"Yes, but how long can we wait? Soon, it will be too late!" the dark haired one attempted to reply.

"This is the one joker we have left to play" the ginger haired man said with a finality "Play it too soon, and we could lose everything!"

Jeffrey listened in on their conversation and didn't know what to make of it. What were they talking about? He wondered to himself as he listened closer. He didn't know what to make of it and he looked back at Christy and whispered "they don't sound like they're up to any good" he said then noticed the snout of a large alligator looking at them. The giant reptile was staring at the pair for a good minute observing his prey. Jeffrey froze then without thinking, he grabbed Christy's hand knowing his pistol wouldn't do anything to it then ran past the door the three scientists were in the turned the corner.

The whole time they were running he could hear the sound of the alligator's tail smashing against the metal walls and piles that were all around the scientists lab while he had to think of a plan and fast. He had run into what was apparently an incinerator room that had giant industrial sized furnaces all around them. He heard the alligator coming and climbed on top of one and waited till the gator appeared which didn't take long as it had tried to jump on top of the incinerator and eat him. Jeffrey saw the control panel that controlled this furnace and walked over to it. The alligator had tried another tactic and smashed head first into the furnace trying to knock them off. What he didn't know was that it was now inside the furnace and Jeffrey had pressed a button closing the door to it while the alligator tried to escape smashing into it repeatedly but to no avail as the furnace was now cooking the huge reptile and Jeffrey grabbed Christy's hand and jumped off watching it burn. He sighed in relief as he sat there holding Christy tightly.

Christy had never seen an alligator in real life.

Nor had she ever had the displeasure of knowing what 'burnt alligator' smelt like.

And now, she had experienced both pleasures. She allowed her breathing to stabilise as Jeffrey held her, in a bid to comfort her and she let him. Once the shallow panting errupting from her chest had subsided, she managed a feeble grin at the whole scenario of being chased by a giant reptile - it was an amusing thought, though not one she wished to live through again. Hopefully, these mutant creatures didn't travel in groups. She ran her hands through her hair; her ponytail had come loose and most of her hair now hung in tendrils around her face.

"Do you think those men heard the commotion?" she whispered to Jeffrey, regarding him with a wide-eyed stare.

He let her go to let her compose herself then began to look himself over as he wanted to make sure he wasn't injured by anything. He couldn't believe that this was the future and for a few minutes throughout that whole attack from the giant alligator, he had forgotten they were in the future. He sighed in relief then looked back to Christy and shrugged "I'm not sure, I don't know if we should even be talking to them. Though in any case we might've just saved their lives" he said. He heard footsteps coming and grabbed Christy and began to look for a hiding spot "dammit where will we hide?!" he asked still looking.

He looked and looked around then took Christy's hand and his behind some boxes that were in the room with them. He sat there and poked his head out but didn't see them but still heard the footsteps coming. He sat there and looked to Christy "what do you think we should do?" He asked wondering what their intentions were.

"Well...are we ready to meet people of the future, yet?" Christy asked, uncertainly. Her tone was thick with uncertainty and she became very aware of Jeffrey's close proximity. Blushing, she peered forward to see if the footsteps belonged to the three men they had spied on early. They did; all three were striding, heading in their direction. She instantly ducked back down below the boxes.

"They're coming!" she hissed, as loudly as she dared.

"Do you smell something?" she heard one of the men exclaim loudly and there was a pause before another man spoke "Yes...is that burning rubber?"

Christy nearly choked on her nervous breaths and she heard the footsteps stop, as if alerted by the sound. She held her breath, her heart thudding erratically in her chest and she hoped that the sound wasn't as loud as it sounded to her. Frozen in place, she awaited impatiently for the men to do something; to continue, to spot them, to spot anything else amiss.

"You still have the gun?" Christy murmured to Jeffrey in a low voice, urgently, "You know...just in case."

He sat there ducked down trying to hide from the three people who were coming. Knowing they would be coming soon. By the sound of their conversation earlier they didn't sound like they were up to any good because of the fact that it sounded like they were unleashing these giant creatures throughout the city.

Jeffrey looked to Christy and nodded showing her the pistol he was carrying the whole time. In fact he could kill these people now but he didn't know if they posed immediate danger to them whatsoever. Nonetheless it was just good to have if they needed it. He sat there and peeked out of the boxes waiting for these three people.

Christy continued to remain frozen in place, as the men advanced on their position and she tried not to make a sound. She felt a tickling in the back of her throat and felt the icy, creeping sensation of dread itch over her as she realise she needed to sneeze. Her eyes widened as she pressed down further against Jeffrey and held her nose, begging whatever Gods were out there to prevent the inevitable. They answered her prayers; the need to sneeze ebbed until she could release the grip on her face. Relieved, she exhaled silently with a grin.

"I think we should say something," Christy whispered to Jeffrey, "I think we should introduce ourselves. Just keep your gun ready, and hidden out of view, and we'll be fine."

She raised a quizzical eyebrow at him as she searched his expression to see if he approved of her suggestion. She could see of no alternatives - she hardly wanted to be discovered on the strangers' terms. It was better if Christy and Jeffrey could surprise them, rather than the other way around. Besides; they would soon stumble across the fried alligator.

He thought about what they should do as he didn't know what these people were up to and capable of. He knew there would smell the burnt alligator though and knew that they would be coming around the corner soon. He looked to Christy and nodded in agreement "you're right, ok let's do it" he said putting his weapon away quickly but still where he could grab it. Then he had carefully stepped out from behind the boxes not even knowing how he could look not threatening. Nonetheless he kept his hands to his sides and looked to Christy.

He beckoned for her to come out from behind the boxes saying "it's ok, remember I'm still armed" he said. He looked to the door and heard the footsteps getting closer and closer waiting for the trio of scientists to come in. He wouldn't even know where to begin and how they would explain themselves. Still, they had to get answers as this was what science is all about.