"Bunker sounds good," Virgil said hesitantly. There were enough large cabinets that they could probably, hopefully, block the door. They'd be trapped if the raptors were strong enough to get through though. He just didn't know if they had any other choice.
A clicking sound was coming from the area of the gift shop, followed by a third bark. Alan swallowed audibly. Wiping sweat from his forehead with the back of one arm. "I don't know if we'll be able to get back there," he admitted softly. It sounded like the raptors were trying to force them in a specific direction.
"Let's go," Virgil replied, grabbing Alan's arm and quickly dragging him out of the kitchen and into the dining room. A shadow crossed the doorway they had taken to get to the bunker in the first place, and the two turned, heading for the atrium instead. Three barks from one side and an answering two from two separate directions. The raptors were literally herding them, and they had no choice but to go where the beasts wanted them to go.
Virgil froze in the middle of the atrium, stumbling over old fossils. He looked at Alan, pale and shivery, and tried to come up with a plan. They had no weapons. They had no way to call for help. They had nothing but their own ingenuity and failing bodies.
A large reptilian head poked around the corner, big yellow eyes staring at them while the mouth opened in a hiss, showing off viciously sharp teeth. Alan sucked in a breath, backing into Virgil, and the creature stalked into the room, its large toe claw clicking against the ground in a very specific pattern.
Virgil knew from listening to a much younger Alan ramble, that velociraptors were small feathered therapods, about the size of turkeys. This thing wasn't small or feathered. It definitely wasn't a velociraptor, no matter what those old movies had called it. It was easily six foot and bulky with not a feather in sight. This thing was a Utahraptor, complete with the nasty claws and extreme intelligence in those yellow eyes.
It had scars racing down its back, large ones that looked like they were made by very large teeth.
Virgil grabbed the back of Alan's shirt and pushed him towards the stairs as two other raptors stalked into the atrium, blocking the other doors. "Go! Up!"
Alan turned and ran up the stairs, Virgil on his heels, and the raptors launched forward, shrieking. The stairs rattled under their weight, the free-floating design that would have been so aesthetically pleasing at one point, seriously compromised by age, neglect and what looked like impact damage.
The two unlit LEDs on HEMERA started blinking erratically.
Sharp claws scraped at Virgil's boot, and he kicked out, slamming his heel into a toothy muzzle. It unbalanced the beast enough to send it tumbling down the stairs, taking another with it. The remaining one, the scarred one, shrieked and leapt over its fallen packmates, snapping at the two brothers.
Sliding across the top landing, Virgil kicked out again, this time at the support post holding up the stairs. It's decaying wood couldn't stand up to the strong kicks being delivered to it and it creaked and crumbled, sending the stairs crashing down with a thunderous racket. The raptors fell, scrambling among the debris, barking and screeching. Alan and Virgil didn't spare them any more than a glance and took off running across the balcony.
HEMERA was still blinking, catching Alan's eye, and he frowned at it. He didn't have the breath to say anything though, nor the care really. His head was pounding, and his hands were shaking and honestly, he felt about two minutes away from passing out. Virgil grabbed him, turning down a dark corridor. Somewhere behind them, something clattered.
They barreled through a door, slamming it shut and shoving a large metal cabinet up against it. It wouldn't hold for too long, probably, but maybe they could at least catch their breaths and come up with a plan. Virgil looked around, a little frantically, trying to figure out where they were and where they could go.
It looked like a lab space. The room had once been white and sterile, but now it was just as overgrown and rundown as the rest of the building. There were broken down pieces of machinery and desks of old computers. A large table stood in the middle, with what looked like old eggs, all hatched. One entire wall was glass, and that was disconcerting.
Something slammed into the door on the other side, rattling the cabinet. Alan and Virgil backed up to the middle of the room, their backs hitting that table. Glancing up to the ceiling, Virgil noted that the panels looked just as removeable as they had everywhere else in the building. He'd never been more thankful for the decorating travesty that was drop ceilings. Turning, he grabbed his brother around the waist and lifted Alan up onto the table and pointed up.
Alan blinked at him for a moment, a little bleary and all too terrified, but seemed to catch the drift after a second. He reached up, standing on his toes, and slid one of the panels aside. There was a screech from the other side of the glass wall, and an answering bark at the door. Virgil climbed up on the table next to him, old shells crumbling beneath his boots.
The fifth light on HEMERA stopped blinking, flaring a bright green before steadying into the familiar soft glow. Virgil and Alan exchanged startled looks, but the sound of shattering glass forced them back into moving.
Virgil lifted his little brother again, Alan scrambling into the ceiling just in time for the door to burst open, the cabinet falling to the ground with a crash. Alan yelped at the noise, and Virgil jumped, hauling himself up into the rafters.
The raptor leapt, its teeth closing around Virgil's boot. He kicked out again, swinging from the rafter and nearly falling from the extra weight of the beast. Alan grabbed at the duffle bag still slung across his back, pulling with a grunt. The raptor fell away with an agitated hiss, and Virgil hauled himself up and into the rafters. "Move!" he commanded, pushing Alan forward.
They crawled as fast as they could in the small space, dragging themselves along the rafters, staying off the rotted ceiling boards. The raptors were leaping below them, pushing at the tiles, barking and snapping.
The last light on HEMERA was still blinking. Virgil stared at it with narrowed eyes as they crawled. She was forcing the charge, he realized. HEMERA was forcing the charge to try and get them out of there.
There was a sudden crack, and then Alan was screaming as the joist broke, sending both him and Virgil tumbling down into a different room. They hit theater chairs, breaking them from their rotted supports and sending the two sprawling amongst rubble. Alan gave a gasping sob, frantically trying to free his trapped leg from beneath twisted metal and rotted wood and fabric. Virgil scrambled amongst the debris, trying to get his footing under him.
A raptor slid into the room, giving that eerie bark. The answering barks were further back, and the raptor purred in response. Virgil crouched in front of his little brother, arm held out in front of him, face grim. He couldn't see a way out of this.
Alan struggled, watching the standoff in absolute terror.
The dinosaur leapt with a screech, claws outstretched.
HEMERA's last light flared green.
The raptor slammed into Virgil, knocking him back into Alan.
And Alan flipped the switch.
Note: Yesterday a heat wave came through our area, and our two pet bunnies sadly did not survive, despite us doing what we could. Our boys are devastated, and I thought maybe there would be a break in updating, but as it turns out, writing is a good distraction. So…yeah. We'll see. Fair warning, though, I bit off more than I could chew with this one, guys. While I'm trying to stay at least three chapters ahead of what I'm posting, my family is going out of town for a while and I may get a little behind. I'll continue with the daily updates for as long as I can, but it may end up turning into a weekly thing here in a little bit. No worries, though. This one's planned all the way through to the end.