CHAPTER 336
Something swept them into the air. Neither Vulture nor Reuben saw what it was or where it came from. All they knew was that they were not on the ground anymore.
Vulture hit a tree and got the wind knocked out of her. She curled into a ball at the base of its trunk as the dune buggy went tumbling past her. Vulture tried to take a breath, but it was as though her lungs had flattened and would not inflate. This feeling kept her on the ground with arms and legs that would not unfold to push her up.
The ground shuddered with a foot step and then another. Something big was coming. Vulture rolled her head and angled her eyes up to see.
The shadow of a long jaw swung over her. Rows of gnarly pointed teeth opened above her with a soft growl. In vulture's weakened state she saw two gigantic scaly hands spread their fingers. Version B was about to grab her.
It took Vulture all the strength she had to suck in a tiny gulp of air and get her lungs moving again. With that she flopped her body over, bringing it just enough aside that the spinosaurus missed when it pounced. The huge carnivore's hands slammed against the dirt, and its talons curled into nothing but gritty earth. The spinosaurus backed upward and scanned the dirt, finding that Vulture was crawling away to the other side of the tree she had struck. The spinosaurus lunged with fury, and crashed its jaws against the trunk as Vulture slipped behind it. There the utahraptor had but a moment to suck in another tiny gulp of air before the spinosaurus was reaching around the tree after her. It's huge claws swept around the trunk, and Vulture flattened herself against the ground to avoid it. The spinosaurus reached around further and grazed Vulture's flesh. Vulture shrieked and backed away from the tree. With more of her strength returning she decided to run. Vulture pushed to her feet and made for a sprint. As the enraged spinosaurus saw this it pushed its whole body against the tree, and with a crack the trunk toppled.
Vulture was in the midst of dashing away, but the thickly branched top of the tree came down and encapsulated her. She was trapped beneath it, and before she could get any sense of how to break free, the spinosaurus had pinned the trunk. Branches cracked and snapped around Vulture while others pinned her further. She squirmed and wriggled her body but made little progress as the shadow of the spinosaurus fell over her, and the tree crushed against her with the weight of the beast leaning on it. Vulture realized there was no getting away. Filling her lungs as much as she could she issued a cry for help.