CHAPTER 41
Seth was concerned. He had lost sight of the raptors. For minutes now he hadn't seen them anywhere. He didn't know much about them, but in either case it didn't seem like it was in their nature to give up so easily.
"Kyra, I don't see them anymore."
Kyra's head oscillated in a quick pan. "You think we lost them?"
"I wouldn't bet on it. Just keep driving."
The road came to a sharp curve and led them straight toward the island's outer rim ridge. As they sloped upward, there appeared to be a clearing ahead of them.
"Whoa whoa." Kyra squeezed the brakes.
Seth looked over her shoulder. The road was coming to an end. Past a small clearing the crater rim jutted up as a steep jagged cliff. There appeared to be a gated tunnel at the foot of the ridge. The bore was clearly wide enough to drive a tractor trailer through. None of this was catching Seth's attention however. He was focused on the strange looking herd of dinosaurs milling about in the clearing.
Before Seth had arrived on Isla Sorna, his knowledge about dinosaurs was like most anybody else's who wasn't an expert. He knew the popular ones like T-rex, triceratops, and stegosaurus. He also knew there were "long necks" and "duckbills," though he could barely mention any of them by name. Thus far, everything he'd seen bore some resemblance to dinosaurs he was already familiar with, but not these. These were too different.
They looked like giant turkeys. They had long necks, but only walked on two legs, so something like a brontosaurus was out of the question. It had a bird beak, but not like a duck. There went the duck bills. It seemed like a herbivore with its proportionately small mouth, but the claws on its hands appeared all too threatening. They were long and thick, like those of a sloth. They were sharp as well, and reminded Seth of something a monster might have in a horror movie. Currently the dinosaurs were using their claws to help them graze among the tree branches, but Seth imagined they could be used for far more aggressive purposes as well.
"Therizinosaurus." Kyra said.
"Are they dangerous?" Seth was guessing by the way she had stopped that they were.
"It depends on how close you get. Sometimes they don't like to be bothered." Kyra pointed to the gated tunnel. "There's a small door on the right. You see it over there?"
Seth did see it. There was a smaller gate within the fencing that framed the larger one. He nodded.
"If we can get past the herd, we can get to it," she said. "There might be a phone or something inside."
"How are we going to open it?"
"The key card. It's in your pocket. Remember?"
Seth felt the outside of his pocket. The wallet was still in there. "You think it'll work?"
"I don't see why it wouldn't." Kyra shrugged. "I think I'd rather take my chances against these big turkeys anyway. Their claws are bigger, but they don't run like the raptors can."
Seth was hesitant. Several of the therizinosaurs were already looking their way. They chewed nonchalantly and examined them with yellow eyes that batted a pair of long dark lashes. The loose folds of skin around the eyes and over the cheeks looked exactly the same as the skin on a parrot's face. It was even brightly colored in shades of white and blue. The actual head was shaped nothing like a parrot's though. It was meager and pointy and had the tiniest of beaks. The herbivores' subtle, slim nostrils sniffed the air. They seemed curious more than threatened, but Seth's eyes kept getting drawn back to their massive hand claws.
"Are you sure about this, Kyra?"
She frowned. "No..." There was a pause. "Just keep your head low, and don't make any sudden moves."