CHAPTER 66
Seth and Kyra's ankles sloshed in the pool as they started off. The water flowed through the tunnel as a broad and shallow stream that covered most of the cave floor. At times it thinned out to only a centimeter in depth. As Kyra and Seth ventured away from the hole in the ceiling the light faded quickly. Soon they were almost in total darkness. Just when they thought they were going to run out of light all together they spotted a pinhole of sun rays ahead.
Seth kept his eyes fixed on the single beam as not to loose his bearings. As he got closer to it he could make out more details of the lava tube again. They were entering a chamber that was at least three times larger than the first. The underground river morphed into a deeper narrow stream that snaked through the cave.
From the shadows Seth saw a rooster sized creature scamper through the ray of light and disappear into the gloom again. "Hey!" Seth pointed, but it was gone before Kyra could catch a glimpse.
"What was it?"
"I don't know. Something small and fast."
"Probably just a comp." Kyra shrugged.
"I don't think so. It didn't look like one."
"Wait, I see it." Kyra stuck her pointer towards a dark corner of the passage.
Among the shadows a glinting set of eyes stared at them. The glowing pupils approached with caution. There was a child-like curiosity in their expression. As the creature came closer Seth got his first good look at it. The animal was furry, the way a young chick looked. In conjunction with a large head, skinny body, and stuttering feet it was clear that this little visitor was a baby. The young dinosaur sniffed them from afar and seemed anxious about getting too close. Its eyes were wide and appeared to bulge. Its snout was pointed and its face scaly. The rest of the dinosaur was covered in fluff so much that the details of its hands and feet were lost.
The baby paced back and forth like it wanted to circle behind Kyra and Seth, its stiff tail bobbing up and down almost as frequently as the bird-like pecking of its head through the air as it walked. It let out a raspy squeak and ran off in the direction it had come. The patter and scratching of its claws upon the rock floor echoed in the lava tube as it scampered away.
"Maybe we should turn back," Seth said.
"Why?"
"Because, where there's a baby, there's a nest."
"But there's no way out back there."
"Maybe we overlooked something."
"If there was another exit don't you think we would have seen the sunlight from it?"
Seth stopped her. "Look." He pointed into the dark.
There were at least six more baby dinosaurs spying at them. The light reflecting off their eyes appeared like dim candle flames in the gloom. The little ones approached to just beyond arms length. Like the first one they sniffed and paced. Behind him Seth did not notice that one of the babies had circled in closer. With a nip at his calf it got his attention.
"Ow!" He jumped away. There was a crunch under his foot as it landed. "What was that?"
He bent down and picked up a fragment of what he had stepped on. Even in the dark it was easy to tell what it was. He held up the thin curved shard to Kyra and she took it to see for herself.
"An egg shell."
They both looked at the babies. The closer they observed them a certain truth became evident. The way they bit at each other, pounced on each other, and mock hunted one another were undeniably the characteristic behaviors of young predators.
As one of the babies was tackled onto its back it kicked its sibling away, and for the first time Kyra and Seth could clearly see on its feet the enlarged sickle shaped talons of a velociraptor.