CHAPTER 71
Ms. Murdock had an expression of intensity on her face. The plan had failed. All around them the velociraptors seemed to sense there was an issue. They trilled and barked at one another, exchanging inquisitive looks. Ms. Murdock scanned the premises for another option. There were several access ladders climbing the struts that held up the observatory, but it seemed to much a risk to get to them.
Dr. Conners was watching the raptors pick apart the situation. "Joan, any moment they're going to figure out what's happening here. Tell me you had a plan B."
"This was plan B." She looked up at the caging around the elevator shaft. "Time for plan C." Ms. Murdock grabbed Seth and Kyra and said, "climb."
They both looked to their parents.
Kyra said, "Dad, that's insane!"
"There's a reason it was plan C. Now, get up there." He turned to Seth. "You too."
Seth gave his mom a hesitant look.
She said, "I'll be right behind you. Get going."
The two of them began to climb while Bryce, Dianna, and Ms. Murdock held the raptors at bay with their guns. The velociraptors angled their sights upward, watching as Seth and Kyra ascended the cage.
Joan waited until she was certain they were out of jumping range from the raptors and said, "Doctors, you're next. Go, the both of you."
Dianna looked at Ms. Murdock with concern. She didn't like the idea of leaving her alone.
Joan insisted. "Go on."
Bryce grabbed Dianna's arm. "Let's go!"
The two of them climbed after Kyra and Seth. Bryce could tell right away that scaling the cage was going to be hard on the fingers. All the metal edges were angled and sharp. When Bryce glanced down he saw that the raptors were beginning to creep in on Joan. She fired a shotgun blast, and they backed off a little, but their confidence was clearly growing.
Ms. Murdock shouted, "hurry, Doctors!"
When Bryce and Dianna felt they had climbed high enough they yelled, "Joan, get moving!"
Bryce anchored an arm through one of the holes in the caging. With the other he steadied his rifle down at the velociraptors. "Come on, Joan!"
Ms. Murdock jumped onto the fence and began her ascent. With her shotgun shouldered and her back turned she relied solely on Bryce and Dianna for protection. One of the raptors took a running leap out of hiding and tackled Ms. Murdock off the cage. She hit the ground and her weapon slid off her shoulder. With another pounce the velociraptor had her pinned. Bryce took aim and put a bullet through the hunter's lung. It staggered aside and Joan got to her hands and knees. Joan's weapon was several feet away. As she crawled for it another raptor pounced on the gun and kicked it far out of reach.
Dianna sprayed several protective pistol shots around Ms. Murdock and yelled, "forget it."
Joan grabbed at the cage again and started to climb. Meanwhile Dianna sprayed a few more shots down to provide her cover.
Ms. Murdock was still five feet below them when she waved the doctors on. "Keep climbing!" She yelled.
Thirty feet above Dianna and Bryce, Kyra and Seth were climbing.
"Stop looking down so much, Seth. You're making it worse."
"I just wanna make sure they're alright."
"You can't do anything from up here anyway, so just keep climbing." Kyra grunted as she pulled herself upward. After fifty feet her arms were burning. "And for God's sake start looking up."
They heard a yell from below. It was Kyra's dad.
Seth strained his ears. It sounded like he was trying to tell them something, but the wind had picked up and was rushing over his voice. "What did he say?"
"He said something about a catwalk." Kyra answered.
They both looked up.
Another forty feet above them there was a mesh platform that wrapped around the circumference of the elevator shaft. There were several catwalks that branched off of it. Each one led to a different access ladder, and each access ladder had a safety cage around it.
Kyra held out a shaky thumbs up to her dad.
Seth groaned, "another forty feet. I should've done more pull-ups in gym class."
At the bottom of the group Ms. Murdock was climbing hard when she felt a shudder in the cage. Below her a male velociraptor had jumped onto the fence. Her initial thought was that she wasn't sure whether or not raptors could actually climb. She'd never seen one do it before. From the looks of it the raptor was thinking the same thing. It held an unconfident poise and looked down. Other members of the pack were gathering below and squawking at the male as if to encourage him upward. Arm over arm, foot over foot the raptor made his first timid steps to ascend the elevator shaft. With every couple of feet he climbed the male looked to gain more assurance, and with it more speed. One by one, four more raptors leapt onto the cage and joined the first male. In moments it became clear that they were climbing in single file directly below Ms. Murdock and for good reason. They knew she didn't have a gun, and they were using her as a human shield against the other humans who did have guns.
Joan pushed herself to climb faster. "Clever bastards."