CHAPTER 90
Hector, Ms. Murdock, Dallas, and Shelly were still watching in awe as a cloud of dust fulminated around the fallen brachiosaurus.
"Did you see that?" Dallas was wide eyed and shaking.
"No, Dallas. I missed it." Shelly rolled her eyes in exasperation. "It only almost fell right on top of us."
Hector and Ms. Murdock had shifted their attention back to the triceratops.
"Hey, amigo! Step on it eh!"
The truck hit another rut, and Robinson went sliding off the back of the pickup like a sled. Hector threw down his gun and dove to catch him. His fingers caught on the edge of the cot, but he didn't have Robinson at all, and the only thing holding Robinson to the cot was a handful of bungee chords.
Hector's other arm was folded over the side of the bed. There was no way he could hold on for very long. He already felt the fabric of the cot slipping past his grip. Ms. Murdock dropped her shotgun and dove down next to him. Despite her help neither of them could get a good hold on Robinson. The truck was bouncing around, and the cot was dragging hard through the dirt.
Now that Hector and Ms. Murdock were unarmed and occupied the pickup was vulnerable, and the velociraptors seemed to simply materialize out of the dark. They darted from between the triceratops and sprinted to catch up with the truck. Three of the predators were clearly visible as they raced toward the rear of the vehicle, and more were present as fast moving shadows among the three-horned herbivores.
Joan shouted, "pull him in quick!"
The truck jolted and she lost her grip. Hector was the only one holding on now, and his grasp was failing fast. Ms. Murdock snatched onto the cot again, but the velociraptors were closing distance fast. The lead hunter was already at Robinson's heels.
"Pull! Pull!" Joan yelled.
As she and Hector strained to drag the cot back on the truck this velociraptor skirted around Robinson and snapped at Hector's arms. At the front of the truck bed Dallas was watching the whole thing. He slipped out of his straps and grabbed a shotgun.
"Where are you going?" Shelly exclaimed.
"I have to help them!"
Dallas knelt in the bed and took aim over Hector's back, but he felt like his shot wasn't clear. He had to get higher. His body trembled as he tried to stand. The truck was bouncing everywhere.
"Dallas, be careful!" Shelly shrieked.
He lost his balance and fell backward in the bed. Even over the strains of the truck engine and the pounding of heavy triceratops feet he could hear the barks and growls of the attacking velociraptors. As Dallas climbed back to his feet he saw that all three hunters were at the back of the truck.
"Hey!" he shouted.
The eyes of the raptors went to the gun in his hands. Though they weren't making snaps at Ms. Murdock and Hector anymore Dallas got the impression they weren't taking him seriously. He swallowed. His eyes shifted to either side of the truck. The stampeding triceratops had closed back in. Their thick hides were rumbling just alongside him now.
Dallas jabbed the gun barrel at the three raptors. "I swear to God!"
He raised the sight to his eye and took aim. What he didn't see was a fourth velociraptor climbing over the back of one of the triceratops to his left. The carnivore shrieked as it leapt through the air. It didn't even touch the truck as its claws dug into Dallas and clipped him clean off the truck bed. A single stray gunshot cracked out as he vanished into the toil of the charging triceratops and then the darkness of night beyond.