CHAPTER 112
The group stopped, and Bryce listened more carefully. The cries for help were coming from outside. Piercing his eyes through the rain Dr. Conners made out a man in a white lab coat lying at the bottom of the front steps. He couldn't make out who it was, but he could see that his arms and legs were horribly maimed. There were no velociraptors in sight.
The rest of the group had spotted him. Before anyone could make a move Ms. Murdock barked, "leave him!"
There was a clear hesitation in the group. Dr. Ramsey said, "What the hell do you mean, leave him? Are you sick?"
Bryce attempted to interject, but the second lab tech that was standing with Dr. Ramsey shouted, "hey! There's more of them out there! Listen to them! They're still alive!"
Indeed, there were two others a bit further out from the steps, and perhaps several more even further. Over the sounds of the storm there were definitive wails of agony and cries for help. Dr. Ramsey looked to the rest of the group. "We've gotta go help them."
As he turned to run out the front doors Dr. Conners grabbed his arm. "No, you can't."
Suddenly Dr. Conners had a pistol in his face as the irate Dr. Ramsey shouted, "back off The hell I can't!"
"Whoa!" Bryce put his hands up. He stared down the barrel of the gun, searching for words that might diffuse the situation. "Christopher! God damn it! Put the gun down. Can't you see it's a trap? If you go out there you're gonna get yourself killed."
Ms. Murdock added, "They're trying to separate us. Use your head, man! Get that gun out of Dr. Conner's face now." She looked like she wanted to throw an elbow into Dr. Ramsey's temple and be done with it.
The other lab tech said, "screw that. You don't know them. We do." He had his gun pointed at the group now also. "Come on Chris. We're wasting time."
They both backed out the front door and proceeded down the steps.
Ms. Murdock shook her head. "Why in God's name did we ever give the lab techs weapons?"
Dr. Ramsey and the other tech were more than halfway down the steps when two dark figures lunged off the roof and plunged them into the reflection pools on either side of the stairs. Both men and the raptors were out of view before anyone could fire. There were brief splashes of water and screaming. Then it was over.
In the uncomfortable wake that followed Ms. Murdock said, "well, that was a quick lesson." She looked around the group. "Anyone else wanna be a hero?"