CHAPTER 121
Hector hung by one arm through an open ceiling tile. His fingers gripped the edge of the slender catwalk by a hair. Humberto was sprawled on the floor below him with his intestines unraveled. A savage looking female velociraptor hovered over his body as it turned to Hector. Scarcely a few paces away was a male, the silver neck, with its crooked jaw sneering as if to say its revenge was at hand.
Hector had a split decision to make between escape and what promised to be a brutal fight to the death. The hunters were too close. He knew the attempt to flee back through the ceiling would be futile, so he reached for the first weapon he could and dropped to the floor.
As his boots hit the tile he slashed his knife in an arch that cleaved through the female's throat in a perfect gliding motion. A stream of blood painted the nearby counters and wall as the raptor collapsed in a gurgling heap.
Unholstering his pistol with a swift turn Hector aimed at the silver neck. His finger was half squeezed on the trigger when a third velociraptor appeared at his side and tackled him to the floor. His gun was gone. It had slid beneath a counter, but as his body smacked against the tile he still felt the butt of the knife in his other palm.
Feeling claws dig into his torso he slashed where the pain was and felt the raptor's weight cave in on top of him. With a heavy jab he buried the blade deep within the hunter's belly and then tossed the beast aside.
Hector sensed a shadow befall him as the silver neck mounted a countertop just above him. He clambered backwards and jumped to his feet. There were two shotguns on the floor. One belonged to him and the other to Humberto, but the silver neck stood between him and the firearms. From a nearby knife block he snatched a large piece of cutlery and wielded it and his dagger at the velociraptor.
"You wanna finish this? Come on. Hector is ready. Come on!"
He didn't wait for the silver neck to make the first move. He was already at a disadvantage as the raptor had the high ground. Hector went in swinging, and the hunter recoiled. He backed the beast to the end of the counter, but that's where his offensive took a turn for the worse.
The silver neck kicked his arm and stunned his rhythm. In this moment of faltering the raptor lunged and knocked Hector to the floor, but it did not pin him for fear of having its belly cut open. The dinosaur jumped away and then whipped around to face him. As Hector was climbing back to his feet the silver neck went for another tackle. He slammed into Hector and shoved him backwards. In a foul move the both of them slipped on Humberto's entrails and went tumbling further.
Crashing into the stainless steel front of a refrigerator they fell apart from each other and collapsed opposite ways. The door to the fridge sprang open, and much of its contents fell over on top of Hector. In the mix he'd lost his knives, so he grabbed the first things he felt he could use as weapons.
The silver neck was still stumbling to its feet and acting as though it had suffered a hard hit to the head. Holding the handle of a full one gallon milk jug Hector swung it like a boxing glove and bashed the side of the raptor's skull. As the dinosaur jolted over the plastic jug exploded open, showering milk all over the kitchen. The silver neck circled its head back around, and Hector kicked him in the face. In his other hand he had a large jar of pickles that he shattered across the raptor's muzzle. Dripping with milk and pickle juice the silver neck slipped and fumbled in puddles on the floor as it shook its head in a dizzy stupor.
The next thing Hector could find was a cast iron pan atop a counter. As he went to bludgeon the silver neck he heard a growl behind him. Another velociraptor was present. He spun around and clobbered it in the jaw. As this new male fell against a counter Hector turned back to the silver neck. The beast was on his feet and attacking. Hector didn't have time to swing as he was thrown backwards. He fell on top of the other male raptor, and the three of them tumbled to the floor.
Hector could see that the silver neck was still dizzy with head trauma as it was easy to toss the beast aside. He tried to get back to his feet, but the raptor underneath him was latching on. Throwing a heavy elbow to its face the other male momentarily backed off.
Hector jumped to his feet and grabbed a large, metal, baking sheet. Using it as a shield he charged the silver neck, but the other male was already coming for him again from behind. They all fell in a dog pile, and there was a moment where Hector thought the time of his undoing had come, as he was trapped between them with no good weapon. Then he saw his pistol beneath a counter near his head. He reached for it and buried the muzzle into the silver neck's throat. In a crack of gunfire and a burst of blood he turned the gun on the other male and pulled the trigger again. He felt their claws loosen, and he squeezed out from between them. As the two velociraptors writhed and choked on their own blood he unloaded several more bullets into each hunter.