CHAPTER 144
With a crash of wood and splinters Gary opened his eyes. He was shocked to find that at the last moment his legs had gotten the message, and he had leapt out of the way. As he lay on his side on the floor he watched the utahraptor flounder amongst a pile of wooden pallets that she had toppled over.
The pack leader had gotten her foot stuck between the planks of one of the pallets, and now she was dragging it like a giant, floppy, clown shoe. As the dinosaur tripped, fumbled, and kicked in frustration Gary jumped to his feet and started running for the small cage.
Bill still had the door open and was waving him in. "Hurry your ass up, Gary!"
The sound of snapping wood planks behind him made Gary run all the faster. He could hear the pack leader shrieking and her feet striking the ground. She was free and charging to catch him.
When Gary reached the cage his shoes slipped on the concrete floor and he almost went flying past the door. Bill grabbed him by the shirt and yanked him in just before the utahraptor slammed against the frame of the door.
Gary, Bill, Carrie, and Seth all piled on top of each other and pressed themselves as flat along the rear of the cage as they could. When the pack leader thrust her head in after them her teeth went thrashing and snapping from one side of the cage to the other. Kicking with her legs she forced her body in all the way to her torso. Her hips, being just a little too broad for the doorway, kept her from advancing any further. Her long arms reached for ankles and feet and wrists, but anything that protruded was just a hair out of her grasp. With anger she threw her body about and jostled the cage, but everyone held onto the sides with curled, white knuckled, fingers.
Gary lost his footing upon an exceptionally harsh rattling of the enclosure, and his feet flew out from beneath him. The utahraptor went for his boot like a cobra striking at prey. Gary pulled away, but his boot laces had become ensnared around one of the pack leader's fore talons.
"Holy shit! Holy shit!" he screamed as his leg was pulled away from him.
The utahraptor almost had her teeth around his foot when the laces snapped. As Gary tugged his leg away the pack leader chomped down on thin air. Her face was fierce as she began to drag the cage around in an arch. With a violent twist she slammed the enclosure against the corner of the flatbed truck and roared.
Still holding tight to the walls of the cage everyone watched the utahraptor. Her expression had changed, and there was a pause in her attack.
"What's she doing?" Carrie said.
"She's trying to think of a better way to kill our asses," Bill answered.
"Jesus. How the hell are we gonna get out of here?" Gary was watching the pack leader as she mulled things over with sheer determination.
"I'm pretty certain we're screwed, Gary." Bill was shifting his body as he saw the utahraptor moving closer.
She circled to the back of the cage and nipped at their fingers. Though everyone jumped back it was fairly clear the gesture was an empty attack meant simply to shake their nerves. The utahraptor jarred the side of the cage one more time and then looked away. Sizing up the height of the flatbed she reared back and crouched. With an explosive vertical leap the pack leader thrust herself up onto the back of the truck.
Seth watched the utahraptor turn and face them again with the same look of determination. "Does anyone else have a bad feeling about this?"
Gary said, "I'm willing to bet she doesn't."