CHAPTER 145
From the edge of the flatbed the pack leader thrust her foot down and latched onto the top of the cage. Bracing herself with her other limbs she pulled the cage up against the truck and then flipped it on end so the door was down against the ground. Everyone within tumbled and piled on top of each other. Laying against the open door they were a tangle of limbs and bodies. Seth had a knee jabbing his gut and Gary's face was pressed into the mesh of the cage so hard he felt like his head was going to be sliced into cubes. Carrie cried out because her bleeding ankle was being crushed, and from somewhere in the middle of it all Bill was yelling about his arm getting twisted.
They had hardly sorted themselves out when the cage shuddered and lifted off the concrete. The next thing Bill knew he was dangling upside down through the opening of the cage.
"Christ!" He grabbed at the loosely swinging door as it flung beside him. The only thing holding him in was the fact that his legs were pinned between Carrie and the side of the cage. "Jesus! Somebody help me!"
With a metallic scrape the utahraptor dragged the cage up the side of the flatbed, lifting it higher from the concrete.
"Oh shit!" Bill's legs came loose and he dropped to the ground.
With everyone else blocking the door there was no way he could climb back in the cage. Scrambling to his feet Bill watched as the pack leader tossed the cage aside and viewed him with hungry eyes. She poised herself and lunged. Bill dove forward and slid beneath the truck, hearing a thud behind him as the utahraptor struck the floor. Bill crawled under the driveshaft to the other side of the truck and jumped to his feet just as the pack leader came crashing under the bed after him.
He ran to the garage's side door and grabbed the handle. Looking back he saw that the dinosaur had already squeezed past the underside of the truck and was coming after him. There was something else though. Beyond the truck there was movement. The others were using this opportunity to flee the cage and find somewhere better to hide.
The pack leader noticed his shifting eye line and stopped. Wheeling around she saw that everyone else was out of the cage. A grin crossed her scaly face, and she moved back toward the truck.
"Oh no." Bill started waving his arms and yelling, "hey! Over here!"
The pack leader was not distracted. She leapt on top of the flatbed and then jumped down in front of the cage.
Seth was helping Gary prop Ms. Bolton up when he saw the utahraptor reappear on their side of the truck. "Shit, Gary!" He nodded his jaw at the predator. "What the hell do we do?"
Gary looked petrified. "I-I don't know, kid."
"Gary?" Seth watched the pack leader come closer.
She was crouching to leap for the kill. Her eagle-like plumage seemed to expand as it ruffled all over, making her look twice the size. She angled her short wing feathers and stiffened her tail to stabilize her killing lunge. As the prickly coat that covered her dropped flat against her body Seth got a sinking feeling knowing she was about to jump.