CHAPTER 153
At Marcus' comment the room went silent. Everyone listened as though they believed Marcus was just hearing things, but sure enough the drone of a low cruising airplane was present without a doubt.
The room turned into a scramble. Dr. Conners, Dr. Johnson, and Marcus grabbed flare guns and ran for the door.
Upon exiting the bunker Dr. Conners felt like a mole in the morning sunlight. His eyes could scarcely comprehend the brightness after being locked inside for three days. As his pupils acclimated he began to see things that he had only viewed from the narrow windows of the bunker. For a time he had let himself forget the gory details of what was going on outside, but now he had to face it.
Twenty feet outside the door, just beyond the pickup truck they had driven the other night, three sticks had been jammed into the mud. Each one had a human skull skewered to the top of it. These warnings not to leave the bunker and intrude on newly claimed raptor territory had been placed there before sunrise on the first day they had been trapped. The flesh had been stripped, leaving their identities unknown.
At the sight of the skulls everyone stopped. Dr. Conners had already speculated there would be misfortune for anyone who crossed beyond them. As he stood eye to eye with the hollow orbits of each skull Bryce said, "nobody move any further."
Looking to the sky he and Dianna searched for the plane. Marcus seemed more interested in making sure there were no raptors moving about the motor pool.
Logan had come out beside him with a shotgun and nodded to the skulls on the sticks. "That shit gives me the heebie jeebies."
"This whole god damned situation gives me the heebie jeebies." Marcus panned the motor pool. "These bastards are too smart for anybodies own good."
"There." Dianna pointed.
Above the trees the shape of a plane was visible over the eastern ridges.
"Watch out." Dr. Conners raised his gun and fired a flare into the sky. Moments later a bright red burst exploded above them. "Come on." Bryce watched the plane. It did not appear to change course. "Dianna, fire your flare."
Dr. Johnson raised her pistol above her head and fired.
Everyone waited.
Bryce heard Hector's voice behind him. "Si, I think that's him, Amigo."
"Well let's hope he sees us, damn it." Bryce pointed to Marcus who fired his flare in turn.
The plane continued to follow the volcanic ridge.
"Damn it. Come on!" Bryce waved his hands. He was about to run in for another flare when the aircraft shifted directions. "Go to the runway. Go to the runway," he chanted. "Land, damn it." A rush of excitement hit him as the plane banked and descended toward the airstrip. "Yes!"
Dianna was cheering with him.
Hector slapped Bryce's shoulder. "Alright, Amigo."
As Bryce continued to watch the plane disappear below the trees he said, "Ok, let's get everyone the hell back inside. We need to formulate a strategy."
The group filed through the door and back into the bunker, leaving Dr. Conners as the last one to enter. Before shutting the door he took one last look behind him, only to be met by three sets of hollow eye sockets belonging to the skewered skulls. A chill ran up Bryce's back. The level of social sophistication being displayed by the raptors was beyond anything he'd ever witnessed while they were in captivity. He found it fascinating but increasingly terrifying.