CHAPTER 159
Dr. Conners was indeed surprised that they had made it to the shed without a single incident. As he watched Marcus undo the padlock on the door he kept thinking that it was too good to be true. In the moment that the padlock popped open Dr. Conners realized that that was exactly the case.
Several velociraptors sprang out of the trees beside the shed and began to bark. Before Bryce or Dianna had the chance to weigh in on the fact that this was an obvious decoy Marcus and Logan opened fire. As the raptors retreated amongst the foliage Bill and Carrie also emptied their pistols at them.
"Stop! Hold your fire!" Bryce shouted.
No one was listening, and the diversion had already been successful. There was a sudden rustling in the tree branches above the shed. Bryce looked up in time to see the underbelly of a velociraptor falling towards his face with the killer talons kicked out in front of it. A powerful weight struck him like a sac of concrete mix and he collapsed to the ground. He gasped for air as the wind was knocked out of him. As he heard Shelly scream he felt her being ripped from his shoulders.
"Hey! Somebody help!" Dr. Conners shouted as he grabbed his gun off the ground and got to his feet. By the time he turned toward Shelly she was disappearing behind a set of wheels, clawing at the ground while being drug by her feet.
As the other raptors had fully faded into the jungle Shelly's shrieks were enough to gather the attention of the group.
"Shelly!" Carrie shouted.
She was about to run when something flew over the roof of the car and landed near Dr. Conners. He knew at once it was a body part. The intact hand had been sliced right from the wrist. Tooth marks were visible along the knuckles.
There was a pause where an unusual quiet overtook the air, and then Shelly began to shriek again.
"Oh God, she's still alive!" Carrie ran toward the screams. Dianna tried to stop her but she threw an elbow into her shoulder and kept going. Carrie ran past Bryce and rounded the corner of the vehicle that was obscuring Shelly. When she saw that her daughter was not there she froze. With her pistol pointed, the only thing she was aiming at was bloodstained dirt, the sight of which made her all the more distraught.
As Dr. Conners caught up to her he stopped as well. They could hear Shelly screaming, but they could not see her. Then, several vehicles away Bryce saw another body part fall to the ground. This one was a shoe with the foot clearly still inside it. Upon more shrieking Shelly was tossed partially into view, the stump of her right wrist spraying blood across the soil. In another second she was dragged back out of sight.
"Holy hell," Dr. Conners gasped. It was obvious to see that they were using her as bait. He grabbed at Carrie's shoulder anticipating that she would run again, but she had already bolted.
As Carrie was running she screamed, "Oh God, they're tearing her apart! They're tearing her apart!"
Bryce shouted to the group, "everybody in the shed! Get the hell in the shed!"
When Bryce turned back to the motor pool Carrie had vanished. In the dirt ahead he saw a new trail of blood that smeared around the corner of another vehicle. A moment later Carrie tumbled back into view. Her shirt was tattered and bloody. Bryce did not have to look hard to see that she had been partially disemboweled. Curling into a ball Carrie began to moan. Further off Shelly rolled out into the open with a swarm of comps teeming over her. In seconds there were more, and they were going after Carrie.
"No!" she wailed as they tore into her flesh. Burrowing between her elbows and knees they squirmed down to feast at her exposed innards. In the midst of her writhing she met eyes with Bryce.
He felt a wrenching twist in his stomach as Carrie gave him a helpless look. The expression in her eyes was crying, "why aren't you helping us?"
Bryce's feet were locked. He knew why he wasn't helping them, but he knew he would feel cold blooded if he just walked away. One voice in his head was telling him to do anything he could to save them. The other was screaming, "it's a trap! You know it's a trap. You'll die if you try and help them. There's nothing you can do."
All around him Bryce was hearing raptor vocalizations. The tree line was stirring with activity. He quickly came to the realization that he was surrounded, and any direction he went would seal his fate.
His best bet, his only bet was to run for the shed. Squeezing his eyes shut Bryce turned away from Carrie and Shelly and faced the shed.