CHAPTER 190
A million thoughts were rushing through Dr. Conner's mind. Walking in Rebirtha's wake was one of the most humbling, terrifying, and awe inspiring things he had ever done. He had found a sweet spot just behind her ankles and beneath the thick of her tail where he was relatively safe from harm as long as he kept pace with her. Maintaining that orientation wasn't easy. Several times he had almost been kicked. He had tripped, fallen, been struck by her tail, and even nearly stepped on a couple of instances. As thrilling as it was it was also no fun at all, but it kept him out of her eye line and thus far safe from velociraptors.
Rebirtha's heavy feet kicked, crunched, and flattened the low foliage. Her toes scooped up a log and spun its end back at Bryce. He jumped, but his ankle was struck, and he fell on his face. Stopping was not an option. He sprang up and kept following the tyrannosaur, remaining just below the thick of her tail.
Some large rocks were in the path ahead. Rebirtha side stepped to avoid them with ease. Dr. Conner's hopped and dodged like he was running through tires laid out in an obstacle course. It slowed him down. He fell behind, and the end of Rebirtha's tail swung at his head. He ducked, but it swooped lower than usual and thumped across his back. Bryce tumbled through a fern bed and into some vines. As he got back to his feet and caught up with the tyrannosaur he wondered how much more of this abuse he could take.
He did not want to leave the security of Rebirtha's shadow prematurely, but it felt that the rex was guiding him further from the airstrip. He knew it would be foolish to think that she was going to take him where he wanted to go just by happenstance. Sooner or later he was going to have to embark by himself.
He was about ready to break away from Rebirtha's path on his own accord when the rex came to a halt. A quiet befell the jungle as she became still, and Dr. Conners caught himself before he stumbled into the dinosaur's heel. There was a moment of panic as he teetered forward on his toes with his arms frantically backpedaling the air. As he caught his balance Bryce issued a silent sigh of relief. Looking past Rebirtha's legs he tried to get a sense for what the rex was going to do next.
Beyond the tyrannosaur's belly he saw the limp ends of the velociraptor's appendages dangling. Rebirtha let out a breath and dropped the carcass into the foliage. Her jaw came into view as she bent to sniff her mid morning snack. She shoved the corpse with her nose and rolled the body over. Grabbing one of its ankles in her teeth she began to tug, and the whole carcass lifted into the air. Rebirtha gave it a shake. When the leg did not come off she growled and shook harder. The dead velociraptor was swaying from her mouth as easily as a tee shirt on a clothes line in a breeze. It was plain to see that every bone had come undone from its joint, but the leg was still more or less attached.
Rebirtha dropped the carcass and began to sniff again. Something was different this time though. She wasn't sniffing the velociraptor anymore. She was smelling another scent on the air.
The rex turned her head one way and then the other. There was a slow suspicious lingering about her movement now.
"Oh Christ, she can smell me," Bryce began to think.
The sniffing became louder and more drawn out. Rebirtha raised her head and panned the jungle again. Moments later the head dropped back down, and she began sniffing the low foliage like a dog. All the while Bryce hid behind Rebirtha's ankle, remaining out of her line of sight. Consequentially that option disappeared as Rebirtha lifted her foot to hunt out the odor.
The rex stepped one way, and Bryce adjusted his position. Stepping the other way Bryce followed the Rexe's movements again. Each time she moved it was like she was attempting to catch an intruder by surprise. The next sequence the tyrannosaur made was a full one hundred and eighty degree turn. Her feet tromped, and her tail lashed through the jungle, thumping across tree trunks and whipping branches.
Dr. Conners lunged and sprinted, following the motions. As soon as he found himself at the end of the Rexe's half circle the dinosaur was circling in the opposite direction and he was running the other way.
To Dr. Conner's relief Rebirtha settled back on the velociraptor carcass, though he now felt as though the dinosaur was somehow peering over both shoulders at once, and no move he made would go unseen. As the rex put one foot on the corpse and sniffed, a rotten tree trunk that had been in the path of Rebirtha's swinging tail tipped over right at Bryce's back. Dr. Conners nearly sprang out of his skin as the sound startled him. When he realized it was not another carnivore coming to attack he shifted his physique as slender as possible. To his surprise the rex barely grunted at the happening. It seemed as though she was aware it was her own tail that had knocked the trunk over. Pinning the raptor with her foot she tore off the leg before glancing at the toppled tree. With a crunch Rebirtha gobbled down the limb and then turned the body over to rip off the other leg.
As Dr. Conners watched the tyrannosaur shred the second leg from the raptor's body he felt he should wait a bit longer to try and execute his escape.
Rebirtha lifted her head. The disembodied appendage hung from her mouth. She stared into the jungle, and her gaze oscillated.
Dr. Conners wondered if it was him the rex was still seeking. He was starting to realize this could take much longer than he'd hoped.