CHAPTER 169
The herd dispersed from the middle and flanked to either side as though Marcus and Logan weren't even there. Both men had to cut their bikes hard to the side to follow the flow of the gallimimus that were near them.
Logan hadn't seen the cause of the shift in the herd. "Damn! What the hell are they doing!" His bike almost tipped over as he veered sharp to avoid being trampled.
The herd split clear down the middle and Dr. Conners found himself speeding into the jaws of a charging ceratosaurus. The twenty foot long jurassic beast spread its maw with menace. Bryce could clearly make out the prominent nasal horn and sharp crests over the eyes.
Confusion was the first feeling that went through Dr. Conner's mind. If this carnivore was hunting the gallimimus then why wasn't it steering toward one of the separating halves of the herd? Then it dawned on him. This meat eater was viewing him as part of the herd, and he was the unfortunate individual who had been singled out. Now he was unintentionally playing chicken with this monster, and he doubted the ceratosaurus was going to swerve first.
"Oh shit!" Bryce cut to the right as the carnivore's jaws snapped his way.
The ceratosaurus fumbled and turned for a second bite, but Dr. Conners was already speeding out of reach.
"Jesus Christ!" Marcus came over the radio. "That big bastard came out of nowhere."
A second ceratosaurus was laying low in the grass, crouched on its haunches and prepared to strike at the partition of the herd still at Marcus' flank.
"Son of a bitch!" Marcus saw its back rise from the tall grass. Its rough skin bore dermal armor similar to that of carnotaurus. Paired with the horn on its snout and the crests over the eyes it looked like a medieval dragon on a fiery rampage.
The partial herd divided. This one half of the group was far less organized than the whole had been. The gallimimus simply scattered without uniformity of any kind, and Marcus and Dr. Conners were swallowed in the confusion.
Marcus had lost sight of the ceratosaurus. Through the pounding of the gallimimus feet he heard a roar and then a shriek. After several gallimimus almost trampled him another one came flying through the air and almost kicked him in the head. In almost the same instant it whipped back in the opposite direction. Marcus realized that the second ceratosaurus had this gallimimus by the throat and was cracking it like a whip.
All the other gallimimus in that half of the herd were now scattering toward the trees. Dr. Conners wove through a few stragglers and caught a glimpse of the ceratosaurus as it slammed its prey into the grass and crouched to feast.
"So much for your plan," Marcus said.
Dr. Conners wasn't ready to abandon it yet. Looking off to the left he said, "maybe we can still salvage the other half of the herd. Logan, are you still on their flank?"
"Yeah, but I think you're shit out of luck. They're circling around the opposite direction, and I don't think they give two craps about me any more." Logan saw a large figure barreling through the grass as he finished speaking. "God damn!"
It was the first ceratosaurus. It came up alongside him, and he swerved to his right. As he moved to avoid the set of jaws thrashing his way his front tire carved right into the path of a gallimimus' ankle, and the herbivore toppled over. Logan drove right over its arms and neck. His bike was wavering out of control. The ceratosaurus took another snap at him and banged the back end of his bike. Without warning some of the gallimimus shifted directions again and cut right in front of Logan. As a tail whipped in front of his face he ducked. When he looked up again he was staring at the grill of an oncoming CJ7.
The white Jeep blared its horn. Through the parting grass Logan could make out Dr. Johnson's face behind the windshield. With the ceratosaurus at his back Logan hadn't even noticed the deafening growl of the CJ's open headers as it approached. Now he certainly heard them.
The appearance of the Jeep must have intimidated the ceratosaurus, because it reared away with a roar.
Logan swerved and passed alongside the Jeep. He knew Dr. Johnson couldn't hear him, but he still shouted, "thanks for getting that asshole off my tail."
Dr. Conners came over the headset, "Logan, are you alright?"
"What?" Logan couldn't make it out at first. His headset was crackling and garbled. Pressing the earphone closer to his head he struggled to hear Dr. Conners better.
"Are you ok?" Bryce repeated.
"Yeah."
"Good. It looks like that ceratosaurus is going to join the other one. I think you're clear. Circle around and follow Dianna. We're coming around to meet you."
"Copy that."
Dr. Conners realized that the other CJ7 was nowhere to be seen. "Where the hell are Bill and Gary? Does anyone have eyes on the black Jeep?"