CHAPTER 171

Dr. Conners and Marcus raced up alongside the white Jeep, falling into formation around it with Logan. Bryce tried to make some kind of hand gesture at Dianna that would indicate that he was inquiring about Gary's location, but he couldn't get his point across.

Dianna shrugged from behind the wheel and shook her head.

Giving up, Dr. Conners pointed ahead to the far end of the field where a mixed herd of hadrosaurs were grazing. He made a motion with his hand like a duck quacking and mouthed the words, "duck bills." He pointed at them again with more emphasis.

Dianna saw them and nodded.

Marcus came over the headset and said, "is that round two?"

Bryce answered, "yeah, we're gonna try to get ourselves within the herd and travel among them."

"I'll believe that when I see it. Those sons of bitches are huge. I thought we were gonna stick to the little guys. I'm not trying to get myself killed here."

Dr. Conners looked ahead at the mixed group of parasaurolophus and corythosaurus. Each herbivore was roughly twenty-five to thirty feet in length. "Yeah, well, we clearly don't have that option any more, so this is what we're doing. They're not going to be easy to control, but they will startle at the drop of a hat. All we have to do is get them moving, and we can ride with them for as long as we can manage."

Logan chimed in, "Yeah, and not get crushed in the process."

"It's going to be safer than being out in the open," Dr. Conners said. "I don't like being exposed like this. This grass could be full of velociraptors, and we don't have any cover at all."

At that moment a velociraptor sprang up from the brush like it had been fired out of a cannon. Its timing and trajectory were flawless as it shot towards Logan. The suddenness of its attack was such that no one had a chance to react until he was tackled from his dirt bike in an almost incomprehensible blur.

The unmanned bike spun out of control, flipped over several times, and almost struck Dr. Conners in the process.

"Christ!" Bryce swerved.

"Damn it!" Marcus fumed. He wanted to be mad, but he knew that now more than ever he had to keep his head clear so he could watch his own back.

"We've got to get to that herd!" Dr Conners shouted. He panned a sharp eye around him. "I think they might be targeting us first because we've got the guns and they know there's no way for us to spot them in this grass," he warned Marcus.

"Son of a bitch," Marcus said. "We're practically sitting ducks!" He saw a blur in the grass ahead of him and just to the right. He took aim with his pistol, but it was gone before he could shoot. Putting his eyes straight on again there was already another velociraptor springing through the air right at him. The first had been a decoy.

"Damn!" Marcus hit the breaks and the raptor fell just short of his front tire. The two collided and Marcus was thrown from his seat.

He hit the ground and rolled through the grass. Groaning, he had a strong impulse to simply curl up and lay there, but he knew that he couldn't. Marcus stumbled to his feet and grabbed his shoulder. The pain throughout the right side of his body stabbed. He was certain his collar bone and several of his ribs were cracked. It almost brought him back to the ground. As he pulled another pistol from the back of his belt he could hear the Jeep and remaining dirt bike speeding away from him. He knew they wouldn't wait. He knew they wouldn't turn back. For all they knew he was already dead, and he could not fault them for that.

An overwhelming rush of frustration flooded him. "Where's my god damned bike!" He looked through the grass. "Where the hell-" As he was yelling a dagger of pain shot through him. He doubled over. He couldn't get another breath in. Forcing himself to upright Marcus panned the grass again. He still had no indication of where his bike was in relation to him. "Shit." He circled around again and this time found himself nose to nose with a male velociraptor.

The feathers on its neck prickled as their eyes met. Marcus was ready to point and shoot when he realized that there was a female standing to either side of him. The gun in his hand relaxed and the slightest of smirks crossed his face.

"End of the line." Marcus pointed the pistol to his temple and squeezed the trigger.