CHAPTER 173
Flash roared and her jaws came swinging in at Gary.
"Jesus!" Gary let go of the steering wheel and curled into his seat.
On the other side of the Jeep Jigsaw was biting at Bill with her crooked teeth.
The two tyrannosaurs took turns slamming against the roll bar and swiping their jaws at the two cowering humans within. Just behind the vehicle Laser was trailing while gnawing at the spare tire.
The CJ7 was puttering at ten to fifteen miles per hour. It had crossed the tree line and was crawling along the dirt road that led to the airstrip. As it moved further within the jungle the slope steepened and the Jeep struggled ever more. At five miles an hour Flash was now heading off the vehicle and bashing at the hood. Jigsaw shattered the windshield with a swipe of her snout. Laser had moved up along the driver's side and was heaving her body against the quarter panels.
All Gary and Bill could do was scream and recoil as the teeth came slashing through at them. With the Jeep rocking from side to side they held onto their seats and anything else that they could, fearing that they would be thrown from the vehicle at any moment. Neither Gary or Bill had noticed by this point that the CJ7 had begun to veer off to the right side of the road. It wasn't until they started to pick up speed on a steep downward slope that they both realized they were careening through the trees toward a cliff. With the tyrannosaur youths still following in close pursuit Gary snatched the steering wheel and gave it a sharp left twist. The Jeep turned and bounced over a log, ultimately rolling on its side.
Bill and Gary spilled out of the vehicle, toppling over each other.
"Holy shit!" Gary shouted. He had landed so close to the edge of the cliff that his arm was dangling over.
"Gary, come on!" Bill had grabbed his arm and was tugging him back toward the Jeep as Flash was coming around the edge of the sideways hood.
They both scrambled into the CJ7. Bill climbed behind the roll bar and squeezed himself into the floor of the back seat, and Gary curled himself into the hollow below the dashboard. Both men knew it was insufficient protection, but it was the only place they could run.
As Flash circled around the Jeep her eyes shifted between the two of them as though she were deciding which morsel to eat first. The young tyrannosaur's jaws widened and she moved to lunge.
As her drooling maw came for Gary the Jeep shuddered and tipped fully upside down. In an act of impatience Laser and Jigsaw had pushed the undercarriage of the vehicle. Now the two men were more protected beneath the CJ7.
Flash let out a scolding bellow, and the other two roared back spitefully. The three tyrant youths proceeded to kick and shove the Jeep from different angles with no sense of teamwork. As their efforts countered each other they fought all the harder.
Underneath the rocking vehicle Gary and Bill saw stomping feet and chomping sets of jaws attempting to pry their way under. Both men gripped whatever they could to cling up in the crevices of the Jeep and out of reach of the tyrannosaurs.
"Gary!" Bill yelled.
"What?"
"I think we're sliding toward the cliff!"
As the Jeep shuddered Gary watched how it was moving. Although it seemed an unintentional feat by the three tyrants, Bill was right. The chaotic jostling of the CJ7 was inching it closer to the edge every second.
Gary yelled, "we've gotta make a run for it."
Bill watched as Jigsaw's gnarly teeth flashed into view and she let out a bellow. Nearby Laser's snout was snorting and growling. Flashe's feet could be seen tromping around to join them as she had run out of room between the Jeep and the cliff.
Bill shouted to Gary, "right, you go first and let me know how it goes."
"It's our only shot. We're about to fall off a seventy-five foot drop."
With the three tyrannosaurs on one side of the Jeep their only option was to exit on the cliff side.
"Bill, we're running out of space. It's now or never."
"Alright!"
"Ok, on three. Ready? One! Two!"
Gary never got to three. The tyrant youths had actually managed to conjure a group effort and flipped the Jeep right side up. As Gary and Bill were still clinging to it they turned over with the Jeep. For a moment they lay in the Jeep, sprawled over the seats and staring at the juveniles as they growled and grinned back at them. The far wheels had landed just shy of the cliff side, but the crumbling ledge gave way, and the vehicle lurched downward. The undercarriage hit the ledge, and the jungle began to spin over Bill and Gary's heads. The three tyrannosaurs flipped out of sight, and the tree tops zipped past. In an instant the two men were looking at the jungle floor seventy-five feet below, and the Jeep plummeted.