CHAPTER 176

When the two triceratops reached the Jeep they slammed it from either side. Their heads rutted back and forth, crushing the panels of the vehicle like an aluminum can with every strike.

Seth and Kyra squeezed on top of each other, trying to press themselves into the minuscule floor space at their feet. Dianna curled down under the steering wheel. The metal clanging of horns against the roll bar was heard above, and the sound of shattering glass joined it as the windshield broke. The Jeep rocked off its wheels multiple times and also felt to be turning in sharp half circles as it was shoved repeatedly. There were a few moments where the CJ7 felt like it was going to roll over completely, but in the end it settled on its wheels.

The two triceratops stomped around the vehicle several more times while snorting, sniffing, and nudging at its crumpled exterior. A lot of grunting followed and then the dinosaurs slowly plodded away.

Kyra waited until their tromping faded and she could not hear them wading through the grass before she attempted to move or say anything.

"Seth?" She gave him a shove. He was crunched up on top of her and not budging. "Seth!" Kyra heaved her arms into his shoulder.

This time he sprang up as though he were startled and gave her a bewildered look.

Kyra winced, "your knee is in my bladder."

His look didn't change. He stared at her a bit longer and then his eyes trailed around the back seat of the Jeep.

"Seth!"

His eyes shot back to Kyra and he seemed to gather some sense of clarity. He climbed off of her and onto the seat, clutching the taser gun from where he'd left it on the faded leather cushion.

Kyra hoisted herself up to join him and they both looked at each other empty headed. Before either could conjure any thoughts or words on how to handle their current situation Dianna popped up over the front seat.

"Are you two ok?"

Surprised and on edge, Seth whipped the taser gun around at her.

"Jesus, Seth!" Dianna caught the side of it with her palm before it jabbed her in the temple. "Maybe I ought to hold onto that."

"Sorry, Mom." He relinquished it from his grip and let her have it.

"Keep your heads low. I'm going to have a look around." Dianna made a lowering motion with her palm and raised herself up.

Her eyes swept across the brushes of tall grass. The two triceratops were working into the nearby tree line. The stampeding hadrosaurs, still churning with residual turmoil, were settling at the far end of the field.

She didn't see Bryce. She didn't see anyone else. The shocking truth seemed to be that she and Seth and Kyra had so quickly become the only remaining survivors.

One way or another they still had to get to the plane. She looked toward the slope. The airstrip was up there. They just had to reach the top of it.

Her head circled the field once more. As it panned back along the nearest tree line she spotted a sizable figure emerging. The beast was barking and bellowing presumably at the two triceratops that were no longer visible, though she now heard them moaning back in retaliation.

Dianna didn't have to get a good look at this new creature to know that it was a predator. Her eyes widened as it came into full view. Free of the obscuring leaves and tree trunks its form was revealed to her in detail. The pointed snout, the crests over the eyes, its slender neck were all indicative of allosaurus. The thirty foot carnivore raised its head high above the tall grass, and its eyes honed in on Dr. Johnson.

Dianna ducked back into the Jeep. "Shit!"

"Mom? What is it? What's wrong?" Seth watched her eyes shifting back and forth with a disturbing rapid pulse like a barrage of thoughts were colliding around in her head, and she was trying to make sense of them all at once.

"Mom, what's going on?"

"Shh!" Dianna signaled Seth and Kyra to remain still and quiet. Her eyes were still darting back and forth. The one question she kept coming back to was whether or not it had actually seen her. This, of course, was purely a case of denial. It had clearly seen her, and she knew that. She just didn't want to accept it, and now there was a sound of something large tromping through the tall grass.

The allosaurus was coming.