CHAPTER 182

Dr. Conners strained his ears one more time, listening for any signs that velociraptors might be lurking nearby. It was hard for him to hear beneath the pile of dung, and he was slowly suffocating as the droppings heated up in the sun. Despite his urges to spring up from the pile and take a whopping loud breath he slowly raised his head, shook his face clean with a gentle wag, and inhaled with reservation.

Bryce waited here and took a few more breaths. Nothing attacked. Nothing made a noise.

He opened his eyes and squinted at the sunny sky. A dragonfly zipped by, skimming the top of the tall grass. It dove lower and then lower again. With another two passes it was hovering just above Dr. Conner's nose.

As the bug hung there a pointy snout shot up and snapped closed on it in mid air. Startled, Bryce spun his head to the side and saw a compsognathus munching with a set of dragonfly wings hanging out either side of its mouth. It was not the only one. At least a dozen sets of eyes stared down at him from the dung piles.

Dr. Conners had witnessed this kind of behavior before. It was common for comps to linger wherever other dinosaurs were for many reasons. The element of bugs were one of the number one things that attracted them. Dr. Conners had even seen them go so far as to pick flies and shreds of meat from Rebirtha's teeth while she slept. More commonly they scavenged the dung piles for insects and anything within the droppings themselves they deemed to hold nutritional value.

In a split second's time Bryce had three comps lunging onto his face. His hands shot up and ripped them away, but more came. He rolled out of the dung pile and continued rolling like he was trying to smother a fire on his clothes. He knew he shouldn't scream or make a commotion because the raptors would hear it and be back in an instant. At the same time the swarm of compsognathus would poison him into submission if he didn't act fast.

Dr. Conners got to his hands and knees and started scrambling through the grass without knowing which direction he was going. All the while the comps were teeming over his back. He felt them biting through his clothes and digging into his skin. He stopped and rolled on the ground again. He heard them screech and felt their bones crunch underneath him as he crushed them, but more came. The compsognathus skittered through the grass and leapt on him in groups from all sides. Bryce sprang to his feet and started running while he swatted at the swarm of little dinosaurs that attacked him. One had clung to his face and he tore it off and threw it. Looking over the grass he spotted the nearest tree line and went toward it. He didn't care if it was the right direction. He just needed to find cover.

The compsognathus were clawing up his chest and biting at his neck. He fought to work them back, but there were so many, and they kept going for his face. As he ran for the tree line he tried to orient himself, but through the constant snapping teeth that darted about his eyes it was impossible. If he knew there was a creek or a bog nearby he could direct himself toward it and dive in to drown the swarm, but he just didn't know.

They were under his clothes and scraping at his skin. Amidst the frenzy Dr. Conners detected another presence. Velociraptors were sprinting through the grass. He could hear their larger forms cutting betwixt the tall blades. They were circling him. They were closing in. He could do nothing but keep running. There was nowhere to hide in the tall grass. Surely they had him, and it was futile to keep going, but he did anyway. His impulse to survive would not relinquish in this moment of certain defeat, and sure enough he was brought down.

Dr. Conners was thirty feet from the tree line when a velociraptor pounced on his back and tackled him to the dirt. The killer claws digging at his kidneys told him everything he needed to know. Bryce knew he was just a slash away from doom. The comps had scattered, and now it was just him and fate.

There was a rush of wind. The space around him seemed to quake, and the weight lifted from his back. There were no more hooked blades threatening to tear him open. Bryce thought he was in shock. He felt for certain that his innards were spilled out over him, and his body was so traumatized that he stopped feeling anything at all.

Then he felt a warm dripping on his neck. Realizing he could still move, Bryce reached around and wiped it with his fingers. When he looked at his hand it was smeared in blood, but it was not his own.

Bryce turned over, having no idea what to expect when he looked behind him. The velociraptor was still there, but it was suspended above him. Its talons dangled just inches from his nose. The raptor had a dead look in its eye. It just stared with no direction. Then another spatter of blood struck Bryce's face. He saw there was more to this situation. A much larger figure loomed over him, and it held the velociraptor in its mouth. Dr. Conners saw a mosaic of stunning white scales, large teeth, and a massive jaw. There was only one creature on the island with such gleaming pigmentation or rather lack there of. He was nose to nose with Rebirtha.

The albino tyrannosaurus rex examined Bryce. The carnivore's pupils narrowed down her snout, past her sniffing nostrils, and beyond the velociraptor carcass to where Dr. Conners lay awestruck and petrified. Rebirtha's little arms curled against her chest and her fore claws scratched the frontmost part of her belly. Somewhere behind her there was a whoosh as the end of her thick tail swished through the grass.

All Dr. Conners could do was stare back and wonder what was going to happen next. He watched the flies crawl over her teeth and the saliva glisten around her gums. Rebirtha's humid breath wafted across his face, and the stench of her gullet filled his nose.

"Jesus," Bryce thought. "I could write a whole book on this moment alone."

The longer Rebirtha stood there the less Bryce was full of fear. Her expression was one of curiosity, and she already had a meal in her mouth. Dr. Conners was not about to move though, not yet.

The tyrannosaurus rex lifted her head into the air, and her ribcage heaved with a mighty breath. Rebirtha issued a great bellow, letting the raptor carcass hang from her lower jaw. As Dr. Conners watched her roar over the field of tall grass he felt that he was witnessing a declaration of territory claim.

When she was finished Rebirtha clamped her jaw over the velociraptor again, and with the swing of one leg the rex began circling back toward the tree line from which she ambushed.

As Dr. Conners watched her depart he realized he was in the clear, at least from being devoured by a tyrannosaurus rex. The raptors however were still of great concern to him. They had to be watching. They had to be waiting. He knew this. He knew that Rebirtha's interruption was only a temporary reprieve from his execution. As it was, he could be dead in less than a minute. He was sure they had their sights on him. It was doubtful he'd even make it to the tree line if he just got up and ran after Rebirtha's departure.

It was this thinking that pushed him to a split decision. In light of the circumstances it was the only option that he felt could result in his survival.

Dr. Conners jumped to his feet and followed Rebirtha.