CHAPTER 206
The cough and putter of a gas powered machine starting up vibrated through the woods from the direction of the air field. There was a period of rough idling, and then it smoothed out. Seth heard it. Kyra heard it. Dianna heard it. They all looked at each other with excitement.
"The plane!" Seth said.
"It's still here!" Kyra matched his enthusiasm.
They both looked at Dianna who's face had already soured to worry over what the sound of the priming engine meant. Seth and Kyra's excitement extinguished as their thoughts caught up with hers.
Kyra gasped, "It's gonna leave without us!"
"Hurry!" Dianna snatched their hands and they ran through the forest. Weaving between the sequoias they rushed to the fence. "Watch out!" Dianna tugged them away from an oncoming brachiosaur that was tromping around the side of a tree. The long necked herbivore, with its head way up in the canopy, scarcely regarded their presence as they dodged past.
Running further they came to a fallen redwood trunk in their path. The rotting log was three feet thick, and as they clambered over it the soft wood fibers caved and Kyra fell into the hollow of its bowels. Within the trunk a crowded nestling of compsognathus shrieked and bit at her as she collapsed on top of them. From above, Dianna's hand shot down and grabbed Kyra's arm. With a tug Kyra was out of the log but still had comps scrambling over her skin. She and Dianna and Seth swatted them away and continued to run.
Two more brachiosaurs were pounding toward them. Over their footsteps and trumpeting calls Dianna heard the airplane engines idling up. "Shit. Between the legs! Between the legs!" She did not want to spare any time going around the huge dinosaurs, not at this point. She grabbed Kyra and Seth and pulled them right under the belly of one of the brachiosaurs. The scaly pillars of leg shifted around them, and the dinosaur's stomach heaved above. Its thick tail swung ahead of them. Dianna maneuvered to get everyone past the hind feet and slip out between the herbivore's thigh and tail. Beyond these two brachiosaurs the fence was not much farther.
Before they could exit from beneath the dinosaur a set of jaws flashed in from the right. The sharp teeth snapped closed right beside Dianna's face. If it had not been for the brachiosaur's knee that came forward and nudged the attacker she would've been dead. Dianna backed away, pushing Seth and Kyra with her. Now she got a good look at the carnivore with its iguana-like features and raging warmblooded fury.
The allosaurus was back. Its face snarled up and Dianna knew the carnivore was coming in. She pulled Seth and Kyra further back, and now they were between the opposite legs of the brachiosaur as the allosaurus forced its way beneath the belly of the herbivore. It roared and growled, shaking saliva from its jaw as it worked its way toward them. Somewhere above, there was a moan of discontent as the brachiosaurus became distressed. It started to sway and step in circles, knocking the allosaur side to side as the predator clapped its teeth and stomped closer to the humans.
"Look out!" Dianna hugged Seth and Kyra close as the brachiosaur's feet pounded beside them.
She pulled them out from beneath the first brachiosaur and guided them toward the second one. This long necked herbivore was already turning at the turmoil defensively. It trumpeted and backed away. Rearing on its haunches it lifted its fore feet off the ground and bellowed all the louder.
The allosaurus shoved and bucked and squeezed its way to the other side of the first brachiosaur, and the stumbling long neck continued to dance about like a cartoon elephant jumping from a mouse. The allosaur shoved some more and broke free. Scuffing its feet and snorting the predator charged.
"Come on!" Dianna guided everyone beneath the suspended front legs of the second brachiosaur just as they came crashing down. Directly behind them the allosaurus came bounding after. Its powerful thighs and torso lodged between the brachiosaur's thundering fore ankles, and it forced in further, snapping its teeth and hissing all the while.
Dianna hurried everyone to the rear of the brachiosaur, and they dodged their way through its booming calves and arching tail to escape. The allosaur continued to be in close pursuit.
"Go! Go!" Dianna rushed Seth and Kyra on.
The allosaur's jaws came lashing out from beneath the brachiosaur's tail at them, but the herbivore reared back on its haunches again, cinching the carnivore to the ground with the thick of its tail.
The allosaurus screamed and writhed, and for the moment it was stuck.
"Keep moving!" Dianna had Seth and Kyra by the wrists again as they sprinted to the fence. When they reached the perimeter Dianna pushed the kids up the wires first. "Climb! Go! Go!"
As Seth and Kyra leapt to scale the cables Dianna looked back and saw that the allosaurus was wriggling its way free. Jumping up after Seth and Kyra she began to climb herself. Behind her she heard the aggressive footfalls of the allosaurus, now free of the brachiosaur and charging full throttle. She did not look back.