CHAPTER 261
Kyra lay in the pitched black locker. She knew they had fallen forward on their doors. She knew everyone was trapped. She knew Hellfire was still there. Kyra could hear the carnotaurus breathing over her. A heavy drawing of air in and out through the animal's nostrils vibrated through the metal backing on the lockers. Kyra heard this same sheet of metal dent inward and then flex back outward with what she could only suppose was the dinosaur's snout pushing against it.
Kyra didn't know why, but the space within the locker suddenly felt smaller. She knew the door was blocked, and she couldn't get out, but nevertheless she started pushing and kicking on all the surfaces. The fact that this resulted in her seeing that none of the panels around her would give only made the situation feel worse. She twisted and banged on the back panel hoping that somehow it would budge, but it did not. She banged on the metal again and then put her hands on her face. She tried to slow her breathing and calm down. Over her breath she heard Hellfire's menacing growl return above her. There was a loud bang. The metal backing on the lockers dented inward, and one of Hellfire's hind claws jabbed through.
As the metal depressed toward her with a loud crumpling Kyra cried out. The hooked toe claw curved in at her and scraped across the skin on her arm. If it had pushed in any deeper it would have sliced her open.
Hellfire lifted her foot and then stomped again. The claws hooked in and tore more holes in the backing. Kyra pressed herself as flat as she could against the locker door and screamed.
In the locker to her left she heard Seth.
"Kyra, are you alright?"
Hellfire tore at the metal again.
Kyra shouted, "Seth, help!"
Seth banged on the walls around him. "I'm trapped!"
Through the holes in the back of the locker Kyra saw the dark shape of Hellfire's jaws looming above her. They came down and bit at the shredded metal. Kyra felt the dinosaur's breath as saliva dribbled over her.
The carnotaurus could not yet reach her, but it was close.
There was a burst of commotion, and Kyra saw the figure of a second carnotaur face appear above her. Two face had arrived, and now the two carnivores were pushing and shoving to get to Kyra first.
In the darkness there was a blur of snapping teeth and rutting horns. A foot stomped down and pressed into the metal above Kyra, crushing it further towards her.
Kyra shrieked.
Seth called her name again. "Kyra, are you ok?"
The two carnotaurs wove themselves into an interlocked mass of wrestling beasts, and they tumbled away from the lockers. There was a crash as they rolled through what was left of the front wall of the room and blundered into the hanger.
"Seth, get me out of here! I'm going to be crushed!" Kyra banged on the inside of her locker.
Seth kicked all around him, but he wasn't getting out.
With a rumbling the two carnotaurs reentered the locker room. The lockers shuddered and shook as Hellfire and Two Face kicked their hind talons and bit at them.
With a loud crunching sound Seth felt a rush of air. The top panel of the lockers had been partially torn up. Seth pushed with his hands, and sure enough the top panel sprang outward. It was loose enough, he felt, that he could push his way through, but he wasn't sure if it was the smartest idea to run into the midst of two brawling carnotaurs.
In the midst of this predicament Seth heard a gun go off, and somebody shouted.
"Hey!"
It was Seth's mother.