CHAPTER 271
Dianna raised her gun and fired off a shot at the nearest velociraptor who ducked behind a bundle of cables running along the catwalk. This seemed to slow them down a little, and she leaned over the rail to look at Dr. Conners.
From about five feet below the platform Bryce said to her, "you should get out of here."
Dianna held down her hand. "You should move faster."
Bryce shook his head and grunted painfully as he pulled himself up another rung. "Why do you have to be so stubborn?"
"Why the hell do you have to be so slow?"
Bryce grinned through a grimace and climbed several more rungs. On the next pull his fingertips grazed Dianna's outstretched palm.
"Come on!" She stretched her arm.
Around them Dr. Johnson could hear the claws of the raptors clacking along the catwalks. They were drawing terribly close.
With another groan Bryce pulled himself within Dianna's reach. She clasped on fiercely to his wrist and yanked him upward.
At that moment Hellfire thrashed the bottom of the ladder with her jaws, and it broke free of the wall. The only thing suspending it now was where it attached to the platform.
"Ahh!" Dr. Conners cried out as his feet rattled up the rungs, and the ladder swung freely in front of him. He forced through the pain and kicked at the loose rungs, helping Dianna as much as he could.
With a final hoist they both tumbled onto the platform. At the same time there was a bang as the ladder crashed to the concrete floor below. The two carnotaurs bellowed and growled.
Bryce slumped heavily with a thud, but Dianna was on her feet in a second. Her gun was up, and she waved it wildly, sweeping the barrel from one raptor to the next. Laying on his face Bryce heard growling and hissing. Powerful footsteps stomped at the catwalks and vibrated into the platform.
Dianna said, "Bryce, get up. Get up now."
He pushed himself to his hands and knees and then stood weakly. Every ounce of his body wanted to collapse back to the platform, but he resisted. Wavering on wobbly legs he looked from one catwalk to the next. Each one had a raptor standing at the platform's railing.
The velociraptors snarled and snapped their teeth. They swiped their fore talons and roared.
Dianna continued to sweep her gun at them, and she said, "Bryce, I'd love to help you get up through that hatch, but you're gonna have to do it yourself."
Dr. Conners backed toward the hatch, but he observed the velociraptors as he moved. Below the open hatch he paused and looked up through it, then he looked back at the raptors. All four hunters were still at the railing, barking and slashing their talons, but they did not proceed further.
"No," Dr. Conners said.
Dianna spun her head in pure confusion. "What?"
Dr. Conners nodded almost calmly. "Look at them Dianna. You're not holding them back. They're waiting for us to go up the hatch. They want us on the roof."
She looked back at the velociraptors and saw their behavior. She was shocked that she hadn't noticed it before. Beneath the snarls and the threatening vocalizations they were watching expectantly. The aggression was hollow, and underneath it they were all too eager to get Dr. Johnson and Dr. Conners on the roof. Bryce was right.
Dianna turned to him. "Damn it."