CHAPTER 273
Dr. Conners felt an arm over his back. Another hooked under his chest. Someone was trying to lift him. He heard a familiar voice.
"Dad?"
He looked up and saw Kyra's face next to his. She was scared. He could see that plainly, but there was something more. It was stronger even than the fright or anything else she expressed. His daughter looked defeated, and he felt he knew why.
Dr. Conners lifted himself to his knees and found that Dianna was standing next to him. Her gun was raised but not in a powerful way. It was limp. Her arms were drooped. She held the same look of defeat that Kyra had.
Seth was near by, and then Bryce saw Ms. Murdock and Daniel as well. Everyone was standing and staring off. No one was moving. No one had run. Everyone was there.
A growing sense of doom filled Bryce and he looked further. There were a few electrical boxes on the roof and some cables. Beyond that there was a border of chainlink fencing that stood six feet back from the edge of the roof, but there was more.
Dr. Conners stood, leaning against Kyra for support until he gained his balance. He stared at the fence, trying to comprehend what he saw. He stumbled past the others and looked harder.
There on the fence was the skeleton of a man. The bones were wedged into the chainlink mesh and held in place with tufts of vegetation and fastened with vines. It was a marker, a warning, a threat placed there by the clan of raptors, and as Dr. Conners looked around there were more. Along every edge of the building the chainlink fence had several of these markers.
Beyond the fence in the fog there was movement. Along the outside perimeter of the chainlink shadows came forward. Male and female alike, velociraptors approached. One by one they began to hoot, howl, and bark. What started as eerie whispers that circled the fencing soon became a roar of something that sounded more like jeers and chanting. The velociraptors banged at the fence and raked their claws. As it continued it turned into a rhythmic drumming that went in pace with the chants. The velociraptors went on, and the tempo increased. Faster and faster they chanted, and louder still they became. Then it abruptly ceased, and there was a chilling silence. Among the raptors all heads turned to one corner of the fencing, and they purred quietly. At that corner of the fence there was a gate, and beyond it a much larger figure came into view. As this creature emerged from the fog it materialized the unsettling features of Vulture.
The utahraptor lurched forward with the ungraceful hunch of a buzzard. As her snout angled against the fence she scowled through the chainlink. Vulture eyed each one of the humans with severe scrutiny and then straightened up. Hooking her fore talons into the fence she bellowed up into the dark sky. Vulture released the metal mesh and spread her arm feathers, bellowing into the sky again. Around her the velociraptors followed in suit.
Dr. Conners found himself experiencing the same sense of defeat he had seen in the others. It was painfully clear what transition of power had just transpired, and Bryce understood with a sickeningly, powerful, humbling pit in his stomach the position they were in.
He realized then that Kyra had come up and put her arms around him. Still staring at the fence he returned her embrace.
Dianna and Seth had come up beside them. Seth was looking hollow as he watched the raptors boast their victory. Next to him he heard Kyra's voice.
"You were right, Seth."
Seth turned to her and saw that she was looking at him with an icy and almost resentful stare. He replied, "I didn't want to be."
Dr. Johnson and Dr. Conners exchanged glances, but they did not say anything.
Slowly the clan of raptors calmed down. Vulture slipped away, as did some of the others. Several remained to guard the enclosure.
Ms. Murdock sighed, "well, I guess that's it then." she found the nearest electrical box and slumped down next to it. Her shotgun dropped across her lap, and she looked like she was preparing to take a nap.
Daniel stood nearby, watching the velociraptors as they fell into guarding positions around the fence. "Do you think they'll bother to feed us?"
Ms. Murdock muttered, "who knows. Maybe they'll throw in some cedar chips and a god damned hamster wheel." She turned away from Daniel.
Moments later a single raindrop struck her back, but it was soon followed by others. Before long there was a steady drenching rain coming down, and nowhere to shelter.
As everyone watched the rain fall upon them they found that it was hard to feel more dismay. On top of everything else, this added insult scarcely seemed to matter.
Through the patter of rain against the rooftop a soft chuckle emerged. All heads turned to Ms. Murdock who was still curled against the base of an electrical box with her back to them. The chuckle faded, and Ms. Murdock curled up tighter. For all anyone knew, she might have fallen asleep.