CHAPTER 277
The rain had stopped and the first hints of sunlight began to glow through the morning fog casting a muted illumination within the volcanic lowlands of Isla Sorna. This same light shifted gently over the cliffsides and higher grounds eventually stirring Dr. Johnson from a shallow and troubled sleep.
Daniel was on his feet and looking out across the runway. His presence was much like a stone statue perhaps haunted by a nefarious spirit. Dianna didn't think he'd rested at all.
A great belching vibration shuddered the air and was soon answered by a chorus of similar calls. Dianna knew the sound well. As she tilted her ear to the trumpets and moans a weak grip closed around her wrist. She looked down and saw Dr. Conners with his eyes open. He was smiling.
Dianna was taken back. She had expected he might not wake up again at all.
Dr. Conners had a calm expression on his face as he said, "it's peaceful, the call of the parasaurolophus. It gets in deep, through your skin and your muscles. It goes down into your bones, and it soothes your soul."
Dianna couldn't help but smile back at him. "I never took you for a poet, but that was damned close."
Dr. Conners chuckled weakly. His eyelids drooped a little as he appeared to be basking in the music of the dinosaurs. "They're near by, aren't they?"
"Yes."
Dr. Conners nodded slowly. A shadow cast over him, and he shifted to see Kyra. She knelt down beside him and hugged his shoulders. Seth lingered after her with a groggy disposition, his hands stuffed deep in pockets still soggy with rainwater.
As the song of the parasaurolophus droned on Dr. Conners spoke. "When I was a kid, maybe three or four years old, I got this postcard from a museum gift shop. It had a t-rex skeleton on it. I don't know why, but it was my favorite thing in the whole wide world. I carried it around with me like a teddy bear. My parents had to pry it from my fingers to give me a bath." Dr. Conners laughed and then painfully shifted to pull something from his pocket.
He extracted a leather wallet and flipped it open with clumsy fingers. Inside there was a plastic photo protector with several pages to it. They all stuck together with moisture, but he thumbed through them until he found what he was searching for.
His limp hand passed the wallet to Kyra like a drunk crane, and she took it like she was receiving a sacred object.
The page in the plastic photo protector contained several bits of paper with torn edges. Some of them were joined together with scotch tape. Examining them closer Kyra saw part of a jawbone with teeth, a partial foot with claws, and a portion of the square on the back of the postcard designating where to place the stamp.
As Kyra looked at the tattered image she felt her eyes tearing up. In that moment she felt her dad becoming restless in her arms. She looked down at him quizzically.
Dr. Conners looked back and forth between Dianna and Kyra and said, "I wanna see them. I want to see the parasaurolophus."
Kyra and Dianna exchanged looks of concern, but Dr. Conners pressed on.
"Help me up. Help me to my feet." He was already sitting up with a groan. "Come on now."
Dianna and Kyra caught a whiff of his infected wounds, and it was putrid.
"Careful," Dianna instructed Kyra.
Seth went to help them, and together they lifted Dr. Conners to his feet. With slow minute steps they walked toward the front of the hanger, stopping yet a cautious distance away from the fence as not to agitate the guards.
Dr. Conner's head hung in exhaustion, and he took time to catch his breath and recuperate. When he lifted his eyes he saw the parasaurolophus at once. Through the glowing haze they trekked along the runway like a herd of buffalo. Most walked on all fours with their sharply arching backs bobbing through the fog. One or two would rear up at times to bellow across the herd. Among the trees beyond the landing strip shadows of brachiosaur necks dipped and rose as they grazed.
"I never thought I'd see this in my life." Dr. Conners paused and followed the herd with his eyes. The dinosaurs moved with such grace and majesty, bowing their heads and then raising to call out. The vibrating hums moved through him like the deepest of bass instruments. Bryce shifted his eyes up to the trees and became enchanted by the brachiosaurs lumbering among them. Then his attention wandered to the tree line, where three kentrosaurus were meandering out of the vegetation. The long spines on their tails whipped and wagged smoothly through the air as they walked along. Every so often their minuscule heads lowered among lush ferns so they could munch with their tiny beaks.
Bryce shuddered with emotion. "I don't know if it was worth it, but we can't go back." He squeezed Kyra's hand. "I'm sorry."