CHAPTER 334
Dr. Levine sat inside the dune buggy not entirely certain what had happened. Her head was spinning. Her body felt jittery. She squeezed her eyelids and then opened them. She saw the small cage of the dune buggy surrounding her. Kyra was still in the seat next to her, but she was unconscious. Her head was slumped to the side, and her arms lay limp beside her lap.
Dr. Levine heard the rolling water around her and looked beyond the cage of the buggy to see that it was sitting in the shallows of the river. Beyond the river she saw metasequoias, fern beds, and horsetails. Above her the caw of a pteranodon echoed off the cliff sides.
In the next moment she found herself looking at an intense eyeball. Scaly skin surrounded it, and then there were teeth. A sharp growl exited the mouth they belonged to, and as Dr. Levine's brain caught up with what she was seeing she realized she was face to face with Vulture.
The utahraptor curled her fore claws into the cage between them and rattled it. She roared at Richard and bit at the metal bars.
Richard winced and recoiled, but in short time realized that she was safe within the dune buggy. The protective cage was tough enough to keep Vulture at bay. As long as the door remained latched the utahraptor could not get her. As this thought occurred to her her eyes went to the door. Vulture seemed to have the same idea, as the dinosaur's eyes shifted to the exterior latch, but it was smashed in such a way that she could not manipulate it.
Richard and Vulture met eyes again.
"Where does that leave us?" Richard said.
Vulture sneered and backed away. Slowly she began to pace around the vehicle, her heavy feet dunking in the water with each step. Richard did not take her eyes off the dinosaur. When Vulture had come full circle she stopped in front of the doctor again. She gave Dr. Levine a long hard stare and then turned away. Richard watched as the utahraptor started walking off.
Despite every rational fiber in Richard's body she had a sudden impulse to open the door. She could not explain why. Almost in a panic she fumbled with the inner latch. It felt jammed at first, but then suddenly sprang open, and the door flew up.
Vulture heard the sound and she froze.
Dr. Levine watched the back of the beast for a moment, and then, only half aware of what she was doing, undid her five point harness. As the buckles fell away Richard slipped out of the straps and began to climb out of the vehicle. When her feet hit the water with a splash Vulture turned around.
Richard stared at Vulture, and Vulture stared right back. For that moment it was as if nothing else existed on the same dimensional plane. It was just the two of them. Vulture remained unmoving. Richard cocked her head after a time, then she took a single step forward.
This act almost seemed to surprise Vulture, as the utahraptor took a reciprocal step back and slightly turned her body to the side. Richard paused and then advanced another step. Vulture did not recoil this time but watched the doctor curiously.
Levine continued forward one slow step after another. "What are you doing, Richard? What are you doing?" She whispered to herself.
She stopped ten feet shy of where Vulture was standing. Then she heard her own words come back to her from Vulture's throat.
"What are you doing, Richard?" Came the same soft whisper she had breathed a moment ago.
Now Levine was the one to recoil a step, and this time Vulture made an advance of equal measure. This evolved into the two of them pacing around each other in a circle. After one full rotation they both stopped, but then Levine stepped a little closer, sensing that any aggression had been holstered for the moment. She peered at Vulture, examining all the details of the beast.
After a hard look she said, "I wanted so badly for this to be real, but it wasn't. It isn't. It never will be."
Vulture cocked her head at Dr. Levine with an inquisitive look.
Richard continued, "It looks real. It feels real, but when you step a little closer, and look at it under a harsh light, it's like… a flea circus."
She inched a bit further toward Vulture, and the utahraptor did not recoil or shift, but simply blinked and trilled quietly.
"But you're not a monster, are you? You don't know what you are. You don't know where you are, and you don't know where you belong, do you?" Levine said thoughtfully.
She reached out her hand. Vulture winced before the backs of Richard's curled fingertips grazed the side of her snout, but as they did she relaxed.
Richard brushed the contours of Vulture's scales for a moment and then met the dinosaur's eyes. She said, "don't trust Dodgson. Don't trust any of those men."
She could see in Vulture's expression that the utahraptor was considering this statement, but before another word could be exchanged there was a loud crack from across the river. A tree limb had broken.
Vulture's head snapped up, and so did Dr. Levine's. At the far bank there stood a large carnivore, not so large as the T-Rex or the B version spinosaurus that Levine had encountered, but it was large none the less.
Richard felt like she was looking at an enormous crocodile. It was a solid thirty foot beast, but unlike a crocodile it had two thick hind legs that it stood solely upon. The animal's strong thighs flexed as it shifted its weight. What sounded like a grizzly bear's roar came from its long, slender, toothed mouth, and the creature swiped a massive hook shaped claw on its forearm.
"A fair attempt at baryonyx, I presume," said Levine.
The animal barked and roared, and slashed the heavy talons on its fore limbs through the air.
Richard felt a rush of wind at her side, and when she looked, Vulture was gone. She caught a glimpse of the utahraptor fleeing into the trees, but that was it.
"Fine thing," Richard scoffed.
A bellow shook the far bank, and when she looked back the baryonyx was charging forward. It's gray and black scales smacked against the water, and its chest and belly churned up waves as they dunked in and out.
Richard's head rushed with ideas about which way to run, but her eyes quickly found the dune buggy. She had almost forgotten it was there, and Kyra was still inside. It was likely the safest place, so she ran for it.
Beyond the buggy the baryonyx was bounding out of the deeper waters and kicking through the shallows. It was moving faster now that it was not buoyant.
Richard sprinted harder and dove for the open passenger door of the dune buggy, but as she reached it there was a loud metallic crash. The buggy went tumbling off to her right, and she fell on her belly in the water. Richard squinted up from the shallows as water dripped from her eyes. The baryonyx puffed its chest over her and bellowed into the air.
She jumped to her feet and immediately started sprinting for the buggy again. When she got to it she realized that it was upside down, and the door was jammed shut. Her head snapped around. The baryonyx was lunging at her with its maw fully gaped. Richard dropped to her stomach and heard the animal's teeth clang against the cage of the buggy. Not daring a look, she scurried on her hands and knees to the other side of the little vehicle and sat against it.
She could hear the baryonyx breathing and growling. Richard turned her head and looked through the cage, past Kyra, who was dangling upside down and still unconscious, to the other side. The baryonyx was crouched and glaring back at her. It's head swiftly rose. Dr. Levine heard claws on metal, and then the dinosaur's fierce mouth was bellowing down at her from over the chassis.
Richard recoiled away from the buggy and stumbled onto her feet. She didn't know whether to run or try to hide against the buggy again.
The baryonyx looked at her and growled, then it let out a bellow and began to drag the buggy backwards away from Dr. Levine. It pulled the vehicle through the shallows and up the bank. Dr. Levine realized that the baryonyx was more interested in the catch it already had, more than the one it still had to chase, and it didn't yet realize that it couldn't reach Kyra, no matter how hard it tried.
"Hey!" Richard picked up a rock and threw it at its head.
The baryonyx bellowed and snapped its jaws at her but did not stop dragging the buggy. It was working its way up to the trees. Dr. Levine grabbed a few more large stones and began lobbing them at the beast. They pelted its face and neck, and this time the baryonyx released the chassis and caging. It side stepped around the little vehicle and glared at Richard.
"Oh boy," Richard gulped.
The baryonyx advanced toward her, taking heavy threatening steps. It's crocodile jaws thrashed and its claws tore at the air.
Richard took a step back. What was the plan? There was no plan.
The baryonyx set its haunches as though it were about to charge, but a loud crash from the trees behind it stopped the beast where it was.
Another baryonyx with lighter tan colors emerged from the trees and grabbed the dune buggy with its fore talons. The darker gray and black baryonyx circled its body around and snatched the opposite side of the vehicle. Locked in a tug-of-war the two animals roared and bit each other's faces. The darker baryonyx let go of the buggy and tackled the other. While interlocking jaws and forelimbs, they shuddered into the trees on stomping feet and collapsed among the underbrush.
Among the low foliage Richard saw two tails slapping through the leaves and four scaly legs kicking upward and outward with sharp talons. A group of twelve compsognathus came squealing out of the ferns and ran past Dr. Levine.
Now was her chance, she thought. The pair of baryonyx would not likely scuffle for long. Richard ran for the overturned buggy and pried at the passenger side handle. It didn't give at first, but then there was a pop, and the door dropped open with a clang.
Richard crouched in and gave Kyra a shake. "Wake up! For God's sake, dear, wake up."
Kyra was unresponsive, so Richard began unbuckling her harness with frantic hands. All the while the sound of the two battling baryonyx shook the nearby woods.
As the buckles came undone Kyra fell into Richard's arms. She was starting to pull her out when the dinosaur fight came rolling back out of the trees and slammed into the dune buggy.
Richard and Kyra went hurling down the bank like a runaway boulder. When they finally stopped tumbling they were almost in the water again. Kyra was slumped on top of Dr. Levine, and she had to shove her aside to free her arms. The Vehicle was right side up again, but the door was once more shut, and as Richard pulled at the latch, it would only budge so far.
"You've got to be joking!" Richard looked up the bank.
The two baryonyx had broken apart and were on their feet. They were in a bit of a stand off, but as they barked and snapped at each other they slowly were making their way closer to the buggy.
Dr. Levine clambered over Kyra and reached for the other door latch. As she popped it open and pushed the door up the dinosaur fight began to re-escalate. As Levine tried to back herself out of the door and pull Kyra with her the tan baryonyx backed against the door and slammed it shut. The door clapped down and struck Richard in the butt, shoving her across the buggy and on top of Kyra. A moment later the black and gray baryonyx hurled itself at the other, and they both fell over the buggy. The little vehicle lurched on its side. All around her Richard heard the metal caging groan under the weight. The tan baryonyx let out a moan. Then there was snarling and growling. As the two carnivores rolled off of the buggy the vehicle tipped again and once more was on its roof. The battling baryonyx tumbled into the water, and there they wrestled and thrashed in the shallows.
Richard popped the latch and kicked the door open. This time she was able to drag Kyra out onto the rocky bank. Keeping her eyes on the two baryonyx she hoisted Kyra over her shoulder and hauled off toward the nearest trees.
Richard plunged herself into the foliage and dropped to her knees, allowing Kyra to roll off her shoulder gracefully into a bed of leaves. Richard put her eyes on the two baryonyx. It appeared as though the black and gray one had overpowered the other. They had broken apart, and the tan baryonyx was dipping its head in retreat. The darker animal bellowed and slashed up water with its fore claws. Soon the tan baryonyx was crossing the river to the other bank.
Levine watched carefully. The remaining baryonyx waited until its rival was across the water, then it lumbered through the shallows and up the bank to where the dune buggy was resting. It paused with its long jaws looming over it. Then it peered inside. A confounded expression twisted its eye, and the beast sniffed around. Seconds passed, and the baryonyx started scanning the area and smelling the air.
Dr. Levine quietly pulled her gaze from the creature and lifted Kyra back onto her shoulder. There was a part of her that wanted to stay and observe the animal, then she remembered, and uttered, "flea circus."
After another glance she trudged into the forest.