CHAPTER 340
Daniel looked up through the canopy. Beyond it he saw two pteranodons soaring by. Beyond that he saw a portion of the massive metal frame that created the pterosaur enclosure.
His ribs and his left arm killed. Then he tried to move and more pain shot down his spine. He winced and froze. Daniel took several shallow breaths and then shifted himself with much more caution. Rolling his head to the side he saw that Reuben was curled on his side, nursing his battered windpipe by tucking his chin and wheezing through every gasp of air. Reuben glared back with a bloodied and bruised face.
Both men knew that all it came down to was which one of them was going to recover first.
Daniel started sliding parts of his body around through the dirt and twisting his torso in ways that he hoped would get him to roll over. He didn't think he had any broken bones, but he still hurt as though he'd been struck by a truck.
Likewise, Reuben was forcing himself onto his hands and knees. His pocket watch was fitted securely back into the grasp of his knuckles.
Wincing and grunting, both men stood in hunches and wavered like drunks. They shuffled towards each other with the treads of their boots dragging heavy on the ground. They were still a good twenty feet apart when a sharp pain brought Daniel back to his knees. It was here that he first heard the distinct chattering of a swarm of compsognathus just a few feet behind him.
"Mother fu-"
Daniel's body was covered in seconds. The sharp little snouts of the scavenging dinosaurs burrowed into every bloody cut and lash that Reuben had left on him. Despite the pain all over his body Daniel knew he couldn't just lay there. As they ripped little hunks of his flesh away he jumped to his feet and began flailing through the pain to throw the comps off of him. In the midst of doing this Daniel felt a slicing and crushing sensation at his throat. He realized that Reuben had come up from behind and was strangling him with the chain of his pocket watch.
Daniel struggled to disarm Reuben, but Reuben only tightened the chain. Daniel could feel it sawing into his skin, and the swarm of compsognathus only became more intense and ravenous over his body as the seconds passed.
Daniel started to feel light headed, and his vision became dark. The world was fading out. His body tightened and clenched and shook, but it wasn't just the chain around his neck choking the life out of him. It was the compsognathus venom making his muscles feel like putty.
Reuben inched close to Daniel's ear, and he whispered, "I don't know you very well, but I know you deserve this."
With that, Reuben hoisted Daniel off his feet with the chain. Daniel let out a loud gag as it cut deeper into his neck, and his body quivered as though it were convulsing. Then the chain snapped.