CHAPTER 361
Ms. Murdock stood and watched him for a moment. She was slightly at a loss for how to proceed. Daniel was running straight into the mouths of raptors, but as she looked up, Joan saw that the hunters above were looking to pounce down upon her. She did know one thing, and that was that Daniel was going to put up a fight. Even if he was against her, he was going to fight for his life against the raptors. Upon this train of thought she followed him.
Ahead of her Daniel was about to face off with the First velociraptor. The dinosaur snarled and leapt at him. Daniel was ready. He dropped to the concrete pad and slid like he was headed toward home plate. Daniel slipped right under the belly of the hunter, and he jabbed the sharp end of his pry bar straight into the raptor's gut. He felt claws digging into his arms and legs, but the animal had no fight. It was bleeding out. As the raptor began to collapse in convulsions over Daniel he heaved it aside and stood. The next raptor was already in Daniel's face, and he rammed the hooked end of the bar right down its throat. He yanked the raptor against the wall of pallets to his left and was immediately faced with yet another velociraptor. Daniel kicked its jaw with a straight heel, and it was stunned for a moment. Pulling his pry bar from the other raptor's mouth he turned half the dinosaur's throat inside out. Before the third raptor could recover from his kick he buried the back side of the hook into its eye socket and shattered its brain case. Then he flipped the hook down and tore out a chunk of its skull and brain just to be certain.
Daniel's path was clear. Behind him Ms. Murdock was catching up quick, and bringing with her more velociraptors. Daniel started running again. He sprinted through the rest of the corridor and ran out into an open area. He saw some piles of lumber and rebar. There were three empty animal cages, each about the size of a box truck. Daniel also saw velociraptors, lots and lots of velociraptors. He stopped in his tracks. That's when Ms. Murdock barreled up behind him and kicked him. He flew forward and landed on his chest. His pry bar fumbled from his hands. Joan dug her boots into the dirt not a moment later, seeing as Daniel had, that they were imperviously surrounded.
As her eyes flashed across the area she saw that there was only one cage within running distance. The other two had their doors facing away. She started to run, but Daniel snatched her ankle. Joan fell on her elbows, and she saw Daniel climbing to his feet and trying to run past her. She kicked him. He fell down, and as he tried to get up she threw dirt in his eyes.
Joan lunged into Daniel and throttled him onto his back. Her hands wrung at his neck, but somehow he managed to throw her off of him. Joan landed on her back. The wind was knocked out of her. Before she could roll over an elbow dropped into her gut, and then another followed. Joan threw a knee up blindly, and it connected with Daniel's head. He fell back, and Joan jumped to her hands and knees. She saw Daniel crumpled on his forearms with his head in his hands. She was about to attack when something dropped onto the dirt between them with a heavy metal thunk. Joan froze and stared at it. Daniel lifted his head and did the same.
The dust around the object settled, and they could see that it was Daniel's pry bar. In another moment they realized that there was a large sinister presence looming above them. It was Falcon.