CHAPTER 255
Dr. Conners fired off another shot at Hell Fire, but he only seemed to be pissing her off. The buckshot sprayed across her thick hide, and Bryce felt like he might as well have been using a squirt gun as the carnotaurus did nothing but flinch.
Between shots Hell Fire swung her horns at Dr. Conners and launched him against the wall behind the desk. From the floor Bryce saw Hell Fire looming over him. He felt for his gun, but he'd lost it. The room was now dark, and he realized that the night vision goggles had been thrown from his head as well. The carnotaur's mouth came down at Bryce, and he slipped into the chair space beneath the desk. Hell Fire swung her head to the front of the desk and peered in at Dr. Conners from the open faced front.
Dr. Conners looked back at her. "Shit."
The carnotaurus turned her snout in and thrust her teeth at him. Bryce recoiled, but as Hell Fire pushed forward the desk moved with her. It was scraping toward the wall, and Dr. Conners would be pinned.
He fled for the hanger door and almost made it when the edge of the desk clamped his left boot against the wall. Dr. Conners cried out.
Hell Fire lifted her head, overturning the desk and tossing it toward the front of the office.
Dr. Conners was free. He jumped to his feet, but his ankle was bruised. He stumbled and winced. Hell Fire was coming at him again. Dr. Conners ran for the door and sprinted through, but Hell Fire's teeth caught up with him and raked into the meat of his back. The carnotaur's teeth passed right through his flesh, but snagged on his clothes. Hell Fire lifted him into the air and rattled him around by his shirt until it tore.
Dr. Conners smacked the concrete floor of the hanger and rolled over to see Hell Fire's maw striking down on him, but it stopped short. She was stuck in the doorframe.
The carnotaurus shimmied away and thrust her body at the opening again. As her ribs slammed against the frame the whole structure of the office shuddered. The office itself was a simple wood frame with wood paneling that had been erected within the hanger. It wasn't very strong, and Dr. Conners knew it wouldn't hold Hell Fire for long.
Dr. Conners got to his feet. Already he could hear wood splitting and nails prying out from their holds. As he uprighted himself the flesh in his back burned and stabbed with pain. He could feel blood dribbling down his skin, but he couldn't afford to think about how bad it was.
There was another crash as Hell Fire battered the doorframe again. The outer walls of the office began to visibly split. Dr. Conners spun around and looked for a place to hide.
The hanger was so dark without night vision goggles. He could scarcely see a thing. Then out of the shadows someone snatched him and pulled him away.