CHAPTER 189

The allosaurus wasn't going away. Dianna now recognized this as a standoff that could last for hours. The carnivore had done nothing but dig at the sides of the hole and then try to squeeze its way in again to gage if it was any closer. The allosaur gave no indication at any point that it was thinking about giving up.

Dianna observed the look of determination in its eye as the animal barked and hissed. The allosaur twisted its body one way and reached with a set of fore claws. Then it snapped its teeth, turned the other way and reached with the other hand. The carnivore growled and backed out of the tunnel, keeping its nose lingering just at the entrance. Dianna looked at the allosaur, and the allosaur looked back at her, but it did not leave.

"Damn," Dianna muttered. Turning to Seth and Kyra she said, "we're going to have to follow the tunnel." She could see the look on Seth's face grow with concern. "That allosaur isn't giving up, Seth. It's the only option we have."

Kyra put a hand on Seth's shoulder. "We've made it this far. We can do it."

Seth nodded.

They were about to go when something on the tunnel wall caught Dianna's attention. Now that the allosaur had backed away some light was getting in, and she could see something that she hadn't before. There was a marking on the rock face, an image, a symbol. It reminded her of a cave painting. The mark was of a handprint, but it was not human. The image bore only three fingers, the three fingers of a velociraptor.

"Oh, my God." Dianna brought her hand up to it, running her fingertips over the pigment. It was dry and reddish. Perhaps it was blood, she thought. It looked like it had been there a while. What was its significance? She began to ponder. This was no stray mark on the wall. It had been placed deliberately. Maybe it was a trail marker of some kind or a claim of territory. The fact of the matter was that the raptors had a concept of writing, recognizing, and understanding symbols.

She thought back to their first encounter with the utahraptors where she and Dr. Conners had been smeared with blood. It was scary enough to think that the action bore ritualistic significance, but to think that it was part of a written language, even a rudimentary one, was simply surreal.

Dianna got a chill down her spine.

"Mom? Are you coming?" Seth was at her side.

The allosaurus had occluded the entrance to the tunnel with its body again. The light was blocked. Dianna could not see the marking anymore.

"Mom, what is it?" Seth's eyes were just visible among the shadows.

She realized that both he and Kyra had not seen the image. It was probably for the best, she thought. Whence they got to the plane none of it would matter.

Dianna looked at Seth. "Nothing. Let's get moving."

As they set off it only got darker. The tunnel was narrow enough that they had to remain single file in the order that they were in, which meant that Kyra was in the lead.

More and more she had to rely on her hands to guide her. She felt as though she were crawling into a giant spider hole, and a massive hairy tarantula was going to spring out and get her at any moment.

"Ah!" Kyra jumped and then froze.

"What! What is it?" Seth said.

"Something huge just crawled over my fingers." She paused. "I don't even want to know." In the dark she took a breath and kept moving.

Behind them they could still hear the allosaur's bellows echoing up through the lava tube. It was a continuous reminder that they had to stay the course.

The tunnel was getting darker. Anything that Kyra thought she could still see felt like more of an illusion. It also seemed that the lava tube was curving, though she couldn't be sure. Also she had the sensation that they were moving deeper into the ground.

"It's almost chilly in here," Seth said.

"Yeah," Kyra agreed.

Dianna's voice came from the back, "can you see anything?"

"No. Not yet." Kyra answered.

The sounds of the outside were gone. It seemed that the allosaurus had ceased its roaring and barking. No more bellows echoed up the throat of the cave at them, and they could mostly just hear themselves, though at times Kyra thought she heard a faint howling of wind.

Seth was crawling along until he felt Kyra's sneakers and crashed head first into her butt. "Ow!" He backed off and said, "Why'd you stop?"

Kyra was quiet for a moment.

Dianna asked, "is everything alright up there?"

In the now total darkness Kyra said, "I think it's a dead end."

There was a long silence, then Dianna said, "damn." More silence followed, and then she continued with, "maybe the allosaurus is gone now." She was quiet again and then said, "shit."

"No, wait!" Kyra sounded hopeful again. Her hands were feeling around the rock walls. It was not a dead end but rather a sharp curve in the tunnel. "It keeps going."

Dianna and Seth let out sighs of relief.

Kyra continued to say, "it gets a bit narrow."

Seth hit the sharp bend and followed it as it hooked left. Then he felt the narrowing. Seth kept crawling. It seemed at every moment now he was bumping against the walls. His skin was starting to get raw, and he wondered how the velociraptors ever made it through the passage as they were a fair bit larger than he.

While continuing to crawl Seth heard a familiar sound. Faint though it was, he was sure of it, and it was not a sound he had been looking forward to hearing.

"Stop!"

"What?" Dianna said.

"Did you hear that?"

"Hear what?"

Kyra joined in, "I didn't hear anything."

"Listen."

They all waited in the darkness until Dianna said, "Seth, I don't hear anything."

"I heard it."

"Heard what?"

"A velociraptor. It was purring."

This made Dianna listen more carefully, though after a while she still said, "I don't hear anything."

"I heard it," Seth repeated.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes!"

"Well, we can't just sit here."

"What if it's ahead of us?"

"It might be behind us. Seth, we don't have a choice but to keep moving."

"Wait," Kyra cut in. I just heard it."

"Where was it?" Dianna asked.

"I can't tell."

"Shit. Keep moving. Keep moving." Dianna was pushing them forward.

There was another raptor vocalization. They all heard it this time.

"It's ahead of us!" Kyra said.

"No, I think it's behind us." Dianna kept pushing them.

"Hold on. I see a light. There's a light ahead of us." Kyra sped up.

Seth was beginning to see it too. It was faint, but it grew as they approached it.

"The tunnel is widening," Kyra said. "We're almost there."

The light was bright enough now that they could faintly make out the walls. The lava tube had widened to the size of a hallway, but only in width. It was still short enough from floor to ceiling that they had to crawl.

They had reached the source of the light. A hole in the ceiling about twelve inches in diameter was letting through a single ray of sun.

Kyra stopped below it and looked up. "I can see the jungle. The ground is only about two or three feet thick here."

Dianna came up beside her and looked through it. "This doesn't do us any good. Maybe there's a larger exit ahead."

"Guys." Seth said.

They both looked at him, and he pointed ahead. There was a fork in the tunnel.

"Which way do we go?" Seth looked at his mom.

As she was about to answer there was a noise from above. When they looked up through the hole again they did not see the jungle, but an eye staring back at them. The face was scaly and framed with plumage. It was a velociraptor.

The hunter peered closer, trilled, and then barked. In a flash it was gone, but they could hear other velociraptors answering its call.

"Shit." Dianna said.

She realized that the raptor vocalizations they had heard may have been coming from outside the tunnel the whole time. Perhaps the pack had not known that they were there initially. Regardless, they knew they were there now.

"Damn it. Follow me." Dianna did not have a clue which side of the tunnel would be better to take. Looking at one and then the other she chose the fork on the right and went.

Through the hole in the ceiling more raptors could be heard, and Dianna knew they were coming for them.