CHAPTER 257
It was hard for Dr. Conners to see anything at all through the slits in the locker door, but he knew Hell Fire was peering into the room. Bryce heard the door creak open wider and thump against the wall. He heard breathing and grunting. The sound of rough scales scraping against the door frame joined those noises, and then there were more footsteps.
Dr. Conners heard the groan and crash of another wood framed wall surrendering to the carnotaur's brute force. As the noise of destruction settled he heard the beast sniffing about.
There was another sound. Bryce heard it within the locker. It was fluid dripping on metal. The soft pattering was of his own blood spilling on the locker floor.
"God damn it," Bryce said to himself.
As he listened to Hell Fire's persistent sniffing he knew she was smelling him out. She had had a taste of his blood, and now she was hunting for the rest. He should never have gone in the lockers. He was jeopardizing everyone else, but it was too late to do anything about it.
In the dark Dr. Conners listened to the sound of Hell Fire's knobby skin and horns scraping the ceiling. Tiles crashed down. The popping of a fluorescent bulb cracked through the room. Hell Fire paused and bent over to sniff a wooden bench that was bolted to the ground in front of the lockers. A wet lip smacking ensued as she licked its surface. Dr. Conners heard this and felt that he must have bled on something.
The licking stopped. Bryce heard a splitting of wood as the bench was ripped from the floor. There was a gnawing crunch, and then the bench hit the concrete. Silence followed.
Dr. Conners waited and listened. A heavy breathing approached his locker door. He could hear it moving closer and closer. All Bryce could see from behind the door was a large dark mass looming only inches away. Over the sound of the breathing he still heard his blood dripping on the metal at his feet.
"God damn it," he thought again.
He should never have gone in the lockers.