CHAPTER 259
Dr. Conners was now looking through a slash in the locker door made by one of Hellfire's toe claws. The carnotaurus snorted through it, and Dr. Conners felt her hot breath fill the small space around him. There was another clang as Hellfire's horns rutted against the locker. It was followed up by a bang and a screech of metal as her teeth raked the door. Bryce pressed himself against the back of the locker as far as he could, but there was little room to budge.
Hellfire kicked at the locker leaving a second slash that ran parallel to the first. The carnotaurus turned her body and kicked with the other foot, cutting across the first two slashes perpendicularly. She did it again and a third time as well. With each kick she peeled a larger hole into the door as she raked across the original two cuts.
Hellfire's foot came up again and she hooked her talons into the hole in the door. She pulled and wrenched her toes until the door popped open. The carnotaurus stumbled back, but her fumble was brief. In a moment's time her jaws were striking at Dr. Conners.
Bryce reached out and pulled the door back between him and Hellfire. It was not a moment too soon, as the carnotaur's snout bashed into the metal, wedging it up against Dr. Conners.
The Door was crushed inward, and Bryce was pinned. He couldn't get out if he wanted to. He couldn't move his arms. They were trapped at his sides. There was a pressure against his ribs that he could not get away from no matter how he shifted. It was hard to breath, and he was fighting away panic in what felt like a futile effort. The carnotaurus slammed the crumpled face of the door again, and Dr. Conners let out a wail that couldn't be helped. The sharp pain in his side made him feel that Hellfire had just cracked one of his ribs. Bryce didn't think he could sustain another blow.
In the locker next to him he heard Kyra shout, "Dad! Dad! Are you alright?"
Bryce wanted to answer, but he could scarcely muster the breath to whisper.
Hellfire bellowed. Dr. Conners braced himself, expecting to be crushed to death in that moment, but it was not yet the case.
Hellfire came in from above, biting the top of the lockers. Bryce heard her teeth squealing across the metal and then crunching in. There was a groaning and scraping as the carnotaurus pulled backwards, tipping the whole installment of lockers away from the wall.
Dr. Conners felt the lockers pitch forward and slam face down. As his whole body shuddered he knew he was trapped. Everybody was trapped. There was no getting out.