CHAPTER 359
"My God," Dr. Levine said as they approached the dock.
She stopped, as well did the others with her, and they all looked around. Three of the boats were reduced to mere shipwrecks with only smashed bits and pieces of their remains protruding from the water's surface. Most of the dock was in no better condition. Two boats on the left remained in good order, but they were smeared in blood.
Dr. Levine crouched to examine a large track depressed into the riverbank. She looked at it and then realized Vultures was hovering over her. Her eyes went up to meet the utahraptor's.
"Tyrannosaurus," Levine said.
"Rebirtha," Kyra spoke up.
The three exchanged glances as Dr. Levine rose. "Well, whoever made it here before us didn't leave."
"Let's not end up like them." Kyra started moving toward the boats.
"Agreed," Levine went to follow.
"Falcon did this," Seth warned.
Kyra and Levine paused and looked at him.
"Use your heads," Seth continued. "Those boats are covered in blood. It's another trap. Every carnivore on the island will be hunting us while Falcon and her posse follow and watch. It's obvious that Rebirtha was lured here. We won't make it halfway to the coast before something else comes along."
"We don't have a choice, Seth," Kyra said.
"But we do have them," Dr. Levine nodded to Vulture and her loyal velociraptors.
"There's only four of them," Seth said. "And that pale one is pretty banged up." He nodded at Ghost.
Ghost was insulted and sneered at him to show it.
"Does anyone have a better idea?" Levine cut in. "Because the way I see it, it's this, or surrender to death."
Nobody spoke. They all looked at each other without answers except for Vulture. She rose her snout to the sky and let out a sharp loud bark.
For a time nothing happened. The river gurgled at its edges. The trees rustled with a breeze. Then the low foliage began to stir with movement at the opposite bank. Many eyes shined out of the shadows, and then their faces emerged.
A whole group of rugged looking velociraptors walked out onto the river bank and stopped at the water's edge. They all looked across at Vulture, and she barked an order. Several at a time the hunters all began venturing into the shallows and then trekking deeper until they were buoyant and swimming.
Dr. Levine stepped forward in amazement. The animals didn't move naturally in the water, but they were handling it quite well considering they weren't built for it.
"Hm," she said. "Problem solved?"
Kyra was quiet, watching the raptors as they came across the river. There were so many more of them now, these creatures that had so recently been trying to kill them. It brought uneasy feelings to her core, and her body stiffened.
Nevertheless she nodded, "Yeah…"
Dr. Levine sensed her reservations about the matter, but left it alone. They had no other choice.
Seth wasn't watching the velociraptors. His eyes were entirely elsewhere. He was scanning the perimeter of the pterosaur enclosure. There was no longer any sign of the version B spinosaurus. The creature had been there a moment ago, prowling the cage's edge with her eyes fixed on them. Now she was just gone.
Seth's eyes fell to the bottom of the cage where it met the river, and the water flowed out from underneath. He saw that there was a durable netting of thick metal cable that hung into the water and was anchored to the riverbed beneath. A pterosaur wouldn't be strong enough to break through it, but a sixty foot theropod might.
Before his eyes Seth saw the netting snap away from the cage with a loud twang, but Seth was the only one who had seen it. He was the only one who understood what was coming next.
"Get them out of the water," He said.
Vulture didn't have the time to deliver an order. The edge of the spinosaur's sail broke the water and cut through it like a blade. The raptors in the water started looking its way, but the nearest hunter was already within reach. It's head and back were sucked below the surface and the water churned red. The fin of the spinosaurus wriggled with violence and then maneuvered to the next velociraptor. The small hunters broke into a panic and shrieked as they swam harder to reach the shore. The hunters had become the hunted, and the only way for them to eliminate this vulnerability was to get back on land.
Vulture let out a bellow, but she was powerless to do anything. Her clan was getting obliterated one by one, and if she went in the water she too would not stand a chance.
The spinosaurus rose its head and arms out of the water, and it snapped its jaws around more of the raptors, plucking them into the air and breaking them with one bloody bite. A third of Vulture's clan had already been extinguished. Her eyes were desperate.
Somewhere not far away another roar shook the air. Vulture tilted her ear to the sound, as did Roadkill, Ghost, and Needles.
Seth, Kyra, and Dr. Levine all recognized the distinct roar. The three of them looked at each other, and they all said, "Rebirtha."
She was near, and she sounded angry.