The raptor squealed in surprise and stepped backward. The elastic was now looped tight around the lower jaw, the key glinting in the light. The raptor scratched at it with its forearms, trying to pull the elastic loop off, but it was caught around the curved back teeth, and the animal's efforts just made the elastic snap on the skin. Soon it gave up, and began rubbing its snout in the dirt, trying to get the key off.
Meanwhile the other raptors managed to pull the cage free from the superstructure, and knock it over onto the ground. They ducked their heads, slashing Arby behind the bars. When they realized that wouldn't work, they kicked and stomped the cage repeatedly. More animals joined them. Soon seven raptors were clustered over the cage. They kicked it and it rolled away from the hide. Their bodies blocked her view of Arby.
She heard a faint sound, and looked up to see two headlights in the distance. It was a car.
Someone was coming.
Arb was in hell. Inside the cage, he was surrounded by black snarling shapes. The raptors couldn't get their jaws through the spaces in the bars, but their hot saliva dripped down on him, and when they kicked their claws came through, slashing his arms and shoulders as he rolled. His body was bruised. His head hurt from banging against the bars. His world was swirling, terrifying pandemonium. He knew only one thing with certainty.
The raptors were rolling him away from the hide.
As the car came closer, Levine went to the railing and looked down. In the light of the red flare, he saw three raptors dragging what remained of Eddie's body toward the jungle. They paused frequently to fight over it, snapping at each other, but they still managed to haul it away.
Then he saw that another group of raptors were kicking and pushing the cage. They rolled it down the game trail, and into the forest.
Now he could hear the rumble of the jeep engine, as the car came closer. He saw Thorne's silhouette behind the wheel.
He hoped he had a gun. Levine wanted to kill every one of these damned animals. He wanted to kill them all.
Up on the roof, Kelly watched the raptors kicking the cage, rolling it away. One raptor remained behind, turning around and around in circles, like a frustrated dog. Then she saw it was the raptor that had caught its jaw in the elastic loop. The key still dangled along its check, glinting in the red light. The raptor jerked its head up and down, trying to get free.
The Jeep came roaring forward, and the raptor seemed confused by the sudden bright lights. Thorne accelerated, trying to hit it with his car. The raptor turned and ran off, out into the plain.
Kelly scrambled off the roof, and headed down.
Thorne threw open the door as Levine jumped into the car. "They got the kid," Levine said, pointing along the trail.
Kelly was still coming down, shouting, "Wait!"
Thorne said, "Get back up there. Sarah's coming! We'll get Arby!"
"But - "
"We can't lose them!" Thorne grinned the engine, and started to drive down the game trail, chasing the raptors.
In the trailer, Ian Malcolm listened to the voices shouting over the radio. He heard the panic, the confusion.
Black noise, he thought. Everything going to hell at once.
A hundred thousand things interacting.
He sighed, and closed his eyes.
Thorne drove fast. The jungle was dense around them. The trail ahead began to narrow, the big palms edging closer, slapping the car. He said, "Can we make it?"
"It's wide enough," Levine said. "I walked it earlier today. Paras use this trail."
"How could this happen?" Thorne said. "The cage was attached to the scaffolding."
"I don't know," Levine said. "It broke off."
"How? How?"
"I didn't see. A lot happened."
"And Eddie?" Thorne said grimly.
"It was fast," Levine said.
The Jeep plunged through the jungle, bouncing hard as it followed the game trail; they banged their heads on the cloth roof. Thorne drove recklessly. Up ahead, the raptors were moving fast; he could hardly see the last of the animals, sprinting in the darkness up ahead.
"They wouldn't listen to me!" Kelly shouted, as Sarah pulled up on the motorcycle.
"About what?"
"The raptor took the key! Arby's locked in the cage and the raptor took the key!"
"Where?" Sarah said.
"There!" she said, pointing across the plain. In the moonlight they could just see the dark shape of the fleeing raptor. "We need the key!"
Get on," Sarah said, unshouldering her rifle. Kelly climbed behind her on the bike. Sarah thrust the gun into her hands. "Can you shoot?"
"No. I mean, I never - "
"Can you drive a bike?"
"No, I - "
"Then you have to shoot," Sarah said. "Now, look: trigger's here. Okay? Safety's here. Twist it like this. Okay? It'll be a rough ride, so don't release it until we get close."
"Close to what?"
But Sarah didn't hear her. She grinned the engine, and the bike accelerated, heading out into the plain, chasing the fleeing raptor. Kelly put one arm around Sarah, and tried to hold on.
The Jeep bounced along the jungle trail, splashing through muddy pools. "I don't remember it this rough," Levine said, clutching the armhold. "Maybe you should slow down - "