Flyers (3 page)

CHAPTER 5

That night, seven winged forms flew over Universal Studios. They were Pteranodons: three adults and four young who had flown away from the island that had been the adults’ home—and their prison.

The Elder trailed behind the two other adults—his daughter and her mate. By the pale moonlight he studied the bright crimson markings along the strong, powerful wings of the flyer who had fought and won the right to be with the Elder’s daughter. The Elder thought of him as Fire because he looked like the fiery dawn. Her markings were blue like the waves and gray like the rocky shore. She was Flood.

PTERANODON

The children of Fire and Flood spread out before their parents as the group soared beneath the clouds. The Elder didn’t approve of allowing the young ones to fly ahead of their parents, but Fire and Flood liked to keep their four children where they could see them.

The group had been searching for some time now. Not one knew for certain what they hoped to find, but each shared a longing for something, perhaps a place, that would end their restlessness and give them peace. The Elder, Flood, and Fire all knew to avoid the busy and dangerous places of the Keepers, the small but smart and dangerous prey that had somehow kept them trapped for so many years.

The children, though, were fearless. Or simply foolish. They hadn’t learned caution. The smaller flyers were drawn by anything interesting and new. Bright lights, odd sounds. Before their last long crossing over water, the Elder had been forced to restrain two of them on the side of a mountain. The soft brown of his wings had hidden them well from the shining metal beasts of the Keepers, which had sped along a winding path just below the flyers. The Elder’s plain brown body had blended with his surroundings, and they went unnoticed.

The most troublesome of the four youths was the flyer with the bright golden tinge on his wings. Goldie’s curiosity was boundless, and that was dangerous right now. In this new place, it was harder than ever before to avoid the Keepers.

The land was flat and hostile. They had been forced to hide by day and hunt by night, using the strange lights of the Keepers to guide them.

On this night, the flyers had gathered around a small lake. Lights and sudden loud sounds made the Keepers cry out. The flyers stayed high enough to avoid being seen, while their vision allowed them to scan the ground far below for prey.

Suddenly, a high whistling rose from below. The Elder was the first to hear it. He shrieked a warning to Fire and Flood, but his frantic cry did no good. Explosions sounded all around them, and suddenly the sky was alive with bursts of blinding color, pinwheels of bright light, and falling stars.

The flyers panicked. Two of the children smacked into each other, their hard skulls thwacking together in the night. When they fell away, their sharp claws barely avoided each other’s wings.

Goldie was heading right for one of the quickly fading light displays. The Elder
cawww
ed a warning, as did Goldie’s parents and brothers. It did no good. A second later, another explosion came and the light enveloped the young flyer.

“Meep!” Goldie cried as his wing was set aflame. Then, in panic and fear, the young, curious flyer dropped from the sky.

The remaining six flyers dove for him, heedless of the explosions around them. The Elder caught a downdraft and soared toward the golden-winged Pteranodon, catching him on the back of his own, much wider wings. He felt Goldie sliding off and struggled not to drop him. Then Fire and Flood were above him. Flood’s claws caught Goldie as he tumbled free, and the group sped downward, landing close to a small isolated pool in the vast compound of their enemy.

Goldie was drenched in the water and the flames fizzled out. The other six gathered around the wounded, shaking flyer, prepared to defend him with their lives.

The Keepers had done this.

Until—and if—Goldie was able to fly once more, the group would need food. Shelter.

This place would be theirs.

CHAPTER 6

Eric was in a miserable mood when he woke the next morning. All the hard stuff was over. The book signings, the meet-and-greets, the television interviews, and the evening spent with the winner of the “Have Dinner with a Survivor!” contest—all of it was behind him now. Now it was time to spend a couple of days relaxing and enjoying the attractions at Universal. But all he could think about was the unhappy look Alan had given him during their talk.

He had breakfast in the hotel restaurant with his mother. She took one look at him and knew exactly what was the matter. Her gaze narrowed and she shook her head.

“I know we owe Dr. Grant a lot,” Amanda said. “I’ll never deny that. But he was in a rotten mood when he got here yesterday and he didn’t have any right to take it out on you.”

“He didn’t,” Eric said, pushing his eggs around on his plate and not eating a bite.

“You said what you thought. What you believe in. Right?”

Eric held his head up with one hand. He hadn’t gotten a lot of sleep. “I dunno. That whole thing about dinosaurs for pets, that wasn’t what I was getting at. You know, ‘Hi, this is Rudy, my raptor buddy!’ Duh, like that would ever happen. It wasn’t what I meant.”

“Exactly,” Amanda said. Her cell phone went off. She snapped it open, checked the incoming number, and held it out to Eric. “It’s for you.”

Eric took the phone.

“How you doin’, sport?”

It was his dad! For the first time since taking the stage yesterday, Eric perked up. He told his dad about how amazing the trip had been.

“Wish I could be there with ya,” Paul Kirby said. “But you know Enid. Somebody’s gotta hold the fort down.”

Eric smiled. His father’s hokey expressions always cracked him up. “Yeah, Dad. Hold the fort down. You never know when it might just up and fly away!”

Paul laughed. “Exactly. And in Enid, we can’t afford much of a fort as it is.”

By the time the call was done, Eric felt a hundred times better. He handed the phone back to his mom. “You always know the right thing to cheer me up.”

“Hey, I’m Supermom. It’s what I do.” The cell phone rang again. She checked the number, said, “Uh-uh,” and turned off the ringer. “That Hollywood agent again. The one who wants you to do TV commercials and all that wacky stuff.”

Eric thought of what Alan would say if he started doing product endorsements. The book was one thing. It had been a way of dealing with the emotional fallout from what he had gone through on the island. But running around with fake dinosaurs chasing him and holding up a soft drink after he’d escaped? There was no way he’d exploit and trivialize what he had gone through like that.

“Not interested,” Eric said.

Amanda smiled. “Not a problem.”

A man walked past in a familiar-looking hat. Eric sprang to his feet—then sighed when he realized it wasn’t Alan. Amanda saw the whole thing. “Eric.”

“I just wish I could talk to him again, that’s all,” Eric said.

“You and me both.”

Eric shook his head. “That’s not what I mean. He’s going back today. I want to fix things.”

“You don’t have anything to fix,” Amanda said. “You don’t have anything to be sorry for. Not a single thing.”

Eric left another message for Alan at the scientist’s hotel, then let his mom talk him into doing the “tourist thing.” They were just about to board the boat for the
Jaws
ride when Eric saw Josh Newman racing toward him.

“Eric! Eric, over here!” Josh called.

“Your adoring public,” Amanda said. “Want me to run interference for you? I’ve faced raptors. I think I can take him.”

Eric laughed. “It’s fine.”

Josh joined them on the boat, his dad staying behind. They’d already done the ride twice since coming here.

“So that thing yesterday with you and Dr. Grant, what’s up with that?” Josh asked. “He really seemed ticked off!”

Amanda rubbed her forehead. “Josh, this might not be—”

“He had a rough flight,” Eric said. “No big deal.”

“Oh,” Josh said. “So you think one day, they really would let people like me go to the island? Or maybe, y’know, the next time you get to go, could I come along?”

“That’s not up to me,” Eric said. He wished Josh would just drop it. What did Alan Grant need with some kid like Josh running around the island, getting in the way when he was trying to get his work done?

The boat left the dock and Bill, the helmsman, smiled a little too broadly as he took them out. The young, good-looking Asian American man made a show of appearing nervous.

“Wow, you guys are packed in like sardines,” Bill said, the sunlight sparkling in his bright green eyes. “Not to make you feel like fish food or anything. I wonder if we should’ve used a bigger boat. . . .”

“This is so cool,” Josh said. “Just wait until we get to the end. There’s all these explosions and the coast guard shows up and everything just goes crazy. . . .”

The water was a little choppy and a strong breeze blew in from the east as Bill got the ship up to a leisurely speed. Storefronts that looked exactly like the ones from the
Jaws
movie lined the docks of the simulated harbor.

“I want to assure everyone that I’m qualified to pilot this ship,” Bill said. “I’m not
actually
the captain. He got eaten—um, called away, I mean. A little emergency, these things happen. Believe me, we at Amity Beach Waterways Tours are all about safety first, so don’t any of you worry about those shark rumors. We just get dolphins sometimes, like harmless ol’ Flipper, yep, that’s it. . . .”

Eric grinned. The actor taking them through the waterway was really into it. Someone gasped, then laughed and pointed as bits and pieces of savaged clothing drifted by either side of the boat.

The boat rounded a curve, and a half-sunk, flaming tour boat came into view.

Bill gasped. “Whoa, whoa, whoa—that’s not good.” He put his hand over his mouth. “That’s the boat that went before us. What could have—”

The captain’s words were cut off by the infamous first notes of the
Jaws
theme. People gasped as the giant shark burst from the water with such force that everyone on the left side of the boat was soaked! Bill grabbed the wheel and steered them clear as the predator sank beneath the choppy water.

“Did I mention I used to be a Navy Seal?” Bill asked. “No? Good, ’cause I wasn’t. But if it makes any of you feel better, just pretend and maybe we’ll get through this!”

Beside Eric, Josh laughed his head off.

From somewhere close, pelicans
cawww
ed. The sun was in Eric’s eyes as he saw one of the birds rise over an Amity facade and lazily drift their way. Only—the pelican didn’t look right, somehow. The wings were way longer than they should have been, and there was a large spike rising from the back of its skull. . . .

“No,” Eric whispered.

The boat turned and Eric got a better look at the flying creature as it dropped from the sky. It was bigger than he thought at first. Five or ten times bigger.

This was
no
pelican. In fact, it was not a true creature of the natural world, not anymore.

As one of the adult InGen Pteranodons screeched and dove directly at them, Eric knew exactly what it was—his nightmare had come to life!