Worryingly, she was catching up to Drake and Andy. She knew that together the two men were a larger target. They were also moving slower.
Behind her, she began to hear the deep huffing and drew her shoulders up and pulled her head down as though the inch difference might make the monster miss her when it reached for her.
“Run… faster!” she yelled, as she was about to overtake them.
And then they both vanished into the ground. Emma didn’t slow, and in fact accelerated to where they had disappeared. She saw the small crevasse and dove into it.
Where they landed, the fissure in the ground was only about seven feet wide, but a good 20 feet deep. Emma pinballed from one side to the other as she fell to the bottom. Drake immediately grabbed her and pulled her in close to the wall where he and Andy hid.
Soil rained down as the ground shook from the gargantuan footfalls, and then they stopped, and the huffing of huge breaths came from just above them.
The silvery moon was directly overhead and they pressed themselves back into the shadows where there were mounds of fallen bracken, rotting logs, and rocks. From beside her, something the size of a small dog with too many legs scuttled out to investigate, and she batted it away with her fist. She had bigger problems.
Then the moon glow seemed to shut off, as a massive boxy head leaned out over them. It inhaled, deeply, sucking up huge drafts of air. She was bathed in sweat, and she bet the two men were the same — she knew they probably stank to high heaven, and the great beast wouldn’t need super senses to know exactly where they were.
Seemingly satisfied, it turned its head sideways as eyes that seemed too small for the oversized head turned toward them. It seemed to bulge slightly like the lens of a camera focusing, or that of a bird that regards you from behind the bars of its cage.
The massive body lowered, and the head reached in. It had to turn sideways to fit in, but the head on the powerful neck craned downwards as the heavy back end of the animal gave it balance and the monstrous powerful legs braced, like the ballast of a crane.
“Shit,” Drake hissed. He held up his rifle; the barrel was bent, and he’d obviously landed on it. Instead, he pulled his handgun and held it against his chest as he stared upward. Emma lunged across and grabbed at Andy’s holster, taking his gun and doing the same. But she knew the 9mm guns would be like shooting peas at a thing with a skull that had to be many inches thick, plus a hide that was tougher than hardened leather.
“It can’t reach us,” Drake whispered. He looked up and down the crevice, and then back up at the great beast. “And this is the widest point. I think we’re okay here.”
The head was lifted back out, but it stayed above them.
“One problem,” Emma said. “We can’t wait here until it gets bored and gives up.”
Drake turned to her. “Sure, but I think we can afford to give it just a few more minutes, right?”
She bet he grinned in the dark.
“I guess.” She hunkered down as soil rained heavily onto their heads. “Now what?”
Emma looked up just as a single three-toed foot that had to be as wide as an industrial shovel began to rake at the dirt. “Look out.” She leaped out of the way as a large rock was dislodged and rolled down into their crevasse. She seethed. “That big bastard is going to try and dig us out.”
Like a monstrous dog, the Giganotosaurus raked with one massive foot and then the other. After a few pulls, it’d stop and lower its head again, checking on the width. In a few more moments, it had already widened the top of the fissure by several feet.
Emma looked up and down the crack in the ground. “Move.” She crouch-ran a few dozen feet along the crevasse floor. Drake pulled Andy along after him as he followed. She stopped and flattened herself back against the wall again. The beast followed them, and immediately began its raking again.
“Shit,” she hissed.
“We can’t stay in here,” Drake said.
Emma looked at the walls on either side of her. There was no way to climb out quickly. And even if they did, they’d be back out on the thing’s turf. Frustration boiled within her. She spun, lifted her gun in a two-handed grip, gritted her teeth, and fired half a dozen quick rounds into its face.
The head pulled back, and she was sure she hit it, perhaps every time. But after a few seconds, the raking began again directly over them. The huge head leaned over and reached down again, and then inhaled deeply. This time, the head angled and the mouth opened and the jaws snapped shut again, so close she actually saw the broad, flat tongue inside the mouth.
It was only just too far away, but it was getting closer. Emma held her breath as she smelled the vile carnivore stink emanating from its gaping mouth. She’d seen her friends disappear into mouths like those, and she was damn sure she’d never let that be her fate.
Once again, the head pulled back, and the raking started again, and once again, the trio scurried another 20 feet further along the crevasse. But it was like a dog enjoying a game; the great beast followed them, to immediately rake again.
Emma groaned. The problem for them was that the further along the crack they went, the shallower it got. A few more sprints, and the monster would only need to dig a few feet to reach them.
She turned to see Drake looking at her. He grinned and shrugged. “This has been one helluva a trip, Ms. Wilson.”
She couldn’t help smiling in return. “It’ll sure be something to tell your kids about.”
“That’s first prize,” he said. “Second, is just staying alive to tell anyone.”
Andy leaned around Drake and lifted one side of the bandage over his eyes. He blinked myopically, and then ripped it off. He kept blinking, and then looked upward, seeing the massive boxy head reaching down.
“Jesus.” He ducked as the massive head thundered down into the gap. ‘Please tell me it’s just my screwy eyes making me see that.”
“I wish,” Drake said, also hunkering down even more. “Maybe you should put that back on, buddy.”
Emma grimaced. “Welcome back.”
The head smashed down again, and Emma contemplated another scurry along the trench. But she saw that it became too shallow. They’d be dug out in an instant, if the beast even had to dig. The other option was to try and rush past the head and get to the other end of the fissure — where there were already huge holes now dug in the edge of the crack.
“Lie down flat,” Drake said.
You mean, lie down and prepare to die, Emma thought grimly.
The claws raked and raked some more, and stones tumbled down on them, adding to the fear and chaos. Emma could hear its breath quickening as it started to tire, she hoped, but more likely it was becoming excited at the prospect of soon being able to reach its prizes.
To hell with that. I’m not lying down and not staying here, she thought. I’d rather die trying to get away than be picked off like some piece of fallen fruit. The moonbeams shone down again, illuminating the end of the crevice. It shallowed out, but even at its end, was still around seven feet high; too high to jump and run, and scaling meant she was vulnerable even for the few seconds it might take her.
Her mind computed the distance, the speed she might need, and her odds—low, she knew. She also knew by herself she might make it, might. But if all three of them tried, then they’d bunch up and potentially get in each other’s way.
She sat up, just as there came the thump of something striking the opposite wall of the crevasse. There came more, as more of the things rained down. A few struck the Giganotosaurus, and it roared its displeasure or shock.