Dinosaur Lake 3: Infestation by Kathryn Meyer Griffith Read Free Book Online

though?”
    “Yep. All boat and trolley tours were canceled
yesterday. We can’t take the risk. Especially after what happened to me last
night.”
    “You were lucky you saved your cat. Ann loves that
cat.”
    “Don’t I know it,” Henry replied. “I was hero for
the night in her eyes. Not to mention the kitten was real appreciative, too. It
wouldn’t stop rubbing against me.”
    “I wonder if we’ll get to see the lake creatures
today?” Justin mused out loud.
    “As long as that’s all we do. See them. I still recollect
the last time we were on the water with a prehistoric leviathan and what happened.
I don’t want a repeat performance of that debacle. We were lucky to have
escaped with our lives and I never like to stretch my luck.”
    Justin had a funny look on his face. “Neither do I.
But I sure would like to see what’s out there. See if it’s like that first one
years ago.”
    “And heaven help us if it is. Six years of multiplying
and growing would make them real giants.” Paleontologists, Henry thought.
Always wanting to see, chase and catalog dinosaurs. All he wanted to do was
exterminate them. And now he also had another dinosaur fanatic sailing with
them…this one wanting to write a book about them. So be it.
    Henry finished his breakfast and coffee, pushed his
plate away. Left a ten dollar bill for the meal which included a generous tip. In
the meantime, a grinning Steven was making his way back to them through the
empty tables. “Time to go. But I have to make a quick stop at the front desk
first. I need to inform the lodge’s owner, who I see has returned from the
supply room, he has to close up again and batten down the hatches until we know
what we’re dealing with. He’s not going to be happy at all so I feel the least
I can do is give him the bad news in person.”
    They came to their feet as Steven joined them. On
their way out Henry spoke briefly to the lodge owner, who, as he’d surmised,
wasn’t thrilled with what he had to tell him, and then they left.
    Ranger Gillian would be waiting for them at the
dock with the boat. The sooner they got out on the lake and found out what was
in it, and got off the water, the better, because Henry had the gut feeling
things were going to get worse quickly. And he always listened to his gut. It
was usually right.
     
    *****
     
    The day was a calm one but as hot as a small sun.
The heat a palpable presence crowding in around them like the inside of an oven.
It was better when they got out on the lake. The water cooled things off a bit,
but it was the warmest August in the park Henry could recall. It was strange to
think about their last dinosaur hunt, the one done in the freezing weather and
snow on Mount Scott just months before. It seemed like a lifetime ago.
    As they roared onto the lake Justin declared loudly
so to be heard over the motor, “Does this all somehow seem familiar to you,
Henry?” His eyes behind the gold wire-rimmed glasses swept the lake around them
searching for anything unusual in the water.
    “What? You mean us out on a boat trolling for Crater
Lake monsters? Maybe in danger of being capsized any second and eaten alive by them?
Yep.”
    Justin, hand shading his eyes from the glare and
water spray so he could see better, answered, “Yeah, that. We’ve already done
this way too many times. It’s starting to feel almost normal.” He stumbled and
righted himself as the boat hit against a wave or something and bounced slightly.
They were moving fast.
    “Not normal to me. Never will be.” Henry snorted.
“I was way over it after that first time…you know where we were out on the lake
in the middle of the night and first bumped into Godzilla?”
    “I remember. It was dark and cold and I had never
been more frightened in my whole life…until the next time and the next.”
    “Ah, memories.”
    There were no other boats on the lake. No people.
Henry’s rangers had done their jobs and cleared everyone out. The park,