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

shouted. “Let’s see what happens now.”
    The men on the boat waited, listening, and studied
the flowing waters around them.
    After a while Steven, his hands clamped over his
ears from the horn’s din, yelled, “Maybe they’re hard of hearing?”
    “Maybe they’re leery of us?” Justin offered another
explanation. “The gargoyles were really smart; maybe these are, too.”
    “Captain Sander claimed they didn’t appear to be.
They swarmed around his boat like dolphins. Chased him. He just didn’t know
what their ultimate intent was.”
    “Maybe–” Steven started to say something else when
suddenly Justin cried out beside him.
    “Look! There! By the bow…there’s something coming
up from the water!”
    Ranger Gillian silenced the boat’s horn and slowed
their speed.
    The four men were staring as the something rose up
into the air next to the boat, shoving itself three, four feet out of the
water, and then lowering back in. All Henry could see of it was greenish scaly
skin as it slithered through the waves. It looked like a giant snake. No eyes
or mouth. Making it hard to tell how large it was. Was what he was seeing the
neck or back? He couldn’t tell. It swam along easily keeping up with them, and
they were moving over the water at a good clip. So it was flying in the water,
whatever it was.
    “Look! There’s another one!” Justin’s fingers gestured
a ways behind where the first one had breached.
    “And another!” Steven cried out, excited, pointing
to the other side of the boat. “And another!” His eyes were reflecting awe. He
clapped his hands over his mouth for a moment, then exclaimed, “Oh, my God!
Look at them! They’re amazing! I don’t believe I’m seeing what I’m seeing. But
I am. I mean I didn’t actually think we’d see anything out here. To be
absolutely truthful, I didn’t really believe in your dinosaurs, Justin…but
now….” He seemed to run out of words. The shocked expression on his face saying
what he couldn’t.
    Henry’s mouth tightened as he examined the water
around them. They’re here. They are right here. They were surrounded by
a school of the aquatic creatures. On all sides. Four, five, six or more of
them. And from what he could see, they weren’t anything like the first lake
dinosaur. They didn’t appear as large, unless the rest of their bodies below
the water were.
    Something bumped against the underside of the boat.
Not hard. A gentle nudge. Just saying hi there . But it could have been a
branch or a piece of floating wood. Probably was.
    Then the old fear reawakened and Henry’s inner
voice warned. There’s too many. Too close. They should speed the boat up,
get away and return to land where they’d be safe. They had no idea what the
creatures would do.
    “Wow! What a rockin’ picture this is going to
make!” Steven cried, aiming his smart phone towards the water as one of the Nessies
broke above the surface again. This time they could see more of it. A column of
reptilian skin shot seven feet out of the water.
    Steven and Justin clicked away with their phones,
getting the best photos of the creatures they could because they were moving so
swiftly. Once and a while a portion of a body would come up and the camera
phones would snap-snap-snap.
    “They aren’t behaving aggressively,” Steven commented
as if he’d read Henry’s mind, peering over the rails as one rushed by. None of them
had brushed against the boat. Yet.
    Then on their left another one of the creatures lunged
up through the water and high into the air in a graceful jump. Up, up, up. Eight
human eyes followed its arc.
    “God, look at that thing! Wow,” Steven muttered, picture
taking forgotten for the first time.
    Justin and Gillian didn’t say a word.
    It didn’t resemble the first dinosaur, but it
wasn’t like any of the more recent flying ones, either. It was long, sleek,
with a lengthy neck and a small head. Twenty, thirty feet from head to tail
tip. As the creature