Flyers by Scott Ciencin Read Free Book Online

boardwalk, staying as close to the buildings as possible. Some flyers circled silently, while others maintained their careful watch over their prey in the lagoon.
    Suddenly, Josh stopped.

    “My dad,” he whispered as he stepped out of the buildings’ shadows. “I can see my dad in the lagoon!”
    Eric quieted the boy, grabbing his arm and steering him back to the shadows.
    “We can’t just leave him,” Josh whispered. “Come on, Eric. What do we do?”
    “Whatever Dr. Grant says,” Eric said.
    “Come on,” Alan urged. The scientist knew that a Pteranodon’s greatest asset was its incredibly sharp vision, not its sense of smell or hearing. But they were not dealing with creatures from the Dinosaur Age, over sixty-five million years ago. These had been created by InGen’s genetic engineers. They were larger and heavier, and—unlike the Pteranodons of the Mesozoic—these flyers had
teeth
in their beaks.
    The group stopped at the end of the block, hugging the building. They had to cross two dozen feet of open space to reach the Italian restaurant, and no one knew if the doors would be open. Others might have taken refuge there already and locked the place down tight.
    Alan knew he had to create some kind of distraction so the others could make the dangerous crossing, but there was nothing he could use to draw the attention of the flyers—except himself.
    He was about to step into the light and race the opposite way, yelling and screaming, when Eric silently broke away and raced across the gap. He reached cover just as a flyer turned his way.
    Flattened against the shadowed wall, Eric remained still. When the flyer looked away again, Eric tried the door. It was unlocked! With a wave, he signaled the group to come on over.
    Because the others had seen how Eric had safely crossed the gap, they were less afraid to follow. They waited until the Pteranodon was distracted and looking elsewhere. Then they braved the gap after him.
    They darted inside the restaurant and bolted the door behind them.
    Alan surveyed the empty restaurant’s wide glass windows and shook his head. “This place isn’t safe. Everyone, let’s get what we can and move on to the first-aid station.”
    Eric took two steps.
    “Except for you, young man,” Alan said. “What you did just then—”
    “No, let me,” Amanda said. “Eric, what were you thinking? You could have gotten caught! That was crazy.”
    “Actually,” Alan said, “I was going to mention it was incredibly brave. Thank you.”
    Amanda growled. “Encourage him. Perfect.”
    Josh stared at Eric with open admiration—for all of two seconds. Then the boy’s expression darkened. “You knew I’d follow you.”
    “I was just—”
    “Yeah, okay, whatever,” Josh said. “We’re safe, and my dad’s not. You’re a survivor all right.”
    Nearby, Manly grinned as he captured the scene with his digital camera.
    In the kitchen, they found bottled water, sandwich meats, bread, and plenty of seafood. Eric pulled down a pair of large coolers and loaded them up with shrimp, scallops, and grouper packed with ice.
    His mother stared at him, frowning.
    “They like fish,” Eric explained.
    “So you want to draw them
to
us?” Amanda asked.
    “They won’t smell anything through the coolers,” Eric said. “We might need it later.”
    “Or we might get a taste for seafood,” Manly said.
    At the first-aid station they found more supplies, but not what Alan had been hoping for.
    “There’s an animal show here,” Alan said. “They must keep tranquilizer darts and knockout meds for emergencies.”
    “The show’s on the other side of the lagoon,” Josh said, his voice trembling. “I’m not seeing any of that stuff here.”
    Amanda found a phone in the station. She glued herself to it, trying and failing to get an outside line, then attempting to raise on-site security. The busy signals were interspersed with her snarls of frustration. Finding a working line was vital!