Jurassic Park^TM III Novelization by Scott Ciencin Read Free Book Online Page A

his side of the fence and stand motionless at the edge of the jungle. It was over sixteen feet high, nearly fifty feet long, and had a crocodile-shaped head and a mouth full of long, sharp teeth. Along its back, a five-foot-tall sail glistened in the dappled sunlight.
    Spinosaurus,
realized Eric instantly. And this guy Nash had obviously become spino breakfast.
    The dinosaur’s jaws parted.
Rahhhhrrrr-grahhhrrrr!
    “Run,” Alan said in not much more than a whisper.
    Alan and Eric bolted as the Spinosaurus came crashing out of the trees. Amanda, Paul, and Billy kept up with them on the other side of the fence.
    Alan pointed at a small hole in the fence, which had probably been made by one of the smaller dinosaurs.
    “Through there!” Alan yelled.
    Eric dove through the opening. He rolled and came to his feet. Turning, he saw Alan following. The Spinosaurus was a foot behind him, its jaws about to close on Alan’s legs, when the scientist hauled himself through to safety!
    SNAP!
    The Spinosaurus’s mouth closed in frustration and the animal roared as it flung itself at the fence, clawing and tearing with savage fury!
    Everyone ran toward a concrete building at the edge of the canyon. Eric glanced back to see the Spinosaurus crashing through the fence. It was coming after them!
    When they reached the building, Alan hauled the steel doors open and the others rushed inside. The dinosaur’s thunderous footfalls grew louder as Alan slammed the steel doors shut. The doors were clearly designed to be secure, with heavy bolts on the top and bottom. Alan slid the last bolt as the Spinosaurus smashed against the far side.
    Eric gasped. The hinges strained but held. The dinosaur struck again and again, then scraped its claws against the door. Finally, it stopped. There was no way the dinosaur was getting in.
    Eric heard his parents sigh. Then they threw their arms around him.
    Taking a deep breath, he returned their hug.
    He never wanted to let them go.
    A few feet away from Eric’s reunion with his parents, Alan took a look around. They were in a single room with giant windows designed to look into the canyon beyond.
    Looks like an observatory of some sort,
thought Alan,
but to observe what?
    He tried looking out one of the windows, but a thick fog obscured his view.
    He saw Billy approach him.
    “Udesky?” Alan asked. “Where is he?”
    “Raptors got him,” Billy said, shaking his head. “They set a trap. Can you believe it? They wounded him. Tried to get us to help. We almost did, and then they sprang at us. We ran, went up the trees, but Udesky didn’t make it.”
    Alan listened grimly. “We’ll get out of this. We just need to keep moving.”
    Alan started for the center of the room, where a staircase spiraled downward.
    “Hold on,” Billy said, grabbing his mentor’s arm. “I want to tell you that I’m so sorry. I could have gotten you killed. I know that. It was stupid.”
    Alan just stared at his student.
    A few feet away, Paul, Amanda, and Eric heard the strain in Billy’s voice and turned to listen.
    “Please, just yell at me. Call me an idiot. I know I screwed up,” continued Billy.
    Alan’s gaze narrowed. He had no idea what his student was talking about—and he had a feeling he didn’t
want
to know.
    Lowering his head, Billy said in a conspiratorial whisper, “What did you do with them?”
    “With
what?”
asked Alan. “Billy, what are you talking about?”
    Billy finally seemed to realize that Alan wasn’t following. He didn’t
know.
He hadn’t looked in the camera bag!
    “In my bag,” Billy said.
    Alan opened Billy’s camera bag to find a pair of raptor eggs! Both were intact. He’d been carrying them all this time.
    “I just thought if we got a raptor egg back to the mainland, we could study it in a controlled environment,” Billy quickly explained.
    Alan stared at his assistant, unable to accept what Billy had done. Those raptors had stalked him relentlessly for one