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The instant the convoy came into their sight, the raptors squealed before speeding up. Blue took the front to lead her squad who were right on her heels. In spite of the whirring of the wheels, Kate's ears picked up their the growls and snarls. "They're right behind us and closing on," Barry shouted over the noises to warn them, who could track and monitor the movements of the velociraptors on the small tracking monitor set on his bike. A blunt nervousness jogged up her mind; it would not be long until the raptors would reach them... Just yesterday they had shown disobedience when a staff fell into the paddock... and this was a huge step... Yesterday, they had been showing almost different colours on them inside the paddock walls after she and her brother had intruded in the paddock to save the staff. Would they do the same again, right now?
But she knew better than to lose courage; to stay in control, there could be no room for doubt or nervousness or confusion.
Inside the van that was still in that paddock area, Claire, seated in the driver seat, was closely monitoring the progression of the troop in her device with utmost attention and nervousness. Dangerous as it looked, she could not help feeling worried for Owen and Kate and the rest of them. Owen had advised her that should the situation go out of control, she would drive her nephews to the control centre right away and get to somewhere safe. But she did not how she might leave without confirming safety of the Gradys, should the situation take a wrong turn.
So, as she was engrossed in the footages from the micro-cameras set on the head straps of the velociraptors, she barely noticed that from the back of the van, Zach and Gray were also watching opening that window.
The distance between themselves and the raptors were reducing. The squad sprinted past the convoy of jeeps and were closing on the trio on their bikes. Kate could now hear their squeals and growls loud and clear. She took a deep breath and waited to be greeted by them. She trusted them, she always had trusted them, and specially in times like this, the trust among each other was crucial.
With a cry, a raptor had appeared on their side. It was none other than Blue, the beta of the squad. She squealed turning at them, but it was a familiar call and still bore the sign of her loyalty and trust. She squealed twice more and the rest of the squad now spread around Owen, Kate and Barry. Blue zigzagged swiftly from the sides of Barry to Kate, taking couple of seconds on their sides and giving a faint cry which sure was enough to make them feel reassured of their trust, and sped up again after Owen who was now on lead.
Owen stole a glance as soon as Blue picked a pace with him. As impossible it could have been, they were now racing side by side with nature's one of the most vicious, witty predators; all it would take for any of the raptors was a single action, turn the jaws and take a chomp at them to finish them off and even so, his heart felt lighter and a smirk of confidence tinted his lips. Because when he looked again, Blue made a brief eye contact and greeted him with a soft growl, announcing the devotion, trust and respect they still shared and wished to protect, and soon, she was once again darting faster to take the lead of the hunt.
