Kelly reached out, took her hand. The raptors were pounding and snarling outside. “It’ll be okay,” Harding said reassuringly.
She went over to Malcolm, still lying on the bed. The raptors snapped and lunged at the window near his head, their claws raking the glass. Malcolm watched them calmly. “Noisy bastards, aren’t they?” By his side, the first-aid kit was open, a syringe on the cushion. He had probably injected himself again.
Through the windows, the animals stopped throwing themselves against the glass. She heard the sound of scraping metal, from over by the door, and then saw that the raptors were dragging the motorbike away from the trailer. They were hopping up and down on it in fairy. It wouldn’t be long before they punctured the tires.
“Ian,” she said. “We have to do this fast.”
“I’m in no rush,” he said calmly.
She said, “What kind of weapons have you got here?”
“Weapons…oh…I don’t know…” He sighed. “What do you want weapons for?”
“Ian, please.”
“You’re talking so fast,” he said. “You know, Sarah, you really ought to try to relax.”
In the darkened trailer, Kell was frightened, but she was reassured at the no-nonsense way Sarah talked about weapons. And Kelly was beginning to see that Sarah didn’t let anything stop her, she just went and did it. This whole attitude of not letting other people stop you, of believing that you could do what you wanted, was something she found herself imitating.
Kelly listened to Dr. Malcolm’s voice and knew that he would be of no help. He was on drugs and he didn’t care. And Sarah didn’t know her way around the trailer, Kelly did; she had searched the trailer earlier, looking for food. And she seemed to remember…
In the darkness, she pulled open the drawers quickly. She squinted, trying to see. She was sure she remembered one drawer, low down had contained a pack marked with a skull and crossbones. That pack might have some kind of weapons, she thought.
She heard Sarah say, “Ian: try and think.”
And she heard Dr. Malcolm say, “Oh, I have been, Sarah. I’ve had the most wonderful thoughts. You know, all those carcasses at the raptor site present a wonderful example of – ”
“Not now, Ian.”
Kelly went through the drawers, leaving them open so she would know which ones she had already checked. She moved down the trailer, and then her hand touched rough canvas. She leaned forward. Yes, this was it.
Kelly pulled out a square canvas pack that was surprisingly heavy. She said, “Sarah. Look.”
Sarah Harding took the pack to the window, where moonlight shone in. She unzipped the pack and stared at the contents. The pack was divided into padded sections. She saw three square blocks made of some substance that felt rubbery. And there was a small silver cylinder, like a small oxygen bottle. “What is all this stuff?”
“We thought it was a good idea,” Malcolm said. “But now I’m not sure it was. The thing is that -”
“What is it?” she said, interrupting. She had to keep him focused. His mind was drifting.
“Nonlethals,” Malcolm said. “Alexander’s ragtime band. We wanted to have – ”
“What’s this?” she said, holding up one of the blocks in front of his face.
“Area-dispersal smoke cube. What you do is – ”
“Just smoke?” she said. “It just makes smoke?”
“Yes, but – ”
“What’s this?” she said, raising the silver cylinder. It had writing on it.
“Cholinesterase bomb. Releases gas, Produces short-term paralysis when it goes off. Or so they say.”
“How short?”
“A few minutes, I think, but – ”
“How does it work?” she said, turning it in her hand. There was a cap at the end, with a locking pin. She started to pull it off, to get a look at the mechanism.
“Don’t!” he said. “That’s how you do it. You pull the pin and throw. Goes off in three seconds.”
“Okay,” she said. Hastily, she packed up the medical kit, throwing the syringe inside, shutting the lid.
“What are you doing?” Malcolm said, alarmed.
“We’re getting out of here,” she said, as she moved to the door.