Flyers Read Online Free PDF Page A

hand over his mouth. “That’s the boat that went before us. What could have—”
    The captain’s words were cut off by the infamous first notes of the
Jaws
theme. People gasped as the giant shark burst from the water with such force that everyone on the left side of the boat was soaked! Bill grabbed the wheel and steered them clear as the predator sank beneath the choppy water.
    “Did I mention I used to be a Navy Seal?” Bill asked. “No? Good, ’cause I wasn’t. But if it makes any of you feel better, just pretend and maybe we’ll get through this!”
    Beside Eric, Josh laughed his head off.
    From somewhere close, pelicans
cawww
ed. The sun was in Eric’s eyes as he saw one of the birds rise over an Amity facade and lazily drift their way. Only—the pelican didn’t look right, somehow. The wings were way longer than they should have been, and there was a large spike rising from the back of its skull. . . .
    “No,” Eric whispered.
    The boat turned and Eric got a better look at the flying creature as it dropped from the sky. It was bigger than he thought at first. Five or ten times bigger.
    This was
no
pelican. In fact, it was not a true creature of the natural world, not anymore.
    As one of the adult InGen Pteranodons screeched and dove directly at them, Eric knew exactly what it was—his nightmare had come to life!

CHAPTER 7

    This was
not
part of the show. And Eric knew it.
    He screamed and struggled to get out of his seat as the full-grown male Pteranodon blurred through the sky, set on a dive-bombing course for the little boat.
    “We’ve gotta get away!” Eric yelled, his fear overtaking him.
    The “captain” of the
Jaws
boat ride hadn’t seen the threat. Bill put his hands out, attempting to stay in character while he tried to calm what he thought was an overexcited young customer. “Hey, don’t worry. I’m a trained professional—we’ll be fine!”
    Then he looked over his shoulder at the water and made a broad, theatrical gulp as the drumming pulse of the
Jaws
theme grew louder and more insistent.

    BLACK PTERANODON
    “Not the shark! Up there, up there!” Eric yelled, jerking his head at the sky as he grabbed the metal bar in his lap. They were trapped. The safety bars held them firmly in place.
    Amanda looked up first—and screamed.
    A couple of people looked up, then laughed and screamed, too, thinking it was all part of the fun. A few saw the real threat as it
cawww
ed a final time and swooped in for its lightning-fast attack.
    It went for Bill, the one person on the boat who could be grabbed and lifted clean off. The actor turned at the sound of the flying reptile’s last shriek and went off balance, slipping on the slick deck. The great rear claws reaching for him missed. Instead, the Pteranodon’s wing struck Bill’s skull and the actor fell over the side, sinking like a stone beneath the water.
    “No!” Eric shouted.
    Everyone saw it now. Panic engulfed the passengers on the doomed little boat as the Pteranodon swung high into the sky like a pen-dulum and turned gracefully to dive at them a second time.
    The water beside the boat churned and Bill exploded from its surface. Gasping and spitting, he stared in wide-eyed horror as the Pteranodon came at him once more. Tearing his gaze away from the terrifying creature, Bill shouted, “The release for the bars! It’s on the right-hand side!”
    Then he dove beneath the water, barely avoiding the grasping claws of the flyer as it skidded like a stone across the blue surface and rose into the sky again.
    Everyone was struggling now, and all the screams were real. Some didn’t believe this was real—
It can’t be happening, not to me
—while others were so terrified they couldn’t form a single thought beyond
Flee, flee, flee!
    “What do we do?” Josh hollered, grabbing Eric’s arm so hard that it hurt. “What do we do?”
    Eric felt paralyzed. He was vaguely aware of his mother digging through her purse with wildly