Then I realized that the screaming I heard in the distance was actually closer than I thought.
“They are fighting,” Sheela said as my own eyes struggled to make sense of the dark shapes fluttering through the moonlight.
“It is the orange birds and the larger green type, like the one that was in this tree,” Trel said.
“Pterodactyl,” I said.
“Whatever,” she replied. “There are hundreds of them. Some are going after the corpses, but others are trying to get into the cave.
As soon as she spoke, I heard a screech tear through the sky above us. It sounded like it was only a foot over our heads, and the three of us ducked.
“They are coming this way,” Sheela said.
“Fuck,” I groaned. “Alright. Everyone inside. We are done for the night. Let’s get something to eat, work on whatever baskets we need, and then see what tomorrow brings us.”
“But we have something to do tonight,” Trel sighed.
“I know, but it will have to wait.” I pushed away from the wall and dropped down to the floor of our camp just as another screech sounded above us. Trel and Sheela quickly followed, and we made haste back to our hut.
By the time we all got inside, the screams sounded like they were right above us.
“What is that?” Kacerie asked with obvious fear painted on her face.
“Two types of flying dinosaurs are fighting above us,” I explained. “We need to stay in here for the rest of the night.”
“They are ruining my planned pregnancy,” Trel growled as she sat down. “I don’t really want to have sex with them screaming above us, but I do suppose these are desperate times.”
“Trel,” I said. “We are going to have to try again tomorrow.”
“What?” she gasped. “Why?”
“Because,” I said as I gestured to the other women in the small hut.
“They can’t watch,” Trel crossed her arms. “I’m not into that.”
“Yeah, uhh no. Well, they can’t go outside. I think we are safe in here, but I don’t want anyone to get attacked.”
“Ugh!” Trel moaned. “Fine, give me a fern so that I might turn it into a--”
“I just used the last of them.” Kacerie frowned as she held up her half-made basket.
“Meeerrawww,” Trel groaned, and her spider legs tapped angrily against the ground. “This is unbelievably frustrating. Victor, I only have a few days of ovulation. Tomorrow you will perform your duties as my mate.”
“Yeah,” I said as I sat down next to her.
“You don’t seem excited enough, nor are you upset enough that we are unable to have sex right now.”
“Wait, you want me both excited and upset at the same time?” I tried not to laugh, but it came out anyway.
“Yes,” she replied seriously.
“I’ll work on that, but now, I’m going to sleep.” I couldn’t do anything about the massive aerial dinosaur battle going on outside, and the sound was extremely annoying, but not sleeping would cause me problems tomorrow.
And we had a lot of shit to do tomorrow.
“You do not want dinner?” Galmine asked me with concern.
“Naw,” I said. “I’m really tired, and we have a lot of work tomorrow.”
“What of Hope?” Sheela asked.
“I doubt that either of the flying dinos will attack her, but there isn’t anything we can do either way. There are hundreds out there, and they’ll tear us into pieces if we get their attention. I’m going to use my ability to make sure she stays calm.” I hadn’t gotten any sense of movement or heard any noise from Hope, but I tried to imagine her just laying down calmly and sleeping through all the racket in the air.
“I will also skip the meal then,” Trel proclaimed. “Victor, you must wrap your arms around me when you sleep. Understood?”
“Uhh, yeah.” Her words surprised me, but I lay out on the floor of our hut and held my arms open for her.
The spider woman let out a soft sigh and then slid down next to me. She pushed her face into my chest, and I felt her long pointy fingers kind of knead into my stomach.
“Arms. Around. Me.” Her voice was a whisper, but I followed her wishes, and she sighed again when she laid the side of her head on my bicep.
“I like your scent,” Trel whispered softly in my ear. “I was foolish to treat you as I once did. Tomorrow I will make it up to you.” She was only wearing her tight silk bra and boy-shorts, and I kind of wished that I’d taken off at least my shirt before lying down. But then again, everyone else was still in the hut, and I noticed Sheela staring at me.
The cat-woman’s golden eyes flashed for half a moment, but then she turned away before I could understand the expression on her face. It almost looked like Sheela was angry, and I realized that we were going to have to talk about our friendship soon. I wasn’t sure if she had feelings for me, but I had them for her, so I figured I needed to man up and say something.
“I will sleep also,” Sheela said over the screams of the dinosaurs fighting above us.
“Same,” Kacerie said. “Although I don’t know how I’ll do it with them screeching. Aren’t you all worried about one of them falling on our hut?”
“We’ll deal with it if it happens,” I said. “No use worrying about it now.”
“You seem to not worry about anything,” Kacerie grunted as she lay down beside Sheela.
“No,” I whispered. “I’m worrying about everything, but focus on what I can fix.”
“I will keep watch while I lay next to Victor.” Galmine wiggled against my back, but Trel was already twitching with the first hints of a deep sleep, and I guessed that the spider-woman was beyond exhausted.
“You okay to lay there without sleeping?” I whispered.
“Yes, I am fine. Please rest, Victor. You will need all your energy tomorrow.”
Galmine didn’t have to offer again, the sensation of Trel in my arms, Galmine against my back, and the combined scent of their bodies were making my eyelids weigh two-hundred pounds.
Sleep came quickly, and I dreamed about riding on the back of a dinosaur larger than a T-Rex.
Chapter 6
I awoke to sunlight piercing through my eyelids like splintery chopsticks. The light was a dark gold in color, and I guessed that it was early dawn. I felt Galmine’s body pressed against my back, and Trel was still unconscious in my arms. I glanced down at her sleeping face with a bit of amazement. We weren’t lovers yet, but that was only because of circumstances outside of our control. Trel had been my antagonist for practically the entire month I’d been in Dinosaurland, but now she snuggled up against my chest peacefully.
I slowly lifted my head to where I remembered Sheela falling asleep on the other side of the small hut. She wasn’t there, but Kacerie was laying with her back to me.
I moved as slowly as I could and untangled my arms from under Trel. She let out a soft sigh when I slid my bicep away from her head, but I used my fingers to lower her down to the ground softly. I untangled her sharp fingers from my shirt and then wiggled out from in-between Galmine and Trel. I was a bit surprised my movements didn’t wake them up, but we were all still struggling against the exhaustion of building this fort, so I was happy that I hadn’t woken them.
Jinx was curled into a ball besides Galmine’s tummy, and he gave me a lazy gaze before he ducked his head down and closed his eyes again. That guy had absolutely zero reasons to be lazy, but I figured he would keep Galmine company while she slept.
I walked out of the hut and prepared myself to witness the devastation of the battle fought over our heads last night.
I wasn’t disappointed.
There were over a dozen corpses of orange birds inside of our walls and a good fifteen larger pterodactyl bodies. Some were impaled on the spiky tips of our walls, some were splayed open next to the corral where we kept Hope, and a smaller orange bird had actually crashed into the roof of our hut. There were bodies everywhere, and where there weren’t bodies, there was blood and orange feathers.