“Hmmm,” Sheela said, and she suddenly looked a bit nervous.
“You could test that now,” Trel said.
“Yeah, but if Hope throws Sheela and then bolts, we might be out our only parasaur. It will be better for us to test it with a second one, so we don’t risk it.
“It is a good plan,” Sheela said quickly, and I guessed that the powerful cat-woman might have been a bit scared of riding one of the dinos by herself.
“Yeah, okay. I think we’ve got a short list of shit we have to do,” I said as I ran through them in my head. “Sheela and I have to go get water at the stream and then make a few runs for clay. Then we need to look for another parasaur or other rideable dino that can help us build the camp. While we are out, we’ll look for some sort of salt lick and more leaves to make cordage and baskets. Then our main focus will be on cutting down bigger trees and building the new wall. Sheela, did I miss anything?”
“No, Victor,” she replied.
“You forgot about your job with me tonight and helping me make the platforms tomorrow,” Trel said.
“Ahh yeah. Okay.” I felt my cheeks flush, and I tried to move my hips casually so that my hard-on wouldn’t be noticed by the spider-woman. Trel was all sorts of scary, but who was I kidding? She was also dangerously beautiful, and I knew I’d get over the legs coming out of her back as soon as we were having sex.
As long as she didn’t kill me afterward.
“Trel should also help us with the saddle for Hope so that we can carry more water,” Sheela offered.
“I know,” Trel said with a sigh. “I’m also going to fix the door and then think about the rainwater collection idea. I didn’t pay much attention when Galmine made all the pots, but I’ll look at her process this time and see if I can find some inspiration.”
“Great,” I said. “So Galmine and Kacerie will work on pots, spears, arrows, and baskets-- hey I have an idea.” The thought jumped in my head and I got excited. “They make traps to catch fish, I don’t really know how they are made, but I’m sure we can figure them out.”
“Traps to catch fish?” Galmine asked as she turned the meat over the fire. The smell of turkey was filling the hut, and my stomach let out a low rumble.
“Ahh, I know this one,” Kacerie said as she raised her hand. “One of my boyfriends was a commercial fisher, and he used traps.” The pink-haired woman made a motion with her hands so they were in a “V” shape. “There is a funnel basket that goes into a larger basket. The fish swim down the funnel toward a bit of food or something, and then they come out inside of the larger basket, they aren’t smart enough to swim back out of the smaller hole.”
“Okay, that’s your job when Galmine shows you how to put together the baskets.”
“I also need shoes,” Kacerie said as she pointed down her tight jeans toward her bare feet.
“Hmmm,” I said. “We could probably weave something with the stuff we used for the baskets.”
“Ugh,” Kacerie groaned. “They are going to look terrible, I can already imagine them.”
“You could just go barefoot,” I said with a shrug.
“Those heels I took off? They are ten thousand credit shoes.” Kacerie moaned and put her face in her hands. “I can’t believe I’m here. This is a nightmare.”
“Yeah, but you could be dead,” I sighed, and the woman turned her light blue eyes to me.
“Yeah… Uhhh. Look, Victor, I haven’t thanked you yet. Sorry I’ve been kind of a bitch. I’d be monster shit right now if it weren’t for your bravery. I want to go home, but until we find out how to do that, I’ll help however I can.”
“Thanks, good to hear,” I said as I nodded along with Galmine, Sheela, and Trel. Her attitude seemed to have taken a 180 degree turn, but I wasn’t going to worry about it right now. I had too much shit to do and not enough time to do it in.
“The food is done!” Galmine exclaimed as she finished turning the spit. We had some clay plates stacked in a corner, and she ripped pieces of the steaming bird off to give to us.
“Doesn’t that hurt your hand?” Kacerie asked with what sounded like a mixture of amazement and disgust.
“No,” Galmine answered. “I have thick skin. Here, this is yours. Welcome to our family.” She passed the plate to Kacerie and the pink-haired woman glanced down at it.
“Something wrong?” Sheela asked her after she took her plate from Galmine.
“Uhhh, nothing,” Kacerie answered.
“Then why aren’t you eating?” Trel asked after she finished chewing on her first bite of food.
“It’s uhhh. Nothing.” Kacerie still hadn’t looked up from the food.
The rest of us ate in silence for a few moments. The meat really did need some salt, but I was starving, and I only gave each piece a few cooling puffs of my breath before I shoved them in my mouth.
“You still aren’t eating,” Galmine said with a pouty face. “Do you not like it?”
“I ahhh. It’s just dirty.” Kacerie sighed.
“Dirty?” Galmine’s face formed an “O” shape.
“Yeah, you picked it up with your fingers. Sorry. I’m kind of a germaphobe. I didn’t see you wash your hands or anything.”
“Ohhh!” Galmine said with a delighted sigh. “You don’t have to worry, my hands are clean.”
“Oh, okay. Thanks.” Kacerie carefully took a small piece of the cooked bird meat and then pushed it into her mouth. She chewed a few times, smiled, and then swallowed before grabbing the next piece. Soon she was tearing into the food and letting out soft moans of pleasure.
“Glad you like it!” Galmine said after Kacerie was almost done with her piece.
“Yeah, sorry I thought your hands weren’t clean. I’m embarrassed that I accused you of--.”
“Oh, don’t worry,” Galmine said. “I washed them last night before Victor and I made love. They are very clean.”
“Excuse me?” Kacerie’s mouth froze mid-chew.
“Yes,” Galmine said proudly. “I didn’t want to get any dirt on Victor’s body, so I washed them last night.”
“But… you didn’t… uhhh.” Kacerie’s face had paled, and she looked over to me. “Wash them after?”
“We only have half a jug of water left. I didn’t want to waste it on my hands. Besides, Victor’s body was yummy.”
“Galmine,” I groaned. “You have to wash your hands before you start cooking.”
“Oh? I do? I’ve never done it before.”
“I have to go,” Kacerie said as she set down her plate, turned to the curtain of the hut, and then dashed out.
“Ohh, she didn’t like it,” Galmine sighed as we heard gagging in the distance.
“I would like a second helping,” Sheela said as she held out her plate toward Galmine for more.
“Meeeh,” Trel said with a shrug of her shoulders. “She’ll be fine. Besides, I’m looking forward to tasting more of Victor.”
Chapter 3
After we finished eating, Sheela, Trel, and I exited the hut and worked to clean up the bodies of the raptors. The spider woman asked us to leave the one I had impaled against the wall so that she could use her digestive poison to prepare it for her children. I didn’t really want to know the details of how her process worked, so I busied myself with hauling the other three bodies outside of the gate with Sheela.
“The orange birds seem happy that we have left,” Sheela said after we dragged the first raptor body out of the door. I turned to look where she was and saw a few dozen perched on the ramp outside of what used to be our cave. They were about a hundred yards away from us, and they hadn’t seemed to care about our fort.
“Think they will eat the corpses of these raptors?” I asked as I looked down at our burden.
“They might, but I worry about getting too close to them.”
“Yeah,” I said as I glanced back to our walls. The corpses of the other raptors we had killed were still there, and I debated on our course of action. We didn’t want to be anywhere near these things when they started to rot. The smell would be terrible, but it would also attract other scavengers that might be dangerous.