by Dan Thomas
Max looked up and down the clearing. It looked as though there might be a vague track through the trees, there were some broken branches, but that might have been from the heavy storm earlier in the week. He looked at Ticket and shrugged.
She shook her head. “Look.” Ticket crouched down and pointed to a mark on the floor.
Max crouched beside her and looked down at the round impression in the ground. “Tracks. A Stegosaurus?”
“Mm-hm. Well, a type of Stego, if only Chopsticks was here, he’d be able to tell us its color from just the print. And it is just the one. It looks like it’s been wounded. See, the footprints are uneven.” Ticket took a few steps, following the tracks with her finger so that Max could see them more easily. “It must have been split from its herd during an attack. Now it’s an easy target.”
“Man, I feel blind without all of Holic’s Traits.” Max sighed.
Sam put a hand on Max’s arm. “You’re getting there. And this is just a ‘for now’ thing, remember? Now come on, let’s go bag some bigger game.”
“All right. Wait, did you say it was injured? I have Blood Sense, so I might be able to follow it if there’s a blood trail.” Max crouched down and brushed some leaves aside. “Yeah, look, there’s blood splatter there.” Max pointed at a dark red-brown smear on the surface of the mud. As he spotted the bloodstain, he noticed that the tracks Ticket had pointed out became a little sharper. He still couldn’t make out enough detail to make an accurate identification of what had left the tracks, but he could begin to see which way the trail was leading. Max took a couple of steps, hunching over as he scrutinized the tracks. As he spotted more footprints, it became increasingly clear to him which direction the animal had been heading.
Looking ahead, Max could just about make out the trail where the large dino had crashed through the undergrowth.
While he couldn’t yet see how the broken branches and frayed leaves fit into the trail, he could easily see large splatters of fresh blood staining the ground and undergrowth. Max wrinkled his nose as he stood up. It was faint, but he could actually smell the sweet musk of the dinosaur.
“I’m glad all those points in the Primal Tree are paying off,” Ticket smirked. “All right then, lead the way, Murf!” With that, she tossed the sparring stick into a bush and took her spear off her shoulder.
Max practically drooled over the weapon, with its razor obsidian blade, set into a Kousa wood stave, curved Deinonychus claws forming a guard just below the tip, bright feathers hanging from the base, which provided a buff to the weapon.
He grabbed his flint spear from his shoulder and looked down at the plain weapon.
This will all be worth it, he thought to himself. Using worse equipment made everything more difficult for him, which in turn would help him level up faster. He nodded. “Let’s go.”
Max led the way, pausing every so often to search for the trail whenever he lost sight of the footprints and crushed vegetation. He could definitely see that the occasional droplets of blood mixed in with the dirt stuck out more than the other signs, and his sense of smell helped him keep on track.
Pez and Chopsticks had said about how useful Blood Sense was during a hunt, while Max and Ticket had always stuck to Intuition Traits, although that might now change when he went back to Holic.
Max picked up the pace, gaining more confidence in his estimate of where the Stego was heading, he kept slipping on the slick ground as he tried to stay quiet while moving faster.
In the distance, Max heard a cracking sound. “I think that was a branch breaking,” he said quietly.
“Me, too. The trail’s pretty fresh so we should be close.” Ticket slowed down.
Max nodded. “Fresh is the word I’d use.” Max pointed to a steaming pile of dino dung.
Sam wrinkled her nose. “Oh, yeah, that Stego has got to be right around here.”
“I’d forgotten how exciting this was,” Max said.
Sam tilted her head and frowned at him.
“Like, being out on the hunt. It’s been a while since we’ve done something like this, we’ve just been on the grind for so long. And if ever I do get out, it’s with Chopsticks, which is fun, but we end up just mucking around. You’re prepared.”
“Prepared.” She paused, looking up the trail, “I’m going to take that as a compliment.”
“It is a compliment.” Max ran his hand through his hair, which was moist from perspiration and humidity. He was going to just have to bite the bullet. “What’s up, Ticket?”
“Nothing’s up.” Ticket kept her gaze toward the jungle.
“Really? You know I’m a mind reader. Something’s bothering you.”
“It’s not bothering me, it’s just—” She looked down and sighed.
Max braced himself for her to rebuke him, regretting asking.
“It’s just you going to Gyromeda, seeing Jag again, it just brought back some stuff, y’know?”
Max shook his head. “Remember you’re talking to someone who hasn’t dated since high school.”
Sam smirked. “Then where did you get your knack for romantic meals?”
“Call it intuition.” Max chuckled. “Look, if you don’t want to talk...”
“It’s all right.” Ticket cut him off, meeting his eye. “Jag was always a little odd when he was with the Crew, even with me. But in an eccentric way, always looking for different ways of doing things.”
“Sure.” Max nodded. “He could never just do things the conventional way.”
“Yeah, exactly, but it felt like he was different when you were with him earlier.”
“It felt like he was skittish.” Max thought back to how their old friend seemed to have rushed him along while he was visiting.
Sam snapped her fingers. “Exactly. And it was weird that he wouldn’t tell you what was going on, even though he looked like he was in trouble. And then Pez gets mad about the whole thing?” She sighed. “I guess I just wanted to ask, do you think I did the right thing when we broke up?”
Max rested the butt of his spear on his foot, looking up to the dots of sky visible through the canopy. “I know that it was a rough ending for you two, and we all miss him, but at the end of the day, Ticket, it was as much his decision as yours. In some ways, it felt like he pushed for it. Still, he knows that we’re here if he needs us, and whatever trouble he might be in, he got himself there. Jag’s perfectly capable of handling sticky situations.”
“What about Pez, though?”
Max held up his hands. “You know as well as I do how little it takes for Pez to hold a grudge. I wonder if he saw Jag leaving as him bailing on us, and he took it worse than we thought. But then again, he hasn’t mentioned anything to me, so I’m sure it’s fine. He’s probably already forgotten about the whole thing already.”
Sam gave a half-smile. “As much as I hate to admit it, I think you’re right. I should stop worrying about it.” She let out a deep breath. “Come on, we’re going to lose our lead if we’re not careful.” She ducked down and moved to the shelter of the trees to the side of the trail, returning to a stalking position.
Max followed, walking quietly with his spear poised in front of him as they crept up on their prey. Ticket kept glancing across to the trail, confident enough in her direction that she didn’t have to scrutinize it.
“I see it,” Max whispered. Through a break in the trees, he could see a bulky shape ambling through the thick bushes with its narrow-beaked head. Its pale green and beige scales suited to the plains and open forests stuck out against the pallet of darker greens. Large flat plates colored red and orange adorned its back, ending in spikes at the end of its tail. It wasn’t big enough to be an actual Stegosaurus, it was one of its more common smaller subspecies.
As it turned and lifted its head to scent the air, Max could see a large gash running down its side, and what looked like teeth marks on its shoulder. No wonder it was here in the thick of the trees, an injury like that would make it difficult to defe
nd against the large predators that roamed the open lands.
“It hasn’t seen us,” Ticket whispered. “If we split up and try to flank him, one of us should get a good shot.”
“Sounds good.” Max nodded.
Max went right and followed a thick veil of vines that shielded him from view. Every few steps, he peeked through the thicket to check that the creature hadn’t sensed them and fled.
Circling the feeding dinosaur, Max crept closer, aiming to be within throwing distance of the beast’s neck. Besides glancing between the ground and his prey, he kept an eye out for Ticket. But his Crewmate was practically invisible through the trees, having honed her character’s stealth skills during her time in Primeva.
Murf was not so stealthy. He could hear himself moving despite his best effort to step softly. Wishing that he had invested in a stealth perk or two more, Max felt his foot snag while he was distracted and he stumbled forward, landing face-first in a leafy bush. The sound of branches breaking wasn’t loud against the background noise, but it was loud enough. Max looked up from the ground as the dino snapped its eyes toward him, before hauling itself around and crashing through the trees.
“Damn it,” Max cursed as he got to his feet, swapping out his spear for his bow, and rushed after the Stego-like dinosaur.
Twenty feet to his left, Ticket caught his eye as she ran through the jungle with lithe movements, jumping over shrubs and ducking around thick tree trunks as she quickly caught up with the limping beast.
Max activated Dash; his legs began pumping faster as he picked up speed. He made sure to pick his feet up high over the roots covering the ground, aware of how easily he could trip over the cluttered terrain at the higher speed.
Up ahead, the Stego trampled a swath through the jungle as it ran headlong through the plants. They needed to take it down before it could find an open area where it had room to use its spiked tail to its full potential to fend them off.
Max reached back and awkwardly grabbed an arrow from his quiver, putting it to his bowstring. He slowed to a walk as he brought the bow up, unable to aim steadily while moving fast.
The Stego continued to plow through the jungle as Max took a breath, held it for a split second, and let go of the arrow.
The arrow flew through the jungle, taking out a leaf that got in its way before it hit the animal. Though hit might be too generous. The arrow barely grazed the dinosaur’s flank and did nothing to slow its pace.
Luckily, he had plenty of arrows. Max pushed himself back into a run, using his stamina to close the distance with the beast before he slowed and took aim at the dinosaur once more.
This time the arrow sank deep into one of the beast’s legs. It bellowed, slowing to a limping walk as it breathed heavily, slogging on through the jungle.
Max dashed again, tearing through the trampled undergrowth to close the distance. Ticket swerved around a bush and joined him, running by his side, but making no attempt to take down the animal.
This was his kill. This was part of his training.
Max unslung his spear with his free hand and held it above his shoulder as he ran toward the beast.
Sam swerved off to the side as TOD leaped off of her shoulder and flew toward the injured dino, his chrome body reflecting the dappled sunlight as he flew up above it, then swooped down at the Stego. As TOD dived, the dino snapped its beak-like jaw at the little dragon, trying to ward it off.
“Get it while it’s distracted!” Ticket yelled.
Max ran to the right as TOD darted down at the dinosaur and then changed the angle of his wings so that he flew upward. The dinosaur raised its head and snapped again at TOD, leaving his soft throat exposed. Max aimed, hopping to a stop, and threw his spear.
His movement caught the Stego’s attention and it turned to look at him, spear slicing across the top of its thick neck rather than piercing it.
The Stego stopped in its tracks, shifting its bulk sideways toward Max. It’s spike-covered tail whipped around at Max, who reacted quickly, using Sidestep to spring backward, just out of reach of the spikes. Before Max could grab his bow again, the beast strafed toward Max, sweeping its tail in a wide arc.
Max threw himself away, landing hard on the ground before scrambling to his feet, darting behind a tree trunk.
Not wanting to lose the kill, Max reequipped his bow and fitted an arrow, drawing the string back as he peeked from behind the tree.
From his left, Ticket lunged forward and jabbed her spear into the dinosaur’s thick hide, and quickly pulled back as the Stego stomped around to face the new threat.
TOD followed up on Ticket’s attack by diving down from where he had perched in a tree branch overhead and bounced off of the top of the dinosaur’s head. Max saw his chance and aimed. Pulling the bowstring back, he let it go and watched the arrow pierce the tough scaly hide and bury itself into the dinosaur’s neck.
The beast grumbled as it took its last rasping breath and collapsed onto its side.
“Well, Murf, didn’t you do well.” Ticket twirled her spear around as she stepped back into the clearing.
“Yeah, Murf did do well.” Max grinned as he spoke about himself in the third person. “But he wouldn’t have if it wasn’t for his trusty sidekick...”
“Don’t get ahead of yourself now.” Ticket chuckled. “We can go for another round of sparring if you need a reminder of who’s helping who.”
“I think I’m good.” He looked down at the beast on the ground. “I’ll call back to camp and get Pez or Chopsticks to bring Taz so we can load the carcass onto it.”
Sam snorted. “You might just as well put a direct call into Pez since Chopsticks will probably have something very urgent to suddenly take care of.”
Max nodded in agreement. “You never know. He seems pretty committed, and you know Pez will complain if he has to take a break from fortifying the base.”
Chopsticks had been preoccupied the last couple of days, more so than usual. With all of his training in any free moment he had, Max hadn’t had a chance to ask his friend if he was okay or if he was doing something he shouldn’t be.
If he was doing something he shouldn’t be doing, Max had a sneaking suspicion as to what that something might be.
With a thought, Max opened the commlink to their Jabber chat, a microphone icon appearing at the very corner of his vision. “Hey, guys, we need a hand to carry back a Stego,” Max spoke to the rest of the crew.
“Uh, I’m just finishing up laying some more bricks. I can come over once I’m done?” Pez’s voice said in his ear.
“Okay, thanks, Pez,” Max replied.
“On it!” Chopsticks said hurriedly.
“I didn’t think you were at the base,” Pez replied.
“I’m just coming back now,” Chopsticks said breathlessly.
“Are you running?” Pez asked.
“Nearly back,” Chopsticks said evasively. “I’ll see you in ten minutes, Max.”
Max looked up to see Ticket staring at him with one eyebrow arched. “Something you need to tell me about, Max?”
“No.” Max shook his head and put his most innocent expression on his face. “Why do you think that?”
“No reason.” Ticket tapped her shoulder and TOD glided down from the canopy, landing lightly on her armored shoulder before tucking his wings in. As his head nodded, he looked like a dozing bird. “Just... Just don’t screw this up.”
“We’re not going to screw it up.” Max stumbled over his words. “By we, I mean any of us.”
“Sure.” Ticket looked at him levelly for a second. “That’ll do for today, I’ve got a few things to take care of. Are you okay waiting for Chopsticks here?”
Max nodded. “I’ll be fine as long as Chopsticks gets here before any scavenging Carnotaurs do.”
“Well, you’ll just have to defend your kill. I’ll see you later.” She gave a wave and turned away.
“Okay.” Max watched Ticket as she jogged through the jungle and disap
peared out of sight. He let out a deep breath. “You better not drop us in it, Chopsticks,” he muttered.
He began to look around the scene of the battle, searching for his spear and arrows while he waited for Chopsticks to arrive.
After finding his equipment, he unhooked his axe from his belt and began hacking up the carcass, starting with taking the thick legs off. His flint axe struggled at first to cut through the tough scaly hide as he worked his way around the joint. It would need sharpening again soon, which would involve using a pressure flaker to nibble away and thin the edge, which was made possible with his Retouch Trait. Otherwise, he’d be making another axe head.
It didn’t take long before he was sweating in the humidity as he clambered around the carcass while he worked.
Before long, he had cut through the fatty meat, seeing bone through the butchered flesh. His axe hit the bone with a hollow sound, bouncing back off.
“This is going to take some getting through,” Max muttered as he brought the axe up again.
***
Max wiped the sweat from his brow with the back of his hand as he looked at the partially dressed kill. It had been slow going cutting up such a large carcass with low-quality tools, but he had managed to make more manageable cuts of meat. The wide bony plates lay in a pile to the side with the tail spikes next to them.
It was only now that he had stopped that Max could hear loud rustling coming from the jungle. Turning toward the sound, he squinted into the dim light under the canopy for the source of the sounds, unsure whether it would be friend or foe.
“Looks like you’ve been busy!” Chopsticks called from the jungle.
“And I’ve heard you’ve been busy, too!” Max called back.
Chopsticks cut out of the jungle and onto the trail made by the stampeding Stego earlier. He sat atop their Edmontonia, a seven-foot-long dinosaur that stood just under head height at its bony shoulder. Its four stocky legs supported a thickly armored body with stubby spiked horns jutting out down its side, a narrow head at one end, and a long tail at the other. It was the closest to the coveted Ankylosaur that they’d managed to come across.
