“They just don’t treat me nice. Why is it so hard to understand?”
“Alright, we need to get the clay. Get off.” I pointed down the side of Bob and she slid off after I grabbed the leaf basket and set foot on the beach.
“You don’t see it since you aren’t around all the time,” she said as I set the basket down near the clay and started scooping some in.
“What do they say?” I asked as I tried to keep my face impassive.
“Well, it’s mostly Trel, a bit Sheela and Galmine, but Trel is mean. She thinks she is in charge and wants me to do all the work she doesn’t want to do.”
“Like what?” I asked. “Can you give me specific examples?”
“We are making pots, and she tells me that I have to make them faster and better. Then she reminds me how amazing you are every two minutes.”
“Trel is a bit critical, but she means well.” I shrugged and scooped more clay.
“You just need to see it. You aren’t there. When I just left, she told me that I’d messed up one of the pots, and I didn’t.”
“What does Galmine say?” I asked, and I started to feel a bit like I was one of those guys on that Bachelor TV show where the house full of women were talking shit about each other so they could get a rose.
“About what?” Kacerie asked.
“Galmine said something to you when you made a jug?” I specified.
“She didn’t say anything. I was talking about Trel.”
“But you said that Galmine was also mean to you.” I scooped another hunk of clay into the basket and turned my head around to check the beach. Bob didn’t look fidgety, but I still wanted to stay alert.
“Not as mean as Trel, but still mean.”
“Can you give me an example?” I was trying really hard not to roll my eyes.
“Just the stuff she says.”
“Galmine? Are you absolutely positive that Galmine says mean stuff to you?” I stared into Kacerie’s blue eyes.
“Yes, they are all mean to me.” She fluttered her eyelashes. “Look, Victor. I appreciate you saving me, I really do. You are handsome and capable. Strong and smart. I just can’t deal with the other women in the camp. They won’t leave me alone.”
“So what is the solution?” I was trying my best not to get mad at her, but I wondered if some of my anger came through, since she waved her hands and kneeled on the ground next to me.
“Nothing major! It will be easy! I just need my own hut, and maybe a pass from you for some of the work stuff. I’m just not suited to making pots or cutting animals or anything. I’m fine making cordage. I’ll just do that all day while I stay in my own hut.”
“Your own hut?” I did my best not to laugh. “You know we don’t have room for that.”
“You have Hope inside the walls, just kick her out and then build me a new hut in her spot.”
I took a deep breath and tried to think of a correct response. Part of me wanted to tell her that she could go fuck herself, but that was just going to strain our relationship more. In reality, I needed her, but not as much as she needed the three women I’d come to love and me.
“Kacerie, I have no problem building you a new hut, but we have a lot of shit to do before we get there. Once we have the new walls built, we’ll have plenty of room.”
“But that’s going to take us six weeks,” she moaned. “I need my own place now.”
“Sorry, we can’t always get what we want.” I shrugged and then put the last scoop of clay in the basket.
“That’s bullshit,” she snapped angrily. “The other women get what they want because they sleep with you.”
“Ahhh, no,” I said as I stood up with the filled basket. “No one gets what we want, or we’d all be home. Everyone is working their ass off to survive. You need to step up your contribution if you want special treatment.”
“Oh, I get it,” she said. “When you say contribution, you really mean that I need to start fucking you also.”
“No,” I growled as I walked past her. “That came out wrong. Hold on, let me put this on Bob.” I tied the basket on the parasaur’s saddle.
“You don’t need to explain, the men from your planet are the same as on mine. Here is the thing, Victor, I’m willing to do what I need to do. I just don’t want you to think that--”
“Stop,” I interrupted her as I turned around. “You’ve got me wrong. You are beautiful, but I don’t really care about having sex with you. Galmine and Trel keep me happy. I don’t really give a shit about how you think the other women are treating you, or how unfair you think everything is. You’d be dead now if it weren’t for me. Now, that doesn’t mean you owe me your life, but it does mean you need to stop whining and just work. You haven’t contributed anything useful to our group since you got here. If anything, you’ve just cost us more time because we’ve had to teach you shit instead of just doing it ourselves.”
“What?” she hissed. “I’ve done plenty in the camp that no one else has done.”
“Like?” I asked.
“Well, I put up with you and Galmine and Trel just having sex all the time. I’m working when you three are using the hut.”
“Fucking shit you are stupid,” I sighed and rubbed my hands over my face.
“Excuse me?” she gasped. “What did you just say?”
“You are stupid, and I’m sick of you. You keep talking shit about my friends. I saved your ass and then brought you into our home. Now all you do is whine when we ask you to help us and then complain when we use our room to have sex.”
“I can’t believe you are calling me stupid. If I had my Lance ready, I’d--”
“What? You’d kill me?” I laughed and shook my head. “I risked my life to save you because you had that ability. Now you threaten me with it. That sucks.”
“You are treating me like a second rate citizen. I’m very important in my community. My salon is booked three months out and--”
“I don’t care,” I sighed as I climbed up on top of Bob. I suddenly felt exhausted, and for half a moment I missed my tiny apartment, my Playstation, my Xbox, my cheap ramen noodles, and my shitty job. The sensation only lasted a few moments though, and then I focused on the shit I needed to do next. We had to survive, and I needed everyone on my team pulling at the rope as hard as they could.
“Wait, where are you going?” Kacerie asked when I spun Bob around to point toward the distant herd of parasaurs.
“I’m going to go tame one of those dinos,” I said. “Then I’m heading back to camp.”
“Okay, I need to get on.” She stepped toward Bob, but I turned my head down to look at her.
“No,” I said. “You aren’t coming.” My heart was slamming in my chest, and I felt my stomach twist when the beautiful woman’s face paled.
“What?” she gasped. “Why? I’ll die out here if you--”
“Because you just said you’d use your Lance on me.”
“No! I didn’t say that. Victor, stop joking around. You can’t leave me here.”
“I can,” I said with a shrug. “You aren’t helping us, and now I’m worried that you are going to try and kill us once your Lance powers up. Sorry, I have three people I care about, and I need to protect them and myself. Good luck to you, Kacerie.”
“I was joking! I’m not going to use it on you. Please! Don’t-- Victor! No!”
I had tapped my heels to Bob’s flanks and the large parasaur started jogging forward on his hind legs. Kacerie’s screams became more frantic when I was about fifty yards away, but I didn’t turn back to look at her.
“Fuck,” I sighed as I tried to force my clenched stomach to relax. Leaving Kacerie out here was pretty much the same as killing her, and I struggled with the decision. Her Lance ability was incredibly powerful, and the woman seemed capable of working hard, but she just didn’t want to. I wasn’t that skilled at understanding women, but the way Kacerie spoke hinted at her personality. She was trying to manipulate me against Trel, Galmine,
and Sheela. I wasn’t going to put up with it.
Surviving was going to be too difficult without everyone cooperating. I had to worry about building a fort, finding food and water, protecting everyone from dinosaurs, and then whatever other tribal threat might be out there.
I couldn’t afford for Kacerie to try and poison us with her words and actions.
But damn it, we really did need a lot of help. The thought of just the four of us again felt like a step backward.
Her screams faded with the wind, and I pushed Bob a little faster so that I’d put more distance between us. The group of parasaurs was in almost the same spot I had tamed Bob, and I circled the shore of the lake so I could make my way toward them. It meant that I was almost on the other side of the small lake as the fingers, and I saw Kacerie’s pink hair flutter in the breeze as she kneeled on the distant shore. The sight was a bit heartbreaking, but it would have been more heartbreaking if she’d killed Trel, or Sheela, or Galmine, or me with her Lance.
There were only six parasaurs in this group. My Eye-Q identified one of them as male, but I really didn’t need my eye computer to do that. The male had a bright shade of red on his underbelly that was more colorful than the females. He was also a good foot or two taller at the shoulders and much bulkier. This male was actually larger than my steed, so I approached the pack carefully.
“Alright, Bob, who should we adopt?” I whispered as my eyes roamed over the pack. Most of the females crept closer to the male as we approached, and I realized this might be a bit harder riding on Bob than on Hope. The other parasaurs hadn’t seemed to care that a small female was in their midst, but the larger male was causing them some concern.
I ordered Bob to move a little closer to the group, so that I was about thirty feet from the closest female, and the guardian male let out a low throaty toot that was most definitely a warning.
“Ahh shit,” I said as I stopped Bob from moving any closer. “I think we are gonna be in trouble if we go any closer. Maybe it would be worth fighting if you were bigger than that other guy, but I think you might lose in a brawl. What do you think?”
Bob let out a toot that sounded pretty concerned, and I puzzled through our different options. It might be better to come back on Hope, and I would have to make another trip for water, but I’d just want to bring Bob for that anyway since he could carry more jugs. I could also just make a play for one of the closer females. The male might get mad and charge, but I could then try to tame him. I had only planned on bringing back one more parasaur, but two would be fine. It was just more risky, especially since I didn’t really understand how my Tame ability worked. Was there a reset on it? Could I only use it so many times a day, or week, or month? Would it not work on a male that was angry with me because I took one of his females? I thought about another man trying to take Trel, Galmine, or Sheela away from me by force, and the hypothetical scenario made my stomach clench.
Yeah, this fucker was going to get mad if I took away one of his women, but then I got an idea that struck me as all sorts of genius.
“Hey girl,” I said to one of the closest females. “Why don’t you come over here and say hi? I’m not gonna hurt you. The parasaur I was talking to had moved away from us a bit, but she got curious when I spoke and took a few steps toward us. Now she was about thirty feet away, and I made some soft cooing sounds in an effort to calm her.
“That’s okay girl, you are so beautiful. I love your black dots and brown streaks. Did you just take a bath today? Your scales look fabulous.” She stepped a bit closer with every sentence I carefully whispered, and I started to feel a bit more confidence in my plan.
“Do you like getting scratched?” I asked as I turned Bob to the side so I could reach her. “I’ll be happy to scratch your chin. Come on over here.” I wiggled my fingers and remembered Trel’s giggles.
The female stared at me for a few dozen seconds as if she was pondering my sincerity. She had light brown eyes with swirls of green in them. Her coloring was a little darker than Hope’s and she was about fifty percent larger.
I wanted to say something to coax her forward, but I held my tongue and just kept contact with her eyes. Just as I was about to whisper something to her, she crept forward with her head down a bit, and she nuzzled her massive head under my outstretched hand.
“Awww. What a good girl,” I whispered as I petted her. My Eye-Q gave me an update that she was tamed, and I felt a sigh of relief escape my lips.
She let out a happy toot as I continued to pet her, and then I scratched more up above her eyes. This girl was definitely a lover, and she actually closed her eyes when I moved my other hand around so I could pet her neck.
“I’m going to climb on your back now,” I said after I’d touched her for almost a minute. “Then you are gonna show me your man, okay?” I stood up from Bob’s saddle and imagined the female moving a bit closer to me. The distant male let out a warning toot, but I quickly scurried onto the back of the female and then commanded her to step away from Bob. She did so, and then I lay over her spine while I ordered her to move back toward her male.
The bigger male let out another toot as we approached, but this one sounded a bit less hostile than the first two he had issued. He’d actually turned away from the female I tamed, so I urged her to continue approaching. Soon we were right up against his left flank, and I reached out my hand to touch him.
“Hey, buddy. How’s it going?” I whispered as I patted his side. He was standing knee deep in the water, and I saw a fish as big as a crocodile from my world swim between his massive tree trunk legs.
The male didn’t answer, of course, but I just kept petting him. “Listen, buddy, I could really use your help. Can you come back to my camp? I’ll bring your girlfriend with us, but we also have Bob and Hope that you can play with. What do you say?”
The male let out a low toot, but it was a tenor to Bob’s baritone voice.
“Is that a yes?” I asked. “I’ll make sure you get plenty of food and water. What do you say?”
He didn’t move while I petted him, and I counted the seconds while my heart slammed in my chest. I felt a lot more confident with my taming ability after Hope, Bob, and the new female, but this guy could just shake his torso and fling me off his girl as if I was a gnat.
I’d been petting him nonstop as I spoke, but the tame message hadn’t appeared in my Eye-Q after a few minutes. I realized that my attempt hadn’t worked, so I let out a soft sigh and stopped petting his side.
“Well, I still wanted to offer, thanks for not attacking me--” The male surprised me by shifting his weight a bit so that he leaned into the female. He let out a long saxophone sounding note, and I reached my hand up to stroke his side again. My action made him huff with pleasure, and then the notice that I had tamed him flashed on my Eye-Q.
“Yessss!” I whispered as I patted him with a bit more gusto. “You aren’t going to--”
TAME: LEVEL 3 has been reached.
The words scrolled across my vision with a flashing brilliance. I didn’t feel any different from the level up, but I had to clench my jaw to keep from shouting out my joy. Would I be able to tame trikes with level 3? I couldn’t wait to find out, and I wished I’d thought about taming the two parasaurs when I had been at the lake this morning.
“Alright,” I said as I patted the male a few more times. “I need names for you two. I’ve got Bob and Hope. Maybe I need someone else in the entertainment business.” I tried to think of any married couples that sang or acted together and then let loose with a belt of laughter when I thought of one.
“You’re Sonny,” I said as I patted the male, “and you are Cher. This is awesome.” The two parasaurs let out toots that actually seemed to harmonize, and I chuckled some more.
“Alright, Cher, take me back over to Bob. His saddle makes him a bit easier to ride, so I’ll sit on him while you two follow me home.”
Cher followed my orders, and I jumped back on the saddle Trel had made. Th
e three parasaurs sniffed each other for a few seconds to get to know each other, and then I twisted Bob back around so we could all walk out of the lake. Sonny and Cher followed me and felt unbridled excitement course through my body.
I was eventually going to have a dinosaur army.
My imagination filled with thoughts of me controlling dinosaurs like some sort of real-time strategy game. I’d be able to ride them into battle or command them from the back of a massive brontosaurus. Hell, maybe I’d get some sort of massive flying bird that I could sit upon while it hovered in the air above my minions. I’d be able to organize them into squads based on their speed, armor, and attacking style. No one would be able to conquer us because I’d control this entire planet.
My world domination thoughts came to a screeching halt when my eyes saw something moving in the jungle back near Kacerie.
The pink-haired woman was still kneeling on the shore of the lake with her face in her hands. The sight made my heart a bit heavy, and I’d planned on taking my three parasaurs out of the valley through another route, so I didn’t have to give her the cold shoulder again, but the movement in the jungle beside her made me reconsider my choice.
It looked somewhat like a raptor, but had a bit longer neck. It was hiding in the jungle and staring at Kacerie.
Part of me knew I was sentencing Kacerie to death. I didn’t want to kill the woman, but I couldn’t risk her not pulling her weight in the camp, especially after she hinted at using her Lance on me. However, that didn’t mean I wanted her to get eaten by dinosaurs right now. I still wanted to defend women.
“Let’s go!” I growled to the three parasaurs as I kicked Bob’s flank. My mount surged forward across the sand like a rocket ship, and I had to lean forward over his spine to keep the sudden gust of wind from pushing me off the saddle.
Damn, Bob was really fucking fast.
But the creature in the jungle some sixty yards from Kacerie was way closer than me, and I saw it poke its head out of the foliage. It looked kind of like a raptor, only its skull had two long humps on top and its build was leaner. It had white and cream colored feathers instead of green, but as Bob raced forward, I saw that it was actually way bigger than the deinonychus raptors we’d been fighting for the last few days. This stalking dino’s head was probably even with my shoulder, and I guessed was about the size of a small pony, instead of a large dog.
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