NOVEL NEXT Chapter 25: Love, Hate, and Allosaurus Fragilis
This has been an eventful day for Jimmy, and his two cousins. He had expected a lot of things to go wrong the moment they left the comforts of their Cavern, however, the silhouette of trouble that unraveled on them in just half-an-hour, was unprecedented!
Jimmy thought about today's troubles, or battles, and figured out their troubles had a culprit; Anna.
Sure he clumsily lured in a huge crocodile, but he wouldn't have gotten that close to the river, if it wasn't for Anna's curiosity. She brought them here, because she wanted to dissect a Giant Millipede.
Inwardly, he admired how curious she was about the world, but the risks of following her around were outweighing the pros. Curiosity could in fact kill the cat.
If it wasn't for Nechi, both of them would be dead right now. No doubt.
Jimmy was irritated with Anna for a moment, especially since she seemed unapologetic about everything that happened, but he couldn't stay mad at her for long. He remembered struggling to breathe just minutes ago, on the count of how amusing Anna and Nechi were when they talked about bugs and sex, which fixed his mood rather fast.
"Okay, guys." Anna spoke, calling for attention. "We're done here, so let's catch up with the rest of the hunters."
"Are you kidding?" Nechi asked, and she was still a bit moody. "We already killed a water dinosaur. I mean, it's not so tasty, but this is two weeks of food right here. We did our job, more than what was expected of us, actually."
Furthermore, she said, "But never mind that. We gotta stay here, and make sure other predators don't eat our water dinosaur. The hunters should return before night time."
"Crocodile, Nechi, please call it a crocodile, not a water dinosaur." Anna pleaded.
She didn't want to be rude, but she was getting sick of the simple names her tribe used to describe the world around them. Every poorly described name felt like a nail in her head.
"Weird name, but okay." Nechi nodded.
The atmosphere between the two of them was dense, for a number of reasons. Their emotions were metaphorically scrambled across the edges of the river, where much of their bad mood originated from.
However, the both of them were mature enough to not throw more fuel into the fire, regardless of how unapologetic they were about the way they handle their business. They started respecting each other's boundaries, at least until their moods started to improve. Their effort was subtle, but effective, and it was especially effective after about an hour.
The two sisters even started joking around at some point, and for once their sense of humor was on the same wavelength. Jokes kept rolling out of their tongues, one after the other.
"I can't believe we killed the bug with his penis! Haha!" Anna laughed out loud. "It sounds so ridiculous, doesn't it?"
"Yes, hehe." Nechi giggled. "You know what else is ridiculous? Our little warrior here thought it was a good idea to pee in the river! Hahaha! He almost got us killed!"
As the two of them bursted out laughing enough to scare birds away, Jimmy watched them, and picked up on the cons of dating two women at the same time. Two women who were also sisters. He was shocked by their audacity.
Having sex with them was amazing, yes, but there was always the risk of them mocking him, together. He understood that now.
"Quit that, I was not peeing in the river." He tried to defend himself. "I was hiding from you guys so I could laugh."
"Maybe he was pleasing himself in front of the crocodile!" Nechi hollered.
The laughter that broke out afterwards, almost knocked the sisters off of their feet. They couldn't breathe at some point.
Jimmy understood that he couldn't defend himself anymore, so he gave up. Besides, in his own perverted way, he knew how to get his revenge. Nechi was easy to break, on the count of her raging femininity and crave for Jimmy's penis. The equation with her was simple.
As for Anna, he still hasn't cashed in the reward that she promised him earlier. He planned to cash out tonight, and break her defensive walls, one minute after the other.
Was this the best way to react to being teased? No. However, the relationship between the three of them was already messed up, so he was playing with the cards that he was given.
Anyway, the teasing stopped eventually. They were in a good mood now, and were just looking to get back home as soon as they could.
The day felt long, since they had to sit around doing nothing until the hunters returned, but they powered through. They had to.
Dusk was about three hours away now, and this was when they started to worry. Apex predators were generally nocturnal, they hunted in the night, and with the group's home being over four hours away, they already were behind schedule.
"What's happening, Nechi? Why aren't the hunters back yet?" Anna asked.
"I don't know," She answered honestly. "They're late. It's unusual, but I'm sure they're fine."
"Will we be fine, though?" Jimmy pressured. "It's hard enough to survive during the day. Imagine how horrifying these big bastards can be at night."
"Jimmy's right," Anna said. "Maybe it's time we cut our losses, and grab however much meat we can carry? We already cooked some croc-meat for ourselves, we're full, so we can give the meat we'll carry to the rest of the tribe."
This was a tough decision, and considering their different stances, it might take them about half an hour to reach a decision. Mother nature didn't care to wait for them, however, it didn't care about their feelings, though.
A dinosaur, sixteen feet tall, or almost five-meters tall at the hip, approached them, slowly. It didn't run, it didn't charge towards them, but rather, it was obvious that it tried to intimidate them.
Its size was enough of a message, but it didn't stop there. The dinosaur tilted its head to the left, as if it was trying to use its dark-brown snout to intimidate the humans in front of them.
"Interesting," Anna whispered. "An Allosaurus Fragilis, trying to intimidate us? Huh… why not? If millipedes can be magical, then dinosaurs can be smart."
The Allosaurus Fragilis then started circling around the team, staring them down. Its scales, ranging from dark-brown along its spine, to an array of lighter shades, fading towards its belly, proved the Allosaurus Fragilis to be a beautiful creature.
It was a massive beast, a solid nine-meters long, or thirty feet. It was a beautiful beast no doubt. A painter's dream.
Appreciation had to be met with caution, however, because this beast was no mindless animal. Its approach was strategic, and it was obvious what the beast was here for. It demanded the crocodile carcass.
"Nechi…" Jimmy spoke softly, as to not startle the beast. "What are we gonna do about the land crocodile circling around us?"