“So how exactly do we hunt a dinosaur?”
Barbara peered down at Sid.
“I’m not a fighter, but I presume reconnaissance would be the first necessary step.”
Sid shrugged.
Barbara waited.
Then slowly shook her head.
“Shouldn’t obtaining a weapon be the first step?”
“Ah.”
Sid nodded.
“Yes. That is correct.”
“Hence the crystals.”
Barbara stared at the bundle stacked awkwardly in his arms.
Green light washed across his cracked skull. Each crystal was nearly the length of his forearm, their glow dark and murky compared to the blue formations around them.
“And what are we supposed to do with them?”
“Something violent, presumably.”
Alan sighed.
They rounded a narrow bend.
The rush of water grew louder.
Ahead, the stream widened across the passage, shallow enough to cross on foot. Smooth silver stones covered the streambed beneath the surface, glowing faintly through the current.
Dozens of them.
Their pale light rippled across the walls.
Alan slowed.
“This looks different from the way we came.”
Sid kept walking.
“Oh, does it?”
Alan turned toward him.
“You—”
“Reconnaissance is a necessary step. If we—”
“You already said that,” Barbara cut in.
Sid stopped.
The stream rushed around his ankles.
“We passed a large predator on our way up. It appeared to be heading this direction.”
Silence.
“And where there are predators, there is usually…”
He turned.
“Death.”
Barbara looked down at him.
“A carcass.”
“Exactly.”
“Tendons become rope.”
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Sid pointed at her.
“Correct again.”
“And rope becomes a spear.”
“Precisely.”
Barbara looked at the green crystals in his arms.
“But first we need something sharp enough to make one.”
Sid’s enthusiasm faded slightly.
“Yes.”
Their immediate problem remained the same.
The crystals were excellent cutting tools.
Getting them out of the walls was another matter.
Barbara held out one enormous hand.
“I’ll take one of those.”
Sid blinked.
Then handed it over.
“Fine by me.”
Barbara slid the dark green crystal between the bones of her ribcage.
They continued through the shallow water.
A few seconds passed.
CLACK.
Sid stopped.
A small stone bounced off his skull and landed in the stream.
Silence.
He turned.
“Which one of you threw that?”
Barbara shrugged.
Alan stared at him.
“Nobody.”
Sid narrowed his eye lights.
“I am not a fan of pranks.”
“Nobody threw anything.”
“Liar.”
They continued.
Five steps.
CLACK.
“GAH!”
Another pebble struck the back of Sid’s skull.
He spun around, splashing water.
“Stop that at once!”
Nothing.
Only rushing water.
Barbara slowly scanned the passage.
Darkness crowded the edges beyond the silver glow.
Nothing moved.
Nothing spoke.
Then—
A glowing stone shot from the darkness.
Sid ducked.
It skipped across the water behind him.
“AHA!”
He pointed across the stream.
Movement.
Small silhouettes shifted beyond the reach of the silver light.
One.
Three.
Ten.
More.
Dozens of them crouched between rocks and crystal formations.
Watching.
The light revealed fragments.
Small bodies.
Long limbs.
Green skin.
Sid’s blue eye lights widened.
“HOMINIDS!”
The word detonated through the cavern.
HOMINIDS!
HOMINIDS!
HOMINIDS!
Sid immediately dropped all but one of the crystals.
They crashed into the water.
Alan stared at him.
“What the fuck…”
He looked at Barbara.
“Did he just—”
CRACK.
A stone slammed into the side of Alan’s skull.
He dropped face-first into the stream.
Silence.
Sid pointed across the water.
“GIANTESS, GET THEM!”
Barbara looked down at Alan.
Then at Sid.
Then across the stream.
She lowered the dinosaur skull into the shallows.
One of the creatures rose.
“GEK GAH MRAH BULGH!”
Another stone flew.
Barbara’s hand snapped upward.
CLACK.
She caught it.
Silence.
Barbara opened her fist.
A silver-glowing stone rested in her palm.
She looked at it.
Then at the creatures.
Several of them slowly lowered their arms.
“Little shits.”
Barbara drew her arm back.
Sid’s eye lights widened.
“Wait—”
WHISTLE.
SQUELCH.
One of the creatures dropped.
Its body collapsed into the stream.
Silence.
Sid stared.
The creatures stared at Barbara.
Then at their dead companion.
Then at Sid.
“HAH!”
Sid charged.
Alan’s skull lifted weakly from the water.
“What just happ—”
Another stone flew.
It grazed Sid’s shoulder.
He didn’t slow.
The nearest creature scrambled backward, reaching for another projectile.
Too late.
Sid crashed into it.
His crystal punched into the side of its neck.
SQUELCH.
The creature collapsed.
Sid ripped the crystal free.
“Ah…”
He rolled his shoulder.
“Refreshing.”
CRACK.
Another creature dropped.
Sid looked over.
Barbara lowered her throwing arm.
“Don’t damage their bones!”
She stared at him.
“You just stabbed one in the neck.”
“Yes, but the skeleton is intact.”
Barbara looked away.
A stone struck Sid’s leg.
CRACK.
His knee buckled.
He dropped into the water.
The creatures surged forward.
Five.
Ten.
More shapes poured from the darkness, splashing through the shallows.
Sid raised his arms.
“Oh.”
Then—
“REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!”
The cry tore through the cavern.
Every creature stopped.
The echo came back.
REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!
REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!
Silence.
The green creatures froze.
Barbara froze.
Alan lifted his head from the water.
THUD.
The stone beneath them trembled.
THUD.
Closer.
The hominids broke first.
They scattered.
Some fled across the stream. Others vanished between the rocks, abandoning their stones and fallen companions without hesitation.
THUD.
THUD.
Sid remained on one knee.
A massive shape burst from the darkness.
Heavy hind legs struck the stone.
A thick tail swept behind it.
The enormous head swung toward the stream.
Sid stared upward.
The same predator from before.
The one Alan had called a T. rex.
Its jaws opened.
Sid slowly lowered himself flat against the stone.
Barbara looked down at him.
“What are you doing?”
Sid pressed himself flatter.
“Reconnaissance.”