Hunted Gatherers p2

Animal noises permeated throughout the forest and swaying canopy as the group neared the spawn point. They were discussing their people’s differences again and Justin was glad that Taysass was finally talking, if only a little. A passing group of young Brachiosaurs had calmed the group down, with Taysass laughing at them as they stumbled and ran.

“So Yujark, how old are you? You seem to be sure we’re all quite younger than you.”, asked Morcant.

“I’m about thirty years old. You, Churbet, and Justin give off a young man vibe, Taysass must be young enough to be fertile, and Tacktay mentioned she was protecting her new queen, meaning they were born recently.”, explained Yujark.

“I see, well, I guess you’re not wrong.”, said Morcant while scratching behind his ear.

“Actually, our females can reproduce for the majority of our lives, but I’m only twenty-three years old. We had just gotten married.”, said Taysass before shying away from the group and laying down on Yujark.

“I’m sorry about that Taysass. I’ll do my best to protect you and the baby though, ok?”, said Justin putting a hand to his chest.

“Mm, we’ll all do our best to help each other.”, said Yujark.

“Not gunna respond to me huh? That’s ok I guess, she must be hurting a lot.”, thought Justin.

“So Yujark, that makes me wonder, how long is a year on your world?”, asked Justin.

“Hm, aren’t they all the same?”, Yujark asked.

“No, not even close. For example, my world has days of twenty-four hours, and three hundred and sixty-five days in a year. Also, you were right about me, I’m just over twenty-one years old.”, explained Justin.

“Ah, really? Well my worlds days last about as long as this one’s, maybe a little shorter, and our year is about six hundred days long.”, said Yujark.

“Damn Yujark, how long do your people live? Also, might I ask what color your sun is?”, asked Justin.

“I’ve probably got about ten years left before I’m relegated to a village elder, and blue.”, said Yujark.

“I see, I’m sorry to hear that. Oh, and your planet must be further away from your star than mine, making the years last longer.”, said Justin.

“Well shit I’m younger than you after all. I’m nineteen and my worlds years and days are a little less than Justin’s, but I’m defiantly an adult. We’re adults at age sixteen, and Justin, how in the hell do you know about Yujark’s world?”, asked Morcant.

“Blue stars are larger and brighter, so for the planet to be hospitable, naturally, it would have to be further away than ours. If ya’ll would like I could explain solar dynamics, but it could take a while and I’m no expert.”, answered Justin.

“Ah that’s fine, we’re coming up on the valley now. Also, I’m sorry I snapped at you earlier.”, said Morcant while scratching his ears.

“It’s alright, me too. I just want to keep ya’ll safe, I guess I wasn’t thinking about how that would make ya’ll feel.”, said Justin.

“We’re here.”, said Yujark.

At the edge of the forest the pit Bran was dragged into had been filled with leaves. Only a large red stain on the ground indicated anything had happened there. The skeletons of Taysass’es group were picked clean and littered about not far beyond that. The valley was quiet, full of running leaves and litter, decorated with rotting corpses protruding from the swaying grass. Justin signaled for the group to hold position with his hand and approached the pit.

He stood next to the red stained flowers as he squatted and began to remove leaves. The raptor attack he expected never came as he cleared the pit, finding Bran’s corpse and belongings. Justin waved for the group to come over, but they already had without making a sound. Morcant crossed his arms around his belly and took a deep breath.

“Morcant I’m so sorry. I’m going to start clearing the young trees out of that sparse patch in the forest we just passed so we can make a graveyard. Would you like me to help you here first?”, asked Justin.

Morcant shook his head, saying, “No, you go ahead.”

“Alright guys stick close and yell for me if u see anything, okay?”, said Justin.

“We shall.”, said Yujark.

“I can fly around the valley and look for danger.”, offered Tacktay from Justin’s back.

Justin bit his lip and looked away before saying, “Alright, please be safe.”

“Understood, but remember I’m a royal guard, you don’t have to worry about me so much.”, she said before flying off.

“Were it so easy.”, said Yujark.

Justin half-grinned and went to the thin patch of forest, not fifty feet from the group. It had less than two dozen young trees growing inside a large radius with a large, flat, glassy rock in the center. Justin assumed a lightning strike had burned a hole in the forest, and it was trying to regrow.

“Fine spot for a cemetery I guess.”, he thought.

He took a batting stance and flattened out his arm like a sword before hurling it into the tree. Like he hoped, his arm sliced through most of the young tree and it crashed into the ground, sending the fall leaves into the sky like an exploding firework. He decided on cutting all the trees down before rolling them all aside and chopping up the stumps. Morcant came over to the clearing a few times with Bran’s bones and belongings without saying a word, and the rest of the group began bringing more skeletons and items as well. Justin was relieved to see Tacktay back with the group as he finished cutting down the last tree.

He drug and rolled them all into a pile on the side of the clearing facing the mountain before he began chopping away at the stumps and carrying their pieces to the pile. He made frequent stops to check on the group but was able to stop as they remained in the clearing after a load. Churburret quickly dug several graves while Yujark made wooden headstones with the wood Justin had cut. Morcant buried saplings he dug up in front of two graves and pushed large rocks he found to them to be used as headstones, before sitting down and carving into them with his arm blades.

Taysass cried on Yujark while they made the wooden headstones and Churburret had laid down on a pair of graves, hanging his stalk low. As Justin finished the final stump, Tacktay flew over to him and landed.

“I see you and Yujark had no one to bury, that’s good news.”, she said.

“Yea, did you already finish with yours Tacktay?”, Justin asked.

“Mm, my people just use mass graves. I buried their shells near Churburret.”, she said.

“I guess that’s what they call their exoskeletons. She’s pretty detached, but I’m lucky she has any emotion at all, considering she’s a bug.”, he thought.

“We might want to convince the others to do that with the other bodies we find. It would save a lot of time.”, said Justin.

“Why move them at all? I thought we were going to collect resources here and return to the cave.”, she said.

“Good point, I worry they’ll want to bury the rest, but maybe I can convince them to wait until we’re better established.”, he said.

“Let’s hope.”, she said as they walked to the others.

They were all gathered around Taysass, who was still in tears. She had clearly lost more people than the rest of the group, based on the grave count. Justin gave her a few more moments before he spoke.

“Alright guys, we need to loot the valley and go back to the cave so Churbet has time to finish the tunnel.”, he said.

“What about all the other bodies?”, asked Morcant.

“Once we have ammo and our base is secure, we can worry about that.”, said Justin.

“You’re kidding, you’d just leave them all there?”, asked Morcant.

“Morcant, what do you think that hill is made out of?”, asked Justin.

Morcant’s eyes widened as his mouth was left agape.

“I’ll have to agree with Justin on this kids, we could spend a lifetime trying to sort through that hill. Who will bury us when we die there? We need to focus on surviving.”, said Yujark.

Churburret nodded and Tacktay buzzed in approval.

“Morcant sighed and said, “Alright, well I would still like to say a few things before we leave. I just finished these graves.”

Justin nodded through a full body shiver as Tacktay crawled up his legs and rested on his back. Morcant walked over to his two graves and began whispering to them. Churburret walked up to Justin and put his large eye right up to his face.

“Justin, um, our people usually incorporate our dead into the mind. Do you think maybe, somehow, they’ll still make it to it?”, Churburret asked.

“Shit they obviously don’t, but should I really say that?”, Justin thought.

“Do they need a physical connection to do so?”, he asked.

“Well, yes.”, answered Churburret, hanging his stalk low.

“Well, don’t give up Churburret, Tute doesn’t seem very wasteful to me, considering he can bring dead people here, he probably stores them after they die here or…”, explained Justin before he was interrupted.

“Or their souls are tormented here forever, again and again.”, said Yujark.

“So, they could be alive somewhere?”, asked Taysass.

“It’s possible, we won’t know until we take over the sphere.”, said Justin.

Morcant returned to them and asked, “Does anyone else have anything to say before we leave?”

The group shared some uneasy glances before Yujark spoke. The wind and animals stopped howling and screeching for a moment and the whole world grew quiet as if to hear his words. He held his head down in prayer.

“Oh, great spirits which watch over these peoples, Kettans, Sheeken-eure, Lacerti, your children are lost here, and we ask that you return them to where they belong, so that they may rest, or start anew. If they are truly bound to this grand world, Quidvis, then please grant us and them good fortune, as we journey to find this spaceport and return home with our people.”, he said.

Morcant clenched his fists and grumbled, “Agreed.”, before walking towards the valley.

Justin and the group followed him, but Taysass stopped him.

“Um, Justin.”, she said.

He tilted his head.

“Um, I’m sorry about what I said yesterday, about you being… something you’re clearly not.”, she said.

“Mm, it’s alright. I know this is a very tough time for ya’ll, and I’ll do my best to help.”, he said.

“You said yesterday that you made a promise to Melus, so, could you please help me? I want to have his baby and live on somehow, but I’m so lost without him.”, she said.

“Taysass, I can never replace him, but I promise I will do anything to keep all of you safe, okay?”, said Justin with a half grin, trying to cheer her up.

“Thank you.”, she mumbled while looking down and twiddling her thumbs.

“Kids let’s get moving.”, Yujark called out to them.

Justin and Taysass sprinted to catch up to the group, who were gathering equipment where Taysass’es family had died. They moved piles of armor and weapons to where Bran had died until the spot had been cleared.

“Eh, maybe we should split up, this could take days.”, suggested Morcant.

“Well, that would increase the risk we’re taking.”, said Justin.

“I’ve got to agree with Morcant here Justin. Why don’t you go alone so you can run at full speed, and we’ll stick together to be safe. I don’t mean to be rude, just seems like a fair compromise. Tacktay can fly to watch for danger, and we can yell for you if we see anything.”, said Yujark.

Justin rubbed his forehead, knowing Yujark was right, before saying, “Alright, let’s meet up here before the left side of the slit reaches the center of the sun, or the end of midday, and I plan on checking up on you guys frequently.”

“Sounds good, we’ll try our best to be safe and quick, so you do the same.”, said Yujark.

“We’ll be fine, try to relax.”, said Morcant.

“I wish I could.”, mumbled Justin.

“How about we make this more interesting. We’ll make two piles, whichever group finds the best stuff wins.”, said Morcant with a smile.

“Kids, we shouldn’t lose sight of what’s important here.”, said Yujark before Justin interrupted him.

“You’re on!”, exclaimed Justin before turning and hightailing it around the valley.

Justin broke into a run and began thinking, “He must already know where something good is, but I’ve got my speed. I’ll do a few circles and leave some markings where there’s good loot, and I can stop if I find something really good like rifles.”

“Does turning this into a game really make you feel better?”, he asked himself.

“Mm, definitely.”, he thought without hesitation.

He made a circle around the outside of the valley within just two minutes, waving to Morcant as he passed them. They were gathering rifles from a group of Kettans, and Taysass was riding Yujark again.

“Must be the spot he knew of, I’m sure I can find something better than that. Although I suppose I haven’t found anything yet.”, he thought.

Justin continued circling the valley for around half an hour before he found what he was looking for. He came across a group of three skeletons wearing tattered American army uniforms. He began to sort through it, realizing he had found the motherload. They all had weapons, gadgets, clothes and utilities, including three rifles and ammo. Their armored clothing was torn, but he figured Yujark could mend it later. He changed out his double magazine on the rifle he was carrying for one of the single mags he found, before wrapping up all the supplies in a blanket he had found during his circling.

“Alright I’ll take all this to the drop off and then bring some to Morcant and the others, so they can have these rifles.”, he thought as he ran around the valley.

He made it to the piles they had made, noticing Morcant’s was quite larger than his, but it lacked any rifles or ammo. He smiled, knowing he had won their game. He set down the supplies and loaded the rifles before putting the three extra mags in his pants and carrying the rifles. Morcant and the others were to his right, just a few hundred feet away. He started walking to them, but noticed they weren’t moving.

Morcant took out his lever action rifle and began shooting into the forest behind the hill. The group ran towards the hilltop and Tacktay flew to Justin.

“What the hell’s going on? Why run for the hilltop instead of to me? Tacktay knows where I am, the others must as well.”, he thought while running full speed towards them.

Tacktay reached him as they made halfway to the hilltop and kept up with him as he tore through the ground, approaching forty miles an hour.

“The hell is he doing? Every carnivore within ten miles could have heard that and been told it’s dinner time.”, yelled Justin.

“There are dozens of raptors coming from the trees, Morcant said it would be better to fight at the hilltop. Also, I think that red one from yesterday is leading them.”, Tacktay said.

“You’ve got to be kidding me, is it their leader or something?”, he thought.

. . .

“Sorry if that wasn’t as good as you’re used to, it was my first time.”, said Yellow as he finished urinating behind a tree.

“Well actually that was my first time too, I wasn’t the alpha female in our nest. Also, you shouldn’t worry about that, Brown sure wasn’t lying about you earlier.”, said Green Runner.

“Ah, sorry about her, she’s always been rather protective of me for some reason.”, said Yellow while tidying up their sleeping area.

“That reminds me, I’ve never seen an Alpha treat an Omega like you the way he does. Why is that?”, she asked.

“Because my ideas are creative, intelligent, and have a record of success.”, answered Yellow confidently.

“Alright hunters let’s go, we’ve got target!”, Brown’s voice echoed throughout the nesting ground.

“I hope I can see firsthand soon.”, said Green Runner as they ran to the gathering place.

Nearly all forty of the hunters had gathered, much more than usual. Yellow surveyed the crowd and noticed less than twelve were being left behind.

“Just what is Red thinking leaving the nest under guarded? That was never a part of my plan.”, he thought.

“Ah Yellow, glad to see you. How are you two doing?”, asked Red as he entered the center of the circle the crowd had made with Brown.

“Well.”, answered Green Runner.

“Good to hear. How is everyone doing?”, Red asked with a raised voice.

The crowd snarled and stomped their feet.

“Are we liking our new nest?”, he asked the crowd again.

Again, they stomped their feet in approval.

“I see he’s speaking in the manner I suggested. Ours not mine.”, thought Yellow.

“Wonderful! With our improved birth rate, moral, and tactics we will conquer the entire forest!”, he yelled to the crowd.

The crowd hissed and stomped their feet once more until Brown hushed them with a loud snarling chomp.

“While I would like to go about killing and subjugating the other nests, we already know we can do that with ease. Which is why we must first take down the shiny prey and his pack. They’re a strong, mysterious force, and should be dealt with first. Our scouts have returned with news that it is returning to the feasting ground with its pack. This is the perfect opportunity for us to train there and take down the beast. Now I want you to all form groups of about five or six and follow me. Green Runner and Yellow will lead with me and Brown.”, Red addressed the crowd.

“I see, he want’s my incite if the shiny prey does something unusual, and Green Runner is my body guard, so he can focus.”, thought Yellow.

“Now, who’s hungry?”, Red asked the crowd.

Again, they stomped their feet and hissed into the air before forming their hunting packs and following Red’s lead towards the feasting grounds.

“Alright Yellow this is it. You’ve been waiting your whole life for this opportunity. It’s time to shine.”, he thought as he ran.

. . .

“Morcant, is everyone ok?”, asked Justin as he and Tacktay made it to the hilltop.

“Yea, for now. I don’t think I can fire this thing fast enough to kill them all.”, said Morcant while firing his lever action rifle.

Six packs of raptors were fast approaching them from the valley side of the forest, darting about as Morcant fired on them.

“How in the hell did these things learn how to serpentine?”, thought Justin.

Here, Morcant, Taysass take these.”, Justin said while giving them two of the loaded rifles he found.

“Nice I love these things.”, said Morcant.

“Time your shots, they’ve only got one clip.”, said Justin.

“Oh, give me the extra one!”, said Churburret.

“I don’t know if you can use this, I already feel bad asking Taysass to.”, said Justin as the three of them fired their rifles down the valley.

“My feet are strong, let me try.”, Churburret insisted.

Justin tossed him the other rifle and said, “Careful with the recoil.”

“Alright form a line, Yujark cover our rear, Tacktay dive bomb them from their backs but don’t get to close, everyone, form a circle when they get close.”, instructed Justin.

Tacktay began circling above them, reminding Justin of an AC130 as they fired at the raptors. Despite Justin’s improved accuracy the raptors were darting about and closing fast, and they were only able to get a few hits in before the raptors encircled them. Justin and the others formed a tight circle as the raptors ran in a circle around them, waiting for an opening. This gave Justin and the others an easier shot however and they began to shoot them down, one at a time. The others seemed to be handling their rifles well and were placing shots of their own. He could hear the raptors making quiet sounds to each other as he found the Red one from the day prior.

. . .

“What now Yellow, they’ve got too big of a circle.”, asked Red.

“Dirt time.”, said Yellow with a smile.

“Alright everyone dirt time! Pass the word down, remember what we talked about on the way here.”, yelled Red.

The entire circle of packs acted in unison as they tore up the dirt with their feet and hands, launching it into the air and creating a layer of dust between them and their prey.

“This is amazing. We can slowly get closer to them, and they aren’t using their loud tools anymore.”, said Green Runner from in front of Yellow.

“I’ve wanted to try this for years, I knew it would render their tools useless. See? That shiny prey is nothing without his tools.”, said Yellow as they ran.

“It hits harder than the big horned ones, just remember what else we talked about, I want to kill it.”, she said.

. . .

“Shit we can’t shoot them if we can barely see them.”, thought Justin

“Wait remember those night vision goggles on we found earlier?”, he asked himself.

“That’s crazy!”, he yelled to himself.

“Just try it!”, he insisted.

“Oh, Jesus I hope this works. Nanobots, activate heat vision!”, he yelled in his head.

The world burst into a flow of blues, greens, reds, and yellows. Justin could clearly see the raptors through their dust now, inching towards them. He smiled and began slowly firing on them, one by one.

“I can see them, everyone, hold tight and save your ammo.”, Justin yelled to his group.

“One, headshot, two, headshot, oh a triple baby!”, he thought as he mowed them down.

. . .

“Yellow, this isn’t working, one of them is still killing us, we’ve lost eight!”, yelled Red.

“Damn that thing.”, mumbled Green Runner.

“Alright then, let’s dive in! Everyone grab some dirt and use it when you dodge!”, Yellow yelled.

Word passed down the circle and they waited for Red to give the signal.

. . .

Justin aimed for another shot but suddenly the raptors all burst through their dust cloud and rushed towards them. There were still over two dozen left and Justin didn’t think he’d have time to shoot them all. He aimed for one, but it threw dirt into the air and dodged as he shot.

“Dammit we’re toast!”, he thought.

“Everyone spray and prey, mow them down!”, he yelled.

Justin and the others rapidly unloaded their clips into the enemy, killing over a dozen of them. Tacktay flew onto one from behind and pierced its neck, killing it, before leaping back into the air. Yujark began firing three arrows at a time to increase his spread. As the team ran out of ammo and the raptor pack was cut in half, they ducked and began to retreat, with the exception of one.

A large green raptor leapt towards Justin, claws open and ready to strike. He smiled and readied his fist to swing, knowing he would kill it with ease. Just before it latched onto him Morcant suddenly tackled it to the ground. His blades were extended from the front of his arm boxes and he tried to stab its head, but the raptor turned its head and bit his forearm box, with some of its teeth piercing his flesh.

“Fuck you!”, Morcant screamed.

He held down the beast’s legs with his own and caught its right arm with the back blade of his left arm while it was being bitten. With his free arm he stabbed down and cut off the other arm of the raptor. It released its bite on him as it riled in pain and Justin pulled Morcant off the beast by his shirt as blood sprayed onto them both from the flailing raptor.

“Morcant what’s wrong with you? Their bite could be septic! Get back to the circle!”, yelled Justin.

“That’s the one! That’s the one that killed Bran!”, Morcant screamed while trying to push past Justin.

Justin looked around and saw the raptors retreating towards where they came from, he sighed and looked back to the green raptor on the ground. As he held back Morcant with one arm he readied to kill the beast with the other when a yellow raptor suddenly slammed into his chest with a headbutt.

“Huh?”, he thought.

The yellow raptor tumbled to the ground and was promptly kicked by the green one before they both rolled a few feet and began to run away with the others. The green raptor took hold of one of its dead companions with its mouth and dragged it with them as they ran. Yujark and the others came over to Justin and Morcant, apparently, they were all out of ammo.

“Get back here and die!”, screamed Morcant as Justin held him back.

“Morcant calm down! Were out of ammo and they’re gone.”, said Justin.

“Fuck you! Get out of my way! That thing killed Bran!”, Morcant spat out as tears ran down his bright red face.

“Morcant it’s just an animal.”, said Justin in a calm voice.

“I hate you. Why didn’t you save them, why couldn’t you save them?”, Morcant whimpered as he stopped struggling.

“Morcant I’m sorry. I’m trying my best here.”, Justin said in a cracked voice.

“He’s not talking about you Justin.”, Yujark said.

Morcant knelt down, took off his arm box, and tightly wrapped his wounded arm in his shirt.

“They were my best friends, why couldn’t I save them?”, he cried while shaking.

“Oh Morcant.”, said Justin as he forcefully hugged him.

“Get off me freak.”, Morcant whined as he struggled.

“I’m so sorry Morcant. I promise, once we get established and safe, we can hunt those things down together okay?”, Justin promised.

Morcant stopped struggling and looked up to Justin.

“Really? You guys would do that for me?”, he asked while still shaking.

Morcant looked around at the group, who all nodded to him in support.

“We want those things dead to you know.”, said Taysass.

“Come on buddy, let’s get you on your feet and back to base.”, said Justin as they stood up.

Morcant kept his head down as he punched Justin in the chest with his wounded arm. He cried out in pain and held his knuckles.

“Shit are you made of metal?”, he cried out.

“Morcant what the hell?”, Justin asked, having felt nothing from the blow.

Morcant placed his other fist back onto Justin’s chest and said, “Thanks for the help.”

“Mm are we cool?”, asked Justin.

“Yea bud were cool.”, said Morcant, looking up to Justin.

“Kids we need to get moving.”, said Yujark.

“I’m okay. Let’s finish scavenging.”, said Morcant.

“Morcant your arm is cut up, we should clean it and head home.”, said Justin.

“We found a box of ammo we think will fit your peoples, rifles, and some other things.”, said Churburret.

“We should take what we have and come back another day.”, said Yujark.

“Agreed.”, said Justin.

The group shared nods as Morcant loudly sighed and winced in pain. They walked to where the group was scavenging last to collect what they found.

“Great job everyone, ya’ll did really well, especially you Tacktay, you like, kamikazed that raptor.”, said Justin as they walked.

“Understood, thank you.”, she said.

The group laughed together as she asked them what was so funny.

. . .

“We’re lucky we got the bleeding to stop.”, said Yellow as he and Green Runner waited for Red to address their nest.

Green Runner snarled and pinned him to the ground with her good arm and mouth.

“Don’t think this makes you stronger than me.”, she said.

“Right, sorry.”, he whimpered.

She got off him and mumbled, “But thanks for saving me.”

Yellow smiled and thought, “It’s nice to be appreciated for a change.”

“Alright everyone.”, said Red as he and Brown entered the center of the crowd.

“That was quite a loss we took, but Yellow’s tactics were working great despite that thing’s presence. Let’s eat and rest, and before the twilight ends, we can subjugate another nest.”, declared Red.

“Ah I’m so glad he feels that way. He wasn’t lying about that shiny prey, it’s not natural.”, he thought.

“Half of us are dead and now you want to fight again?”, asked a member of the crowd.

Brown snarled at him.

“Now, now everyone. I know we took a heavy hit, but that’s only because of the shiny one. We can subjugate another nest with ease. We’ll leave that thing alone for now and grow our numbers. If anyone is still having doubts, how’s this? If there is an excess of females, all those who fight can take the extras as well as the one they already receive!”, Red addressed the crowd.

The crowd chomped, snarled, and pounded their feet into the ground in approval.

“What about the shiny prey? I still want to kill it.”, Green Runner spoke up.

“She’s got a point. It’s just as dangerous as a big horned one. Wait, that gives me an idea.”, he thought.

“I’ve got an idea. It will just take a few skilled scouts and they won’t even have to fight.”, said Yellow.

“Alright then Yellow, you can lead this team.”, Red said.

“Huh, lead it? Is he serios?”, he thought.

“Now, what’s this new plan of yours? We’re all dying to hear it.”, Red said with a crooked smile.