Chapter 189: Cloudy

Two hours after the break of dawn, Anna woke up. She saw that Jimmy wasn’t sharing the bed with her, or with the rest of the ladies, but she wasn’t concerned, as she was sure that he was in the bunker.

“Doesn’t matter,” She sighed, and drank a gulp of water. “He’ll know where I’ll be.”

Anna walked away quietly, because she didn’t want to wake up anyone else. The three ladies that were snuggling with one another, didn’t have any duties, or tasks to follow today, so they could sleep in for as long as they wanted. It wouldn’t make any sense to bother them.

Instead, she walked towards the common area of the cavern, and found Gaark there, eating breakfast with his lovely girlfriend, Hannah.

Anna sat down, grabbed a chunk of meat straight off of Gaark’s hand, and started chowing down on it. She didn’t intend to be mean, she just didn’t want to start her day with an empty stomach.

“Enjoy,” He smiled, and grabbed another chunk that was close to the campfire. “Where’s my brother? We haven’t talked about our next step, our battle plan?”

“Our next step is our previous step, really,” She added, “We have to stand guard, patrol the skies, the usual. He should be cloning a new set of Compies as we speak, and he will come up here when he’s done.”

“Good,” He nodded.

“I need you for something else, though,” She looked at him, “Our parents and Hannah can patrol the sky today. They have QTs.”

“What’s on your mind?” He asked, not knowing what to expect.

“We’ll be going on a salt hunt.” She said, after downing half a pound of meat. “Salt is the greatest tool we can ever get our hands on. For example, if we pour salt over the raw meat we bring from hunts, the meat can last for months… or, for many moons? Maybe even throughout the winter.”

“Salt?” He repeated, “I’ve been away for a while, so I can’t say I know what that is.”

“Salt is like a bunch of tiny small rocks, basically, except its color is white.” She followed along, “If we coat a bunch of meat with salt, it’ll dry the meat up, and help it last many many moons longer. We need a lot of it, and we’re more likely to find it near the sea, but the closest sea I spotted was far past the rocky mountain. Remember when I found you back there, behind the mountain? I was originally looking for salt.”

“That’s… not a good idea.” Hannah budded in, “You shouldn’t go past the rocky mountain. There’s a reason even our elders avoided it.”

“They avoided it because they can’t cross it on foot,” She pressured, “We won’t be walking, we’ll be flying. Besides, I already took care of the main risk behind the rocky mountain, so we’ll be alright.”

“Can I come with?” Hannah insisted.

“No,” She shook her head, “You’re a QT rider yourself, so you should know how important it is to patrol the grasslands. We don’t know when the next attack is gonna come, but it is of grave importance that we stay ahead of the enemy at all times.”

Seeing that Gaark’s girlfriend was concerned, Anna softened her look, and added, “Don’t worry, I won’t let anything bad happen to him. Jimmy may be great at protecting our home, but remember, I’m the reason why our tribe adopted those kids a couple of days ago. Gaark will be the safest boy in the world.”

“Boy?” He parroted, “I’m older than you!”

“Sure, froggy, sure,” She teased him, and looked away, “Go grab the leather bags, and some more meat. We’ll be flying soon.”

Gaark didn’t appreciate being belittled, but then again, there wasn’t much he could do. He knew that if he reacted too deeply, Hannah would start teasing him too, so he’d rather avoid such utter embarrassment. He stood up, and started getting ready.

Hannah then scooched over, closer to Anna, and said, “Keep him away from that… awful tribe, that stupid place he was stuck in. He’s doing fine, and I don’t want him to remember what happened to him throughout the past five years.”

“We’ll avoid it all together, don’t worry.” She grabbed Hannah’s hand, as to comfort her, “I know where the sea is, so we’ll be taking shortcuts. I don’t plan on being away for more than a day, so you’ll likely see him tonight.”

Hannah didn’t quite understand what this ’sea’ thing was, as she had never seen the wide sea before, but she trusted Anna’s judgment. Anna may be a young woman, but her adventurous spirit trumped everyone else’s, young or old. Her people trusted her.

Anyway, the two of them got ready in no time. They strapped the large, leather bags on their pets, and were ready to fly.

The other QT riders that were on patrol over the night, reported that the grasslands weren’t facing any new threats. With that said, she was all the more confident to drag Gaark along in a salt hunt. She was at peace knowing that she didn’t leave the tribe in a vulnerable position.

“What did you name your pet?” She asked.

“Name?” Gaark repeated. “Why would dinosaurs need names?”

“They may be dinosaurs, but Jimmy did a good job when he tamed them, so our QTs are smarter than us.” She added, “They deserve to be named, and be treated as equals, really.”

“Oh… QTs…” He mumbled, “Can’t lie, I didn’t know they were called QTs. I thought we called them Bonitas or something like that.”

“No,” She shook her head, and tried to hold in her laugh, “Bonita is my dinosaur’s name. You have to name your dinosaur yourself.”

“Alright,” He nodded, and mostly caught up, “I’ll name mine… Rock.”

Afterwards, he turned to his pet, and asked him, “Do you like that name, Rock?”

To his surprise, his pet growled at him. It did not like that name.

“Rock is a boy’s name,” She held her head, “Your pet is a girl.”

“Rockina?” He pitched, and his pet growled again. “How about… Cloudy, since you like to touch the clouds? Boys and girls can be named Cloudy, I think?”

“You’re horrible at this,” She pointed out.

To both of their surprise, Gaark’s pet started chirping gleefully, which meant that it liked the name. It was an odd name no doubt, but it was the best that Gaark could think of.

“Cloudy it is, then,” He smiled, and stroked Cloudy’s long beak.

Afterwards, he and Anna took off, and headed towards the tip of the rocky mountain. They had a long journey in front of them, but their pets were known for their speed, so they were aiming to get back home today, so they could be with their people, and protect them as best as they could.

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