Chapter 84: Saved, or caught?

Jimmy put the six survivors to work. Dusk was approximately nine hours away, so while the dinosaurs caught up with some much deserved sleep, he had the survivors go out on a hunt.

They were not happy. It was easy to see that they were hesitant to hunt, because they didn’t want the food to go to the dinosaurs. This was logical on their part, at least, since they’ve lived all this time fighting, and hunting dinosaurs, so they hated the idea of feeding one, but they weren’t given a chance.

Jimmy pushed them to hunt, by saying, “Us ’kids’ have been up all night looking for survivors. We’re hungry, so at least go do the job you’re supposed to do, and hunt.”

When he said that, the mouthy woman, and two other men stared him down like they wanted to kill him, but they were still cowards, essentially, and weren’t going to attack the guy who could tame dinosaurs. When they saw Bonita, the QT watching every move they made, every bit of rebellious intents they had were drained out, and slipped down their thighs as if they pissed themselves.

Once the hunters went away, Nechi approached him, and said, “That was awfully mean. You know they’re scared to go out there.”

“They’re not scared, they’re just bad people.” He shook his head. “Besides, I’m not even hungry, I just needed to talk with you guys in private.”

“Huh?” Nechi pulled her head back in shock. “You want to have sex, now?”

“No!” He exclaimed. “I mean I need to talk to my team in private, you know, the people who were bothered to look for survivors?”

Afterwards, he called out, “This includes you girls! Cika, Icha, and Rulya, please come here. We need to talk.”

The ladies had been listening in to their conversation, partially, so they were caught up. They were even excited to be invited, as they felt respected.

Once they gathered up, he said, “Okay, first things first, I need to fix your dinos. I know the tamed pets have been making you girls go nuts, and I figured out how to fix it.”

“You do?” Icha parroted. “Finally. This was getting embarrassing, kid.”

Icha was perhaps the most shy, and introverted woman here, but she spoke up as soon as she was told that freedom, in terms of sexual stability, was near. She was happy.

“Yes, I can fix them.” He nodded. “Rulya helped me figure it out last night. Granted, I was almost fed to Bonita afterwards, but I still figured it out. I just need to change something in their brains, their heads, basically, and then you should be fine.”

“Me and Icha met before we got here, if you know what I mean?” Cika interrupted, she was too old to be shy at this point, and didn’t care to waste time. “We’re fine for now, so you don’t have to rush. What’s the second thing you wanted to tell us?”

Jimmy was stunned by how direct she was, but it was a good thing too, because he was given more time to talk about what else he had in mind. Something of more grave importance that did in fact require the privacy he loomed.

He pointed towards the west, at the descending hills that led to lower elevations, and asked, “What do you think about that? Could the young survivors get lost to the point where they abandoned the grasslands all together? I mean, we are at the literal edge of the grasslands, so it makes sense.”

Everyone thought about it for a bit, and then Rulya, who was the second youngest woman here, other than Anna, looked like she had something to say. She did not hesitate, as this was not the time to be quiet.

“I don’t know if this helps, but if I got scared to the point where I’d have to walk a full day to get away from the giants, I wouldn’t turn back.” She said, “If the hills looked safer to them, they would most definitely go down there. I know I would.”

Rulya was about the same age as the young hunters, so he could trust what she had to say. He appreciated the young perspective on the matter, because he sure as hell didn’t know the terrain as well as she did. This was his first time being in the edge of the grasslands, and to his disadvantage, he was yet to unlock the memories of the former body owner, so he was as clueless as a newborn when it came to terrain.

Cika fought the idea, however, as she pointed out, “That doesn’t sound right to me. I think they’re in the High Grasslands, either dead or alive. The edge is too far away from the Giant’s Ditch to be worth the trouble.”

“They’re not in the High Grasslands,” Anna added. “Bonita would’ve seen them if they were. So, unless they somehow walked in the middle, or beyond the High Grasslands, I’d say the hills are our best bet.”

“Those old hunters could also be lying,” Icha felt pressured to add, because at some point, she was too angry to stay quiet. “Think about it, the forest is closer to the Giant’s Ditch, so why would the younglings come all the way here? Are we acting dumb for some reason? I don’t understand why neither one of you pointed this out.”

Furthermore, she added, “I know those old bastards personally, and there’s a reason why they’re still hunters, and not living their best lives like the rest of the elders do. They don’t get to have breaks, because they’re pricks! Just think about it for a moment! Since most of the hunters were wiped out, they were likely looking to abandon us, because they didn’t want to provide food for our entire tribe. They’d actually have to work this time, and risk their lives this time.”

“But that woman said she had kids, why would she abandon her kids?” He pointed out, as this was the main piece of the puzzle that didn’t fit in Icha’s conspiracy.

“Her kid, Jomas, was killed by a giant, Jimmy.” She revealed. “I saw it happen, it was sad, because the kid had barely grown a mustache at that point, and yet he was brought out to hunt, but it happened. She’s not leaving any kids behind, and neither are the rest of them. Joku, the sweet old man you talked to earlier, never had any kids, neither did Masi, and I’m sure I saw Hilda’s, Ron’s, and Gukek’s kids die too.”

Icha was throwing a lot of names at him, names he did not recognize, and theories that seemed like they came out of the blue. However, judging from how serious everyone else looked, including Eni and Nechi, he decided to trust their judgement to fulfill his lack of knowledge. Since everyone silently backed up what Icha said, it could be nothing else than the truth. They certainly didn’t have an argument over everything she said.

Inevitably, he got quite angry after he processed what was going on. The six survivors were not saved, they were not struggling, but they just got caught.

“They were insisting on going home, though,” He shook his head. “Why would they want to go home if they have no one to go home to?”

Nechi, perhaps the most innocent woman here, and with the least sinister mind, patted him in the back, and whispered something in his ear. She wanted to point out the blatantly obvious without sounding rude, or without embarrassing him.

She leaned in, and whispered, “They wanted to steal our dinos, sweetie. They were going to try, but Bonita scared them straight.”

“Yes,” Icha nodded. “I know them enough to believe that us with smaller dinosaurs were their main targets. They knew they couldn’t take Gutty or Bonita away from you guys, so they targeted the rest of us, and were going to knock us out, or worse, as soon as they climbed on our dinosaurs. They’re stupid, but, they’re bad people, Jimmy, I hope you understand that.”

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