Page 112 of Sohut's Protection

It was like she was in her own little blue alien cocoon.

Yawning, she rubbed her eyes.

The light from his light disk made it seem as if it was already morning, but now that her eyes were open some more, she could see that the jungle beyond was still dark.

Above them, nestled in a bunch of vines, she could just about make out Wawa’s white fluffy tail. He was asleep too…but something had woken her up.

There was a slight sound of shuffling and, with much effort because of the heavy alien stuck to her like a second skin, Cleo managed to rise on her elbows, her gaze moving near to Sohut’s feet.

His satchel was moving and out of the open end poked the butt of one of the jungle-penguins.

There were three of them. The other two were standing close by, poking the satchel with their red beaks.

Yawning, Cleo shook her head.

To think they’d come this close without running away, even though she was their predator.

How they survived this long in the wild was a mystery.

The one with its head in the satchel gave a shake and some of the things in the bag went rolling out.

Groaning at the noise, Sohut lifted his head.

“Clee-yo?”

The jungle-penguin lifted its head then, with the bag still stuck over it, and began waddling away.

Cleo had to giggle.

“They’re so cute. I hate having to eat them all the time,” she murmured.

“Cute?” Sohut rose beside her and she felt him stiffen.

There was a tickle at her throat and she rubbed her hands there absentmindedly. It felt almost like a ring of itchy nerves was around her neck.

Sohut moved so fast, she lost her balance, and when her wide eyes reached him, her mouth fell open a little.

He was gripping one of the little birds so tightly, she was sure it risked being popped like a balloon.

For the first time since being around the animals, she saw an expression other than innocent ignorance on their faces.

The one Sohut was holding was bug-eyed as it looked at Sohut, its mouth slightly open with one of Sohut’s gadgets between its beak.

The gadget was blinking and the more she looked at it the more that feeling around her neck tightened.

It took her a few moments to realize Sohut had his fangs out, snarling at the little bird before he snatched the device from its beak.

And when he turned to look at her…something deep inside her turned into cold, cold marble and fell.

Something bad was about to happen.

She knew it.

The look of absolute horror and dread in his eyes had her swallowing hard.

“Sohut?”

The feeling around her neck was tightening now and her heart was beginning to hammer against her chest.

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