Page 17 of Caveman Alien's Terror

Clutching my spear, I hurry to the nearest tree and back up against it.

The sources of the noises come closer. Whatever it is doesn’t care about being quiet. And it must be a big thing.

That’s not great news. As far as we know, only the very biggest of the dinos are harmless, in the sense that all they can do to you is trample you like an ant. But they won’t try to hunt you, and they’re easy to avoid. But whatever’s coming now is smaller than that.

When I spot it, my heart sinks in my chest. It’s akronk, a T. Rex lookalike with teeth as long as my forearm and claws like carving knives. It’s a pale gray with brown spots. Dirty white feathers grow out of its joints. While the raptors are scary, they’re not this big and terrible.

The ground shakes as it calmly comes closer, having to maneuver around trees but walking straight through every other obstacle. Its long tail is up, and its massive head is down by the ground, balanced on its short, strong legs. Yellow eyes the size of dinner plates are focused on me. It may well have been tracking me by smell for a while.

It’s too much for Luna. She slinks between my legs and peers at the kronk from behind my knee, not even daring to growl.

The kronk moves calmly and fast, being on its home turf in the jungle. My best option is to stay still right here and hope the monster waddles right past me. If it’s me he wants, he’s so big that he might struggle to even reach me when I’m this close to the tree trunk.

My hopes are squashed immediately. The kronk comes right at me, opens its lower jaw, and tilts its head forty-five degrees to the side. Its deadly gape is like an immense pair of pliers withhundreds of dirty, brown teeth that are coming right for me while the ground shakes.

“Shit!” Panicking, I squeal and try to find a vulnerable place on the monster I can thrust the spear into. The eyes are the obvious spot, but the kronk’s head is gigantic and they’re just too far away.

The monster snaps its mouth shut as if to show me what it’s planning. It makes a hard, crunching sound like a giant, rusty bear trap slamming shut and sprays me with cold slime.

It comes closer until its upper jaw is on my left and the lower jaw on my right. The stench from its gape makes me retch as I wait to be chewed into several pieces.

Mobilizing all my strength, I thrust the spear into its pale gum and crouch down, closing my eyes and whimpering.

The final crunch never comes.

Instead there’s a shrill howl of pain, creating a storm of stench that washes over me.

I open my eyes to slits. The kronk has raised its head and is trying to turn away from me.

I can see why. There’s someone standing on its colossal head, kicking at one of its eyes.

My heart comes back alive when I see that it’s Praxigor, totally in control as usual.

The kronk screams again, waving its short forelimbs at its own head but unable to reach the blue alien tormenting it. Instead Praxigor slides easily down its side and lands beside it.

“Do theybathein grease?” he frets, trying to shake something slimy off his hands.

The kronk reacts with reptile speed and towers over him, huge gape open.

The dragon calmly reaches up and pulls my spear out of the kronk’s gums. “Not the best aim, little woman. This would be better.” He sidesteps the gape as it snaps shut right where he was just standing, then calmly pushes the spear into the kronk’s middle, between its forelimbs.

The kronk takes an unsteady step back and howls again as it decides to flee. The huge tail sweeps the ground in a dangerous arc as the monster turns.

Praxigor simply steps over the tail. The scaly tip hits the root of the tree I’m standing by and knocks a big piece out of it before the kronk flees back the way it came.

I stand there just panting for a while, as Praxigor rips leaves off bushes and tries to wipe the dinosaur grease off his boots, muttering all the while. “The stench alone is all the weapon that monster needs. Such an absolute mess!”

“You saved me,” I finally manage, voice trembling. “Thank you!”

“Again,” he growls as he discards one handful of leaves and rips another off a different bush. “I saved youagain. Why do you always need saving?”

“It’s the jungle,” I defend myself. “It keeps trying to kill me.”

“It must be as annoyed with you as I am,” he grunts. “I can’t blame it. I never knew such a small female could be this much of a nuisance.”

I take a couple of deep breaths and try to calm down. The kronk is gone, but this blue creature is doubtlessly even more dangerous. Still I’m more relieved than scared of him right now. “Sorry. I do my best to stay safe, but sometimes it’s not enough. How did you know I was being attacked? Were you following me and keeping an eye out?—”

In a blue flash he’s right next to me, pinching my mouth shut with two fingers. “Let’s not finish that sentence, orI’dhave to finish what that monster wanted to do with you. And then my efforts to chase it away would be in vain.”

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