Page 12 of Caveman Alien's Terror

In one lazy move so fast I can’t follow it he grabs the spear and yanks it out of my hands. “Let me see this weapon that you keep pointing at your new friend.” He runs one blue finger along the spearhead and shows it to me.

It’s a drop of liquid gold.

“Ichor,” he says smoothly with a voice as smooth as steel. “You have drawn my ichor. That’s sacrilege, Crazy.”

My anger has evaporated and is replaced by the old terror. I have to act while I’m still in control of myself.

I spin around and bolt into the bushes.

Strongly suspecting it’s hopeless, I sprint through the undergrowth, not caring that it whips around my ankles. My fight-or-flight response has exhausted the first option and is now betting everything on the second.

I pass by rocks and trees and bushes, zigzagging to avoid the biggest obstacles. It’s not the first time I’ve run in the jungle, but I’d forgotten how futile it is when I’m not big enough to jump every rock or crash through every tree trunk, the way the dinos can. It takes a while to get anywhere.

Praxigor lets me run for a minute or so.

Then I see a blue flash and run straight into him.

“Oof!”The impact nearly knocks the wind out of me.

He grabs my upper arm and gives me a warm smile. “I didn’t give you permission to go. Are we not friends after all?”

“We are!” I insist, willing to say anything to stay alive.

“Ah. You simply wanted to go on ahead and clear the way for me?”

I have to be honest, because the way his eyes pierce me, I think he knows the true answer. “I wanted to escape from you because I think you’re angry about the ichor.”

“I am,” Praxigor says smoothly. “Would you not be angry if someone drew your blood? Or does only water flow in your veins?”

“You almost killed me,” I argue, sensing this could still end badly for me. “I was scared and I had to save my life! I didn’t mean to break the skin.”

“You needed to be punished,” he informs me. “I was just going to release you… yes? What do you want?” He looks past me.

There are two dinosaurs behind us, both a bright violet. They’re each the size of a pickup truck set on its side, all muscle, claws, fangs and yellow, lifeless eyes that stare at us. I know them as some of the worst predators in the jungle.

“Raptors!” I exclaim. “Run!”

But Praxigor doesn’t let me go. Instead he takes a casual step towards the raptors. “We’re busy here. Either attack or leave. Or is this what you came to do? Just staring and gaping?”

I’ve never seen anyone so calm in the face of two raptors with green slime dripping from their hundreds of triangular teeth. I find myself trying to get behind Praxigor so that he’s between me and them. To my surprise, he lets me do it, instead of offering me to them.

I’m even more astonished when both monsters take a fumbling step backwards, as if losing their nerve.

“Well?” Praxigor snaps and walks towards them. “It appears you're here just to gawp. I should tell you that I’ve made quite enough friends today, and so far it’s only brought me trouble.”

Both raptors decide to flee. In their haste, they crash into each other before they bounce away through the jungle.

“Such indecisive things,” Praxigor sighs and lets go of me. “One moment they look like they will provide us with some entertainment, and the next they’re running away.”

“You scare them, too,” I tell him, not daring to be relieved. “We act in strange ways when we’re scared, doing things we otherwise wouldn’t. Like I did.”

He points my spear at my face, one inch from the tip of my nose. “Perhaps this once I will disregard your disrespectful acts. Although the ichor you took must be paid for, as well as the fruit.” The tip of the spear rotates in a circle in front of my face.

I carefully grab the shaft of the spear. “I’ll do my best. I will try to find the gold you want.”

He lets go of the other end, and the weapon clatters to the ground. “You will try? That doesn’t sound convincing.”

“I mean, I will find some.” I look around for Luna. She’s still behind the rock, scowling at the alien. The fin on her back has sprouted three dangerous-looking spikes.

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