Bronto opened the flap and stepped outside. Someone punched him square in the face. His head nudged sideways and he took a step backward. The blow lacked the strength to completely knock him off balance but he briefly saw stars. What the hell? The owner of that fist better have a good reason as to why it’d popped him a good one. He rubbed his cheek and straightened.
Grunt stood hunched forward. He had one arm wrapped around his gut. The other he held midair, posed to strike again.
Rocko obviously knocked the man’s brains out. “I’ll let you get away with that one but only because your face looks like raw meat,” Bronto said. “Get out of here while you can.”
“You want me to fuck him up?” Zypher shouted as he emerged from the forest trees. “I haven’t had my turn. Just say the word.”
“What’d he do to you?”
“Nothing,” Zypher replied, halting beside Bronto and eyeing Grunt from head to toe. “But he’s been roughing up the ladies. I don’t think Jade’s the only woman he raped. I heard Ruby crying from her hut yesterday when Grunt was inside partaking of her good nature.”
Roughing up two women in two days was too much. The man lacked sense. “Zypher, you need to keep a clean record,” Bronto said. “I, on the other hand,” he continued, pulling his fist back and uppercutting Grunt beneath the chin, “can do as I please.” Bronto shook the sting from his knuckles as Grunt flew backward and dropped to the dirt.
“Nice,” Zypher said as he squatted on a knee beside Grunt’s unconscious body. “Want me to drag him out of here?”
“Go ahead.” If Zypher wasn’t leaving for Earth soon Bronto would’ve stepped aside and let Zypher pulverize what was left of Grunt but he couldn’t chance Commander Sumner getting wind of it. Zypher didn’t need to face a court-martial upon his return. Grunt just wasn’t worth the trouble.
Zypher was the battle hound of the unit, always eager for a fight. If Bronto didn’t know better he’d swear Zypher was at his happiest eight months ago when they’d fought off the chameleon species. This second invasion ought to keep him content for a while longer and relieve some of his frustrations. Sure, Zypher utilized Ruby’s services for that purpose and walked away smiling but he still looked on edge. Always wandering. Always searching.
Zypher nudged his head toward the section of forest he’d been guarding prior to Grunt’s assault on Bronto. “There’s two dead aliens heaped in a pile in there. Did the chieftain give any instructions?”
“Burn them. Completely,” Vulcan replied as he stepped from within the thirty-foot section between Bronto’s and Jade’s huts. “Don’t leave any evidence for the others to find. That order remains in effect for the duration of this mission.”
“Got it, sir,” Zypher said. “I’ll toss them into the fire after I dispose of this bastard.”
Vulcan knelt beside Grunt and checked for breathing. “What the hell happened to him now?”
“Besides blindsiding Bronto when he walked from his hut,” Zypher replied, lifting Grunt and tossing him over his shoulder, “he played a little too rough with Ruby too.”
Vulcan gave Zypher a boost by the arm as he struggled to stand with the extra weight. “Toss him in his hut to sleep it off,” Vulcan instructed. “Bronto and I will discard the aliens. We’ll meet you in the northern forest to take down more trees. We need to get moving on reinforcing these huts.”
Yeah, the damn species were getting too gutsy. The pen had obviously started serving its purpose by drawing them in. Although Bronto liked to believe it was the only reason they emerged, the truth was they needed humans as much as the dinosaurs.
He checked on Ivy to make sure she remained asleep before he accompanied Vulcan into the forest to claim the bodies. She lay just as he’d left her, curled on her side tucked under a hide, her hands folded beneath her cheek. Almost immediately after they made love she dozed off. There was an adventure he wouldn’t mind revisiting now. Making love to Ivy. Again. And again.