Dinosaur World 7 Chapter 4

I woke up to hushed laughter, and I felt like I was still dreaming as the sound of voices drifted through the air. It took a second to remember where I was, and I stretched my legs under the silk sheets as I worked up the energy to move.

“But you all mate at the same time?” Adhara asked, and I was suddenly wide awake.

I reached an arm out beside me, and realized I was alone in the bed. My eyes half opened, and I could see Hae-won and Becka were on the sofa with Adhara and had tucked themselves under the blanket. There was a gentle creak as the door opened, and Kat walked in with a pile of the girls’ clothes.

The soldier gently closed the door behind her, and she crept over to the sofa.

“Operation sneaky clothes grab, complete,” Kat hissed as she threw pants and shirts to the others. “I don’t think I’ve run that fast since bootcamp.”

“All that fucking gave you super powers,” Becka giggled as Kat squeezed onto the sofa. “Adhara was asking about it.”

“Becka says you mate together?” the alien asked again, and my heartbeat raced at her curiosity.

“Sometimes, we all do it together,” Hae-won said. “But we also just do it one at a time with Jason if we get some free time.”

“It feels good?” The alien asked, and she sounded unsure as the girls giggled.

I couldn’t fucking believe what I was hearing.

Adhara was asking questions about sex. Not only that, but sex with me specifically.

I’d never been so desperate to girl-talk to continue in my entire life, and I forced myself not to move a damn muscle.

“Oh fuck yeah,” Kat laughed. “It’s the best part of this whole apocalypse thing. Really, reeeeeally good sex with Jason. Like… I cannot stress enough how fucking nice his dick feels.”

“His sperm is warm and floods everywhere inside,” Hae-won stated plainly as if she was commenting on the weather. “It feels wonderful and full.”

“You should try it,” Becka said, and she nudged Adhara. “It would give you the real Earth experience.”

“Kat certainly got some good mating last night,” Hae-won chuckled.

“Yeahhh…” Kat sighed. “That was a proper fucking. I liked that you both watched.”

“You watched the mating?” Adhara asked, and she sounded genuinely confused at the idea.

“Oh, yeah,” Becka said. “It’s one of the best parts. Fucking Jason feels soooo good, but watching him fuck the rest of us is like… fuck I don’t even know how to describe it.”

“We like it,” Kat snickered, and the other girls giggled in agreement.

“Hmm…” Adhara hummed. “He is nice to look at. That is why?”

“Yeah, that’s part of it,” Hae-won agreed. “He’s nice to look at everywhere.”

“Eeeeverywhere,” Becka snickered, and this time, I heard Adhara let out a tiny giggle, too.

My mind raced, and it sounded like the beautiful alien was almost curious to try it out. Warmth rushed over me as I pictured the stunning alien in bed with all four of us, and I could only hope the good reviews from the others would encourage her to become my lover.

I for damn sure wouldn’t be able to resist the stoic, lilac-skinned woman, and it sounded like the rest of the girls wanted to bring her into our family.

But I had a feeling that catching me eavesdropping wouldn’t nudge her in the right direction.

I let out the loudest yawn of my life and rubbed my eyes, and then I slowly sat up with my eyes only partially open. The girls looked over at me with huge grins as Adhara flushed a darker shade of purple, and I offered them a groggy smile in return.

“Morning,” I mumbled.

“Morning,” Becka sighed as she stretched her arms up. “We were just having some girl talk.”

“Nice,” I smiled as the women started to get up from the sofa.

“Ready for our first day in Korea?” Becka asked.

“I want to explore,” Hae-won said as she grabbed a hairbrush and started to run it through her ebony locks. “I cannot wait to look around properly.”

“How many rooms do you think this place has?” Kat asked as she headed into the bathroom and started to brush her teeth with one of many spare toothbrushes.

“Hundreds, I bet,” Becka said. “And with the money Kwan has, there’s probably some really cool shit in them.”

I yawned for real this time as I swung my legs out of the comfy bed, and we bustled around each other as we got ready for the day.

Hae-won reached up for a kiss as I passed her to go to the bathroom, and her lips tasted like cherries as I grabbed her close. The Korean beauty giggled as I squeezed her butt and let my tongue linger in her mouth for several seconds, and when I released her, I noticed Adhara’s gaze snapping away from us.

Then she quickly started to lace up her boots.

I pulled on my pants, and decided to use the spare shirt which had been left in the room for me. It was navy blue and incredibly lightweight, and the soft material clung to my biceps in a way I normally didn’t go for, but it was comfy as hell and the perfect fabric for the jungle climate.

Once I was dressed, I grabbed my sharp gun from beside the door, and the girls made sure to collect their weapons, too. It felt like such a natural part of our attire, and the alien weapon was a soothing presence on my shoulder.

Once everyone was ready for the day, Becka strutted over to the door and pressed her ear against it.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

“We aren’t meant to be here,” the blonde said. “I don’t want anyone to catch us, we have to be sneaky if we want to enjoy the perks of being in your room.”

“The perks are worth it.” Kat grinned, and Becka opened the door slightly to peek out.

“All clear,” she said in a dramatic voice. “Okay, soldiers, ready to haul ass out of the sex room and pretend we all just met on a very innocent morning stroll.”

“Yes, Captain,” Kat said with a salute, and Becka pulled the door open so we could pile out into the hall.

I was relieved to see there was nobody else around, and the corridor was quiet as I pulled the door shut behind me and checked I had the key card in my pocket.

We quickly made our way along to the lobby area, and the two armed guards by the elevator were the only other people around. Neither of them seemed to care about our presence, and they ignored Becka’s wave as we made our way to the center of the space.

“Which way should we go?” Kat asked. “That corridor takes you down to the girls’ rooms, there didn’t look like there was anything much there, to be honest.”

There were two other corridors that lead off diagonally from the lobby, and they both looked like they merged off in other directions further down.

“Let’s try that one,” I said as I pointed to the right-side option. “I wonder if Kwan’s got any more dragons around.”

We headed off to explore the hall, and the armed men didn’t even look in our direction. The water feature bubbled as we walked by, and as I got a closer look, I could see it had a tiny waterfall over bronze rocks, with a few green, leafy plants around the outside.

The corridor we chose led us down to another split in the hallway, and there were heavy-looking double doors both to the left and right. Kat started off toward the left, but when she shoved the doors with her shoulder, they didn’t move.

“Locked,” the pretty soldier said, and Becka tried the doors on our right, but they were also sealed shut.

“Damn,” I said. “I guess the underground king takes his security seriously.”

“But I want to explore,” Hae-won pouted as we turned back to the lobby. “It’s my father’s base, so that technically means it’s mine, too.”

“Those guys could have told us it was a dead end,” Becka sighed.

“They don’t seem very chatty,” I snorted. “It probably takes more than someone going the wrong way to break their focus.”

“Do you think your dad’s awake yet?” Kat asked. “We could always ask if we can get a behind the scenes tour.”

“We should probably focus on the satellite favor first,” I pointed out. “If we’re going to immediately ask him for something, it should be that.”

“I guess.” Kat grinned as we reached the lobby again. “Do you guys smell coffee?”

There was definitely a whiff of caffeine in the air, and I could hear voices coming from the corridor we hadn’t explored yet.

“I suppose it’s breakfast time,” Hae-won said. “Morning is a good time to ask my father for something. If he has had food and coffee then he is happy.”

We hurried down the remaining hall, and the sound of chatter and clinking plates came from an open door on the left.

“Should I go inside?” Adhara asked, and we all stopped to look at her. Her fingers twitched by her side, and she glanced over my shoulder toward the busy-sounding room.

I hated seeing her uncomfortable, and it reminded me of how nervous she’d been when she first arrived at Raven Hall.

“Of course, you’re coming in,” I said. “You’re one of us.”

“My family will not harm you,” Hae-won promised. “And I will not let my father ask you questions that you do not like. He does not get answers until he is kind to you and Jason.”

I smiled at my Korean lover and leaned down to gently kiss her forehead.

I wondered when she would share the pregnancy news, but based on how things were going so far, I kind of assumed that was a while away.

“Let’s go,” I said gently to the alien woman. “We need to remember why we’re here. It’s not just a family reunion, we’re here to save the world, remember? If we can find out how Kwan had access to a satellite, then we can get a message sent back to your people.”

Adhara nodded, and she tucked her silver hair behind her ears as she gave me a small smile.

“I’m starving,” Becka groaned. “And I would kill for a cup of tea.”

“Save your strength to kill ommati,” Adhara suggested.

We all chuckled as the alien gave Becka a friendly pat on the shoulder.

“Thanks, Adhara,” the blonde Brit snickered. “That’s good advice.”

I led the girls over to the room on the left, and I was immediately hit with the mix of food smells from the buffet laid out before us.

The room was almost as big as the dining hall back at the castle, but the floor was a soft, pink-toned carpet, and the walls were powder blue wallpaper. There was a long table in the middle of the room crammed full of different foods in serving bowls, and it was clear Kwan had no shortage of food in the base. Aside from this, the room had a mixture of low, traditional Korean dining tables and some higher ones where people sat on chairs.

I spotted Kwan and his sons sitting around a large, low table, and each of them had a bowl piled with food in front of them while a coffee pot sat at the center. Kwan didn’t look over at us as he ate, but Sun-hee gave us a cheery wave. There were several empty spaces at their table, and I wondered if any of their workers ever sat with them.

“Good morning,” Jee called as she hurried over with a cup of tea clutched in hand. “Did you all sleep well?”

“Yes eomma.” Hae-won smiled as she reached up and kissed her mother on the cheek. “What is for breakfast?”

“Just a little bit of this and that,” Jee said with a wave of her hand. “We make do with what we have.”

“It looks like you’ve got loads.” Kat grinned as she stared over at the buffet. “Are you a cook?”

“Oh, no,” Jee laughed. “I just help out here and there, the girls do most of the cooking.”

“She is being modest,” Hae-won said. “She is an amazing chef. Let’s go and get breakfast before Min-jun eats everything.”

Jee laughed and made her way over to her husband as we headed for the table of food.

We passed tables of men dressed in black and a few women I hadn’t seen the night before. I guessed they could be the partners of Kwan’s armed men, and probably lived down in the base, too.

When we stopped at the buffet table, I could smell an array of spices along with peppermint tea and coffee. The bowls were piled high with all the food we could possibly want for breakfast. There was rice, various sliced meats, marinated tofu, scrambled eggs, and heaps of fruits.

The coffee pots sat beside various labeled boxes of different tea blends, and there was a container of hot water to make drinks. Orange juice and drinking water sat in jugs with ice, and my stomach rumbled as I took in all the options.

“Woah,” Becka snickered as she grabbed a plate. “This is what you need when you’re eating for two. Get that plate piled high, Hae-won, we need to eat all the nutrients we can.”

“You’re really loving being pregnant,” I laughed as Becka started to shovel rice into her bowl.

“It’s an excuse to eat extra.” The blonde Brit grinned. “And I’ve never had rice for breakfast before, this is so fun.”

“But you have eaten rice before,” Hae-won giggled. “It is not any different.”

“It is different,” Becka said. “Food tastes different in the morning.”

I laughed as I grabbed a plate and started to add a little bit of everything to it. I didn’t know what all the meats were, but they smelled delicious, and I poured myself a cup of herbal tea.

Adhara copied all of my movements and prepared herself an identical meal to my own, and when I noticed her eyeing my steaming cup with a focused scowl, I poured her a matching cup of herbal tea.

“Thank you,” the alien said with a tiny nod. “This is correct meal?”

“Looks perfect,” I chuckled.

“Do we have to use chopsticks?” Kat hissed. “I’m shit at them.”

“Of course, not,” Hae-won laughed. “Look, there are spoons.”

“Typical westerner,” Becka sighed. “No culture.”

Kat nudged the blonde, and we turned to go and choose our seat.

“Over here,” Sun-hee called, and Hae-won strode over to join her family.

I felt slightly nervous to join Kwan for breakfast, but I was determined to make a good impression whenever I could. I strode over with my face in a perfectly calm mask, and I casually nodded to burly Korean men.

Then I placed my food down before I sat cross-legged on the floor across from Hae-won’s stern-faced dad.

The man glanced up at his daughter with a smile before he looked back down at a notebook in front of him and sipped his drink.

I picked up the chopsticks and dove into breakfast. The meat was slightly spicy, but with a hint of sweetness, and the rice was perfectly cooked and seasoned. We were all silent for a while as we enjoyed our food, and I did a double take at Adhara when I noticed she was using chopsticks with no hesitation.

“This might be better than bacon,” the alien said as she held up one of the sliced meats.

“I’m glad you like it,” Jee said, and Kwan’s eyes flickered over Adhara.

“It’s all delicious,” I added. “Hae-won was right, you are an excellent cook.”

Jee waved a hand to stop us, but she smiled and hummed gently as she sipped her tea.

Hae-won’s brothers all had a mountain of food in their bowls, and I had no doubt they trained hard enough to need it.

Min-jun was quiet as he ate and kept his eyes focused on his food. Tae glanced at Adhara occasionally and pulled his bowl closer as he shuffled slightly away from her. Sun-hee just smiled as he shoveled eggs into his mouth, and he barely gave Adhara a second look after greeting her with a polite bow.

“I’m looking forward to seeing more of the island,” I said after a moment. “I’ve heard it’s absolutely beautiful.”

“Oh, it is.” Jee nodded. “Of course, we cannot wander freely anymore, but those monsters haven’t stolen Jeju’s beauty.”

“So, who’s in charge?” Kat asked as she stirred her tea. “Are there military on the island or anything?”

“Jeju is self-governed,” Sun-hee said through a mouthful of rice, and Jee slapped him on the arm for the poor manners. Once he swallowed, the young Korean was allowed to continue. “We have a collection of council members who oversee the island.”

“Really?” I asked. “That’s interesting, are the council members all still safe?”

“Yes.” Tae nodded. “They have their own bunker, and our father makes sure they are safe.”

I raised my eyebrows at the statement, and my girls all ate a little more slowly as they eyed the stone-faced man across from me.

“Wow,” I finally managed. “That’s a huge responsibility.”

Kwan’s broad shoulders shifted about two centimeters into a shrug.

“My husband is very close to one of the men on the council,” Jee explained. “That man saved his life a long time ago, and they have been friends for years.”

“I help them out where I can,” Kwan grunted as he topped off his coffee. “We look after two of the nearby villages as a favor.”

“What do you do for them, appa?” Hae-won asked.

“I bring them ammunition and supplies when they need it,” he answered in a gentler tone. “We kill the creatures nearby to keep the villagers safe. It is not much.”

“There’s only so much we can do,” Jee sighed. “But my Husband and his men take their duties very seriously, I’m sure you understand.”

I nodded as I finished off my rice, and smiled at Adhara as she carefully scooped up the last of her food. She looked adorable as she sniffed the herbal tea I’d given her, and her emerald eyes lit up as she sipped the steaming liquid.

“This is good,” the alien announced. “We did not have this one at Ravenscar.”

“Ravenscar?” Jee asked. “Is that where you lived before?”

Adhara shifted nervously, but Becka jumped in so she wouldn’t have to make any explanations about not being from the Alakerinician Sector.

“Ravenscar is where my mum is,” Becka chimed in. “We’ve been there not too long. I wanted to make sure she was okay, what with the dinosaurs eating everyone, and all that. Jason promised to help me find her, and he wouldn’t stop until he got me there.”

“You traveled from Cambridge to find her mother?” Jee asked.

“Yep.” I shrugged. “She’s all the family Becka has. Of course, we got there and found out her mum is basically queen of a castle these days, but it was all worth it to know she was safe.”

Becka reached over and squeezed my hand, and I sent my blond lover a smile.

When I turned back to Jee, the kind woman was studying my face, but she looked away after several beats to say something in Korean to Kwan. The man raised an eyebrow and nodded just once, and he glanced at me with his signature, steely glare as he sipped his coffee.

“I had no idea you were helping out the villages,” Hae-won said to her father. “It seems like you are not short on supplies here.”

“We help, too,” Sun-hee said. “We go with him on the runs, and we have killed a lot of the monsters.”

“Hmm,” Kwan grunted without looking up.

“Kwan does not see these things as heroic,” Jee said as she smiled at her husband. “He protects people because that is his nature. It is what he has always done.”

“Just like Jason,” Hae-won announced, and I shot the Korean beauty a glance that she ignored. “He protected everyone at Raven Hall. He killed any dinosaurs that came around, and he always made sure we were safe during our travels, too.”

“That’s right.” Becka nodded. “And he never asks for anything in return, he just does what’s right.”

“Guys,” I muttered as my face heated up, but I couldn’t help smiling as my lovers boasted about me to the table.

“You sound like a good man to have around,” Sun-hee laughed. “I can see why my sister likes you so much.”

Jee turned back to Kwan at once, and they had a hurried conversation in Korean that I just hoped was a positive development because the favor we needed was a pretty big ask.

“We actually had a favour we wanted to ask,” I said, and Kwan lowered his cup as he stared at me. “It’s kind of important. Life or death, end of the world important.”

The table fell silent, and even Sun-hee's smile faded as his chopsticks hovered over his bowl.

“Is it something to do with her?” Kwan asked, and Adhara looked down at her cup.

“Yeah, it is.” I nodded. “Adhara needs to send a message back to her people, and for that we need to get access to a satellite.”

“I see,” Kwan said, and there were no tells of emotion on his chiseled face as he spoke. “Well, I do indeed have such access.”

“Really?” Hae-won asked with a relieved smile.

“Is it a military satellite?” Kat asked. “Because if so, I have honestly no idea how you managed that.”

“It is not from the military,” Kwan replied. “It was built by a man who owed me a favour. A very big favour. But it does not work very well most times.”

“Tae has got it to work twice,” Sun-hee piped up. “He is the resident tech genius. He always built experiments when we were young, and he was top of his year in everything to do with computers.”

Tae’s face flushed slightly, but he smiled as he sipped his tea.

“Sounds like you’re the man we need,” I said to the middle brother. “How likely is it you can get the satellite working again?”

“It is turned off just now,” Tae replied. “Like our father says, it was built by a man as a favour. He did not do a very good job.”

“Why did you get it in the first place?” Becka asked.

“Business communication,” Kwan replied without any elaboration.

“Cool.” Kat offered him a lop-sided grin. “Your own secret communication network. Nobody would be able to listen in or track calls, right?”

Kwan chose not to answer the question, and instead, he leveled his stern gaze on Adhara.

“So, what is the message?” Kwan demanded in a gravelly tone. “What is so important you came all this way to use my satellite?”

“It is not time to tell you,” Hae-won cut in before anyone could answer.

“Hae-won, you will speak respect--” her father began, but my feisty Korean lover shook her head.

“You need to get to know Jason,” she argued. “You can’t understand anything we have gone through, or what we came here to do, if you don’t even know him.”

Kwan raised an eyebrow at his daughter and slowly bit into an orange as he stared. Hae-won didn’t even wince, though, and I flicked my gaze between the two while the tension made my palms sweat. Then the buff Korean finally went back to working on his notebook, and Hae-won smirked to herself.

“The satellite is not on right now.” Tae cleared his throat. “It was getting overwhelmed by all the islanders trying to use it, and I thought it might mess up the system.”

“Can you turn it on again?” Hae-won asked. “Is that possible from here?”

“Of course.” Tae nodded. “The tech lab is in the base, we can do it from there, but I do not know if it will help you.”

“My technology will pick up the signal,” Adhara said, and her voice shook from her nerves. “My receivers are powerful. I only need a moment of connection to send my message.”

“What does your language sound like?” Sun-hee asked suddenly, and he had a friendly grin on his face. “Can you say something in it?”

“She’s not a performing monkey,” Jee scolded, but Adhara smiled back at the young man.

Then the alien made a quiet series of noises in her guttural growl combined with a low hum, and the sound made me smile, too.

“Woah,” Sun-hee laughed. “That is very cool.”

Adhara’s gills fluttered as she blushed a bit, and I was grateful for the youngest brother making her feel more at ease. The lilac woman even bounced a tiny bit in her seat, and she licked her lips before she spoke a little louder to Tae.

“Can I look at satellite technology?” Adhara asked. “After we finish the morning food?”

“Sure.” Tae nodded. “But I might have to get one of the other guys to help you, I’m going on a village run with our father. Ji-ho is very good with technology, I’ll ask him to help you.”

“Excellent.” I grinned. “Thanks so much, we appreciate it. What’s on the agenda for your village run?”

“Why don’t you come and find out?” Kwan asked, and the table fell silent again.

I swallowed hard and hoped no one noticed my Adam’s apple bobbing nervously.

“You want me to come with you?” I asked.

“My daughter speaks highly of you.” Kwan shrugged another two centimeters. “I would like to see why.”

A sense of dread built up in my stomach, and as experienced as I was with killing dinos, I had no experience in making conversation with stone-faced mafia-types.

Especially when I’d gotten his daughter, and at least one other woman, pregnant.

Still, I wanted to win him over, and I knew Hae-won wanted this, too. If that meant joining her dad on a village run in the Korean jungle with a bunch of fucking dinos on the loose… then that’s what I would do.

I didn’t exactly feel like it was an optional suggestion anyway, just judging by Kwan’s hard stare.

“Yeah, alright,” I said as I glanced at Hae-won. “I’ll help out with anything I can.”

“Good to hear,” Sun-hee laughed. “Appa, Jason gave me one of his alien guns, too. We will be prepared for all the dinosaurs.”

“You don’t have to go, Jason.” Hae-won scowled a little. “You have already proven yourself to me, you do not need to prove anything to my father. A simple conversation would suffice--”

“It’s fine, I want to go,” I said, and I put a hand over hers as she looked up at me with her electric blue eyes. “Your family has taken us in, I’ll do anything I can to repay the favor.”

“Okay,” Hae-won murmured.

Kwan nodded silently and then rose from the table.

“I will be upstairs in ten minutes,” the stone-faced Korean announced. “We keep the trucks close by. My sons will show you where to go.”

With that, the man strode off to the doorway, and several people bowed as he passed them. Min-jun silently stood up to follow his father as well, and he remained as blank-faced as Kwan.

“I would say Min-jun gets chattier as you get to know him,” Sun-hee whispered. “But he doesn’t. He just walks around being strong and silent most of the time, but he is a good brother.”

“Uh-huh.” I nodded. “So… what exactly does a village run involve? I’m guessing we drop off supplies and try not to get eaten in the process?”

“That is it,” Sun-hee agreed as he put his empty bowl down. “I’ll show you the way to the trucks.”

“I’ll go and ask Ji-ho to show you all the tech room,” Tae said as he rose from the table. “But like I said, there is no guarantee it will work for you.”

The middle son headed over to another table and started to talk quickly to a skinny man with a black ponytail.

“Be careful out there,” Jee said with a worried frown. “I know you are a capable young man, but there are so many of those creatures on the island now. More and more appear every day.”

“We’ll look after him.” Sun-hee grinned. “Come on Jason, we better not be late.”

I nodded as we all rose from the table, and Hae-won reached up and gave me a kiss on the cheek.

“I love you,” she whispered.

“We don’t know the dinos that live here,” Kat added as her hazel eyes held mine. “Stay alert, and come back soon, okay?”

“Nobody needs to worry,” I chuckled. “I’ll be back before you know it. I’m sure Kwan will be my best buddy when we return.”

“Ha,” Sun-hee laughed. “Let’s not get too ahead of ourselves.”

Tae rejoined the group with the slim man at his side and gestured to the group.

“These are the ladies who need your help,” he explained. “This is Ji-ho, he will take you to the tech room.”

“Bye Jason,” Becka said, and she laced her fingers into mine and gave my hand a squeeze. “I expect you and Kwan to come back with matching friendship bracelets.”

“Oh, for sure.” I grinned as the gorgeous blonde winked. “You guys just go and get that signal working, don’t worry about me. Dino slaying is old news, and it looks like I’ve got a pretty tough team on my side.”

The girls blew me kisses as they turned to follow Ji-ho, and Adhara even looked more comfortable now that we had asked for the favor we needed. Hae-won held her hand again as the group filed out the door, and I was left with Jee and her younger sons as the room started to empty.

“Be careful boys,” Jee said. “I will make something special for dinner tonight.”

Sun-hee and Tae echoed something in Korean to their mother, and the woman started to collect our bowls as she hummed quietly to herself.

“Let’s go, appa does not like to wait,” Tae said, and we headed for the exit and started to make our way back to the lobby.

The elevator was already upstairs, and as we walked over to wait, we were joined by three other men. They nodded and said something in Korean to the brothers, and they glanced at my sharp gun before they offered me silent nods.

The two guards stood silently as we waited, and I drummed my fingers on my leg as the elevator made its way back down to our floor.

“What’s on the other level?” I asked as the glass doors slid open, and we piled inside.

“Many things.” Sun-hee shrugged and hit one of the golden buttons. “My father has rooms to store all different kinds of weapons, different food, and money. Most of it is always locked up, and guards patrol the floor.”

“And how far is this village?” I asked.

“Not too far,” Tae replied as the concrete walls rushed past outside. “But it always takes longer than we would like. We run into the creatures during most trips. We killed many last night, but there are always more waiting for their chance.”

“Yeah, I know how that is,” I muttered.

The elevator stopped, and we stepped out into the small black building in the clearing. The door was open, and when I headed outside, I was hit with the warmth of the morning. The sun was out in full force, and there was only a slight breeze rustling the thick hedges and trees that hid the base entrance.

The Korean men went ahead and pushed their way through the greenery, and I followed them to find two trucks waiting for us beside Adhara’s spacecraft.

They looked like military vehicles, with open storage backs like Kat’s jeep. They were much larger than her car had been, though, and they were painted slick black paint instead of camouflage.

I immediately missed having my motorcycle with me. I knew the truck would be way trickier to navigate quickly around dino feet and snapping jaws.

Kwan leaned against one of the trucks as he spoke with a short man who waved his rifle around. They spoke in rapid Korean and then stopped when they noticed I had arrived.

“Reporting for duty,” I said. “Should I ride in the back and be on guard watch?”

“No,” Kwan said as he opened the door of his driver’s seat and climbed in. “You ride up front with me.”

Sun-hee raised his eyebrows and exchanged a silent glance with Tae. I waited for the brothers to give me any indication of whether I was screwed, but neither brother said a word before they hurried to jump into the back of the truck.

It looked like I was on my own for this leg of the trip.

Just me and the underground king.

I nodded to myself as I clutched my sharp gun and walked around the side of the truck, and then I pulled the passenger door open.