Dinosaur World 7 Chapter 2

“I’ve never heard of a therizinosaurus,” I hissed as I gripped my gun at the ready. “Are they carnivorous?”

“Herbivores,” Sun-hee whispered. “That makes it even creepier, in my opinion. They have been prowling the base for weeks.”

“Where is the base?” I asked as I looked around, but I could only see dense trees and bushes around the clearing where the ship was.

“It is close by,” the young man replied. “I am sure you will see it soon. But we must kill as many of these creatures as we can.”

“Any that we don’t kill, could end up in a nearby village,” Tae added from my other side. “We must protect as many people as possible.”

“Got it.” I nodded.

The clicking sounded like it was coming from all around us, and I quickly slid my night vision goggles back on as Hae-won did the same. The probability of looking fucking crazy to Kwan for wearing sunglasses at night was worth it for the advantage in a dino fight, and I instantly grinned as the view improved. It took a second to adjust to how bizarrely well-lit the forest became, and I could see all the different tones of green on the palm trees and bushes around us.

None of the Korean men even glanced my way, and it was clear their hyper-focus was on the approaching enemy.

The girls stood beside me with their sharp guns poised and ready to fire, and we stared out into the night as the clicking sounds grew closer.

It made the back of my neck prickle as we listened to the strange noise echo through the jungle, and my throat was dry while my heart rate quickened with every moment the clicks got louder.

It didn’t take long for the therizinosaurus to show themselves, and “nightmarish” was a fitting way to describe them.

They stood on their hind legs, and must have been about thirty feet long and fifteen feet tall. Their scales on their chests were a muddy brown with a tint of dark yellow mixed in, and then feathers on this back looked to be a dark blue color. Although their jaws were short, I could see rows of razor-sharp teeth inside. Their dark, beady eyes darted from side to side as they clicked and snarled, and long tails swung behind them as they walked.

The most terrifying thing about them was their claws, though.

Each therizinosaurus had three huge talons on their arms which couldn’t be any less than twenty inches long. The claws didn’t look like brittle nails that would easily snap during a fight, either, they looked like fucking swords coming out of their hands, and judging by the crusted blood all over each talon, these guys had no problem tearing through skin.

The therizinosaurus started to slink out of the trees all around us, and the eerie clicking noise grew louder as more and more of them appeared.

“Look at those claws,” Kat whispered. “Fuck that, those things could have your eye out before they even come near you.”

“No shit,” I muttered. “Those are some of the deadliest weapons I’ve seen on a dino yet. They don’t even have to get close before they could--”

I was cut off when the three therizinosaurus suddenly sprang toward some of the men with their talons at the ready, and I aimed my sharp gun at one of their skulls and pulled the trigger. The bullet whistled along into the beast’s eye socket, and the dino’s skull blew open with a gross flurry of brain and bone. The suddenly headless dino flopped to the right and toppled into one of the other herd members.

Then all hell broke loose.

The jungle erupted with roars and screams. The men around me broke off into smaller groups, and they each focused on different spots of the forest. They shouted in Korean to each other as they started to mow down the dinos, and it looked like it took a good three or four human made bullets to kill just one of the huge beasts.

The dinosaurs seemed to use the clicking sound to communicate, and they were able to keep their talons from striking each other as they attempted to maul all of our asses.

Then I heard a cry of pain behind us, and I spun around to see one of the Korean men had been struck in the face with talons, and deep cuts ran along his left cheek as his fellow fighters sprayed bullets into the chest of the offending dino.

The man wailed as he clutched his bloody face, but it looked like the attack had narrowly missed his eyes.

Two other nearby men lifted up their injured friend and started to carry him back from the front line of fire. As they walked, I saw one of the dinos notice their turned backs, and it lunged toward the men with its massive talons stretched out.

I took aim as quickly as I could and shot the long-clawed fucker in the neck. The dinosaur screeched as it swung its body round to face me, and then toppled over onto its back with a thud.

The beast wailed as blood seeped onto the grass, and it made a choking noise as its head flopped from side to side. The long claws on its front legs flailed in the air, and I strode over to the dino as I pulled the hilt of my fire sword from my belt.

I’d wanted to chop up some dino bastards ever since I first laid my hands on the sword, and I knew it would be the perfect chance to practice my hand at the alien weapon.

I hit the button on the hilt, and the black blade sprang to life with a faint buzz. The beady eyes of the dino rolled back as I approached, and its tail spasmed, but it wasn’t dead yet.

I raised my sword as I stopped beside the beast’s head, and then I brought the blade down through its neck. The skin of the dino sliced as easily as cake with the alien blade, and a bloody mess of therizinosaurus insides spilled onto the jungle floor.

I chuckled as I quickly pulled my sword back, and I tried not to slip on the puddle of blood that had started to quickly form around me.

“Jason!” Becka screamed. “Behind you!”

I swung around with my sword still clutched in hand as a particularly large herd member lunged at me, but then Becka shot at the dino as it leaped, and my lover managed to hit the beast in the neck so it stumbled.

The dino could have easily reached me with its jaws if it hadn’t been shot, but it seemed unable to maneuver its neck properly to get at me now.

I jumped to the side as it tried to dive at me, and I brought my blade down on the claws with a satisfying crunch. The dino howled as I cut it right across the knuckles, and I had to jump to avoid the long tail which swung around to meet me.

Blood started to pour out of the end of the dino’s arms, and it suddenly flopped onto its belly with a weak cry. As the therizinosaurus lay before me, I decided to use my sword for the final execution before I swapped back to my gun.

After all, what was more satisfying than shoving a blade into a dino skull?

I raised my fire sword high, and I brought the black blade down and straight through the middle of its large head.

The flesh made a sizzling noise as the blade sliced through skin and bone, and there was a smell of burning meat that made me gag as I pulled the hilt back up high.

When the blade came out of the dino, the beast was left with its head and neck sliced right down the middle. It was horrific to look at, but I couldn’t help admiring how precise the cut was. I could see the dinosaur’s brain under layers of cracked bone and blood, and the flesh started to peel away to opposite sides like gross string cheese.

“That was awesome!” Sun-hee yelled beside me as he punched the sky with a grin. Then he hurried over to help Tae take on a new trio of dinos, which had erupted out into the clearing.

I didn’t have much time to celebrate my swordplay as more therizinosaurus poured out of the trees and lunged at the group, so I quickly hit the button on my sword to stash the fire blade, attached the hilt back onto my belt, and swung my sharp gun around again. Then I looked around at the carnage around me and hoped Kwan’s men had brought enough ammo with them.

We’d started off outnumbering the dinos, but as more and more appeared, it became clear we were not going to win with numbers alone.

I had no doubt the men were skilled, but without alien weapons for everyone, it would take a hell of a lot more bullets to take every dino down. Clouds rolled in front of the moon as we fought, and I knew it must have been difficult for everyone who had nothing but their own eyesight to navigate in the darkness.

Suddenly, I heard a yell from one of the Korean men, and I turned to see Adhara step out of her ship with a sharp gun in her hand.

The lilac-skinned beauty jumped out through the forcefield, and her silver hair sparkled under the stars as she took aim at the nearest herd member.

Adhara immediately started to shoot at the dinos and ignored the cries and stares from the men around her.

Sun-hee gasped and shouted something in Korean, and he stared with an open mouth at the alien.

Kwan looked over at Adhara, and even his steely expression changed to wide eyed shock.

There wasn’t much time for everyone to ogle the new member of the team, though, because more and more dinos piled out of the trees in what seemed like an endless parade of taloned bastards.

Kwan shot an approaching therizinosaurus in the neck while Sun-hee opened fire on the same beast. As soon as the dino was down, Kwan turned back to look at Adhara. His eyes were narrowed, and as he took a step closer to the alien, I noticed him tightening his hold on his rifle, every muscle in my body went rigid.

Hae-won screamed something at her father before I could react, and the man barked back in Korean before he dragged his eyes off Adhara, and worked on taking down another therizinosaurus.

Once I was sure Adhara was safe, I looked around the clearing to see the girls had all spread out in different directions. There seemed to be more dinos left on the right side where Kat stood, and she seemed dangerously outnumbered as more therizinosaurus snuck out from the trees.

“We need to stick together!” I yelled as I hurried over to help the soldier. “Don’t let yourself get ambushed by these fuckers. We’re stronger together, come on!”

Becka and Adhara raced over to join us and arranged themselves in a line beside me. Hae-won was the furthest away, but she took careful steps over to us as she blasted a dino right in the side of the skull with her sharp gun.

Once we were all together as a group, I noticed the dinos approached us slower. It was as if they knew a coordinated team was harder to kill than an individual, and it still made my skin crawl to think of how intelligent the bastards had become.

Then a therizinosaurus with a large bite mark in its neck raced out of the trees towards me, and I took careful aim at the skull before I pulled the trigger. The bullet hit the creature right between the eyes, and the splatter of dino meat flew into the air and landed on a nearby bush. When the lifeless body hit the ground, two of the nearby dinos spun to look at their fallen herd member.

I took the opportunity to shoot one of them in the back of the head, just as Hae-won did the same thing to its buddy.

Both dino skulls erupted with skin and blood, and a blasted eyeball went flying into the air. The two dinos crashed into each other as they fell down dead, and their long necks tangled together as they hit the ground.

The teamwork between me and my girls had never been more in sync as we took down every dino we could while remaining in a tight cluster formation. Although the beasts had long legs and enormous bodies, we managed to keep them far enough away that they couldn’t swipe us with their deadly claws, and every time one of us took a dino down, the next shooter in my group was ready to drop the fucker behind it.

As the Korean men continued to fight around us, the dino bodies piled up, and the ground became slippery with blood. Kwan’s men were all incredible shooters, and it was a world away from the haphazard fighting we’d witnessed back in Ravenscar.

But the intensity of the fight never let up.

“They just keep coming!” Becka wailed as more clicks and hisses echoed out from the jungle. “How many of these Edward Scissorhand cunts are there?”

Sweat had started to stream down my neck as we fought, and the difference in climate became more noticeable every time I moved. I wished a breeze would pick up as sweat dripped into my eye, and my shirt clung to my chest under my jacket as the minutes of gunfire ticked by.

I took a shot at a smaller therizinosaurus as it scurried out of the trees, and I tried to ignore the rising temperature of my body.

They just kept coming.

We were managing to keep them at bay with our guns, but the dinos had some kind of team system in play, and it seemed a new group would appear every few minutes with a whole slew of members in the pack.

I glanced up at the sky every minute or so, and the goggles made it appear a pale blue rather than the dark navy it truly was. I made sure to keep an eye out for any flying dinos that could have been attracted to the noise, but I half-expected a t-rex to appear through the trees any second.

So far, it seemed we hadn’t attracted attention from other creatures just yet.

I managed to get a good view of Hae-won’s father and brothers as they fought, and it was clear to see where the Korean beauty got her skill. I may have taught her well, but from the looks of it, kicking ass seemed to run in her family.

The four burly men of the Hae-won’s family moved with fast, purposeful motions, and every shot they took hit their targets. They worked together as a well-oiled machine and calmly shot dino after dino in the skull, but her father, Kwan, was especially impressive to watch. He seemed the most unflustered of the group, and even as a dino lunged at him with gaping jaws, he didn’t flinch.

The underground king just put three quick bullets right between the dino’s eyes, and then he pivoted on one foot to do the same to the beast who came at him from his blindspot.

“Daewoo Precision K2!” Kat hollered as she noticed me watching Kwan. “That’s the rifles they're using, awesome Korean make!”

“I thought you might know!” I grinned. “I was wondering, they look good!”

“Not as good as our alien guns.” Becka smirked as she wiped dino blood from her cheek.

“Fucking hell,” Kat said as she glanced down at the pile of bodies in front of her. “This is going to attract others for sure, even if we evaporate them quickly. The noise these bastards make is enough to wake the dead.”

“The clicking is so creepy.” Hae-won shivered as she shot a bullet into the neck of a far off dino. “It’s even scarier than the roaring, I think.”

“It seems like they're slowing down finally, though,” I said as I looked around to see only three more dinos appear from the forest.

Two of the new therizinosaurus were shot by Kwan’s men, and Hae-won put a bullet in the final dino skull.

Then the Korean beauty flicked her ebony hair over her shoulder as she lowered her gun, and I could tell she was pleased her father had noticed her fight.

I kept my eyes on the edge of the jungle, but no new dinos appeared as I scanned the trees, and I looked around the clearing to see only two men appeared to have been injured in the ambush. The man with a tear in his cheek sat on the ground with his palm pressed to his face, and a second guy stood near the spaceship as blood dripped down from his arm.

Several of the men took the dip in dinos as a chance to grab their injured comrades and rush them off into the woods, and I assumed that was the direction the base was.

I kept my sharp gun aimed at the trees as the men jogged off, in case a hidden dino saw it as a chance to attack the weaker members of the group. The men vanished into the jungle without incident, though, and I slowly lowered my sharp gun again.

We all stood in silence for a moment, and I strained my ears as I listened for any distant clicks or howls. I scanned the forest, but there didn’t appear to be any signs of movement or suspicious shadows amongst the trees.

“Are they gone?” Becka asked eventually, and everyone looked at Kwan.

He stood with his K2 swung over his shoulder as he faced out into the jungle, and he was as still as a statue. Then he held up a hand as if to silence us even though nobody spoke, and he cocked his head to the side as he studied the dense jungle ahead.

“There!” Kwan suddenly growled as he whipped around and pointed to a bush over to the left of the clearing.

There was a scream as four more of the long-clawed fuckers leapt from the darkness and piled into a group of nearby men.

Then one of the dinos grabbed a man by the leg with its sharp teeth before any of us could react, and it hurtled back into the jungle as it shrieked like a banshee. The other three dinosaurs were killed almost instantly by Kwan and his three sons, and the wave of bullets splattered dino guts all over the clearing before the beasts fell dead.

The ground shuddered from the weight, but the screams of the man who’d been taken echoed around the clearing, and I ran toward the bushes where the fleeing dino had disappeared without thinking twice.

“Jason!” my girls all shrieked at once, but I didn’t pause.

I hurtled past the pile of bodies, and raced after the rogue dino with my sharp gun clutched in hand. I heard more yells behind me, and the bushes scratched my legs as I flung myself into the Korean jungle.

My night vision goggles made it easier than I expected to maneuver in the dense landscape, and I followed the pained screams of the man as I caught just a glimpse of the lumbering dino ahead.

The therizinosaurus’ long tail whipped back and forth through the plantlife, and it was limping badly. The faster I ran, the more blood I could see on its thigh, and then I realized there were two bloody wounds in its knee as well where bullets must have struck.

The man in the dino’s jaws was still alive, though, and his yells rang out through the trees as he dangled from the mouth of the therizinosaurus. He flailed around wildly, and I couldn’t see a gun in his hands. Then there was a horrible crunch as the dino clicked, and the man shrieked from what I guessed was a broken bone of some sort.

I raced as fast as I could, fully aware that I was venturing deeper into a jungle, which I had no way to navigate.

But I couldn’t make myself turn back. Not with the guy shrieking and flailing only a matter of feet ahead of me.

The limp of the dino slowed it down another degree, and I was finally able to slow down enough for me to take a shot. Then I fired a bullet into the creature’s spine, and the dino howled as the bullet tore through its lower back. More blood poured out onto its scales as it stumbled, and I took the chance to race closer and fire a shot right into the neck.

The bullet made the dino howl even louder, and this time, its jaws fell open.

Then the injured man crashed to the jungle floor with a cry, and I dove toward him, and tried to pull him to his feet before the dino fell. The man was heavy, and I only just managed to haul him out of the way as the therizinosaurus stumbled toward us and let out a gurgling shriek.

I supported the man’s weight in one arm and quickly lined up my sharp gun to the dying beasts’s skull with the other, and then I shot the fucker right in the eyeball. The bullet tore through its socket and straight through the brain and out the other side, and in the next second, its massive body crashed to the ground.

“Fuck,” I panted as the jungle went silent.

“Thank you,” the man breathed beside me as I held him upright. His right leg looked fucked up as it stuck out at an odd angle, and he was covered in blood, but he was alive.

We both were.

“No problem,” I told him through grating breaths.

There was a rustle in the bushes, and Kwan and Min-jun raced over to the injured man. I handed him over to their care as they spoke to him in Korean, and Min-jun bent down to inspect the gnawed-on leg.

While the men spoke, I looked around to see if any other herd members were left, but the only movement and sound were the groans of the injured man as Min-jun lifted him over his shoulder. Then the eldest brother hurried off with the patient, and I wiped dinosaur blood from my face as I caught my breath.

“Woah,” Sun-hee said as he appeared from the bushes. “Jason, you saved that guy. You have no fear, huh?”

“I have fear,” I chuckled. “But I’ve learned to blaze ahead anyway. I hope he’s okay, that leg looked painful.”

“Yes, but he is alive,” Sun-hee said. “You moved so quickly after him, it was impressive.”

“Let us return to the others,” Kwan said in a gruff voice, and he brushed past me without a glance.

I looked down at the bloody corpse at my feet and carefully stepped over the guts which had seeped out onto the forest floor. I kept my gun in my hand as I followed Kwan back to the clearing, and Sun-hee gave me a slap on the back as he fell in step beside me.

“I have many questions,” he whispered with a boyish grin. “But I expect my father is going to ask plenty in the meantime.”

Sun-hee stared down at my sharp gun, and I held it up so he could look at it without his father noticing. He whispered something in Korean as he admired the strange design of the weapon, and then he shook his head with a laugh as we returned to the others.

The clearing had turned into a dinosaur graveyard, and the ground was more red than green from the blood and guts. I made sure to step over something that looked like half a brain, and I wondered how long it would take to evaporate the herd of therizinosaurus.

“Jason,” Hae-won said as she ran up to me. “Are you hurt?”

“I’m fine.” I smiled as I swung my sharp gun over my shoulder. I wiped a smear of dino blood from Hae-won’s cheek as she sent me a relieved smile, and then we made our way over to the rest of the girls.

Kat and Becka were sprayed with dirt and guts, and they both tipped their chins up to kiss my cheeks when I reached them. Adhara smiled at me as she clutched her sharp gun, and then her emerald eyes flickered over the sea of curious faces.

The clearing was silent, and I realized all the Korean men were watching Kwan.

The leader glanced around at them all with an unreadable expression on his aged face, and when his eyes hovered over Adhara, he cracked his neck slowly from side to side.

Then he finally spoke.

“What is the meaning of this?” Kwan asked. His gravelly tone made it sound like a demand more than a question.

I opened my mouth to speak, but Hae-won jumped in first.

“Appa, this can wait,” she said. “We need to clean up these bodies before we do any talking, yes?”

“The other dinos will come.” Kat nodded. “If they smell so much blood, they’ll come to see what spilled it.”

“Trust us,” Becka said as she stood with a hand on her hip. “We’ve killed enough of these fuckers to know the drill.”

Kwan stared at the blonde Brit, and his expression remained stoic as he looked her up and down.

“It will take all night,” he said. “We must move quickly.”

“Actually,” I said. “Adhara has a way for us to make the bodies evaporate.”

“Evaporate?” Kwan repeated.

“It means make them disappear, basically,” Kat said helpfully.

“I know what it means,” Kwan barked, and the pretty soldier raised an eyebrow.

“How can you evaporate them?” Sun-hee asked eagerly, and I glanced at Adhara.

The alien nodded as her fingers twitched at her side, and I held my sharp gun up for the crowd to see.

“We use these,” I said. “It won’t take long with the four of us, and I think we have a couple of extra guns in the ship to speed things up.”

“I will help,” Sun-hee said as he shot a hand up in the air, and I grinned at him.

“Awesome,” I said. “I’ll go and grab the extras with Adhara. Kat, can you give a quick demonstration to the gentlemen?”

“Sure thing.” Kat nodded, and she signaled for the men to gather around her as she stepped up to one of the dead therizinosaurus.

I headed around the back of the ship with Adhara, and she made a quiet humming noise as we walked that sounded extremely tense compared to her more happy sounds during our flight here. I didn’t point this out since I could already imagine how nervous she was, and I focused on staying close to her side until we reached the craft doorway.

Then Adhara stepped through first, and I waited outside and kept a watchful eye on the nearby trees as a welcome breeze cooled me down.

I heard a gasp from behind us as Kat started the demonstration, but then the forcefield buzzed off, and a sudden murmur broke out amongst the men. I stepped into the craft as hushed, Korean chatter continued outside, and when I made my way through to the control room, Adhara was opening the weapons room already.

“You doing okay?” I asked gently, and her emerald eyes met mine. “I know it wasn’t fun winning a group of people over the first time round.”

“Yes,” the alien replied as she wrinkled her nose. “The humans on the other side of the water did not seem to be as dangerous as these men are. I am worried they think I am a danger, and they have many weapons.”

“They’re definitely different to the castle folks,” I agreed. “But they’re also Hae-won’s people. As long as you’re with us, you’re safe. I promise, I won’t let any of them hurt you. You know that, don’t you?”

I placed a hand on her slender arm and gave her a squeeze.

“I do know this.” Adhara smiled, and I was surprised when she reached a hand up to cover mine.

A wave of electricity rushed through me as the pretty alien touched me, and I couldn't wipe the grin off my face even after she turned to step into the weapons room. I suddenly wanted to just stay in the ship with Adhara and feel her lilac skin against mine a few more times, but we had work to do, and I knew it was best to get the hell out of this blood-splattered jungle as quickly as possible.

There were three sharp guns left in the weapons room. The rest had been gifted to the Raven Hall residents to protect themselves while we were away, and Adhara grabbed two as I took the last one. Then we turned back to head out to the clearing, and the pretty alien hit the force field button before we left.

I stepped back into the clearing to the sound of more gasps and whispers.

Becka and Hae-won were already at work with a pile of the dead dinos. The bodies slowly turned into muddy goop, and I was violently reminded of the putrid smell that came with the task.

Kat had clearly given a demonstration to the men of how the sharp guns worked, and some of them looked at her as if she was a witch that had just turned someone into a frog.

It was understandable. Even if there were dinosaurs crawling all over the world, they’d had time to get used to that. A purple alien, force-field protected spaceship, and magical dino-goopifying guns was a lot to take in for one night.

“How’s it going?” I asked as we approached the curly-haired soldier. “Is everyone thoroughly mind-blown?”

I noticed Kwan stood at the edge of the group, and he watched Kat with narrowed eyes. Tae hovered nearby looking unsure, and Sun-hee clasped his hands together as he bounced from side to side.

It seemed like we’d already won over the youngest of Hae-won’s brothers, but I got the feeling her father would be a whole different ball game. If alien weapons didn’t impress him, I had no idea what would.

I passed my spare gun to the youngest brother, and Sun-hee’s eyes lit up as he carefully held it up to his face.

“Here,” I said as I slid the night vision goggles off. “These will help.”

I blinked at the sudden change of brightness around me, and it took a moment to be able to see anything at all in the darkness.

Sun-hee slid the goggles on and gasped, and he whispered something in Korean before he immediately set off toward a pile of dead dinos.

Adhara handed out the other two guns, which were gingerly accepted by Tae and another young man.

I got to work with my sharp gun and slid the lever of the weapon as I aimed at the nearest dino. The dead body glowed with light for a moment before the corpse started to melt, and I tried not to heave at the deathly smell.

It ended up being quick work to get rid of all the bodies, although the smell of so many in such a small clearing was almost unbearable.

“This smells like someone ate a dead person, and then died themselves,” Becka heaved as she strolled up to me with her hand over her nose. “I know I’m only early into pregnancy, but this is definitely making me queasy.”

“I think it’s making everyone queasy,” I replied. “But I’m guessing being pregnant doesn’t help.”

I almost asked Hae-won something about her stomach, but then I stopped myself as I noticed Kwan was nearby.

Once all the dino corpses had been turned into muddy goop, they melted into the ground, and the smell started to ease off slightly.

Min-jun returned as the last dinosaur was being evaporated, and his eyes widened as he approached. The burly Korean rushed over to Kwan, and the two men shared a hushed conversation while they gestured and shot narrow-eyed glances toward Adhara.

“The task is done,” Kwan abruptly announced as he strode toward Adhara. “Now, we need answers.”

I didn’t like the way his eyes scanned the alien up and down as if he’d already decided she was a threat, and I instinctively took a step to my right so I was in front of her.

Kwan stopped in his tracks. “Step aside.”

I didn’t budge, and there was a murmur amongst the crowd as I stood my ground. Kwan’s eyes narrowed, and he slowly cracked his scar covered neck from side to side again.

“Appa,” Hae-won said. “Adhara is our friend, and Jason is my love. You must treat them with respect if you want to talk.”

“Do not tell me how to act, daughter,” Kwan replied in a gravelly tone. “This is my territory you have landed in. You have brought this machine here, and this thing.”

He gestured to Adhara, and Hae-won suddenly stormed over to plant herself in front of the alien woman, too.

“No questions.” The Korean beauty folded her arms stubbornly. “You do not do business with men who disrespect you. We do not give answers until you respect us. That means everyone in our group, appa. They are important to me.”

I was amazed at how firmly Hae-won stood up for us against her father. I knew how much love and respect she had for him, and it drove me wild to see her care so much for me and my girls, as well. I looked over at her with her thick lips and stubborn stance, and I fought the urge to pull her into my arms and kiss her.

I imagined that wouldn’t make Kwan like me much more.

“Right,” Kwan grunted, and his eyes stayed focused on Adhara. “We will discuss this in the morning. Everyone, return to the base. All of you.”

With that, the leader of the group spun on his heels and strode off into the darkness.

I breathed a sigh of relief and turned to look at Adhara.

“That was brave,” the alien said to Hae-won. “Thank you.”

“He will come around,” Hae-won assured her. “My mother will make sure of it.”

“Your mother?” I asked, and I looked around the group as we started to follow Kwan. “She’s here?”

“My brothers tell me she is in the base,” Hae-won replied. “She will be tending to the injured men.”

“Wow,” Becka said. “A whole family reunion today!”

“Maybe tomorrow you can show me more of the weapons,” Sun-hee said as he hurried over to walk with us. “This device is incredible. The dinosaurs became dirt. I do not like the smell, but it is worth it.”

“Ahh, you like it?” Adhara nodded a little, and I smiled as I realized she was trying to be friendly despite her nerves. “I can show you blaster tomorrow. You will like it, too.”

“Yes, I would like it,” Sun-hee said with a grin. “Thank you.”

It seemed the youngest brother was more interested in the sick, new weapons than the strangeness of a purple woman being among us, and I was thankful for it. I was also relieved that at least one family member seemed to like me, since so far, South Korea offered a very different welcome than Ravenhall had.

“So, where is the base?” Kat asked.

“Not far,” Sun-hee replied. “Only a short walk.”

I glanced back at the spacecraft, and the forcefield shone under the moon while not a trace of dead dino was left behind.

The breeze cooled me down from the fighting as we walked deeper into the forest. I was exhausted and ready to collapse into whatever form of bed I would be able to claim, and my feet felt heavy as we plodded after Kwan and his group. We walked for about five minutes before we stopped next to a densely packed area of tall bushes and palm trees, and then Sun-hee grinned and gestured for us to keep going.

“Through the bushes?” I asked as I glanced to either side. “It doesn’t really look like there’s a way through.”

“It’s not as thick as it looks,” the young man said. “Trust me, just step through.”

I looked at the girls and shrugged before I put my foot through the greenery, and it passed through the leaves onto the other side. I closed my eyes as I stepped through the bush, but only a few branches grazed against my skin.

When I opened my eyes, the others had started to pile through behind me, and I found myself in another clearing with well-kept grass and a few pink flowers that lined the inside of the hedge.

None of Kwan’s men were in sight. There was only a small, black building in front of me that looked about the size of a garden shed, and it had a black roof and one window which was made of tinted glass.

It wasn’t exactly what I’d expected for the underground king’s secret base.