Dinosaur World 6 Chapter 2

The alien woman stared at me, and for a moment, nobody moved or spoke. Her piercing green eyes didn’t blink once, and I noticed the pupils were slightly slanted at the edges in a way that reminded me of fantasy elves. Her emerald irises glistened like there were flecks of silver metal in the green, and her intense gaze sent a shiver down my spine.

“Uh… hi,” I eventually managed . “I’m Jason. We’re, uhhh… we’re here to help you.”

The lilac woman remained still, and her glistening eyes darted between each of the girls before she looked down beneath her sheet. Then she gasped and grabbed at the wound on her leg, looked back up at me, and shuffled backward until she was pressed against the headboard and clinging to the sheet.

“We just tried to help,” I hastily explained. “We brought you food and water, too.”

I pointed at the bedside cabinet, and the alien girl looked wildly around the room as I spoke.

“She looks terrified,” Becka said from the side of her mouth. “Maybe we should leave her alone for a bit until she gets used to the room.”

“We can’t just lock her up the second she’s awake,” I hissed. “She’ll think we’ve taken her prisoner.”

“I mean we sort of have,” the blonde replied. “It’s a fancy hotel, but she has just woken up in a weird room with a bunch of strangers and no trousers on.”

“Annyeonghaseyo,” Hae-won said with a small bow, but the alien just stared at her blankly.

“Guten tag?” Becka offered with a shrug. “If she can speak German then I can basically offer her a beer and not much else.”

“Klaatu barada nikto?” I tried, and all three girls stared at me. “What? It’s from The Day the Earth Stood Still… 1950s space flick?”

Becka screwed up her eyebrows and shook her head.

“Fine,” I muttered. “But it was more likely than German.”

The alien clutched her blanketed knees up to her chin as she watched us, and she kept glancing at the glass of water beside the bed. Her deep, glistening, emerald eyes lit up her face and stood out against her pale, lilac skin. She really was stunning, but it was hard to notice anything other than how terrified she clearly was, and I tried to look as friendly as possible despite the rifle strapped on my shoulder.

“Jason,” I said again slowly as I pointed to my chest. “This is Kat, Hae-won, and Becka.”

The woman’s face quickly went from fear to anger, and she made a low growl in her throat as she narrowed her eyes at me.

“Woah,” Hae-won breathed.

“Are you hungry?” I asked, and as I took a step toward the sandwich, the alien lunged off the bed and to the corner of the room.

She pressed herself up against the cream wall, and bared her teeth in a wolf-like snarl. She stood awkwardly with her injured leg, but every other muscle in her body appeared to be tensed, and I noticed Kat’s hand had instinctively twitched to her rifle.

“I don’t think she trusts us,” Kat muttered. “We should give her some time to adjust in here.”

“I don’t want to just abandon her,” I whispered. “I want her to know that we aren’t going to hurt her. What if we lock her in here, and she loses her damn mind?”

I slowly took a step toward the window and kept my hands raised high in a show of surrender. The alien watched as I took slow steps over to her side of the room, and she flinched when I carefully reached for the velvet curtains. Then I pulled back the curtain to reveal the dark castle grounds.

“Look,” I said with what I hoped was a friendly smile. “You crashed here. We just tried to help you. Kat fixed your leg.”

The lilac woman slowly unpeeled herself from the wall, and I stepped back from the window so she could take a look. Her long legs shuffled forward with a limp, and she quickly peeked out of the glass to look down at the crashed spacecraft.

Then she gasped and immediately jumped back into the corner with a snarl. Her fingers dug into the wall as she glared at me, and I got the feeling she thought I was to blame for her ruined vehicle.

“You crashed,” I clarified again. “We found you out there in your spacecraft, and we only tried to help you.”

“I don’t think we’re going to get answers from her anytime soon,” Becka said. “It doesn’t look like she even knows what we’re saying, and if she keeps growling at you, Jason, I’m gonna have to have a word or two with her about manners.”

“She’s not doing anything violent,” I pointed out. “She’s just scared.”

The alien woman snarled at my words, and I furrowed my brow as she glared directly at Becka.

“I’m not so sure she doesn’t understand us,” Kat mused. “Maybe she just can’t speak human languages, but she can understand them?”

“I’ve seen movies like that,” Becka agreed. “Maybe she’s got a weird little device in her ear, and it’s translating all of this.”

“Maybe,” I muttered.

“Look,” Hae-on said as she picked up the sandwich. “This is food.”

The Korean beauty bit into the bread and smiled as she swallowed, and then she offered the sandwich out to the alien.

The lilac woman furrowed her silver eyebrows and recoiled, and I wondered if aliens even ate the way we did.

“At least she knows it’s not poisoned,” Hae-won sighed, and she placed the food back down on the cabinet.

“Let’s give her some space,” I decided and walked back over to the door. “She’s just going to keep snarling, I think. Maybe this will show her that this is her room.”

The girls huddled around me near the door, and I gestured around the space as widely as I could.

“This is your room,” I said. “You can sleep and rest as long as you want to.”

“It’s night time,” Kat said slowly and mimed sleeping.

“I don’t think charades is working,” Becka sighed as the alien continued to stare silently.

“Okay,” I said. “I think we should head to bed and let her get used to the room. I’ll get up early and bring her breakfast.”

“I hope she knows how to use the loo,” Becka said. “I’m not cleaning up alien shit.”

“Goodnight,” Hae-won said with a wave, and she opened the door to show that we were going to leave.

The alien watched as the girls slowly piled back out into the hall, and soon, I was the only one left with her.

Her emerald eyes looked me up and down as she stood completely still in the corner, and I gave her a smile.

“Goodnight,” I said. “I’ll bring you more food in the morning, okay?”

The lilac woman kept her eyes fixed on me as I backed away, and stayed still as I closed the door.

Hae-won locked the room and pocketed the key.

“Let’s get some sleep,” I yawned as we headed off to our deluxe suite. “I have a feeling we’re going to need a lot of energy for this new discovery.”
That night, we all slept in a heap in our new, luxurious bed, and the next morning, I woke up before any of the girls. They were all in t-shirts and panties while they snuggled with me and each other, and when I glanced at the bedside clock, it was a little before five.

I knew Kat would wake up soon, since her military alarm clock was built into her system, but the other girls would probably rise in another couple of hours.

I sat up and smiled at the pile of beautiful women beside me.

Hae-won gently snored amongst the tangle of limbs and hair, and Becka had ended up using Kat’s bare breasts as a pillow. The blond Brit’s cheek was smooshed up against the soldier’s nipple, and Kat had her arm resting on my thigh while her wild curls tumbled around her head.

It was certainly one of the best sights I’d ever woken up to, and I was reminded of the steamy evening we’d all shared before the alien crash landed outside.

All three girls had enjoyed each others’ bodies as well as my own after we killed the giganotosaurus on the cliff, and knowing there were plenty more evenings like that one ahead of us made my grin widen a bit.

I really was the luckiest guy in the apocalypse, but it wasn’t my group of beautiful girlfriends who I dreamt about last night.

The alien girl had been in my dreams, instead, and I had woken up a few times throughout the night with the echo of her piercing scream in my ears.

I carefully maneuvered myself off the bed without waking any of the girls, and I went to the bathroom before I got dressed. Once I pulled on my pants and shirt, I grabbed my trusty rifle from beside the bed and swung it over my shoulder. Then I took the alien’s room key from Hae-won’s pants pocket and quietly left the room.

The girls were still sound asleep as I stepped out into the hall and started to make my way down the red carpeted staircase. I wanted to make a plate of food for the alien so she could have it when she woke up. I didn’t even know if aliens slept, or if her sleep schedule would be thrown off by her arrival on Earth, but I wanted to seem as hospitable as possible.

Raven Hall was still in the early hours, and the first floor corridor was just as quiet as upstairs. I trotted down to the ground floor and realized I didn’t actually know where the kitchen was. The pantry was at the side of the hotel, and I had been in there before to use the staff exit, but I couldn’t recall seeing much in the way of food in there.

The lobby was silent, and I couldn’t even hear any dino footsteps or cries. It almost felt like there was nothing horrifying outside, just a regular English sunrise over the beautiful coastline town.

I glanced through the hallways toward the dining hall, but it was empty, so I decided to make my way to the side of the castle I hadn’t explored yet.

My footsteps echoed around the castle as I walked along the hardwood floor and passed the reception desk. There were still flyers for the local tours and sightseeing, and a guestbook sat open for people to leave a review. The next door along was locked, and the one after that was a large cleaning cupboard stacked with bleach and mops. The third door I pushed swung open and revealed a massive kitchen that sprawled out into a space triple the size of our bedroom.

I whistled as I stepped inside and flicked the lightswitch on. Every surface was a glistening white, and the floor was black linoleum. The appliances were all modern, with large, black ovens and fridges neatly slotted into the walls. I made my way over to a large bread bin and pulled out a thickly sliced loaf of wholemeal. Then I pulled open the fridge beside me and grabbed an open tub of peanut butter and a carton of milk.

It took a few attempts of hunting through cupboards before I found a toaster and a kettle, and I pulled them out to get to make some toast and tea. As the water boiled, I munched on some toast as I leaned against the counter and enjoyed the quiet. I loved every second of being with my girls, but not having gossiping locals or ravenous dinos around me felt like a luxurious way to spend the morning.

When the kettle whistled, I poured the water into a blue mug and threw a teabag in. As soon as I had spread peanut butter over three more slices of toast, I started to make my way back out into the hall and up to the lilac woman’s room.

I was only halfway up the stairs when I heard footsteps coming from the landing. Then the red-haired doctor appeared at the top of the staircase.

“Morning,” Harris said. “You’re an early riser.”

“So are you.” I smiled as I stepped onto the landing beside him. “I’m actually taking this up to our, uh, visitor.”

“Ah,” Harris replied, and he suddenly looked sheepish. “Very good, I won’t keep you then.”

“You really won’t come and look at her?” I asked as he started to hurry downstairs. “Her leg looked pretty bad.”

The doctor ran a hand through his hair, and I could tell he wanted to get away from the conversation.

“I have a son,” Harris said. “I am not hugely in favour of her being kept here, Jason. We have no idea who she is or what she wants. I’m sorry.”

With that, the doctor ran off down the stairs and hurriedly made his way toward the kitchen.

I sighed and continued up to room forty five.

When I reached the door, I paused to listen for any signs of movement. All I could hear were gentle snores coming from another room, and the comforting tick of a grandfather clock down the hall.

I knocked first, but there was no reply or sound from behind the door. After a few moments, I balanced the plate of toast on the tea cup and pulled the key out of my pocket. When I pushed the door open, there was a hurried shuffling sound, and the alien leapt out of bed.

“Hi,” I said softly. “Good morning, I thought I’d bring you breakfast and check in.”

I placed the plate and cup down onto the bedside cabinet, and I was pleased to see the sandwich from the previous night was half-eaten.

The alien had the curtains drawn again, and I bent down to turn on the bedside lamp. When the light filled up the room, I could see that she still had her pants off, and her stitches had stayed intact. There was a bit of dried blood around the wound, and I knew she would need to clean it off before it became gross and matted onto her leg.

“We should clean up your leg a bit,” I said, and the woman stood awkwardly against the wall as I spoke.

I turned to the en suite bathroom and made my way inside. I grabbed a face cloth from the sink, and I ran it under the tap so it was warm.

“Can I help clean you up?” I asked as I stepped back into the bedroom.

I was shocked to see the alien already peeling herself from the wall and hurrying over to the plate of toast. She took tiny bites of the bread, and then she started to cram the food into her mouth like she was starving.

“You like peanut butter, then?” I laughed, and the woman immediately stopped eating.

She jumped back onto the bed and pulled the covers over her legs and right up to her neck. I sighed, held the damp cloth up, and smiled, but the alien just stared at me with her glistening emerald eyes, and I got the feeling she wasn’t up for being cleaned by a random dude who wasn’t even purple.

“Let’s check on your ship,” I said as I made my way over to the window instead, and I pulled back the velvet curtains.

The spacecraft was still wedged halfway down the hill, and so far, it was in one piece. Slightly further down, a herd of raptors were asleep, and I quickly closed the curtain again.

“It’s still there,” I reported even though I had no idea if she could understand me. It felt more humane to keep talking to her, especially since she kept staring at me like I was… well, an alien.

The alien woman suddenly scowled at me, and then she violently kicked the blanket down to her feet, swung her long legs over the bed, and jumped up to face me. The way she stood looked like she was ready to dive toward me, and I held my hands up to try and show I wasn’t interested in a fight.

Even though I had a Glock holstered on my hip.

“Here,” I said, and I held the damp cloth out toward her. “Clean your wound, alright? You don’t want it to get infected.”

The alien stared down at the cloth with a frown, but I kept my arm extended and smiled. I pointed to her injured leg and then waggled the cloth, and after the alien glanced down at her blood-caked skin, she quickly grabbed the cloth from me before she dove back onto the bed. Then she slowly started to dab at the blood on her leg, and I couldn’t help but grin at our first successful interaction.

As the woman cleaned herself up, I started to think about her craft outside again, and the probability of someone arriving to inspect it soon made my palms sweat a bit.

“We need to do something about your spacecraft,” I said, and the woman glanced up at me. “It’s just sitting out there, and I think someone from our government might come and try to take it.”

I pointed at the window, and the woman opened her mouth. I waited for her to speak in whatever language she could, but she just looked at the curtains and then carried on with her cleaning.

I knew Kat would be getting to work with organizing the training soon, and since I wasn’t getting anywhere with this conversation, I decided I should probably just go and help the soldier instead.

“Well, I’ll be back in a couple of hours,” I told the alien. “I’ll bring some more peanut butter, okay?”

I headed for the door, and the woman made an angry hissing noise at me before she threw the dirty cloth at the back of my head.

“Excellent,” I sighed as I peeled it off and threw it into the laundry basket at the foot of her bed. “See you later.”

The alien glared at me as I closed the door, and I heard her hiss again as I locked it.

“How did that go?” Kat asked, and I turned to see the pretty soldier coming out of our bedroom a few doors away.

“She liked her toast,” I answered as I headed over to the corporal.

Her curly hair was wet from the shower, and as I pulled her in for a kiss, I could smell coconut shampoo. She wrapped her arms around me as she met my lips, and when she drew back, she sent me a lopsided grin that made me weak at the knees.

“Well, that’s a start,” Kat said. “Is her ship still in one piece?”

“For now,” I replied. “Until a dino decides to investigate, or the Men in Black come looking for it.”

“Yeah,” Kat sighed. “I was thinking about that this morning. I wonder how long it will be before it’s pulled from the hill and whisked away to a lab somewhere.”

I glanced at the alien’s room, and as hostile as she was, I hated the idea of her being taken away to be examined or experimented on. She just looked so scared and confused whenever her big green eyes stared around the room, and I couldn’t imagine a bunch of scientists or government officials putting her at ease.

Kat ran her hands down my chest and then back to give my ass a squeeze.

“All ready for bootcamp?” she purred, and my attention immediately redirected to the beautiful soldier in my arms.

“Oh, yeah.” I grinned. “The drill sergeant is hot as hell. Will I get extra points if I drill her real good after training?”

“Definitely,” Kat giggled as I bent down and kissed her neck. “I tried to wake the others up but Hae-won ignored me, and Becka threw a pillow at my face.”

“That sounds about right,” I chuckled. “They’ll be up soon, you want to grab some breakfast?”

“I’m okay for now,” Kat said as we turned and started to make our way over to the staircase and head downstairs. “I’m keen to get started and show some of these country bumpkins how to handle a weapon.”

“What are you thinking of starting them on?” I asked.

“We need to with the basics first,” Kat said. “I’ve got a bunch of my stuff from the jeep stored in this room, let’s go and pick some stuff out.”

We made our way to the room where we’d gotten changed yesterday before heading out to kill a giganotosaurus, and Kat unlocked the door with her keycard. Then we stepped inside to pick out weapons for the locals, and I saw Kat had laid a pile of guns out on the bed.

“Well they’re not getting the machine gun,” Kat laughed. “But we could spare a couple of rifles and glocks.”

“We need to be careful with ammo, too.” I nodded. “I know you came prepared, but it won’t last forever, and there’s still shit loads of dinos out there in the world.”

“Oh, they won’t be using much ammo,” Kat said as she picked up a rifle to examine it. “We need to teach them how to aim the damn things first. Besides, there aren’t nearly enough guns for everyone, so there’s going to be a lot of make believe shooting today.”

Suddenly, a thunderous roar bellowed outside, and we ran over to the window to pull back the curtain.

Down at the bottom of the hillside, along the edge of the woodland, a spinosaurus stood and sniffed the air.

“Shit,” I whispered, and I noticed the sleeping raptors had disappeared from their spot.

The spinosaurus looked like it had a chunk taken out of its side, and it roared at the sky before it started to make its way up the hill toward the castle.

“The spacecraft,” Kat said. “It’s going to get crushed if that thing doesn’t watch its step.”

The spinosaurus stopped a third of the way up the hill, and it raised its huge snout up in the air again and sniffed. Something must have smelled tasty over by the cliffside, because it turned and started to plod along toward the sea. The heavy footsteps echoed around the countryside with a dull thud, and I glanced at the spaceship as its metal siding shuddered with each step.

“Hello,” Hae-won yawned as came in and joined us. “I thought I’d find you both in here. Is that a new dino outside?”

“Another spinosaurus,” I reported. “It managed to miss the ship, but it’s only going to be a matter of time before that thing is crushed.”

“Maybe we could try and move it?” Hae-won suggested as she came over to peek out of the window.

Her long black hair was a tousled mess, and her pretty eyes were poofy from sleep. She looked like a sexy princess while she plumped her lips up and stood on her tiptoes to get a better view of the craft, and I slid my arm around her waist as I tucked a kiss in her nest of hair.

The Korean let out the cutest grunt as she snuggled against my side, and she locked her arms around my waist to keep me close.

“If anyone could hot wire a spaceship, it would be you,” I murmured, and the gorgeous Korean grinned up at me. “But I have a feeling it will have defenses in place that we have never even heard of.”

“Do you still think someone will come for it?” Hae-won asked.

“Yeah,” I sighed as I eyed the bright metal of the ship. “There’s no way someone didn’t notice that thing entering our atmosphere. It’s got to only be a matter of time.”

I peeled my eyes away from the ship and back to Kat as she grabbed two rifles and a glock.

“These will do, for demonstrations,” the soldier decided. “Is Becka up?”

“She’s down making tea.” Hae-won nodded. “She said she’ll meet us downstairs.”

“Are we doing the lesson in the dining hall?” I asked. “It seems like the biggest room I’ve seen so far, anyway.”

“Yeah.” Kat nodded. “Let’s teach this lot how to hold a gun.”

We made our way back out to the landing, and Kat made sure the door was locked before we headed down to the ground floor.

There were people milling around with cups of coffee, and as we stepped into the great hall, we saw that a few tables had been set up for people to sit and eat breakfast. The room smelled of bread and coffee, and it felt incredibly welcoming, like a genuine vacation at a ritzy hotel.

Becka waved to us from one of the round tables, and she shoved a slice of toast in her mouth as we approached.

Kat piled her selection of guns on the tabletop, and a few of the closest locals cocked their eyebrows in her direction.

“Morning,” Becka called through a mouthful of food. The blonde had made a buffet of tea, coffee, toast, and various spreads. She grinned at me as I sat opposite her and reached for the teapot.

“So, are we ready to create an army of bloodthirsty soldiers?” the blonde mumbled. “I asked around and people are excited, mostly.”

“I’m ready to get this place more secure,” I said as I poured tea into everyone’s cup. “Let’s hope we don’t have more than just dinos to deal with soon.”

“Did you speak to the beautiful alien?” Hae-won asked and nibbled on her toast.

“I tried to,” I sighed before I took a sip of the warm tea. “She seemed to enjoy her toast and peanut butter, and I got her to dab the blood off her leg.”

“That’s good progress,” Hae-won said.

“Yeah,” I replied. “Then she threw the bloody cloth at my head and hissed, so kind of a win, I suppose.”

“Lovely,” Kat chuckled.

“We should give her a name,” Becka piped up. “It feels weird just calling her ‘alien.’”

“Almost insensitive,” the Korean beauty agreed.

“She might not be here for long enough for that to matter,” Kat said as she sipped her tea. “I can’t imagine she is the only one who arrived here. Her alien buddies could turn up at any moment and zap her back into space.”

“Or zap us into oblivion,” Becka grumbled. “Still, names are friendly. Maybe a nice name will warm her up a bit.”

I looked around at the other tables while the girls discussed potential names for the alien. There were four other tabletops set up with breakfast and coffee, and a few people gave me friendly waves as they ate. It felt like I was at some kind of resort, if you took away the looming threat of prehistoric monsters outside.

I was excited to get some of the locals trained up with fighting, though. If we could successfully protect Raven Hall, then it would be a safe haven for us all. Even if we did have a resident alien, there was enough room for everyone to live without feeling crowded or trapped, and this was the best set up we’d come across in all our travels through dino country so far.

Still, I couldn’t stop thinking about the spacecraft sitting outside. What if the government appeared and demanded to claim the whole castle as evidence? Surely, they wouldn’t evict the whole community out into the dino-infested woods, but the uneasy feeling in my stomach wouldn’t go away.

I had a bad fucking feeling about all of this.

“You okay, Jason?” Kat asked, and my attention snapped back to her hazel eyes.

“You’re thinking about the Men in Black aren’t you?” Hae-won asked as she carefully buttered a slice of toast.

“How did you know that?” I chuckled.

“Jason, you’ve filled me with your warm sperm many times now,” the Korean sighed with a sage look in her eyes. “I can read you like easy sheet music, and I think you’re right. It is only a matter of time before someone comes along to look for the alien.”

“What do we do?” Becka asked.

“Try and keep her safe?” I shrugged. “There isn’t much else we can do.”

“Safe?” Kat asked and narrowed her eyes. “You think they’ll… harm her?”

“She’s a bloody alien,” Becka snorted. “I’m picturing them locking her up like she’s in a zoo, poking her with all kinds of creepy devices, and probably taking skin samples, blood samples, spit samples… everything! What if they cut her pretty little gills right off her neck? Shove tubes in there instead?”

All of us blanched as we stared at the blonde Brit, and she offered an apologetic grimace.

“Sorry, I’ve been thinking a lot about this since I woke up,” Becka admitted. “It just… seems like she’d end up a lab rat, is all. Makes me sad.”

“Me too,” I sighed and rifled my hair.

I glanced over at the doorway of the hall and saw Debbie stride toward our table. She had on tight jeans, a black top, and the Makarov pistol holstered on her diamond studded belt.

“You gave her a gun already?” I whispered to Kat.

“Yeah.” The soldier shrugged. “She looks hot with it.”

“Morning soldiers,” Debbie hollered. “I’m ready for my lesson. Reporting for duty, and all that shit.”

I snorted as Becka rolled her eyes, and the blonde Brit shovelled more toast into her mouth.

“Don’t eat too much of that,” Debbie warned as she reached our table and crossed her arms. “You can’t fight dinos if you get chubby.”

“Rude. I think you’ll find I burn off more than enough calories during dino battles. It’s actually done wonders for my waist.” The blonde stood up and wiggled her slim hips to demonstrate before she shoved the last of the bread into her mouth.

“Oh?” her mom chuckled as she winked at me and then looked back to Becka. “Are dino battles the only way you are burning calories?”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake, mum,” Becka groaned.

“So, Debbie.” I grinned. “Do you have any idea who is going to be up for this training?”

“I’ve had a chat with most people,” Becka’s mum replied. “The young, fit folks mostly. I know you don’t have enough weapons for everyone, so we don’t have time to waste resources on the old codgers.”

Hae-won giggled and Debbie winked at her.

“Well, I’m ready whenever,” Kat said as she patted the rifle on her lap. “Basic technique today, and we’ll see how quickly they pick that up.”

“I’ll start to round them up.” Debbie nodded. “No time to waste. Let’s get arses in gear, people!”

The blonde woman marched over to the nearby tables and started to hurry the locals to finish their breakfast.

“So, what do you want us to do, Kat?” Hae-won asked. “During the lesson, I mean. Should we help out?”

“Of course.” Kat nodded. “You guys can mingle around and make sure everyone is picking things up. I can’t keep an eye on all of them.”

“Let’s get the hall ready,” I said, and I stood up as I drained the last of my tea. “It’s time to train some new recruits.”

The girls stood up, and we started to get the hall ready for Kat’s lesson. I helped Hae-won carry our table to the side of the room, and Becka grabbed our chairs to stack in the corner. The locals followed our lead and quickly cleared space as some more people arrived from the lobby, and a few of the locals looked nervous, but mostly, they seemed excited. Debbie had done a good job of recruiting the young ones, and most of the older folks plodded off to their rooms.

Doctor Harris looked uncomfortable as he stood at the edge of the group, and Mikey, the pierced shopkeeper, looked like he was going to explode with excitement.

“Excuse me?” Gerald asked as he appeared beside us. His white shirt was perfectly ironed, and his dark hair was slicked back. “I just wanted to know if this little demonstration would cause any damage to the castle? As the only staff member of Raven Hall, it really is my job to make sure no harm comes to the hotel.”

“I wouldn’t think so.” Kat shrugged as she checked the magazine of her Glock. “But even if it does, It won’t be more damage than a herd of dinosaurs would cause if we don’t learn to defend the place.”

Gerlald grimaced and nodded.

“We’re not firing indoors,” I assured the man.

“Right then.” He scurried away to shout at someone for scratching the wall with one of the tables.

“He’s got a right stick up his arse,” Becka said under her breath. “Imagine caring about the paintwork when there’s literal lizard monsters outside.”

“Okay, I think we’re good to go,” Kat announced.

With that, the curly-haired soldier strode over to the center of the room and turned to face the small crowd in front of her.

“Listen up,” she called, and the dining hall immediately fell silent. “For those of you who don’t know, my name is Corporal Kat Grant, and I’ve been in the military for seven years. I’m going to show you how to protect yourselves and fire a weapon, since there is an increasing threat surrounding Raven Hall.”

I grinned as I watched Kat command the room, and the locals hung onto her every word.

“There’s a few things we need to know before we hold a gun,” the Corporal continued. “Always keep the safety engaged when your weapons are not being used, and never put your finger on the trigger until you are ready to shoot. If you make a mistake holding one of these, you can cause irreversible damage to your own life, and others.”

“Do we all get guns?” Mikey asked, and his eyes were wide as he stared at Kat’s small pile of weapons.

“No,” the soldier replied flatly. “There aren’t enough. But if you all learn how to use them properly, then when the time comes, we can divide them out to those who will help us the most.”

“She’s sooooo hot when she’s teaching,” Becka whispered. “I might pretend to forget how to shoot just so she can show me again.”

We stood back and watched as Kat went over the basics of holding a rifle and a Glock, and she let the locals take it in turns to hold the unloaded guns.

“This is awesome,” a young, blonde man gasped as he aimed the rifle at his friend’s head.

“Don’t do that,” Kat barked, and the man froze with wide eyes.

“S-Sorry, miss!” he stuttered as he lowered the weapon. “I mean ma’am!”

“You will be sorry when you accidentally blow your fucking friends head off,” Kat snarled, and her hazel eyes narrowed. “Never aim a gun at something which you don’t intend to kill. Even as a joke. Understand?”

“Yes, ma’am,” the man muttered, and his cheeks turned maroon as he sheepishly handed the gun to the next person in line.

“Ooooh,” Becka whispered like a child who watched another pupil get in trouble.

“That was even sexier,” Hae-won decided. “Remind me to piss off Kat some time. She can discipline me as much as she wants.”

“You girls are naughty,” I chuckled as I shook my head.

“You love it,” Becka sighed, and then she cozied up against my side.

The rest of the lesson seemed to go by quickly. A couple of hours flew by as the locals started to grasp the basics of handling a firearm and I made my way through the crowd as Kat spoke to help make sure everyone was holding their weapon correctly and not acting like fucking idiots with them.

The locals seemed more excited than nervous around the guns, and it seemed like we were one step closer to having our very own dino-slaying army.

Then a heavy thud shook the hall, and Kat stopped speaking as she glanced over to me.

I nodded in understanding, and the soldier hurriedly continued with her speech as I turned to the other girls.

“Let’s check it out,” I muttered, and we quietly made our way over to the window at the back of the hall which had a loose wooden board across it.

As Kat continued to discuss gun safety, I lifted the loose piece of wood so we could check the situation outside.

The spinosaurus had reappeared, and it stood in the middle of the hill with its eyes fixed on the castle. Then the dino slowly started to plod up the hill.

“It’s back,” I muttered.

“Doesn’t look like it’s in a hurry,” Becka said. “But it’s only a matter of time before its buddies join in, right?”

“Look,” Hae-won hissed, and she pointed to the bottom of the hillside. There were two more dinos that stood on the road, it looked like one was a raptor, and the other was something I didn’t recognize. It was about twenty feet long and only slightly smaller than the spino, and it stood like a t-rex on its hind legs. The body was a dull green color that blended in well with the trees in the woodlands, and it seemed to have some triangular spike coming out of its back.

“Never seen that one before,” Becka said as we stared down at the dinos.

The spinosaurus seemed to realize it had company, and the loud footsteps stopped as the beast turned to look down the hill.

I glanced back at Kat, who had gotten Mikey up to demonstrate how to properly hold a rifle. The soldier glanced at me as she spoke, and I knew it was only a matter of time before her lesson got interrupted by a new herd.

Then we heards a spine-chilling roar, and I looked out to see the spinosaurus call down to the dinos at the bottom of the hill.

“We should stop this before the herd gets too big again,” I decided. “If we can thin out the herd every time they start to gather, that should be easier than waiting until they are in full force and knocking down the doors.”

The raptor at the bottom of the hill cried out and started to race up the hill toward the spinosaurus. For a moment, I thought they were about to fight, but the raptor ran past the spinosaurus and carried on up toward the castle. Then the other nameless dino began to follow.

We needed to move fast.

“Okay,” I said as I turned away from the window. “We’ve got dinos to hunt.”