Tashee and Naylee refused to let me go when we woke up and fed me instead, giggling and teasing me by feeding me mouth to mouth. Even Wendy picked up on it and held out a piece of dried meat in her mouth for me to take amongst stifled laughter next to me.

We looked at our options to gather anything easily burnable and get it in the bunker without getting caught. We had to make do with bark and bushes full of leaves and any sap we could harvest from the trees. Anything else was probably too wet.

'Think we should start now?' I asked, looking at the sun.

'Yes, have some time before dark. We collect near bunker, then take inside when thing is gone.' Tashee said.

I agreed and we went to work, gathering bark and cutting thin branches with lots of small leaves as silently as possible. Wendy stood guard again but if the thing came out of the bunker we wouldn't have much time to get into the tree, or we'd have to sneak inside and barricade ourselves into one of the rooms.

We stopped well before dark and climbed back up, eating and waiting for the thing to go hunting again. I leaned back against the tree with a view at the bunker beneath and the girls sat back into my arms. We were too tense about the coming night to fool around, but not to enjoy each others company.

When Wendy pricked up her ears we knew it was time. Nervous about the thing finding out what was going on we kept our eyes on the entrance and soon after it did the usual sprint into the bushes and move to what probably was its favourite hunting ground.

We waited until Wendy couldn't spot it anymore and scrambled down the tree, dragging the branches and pieces of bark inside to the room close to the nest. When we had the first pile inside we started cutting more and piling it up outside until it was enough for Naylee to take inside. Working in the dark with just a few torches slowed things down and by the time Wendy warned us we only had about a quarter of the room filled.

When we were safe up the tree we just collapsed into each other from exhaustion and fell asleep just as the thing arrived.

***

We kept up the routine for a few days until we were satisfied with the amount of fuel for the fire stashed into the room. I was concerned the thing might find out something was going on but it seemed it didn't.

When the time came to lure that monster and trap it in the room we were very nervous. I had a hard time convincing the girls that I'd lure it in on my own. I would be more free to move if they were safe and not close to me and they had to reluctantly agree.

'Stay safe..' Naylee whispered, her voice slightly trembling with worry and kissed me as if I'd never come back.

Tashee didn't say anything but held me tight, raining kisses on me. Even Wendy demanded to be hugged for a while.

My heart went into overdrive when I went down the tree with the grenade. I closed the side entrance behind me, preventing the chance it might decide to come in through there and moved into the observation room, now smelling like the jungle from all the greenery we put in there. I made sure the path from the door near the nest to the other door was free of obstacles that could get in my way. If it hindered the monster I had no problems with it.

My plan was to use myself as bait to lure it into the room, close the second door behind me when it chased me, then run through the hallway to toss in the grenade and close the first door before getting the hell out. I never liked waiting and learned to control my impatience during missions, but this time it was torture. The future here was at stake and if it was just mine I would care less, but the future of two gorgeous, loving creatures was at stake too. My nervous heartbeat was joined by the warmth of my love for them and it relaxed me a little.

I heard a low rumbling coming from the other side of the corridor. The thing had arrived! My heartbeat shot up and I hoped the animal wasn't able to hear it. But then it had to discover me or the trap wouldn't work. For a moment I wanted to run away. To get away from a fear I hadn't had before despite having been in several deadly situations. Only those were against intelligent beings, not a voracious mindless eating machine.

I manned up because I had to do it for Tashee, Naylee and Wendy. They were all that mattered now. I gripped the grenade tightly.

'YO! UGLY!' I shouted in the doorway. How cliché could I be? But I had no time to think up historical one-liners.

It was too dark to see clearly, but I did see it almost filling the corridor. Fuck! It was much bigger than it looked from a distance. I wanted to piss my pants.

'YOUR FOOD IS WAITING HERE!' I shouted, wanting it to rush me and get it over with.

It let out a low rumbling and stepped forward. Not sure if my eyes played tricks on me, but I could swear it was grinning at me from the little I saw of the dark green dinosaur thing. If I had to guess it was close to the infamous raptors. Maybe a mini T-Rex.

I didn't like how it just moved slowly towards me, and not run at me as I expected. Shit, this thing might be smarter than we anticipated. I hate how I could have underestimated an enemy. I grabbed a rock at my feet and threw it. It bounced of its head and it let out a roar which was deafening in these confined spaces. I did get it to run at me and I sprinted to the other side of the room. At the door I looked over my shoulder to see it running through the cut of branches at me. I grabbed the door. Waited as long as I dared. Pulled hard at it to close it behind me and ran through the hallway door, back to the first door. I heard it growling louder and stopped dead in my tracks when its head appeared from the first doorway.

FUCKSHITMOTHERFUCKINGHELLSHIT! It had turned around and come back! SHIT! For a second I saw its eye focus on me, then I willed my legs into turning around and run.

I heard it rumble and run after me and I nearly lost all thoughts except for the one that said flee. I crashed through the bend in the hallway. Probably bruised my shoulder badly. Heard it behind me. Ran, too late in noticing the junction to the side entrance, kept running. Crash through another corner. Thing still behind me, maybe a little farther but never far enough. Can't miss this junction. Push myself to the left. Nearly lost my footing and stumbled for a moment before regaining control of my feet and ran for the outside.

My girls saw me sprinting out of the entrance and expected an explosion, but when the thing rushed out after me panic gripped their hearts.

'RAFE!' I heard Naylee scream. She and Tashee rushed down the tree and I yelled for them to stay put. I would not let them get near this thing!

I sprinted into the side entrance, hoping to increase the distance in the hallways where it was slowed down by its size. I needed to think! How do I trap it!? I ran to the observation room and turned to see it wait at the other side of the hallway, observing me. It seemed to wait until I go into the room or down the other hallway. Either way it would try to cut off my path.

I went through the different outcomes in my mind when I heard it roar and twitch.

'GET OUT RAFE!' I heard Naylee yell from behind the thing. She must have attacked it to distract it from me!

I ran down the hallway and outside, where I turned the corner to see her coming my way with the thing following her closely.

'I told you to stay put!' I said as we both ran back into the bunker.

'You better not think we stay and only watch when you in danger! We kill you ourselves!' she said. 'And we have drone looking for us!'

'What!?'

'Silth drone has found us! Is flying outside!'

'Great! Now we have two problems at once!' I said, but that drone had to wait for now. 'We'll deal with that later! That monster ran back the other way before I could close the first door! I couldn't trap it!'

'We try with both of us!'

'Okay!' I said and we rushed to the second door which was nearest.

The thing had kept on following us and within a moment we sprinted into the room and hope for it to follow again. It did! We ran off to the first door but when we reached it I saw it stop and move back.

'Wait!' I said to Naylee.

We stood still at the first door and the thing paused at the second door.

'We not able to trap it if it evades our plan.' Naylee said, panting a little.

'Move closer to the door. See what it does.'

She stepped sideways and the thing stepped backwards.

'Shit! It anticipates our moves.'

'I will close other door.' whispered Tashee from the hallway. 'But need monster further into room to safely reach it. Give me count of fifteen to get to door.'

'Be careful..' I whispered, watching Tashee disappear out of the corner of my eye. 'You count, Naylee.'

I moved closer to the thing and it moved forward as well. I was afraid it had come to that. I took a few deep breaths and stepped back, making it move back as well, then forward again just as Naylee whispered 'Fifteen.'.

'Get ready to run away.' I said and took a few steps forward.

It seemed to mock me with a grin as it stepped forward, like it knew it had me. Then I saw a flash of black shoot into the room behind it, grab the door and shut it quickly with a loud bang. I turned around and sprinted to our door where Naylee just left. Grabbing the door I pulled it with me, then saw the thing had come right after me and moved in fast! I could have counted the scales on its head and fangs in its mouth up close, then slammed the door on its muzzle. Its muzzle stuck between the door and the doorway!

'SHITFUCKGODDAMMIT!' I screamed out of fear and anger.

My whole body trembled at how close that thing had come to kill me. It growled and wriggled its muzzle, trying to further pry open the door but I managed to keep it from getting out further. It also refused to pull back and let me shut the door. Damn, how it's breath stank of death.

'TOSS THE GRENADE!' I screamed, pulling at the door handle with all my might.

'You'll get hit!' said Tashee.

'Just do it! I'll survive!'

'No!' said Naylee. 'Too dangerous!'

'DO IT BEFORE I CAN'T HOLD IT ANYMORE!'

Tashee grabbed into my pockets and pulled out the grenade, popping the cap. The thing roared and gave the door a jerk, bumping me into Tashee and she dropped the grenade.

'GET OUT!' I yelled at the girls.

'I make it!' Tashee shouted and went for the grenade, but Wendy was faster and snatched it up while sprinting through the open door.

'WENDY!' screamed Tashee, just as another jerk from the thing made me lose my grip on the door and tumbled me back.

It roared and snapped its fangs behind itself just as we dove into the side hallway and the grenade exploded.

The fire blasted through the door for a second before the shockwave slammed the door shut. It had to be worse than walking on the sun in there. The screaming roars of the thing didn't last long.

Tashee cried as she called for Wendy, and despite being hardened in battle I couldn't stop my eyes from leaking. My first friend here was gone. We wouldn't see her again.

The door was too hot to the touch, and I saw fire and smoke coming out of the rooms where it kept its nest and killed prey. The fire must have blasted through the ducts and set it all on fire. The stench of burning and rotting meat spread through the hallway and I was about to leave when a sharp light appeared at the other end. The drone had come in!

'Quick!' I said, picking up Tashee. 'That drone is coming here!'

Tashee wiped her eyes and followed Naylee back the other way.

'We hide here.' Naylee said and we locked ourselves into the observation room at the side.

I sat down at the far end and let my tears flow at the thought of Wendy getting killed in that blast. She really knew what she was doing and she had saved us at the cost of her own life. Tashee and Naylee moved up close to me, wiping their eyes.

'She loved you..' Naylee said softly.

'All of us..' I said with a lump in my throat.

We sat in silence, hearing the occasional sputtering of rotting meat getting cooked by the heat. The carcasses must have been a good source of fuel for the fire. Tashee's ears pricked up at the humming sound of the probe and gestured to keep quiet. It was probably recording everything to check for survivors. When it had disappeared from Tashee's senses she let out a sigh.

'Maybe it think we dead now.' she said.

I nodded. 'I hope so.'

We waited for a long while before daring to take a peek outside the door. Carefully we snuck through the hallways and Naylee gestured to the outside. We peeked outside, just in time to see the Silth probe encounter our earlier friend. The two probes seemed to examine each other for a while, then flew away in opposite sides.

'They know now island is known to both our sides.' Tashee said. 'They not come back.'

'They better not.' I said and moved to the burning rooms.

The heat and smoke prevented us from coming close and we went back. Just before leaving the bunker Naylee halted.

'What is it?' I whispered, seeing her turn her ears this way and that.

'Whining.' she whispered and Tashee listened with her.

'Wendy.' she said, moving back into the hallway.

I followed the women and they led me to the corner room. Inside they looked up at a grill into the duct at the ceiling.

'Lift.' Naylee said to me and I clamped my hands for her to step on.

She pulled hard at the grill until it finally came loose, releasing a waft of warm air, then stuck her upper body inside, only to come back out with a soft whining and partially singed Wendy.

'Wendy!' I cheered as she stepped down and handed me our saviour in my arms.

She looked dazed from the blast and gave me a slight grin while my heart was in a twist from happiness. 'She must have climbed up at the duct and then get thrown to this end from the blast..'

I kissed her muzzle a thousand times before she murmured it was enough.

Tashee chuckled as she scratched Wendy's ear. 'I hunt down biggest prey for you next time.'

Wendy murmured her approval and closed her eyes, breathing softly.

'Time to get some sleep.' I said. 'We'll check this out later when the fire has gone out.'

We went back to the tree where I checked Wendy for any wounds but found none to my relief. We let her sleep while we took a quick bite and settled for the remainder of the night.

***

Wendy looked much better the next morning and judging from her appetite was healthy. We went into the bunker and held our noses while we found charred remains of the carcasses, most of it had burned hot enough to turn into ashes. The door to the observation room was still warm and the fire inside had burned hot enough to leave only ashes of the thing.

'I hope smell gets out fast.' Naylee said. 'Otherwise I not live here.'

'Well, we won't have to worry about that thing walking around, so it should be pretty safe to stay outside for as long as it takes to clean up this mess.' I said. 'If we keep some of those small bushes with the sweet smelling flowers inside it shouldn't be too bad until it really fades away.'

Tashee nodded. 'We keep doors open while going back to hut, then come back later to work on this.'