Dino Tribes 2: A LitRPG Prehistoric Epic (Year of the Dinosaur!), page 1
Dino Tribes 2
A Prehistoric Build and Survive Harem Adventure
Marcus Sloss
Copyright © 2024 by Marcus Sloss
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Contents
1. A Smart, Dumb Rex
2. A Man Who Has Everything
3. Drops Galore!
4. Old-Fashioned
5. Let's Do a Diplomacy
6. A Metal Resolve
7. People of the Sand
8. 999
9. Gravedigger
10. Damsel in Distress
11. Spy Toads
12. Birthday Dinner
13. One Day and Counting
14. Rainbows and Whiptails
15. Investigator
16. Bolt
17. Long Time No See
18. No Dinos Allowed
19. Making Nice
20. A Woman Who Knows Things
21. Uninvited Guests
22. The Wedding Gift
23. A Buttload of Problems
24. Lucky Number Five
25. Shut Up and Take a Shower
26. Spielberg
27. Fire in the Hole
28. Neon
29. Zealot
30. The Shifting Earth
31. A Deadly Quest
32. Report!
33. The Warrior Woman
34. Winner Take All
35. Mountain Duel
36. Abe
37. Me and My Four Best Friends
38. Padme
39. Girl in a Golden Bikini
40. Dinos Don't Play Fair
41. Always a Bigger Dinosaur
42. Orion and Finch
43. Knowledge is Power
44. Queen of Spies
45. I Like You, Too
46. Only Power
Afterword
Check This Out!
Chapter 1
A Smart, Dumb Rex
There’s one thing they never tell you about the end of the world—about alien takeovers, dinosaurs coming back, and people returning to tribes and killing each other. You know, your common everyday end of the world? Well, there’s one thing they never tell you about it.
The stars are fucking fantastic.
I was out on patrol tonight, taking a simple duty for once. Sometimes, I got tired of leading people. The weight of over 700 people’s worlds rested on my shoulders, and now and then, I just wanted to walk around the jungle with a spear and throw it at anything that moved.
Nothing much did, though. I rode Darth, our eldest T-Rex. He was old enough to mate, according to our alien encyclopedia, but he was still not full-size. Wherever he went, the ground shook, and dinos scattered in fear. The larger the predator, the better of a patroller they were, because just walking around scared enemies off.
A twig snapped nearby, and I turned toward it, but not with much worry. Contrary to what the horror movies of Old Earth might tell you, twigs always snapped in the jungle. Usually, it was wind, or settling detritus. It was when you heard two sounds, close together, that you needed to worry.
About ten feet off, a dead leaf crunched.
I went still, and Darth did too, even though I didn’t order him to. Did he sense a presence? As a predator who attacked very large prey, the Tyrannosaurus didn’t have much need for good hearing. Very little could hurt him, so he was rather deaf. You had to yell for him to hear commands from more than a couple of feet away.
The forest was eerily quiet under the watchful light of the moon. The foliage was dense to either side of the patrol path, carved by months of dinos passing through on their rounds. My one hand tightened on my spear and I stood in my stirrups.
A rustle. Might just be the wind.
Unease trickled down my spine, even though an attack by something small was unlikely. What could possibly be brazen enough to stalk a rex? I thought. Raptors sometimes gave it a go, but they tended to go after younger, smaller rexes.
My free hand on the reins now, I raised my feet from the stirrups to the set of the saddle, where I could leap off at a moment’s notice. If something attacked us, and if it was smart, I knew exactly where it would go.
Yet nothing moved in the shadows between dense mangroves and vine mats. Only the ferns trembled in the quiet wind. Darth's snorting breaths were the only real sound.
He growled. Yeah, something was up, if he could sense it.
"Easy boy," I muttered. Something was out there, watching and waiting. If it wasn’t raptors, it would be humans.
If it was humans, we might be in big trouble. I should switch from my spear to a flare—
Without warning, a massive light-brown shape erupted from the bromeliads ahead of us, launching itself at Darth's exposed throat. My reflexes kicked in and I swung around his neck by the reins, driving the sharpened tip of my spear deep into the beast’s chest only moments before it reached Darth’s throat.
Easy, I thought. They always go for the throat.
Then the creature roared, but it was like no roar I’d heard in months. I recognized it not from the prehistoric landscape of New Earth, but from nature documentaries I used to watch as a kid.
The creature was falling now, sliding to the end of my spear. It wasn’t a dinosaur.
It was a tiger.
The creature writhed, swiping feebly at me with its hook-like claws. I was forced to drop the spear under its weight, and Darth reared back to get clear of it, bellowing in fury.
The tiger thudded to the ground, my spear still embedded in its flesh. It snarled, blood pouring from the wound. Darth made to stomp on it.
A sharp crack sounded to our left.
"Darth, spin!" I barked. Immediately he dropped his foot and pivoted, his massive tail swinging in a wide arc to clear the area around us. His head swept sideways with the rest of him, and momentum pulled me outwards. I let go of the reins and thumped to the hard ground of the main path—
Just as more tigers erupted from the underbrush, streaking towards us from every direction.
The first was a distraction, I thought, and Darth bellowed as the second tiger slammed into his flank, claws raking across his thick hide. I clambered to my feet and sprinted for the dead tiger, my spear still protruding from its chest. The tigers ignored me for now. To them, Darth was the real threat.
But that was odd, too. Most dinos we came across had met humans by now. Either these tigers had never encountered humans—unlikely—or they’d easily killed any humans they had found.
That meant I couldn’t underestimate them—but I never underestimated anyone. That’s why I’d lasted so long.
Darth completed his spin, lashing his tail, upending three tigers before they could land a bite on him. His heavy footsteps shook the earth, and I nearly lost my balance as I ran toward the nearest upended tiger.
I stopped running, set my stance, and threw.
Tiger number two, down, I thought, running again to reclaim my weapon.
"Keep them off you. And protect your neck!" I shouted to Darth. “Bite what you can, but don’t prioritize that! Knock them down, and I’ll finish them off!”
Obedient as ever, the rex lowered his head and swung his tail in another wide arc, using it as a brutal flail against two more tigers. There had to be eight of them, and one had made it onto his back. It raked its claws across the meat of his ribs.
The remaining tigers backed off, Darth snapping his teeth after them. They weren’t leaving, though. I could see them studying us as I retrieved my spear. The things were planning. I could almost sense them devising ways around Darth’s defenses.
“Darth, spin again!” I commanded as the foremost tiger tensed.
Their next attacks came staggered, the first one a total fake-out, the tiger lunging halfway toward Darth and then switching direction. This time, several tigers slipped past Darth's lashing tail. One pounced at me from the side, and I barely dodged the rapid slash of its paw.
Darth rumbled in pain as three tigers leaped upon him, and he ceased spinning, all his focus on keeping his precarious balance. The tigers clung to his broad back, clawing and biting, shredding the saddle. His thick hide blunted their attacks, but they’d dig through him in no time. All cats were famous for having sharp claws.
I aimed my spear at the tiger highest on Darth’s back; if I went for the others, I might hit Darth. I threw, taking the creature in the side. It lost its grip and slid off.
Darth stomped on it. My gut twisted at the horrible crunch.
A roar of fury went up from one of the other tigers, but it wasn’t Darth he was angry at. One pair of feline eyes locked onto me, and the tiger charged me, leaping from the high ground of Darth’s back.
Weaponless, I grabbed another standard patrol item on my belt: the net. As I barely sidestepped the lunge, I snapped the weighted net out behind me, ballooning it.
The tiger slowed as soon as it felt the material in its face, but then it panicked, thrashing against the mesh. Within moments it had tangled itself up better than I ever could on my own. The human-woven netting wouldn’t hold the thing forever, but it bought me time to ge
The tiger let loose a new roar, and the other tigers heard the cry. As one they abandoned their attack on Darth and turned their focus to me. Even the ones on his back stopped digging at him.
I was exposed, alone, with all their attention, and nothing but a flare and a knife to use against them.
They fanned out, yellow eyes glowing with bloodlust, all of them dropping low, ready to pounce. I took a deep breath. Think, think.
But dodging five tigers at once would take a miracle. I didn’t have that sort of agility. No human did.
Suddenly Darth stomped his foot, the thunderous sound shaking the trees along the path-side. The tigers hesitated, a few eyes drawn back to the towering T-Rex.
Seizing the opportunity, I went back for my spear. From now on, patrollers will have to carry two. One wasn’t enough against a herd.
As I wrenched my spear free, I heard a growl behind me. I turned to see a sixth tiger, hidden until this moment. It was right behind me, coiled to attack.
Before I could react, Darth snapped his powerful jaws around the creature, lifting it into the air. The tiger thrashed and yowled as Darth shook it like a dog toy. With a final violent shake of his head, he flung the tiger's limp body aside.
The other tigers froze at this display of brute strength. I held my breath, spear out, waiting to see if they would continue to fight.
But the loss of their companion had drained their resolve. One by one, the tigers melted back into the forest, abandoning our little tussle.
I let out a whoop of triumph, punching the air. Darth rumbled happily in response. I leaned against his scaly leg, both of us exhausted.
“You did good, buddy,” I said, patting his ankle. “I didn’t even have to boss you around half the time. You’re smarter than I gave you credit for.”
Darth rumbled again, dropping his massive head to nuzzle me. It was like getting nuzzled by a China cabinet full of teeth.
I scratched his chin. He and I were becoming fast friends, lately, although he was bonding well with Cole and Elsa too.
Satisfied with the scritches, Darth swung his head away and started chewing on a sapwood tree. He spat it out a moment later, his snout wrinkling. Unsurprisingly, sapwood trees tasted like sap.
“Then again,” I said, “maybe you’re exactly as smart as I thought. But hey, we work good together, eh, boy?”
He didn’t answer, going for another tree. Predators liked to munch on them, but it was a teeth-cleaning instinct. They preferred to swallow red stuff, not green.
With the tigers gone, an eerie silence descended on the forest. "Let's get out of here," I said, hauling myself into the torn saddle, which barely clung to Darth anymore. Once there, I reached for my belt and retrieved a flare, the third standard-issue piece of a patroller’s kit. I aimed it directly upward and fired it off by pressing a self-light button at the base.
One flare, sent straight upward, meant a non-emergency. This would call a harvest team to this location, with protection. I needed these creatures skinned; until now, we’d been dealing almost exclusively with dino leather for clothing and warmth, and fur would be a nice change. The net would need to be retrieved as well, and we could take their meat to see how good it tasted. Darnel always enjoyed trying new recipes.
With that out of the way, I touched the obelisk around my neck and said aloud, “Mark this location on the topo map, please.”
A chime sounded in confirmation. The next time I used one of my daily topography scans, the site of this ambush would show up as a marker. I was going to want to track the tigers from here if I could. New furs would be worth their weight in gold.
“All right, boy, there’s still some patrolling to do,” I said, and Darth wheezed out a patch of ferns and began to lumber back down the path. I kept my spear at the ready, senses primed for any sign of renewed pursuit. But for now, at least, it seemed the tigers had learned their lesson; humans were not easy prey.
Then again, it was strange that they’d ignored me at the start of the fight. We’d been noticing for some time that dinosaurs recognized humans now, whereas before, they used to see us as harmless fellow dinos. Now, they almost always saw us as threats. We were apex predators, just as bad as T-Rexes, if not worse. Wild dinosaurs had learned that through experience.
But not those saber-tooths. Why was that? Those furs would be highly sought after. Surely they’d been attacked before now?
“Do you think they’re new?” I asked Darth, not because he would answer, but because I liked thinking aloud. “They might be. Aliens are always dropping new teams, so why not new animals, too?”
The choice of saber-tooths was concerning, though. Those tigers were known for their Arctic habitats.
“They’re a preliminary measure,” I decided. “Because winter’s on the way.”
I shivered. Winter. Autumn was upon us now, the nights chilly, the days comfortable—but it would only get colder from here. Tribe Grant had a lot of work yet to do.
And unfortunately for us, tiger fur would be the least of it. War was on the horizon. Perhaps it always would be.
“Enough excitement, Darth,” I said. “Let’s go home.”
Chapter 2
A Man Who Has Everything
It was early morning, well before dawn, when I got back to camp. I left Darth in his enclosure, where he happily curled up, his tongue lolling. Hard to believe he’d just been so smart in that fight, and all on his own. Normally he acted like an oversized dog.
I checked the gallimimus pens, then the pteranodon nest, and finally the raptor stables, but all were empty but for a few injured, healing animals. I’d sent all my scouting teams on various missions lately, so the hunt for the saber-tooths would have to wait. They’d likely be far out of range before I had a real chance to track them—although if I had to guess, they’d be back in no time. The aliens would make sure they had a chance at revenge because vengeance made for great entertainment.
Sighing to myself, I decided to call it a night. I could do more leading tomorrow. For now, I wanted to rest. I also craved a bit of solitude.
I remembered the stars, and I knew where to go.
“Thought I might find you up here,” Sayuri said an hour later. I’d heard her coming up the cliff-side path for a while now. She wasn’t on my hunting crews outside of her required hours, and never on the ground fighting, so she wasn’t great at being quiet. Especially not in bed.
“We starting this early now?” I asked her with a sigh. Dawn was breaking above the mountainous edges of the horizon, the vibrant stars fading into an expressionless sky. Ever since I’d learned about Britonia, the fortified settlement to the south of me, I’d started to have trouble sleeping. The aliens wanted Tribe Grant and Britonia to kill each other.
I hoped their king, Archie, wanted to tell the aliens to go screw themselves with a million trike horns. But I worried that he might have other ideas.
“There’s going to be a problem with the water,” Sayuri said, sitting next to me on the top of the cliff. Our feet dangled over a hundred-foot drop, overlooking the settlement we had worked so hard to build. And there it was—the other reason I had trouble sleeping. Winter was coming.
And we weren’t ready.
“There a reason you needed to tell me this now, and not in an hour?” I asked her tiredly. I rarely got to be alone anymore. Up until a few months ago, I’d been a bachelor. Now I had four wives and several children on the way, plus hundreds of people counting on me to keep them alive. Can you blame a guy for needing a breather?
“I’m telling you out of proximity,” she said. “I was up here anyway, surveying the underground river with Eric.” She pointed back the way she had come. “The good news is that we can excavate the river. Its surface isn’t too deep under the ground, but the water itself goes very deep. We can use it as a natural reservoir... but only if we find a way to slow down the flow. It’s good clean water, but it’s moving too fast.”
By underground river, she meant the source of the waterfall, which hissed out of the rock about twenty feet below us, filling the basin in the center of the settlement. We’d figured the water hadn’t come from nowhere. There had to be a source under the mountain somewhere.
