Planet of the Dino-whores Ch. 03

The sharpened tip of a spear edged her forward, to her death. Zara felt numb, in shock. She bit her tongue, pain jolting her, anything to keep her mind awake. For the moment, it worked. Zara felt her eyes fill with tears, but at least she was in the here and now. A ramp led upward, out of the shadows. Into the light.

Zara lifted a hand to shield her eyes from the blinding glare of the sun. A blast of heat like a hot breath smothered and peppered her skin with beads of sweat; she didn't realize how cool her cell was compared to the warmth of day.

At least she wouldn't die in the damp dark. If everything went to plan, she wouldn't die at all. Not that it was a brilliant plan, no matter how confident Hunter seemed. Zara tried not to think about it, tried to stay in the moment and just react. She blinked, her eyes slowly adjusting to the sunlight.

The noise was deafening. At first, she thought it was thunder or the mechanics of some giant machine. Instead, as the world came into focus, Zara saw the jeering masses of women who made the crowd, filling in the seats of the coliseum around her. Strength seemed to drain out of her like blood from a mortal wound.

A huge metal gate stood at the opposite end of the coliseum's circle. It looked to be only about... oh, say, a hundred thousand miles away. Yes, Zara knew this was an exaggeration, but it felt as if it might as well be that far. She knew she'd have no chance to reach the other side before being eaten, her and Hunter Haux both.

But maybe, just maybe, she was wrong. A sliver of hope within her refused to die.

Then the Queen's voice cut through the jeers and chilled Zara's blood: "THERE ARE SOME WHO WOULD DENY FATE!"

Zara looked up and saw her. The Queen wore gleaming gold armor, a breastplate and a single-horned helmet, the horn curving upward like the business end of a rhinoceros. Spear and shield in hand, she was the essence of a royal warrior. Something twisted in Zara's guts when she Henrik standing at the Queen's side. But the bright reflection cast from the armor stung Zara's eyes, so she looked away, her vision blurred.

The Queen continued, not as loud as before, but her voice still carried through the arena.

"Some who think us and our gods fools! Some who would escape their fate and our gods both, and leave us to suffer the undue consequences! Let me assure you all... WE ARE NO FOOLS! We will not be denied! Fate will not be denied! VANITOTH WILL NOT BE DENIED!"

The crowd exploded in a roar, and Zara turned to see Hunter Haux being led into the coliseum behind her. Her heart dropped. This was bad. This was very bad. This was certain death. Hunter's light blue hair hung in blood-streaked clumps over her forehead and eyes like a funeral veil. She stumbled and fell; a guard dragged her up and pushed her forward.

"I'm sorry," Hunter said when she took her place next to Zara. "They were waiting for me. Ambush." Her words were weak and raspy. A dark purple bruise wrapped her throat.

"Well, at least we won't die alone," Zara said. She clapped a reassuring hand on Hunter's shoulder. Hunter flinched slightly in pain.

"I suppose that's something."

With a screech of protesting metal, the gate on the opposite of the area began to open. Two women with cannon-like arms worked the winches, muscles bulging grotesquely. The coliseum shook with cheers and applause.

"Here we go," Zara said and felt a strange sense of calm settle over her. The gate rose enough to reveal two enormous, clawed feet and then the thick legs above them. The rumble of the crowd crescendoed as more and more of Vanitoth (small arms, dripping muzzle, black eyes) could be seen, and Zara suddenly smelled urine. She looked down; the pants of her flight suit were dirty but dry.

She turned to look at Hunter Haux. Terror flashed through the other woman's eyes. The crotch of her uniform had gone dark and wet. Poor girl, Zara thought. She'd had a hell of a last night and day, but at least it would all be over soon.

As if in agreement, Vanitoth roared, spittle flying from its mouth, and took a thundering step into the arena. The crowd somehow became impossibly louder. Zara's heart skipped a beat and leapt to life like a frightened rabbit. Her pulse beat jungle drums in her ears. God, she hoped it would be quick.

"VANITOTH APPROACHES!" the Queen cried, and then the charge exploded.

***

Underneath his disguise (which not much more than a hooded white shawl but seemed to work all the same), Karh Blade had felt torn since seeing the bounty hunter led into the arena as a human sacrifice. After all, she was the one who had chased him here in the first place; she deserved to be chewed up, swallowed and end up a monster shit. Poetic justice, no?

Still, after a post-coital discussion with Lorna, he'd decided that Gate of Vanitoth was the best chance for escape, and the bounty hunter might come in useful as back-up. Lorna proved to have a regular armory stashed away; over the years, she had stocked up on various sets of blasters, daggers, laser whips, and best of all? Charges.

The bounty hunter might prove a capable ally, but the real reason Karh Blade pressed the trigger on the detonator... well... he liked to see things blow up.

A chunk of the coliseum went up in a ball of flame and smoke, charred bodies and stones suddenly falling through the air like rain. Vanitoth screeched and caught a screaming raindrop of a woman on its tongue. Its jaws came together and tore flesh and bone apart, the woman now not much more than a splash of blood and hanging flesh from Vanitoth's teeth.

***

"Quick, while it's distracted!" Zara cried below, not knowing how it had happened but knowing that now was the time. They wouldn't have another chance, not like this, not at all, period. She grabbed Hunter's arm and made for the gate.

***

Karh fought his way through the horrified throng of women, the applause and cheers for blood forgotten, all of them scurrying and panicking to get away from their crazed lizard god. The heat of the blaze warmed his face; even on the other side of the arena, it felt intense.

A hand clamped over his shoulder, yanked him. He lost his balance and went tumbling backwards; the upside down face of an enraged blonde titan whooshed into his vision. Karh lost the air in his lungs with a whooping gasp as his back smashed into the concrete.

"For Yrin!" the woman cried, and she raised a rusty gladius in her hands, readying to thrust it down in a brutal death strike.

"Dayna!" a familiar voice responded, Lorna's voice. The woman above Karh moved her eyes away from him, and then the left one popped as her brain melted in a fiery beam of laser. She didn't have time to scream; she collapsed into a lifeless heap, a smoking hole where her eye had been. Karh pulled himself to his feet.

Lorna held the blaster with steady hands in the shooting stance Karh had taught her. A thin wisp of smoke slivered from the barrel. Her eyes were wide, bright, and alive. A flash of victory swept her face.

"Lorna, thank the devils. I thought I was about to be sent into that great black hole in the Zeta Quadrant," Karh said, taking a step towards her. Lorna pointed the blaster at him. Karh stopped dead in his tracks. He should have known better.

"Sorry, Karh Blade, but you killed my sister," Lorna said. Her blonde hair shimmered in the twin lights of the fire and sun. Her lips pulled over her teeth in a smile-snarl.

"What?"

"You killed the Captain of the Guard. And now I will kill you, her killer. You've proven yourself quite useful. I'm almost sorry it has to end like this. Almost," she said, and then her finger tightened on the trigger.

But not before Karh Blade slipped Princess Sauria's forgotten hair pin from the back of his trousers and flung it into the barrel of the blaster. He so enjoyed taking advantage of his enemies' preference for pontification. It exploded in her hand as Lorna squeezed the trigger. Karh leap-frogged two rows of seats and leapt over the side of the coliseum, down to the dirt, to the chaos of Vanitoth's feast.

Several women had fallen from their perches around the arena, and Vanitoth seemed to enjoy having its pick of the litter. It huffed and tore one shrieking patron from the ground, flipped her up with a jerk of his head. Her arms and legs flailing, the woman screamed but not for long. Vanitoth caught her in its teeth and bit her in two, gulping the top half with relish. Two disembodied legs flipped to the ground, still kicking. Vanitoth's snout grew red and thick with splashing blood. It ground a few more women under its feet. Guts squished between the creature's massive toes.

Never in its history had Vanitoth enjoyed such a glorious feast.

The walls of arena ran with blood, steamed with spools of innards. Karh did his best to ignore the carnage and make his way to the gate. He hopped over a piece of leg, dodged a flying arm. He could see the stretch of jungle and freedom beyond it. He gritted his teeth and sprinted.

Lorna stood at the edge of the arena and watched him escape with hate in her eyes. No one escaped her wrath and lived. Not her sister. Certainly not this pathetic man from the sky. Her hands gripped tight around the gladius of her dead sister.

She would stain it red with the blood of Karh Blade.

***

Hunter Haux slapped a fern out of her face as she dashed through the jungle, greenery whipping at her from all angles, thrashing her arms and legs and torso, but none of these minor scratches seemed to bother her. Not compared to the fate they had barely evaded.

"It's a miracle!" she yelled back at Zara.

"Keep moving!" was the pilot's only reply. And so they ran.

Eventually, they learned they could not run forever. Hunter wobbled, stumbled, fell. Zara collapsed directly behind her on jelly legs.

Gasps of air scorched through Zara's throat and lungs like liquid fire. The world swirled around her; dizziness threatened to throw her over its shoulder and escort her to unconsciousness. Zara fought it and pulled herself to a sitting position, her back against the thick trunk of a tree.

The foliage shuddered in the direction from which they had just come, and Hunter groaned and scrambled to her hands and knees. She couldn't seem to manage to stand, and Zara knew how she felt. She didn't have the energy to fight if it came to that. A hapless kind of hopelessness slipped over her that they'd been tracked and found so soon.

Karh Blade crashed through a set of ferns, saw them, and went skidding to his knees. He gulped air as if he'd been near drowning. His face was red, his clothes spattered with dots of blood. Zara appreciated the irony that she was actually glad to see him.

"You're pretty fast for sacrificial lambs," he huffed. He slid back with a grunt, ass-first to the ground. "You're welcome, by the way."

"Your charge?" Zara guessed.

"You got it, my charge, my distraction."

Hunter Haux grabbed a low-hanging limb and pulled herself to her feet. She pushed some sweaty locks of blue hair out of her face and blew a long sigh through her lips.

"There's a stream near here. I remember from before they caught me and my men. When we get there, we'll see you're properly thanked," Hunter said and started to stagger through the jungle.

Zara shrugged, stood up on wobbly legs and offered Karh her hand. He took it. Zara helped him up, and they followed.

***

The Queen poked the corpse with her spear before announcing, "The Captain of the Guard is dead."

Dayna's one eyed corpse stared at nothing in the sky. The flesh around the blasted eye was charred black, and her mouth was open in a look of surprise (or betrayal, Lorna knew). Now, perhaps Dayna would find peace with her lover in the afterlife. Not that Dayna's peace was anything to Lorna. In fact, she could care less if Dayna suffered eternal torment in a sea of bubbling magma. Lorna preferred that notion to one of Dayna and Yrin frolicking in some repulsive paradise.

The thing that mattered was as second in command, Lorna had earned her promotion.

"She was killed," Lorna spoke up. The Queen turned her snake-eyes towards her. Lorna felt her pulse quicken. This was the time. Now, she would prove her worthiness.

"She was killed by the outsider, the man from the sky, the one who escaped the princess'... charms. Dayna must be avenged," Lorna continued. The Queen said nothing but regarded Lorna with her serpentine eyes. She blinked once, and her tongue flicked out before disappearing between the Queen's thin lips. Could she know? Lorna swallowed, waited for the Queen's move.

"What do you suggest, Captain?" the Queen said, stressing the last word. Cold sweat slid down the back of Lorna's neck, sweat not just from the heat of the sun and the still blazing fires of the explosion. She stared up at the Queen- the only thing she had ever feared.

"The riders," Lorna said. A pause, and then the Queen nodded in agreement.

"The ridersssssssssss. Yessssss! YESSSSSS!" the Queen hissed and then threw her head back and laughed, her razor teeth glistening in the sunlight. The laughter echoed through the coliseum and over the smoldering bodies of the newly dead.

***

"How 'bout that feast of Vanitoth?" Karh said, cocking an eyebrow as he walked side-by-side with Zara. She grimaced, and Karh laughed. Funny how their rivalry had morphed into instant camaraderie, but then near death experiences had a way of throwing you for a curve.

"Yeah, once that thing got a taste for blood, it was... it was like it was insatiable. Or maybe crazy blonde jungle bitches are simply delicious," Zara said. Karh nodded.

"As the ancient wise men used to say, once you pop, you can't stop."

Hunter Haux paused before them, pulled a thick crowding of foliage apart. Behind it: the bubbling cool blue of the stream. It gurgled down a slight overhang, forming a calm, clear pool before dribbling off on its continued journey through the jungle. Hunter looked over her shoulder towards Zara and Karh; she flashed them a bright smile.

"We're here," Hunter said. Her eye patch was dark with sweat, but relief flooded her features. She leaned one hand against a tree for balance as she pulled off her boots. She sighed with pleasure once her feet were free.

"We've covered enough distance to keep the ladies behind us busy for awhile. Anyone for a dip?" Hunter asked and pulled the shirt of her uniform from her pants and over her head. Her bare breasts were pale white with small pink nipples, hardening in the sudden caress of fresh air. She started unbuckling her belt. Her blue hair reflected shimmers of the lake surface.

"I... er... suppose I could go for one?" Karh said at an uncharacteristic loss of words. He turned to Zara, gave her a questioning look. As if Karh Blade needed permission from her, Zara thought. All the same, she supposed she appreciated the acknowledgement considering Hunter Haux was throwing her sexuality at him with the subtlety of a live charge. Zara nodded.

"Go for it. I think I'll just rest here for a bit," she said.

"Now, my friend," Hunter said, giving Karh the eye (having only one). "Allow me to thank you for saving our lives."

Hunter slid her pants down her legs and past her ankles. She couldn't remember the last time she'd been with a man. Sometime on the ship, before the crash. Perhaps with Ensign Matheson in the engineering room? Her body tingled with the memory and anticipation of enjoying a man's warmth within her once more. She waded into the pool, waist deep, the water refreshing and cool against her battered and bruised skin. She turned and beckoned Karh with a finger.

Karh tripped and stumbled over his trousers; he couldn't get them over his feet. He grunted, pulled, got one free and then twisted his other foot and pulled harder. Finally, with a small rip, he got his pants off. His erect penis flopped and stabbed the air. He looked comical but not altogether unattractive. His body- tanned and muscular. His features- handsome if a little rough, a long scar tracing his jaw from chin to right ear.

But he was a rogue, a murderer, a wanted man, and (most importantly) a bounty. Zara still had hopes of collecting the substantial amount for his head. The only difference was the fact that she might now consider taking him alive.

Zara tried not to be too obvious while she took a mental measure (a little under ten inches; she'd seen bigger but most of those were the result of genetic disasters). She sat in the shade of a tall palm, watching with envious eyes. She tried not to think about giving in, wading in the pool behind Hunter and Karh, becoming vulnerable to her desire. She wanted to feel his hands on her, roving her naked body, spreading her legs and allowing entrance. Hunter wasn't too bad either, for a woman, but Zara wasn't particularly into that kind of thing.

There was always room for exceptions though.

Zara closed her eyes, sighed, then opened them. She unbuckled her pants and slid in one teasing hand. She knew of more than one way to find relief, and most didn't involve a man.

In the pool, Karh made his way to the smiling form of Hunter Haux, up to her neck in glistening water. She kicked away from him with a laugh and a splash. He followed her, moving quicker, feeling gooey mud squish underneath his toes. He blinked water out of his lashes. He reached out with a hand, caught a kicking foot around its ankle.

"You minx!" he laughed and pulled her towards him. A moment later, he wrapped his arms around the Hunter's waist. Time slowed. The world was lost to them but for this moment. Her blue hair was wet and clung to her face. Sparkles of water decorated her skin. Her eye looked into his with hungry, needy lust. She gripped the sides of Karh's head and pulled him into a kiss. His erection rubbed against her stomach.

Zara watched from the shadows. They must know she was still there, but they had forgotten her in their own pleasure. Her hand worked in her pants, fingers tickling, prodding, teasing. A voyeuristic thrill ran shivers through her.

Hunter broke the kiss. Her hands slid down Karh, along his slippery skin and the curves of his muscles, under the water to clench his buttocks.

"You know," Hunter said. "I can hold my breath for a long time."

Karh opened his mouth to ask her what the stars that had to do with anything, but before he could, her head bobbed beneath the water and he felt Hunter's mouth encase him.

***

"Are you ready to prove your loyalty, slave?" the Queen said, standing over him in her golden armor, spear in hand, intimidating and frightening. The Goddess of War.

Jupiter's balls, Henrik wanted her. He wanted to feel her scales on his skin, her tail wrapped around his torso, wanted to stab her moist pink insides with his cock.

"Yes, yes, my Queen, what will you have me do?" he begged from his knees, looking up into her snake-eyes. The Queen bared her teeth, razors on razors. A delicious chill scurried up Henrik's spine. For a moment, he thought she might eat him. Then she spoke.

"I want you to decorate my spear with the heads of your friends."

***

They had moved to a small beach at the edge of the pool. Zara watched them, trying not to wish it was her legs wrapped around Karh Blade, his kisses cool on the flesh of her neck. Zara's hand sped up, the crotch of her flight pants bulging with motion, her knuckles feeling hot where they rubbed against the fabric. Electric tingles shivered through her body; she felt pressure building, like a dam against rising tides.

Karh was on top of Hunter, her body writhing underneath his slow, methodical thrusts. Beads of water on their body glistened in the sunlight. Karh's wet hair dripped and clung to his forehead in patches of dark black. Hunter's hands gripped his buttocks, fingers forming depressions in his skin.