Take a giant frog the size of a rottweiler and combine it with a flying squirrel.


    The flying frogs had huge Gollum-y eyes, like from the Lord of the Rings, and big mouths filled with long fangs the size of steak knives. The claws on their front legs were also no joke. They were flying killing machines.


    The nasty murky rotting stench came from the flying monster.


    Were they toads or frogs? I didn’t know, but I was pretty sure we were going to have to use up the rest of our plasma charges if we wanted to survive the night.


    “Billie, start firing, but only when they get close. Professor, get behind us with your rifle. Only fire if they get past us. I’ll go up front.” We had a shitty plan, but it was a plan. I shoved my way in front of Billie, grabbed my ax and pistol.


    The first flying frog to reach us was shot down by Billie. The second one I brained with the ax. Black blood sprayed over us. They must’ve had hollow bones because they were relatively easy to kill.


    Frogs flew past us and hit the branches, and then dropped down. Luckly, Holly was there to blast them. However, soon our tree was crawling with them, and I had no choice but to use both my pistol and the ax.


    I hacked through frogs, left and right, but then paused to shoot down the ones above us. I didn’t want them dropping down on us. My enhanced body allowed me the agility to dodge attacks, and I had no trouble hacking apart frogs, but in the end, there were too many of them.


    Jack and Reggie were roaring their little hearts out beneath me. Most likely, they were disappointed that they weren’t getting to eat the frogs like they’d eaten the fleas. Well, I could probably help with that.


    “Holly, the rope, we have to get down to the ground. Fast. We’re not going to last five minutes up here.” I shot another frog in the head.


    Billie’s rifle lit up the night as plasma burned through another frog.


    “What about the dinosaurs?” Billie wailed.


    “Leave them to me,” I said.


    A frog landed on my back, it’s claws trying to shred my survivor suit. Luckily, the Paraxens had perfected clothing technology. The fabric held but the thing’s gigantic mouth snapped at me, its fangs clacking against each other. Man, I could smell the nastiness of its breath up close. I did not want that thing biting me. I couldn’t imagine what kind of bacteria it had.


    I holstered a pistol and flung it off me. It came gliding back toward me like an amphibian boomerang.


    I had an ax to take care of that. I batted the thing away, taking off its lower jaw. It fell to the ground, along with a couple of the other giant flying frogs.


    The T. rexes below had stopped roaring because their mouths were full of the frogs we’d butchered.


    “Holly, you and Billie get down the rope. Jack and Reggie are too busy eating to worry about you. I’ll cover you!” I shot another frog, and then axed through another.A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.


    “Opal, how many shots do I have left in the Weeper?”


    Four rounds left. You are fighting Flying Vorsan Swarm Toads, nocturnal nature, and quite deadly. They hatch in large batches and then fly through ecosystems, devouring everything in sight. They have very short lifespans. Once they start to starve, they procreate and spawn. Their eggs hibernate for up to a decade and then hatch all at once.


    “Shut up, Opal!” I didn’t need to have the Wikipedia entry read to me during the fight.


    Holly and Billie had descended, and it was my turn. “Opal, I need gloves, extra thick, because I’m going to be sliding down the rope.”


    Paraxen survival suit re-configured.


    Away went the multitool and the pistol, and then I suddenly had gloves sprouting from my sleeves. A second later, I was sliding down the rope.


    I came slamming down onto the ground right in front of Jack, the big white moldy mother fucker, who had half of a toad sticking out of his mouth.


    He was staring at me with his beady little eyes, but he wasn’t attacking me. He almost looked curious even as he crunched through the toad in his mouth. What was going on in his reptilian mind? I had no idea, but this was the third meal I’d given him. The first had been the fleas, and sure, his second feast had been his green buddy, but cats would eat their owners. It wasn’t personal.


    Jack wasn’t going for me, and neither was Reggie. Moonlight painted his black armor silver as he joined Jack in staring at me, noisily crunching through his own giant toad.


    I didn’t dare move. However, I was ready if they came for me. I had four shots left in my pistol. One had been enough for Green Albert.


    Again, I smelled that nasty stink, and from above, probably fifty of the toads came flying down.


    The both Jack and Reggie couldn’t care less about me. Jack let out a happy roar and slurped up two frogs at once. Reggie joined in, and those two had a blast, eating up the toads. And like with the fleas, the toads tried to rip through their fungus armor but were unsuccessful.


    I skittered back into the ferns that hid Billie and Holly.


    “What just happened?” Billie hissed. “I thought those dinosaurs were going to eat you!”


    “Jack and Reggie?” I tried to feign shock. “No, we have an understanding. They don’t eat me, and I bring them food. Or I have so far.”


    “You’re not serious,” Holly sniffed. “Those reptiles don’t have the same social behavior as mammals. They are very simple creatures.”


    “Maybe,” I whispered. “But they’ve saved us twice now. Remember, they aren’t from our Earth’s Jurassic Period. All bets are off on how they act. Besides, the fossil record can tell us a lot about dinosaurs, but we don’t know how smart they are. Or what their social behavior was like.”


    “We can make educated guesses, Mr. Marshall,” Holly shot back. “Based on evolution, we can—”


    Out of nowhere, Billie started to cry. “I want a blanket. My feet are cold. My fingers are cold. I’m wet. I’m scared. Those frogs stink, and I hate this. I hate sleeping up in that tree like a monkey. I want a Marriott. I want room service. I wanna go home!”


    The professor wasn’t showing her any sympathy. “Why was she sitting on your lap, Sid? Well, not sitting. She was straddling you, and kissing you, if I’m not mistaken.”


    “Oh no, Holly,” I said, making sure to use her first name. “You don’t get to judge us. Billie saw us kissing, and she wanted a kiss, but believe me, it didn’t start out that way. Can we talk about this later when we’re not running for our lives?”


    Then I turned to Billie and reached out to touch her shoulder. “It’s okay. This is going to be our worst night, I promise.”


    Holly then sighed and took Billie’s hand. “Yes, Miss Kidd, this is difficult. We’ll get through this.”


    Billie took a piece of Paraxen survival cloth out of her pocket and wiped her eyes and blew her nose. “Sorry. It’s just a lot. And I did spy on you guys. I’m sorry. But I had to kiss Sid, like you did, Professor. I got jealous.”


    The professor nodded. “Yes, I—”


    “Girls,” I whispered in a low voice. “We have to get out of here. I’d like to think that Jack and Reggie wouldn’t snap me up in a heartbeat but that might not be the case. We can do all the emotions and have the discussion alter, but for now, come on.”


    They knew I was right, and they followed me without another word.


    If we were lucky, we’d get through that night alive. Hopefully. Fuck. In a lot of ways, we were doing well. In other ways? We had a lot to learn about K’Shaul.