Chapter 80: All Aboard
Sunnie couldn’t sleep even after laying there and closing her eyes for an hour.
She felt filled with energy and needed to do something. So Sunnie got up to her feet and made her way out of the cave.
She guessed she should occupy herself with some work.
They were to begin building the huts today, so Sunnie took her time working on it even before they all came out.
She had dug some holes and moved some sticks to positions that would make them easy to insert. She prepared the crafted shelters too, setting the finishing touches while putting them in place.
And while she was still working, she didn’t know when the day broke. The others soon started to come out and meet her.
At first they were shocked. But they didn’t bother questioning. It wasn’t the most shocking thing they’d seen from her so far.
They joined and started working that morning.
While they were about to begin inserting the sticks into the holes, Karl came out of the cave.
He stood at a distance for a while, watching them with both hands folded. He sighed before he said, "If you put it that way, it’ll be easier for the wind to blow it down during a storm."
Everyone paused and turned, staring at him. They were shocked to see him there.
Karl sighed as he approached. "I’ve had my fair share of knowledge about the wind and stuff. So I know about where they hit. Positioning it there would make the hut prone to getting ruined during heavy storms and all."
Eris raised an eyebrow. "And this is...?"
"This is me helping you all out since you don’t know about this stuff," he folded his arms.
Little Black rolled his eyes. "You don’t have to be smug about it."
Karl cast him an eye. "I can skin off your furs, you know that, right?"
Little Black stepped backwards and hid behind Zukka, who smiled.
Sunnie smiled as she stared at Karl, folding her arms. "So how are you doing this morning?"
Karl cleared his throat. "I’m doing fine. I guess someone’s medication works."
Sunnie scoffed. "You know it wouldn’t just kill you to acknowledge it and say thank you?"
Karl stared at her and said, "And that’s why I’m here. I’m here to work too. I think that’s noble of me."
He continued, "Since you helped save me... I think it’s noble of me to help you out as a way of repaying you. Because I don’t like being indebted to anyone at all."
Sunnie smiled. "Is that so?"
Karl nodded. "Yes. That’s why I’m here to help."
Sunnie smiled. "Okay then." She turned and stared at the construction that was already in progress. "So what do you suggest doing?"
Karl folded his arms as he stepped forward, looking around. "I think the position should be here."
Karl led the way with the instructions while Sunnie urged the others to follow his guidance. He seemed knowledgeable in this stuff after all.
[Ding!]
[Congratulations. Host has successfully gotten the proud Eagle Husband on board!]
[All husbands are onboard now! Good luck!]
Sunnie smiled. She guessed she had achieved this. Her reward after the task was assured! She’d be getting a lot of heart coins!
The work commenced, and everyone was actively participating. The beast husbands, being the strongest of the bunch, were in charge of most things. They were moving the sticks and inserting them into the holes made for them while making more holes.
They were going to build two huts. One big one that would contain the mice and create some spaces for them to share.
Then another for Zukka, Zuna, and Atan. Sunnie had suggested that Little Black would stay with them in that hut.
"That’s a good idea," Zukka had smiled at the idea. But Little Black protested, freaking out over it. Sunnie simply laughed at his reactions.
They had put the sticks into the holes and made the arrangements of its interior. Now they were working on covering them with the shelters.
Sunnie was impressed at how hardworking her husbands were. They did most of the work even though she insisted on helping. She guessed they were helpful after all when treated nicely.
Karl did the most work, flying around while making observations from above and around and fixing things how they should go. The work was going smoothly.
Little Black had nothing to do. He sat there on the floor watching and was already getting bored.
At one moment, he stared into a distance at the spot where they had already cleared. He caught sight of something.
It was something huge and brown. And it was as though it was moving with the ground.
He didn’t know what that was but had grown curious. Without telling anyone or speaking, Little Black got up to his feet and approached this thing, which was a bit far from where work was happening.
As he pulled closer, he couldn’t make any sense of what that could be. He could only see something brown in the ground, and he saw the ground vibrate. As he pulled close, he began feeling the vibration too.
Little Black was closer to this strange brown thing when the ground began shaking. He paused and looked around, shocked. "What the hell is happening...?" He wondered as he turned to the scene of the brown thing.
It wasn’t there anymore. He didn’t see the brown stuff he had seen before.
"What the..." Little Black panicked as he tried stepping backwards in shock. But the ground shook more like an earthquake, and he fell on his bottom.
"Ouch!" Little Black groaned as he looked in the direction of where the brown stuff was, and his jaw dropped at the scene before him.
Something was creeping out of the ground. Something bigger than him. Something that was almost the same size as the big wolf.
His jaw dropped as he watched the big brown creature crawl out of the ground. Little Black’s brain instantly went numb with shock.