Kat kissed Tomas with some tentative curiosity. It reminded her of first crush. A nice guy, impressive looks, no technique. And a lot of enthusiasm. Lots and lots of enthusiasm. “Down boy.” She patted his hand as it crept up her thigh. Maybe she had a type?

Tomas’ touch relented and pulled away, perhaps a bit too quickly for her tastes. Sometimes a gal enjoyed feeling irresistible, but she would not complain. It was always easier to nudge someone to do more than to rein them into holding back. Catching her breath, she adjusted her hair with her fingers, making sure her top hadn’t shifted too much under his rough hands. “Sticks?”

“Sticks?”

“We came out here to look for sticks, remember?”

“Oh, right,” the young man spoke, prying his eyes away from her and scratching his head, “sticks.”

“Come on, you big lug, you were hungry, remember?”

“Yeah…”

They got moving rather quickly, busying themselves to find dry wood for the fire. It wasn’t as hard as they’d expected it to be, and within only a handful of minutes they were back at the camp, watching Rick trying his best to gut the bird with a knife and washing it in the river. The teacher didn’t pay them any attention, seeming more preoccupied with washing off the blood from the carcass. “Get the fire started.”

“Since when did you have a knife?”

“I wish this were a knife, it’s barely cutlery,” he grunted the words out in exasperation. “Had plans on eating salad during the trip. Knife came with the fork and spoon in the set.” There was some obvious frustration seeping into his voice. “This is a fucking mess.”

“I mean, it is a cute knife,” Kat chuckled. “Have you seen Monica?”

“She popped in once or twice, went back to the forest right away.”

“Must be busy looking for milk and honey.”

“Or, you know, murdering things.” The teacher turned to stare at them and froze. His eyes widened, his face became pale. “Don’t… move.”

“What? What is it?” Kat did not heed the warning, looking over her shoulder, following Rick’s gaze and turning upwards.

She promptly met the eyes of a monster.

The creature lay face down flat against the trunk of the tree, stuck against its side, glued in place. She was a female, much like Monica and the spider had been, except where one had been feline or arachnid, this one looked more like a lizard. Her back was covered in green scales, and a thick reptilian tail waved behind her. Her eyes were a neon green that almost appeared to glow, and her face round and focused on Rick, holding his gaze.

“Don’t move,” the young teacher repeated in a whisper this time.

Kat cocked her head slightly, letting out a nervous chuckle. “Do you figure she’ll like chocolate?”

“Are you crazy?” Tomas hissed under his breath, staying still next to the fire he was starting. His eyes kept darting between Kat and the monster. She could tell he was trying to figure out how quickly he could reach her. It was kind of sweet.

“Hey, it worked with Monica.” She muttered under her breath, focusing on the lizard again. Those eyes were like gems. And as much as she wanted to feel nervous about it, there was a calmness to the creature that was kind of contagious.

Kind of surreal, really.

“I don’t think we should rely on the power of chocolate.”

“Then you underestimate chocolate.”

“Both of you, cut it.” Rick’s growl made itself clear. “I think she wants the bird.”

Kat snapped towards the teacher. “No way, that’s our dinner!”

“I’d rather it be the bird than us.”

“Fuck that.” Kat didn’t hesitate, stepping back and reaching into her backpack, pulling out a candy bar. “Hey, scaly girl!” The voice drew the creature’s attention downward, meeting the young girl’s eyes and tilting her head ever so slightly. The human nodded in acknowledgment. “Look, sweets. You wanna?”

The monster’s gaze turned from her face to the candy bar being waved above Kat’s head. Blinking once, twice, and then thrice, she opened her mouth. A glob of flesh shot out, enveloping Kat’s palm. The young woman shrieked and pulled away as the two meter long tongue returned to its confines within the scaly monster’s mouth. The noise startled the creature as she turned and climbed up the tree, very slowly chewing on the treat she’d just snagged.

“Ew, slimy.” Kat shook her hand, trying to get rid of the slime and glancing up at the monster. Still, there was a very large smirk on her face. She’d proven the power of chocolate was absolute. “You’re welcome!”

The lizard stopped her upward crawl to look down and blinked down at her, licking her lips and shifting position. For a moment she appeared to want to go back down, but she halted as her eyes shifted to scan the sky above. An annoyed sound left the creature’s lips. She turned around and continued climbing up the tree, vanishing into the branches in seconds.

“Dang it.”

“Wash your hand,” Rick warned, his eyes scanning the woods carefully. “We don’t know if that shit’s poisonous or not.”

A deep sigh. “Aye, aye.”

“You really shouldn’t have done that.”

“Done what? The same thing you did with Monica?” She quirked a brow. “I’d figure that having more of the monsters wanting to hunt some birds for us wouldn’t be a bad thing.”

The young teacher glanced at her as she sank her hands into the river and began rubbing her palms together. “What do you figure will be Monica’s reaction when she meets the lizard? Because my bets are on cat food.”

That knocked the wind right out of Kat’s enthusiasm. She let out a heavy sigh and continued scrubbing. It would be awhile before she got completely rid of the gooey substance the tongue had left behind. By then, Rick and Tomas had started the fire and were spinning the dead bird’s carcass above the flames. Their objective was to make sure it was overcooked since neither trusted what disease may or may not be here. Parts of the flesh had charred already.

Regardless, the scent was divine compared to stale, damp sandwiches and crackers. It made their mouth’s water, and that alone put Rick on edge as he kept looking around for a potential return of the lizard lady.

Which had left him oblivious to the return of the cat lady.

He all but screamed as she hugged him from behind. His eyes shot at the giggling Kat and chuckling Tomas. “You saw her coming and said nothing.”

“Better sharpen those senses, Rick.”

“Purr?” The wild woman hugged his back, but she was focused on the bird. She was sniffing the air and licking her chops. It was very clear she agreed the meal looked rather scrumptious.

A wicked thought crossed Kat’s mind. “Hey, Monica, look,” she called out, drawing the feline’s attention as she turned to look at Tomas. “Kiss!”

And no sooner did she speak than she stole the young man’s lips in a glossy mashing of lips. She put on a show, wrapping her arms around his neck and leaning into it, cooing happily and caressing his shoulders as he tensed before melting into the embrace.

She spotted the feline turning to shoot a look of amusement at Rick. Before he could react, she had pinned him down and taken his lips with her own. The purring was loud, like an idling chainsaw, her rump high in the air and her tail lashing back and forth.

Kat inwardly cheered at a successful operation. “Well, it seems you two are busy, we’ll leave you to it.” She moved to take the bird out of the flames to avoid having it burn entirely. “Tomas, let’s give the two lovebirds some space.”

The young man blushed as he caught the look in her eyes, nodding very quickly as he followed. Kat was going to make sure to give him quite the show.