Three was a magical number. The Chinese had insisted all the way to the modern era that a three-man cell was the most viable small-unit troop. Three was enough to rotate shifts at their little 'home'. Three was enough to manage complex construction, to move heavier objects, and to compensate for the fact that Gen's left hand was still out of commission. It was lucky they had found anyone alive at the Gremlin camp. Merrilyn wasn't the most competent of them, at least not yet, but she was another human being. He and Kat had gotten comfortable alone, but this was different. A semblance of civilization.

Merrilyn was an odd sort. She was more talkative then Kat, but when really addressed, she shrunk back, almost as if she were afraid. She was overtly dramatic, and apparently she had been a poet back home. Gen would have preferred something a tad more practical, but they were all here at the roll of the dice. They were all from different parts of America, with Merrilyn having lived in Cleveland for the better half of her life. He wasn't sure why that was important, but it was. He made a mental note of it, to be explored at a later date.

The catbeast den had undergone some serious transformation. Through some effort, and a few days setting up camp, they finished all of the necessities. They'd finished a few little walls, strung between the big rocks lying about, a little waste-pit downhill from camp and far enough away to not attract the smaller predators inside, and even a few little lean-to esque shelters. It was cozy, compared to how they had been living before. The only problem was the fact that they weren't moving anywhere, that there could be more soldiers- people- out there, and they were just leaving them be.

It couldn't be helped, though. Merrilyn had been a good sport on the trip, but she wasn't far from deaths door. They needed a place to sleep, and she needed time to revitalize herself, so they set up camp. Kat was startlingly competent at things like that. He had taken her for more of a city kid, but she had apparently camped and adventured all about when she was little. That gave him another pause. Gen had remembered things differently ever since he had arrived, and especially since he was forced to rely explicitly on himself. He recalled things he didn't know he had forgotten, quotes that he had thought were neat but discarded as an afterthought, methods and motions that he had deemed infeasible, and even works he had only browsed over before he got a firm hold of Latin and Greek. By God, he had executed a pike maneuver that hadn't seen live use in centuries with a dagger and didn't break a sweat. Kat, for her part, had something like total recall of every adventure she had ever taken, and all of the things she needed to get her there.

What did Merrilyn have, then? They hadn't really explained the whole "believe in yourself and you get superpowers" thing. Mainly because it would seem like they were smoking those psychedelic roots Kat dug up yesterday. She had to know eventually, though. It couldn't just stay a secret forever. Sure, maybe she would just become a really good poet, but the important thing was that she knew. The biggest benefit to Gen and Kat had been the way that they were dulled in combat, that when it came time for life and death, they were ready and willing to fight. He had read memoirs explaining how important that was for a soldier, how many lives it had saved (quite counterintuitively, he had thought at the time. It made sense now), and how much effort it took to get that far away from the pale. If acknowledging their situation and staking some claim was all it took to get it? Fantastic.

Still, one way or another, more hands on board were amazing. Since she'd really come to, Merilynn had learned to strip bushes and ivy from Kat, taken an active role in hauling wood, and even helped out when it came time to cook. The jungle was just that little bit more livable. That thought disconcerted him, since they had already seen one of the things that go bump in the night. What if the Gorgon Bug came back? What if a new, unhurt one showed up? Gen shivered, despite himself. Apathy could wait for a fight to arrive; he just wanted to experience some good, old-fashioned terror. It made him feel more 'normal'. He wondered if it was as man-made as the Mole-taur had been, a product of humans from the long past.

How had they even made that temple, anyway? He hadn't really experienced it, but Kat had described the monoliths guarding the place he had been transferred to, and the surreal nature of the whole thing. They wrote it off to magic, of course, but if the Lizard-men and even other humans could do magic, why couldn't they? No matter how much he focused, or chanted 'Abracadabra', nothing happened. He eventually stopped trying when he realized it was futile, which was totally unrelated to the strange looks Merrilyn was giving him. In the end, the only safe conclusion was that it was probably like their 'ability to compete'. Maybe that person had been a stage magician, back home? No way to be sure, so it wasn't worth thinking about. Quite unlike the massive tarp Kat had been working on in her spare time, for practically the whole time they had been there.

The Jungle around them was almost entirely devoid of green; Kat had made sure of that. Gen was almost relieved to look at a nice, gentle brown of soil instead of constant greens and purples and misty yellows. More importantly, though, she had purposed it all into the strange tarp she was making. It was an impressive craft, and for as large as it was, it was sturdy. Not rigid, not at all, but a flexible sort of unbreakable that meant as long as you were only tugging at it, it wouldn't break. At first he had guessed it was a legitimate roof, but Kat had only smiled and shook her head when he suggested as much. She absolutely refused to correct him, though, and when he asked, she only said that it was a 'secret' with a sort of smug grin that gave him an intense urge to order her to drop and give him twenty. She would laugh at that, and probably construe it into something raunchy (and therefore embarrassing), so he barely staved it off.

Today was the day. Kat seemed satisfied with the tarp, and she cooked the biggest meal she had in a while to celebrate. The Skabbit-meat was delicious. When he took a bite, she announced happily that "The saddle is finished!" Gen nearly choked, huffing it down as fast as he could. Merrilyn just stared blankly, surprised, but not understanding what would need a saddle that big. "You can't be serious," he said, coughing. Kat just grinned and said "Haven't you noticed? All of the tracks went off somewhere, and we don't even know where that 'somewhere' is. If we can hitch a ride…" Gen had to admit the prospect was entertaining- they moved so fast, it would save so much time, but it just couldn't be done. Merrilyn looked back and forth between them. "What's the saddle for? It's too big for a cat," she said. Kat nodded. "It's for a Dragon. You haven't seen one yet, have you? It'll be so much f-" Merrilyn tipped backwards. Not unconscious, but a pretty good semblance of it. "You really can't be serious," she said. Kat nodded. "I am. This saddle is going to be perfect for them, I just feel it." That was something, Gen knew. If it was the Adventurer talking, maybe it would work. "Aren't they smooth? How could you even mount it? And they never seem to stop moving." Kat mimed a circle in the air, and then doubled back, adding little 'ears' to the shape. "They have spines on top. I saw them when I was on the way to the temple. The saddle is built to catch said spines, if we time it right. It's about a 50-50, really." Not half bad, Gen figured. Merrilyn groaned audibly. "So, what would the plan be?" He said, chewing over the idea in his head. Also, chewing the meal over in his mouth. It was quite delicious. He hadn't been a huge fan, but it was an acquired taste.

Kat gestured, turning one arm to the side, as though it were the length of the worm itself. She mimed it moving back and forth, and then used her other arm to point at it. "We'll get above the Dragon, and stretch the saddle over it. I built in little cuff-holds and stirrups at about out height. Me and Merrilyn to one side, you on the other. Once it's under us, we hope for the best, and then we tip over onto it. The impact will hurt, but with a bit of work, the fact our hands will be wrapped in, and some help from aerodynamics, we should be good to really get situated for a ride." Gen nodded. She had gone over the basics, at least. The plan might work. She continued, grinning. "Once we're all strapped in? We go. When we want to get off, we have to start pulling knots. The tarp is a series of rigs- 45 degrees, of course- and when we're ready to go, we detach the front half speared on the spikes from the back part with us on it, and we go for a slide." Gen had thought the tarp was all one piece, actually. He noticed the little stitches now though, complete with knots. Clever.

She frowned at that. "Getting off is the hard part. I've got two plans, there." She pointed at the big tarp. "Plan A is to use the friction from the slide to slow down a bit, free ourselves, and roll off to either side. Plan A is also stupid and dangerous and we'll probably start a fire, anyway." Merrilyn was sobbing, quietly. They ignored her. "Plan B I'd rather do, but it's based on a guess. I think the Dragons are actually amphibious." Gen did a double-take. Kat continued, not missing a beat, "The signs are there. We haven't seen a single 'young Dragon', so if they exist, they're elsewhere. A creature that huge has a long time to grow, so they've got to exist. The Dragon tracks always seem to be moist when the pass, so on and so forth."

"Scratch that. Plan A is to use the water as a 'brake', plan B is to dump ourselves off." She said. Merrilyn sat up, intent. She wasn't sobbing, which gave Gen a start. "How do you know when they're heading towards the water?" She asked, intently. Kat smiled. "There's a few long, solitary tracks to the south. I've been charting the relative wetness when each Dragon passes by. When they head west, they're drier, and when they head east, their tracks get absolutely soaked. If they need the water to survive, then it's safe to assume that there's some far-off body of water that way. If there's water, then…" Gen finished the sentence. "There's people. If there's water, there are people about. Regardless of how dangerous it is, creatures gather about water. It's what feeds this entire Jungle, along with the rainstorms."

When he looked over to Merrilyn, she was flat on her back again. She had been adamant that they get her out of the rain while her immune system was weak. Gen wasn't even sure if they could get sick anymore, but it was still a good idea. They worked hard to get the bit of shelter they had up first, before the latrine was even dug. Needless to say, she wasn't a big fan of the rain. It was an unhappy coincidence that this was one few places in the Jungle that 'rain' was legitimate rain and not just a trickle from the canopy above.

Anyway, Kat's plan seemed functional, if a bit ambitious. Gen signed off on it. Metaphorically, since they didn't have a chain of command set up yet. Or ink. Or, for that matter, paper. Merrilyn seemed on board enough after a bit of gentle reassurance, but she was still pretty reluctant. "Are you two crazy? I mean, I knew that, but are you serious?" Kat tried to use her serious face. It looked out of place, and the harder she tried, the more her face scrunched up. Gen chuckled a bit, and Merrilyn started to snort. Kat got frustrated and tried harder, but Merrilyn just shook her head, and said that "I've got it, its fine, I believe you", between laughs.

They packed up their belongings; the dull kukri they had been using to saw at trees, the extra catbeast hide and little sack Kat had made to carry things (quite possibly in preparation for this day), all of the extra rope, and even a bit of charred meat they had kept for emergencies. It had been a nice stay, but it was goodbye. It would have been dangerous to stay longer, anyway. Gen hadn't felt the Lizards' eyes crawling on his back in a while, but that was no promise that they didn't know where they were, or even that they weren't close by. They had also neglected to tell Merrilyn about those guys. As they started to leave, Gen tapped Merrilyn on the shoulder. She turned, looking away from Kat- who was already a good fifteen yards ahead of them, eager as she was- and he gave her a serious look. The sort of look a leader took when giving out orders or a veteran got when he talked about the old war, a look that he certainly hadn't practiced in the mirror every day when he was a tween.

"If you trust yourself seriously and treat wherever you are like your own turf you'll get superpowers. Also, giant lizard men are chasing us." Gen said, staring her in the eyes. Merrilyn gawked. "Crocodile Men!" Kat shouted back. He really needed to figure out a way to have a conversation without her in earshot, but it seemed like she was getting better and better at picking voices out of the ambience. Merrilyn just shook her head and started walking again. He supposed that was better than having her run away or if she just looked at him like he was crazy. Score one for straight-forward infodumps. With all of the things she had been through, maybe that wasn't enough to set off her bullshit detector anymore.

It was a long walk to the dragon tracks. They stretched off as far as Gen could see, without so much as turning. Kat had picked a great place to start. There weren't too many animals about, either. No catbeasts at all. Of course not, he thought, they're all dead. They had to pace along the trailhead for quite a ways before they found two suitably close trees, and it took longer to get set up on the branches. The elevations weren't even, but they got situated enough to be ready for the dive. Gen had to stand crouched, a pose that many would cry to hold for minutes. It took a lot longer than minutes for a Dragon to arrive.

The Dragon started coasting past, the rumble of the monster's weight shaking even the trees they stood on. Kat counted them off. Even as scared as Merrilyn was, a count off could motivate people to move. Gen had ready that somewhere. So they counted, and when Kat shouted "Jump!", they all dove in unison. Everything from there was slow motion.

Suddenly Gen could see them, the blurry array of angry little spikes lined up on its back. As they fell, the tarp caught the wind. Rather than crumpling up, the thicker braces started to pull back, and it furled outwards like a kite in a storm. Merrilyn was screaming, he realized. Kat was screaming, too, but it certainly wasn't out of fear. Why had he gone along with this plan, again? They fell further, inch by inch. The shot was too close to call, with the hole on either side of the tarp just brushing the spike. Then, to Gen's surprise, it caught. They jerked about, and the fall continued. The saddle slid, inch by inch, down the gently sloping spike, until they were nearly at the base. Naturally, each spike angled outwards, which meant they were at odds with the ground .Kat had neglected to mention that, or the flapping.

If the dive was like hopping down a snowy hill on a sled, the landing was like a punch to the guy, and the ride was like a bucking bronco. They all flapped with the saddle, legs splayed and flying about. It took Kat shouting something about "The legholds" and "faster" for Gen to remember that she wanted them to shove their feet in. The girls had a better time of it, but between the fact that Gen had only one arm to brace with, and how tall he was, it was a struggle to force his body towards the mesh. It was dumb luck that the impossibly fast Dragon started sliding its slimy way up a hill, which promptly slammed his legs into its side. It hurt like hell, but he took advantage of the force to get his legs in. He made a mental note to berate Kat next time she wanted to make something that needed two good hands to brace with. She had been looking over at him in a panic, but with that, they were all safe. Relatively so.

He could hear her shouts over the wind. He had never heard her so exhilarated, so excited, or even so triumphant. "Look, Gen! We're riding a Dragon!" She shouted, whooping. He tried to reply, but as he opened his mouth, the saddle slammed down on the Dragon's curved back once more, and he couldn't breathe again. He spat out some bile. Was she actually enjoying this? Seriously? He wondered how the hell all of those movie actors did the 'fight-on-top-of-the-train' scenes. Granted, they were probably only going twenty miles an hour, if that. They had to be going at least three times that. Kat kept whooping, and Gen suddenly realized Merrilyn wasn’t there. Where had she gone? Did she fall off? The Dragon hit a downhill, then, and the outer ends of the saddle started to lift. To his relief, she was still on that end, just silently watching ahead. She noticed his gaze, and when she turned to him, she had tears in her eyes, but she seemed alright. She gave him a little smile.

Kat kept whooping right up to the point they slammed into the water, head-first. Gen had the good sense to shut his eyes, and he could only hope the others had taken precautions. They kept going down, and it was so fast, even if the descent was gradual. As soon as he freed his arm, the water started trying to force him upwards, but he forced himself to a ball, pulling the knots as fast as he could. His abs gave out, legitimate pain burning in his stomach. He made a mental note to add extra crunches to his next regimen. Still, he had done his part. The tarp swung back, with the girls side still mostly attached. Merrilyn was franticly undoing Kat's set of knots, and Kat was hardly moving. Finally, the whole thing came free, and the rest of the saddle and the Dragon disappeared into the deeps.

They were at least twenty feet down and the 'Saddle' was damnably heavy. Gen yanked his legs free, and he desperately swam to help Kat out of her cuffs and foothold. Merrilyn got her free, finally, and the two of them had Kat between them. It was close. It was really, really close .Gen had nearly run out of air, and Merrilyn was hardly kicking by the end, but they had made it. They each took in a deep gulp of air, and Kat finally started responding, choking out water.

She heaved for air for a good bit, but the first words out of her mouth were "That was awesome!"

Gen nearly shoved her back under. Still, they were all alive, albeit a good few hundred feet from shore. The 'lake' was never-ending and so impossibly deep, but it wasn't salty, so Gen had to conclude it was something like the Great Lakes back home. They had the good fortune of avoiding scrapes and cuts, so even if they were banged up a bit, but they wouldn't be meeting the local carnivorous fish. Things had gone about as well as they could have hoped.

As they swam back, all three of them churning water as well as they could with Kat still dangerously weak from the impact, Gen got a good look at the shore. He could see a vast forest, a somber, dark-green thing quite unlike the verdant jungle they had been in before. They had gone up so many hills that they might actually be at a high elevation; duly noted. In the distance, trailing the shore-line, he could see the forest devolve into plains and marsh that extended as far as he could see to the north. On the other side, atop a massive hill, was a dark-grey mass. It was a wall. The wall of a city, even. A massive, well-protected city, just as they had hoped.

They had found real civilization.