Chapter 11. The Fossils


Shikha followed the old female around the next few days, curious about her personality and her reasons for not having their two new additions harmed. The female planted herself atop of a flat rock worn smooth from being used for generations. She blinked her glowing eyes towards her follower's direction and spoke.

"I know you are there. You've been following me around all day. You want to speak to me?" She beckoned her over with her thick fingers.

Shikha padded over and curled up next to the rock. For the first time she noticed strange shapes protruding out from the rock formation across the walls and the ground. They looked very much like bones of their own kind. She pried at them with her fingers, seeing if she could pull it out. They seemed like part of the stone.

"Those are bones of man from long ago." The female answered her curiosity. "It seems they might have hid under here a very long time ago. Perhaps when the earth grew ill. Man never could harness his own powers I have heard."

"Man are our ancestors." Shikha stared at the fossils. "They have became part of the earth."

The female nodded and scanned over the array of human fossils. They were all splayed out with their skulls gaping wide. Perhaps they all met an awful and sudden death. Many were smashed into parts and pieces of fragments.

"This must have been when man fled to the underworld. Perhaps how our ancestors first came to live in the caverns. They look so very much like us as bones. The same with the Eloi. At one time the Eloi were very smart. Some are still very smart now in evidence of you. I was completely surprised when I saw a Morlock and Eloi having a decent conversation with each other. I am guessing it depends on breeding." She grunted. "I am sure Mog has taught you many things?"

"Oh yes. I also wish to learn how to hunt. Now since we are both mates I want to hunt for him sometimes." Shikha said proudly.

"Oh? I never knew you two became mates. Just thought you were friends." The female smiled, thinking now she has heard everything. "I hope you two have many long wonderful years together."

Shikha smiled warmly, thinking about her past few nights with him. The thoughts made her blush and giggle. She turned her attention back to the fossils and studied them once more.

"I mean it when I say you are truly different from your other kind. I haven't seen one so keen on learning before. I guess that just goes to say you can't totally breed something out of a creature. It lingers inside them, waiting to rise up, sort of like a throwback." The female pulled out some fossilized teeth she found lying around among the crumbled rocks from the folds in her clothing. "I would have loved to meet your mother. How about your father?"

The mention of her dead mother created a new wave of heavy sadness in her chest. "She was wonderful. I was with her since I was born. My dad is here too. He's the one you found awhile before us all skin and bones. Well he's not really my dad. I ran away in the first place with Mog because he wanted to eat me."

The female chuckled. "Oh I see, typical Morlock behavior. Well I never would have thought that old male had any connections with you."

"I guess I should give him more credit." Shikha shrugged. "He did let my mom keep me for twenty years. He protected me too only because of my mother."

"He must have loved his mate very much." The female frowned. "By the way I have never told you my name. It's Fere. I don't know why I even forgot to tell you." She tapped her forehead.

Shikha giggled. "That's such a nice name. Mom says mine means "flame." She says it's because it is something the Eloi don't know or use and the Morlocks keep away from it."

"Quite a name." Fere flashed her teeth. "Speaking of which I should check up on the stranger Fown. He is not doing so well since he is also in great mourning over his mate."

Fown was still sprawled out across his bedding with his naked body exposed. His face sunken into the thick sheets as he snored. Fere tapped his leg and made him roll over. He groaned loudly in protest like some child and glared at her.

"What is it you female?" He snorted and rubbed his chest. "I was having a decent dream for once." He then just realized that his body wasn't covered up. Quickly he jerked the sheets back over his belly and blushed.

"Here to clean up your wounds and your eye." She noticed his bad eye oozed constantly, probably from his extreme stress. He was a total mess. Scars riddled across his body and his face was a wreck.

"I was blinded in a fight for my first mate." He stared at the ground with sagging lips. "For Marn, my sweetheart." A few slashes were carved across his face. It was a well-aimed blow.

"What ever happened to your jaw. You can't speak right." She pointed out his other disfigurement while cleaning his eye.

Fown squinted. "I fell off a small ledge while repairing some damned water pipe and hit my jaw against a rock on my way down. Took forever to heal but it never set right."

"I don't honestly see how you can even chew." She stared at his angry face. His jawbone stood ajar on one side of his mouth where his tusk pointed outwards. It gave him a comical expression of a rubbery snarl. "You have been through a lot. The place where you lived must have been a tough life for a Morlock."

"You get used to it." He simply answered, reaching over for his clothing. "Next time knock so I can get dressed first."

"Well I didn't expect to find you still sleeping in this part of the night. I brought you some dinner as well." She pointed to part of an Eloi in the corner and sat down. "I wouldn't have ever thought you knew Shikha."

"Of course I do. My mate took her in as her own little pet." Fown scoffed. "She found her in the guts of an Eloi we feasted on. What sort of beginning like that."

"Shikha was very fortunate to be discovered by your mate. She is very much something special indeed."

"Her? I don't see what really. She was just a pet for Marn." Fown turned his head away. "She was a pet that was taught many tricks."

"I believe she was more then that. Being a mother myself." Fere frowned. "My own mate got killed several years ago though I really don't care to explain it. Just let me know when you want anything else."

Shikha had returned to their private cave. Mog was already inside grooming over his hairy arms and brushing away loose hairs. She rolled over on the bed next to him and grunted.

"Being busy I see." She smiled up at him. "I was talking to Fere. The old female that seems to lead the others."

"Taking care of that senile Fown too I noticed." He winked and licked his lips. Shikha rolled her eyes and pulled off her clothing. She usually preferred to sleep naked now. "It's time for bed now."

Mog pulled off his and joined her in their thick-sheeted bed and pulled the covers over them. He hovered over her and started grooming her face.

"Have a good sleep my mate." He pulled her hair aside and whispered in her ear.

Shikha wrapped her arms around him and snuggled her face against his chest. "So early? It's still early morning outside. Unless it's something else you are wanting."

"My back hurts from today." Mog excused. "I lifted something too heavy. I want to lie down because of that."

Shikha straddled his wide figure. "Fere showed me fossils of our ancestors. I should show you them tomorrow. It's so inspiring just the way they spread all over the walls like somebody squished them so hard into the rock."

"Really? That's quite a cave. Perhaps one day our bones will be stuck in rocks." Mog blinked at the ceiling. "I wonder what sort of disgusting pose we'll be in?"

Shikha leaned over his face and whispered her own answers to that question. Mog dropped his tongue out and raised his brow.

"Ugh sick Shikha." He chuckled. "You have a much dirtier mind then I will ever have."

"Yeah, yeah I bet your pals down at work all share much worse stories. You know what I overheard from one the other day? He was talking about his mate's ass in grand details and what he wanted to do with it. I am talking really deep details. It was really gross. You guys just talk about anything."

Mog turned a bright red from hearing this. "Oh I know that fella. Nasty, old, delusional Tippy that thinks everybody is vastly interested in his sex life. Most just listen to him because he tells it in a hysterical manner and just doesn't know how much of a perv he is. Plus during a hard days work you are just about willing to listen to anything." Mog side-glanced. "Except for his most dirty stories."

A loud groaning came from the entrance. Fown had his head poked in, giving them a very depressed look. "Oh I am in great pain. Do you know where Fere is? Oh I need something to drink too! She doesn't visit enough."

Mog rolled his eyes and snarled at him. "Why don't you go bother somebody else for a change? Not everybody wants to change your diapers."

Feeling extremely insulted, Fown dove head-first into their home. His head hit the rock with a hard smack and he simply laid there and started to groan again. "Oh you ugly, ugly brute. At least I'm not in love with a delicious snack." He lifted his face off the floor and glared at the young male. "I'm surprised of you Mog. You are one of the toughest males we have to offer and you decide to pair with her? Are you out of your mind? I thought your father raised you better."

"Piss off you old fart. I am not going to listen to anymore of your replayed preaching." Mog got up and crouched down in attack-mode. "Care to keep going?"

Fown had no desire to fight at the moment. Not in his pitiful condition. "You have so much potential. I just don't understand."

"You don't have to. Just remember this Fown. You dare place a finger on her and I will personally break your back in several places and allow you to starve." He barked back. "I mean what I say. I didn't get these scars for no reason."

Fown turned his blind eye towards him. "Oh don't worry. I get plenty of Eloi meat already. Perhaps when I am starving-"

Before the old Morlock could finish Mog sent him tumbling backwards against the cave wall. He flashed his tusks and roared in challenge. Fown shakily pulled himself back up on his hands and knees and echoed his own challenge.

"Stop it the both of you!" Fere stepped in and planted herself between the two bristled males. "Such silly fools. Fown what are you doing here? Quit trying to start fights or I will have you locked up."

Fown fell silent, only a tiny whine came from his throat. It always put him down deeply when a female had to talk to him like he was a disobedient child. Fere grabbed his wrist and yanked him out of the cave.

"Fown what has gotten into you? Are you mad?" Fere scolded him. "I told you I would see you later on during the day. You are much too weak to start fights and also too old for them anymore."

"I am never too old for anything female." He snapped back. "I am a fierce, strong male!"

"Oh quit showing off and sit down." She pushed down on his shoulders, sending him back onto his soft bedding. "Mog would have had your head easily."

"I know!" He roared with bulging eyes. "I know, I know. I just don't give a damn about my life anymore. Everything I love is gone and the Traveler once again smites us with his powerful hand. There is nothing I can do about it and I will never understand such hatred. I don't feel the need to live in such a world. Let me die now in this cave."

"Don't talk like that. It's all just fresh in your mind. Remember I have lost my love as well. It still hurts." She frowned.

"But you have children I bet. Don't you?" He questioned.

"Yes a few but most of them have moved on to other places to join other groups. What sort of child desires to linger with their mother for quite long?" Her voice dropped. "You are not alone."

"I never had any children." Fown shielded his face in shame. "My mate was never fertile enough. Only stillborn after stillborn and miscarriages. Each time she felt farther away from me. Often times she no longer had the desire to mate with me because of that reason." His head popped up with a scornful look. "Why am I telling you this anyways?"

Fere smiled and patted his shoulder. "You were a good mate I bet. It was nobody's fault."

Fown groaned and cradled his head in his crossed arms. "I am thirsty. I've tried to find some water but can't find it in this damned big place."

"I will get you some water." She looked around her shoulder. "I want you to leave Shikha alone. I feel you had reasons other then the lame attempt of eating her for disturbing them."

"Oh quit trying to figure me out and just get me some water," He grumbled. "please."