Duggi let out a loud, wet burp, satisfied. He picked up a piece of an insect's abdomen and took a bite. A yellowish liquid spurted out, splattering his chest and the floor. He licked his fingers clean.
Hawke turned to Kaira, his expression asking for help. She shrugged, a smile forming on her lips, half amusement. "They're hungry. That's just how it is here," she said.
Grandma had started eating as well. Chewing on a piece of an insect with his gums, he struggled, as he had only a few dark, poorly anchored teeth left. But he chewed anyway, with gusto.
"Hmmm," he bobbed his head. "Hmmm. How delicious."
Hawke stood there, holding his green egg against his chest, observing the chaotic scene of everyone around him feasting on giant raw insects while they ignored his attempts at basic communication. This moment hit him: this is my life now.
Kuggi picked up another piece of insect and looked at Hawke, speaking with his mouth so full that his words were nearly unrecognizable, pasty and muffled.
"Are you going to eat that, or just stand there complaining?" He pointed at the egg in Hawke's hands while the green liquid oozed from his abdomen, dripping onto the ground.
Hawke glanced at the egg, then at the men eating like animals, and finally back at the egg.
"I'm going to... fry it. I'm going to fry it first."
Kuggi blinked in confusion.
"Fry? What does that mean?"
The word seemed to leave him bewildered; one could see it on his face as he struggled to find meaning and context.
"Is this serious?" Hawke murmured.
Duggi heard him, or perhaps he didn't hear but noticed the expression on Hawke's face. He began to laugh.
"Fry! He wants to fry!"
Laughter erupted loudly and boisterously, mingled with bits of food. Pieces of egg flew from his mouth.
"Fry what? The egg? What do you mean, fry?!"
Kuggi took a moment to understand, or at least to realize it was something funny. His shoulders began to shake.
"Fry! He wants to fry the egg!"
"He wants to hatch!" Duggi slapped his thigh. "He wants to hatch and become a mommy!"
The laughter doubled in intensity. Kuggi nearly choked, coughed, spat out a piece of chitin onto the floor, and continued laughing.
"He wants to be a mommy! Look at the egg in his chest! Just like a female!"
Tairo laughed too, though his laughter was quieter and less raucous. His face was less pale now that he had food in his stomach.
Even Grandma let out a grunt that might have been laughter, or perhaps just a result of her chewing.
Hawke squeezed the egg harder, his fingers sinking slightly into the porous shell.
"Patience," he thought.
Hawke took a deep breath.
They were hungry. They had spent the entire day searching for food. He realized he was in a different world, where the rules were not the same.
The men around him continued to eat, ignoring any attempts at formal introductions. They were noisy and crude, with bits of food dripping from their chins and green and yellow liquid spilling onto the floor. They licked their fingers and released burps without any sense of decorum.
And there was Hawke, holding a raw dinosaur egg against his chest.
Duggi licked the broken eggshell with his tongue, tracing every inch, circling the inside so as not to waste anything. His rough tongue scraped away the remnants of egg white, his lips smacking with satisfaction. Kuggi sucked on his own fingers one by one, stuffing each one into his mouth and making loud, disgusting sucking sounds that echoed through the cave. Tairo chewed the last pieces of insect chitin, grinding even the hardest parts with his teeth, his eyes half-closed in a mixture of concentration and pleasure.
'My God. They'll eat even the dirt off the floor if they continue so.'
Grandma stood up with difficulty, her bones cracking as she straightened her spine. She picked up some smaller pieces of insect that were left over, a thin leg here, a piece of abdomen there, fragments that had fallen during the feast. She placed everything in an empty eggshell, improvised as a bowl, and carried it to where Kaira and Yuka were sitting, leaning against the cave wall.
"Here. For you."
They were small pieces. Crumbs, basically. Remains of what the men had dropped. While Duggi, Kuggi, and Tairo had eaten whole eggs and complete insects; two large eggs, three almost whole insects, this was what was left. A quarter of a front leg. A fragment of the abdomen the size of a thumb. Some chitinous crumbs.
Yuka looked at the miserable portion, her large eyes widening even more. Her lower lip trembled slightly, but she said nothing. She just stared.
Kaira frowned. Her jaw clenched.
"Is that all?" Yuka asked softly, almost in a whisper.
"Is that all?" Grandma's voice came out flat, emotionless, as if she were stating an undeniable fact of nature. "Women eat less. Men need energy. They hunt, they fight, they protect. They need to eat more."
"But I hunt too!" Kaira protested.
But it was low. Almost inaudible.
Grandma heard. Of course she heard. But she pretended not to. She turned her back and limped back to the campfire, where the men were still smearing themselves with the leftover food.
Kaira stared at the eggshell with the pathetic pieces. Then she looked away at the men. Duggi burped loudly, wiped the back of his hand across his mouth, rubbed his belly contentedly. Kuggi was lying on his side now, propped up on one elbow, picking his teeth with his dirty fingernail. Tairo yawned, stretching his thin arms.
Full bellies. Satisfied. Licking their fingers while the women watched.
"But I hunted," Kaira murmured, so low it was barely audible. Only Yuka, who was standing beside her, and Hawke, who was nearby, managed to catch it. "I found the food. I took the risk."
Her voice trembled slightly. Not from crying; from anger.
"It's not fair."
There was real sadness there. And a contained, swallowed, muffled anger. But she didn't speak louder. She didn't complain openly. She simply accepted it, taking a small piece of insect leg without enthusiasm, like someone fulfilling an unwanted ritual.
Yuka also took her portion. Her shoulders slumped. She held the fragment of abdomen in her small hands. The hunger was still there; her empty stomach ached, but the injustice weighed more heavily.
Hawke observed the entire scene.
He observed the satisfied men and the women with crumbs. He noticed Grandma sitting near the fire, indifferent, as if it were the natural order of things. Something tightened in his chest.
She did the work. Kaira got the eggs, risked her life, was almost taken by that man. And they get the leftovers while the guys who came back empty-handed eat until they explode?'
It wasn't fair. Not at all.
He looked at the large egg he still held under his arm. Green, speckled, porous shell. That strange smell of wet earth and something wild rose to his nostrils. He still didn't want to eat it. The idea of stuffing a raw dinosaur egg into his mouth made his stomach churn physically. But...
'Fuck it.'
He walked over to where Kaira and Yuka were sitting. His footsteps echoed softly on the stone floor. He stopped in front of them.
He held out the egg.
"Here. Take it."
The two looked at him. Then at the egg. Then back at him. Confused.
"They are yours"
Kaira's eyes widened. Her jaw, which had been clenched, relaxed slightly.
Yuka practically jumped in place. Her small body vibrated with enthusiasm, her eyes shining like a child seeing sunshine after days of rain.
"Are you serious?!" Her voice rose an octave. She took the egg with both hands, reverently, as if it were pure gold, feeling the rough shell against her soft skin. "You're giving it to us?!"
"I will."
Hawke shrugged, trying to sound casual. It wasn't a big deal. It was just an egg. A disgusting green egg that he wasn't going to eat anyway.
But judging by the glint in Yuka's eyes, it was the whole world.
Kaira looked at him; this time something felt different. It wasn't the way she had looked at him before; cautiously, with distance, and with her guard up. This was distinct.
Her eyes held something new. Something Hawke couldn't quite identify, but he felt it.
Gratitude?
Respect?
Both, perhaps.
"Thank you, Hawke."
Her voice was soft, yet earnest. The words carried weight.
Hawke nodded awkwardly. Grandma had turned and seen the exchange.
Her eyes narrowed at first; the old woman was suspicious of everything, always, but then something changed. A crooked smile appeared on her wrinkled face, revealing the empty gums where teeth should be.
"Oooh!" She clapped her hands, the dry sound echoing in the cave. "Generous man! Good man! That's what a real man is like!"
The other men looked, but said nothing. Duggi frowned, confused by the scene, but soon returned to scratching his belly contentedly.
Grandma continued, pointing a crooked finger at Hawke.
"If you keep going this way, you can have them for yourself."
Hawke blinked in disbelief.