Tantrum gives Lou an annoyed look and says, “Lou, you only had one sock on before we landed in this stinky cave. Remember bragging about how fast you got ready after you slept through your alarm? Buggy already pointed out that you were only wearing one sock. It was pretty noticeable considering you went for the socks and sandals look.”

Lou giggles, “Weird, didn’t realize I said all that out loud.”  Looking thoughtful, she adds, “I do remember that though. Got ready in 3 minutes and 14 seconds! That’s pie and a personal best, probably a world record!”

Buggy changes topics because she doesn’t want to hear about how Lou skipped a shower by dousing herself in air freshener. They already suffered this morning, no point reminiscing over Lou’s body odor mixed with scented pine. Grabbing a pretty flower, “Wow this is so beautiful. I should color-match this for my next nail appointment.” Grabbing some more flowers and queer plants, “I'll just pick some of these to show my salon girl.”

Buggy takes hold of a long purple stem. Immediately dropping it and cursing as she clutches her hand to her chest. She tears up and cries, “I'm gonna die!” Inspecting her hand, she thinks it might be a yeast infection. What are the signs? Aren’t they itching, burning, redness, and pain? Looking at her flushed swollen hand she nods, yep, all accounted for. Buggy’s eyes roll back as she mentally chooses what to wear for her exotic man-themed funeral.

Tantrum screeches, as if she's the one with the yeast infection, “We have got to get out of here!” She swats RGB fireflies out of her face, “I hate nature!”

“There’s nothing for you to freak over. I have my phone; I'll just call a taxi to come pick us up. And once we get home, I can use this experience to write an interesting story for my blog. I’ll need to snap some photos and videos before we go.” Buggy pulls out her phone to take blurry shots of the surroundings. Tantrum ends up in a few shots with her mouth wide open. Not very ladylike, Buggy thinks. Then yells for Lou, “Lou, come help take some pictures of me in front of this long throbbing vine!”

Plopping down on a peach-fuzzed rock, Tantrum sighs, “Oh good. Call the taxi first, then you can goof off. I don’t want it to get so dark outside that nobody is willing to come pick us up.”

Rolling her eyes, Buggy stops herself from calling Tantrum a name. A name like Negative Nutcracker or Party-Pooping Princess. Deciding she’d like to get home too, she calls her favorite taxi service, which she uses to avoid the walk of shame back to her apartment in the early mornings. The drivers are professional and nonjudgmental, good qualities to have in her opinion. However, the call doesn’t go through, she tries again, but it rings not even once. She tries different taxi services getting the same result. Switching tact she opens a ride-share app, however, that won’t load either. Shaking her phone she huffs, “Hmph, I don’t seem to have a signal.” Checking all her apps to see if anything still works, she gasps. “CHA CHING! I can finish the solitaire game I had started.” She gives herself a mental fist bump for not deleting the apps she’d downloaded when flying to a BDSM convention last month.

Sitting on her fuzzy rock thinking, Tantrum says, “First, we should get to higher ground to find a cellular signal, we’ll need provisions for the journey and something we can use to collect rainwater. Someone should look for a pointy rock or stick we can use to catch food. Do you guys see any edible-looking plants around you?”

Buggy ignores her while losing her game of solitaire. She goes to start a new round when her phone dies. Checking her pockets and looking for an outlet, she asks, “Hey, did anyone bring a phone charger?”

From a distance, Lou shouts, “Left mine at home!”

Tantrum scowls from her spot on the fuzzy rock, “No, why?”

“Well, my phone just died, and I wasn’t done playing solitaire,” Buggy pouts.

A shadow crosses Tantrum's face. She rises from her rock to snatch Buggy’s phone. When Buggy doesn’t let go right away, they have a little tiff. Finally, she gives in and lets Tantrum have the phone, it’s dead anyway. Tantrum mashes a bunch of buttons trying to turn it on. “I already told you it died. I would’ve let you play a game of solitaire if you had thought to bring a charger.” Without breaking eye contact Tantrum raises her arm, spins it, then throws the phone into the rock she had previously been sitting on. The phone crumbles into a pile of plastic, glass, and chips.

Buggy lunges, but before she can start putting the hurt on Tantrum, the sound of thunderous rumbling has them hugging each other instead. Stunned she asks, “What was that?”

Tantrum shakes her head and softly yells, “Lousy! Come! I don’t want us getting separated, there’s some sort of wild beasts out here.” That perks Buggy up. She’s been looking for a wild, hot, alpha beast man ever since she started reading shifter smut.

Emerging from a bush, Lou is as nude as the day she was born. Her bush is the only thing hiding anything. Tantrum gasps, “Where are your clothes?!”

Lou gives her a confused look, “Aren’t we on that naked and afraid show? If we wanna get the clock started we’re gonna have to strip.”

Buggy laughs and reminisces, she was once naked and afraid too. Last week actually, but it was a lot more fun than whatever this is.

“Lou put your clothes back on!” Tantrums yells.

“Nah, nice try but I'm not gonna let you sabotage my chances of winning. When we’re out here you're no longer my boss, you’re my competition.”

Nodding, Buggy has to agree. “Lou has a point. We’re not in the shop anymore, but we should still stick together. Someone will need to be the leader, someone smart and strong and handsome. Maybe we should have a competition!” Thoughtfully, she adds, “We will need to find some men first to enter into it.”

Tantrum interrupts, “We don’t have time for this! Lou, you can be the leader if you just put your clothes back on. I refuse to follow behind someone whose bare cheeks are in my face”

Lou puts her clothes back on with excitement. “Yatzy! My first rule as your ruler is that everyone must take my rules seriously. The second rule is to always be nice to me. The third rule is to install a gumball machine at the shop when we get home!”

Buggy reminds her, “You aren’t the boss back at the shop though.”

“Oh yeah, well, the rules may dictate otherwise,” Lou proclaims.

Before Buggy can respond, the ground shakes and a roar penetrates the sky. Buggy and Tantrum scream as they start running and pushing each other to get in the lead. Buggy trips on one of the pulsating vines that stretch over the ground. Tantrum looks back at her, Buggy whispers, “It’s ok. . . save yourself. It’s what I’d do too.” She closes her eyes accepting her fate.

Tantrum scoffs and goes over to help pull Buggy up off the floor. “Now look who’s being dramatic?” Looking past Buggy, Tantrum points, “I don’t think we have anything to worry about though.” Buggy turns around and spots Lou petting a big fuzzy creature with the ears and body of a bear but the face of a feline.

“I wonder what that is?” Tantrums asks.

Buggy wipes dirt and leaves off her ruined jacket, and sighs, “Ugh, I remember now why I don’t like to leave my bed.” She grew up in a trailer park and hated all the wild animals and loud outdoor sounds they could hear from inside their trailer. One summer her dad got them kicked out of the trailer park, and they had to move their hitch to a campground. She met a lot of cute middle-class boys and realized she would never settle for a man who wasn’t wealthy enough to vacation at expensive resorts. She loves money. She smiles at that thought. Then looks over at the odd fuzz ball that’s giving the cute and innocent act, “I think it’s the rock you were sitting on.” She laughs, “Seems the fuzzy ‘rock’ woke up when you smashed my phone against its ass.”

“What should we name it? Snuggles?” Lou asks while the fuzz ball wraps its arms around her in a big hug.

Buggy thoughtfully suggests, “What about Kiwi or Peach Fuzz? Or Fuzzy? I got it! Fuzzy Butt!”

“Looks like a Rock to me,” Tantrum chortles. Was that supposed to be funny? Buggy wonders.

Going quiet, Lou looks around the cave, “Do you guys hear that?”

Tantrum scoffs, “Yeah, all these birds are giving me a headache. It goes great with the headache you two give me.”

Buggy shushes her, “No I think I hear it too. Someone out there is whistling.”

Tantrum groans, “Birds whistle, idiots.”

“Do they whistle Dolly Parton’s ‘9 to 5’?”