Dawn's New Family

In hindsight, Dawn thinks that the sudden foot pain that came with meeting Eep was worth it. Of course, she became well acquainted with all kinds of pain soon after.

"Um, Eep's dad? Do you think you can let me out now?"

"No."

From the moment she had discovered the Croods, suddenly homeless from an earthquake, she had found herself bound, gagged and stuffed inside a log, carried around like satchel of dried meat over Grug's shoulder. She hasn't been off her feet this long in many moons and it was kind of nice. You know, when you look past the termites and her inability to scratch itchy spots and the impending doom they were very slow walking away from.

Backpack, ever the loyal pet/sidekick/lookout, stayed by her side the entire time, clinging to the outside of the log with a sharpened rock to keep the Croods from eating him.

"So uh, you've ever been around here, strange lady?" Asked Eep's brother.

"Um... no?"

"That's cool. I know all the sweet hiding spots. You know, cause I'm super resourceful."

Dawn found his tone to be rather off. Like he was trying to get a reaction from her.

"Okay," said Dawn.

Eep dragged him behind her from the scruff of his pelt, Thunk losing his balance and falling flat on his face.

"Hi again," said Eep. "So who taught you to make fire? Can you make other stuff too?"

"I--"

"I remember there was this one guy who made these things called 'clubs' and dad still wouldn't let us have any."

"Still don't trust those things. If we were meant to hunt with big lumps of things, we'd have rocks for fists," grumbled Grug, only half-listening to their conversion. "And stop talking to her Eep.

"But Dad, I've never had another girlfriend before! You know, to talk about boys and doing our hair and--"

"First of all, you're not to talk about boys. Ever. Second, you had a friend. What was her name? Lunk?"

"You mean Lerk?" Eep rolled her eyes. Dawn wasn't sure if her expression was one of emotional anguish or annoyance. "The cold got her."

"Oh. Right."

Now only Dawn was half-listening.

"Look, I think I've been really patient with all of you, but we all have our lines and you have officially crossed mine!"

With a stroke of luck, Dawn managed to slip free of her log and sneak away. She peeked past a wall of land-seaglass and quickly realized that the Croods would be hopeless without her. That and, in spite of all of the physical harm she put her through, she actually did like Eep. Backpack is irreplaceable, but it was nice to talk to someone who talked back.

"Listen young lady," said Grug, channeling his 'stern dadness'. "You will come back here this instant!"

Dawn and Backpack gave each other a look, seeing the folly of his threat.

"I mean it! You're gonna get back in this log or else."

Still, she didn't budge. Ugga walked up from behind him.

"Grug, maybe you should try a different approach?"

"You know what? You're exactly right."

Misinterpreting her advice, Grug Crood decided to take the only other option he could think of -- come over there and make her come back -- and the land-coral underfoot made a painful crack. Grug roared in agony, but a little pain never stopped a caveman with a family to feed and he **** himself to walk on the sharp spines, dragging the log behind him.

Drunk on pain, his steps were slower than hers and she managed to evade him at a brisk pace. Eventually the pain got to him and he grabbed one of his feet to better inspect whatever had imbedded itself in the sole of his calloused foot. The log rolled over and fell into a deeper chasm in the coral reef, smashing into splinters in the rocks below.

Dawn pinched between her eyes.

"Look," she began. "You need me to get past this, and I'm not sure if I'm going to survive what's coming on my own so... truce?"

Dawn stuck her arm out. Grug stared at her open palm, not knowing what a handshake was.

"I don't know what a 'truce' is, but what exactly did you have in mind?"

That was when Dawn introduced the Croods the wonders of "shoes".

"The End", as Dawn had called it, snuck a fast one on The Croods and had separated them all in a naturally occurring Labyrinth.

Eep and Dawn were the first ones to find each other, having found themselves in a cavern filled with beautiful crystals, flowers and the clearest spring water you would ever see. Dawn noticed Eep before Eep noticed her, so she started dropping flowers in the pool to get her attention.

Dawn rolled on her back, hoping to wait on her to find her, only to find that Eep had already climbed up there and was now dangling right above her from a vine.

"You dropped these," said Eep, the flowers Dawn grasped in her free hand.

Before Dawn could react, Eep let go and did a three-point landing right over Dawn, her hands touching the pelt over Eep's abdomen. She felt the heat of Eep's chest hover over her own seashell bra and Eep's smiling face was really close to her own.

Wow, she's got abs, Dawn's mind conjured. Where did that come from?

Dawn felt like she wanted to say something, but her mind was a blank. Her face was hot. Her heart was racing.

I'm not sick am I? Dawn asked herself, unaware of what the "sickness" she suddenly had.

Not noticing her friend's silence, Eep noticed a light coming from her peripheral vision and realized that she had found the way out.

"Come on!" And soon Eep leapt off on all fours, leaving Dawn lying there.

She put a hand over her chest, feeling her heartbeat slow ever so slightly as she wondered what just happened, Backpack asking if she was okay in a series of squeaks and grunt.

The Croods had unanimously decided to stay with Dawn instead of a new cave. Well, "unanimously" except for Grug. He thought it would be "prudent" to chase after Dawn like a Deathcat and rip her limb from limb in a blind rage. She figures using words like "prudent" didn't help her case. Dawn was struck with an overwhelming sense of deja vu when the both of them slipped on a particularly smooth cliff face and the two of them came tumbling down into a pit of tar.

With both of them trapped hip-deep in black, sticky sludge, Grug tried his hardest to grab her with his best grabbing arm, but was encumbered by the tar.

"What is this sticky stuff saving you from my--"

"No! No, no, no, no, no! Not again!"

Grug was left speechless. Dawn's expression was miles away. She was almost clawing at the sides of her face, tears pouring down her cheeks, her eyes struck with pure terror. She was taking in air like she was drowning.

"Hey. Hey!"

Dawn looked at Grug with an almost **** look in her eyes before looking away in shame, both hands on her mouth in a vain attempt at containing herself. Backpack nuzzled her neck, having seen her fall apart like this before.

"What was that?" Asked Grug.

"I-I-It's tar! We're stuck in tar. No one gets out of tar. At least... at least..."

And with that Grug saw the tears and understood.

"You... you've been here before?"

"No. Not here, but there was a rockslide, and some of us were stuck, a-and I got away but.. but they..."

"Your... family?"

"I don't know if it was the rock slide or the tar, but I never saw them again," said Dawn, wiping her runny nose on her arm.

Grug then grabbed her, but instead of breaking her bones like he had wanted to do a minute ago, he had pulled her into a one-armed hug. Even with the minimal distance, the tar made the act a little awkward, but it was tender anyway. Dawn found his fur pelt to be surprisingly soft, if a tad sweat-infused.

"When my father led the family, he always had a saying: 'son, never stare a punch-monkey in the eye unless you want a fist to the face.'"

In spite of herself, Dawn smiled, if not for the ridiculous timing.

"He also said 'the pack sticks together.' Whether you like it or not, you're a part of this pack now. I don't think Eep would ever forgive me if I thought otherwise. She's a lot like you."

"No. She's more like you. She loves you, but she forgets to say it sometimes."

"I guess I was just busy. Keeping them all alive."

"That's alright. It's what dads do."

By some miracle, or fate, or maybe just some stupid, insane, incredibly dumb luck, The Croods + Dawn had all survived the end of the world and had come out the other side to Tomorrow.

Turns out Tomorrow was a beautiful, scenic coastline. The predators were minimal, the food was bountiful, the tans were dark and the future was brght. Well, for now anyway. They might get bored and find a different place to call home. But in the meantime, their pack was going to live it up, enjoy their lives and take life as it comes.

After partaking in a family picture in one of Grug's new inventions -- a "snapshot", he called it -- the girls all decided to kick it on the beach while Grug and Thunk went for some father-son bonding looking for dinner.

Ugga and Gran took to catching a few rays in a pair of chairs Dawn had built for them. Sandy had taken to chasing crabby-tabbies. Dawn was collecting seashells in her basket. As for Eep...

From a wave came the tiger-clad no-longer-cavegirl. Ever since Dawn introduced her to swimming, Eep realized that she took to water like a crocoduck. "It's like I'm flying, but in the water," Eep had surmised at the time.

"Any luck?" Asked Dawn.

"Naw. The fish aren't biting. You'd think they'd think I was easy prey."

"Well, I wouldn't worry about it, I'm sure you'll get it neeeeeeeee..."

Dawn's train of thought derailed when she turned around and saw Eep.

Eep was dressed in his old tiger pelt, but she had outgrown it a week ago. Wear and tear had rendered the thing into rags and her parents had already fashioned her a new replacement, but Eep had the idea of fixing it up that was ideal for being able to navigate the water without her pelt weighing her down. She called it a "swimming suit," as in a suit that you swim in.

Dawn hadn't gotten a good look at her swimming suit until she saw her now, her skin and swimming suit wet from the ocean, the sun beaming from behind her, the ocean winds already blowing her red hair dry. The swimming suit certainly did less to cover the cavegirl. Her abs and naval were exposed, leaving her breasts covered by a measly strip of animal skin and her hips hugged by an almost non-existent loin-cloth.

Were her hips always that... curvy? And those shoulders and her abs and...

Her heart was racing again. Her cheeks were hot. Her palms were sweaty, the basket and conch in her hands almost slipping out of her grasp. Dawn felt that strange sickness from before, and Eep seemed to be the source.