While others seek survival, I engage in flirtation Chapter 19: New Members

I was giving her the lowdown on our situation when, out of nowhere, this hairy creature jumped me again.

I managed to dodge it and noticed it was holding a knife. Looked like one of those fruit knives. No idea where it got it, but the handle was filthy, like it had been used forever.

The last time I saw one of these hairy things, it was from a distance. Up close, something felt off.

The fact it could hold a knife meant it had "hands" and could use tools. So, despite looking like monsters, they were basically human, just covered in hair.

With that in mind, I wasn't scared anymore.

I reached out to grab the creature, but it whipped out a small knife from its pocket. It wasn't sharp, but getting poked by it still hurt like hell.

The creature knew it couldn't take me down, so it ran off to find its buddies.

Soon, a bunch of them showed up, making weird noises.

"Don't be scared," I said, stopping one of them and snatching the knife from its hand.

On the other side, Lilian had already taken down one of the wild men.

I was about to strip its clothes, but it bolted before I could.

It was just me and Lilian left, staring at each other.

She was quiet but clearly skilled. I told her about our camp and asked if she wanted to join us.

She didn't ask much, just nodded.

When I brought Lilian back to the camp, the girls immediately crowded around.

"Who is she?" Aimee, always the loudmouth, was the first to ask.

The other two girls looked curious too.

"Her name's Lilian Taylor, and she's staying with us now," I said. Margaret seemed a bit miffed but just smiled and kept quiet.

Having someone skilled in the camp was a win from any angle.

After a day of chopping trees, I finally got a chance to talk to Lilian.

"Why are you here?" I asked. With her skills, I didn't think she needed to steal my shells to survive.

"I was on a sightseeing tour on a ship," Lilian said, wrapping thorns around a log. "After the cruise ship wrecked, I ended up on this deserted island."

"How come you're so skilled?"

"I'm a rock climber."

Didn't see that coming. Lilian looked thin but turned out to be a rock climber. No wonder she was so fit.

We still didn't have many tools. Besides a barely usable axe for chopping trees, we only had a fruit knife we got from the hairy creatures.

Life was a bit better, but we were still struggling.

While working on the logs, I made a few stone spears so everyone could have a weapon.

I gave the fruit knife to Lilian and kept the axe for myself. She was quick, and a small weapon would be more effective in her hands.

Making these fences was tough.

To make them stable, we had to sharpen the bottoms, bury them in the ground, and compact the logs and surrounding soil.

Now, I could easily lift the logs and place them where they needed to go.

"Do we need to compact these logs? But we don't have a hammer," Ivy said, looking confused.

Yeah, I knew we didn't have a hammer, but even if we did, these logs were way too big to compact with one.

But I had an idea. The logs were wide enough for someone to stand on without much trouble.

"You can walk on them and use your weight to press them down," I said. Before I even finished, Lilian had already climbed onto a log and started jumping up and down.

The other girls quickly followed suit.

I helped them up onto the logs. They walked back and forth, occasionally jumping.

From below, I could see their long legs. As I compacted the soil, I could even catch glimpses between their legs.

I swear, I just wanted to get the logs in place quickly, not to make them stand high on purpose.

The view was pretty distracting. Ivy had a sexy figure and long legs, probably because of her job. Aimee and Margaret looked more like students, but Aimee had better skin and a fuller figure.

Lilian was short and thin, but her legs had defined muscles. She was focused, jumping up and down on the logs.

I didn't forget why we were doing this. Watching the girls on the logs, I got back to work.

I piled soil around the logs, used the axe to compact it, and poured some water to make the ground firmer.

It seemed simple but was actually really tiring and tedious. It took us all day to get through just half of the work.

"Oh my God! I'm exhausted!" Aimee complained as I helped her off the log.

After a long day, we were all hungry and tired. Just as we got back to the cave to make dinner, I heard shouting outside.

"What was that sound?" Lilian, always alert, immediately stood up and went to check.

But there was no one outside.

"Why is there smoke at this time? Is someone over there?" Lilian stood at the entrance for a few seconds, then frowned and called out to us.

Following her gaze, I saw thick smoke. It looked like someone was burning something.

At first, we didn't plan to pay any attention to it.

There were too many unknowns on this island, and everything seemed strange.

Leaving the camp during the day was relatively safe, but at night, who knew what we might run into.

"We better not get involved; it might be someone lighting a fire to ward off wild animals," I said, about to call Lilian back when we heard another harrowing scream.

We couldn't ignore it anymore.

"Carl! Someone's in danger!" Aimee exclaimed urgently. "We have to help!"

From our recent interactions, I knew Aimee had a fiery temper but a kind heart. She wouldn't hesitate to help someone in trouble.

I nodded, grabbed the axe, and got ready to check out the source of the sound.