Life after Tomorrow

Prologue:

Tree branches whipped painfully across Eeps face as she ran faster, and harder into the jungle thick. She could hear a shell blowing, its noise drifting faintly from the distance. Her heart beat frantically, and she knew it wasn't just from how fast she was running. She pictured Guy, then, trapped, hurt, or nearly… She couldn't bring herself to think of the last scenario. She was scared, more so now than she had ever been in her life. What was this feeling driving her to these strong emotions?

Chapter One:

The Croods had been living peacefully with nature for almost a month. Everyone, even Grug, had learned how to make the world a part of life, instead of something to be feared. Life in tomorrow seemed almost perfect. But things, as the Croods have come to learn, aren't always as they seem.

"Eep, where are you going?" Ugga asked without looking up from the food she was trying to put together. Eep froze in her tracks and a disgruntled frown sat heavily on her face.

"Dad and Guy are going hunting, I just want to hunt…" Eep said folding her thick arms across her chest. Ugga sighed and put down the food she had in hand and turned toward her daughter.

"Are you sure this has nothing to do with the fact that Guy will be out there?" Ugga asked, all to knowing of the confusing teenage romance that was conspiring between the two. A bright red flushed across Eeps face and she turned her head down in a failed attempt to remain on top of the conversation.

"No!" she protested loudly.

"Everything okay in here?" Grug had stepped into hearing range and was now concerned about the situation. Eep buried her face in her hands and let out at groan.

"Eep wants to go hunting with you and Guy today." Ugga had a sly smile placed delicately upon her lips. Grug raised his eye brow and looked down at his daughter.

"It's you and your mother's day to stay behind." Grug said crossing his large arms.

"But Thunk gets to go out every time!" Eep said in an exasperated teenage voice.

"Thunk has to learn how to become a good hunter and provider." Grug said, trying to be patient.

"Dad I'm tired of hunting every day. I wanna stay here and play with Douglas." Thunk had just walked over to join the slowly growing group of Croods, Douglas close behind. Not far behind the two was Gran who had been listening in for quite some time now.

"You can play with Douglas when we get back, right now it's time to be a man."

"Dad I'm only nine," Thunk said as Douglas jumped playfully around him.

"I'll help Ugga today," Gran said, finally deciding to join the group. She wandered up to the family, stick in hand. She winked at Eep and then looked stoically at Grug. "The girl wants to hunt, just let her get out for a while."

"Well who's going to gather if you're helping Ugga?" Grug said, thinking he had them beat.

"Oh, Douglas and I will go gather Dad! I've never gathered before…" Thunk said looking at Douglas excitedly.

"No, no, Thunk," Grug said, starting to get frustrated. "Men aren't gatherers. We hunt our prey, we bring home a nice kill for our family!" Grug said excitedly, trying to gage his sons reaction. Thunk and Douglas looked at him, not buying it for a second. Grug groaned in defeat. "Fine, go gather something…"

"Yes!" Thunk and Douglas ran quickly away, until Thunk tripped over Douglas and rolled a few feet. It wasn't enough to stop the excited nine year old as he leapt back up and continued to run. Grug shook his head as though in some kind of pain.

"So, does that mean I can go hunting with you guys?" Eep said, hope flooding her bright eyes. Grug closed his eyes in defeat.

"Yes, you can go," he muttered. Eep jumped up excitedly and let out a small squeal. She took off to find guy.

Ugga looked at her husband with kind eyes. She put her hand on his shoulder as they watched Eep go.

"I know you worry about her. But she is a big girl Grug. She's growing up." Ugga tried said attempting to comfort Grug's concerns.

"I Know, I know, I just…" Grug pictured Eep and Guy out in the forest, their hands interlocked. He saw his little girl as a woman. Shaking his head to erase the image from his mind he looked at Ugga with determination. "I'm just not ready to lose my little girl." Before Ugga could say anything Grug had already run out of hearing shot in order to, she assumed, give Eep and Guy as little alone time as possible.

She turned to look at Gran and sighed.

"He'll figure it out," Gran said as she smiled knowingly and started a fire. The two stones clicked and sparked a few times before she finally got something to catch. "He'll figure out that he isn't ever going to lose her. Not really. She'll always be his little girl."

Eep ran through the jungle with endless excitement painted on her face. She hadn't been hunting in weeks and she knew her father was just trying to keep her out of dangers way, but the thing was, she wanted to be out in the open. She wanted to feel free with the wind in her hair and the sun on her face. She wanted to be moving and seeing and discovering. She knew she wasn't cut out for cave life or the average wife life. She needed so much more. And she knew exactly who could give her that.

"Eep?" she heard someone say. She had been distracted enough by her thoughts that she was startled enough to trip over her own two feet. She tumbled forward and rolled right into another human body.

"Ooff," she said as she opened her eyes. She landed flat on her back and the noon sun bore down directly into her eyes. However, she could never mistake the person she had tumbled into.

"Ouch." Guy was on his hands and knees over top of Eep, just as surprised as she was at the moment. He moved his head to block the sun from her face and looked down into her eyes. A deep blush spread across her cheeks and she smiled.

"Hi!" she was still too excited that she got to go hunting with Guy that she didn't even care about the embarrassing tumble.

"Hi –iiiii!" Guy began to say softly then transformed into more of a startled yell as he was lifted high off the ground by the back of his pants. Eep sat up quickly just in time to see the cause of Guy's levitation. Grug sat Guy a few feet away, placing himself between the two.

"I wasn't aware that this is the new way to catch dinner," Grug said sarcastically. Eep leapt to her feet and scowled.

"I tripped Dad!"

"Uhuh, that's how your mother and I got you; I tripped." Grug smirked. Guy's eyes widened, frightened, and he took a few large steps away from father and daughter.

"I think, uh, we should go hunting now. Suns already at the top of the sky," Guy suggested. Belt nodded making a cute squeaking noise in agreement. Grug wanted to look angry, but the truth was, he really wasn't. Guy was also right. The sun's light was precious for hunting and every minute that passed moved the sun further towards the night sky.

"Right, let's get going." Grug said leaping onto the back of his large jungle cat. The cat purred and jumped around a little. Everyone had come to realize how content the creature seemed around Grug. The owl cat came at Eeps command and she crawled up onto it's back followed by Guy. Grug wanted to make her ride with him, but the last thing he wanted was for her to become irrationally mad at him, and besides, they were just riding the same cat, right?

(This is my first shot at a Croods FF so be kind and if you like it, let me know! Even if you have any ideas, shoot them my way. I have a very good idea and direction for this story, and if you read, I'm sure you won't be disappointed. Thanks for reading! Until next time, KLJ)