Human of the Herd

Chapter 3

Sid took over baby duty as Frostine had laid down to rest, but that was very difficult because of the baby's constant crying.

"Oh, you got to make it stop." Manny demanded, "I can't take it anymore!"

"I've eaten things that didn't complain as much!" Diego added.

"He won't stop squirming!" Sid argued.

"You're holding him wrong!" Frostine said. "Watch his head!"

"Just put it down!" Diego exclaimed.

"Jeez," Sid huffed, "pick him up, put him down." he placed the child on a rock.

"Its nose is dry,"

"That means something's wrong with it,"

"Someone should lick it. Just in case,"

"I'll do it,"

"He's wearing a diaper," Frostine pointed out.

"So?"

"So if he poops, where does it go?"

Sid looked at the baby with disgust. "Humans are disgusting,"

"Hey!" Frostine argued as she glared down at the sloth.

"Okay, you," Manny pointed to Sid with his trunk, "check for poop,"

"Hey, why am I the poop checker?" Sid questioned.

"Because returning the runt was your idea. Because you're small and insignificant. And because I'll pummel you if you don't,"

"Why else?"

"Now, Sid!" Manny shouted.

The baby continued crying as Sid changed the diaper.

"Eww! Yuck!" Sid said. "Eww! I mean, my goodness. All right, look out, look out. Coming through,"

"Hey, watch out!" Manny exclaimed as Sid brought the dirty diaper near him.

"Stop waving that thing around!" Diego said.

"Ooh, ooh, I'm gonna slip," Sid said as he let the diaper go, and it landed on Manny's trunk.

"It's clean!" Sid laughed. "Got ya!"

Manny hit Sid with his trunk. "Will you cut it out?"

The baby began chuckling at Sid's pain.

"Hey, do that again," Diego said. "He likes it,"

Manny hit Sid again. "It's making me feel better, too,"

"Here," Sid told Diego "You hold it,"

The baby tried to hit Sid.

"Here, turn him towards me!" Diego said as he covered his eyes with his paws. "Where's the baby? There he is! Where's the baby? There he is!"

Frostine slid off of Manny's back and walked over to the child. She pushed Diego away. "Stop it! You're scaring him!"

The baby glanced down when Frostine's stomach growled.

"I bet he's hungry," Sid realized.

"How 'bout some milk?" Manny suggested.

"Ooh, I'd love some!"

"Not you!" Frostine argued, "The baby!"

The group turned as a watermelon rolled out of a bush. "Food!"

Manny used his trunk to pick up the melon, but a dodo bird popped up and grabbed it from him.

The group followed after the bird.

"I don't know, but I've been told"

"I don't know, but I've been told"

"End of the world be mighty cold."

"End of the world be mighty cold."

"Prepare for the Ice Age!" A dodo bird called out.

"Protect the dodo way of life!" Another dodo said.

"Survival separates the dodo from the beast!"

"Prepare for the Ice Age!"

Frostine looked up at Manny, confused. "Ice Age?"?'

"I've heard of these crackpots," Diego said.

The bird that had taken away the group's melon noticed them. "Intruders!"

"Now, don't fall in," A dodo bird explained to the others standing before a steam pit. "If you do, you will definitely..."

"Intruders! Intru..." The dodo bird fell into the pit.

"Burn and die,"

The group walked to where the food was located.

"Hey," Manny greeted. "Can we have our melon back? We've got two who are hungry and, uh..."

"No way!" A dodo bird argued. "This is our private stockpile for the Ice Age. Subarctic temperatures will force up underground for a million billion years,"

Frostine tilted her head to the side. "So you got three melons?"

"If you weren't smart enough to plan, then doom on you,"

The other dodo birds swarmed the group. "Doom on you. Doom on you,"

Manny quickly placed Frostine on his back. "Get away from me,"

"Doom on you," The dodo bird fell off the melon he was balancing on. "Oh, no! No! Retrieve the melon! Tae Kwon dodos, attack!"

Three dodos appeared, yelling as they kicked the air. They managed to kick the melon away from the baby before it rolled off the side of the cliff.

"The melon!" A dodo cried.

"The melon! The melon! The melon! The melon!" a couple of dodos went after it and fell off.

"There goes our last female," A dodo said sadly.

Sid snuck by the dodos and grabbed the second melon.

The dodos got it out of Sid's paws only to try and ensure it didn't fall into the steam pit. "Got it, got it, got it, got it...don't got it," they all fell in.

"The last melon!" The remaining dodos called out.

Manny grabbed the melon with his trunk, trying to use his height to keep the dodos away.

A dodo bit Manny's tail, causing him to release the melon in pain.

Sid grabbed the melon only to be faced by the remaining raging dodos. He looked over at the group. Sid pushed through the Dodos as he yelled, running back.

The baby cheered when Sid made it over.

Excitedly, Sid tossed the melon to the ground, causing it to burst open.

"Aw, Sid!" Diego complained. "Now we gotta find more food!"

"Guys, it's fine," Frostine laughed. "We would only be able to eat the inside anyway," she placed the baby on the ground to eat the fruit. Frostine giggled when she noticed a pile of dodos trying to move around.

"Hey, look at that." Manny kidded "dinner and a show,"