In the Time of the Caveman

by Samantha Leal

  A wave of whispers hissed around the room.

  “Something in that cave took him,” he said as the hairs on the back of Melissa’s neck prickled. “And I do not mean an animal.” Dr. Quattro leaned forward onto his lectern. “I mean something is present in this cave… Something changed, opened and allowed our colleague to travel to another place.”

  Everyone was talking now and looking around the room. No one seemed to understand what Dr. Quattro was getting at and Melissa was right there with them. She was so confused.

  “What do you mean?” one man shouted from the crowd.

  “Is he still alive?” another called after him.

  “We don’t know,” Dr. Quattro said. “All we know is that something happened down there, something to do with the prehistoric paintings and the rock formations… Something aligned, a vortex of some kind opened, and he was swallowed whole. Something is down there and we need to find out what.”

  Jake squeezed Melissa’s arm, and when she looked at him, he had panic written all over his face.

  “Let’s get out of here,” he said.

  The room around them was full of people shouting questions and demanding answers. All the doctor seemed able to tell them was that something terrible was lurking down there, and he had assembled so many people because he knew a lot would not want to take part in the expedition once it had been explained to them. Not all of the men and women around them were archaeologists; some were scientists, astronauts, astronomers and physics experts. For the first time in her career, Melissa felt truly intimidated. She didn’t know exactly what was happening, but she knew she wanted to be involved. Luckily, Jake looked like he was backing out. He got to his feet and walked to the end of the aisle, and Melissa watched him.

  “Come on Mel,” he called after her. “This is all crackpot shit.”

  She watched him as others hushed around them and waited for her reaction. There was no way she was going to miss out on something this big, and it wasn’t her fault that Jake was too stupid and inexperienced to understand the significance of this discovery.

  She shook her head at him and watched as he stormed out towards the main doors. Dr. Quattro lowered his head and raised his palms high towards the sky…

  “Now is the time to follow if you don’t want to be involved,” he said, motioning after Jake as the doors swung lamely behind him.

  Around twenty other people got to their feet and made a dash for the exits.

  “Enjoy the rest of your time here in Bordeaux,” Dr. Quattro called after them.

  Melissa looked around her and realized she was one of only a handful of people who had stayed.

  “Right,” Dr. Quattro continued. “Now that we have separated the men from the boys, it looks like I have a team.”

  Melissa smiled at him and at the others around her.

  “Tomorrow is going to be a defining moment in your careers,” he said. “I can’t wait to introduce you to the caves.”

  Melissa’s blood ran cold with anticipation, and as she walked back up to her room with an official secrecy document in her hands, she knew she was on the verge of something amazing. Whatever the day ahead was going to bring, she was sure that it was going to change her life.

  4.

  The next morning as Melissa boarded the bus that would take her to the excavation site, she was full of so much hope, fear and anticipation she didn’t know what to do with herself. She and the other members of the team all sat in silence as Dr. Quattro led them into the French countryside and out into the hills. She didn’t know where they were going or even how long it had taken them. Quattro had taken all of their cell phones, watches and electronic equipment in case they somehow interfered with what he thought may be some sort of electromagnetic field.

  Melissa found herself skeptical. She had heard of people going missing on excavations like this. The terrain was unpredictable and who knew what the architectural state of the cave would be? In the back of her mind, she just kept thinking that surely Quattro’s colleague had fallen into a break in the rocks and either became covered or fallen so far down there would be no hope for recovery. Quattro however, was adamant this wasn’t the case.

  As they disembarked the bus in the middle of an open field, Melissa shivered and she looked around her, realizing how totally alone out there they were.

  “This way,” Quattro said as he marched ahead.

  Melissa noticed a break in the ground and what looked like it could easily be a badger sett was the ground crumbling away and opening into a hole of about three feet wide.

  “We need to start from here,” Quattro said. “Travel about a hundred meters down and then the rocks open up and reveal the entrance to the cave.

  Melissa couldn’t even speak. This was her last time to back out, but she knew she wasn’t going to.

  “Let’s do it,” Quattro said as he strapped on his helmet and began to crawl into the tiny space before disappearing out of sight. Melissa wasn’t far behind him, and as she maneuvered her body down into the earth, she decided now was not the time to second guess her decisions. She was going for it with everything she had, and she was going to make her mark.

  Underground, as they scaled the rocks, she could smell the familiar scent of damp earth which rapidly gave way to clay. It was pitch black in there apart from the light on her helmet and just when she thought the journey down to the opening of the cave was never going to end, she heard Quattro call up to her that he had gotten there.

  When her feet touched down next to his, she breathed a sigh of relief. She crawled forward on her hands and knees in the tunnel that could have only been around a few feet high and suddenly it opened out into the most spectacular underground world.

  “Oh my god!” Melissa exclaimed as her voice echoed around the cave. There was a lagoon down there, huge prehistoric paintings of bulls and horses adorning the walls and star maps present, too. She had never seen anything so spectacular in her entire life and she knew instantly why Quattro had wanted to keep it so secret. There was a magic to the place… It was so hidden, so concealed from the world, it was a miracle it had been found in the first place. Everything in there was perfectly preserved and the contrasting rock formations of stalagmites and stalactites were bone chilling.

  “They’re amazing,” she whispered, and her voice still echoing. She stepped forward and made her way to an area that seemed to pull her there… She couldn’t explain why, but there was something about the rocks that made her determined to walk to them. She needed to touch their points and feel the moisture running along them.

  He was too busy taking in the incredible surroundings so it took Quattro a moment to realize where she was heading, but when he did, he spun around with a look of horror on his face and called to her. “Wait, no!” He shouted as he lunged forward…

  But it was too late. Melissa had reached the rocks and had one in each hand. As she held onto their tips, a fire raged through her and what felt like lightening rocketed up and down her spine.

  She was pummeled backwards, and the whole world went black. Everything was silent, and the pain in her head throbbed. She couldn’t hear Quattro anymore, and she couldn’t feel anything. With a rush of nausea, she fell unconscious before she could even process what had happened.

  5.

  The cold bit her skin, and she could smell the faint smoky drift of firewood. She was woozy, but the crackling and snapping of twigs brought her more back to life as she rolled over and realized she was on ice-cold ground.

  “Quattro?” she croaked as she leaned up on her elbows and looked around. She was in the cave…but it was different. No one else was there and a small fire burned around nearby. She looked down at herself and realized that over her own clothes she was wearing the black skin of an animal. The fur was keeping her warm, but her shoes were missing and she had raggy material tied to her feet and she was dirty.

  “What the hell…?” she said as she got to her feet. The pain in her head was still raging,
and she was sure that someone was playing a joke on her as she looked around at the lagoon and the ancient rocks. She let her eyes travel upwards and take in the depictions adoring the walls. The paintings weren’t as extensive as they had been only moments before, but they looked fresh, as if they had only just been done. Melissa felt a crawl of nervousness make its way up her limbs as her mind searched ferociously for answers. She swallowed and crossed her arms over her chest and she pulled the animal skin tighter around her and her mind became more focused. The more she looked, the more she knew… The cave looked different because it wasn’t as developed or underground… She could sense something had changed with time and space… She was no longer in the cave with the rest of the expedition, she had gone somewhere else entirely.

  Her mind raced as she thought back to what Quattro said about his colleague disappearing. He had said something about a vortex, about him being taken by something. Melissa looked around in panic… Could the same have happened to her? Could it have been the rocks? Something so strong had pulled her there as if she was meant to discover their power and then… Nothing. Blackness. Then she had woken up there, in the cold cave, with no shoes and an animal pelt wrapped around her.

  She trembled as she tried to piece it all together. Then with horror she threw herself back against the wall of the cave as she was sure she could hear something in the shadows around her.

  She wasn’t alone.

  There was something else in there with her.

  And it was getting closer.

  She swallowed hard as her heart pounded loudly in her chest. She could hear something snarling and moving, its footsteps becoming louder and more prominent with each passing second.

  Melissa cowered and curled into a ball, trying to make herself as small as possible so it was almost like she wasn’t there. She was so terrified that she didn’t dare move, and when she finally had the nerve to look up, her heart almost stopped beating.

  There right in front of her, about a hundred foot away, was a saber-toothed tiger, massive on its haunches, snarling at her and eyeing her up for its next meal. She watched it as it stared back at her and she trembled with fear. Melissa wanted to scream, she wanted to run… but she just couldn’t move. Her body was rigid. She was in shock.

  “It can’t be,” she whispered. “This isn’t happening.”

  The tiger snarled again and moved forward. Its huge paws padded across the frozen earth, and Melissa kept closing her eyes and pinching the skin on her legs.

  “Wake up,” she muttered. “This isn’t real, wake up.”

  When she opened her eyes, the tiger was still in front of her, its immense tusk-like teeth dripping with saliva and the taste for her, and she knew then that she was really in trouble. She began to wail. The tiger snarled and reared up on its hind legs before lunging towards her.

  It all seemed to happen so fast… One moment the tiger was racing towards her, and the next she was aware of something else in the cave… Another presence that was even stronger.

  Suddenly from above, there was a flash of black fur as another creature leapt over her. It dived at the tiger with rage before it could reach Melissa and drove a long spear right into its heart. The tiger collapsed onto the floor and whimpered as it let out its last breath. A pool of blood spread out around its thick, wiry fur and Melissa brought up her hands to cover her mouth. The creature that had saved her got to its feet and stood tall and proud.

  It was with both relief and trepidation that Melissa realized it wasn’t another animal at all, but a person. And as he turned around she saw that he was a handsome man wearing a similar animal pelt to hers, all muscles and dirt, his long hair matted with mud and his chest heaving with exertion. He walked over to her and blocked out the light from the fire with his huge frame before extending a hand to her to help her up.

  “Woman,” he said gruffly and with a sternness she would never dare question. “Get up.”

  6.

  Melissa put her hand in his and he pulled her forcefully to her feet. His eyes were bright and innocent through all of the caked mud and dirt that was covering his skin, and she had the intense urge to reach out and stroke his face. But she was too nervous and felt herself shying away.

  “Go,” he said. “Now.”

  Melissa looked up at him and wondered why there was so much urgency. He had killed the danger. The saber-tooth was dead. What else could be waiting for them? She noticed a look of shock on his face and turned to follow his gaze. Behind her in the darkness of the cave were small, strange-looking men with big ugly features crawling out of the shadows.

  Melissa shrieked as he lifted her high up over his shoulder and began to run with her for the cave entrance. She squealed as she bobbed along, her hair trailing right down his back as he clung onto her taut thighs with his big, rough hands.

  The men running after them were like something she had studied. But it couldn’t be possible. They couldn’t be what she thought they were, surely…

  Neanderthals.

  Her savior ran quickly out over the barren terrain, and she clung to him for fear of losing her grip and being dropped in the middle of the icy field and savaged. The sun was setting and casting an orange glow over the ice, and as they ran up an incline and he made a left around a rock, Melissa suddenly felt safe. This place felt free of danger, and it appeared that they had outrun them.

  He slowed his pace but still kept a rough grip on her. She could feel his muscles beneath the pelt, and she ran the tips of her fingers over them, lightly stroking each rock-hard flex. She bit her lip with excitement… Although all this seemed unbelievable, and her fear was mounting, she was having the time of her life.

  “Home,” the man said as he approached a cliff face.

  Melissa looked up and the vast expanse of rock in front of them and watched as he placed her gently down on the ground and began to roll away a large boulder that was covering the entrance to another cave.

  “In,” he said sternly.

  She faltered and looked back over her shoulder. She could sense that night was creeping in and who knows what other dangers were lurking out there in the wilds… Even though she had no clue who this man was or what he was capable of… he was all she had so far in this new world and she couldn’t shun him when she was at her most vulnerable. When she hesitated, he leaned forward and pulled her by the arm into the cave and began to roll the boulder back over the opening with a huge heave of strength.

  Melissa pulled the pelt around her shoulders and shivered before she turned with apprehension and looked around.

  It was dark and warm in there, with the heat and light from an embering fire casting dancing shadows along the walls. She could see scattered paintings of the bulls and horses just like she had seen in the previous cave and wondered if he had been the artist of some of the depictions that she had discovered on her excavation with Dr. Quattro.

  He stood before her and she looked up at him. Even though he had saved her life twice in the space of around two minutes, she still found him intimidating and unpredictable. This man was so wild and untamed, and yet he clearly had a soft side. His hands may have been rough and calloused, but when he had held her it was as if he was touching her delicately and expertly. Just thinking of his hands again caused a rush of blood to flush Melissa’s cheeks and she looked down to the ground. Her heart was beginning to race and her palms were sweaty. How could she find herself sitting there day dreaming of a man she barely knew when it was more than likely she had just travelled through time?

  She shook her head in disbelief at herself and then as the heat from the fire bounced around the cave she found herself slowly removing the animal pelt from around her shoulders. He watched her with intrigue and Melissa was aware of him eyeing her clothes carefully.

  What must he think of me here like this? She thought as she tried to put herself in his shoes. This was a man who barely spoke, one who had never seen even a fraction of the things that Melissa had, but he was most certainly
an advanced human. He wasn’t the same as the Neanderthals… He was just like her, only from the beginning of time. When their eyes met, she could feel the innocence behind his. It was as if he was a blank slate, someone dropped in front of her with no knowledge of the world… And yet, he had already lived many years and experienced so much more than she could ever imagine. It was such an incredible situation, Melissa found herself confused with disbelief.

  As she watched him and the way he moved around the cave she was enchanted by him and she could tell that he was with her. There were so many differences between them, and yet they had been brought together in unimaginable circumstances.

  He stopped and looked down at her again before he motioned for her to sit down by the fire, and Melissa gladly accepted. She was beginning to get cold again and she pulled the pelt around her as she warmed her feet and legs and rubbed her hands together.

  He moved closer and sat right next to her. Even though there was a lot of tension hanging between them he reached up and ran his hands through her hair and studied her face. Melissa felt herself tense, but then she tried to relax. She had studied ancient history and she knew what her presence must be doing to him. He must be as confused as she was and he would want to find out as much about her as he could to see if she was a threat. As their eyes were locked in on each other’s and Melissa could smell his musky scent of masculinity mixed in with clay she saw something in his eyes that showed a deep understanding. He could tell she was from somewhere else, too… She could feel it.

  “I’m Melissa,” she said slowly and quietly as she pointed to her chest.

  “Melissa,” he repeated perfectly, and a smile spread across his face.

  She couldn’t help but smile in return, he looked very pleased with himself and he moved a little closer. He held a hand up to his heart and something inside of Melissa melted.

  Finally, a real man, she thought, and it was so out of nowhere it took her by surprise.