Nothing Left But Fear

by Russell, Adrian

  He edged closer to the cave entrance as he focused on the crop of bushes where he’d seen the movement, but there was none now. Feeling really uneasy, he also looked behind himself at the plain that stretched out into the distance. He could almost feel the adrenalin pumping through his blood yet again. He wondered whether the body had a limitless supply of the stuff, as he’d certainly used up his fair share of it over the last few days. His heart was pumping and he could feel the sweat on the palms of his hands.

  In the end, he decided to retreat back into the cave for now, not wanting to face the demons of the open plains just yet. He sat back down on the straw where he’d woken up a few moments ago.

  Tears welled up in Graham’s eyes as he began to wish he’d done much more with his life instead of sponging off the state. He knew he was intelligent enough, but he also knew that he was really lazy and couldn’t be bothered. He had rebelled against the system, ever since he was at school, then followed his parents’ sponging ways, too.

  Tears ran down his face, now, and he felt really sorry for himself. But as he sat there, he became aware of the sound of dripping water coming from somewhere back in the cave. He turned his head and tried to focus on where the sound was coming from. If he could find this water, he could at least quench his thirst.

  But as his eyes tried to adjust to the dim light of the cave, the sound of the dripping suddenly took on a sinister tone. He started to imagine creatures at the back of the cave waiting for him to approach, only to pounce on him and devour him alive. His heart was in his mouth, but his thirst drove back his fear of the dark. He forced himself to get up and move slowly deeper into the cave.

  He could sense that the roof of the cave was getting lower as he moved further inside. He hoped that he would be able to get to where the water was before the height became a problem. He felt along the top of the cave with his hands as he ducked along, feeling the jagged edge of the rock. The surface of the rock was cold to the touch and somewhat rough on his fingers. Soon the decreasing height forced him onto his knees to crawl, but the rocks on the floor of the cave dug into the skin on his knees more than it had on his feet.

  The sound of the dripping was ever closer, but now he was so far into the cave that very little light reached him, and he had to feel his way inch by inch. He didn’t know what the water would taste like, but he was sure that it couldn’t be any worse than the foul waterhole stuff he’d had before.

  Reaching out with his left hand, he was feeling for obstructions, as he moved further into the small space. Then he hit his head on a jagged edge of rock. The immediate pain was excruciating. Cursing under his breath, he cupped his head in his hands to wait for the pain to subside.

  The throbbing seemed to go on for ages. Being in the dark and on his knees somehow made it worse. ‘Damn them! Damn those kidnappers!’ he thought.

  He started forward again, this time lowering his head still further and holding one hand above him to gauge where the roof-line was. As he got closer to the sound of the water, he had to assume an almost crawling position, as the roof of the cave was getting lower and lower.

  Then Graham realised that the floor of the cave had changed — it was now wet, very slippery, and colder to the touch than before. Reaching out in front of him to see if he could feel for any pools of water, all he felt was more damp rock. He had to get onto his stomach now and crawl crab-like, as the cave was now too low to even kneel. This was strange, because the dripping sound seemed as if water were falling from much higher than the distance between the floor he lay on and the ceiling of the cave.

  ‘There must be a deep pool ahead of me and the cave must open out,’ he thought hopefully.

  He put his arms out to either side of him, one at a time, and could feel that the cave tapered out, both to his left and to his right, so there was no height there, either. The rock was hurting his bare skin as he crab-crawled along the cave floor, using his left hand every few centimetres to feel for the height of the ceiling to avoid hitting his head again.

  Soon he realised the cave was getting almost too low for him to fit. He could still hear the dripping of water ahead and he was fast becoming aware that he might not even be able to reach it. The rock above him seemed to be extremely damp, so he thought it might be a good idea to turn onto his back and lick its surface for moisture. He accomplished this turn with difficulty, but was even more uncomfortable on his bare back, which was blistered from sunburn. The rock around his buttocks and lower back dug in, too, but he managed to reach up with his head to lick the rock surface.

  The rock tasted bitter and earthy, but there wasn’t enough moisture there to quench his thirst, so he struggled back around onto his belly again. He moved further into the gap, inching his way along the hard surface, which seemed to be putting dents and scratches in his skin. Finally, as he reached out into the dark in front of him to see if he could feel any water, it seemed as though the cave ceiling was getting higher.

  This encouraged him to edge forward still further, hoping that eventually he would find the water he so desperately needed. Thoughts of what animals might be lurking in the cave were also going through his mind; he worried that his hands might stumble upon something that moved. His heart was in his mouth more than ever as he moved further into the dark. The entrance of the cave was too far way to illuminate this section of the cave.

  But, yes, the cave ceiling definitely seemed to be rising and the area around him was wider still. The sound of the dripping water was louder now as it echoed around the opening in the cavern. He reached up to feel the roof of the cave and at this point he could only just reach it with his fingertips. He then sat up cautiously so he could shuffle along on his bottom, but being careful not to hit his head.

  What Graham didn’t know was that the water in this cave had percolated through the ground and rocks for many miles, hitherto being forced up through the surrounding rock formation, before appearing on the surface and then dripping into a large pool at the back of his temporary shelter.

  The water that now dripped into the hidden pool was many years old, having fallen as rain a long time ago in a distant place before being soaked up by the ground and disappearing, only to collect via a natural underground filtering system. At each rainfall during the rainy season, this underground reservoir would be topped up and would push the water along bit by bit until it reappeared in other places, sometimes, as in this case, hundreds of miles away.

  Now that he was sitting up, Graham raised his hands to guide himself along the ceiling, but after having moved only a short distance, he could feel the roof of the cave getting higher still. He managed to get up onto his feet, whilst cowering to avoid hitting the roof of the cave. He inched forward on his sore feet, feeling his way, carefully putting each foot ahead of the other, whilst feeling for sure footing on the damp, slippery rock.

  Then his sixth sense started to kick in. He suddenly knew he was not alone in this dark space, and stopped to listen. His heart pounded as his senses told him there was definitely something else occupying this cave. Not only was he certain he had entered an area where there was another animal or animals near him, but he was suddenly aware of a strange smell, too.

  CHAPTER SEVENTY-TWO

  Now confronted with a large predator, Carly’s automatic fight-or-flight system kicked in. She felt warmth running down the insides of her legs, as she realised that her bladder had given way, with her body’s need to prepare for the situation.

  ‘Fight!’ she thought. ‘But with what and how?’

  In front of her stood a huge leopard bearing its teeth and snarling, with sinewy muscles showing through its skin and fur. The fur around its nose was creased, as the sides to its mouth were drawn up to show its complete set of yellow teeth. The pink-coloured tongue in its mouth was drawn back and lay between the lower two canines. Its eyes were squeezed slightly into narrower slits, which were glaring right at her.

  Facing the leopard, with her heart pounding harder than she’d ever
remembered, she wasn’t sure what to do next.

  She had a primal fear rising up through her body. It was a fear she’d never experienced before, but despite this, somewhere from within the depths of her, she found the courage to wave her hands and scream at the top of her lungs at the snarling leopard.

  The huge cat that stood in front of Carly snarled even more menacingly, in reaction to her behaviour, but fortunately for her this leopard was either not hungry or as surprised to see her as she was to see it. The huge cat then darted away into the low-standing undergrowth.

  Now she began to realise how bad her predicament was and wondered why she’d been put in this situation, ‘Why? Why me?’ she questioned angrily again.

  With her heart still in her mouth, she was looking in every direction and continued to hobble along the path next to the river.

  ‘What other animals are lurking in the bushes and trees? What if that snake comes back?’ she thought.

  Having now walked for a while and more than she’d walked in a long time, she was getting really tired, so she sat down to rest. Where she sat, the river opened up into a large basin area, where another much larger river entered, forming one big river.

  The water in the combined rivers was muddy, and there were fewer trees along its banks. She could see across to the other side, where there was a huge plain. On this expanse grass grew, and she could see a few sparsely scattered umbrella-like acacia trees.

  In the distance she could see a herd of animals. She was not entirely sure what they were, but to her they looked like wildebeest and a number of unmistakable zebra, too. Gazing at the far river bank, she could see crocodiles basking in the sun. She had to take a second look and suddenly realised how dangerous this place was. ‘Oh, my god!’ she thought, ‘crocodiles!’

  Looking slightly down river, where it really opened out and the flow slowed down, Carly saw the heads of hippos. She couldn’t help but think she was living in a David Attenborough program.

  As she sat there catching her breath, looking in total amazement at the animals before her, the river directly in front of her suddenly exploded. As the water came to life, she jumped and rolled backwards away from the edge of the high bank.

  Just below where she ended up standing, a huge burst of sound and bubbles morphed into two very large bull hippopotamuses fighting for territory. Both powerful animals had their mouths agape, baring their massive, tusk-like teeth.

  Frozen to the spot, she watched the scene unfold before her, not knowing what to do next. The two creatures suddenly disappeared again into the muddy depths of the river, so all went quiet for a brief moment, except for the mooing of the other hippos she could hear.

  Then the first hippo came to the surface again, quickly followed by the second one. Both had their huge mouths wide open and interlocked. Each hippo was trying to get higher out of the water than his counterpart, whilst the other was trying to score a blow with his teeth, as each one vied for supremacy and the right to the harem of female hippos nearby.

  As the fight between the hippos raged on, she watched mesmerised. The water became a mass of waves, whipped up in mud and bubbles. Each hippo gapped its huge mouth showing off its tusk-like teeth. The tips of the mouths touched as each one tried to gain position. The water around the two fighting hippos was stirred up into such a frenzy that all the other hippos moved further away to avoid being involved.

  By now there was blood showing on both animals, where they'd been caught by a tusk, and as she watched the two hippos fight it out, she began to feel extremely exposed. This was something she was more used to watching from the comfort of her arm chair at home, rather than being right there as a part of it without any clothes on.

  Carly’s nudity made her even more sensitive to her vulnerable situation. There was nothing at all to protect her. Having no clothes made her seem somehow equal to all the other animals around her — except in strength, speed and endurance. Such equality, despite its magnificent setting, she would gladly trade for the safety of her dingy flat back in Chelmsford.

  CHAPTER SEVENTY-THREE

  Graham’s heart was pounding hard, but he was still not sure what it was that told his senses that he was not alone in this cavern. As he reached up to feel his way along the rocky ceiling, he touched something furry. Then all hell broke loose. The cave came alive with frantic screeches and what sounded like flapping wings.

  Then he realised what was happening. The cave was full of bats! They all raced around his head, making panicked noises in their leather-winged frenzy. Now he knew what that smell was — bat guano. He edged forward with his hands covering his face as bats kept bumping into him. He was surprised that they were hitting him, as he knew they had a high level of sonar-like tracking for flying in the dark, but the space was obviously quite small to accommodate so many bats and, with him there, it was difficult for the creatures to avoid him.

  As he took another step forward, one foot went from under him and he slipped on the wet floor. He fell forward with a crash, hitting the floor of the cave with a thump, with the ribs on his right side taking the full force of his fall. Then all of a sudden he found himself under water.

  He had slid into the pool, which was deep enough to swallow his whole body, and he suddenly found himself fighting to get to the surface for a breath of air. He was in total shock. The initial fall onto the rocks before he landed in the water had winded him, making it painful to breathe when he surfaced and tried to draw in his first big breath. The horror of his predicament was made worse by the fact that he was in almost total darkness, so it was difficult for him to see the sides of the pool to find a way out, as he thrashed around with his arms and legs, trying to keep his head above the water.

  His feet didn’t reach the bottom, which made him panic and caused him to kick his feet in a frenzy, until his left foot hit a jagged edge of rock on the pool wall.

  ‘Fuck!’ was the only word that came out, as the pain from kicking the rock spread out over his foot.

  ‘Help me, help me! Someone please help me!’ he shouted, struggling to keep his head above the surface as he thrashed around in the cold water.

  Graham realised that in reality there was no one to help him, but he was now panicking and it was almost an automatic reaction to his situation to cry for help. He then reached out to the side walls in an effort to stabilise himself and to catch his breath, but the walls were slippery and he couldn’t find any handholds. It was too dark to see what he was doing, then he disappeared below the surface again, before rising once more to fill his lungs with air. With each breath, his ribs hurt, too.

  The water was deep and he wasn’t sure how far back the pool went into the cave, but he knew he didn’t want to go further in, so he began to use his arms to swim closer to where he knew the front of the pool was. It helped that he could just make out some rocks glistening from the feeble light that came in from the distant entrance.

  As he got closer to the side, his knees hit the sharp rocks that formed the pool, but he managed to grab hold of the edge and lean forward. He held on to the rock while gradually catching his breath and looked around in the dark, trying to decide how to proceed.

  The bats continued to fly around above him and occasionally he’d feel the draft from their wings as they flew past his head.

  His immediate problem: How to get out of the water. He couldn’t see what he was doing, but he could feel his way around, and at least the glimmer of light gave him a bearing on where he was in the pool. Holding on to the side, he tried to get a foothold, but it was difficult, as he needed to get his balance by leaning forward, which was also hard. The sides were more or less vertical and very slippery, too.

  He decided to work himself around the outside of the pool to see if there were any better sections where he could get out, but he didn’t really want to find somewhere on the opposite side to where the entrance lay, for fear of being stuck inside this cave forever.

  The water was very cool and, as there was no heat
this far inside the cave, he began to feel cold. He realised he needed to get out of the water soon, or he might get hypothermia. He gradually worked himself around the edge, feeling to see if he could find a way out, whilst at the same time he used his feet to feel for footholds that might help him boost himself up.

  ‘I’d prefer to be back in that cage than be stuck and drown in this pool,’ he thought. ‘What a way to go.

  ‘It might have been better to have been eaten by the lions yesterday. At least that would have been quick.’

  CHAPTER SEVENTY-FOUR

  With all these wild animals surrounding her and as she watched the fight between the hippos, Carly began to cry. Her total helplessness was now too much for her to take. Her mind was in total confusion and she had no idea what to do next; all she could do for now was to look across at the crocodiles on the far bank of the river and to watch the fight that was still going on below her. Finally, though, she decided to get moving again.

  She remembered watching a film on the wildebeest migration, and how the crocodiles would wait patiently under the water and pounce on unsuspecting beasts. What was dawning on her was that she had become a part of this wilderness; she had been taken right back to nature— not just because she was naked, but because she was also right in amongst wild animals, without anything to help her. She felt immersed in the struggle for life and death, with the constant fear of where the next attack might come from.

  With her physique, she was certainly not capable of fending for herself, and she had no survival skills whatsoever. Despite this, she started to think survival — where was she going to get food and what about drinking water? There was no way she could drink from this part of the river, as the water was not only dirty, but also full of dangerous and deadly creatures. She might have frightened off a leopard earlier, but this might not work with another animal, and another one could quite easily sneak up on her, too.